08 - A Double-Edged Sword
Days of Wasp and Spider, Part II: Final Solution
by Luna-tic Scientist
=== Chapter 8: A Double-Edged Sword ===
There was an ache spreading down the back of Fusion's neck, a low level feeling of tightness that originated at the base of her horn and was reaching towards her wingroots. The few kiloseconds of rest she'd managed after seeing to their still sleeping 'guests' weren't really enough, and she could feel the exhaustion like her bones were filled with lead. To make things worse, the air around her was hot and smelled of fire, a fine haze of smoke making the dim light pearlescent. Her telekinesis kept the particles at bay, but did nothing for the smell. The heat was oppressive, and the sweat running down her flanks did little more than turn the chamber into a sauna.
A steady stream of rocks, edges glinting dully in the white-gold glow of her magic, moved past her right side from somewhere ahead that flickered and flashed with violet fire. The rocks, a mixture of perfect geometric forms from where Gravity had cut them, and jagged edges from where she had lost patience and simply ripped them away from where they had rested, moved on and out of sight to join the ever-growing spoil heap at the bottom of the narrow, but very deep, lake. Periodically, Fusion would pluck material from the stream and pump energy into it until it turned malleable and she could weld it into a seamless sphere, before cutting it into the right shape to line the chamber's walls.
None of the magic she was using was complex, but there were a lot of spells operating at the same time, each requiring a little of her attention or strength to keep it going. There's got to be an easier way to do this, Fusion thought, adjusting the cloud of gravel she was using to keep the radiant heat of her current work piece at bay. They'd thrashed out the basics of the plan the day before, knowing full well that they'd need more space; enough for the ponies rescued from the Security Hub, at the very least.
Scouting flights had located a promising site; a long, flooded valley between two low mountains, up near the tree line. There was even some grass -- although she doubted it would last long with the number of hungry mouths they were going to receive. Their requirements were simple; space to hide something big enough for everypony, and strong enough to give them at least some protection for when Hive forces finally realised the threat they presented. I suppose I should get used to this... doing everything at a rush. It's not like the Dogs will ever give us any peace.
The pair had hollowed out an opening in the rock walls, under the surface of the lake, then filled it with air from a slender ventilation shaft Gravity had simply pushed through the overlying rock. That had left them with a rough-walled artificial cave, the back of which was a pool of dark water that led to the lake. The rock hadn't been very sturdy; odd creaking and groaning could be heard whenever the sisters relaxed their magic. The first minor rock fall, stopped by Gravity before it could cause any harm, had convinced them that the whole thing would need to be lined.
The mare sneezed, momentarily losing control of her magic. Her current block of stone, a quarter length wedge of sedimentary rock sheared by force fields and heated until it glowed with a dull red heat, wobbled and fell from her grasp. Shattering on impact, it sent sparks and burning fragments skittering across the mirror smooth floor. Ahead of her, invisible in the smoky darkness were it not for the violet pulse and surge of her magic, Gravity jumped to avoid a hoof-sized rock that ricocheted off the half-finished wall to her side.
"Hey! Watch what you are doing back there!" The blue mare's voice sounded scratchy, completely different from her normal self.
"Sorry," Fusion said, sweeping up the sullenly glowing fragments within a haze of white light and pushing them back into the main mass. Her magic flared, that dull ache intensifying in time with the white glare, then she relaxed and trimmed the rock back into shape with a few quick force field cuts. Still holding the cloud of gravel in place, the white mare tightened her telekinetic grip on the rock and sent it down the corridor and plunging into the water. "I need to stop for a break. I think we've dug far enough for now." The surge and boom of Gravity's magic subsided and the mare walked slowly out of the smoke, looking as tired as Fusion felt. "How much further have you gone?" The newly formed wedge of rock twitched in her magical grasp, but she kept up the pressure, stopping it from fracturing as it cooled.
"About another twenty lengths. The rock is better through there; I'm not having to hold it--" The mare broke off for an enormous yawn, then shook her head. "It's easy to get lost in the magic," she said, ears drooping slightly. "Let me just..." She spread her wings and beat them mightily, catching the draught of air with her power and turning it into a hurricane blast that made Fusion squint, her ears, mane and tail streaming backwards. The wind, at first hot and oppressive, soon turned icily refreshing as air from the outside was sucked down the slender ventilation shaft a few lengths behind Gravity.
I wonder if any of the ponies have any weather team experience? Fusion thought, resolutely turning her mind away from the thermal plume this would be creating and back to their original camp and its precious contents. Time to call Spiral and start resurrecting them, I think. Her rock came floating back down the corridor, any water already evaporated from its warm surface. Feeling satisfied, Fusion slotted the wedge into the neat curve of rocks, turning it into a keystone for the now completed arch, then released her magic with a smile. "Now all we have to do is fill it."
Gravity nodded, sending a point of brilliant white light sailing off along their creation. Two lengths across and three high at the centre, the slightly irregular vaulted ceiling held back the weight of the mountain in the way only one tonne blocks of fused stone can. Glistening and black in the light, their mirror faces, still warm from the heat of their creation, reflected the light from the spell to illuminate the whole length. "It will do," she said absently. "Assuming they missed us making it, any further construction should be much easier."
"By the Maker, I hope so." Fusion stretched her wings and arched her back, listening to the click and pop of underused joints. "It's taken half the morning to get this far. Hopefully we can leave the rest to our guests..." The mare fidgeted, then slumped. "Do you think any of them will have the same reaction as Packet?"
"Only one way to find out." Gravity walked forwards, gazing with anticipation at the pool of cold, dark water. "I think I'm actually looking forward to this... last one back to the camp is a--" She flashed Fusion a smile, then dove into the pool.
Her little floating light abruptly flared solar bright and went out, leaving Fusion dazzled and in total darkness. "Why you little--" Half of her vision, fed by her shadow sight, tracked the violet lit glass sculpture that was Gravity as the mare shot through the water-filled sump and out into the lake proper. Fusion took a deep breath and exhaled hard, then folded her wings tightly and jumped after her sister.
The sudden shock of glacier spawned lake water was delicious against her overheated body, but she ignored it, intent on her prey. Fusion pulled her legs up and grabbed hold of the tunnel walls with a haze of white-gold. Shadow sight showed her the path she needed, the rock marked out by the sparkle of her own telekinetic grip, so the mare lowered her head and pulled. Water parted in front of her horn, the turbulence becoming painfully strong until she reinforced her muscles with more telekinesis. Speed built with astonishing rapidity and, without thinking, she let it climb.
The silky touch of water became a hard pummelling, then nothing at all, a sucking sensation from all over her body at once. The roar of water cut off like somepony had held a pillow over her head, in time with sharp stabs of pain from her ears. The rest of the air in her lungs rushed out in a single shout, filling her chest with an aching cold unlike anything she'd ever felt. Feeling dazed, with shadow sight starting to lose definition, Fusion curved about, heading for the surface.
She broke free into sunlight in a plume of spray, sound and breath returning with a thump and the pain in her ears vanishing in an instant. Eye open again, Fusion looked around in bewilderment, snorting to blow the water from her muzzle as she wondered how she got out to the middle of the lake. Off in the distance, Gravity was a dark shape galloping up the rocky shore, wings flicking out as she became airborne and lifted to skim over the trees. The white mare growled under her breath and pushed--
Water exploded out from around her in an expanding shockwave, the reaction throwing her into the air and blasting the trees with spray. Wings pumping furiously, she dove back towards the surface, accelerating as fast as she could. The rules of this game had been laid out ever since Gravity had grown old enough to be real competition; no magic other than flight, and only that where the ground was too rough for a flat-out gallop.
The distant shape of Gravity wobbled violently when the nearly spent shockwave rolled over her, then recovered and disappeared behind a ridge. I hope they don't spend too much time looking at these empty places. The thought was fleeting, but Fusion's own surprise at her still untested strength damped her instinct to pour all her power into the pursuit. Let's not do that again. The spindly pines that lined the precipitous valley walls flicked by under her hooves as she climbed sharply, going over the nearby peak, rather than around it.
The race was as good as lost, but Fusion still touched down at a gallop on the stony river bank near their camp. Pebbles sprayed out from under her hooves as she stretched muscles long cramped by their subterranean labours, and she half ran, half flew over the rock- and ice-covered ground. Ahead, Gravity was just entering the trees, so Fusion pulled her legs up and soared up the slope, dropping into their camp just as the blue mare came through the last screen of trees.
"Cheat!" Gravity said, tossing her head in mock annoyance.
"You got me, fair and square. I... rather overdid my water exit."
"Yes, I noticed." Gravity bit her lips, ears drooping, the simple pleasure of the victory fading. "It's so easy to push too hard. I've had more practice than you, but I still tend to overestimate how much effort to use. I'm not even sure that's all of it... it's like my strength is still growing." She sighed, then turned to look back through the intervening trees and mountainside. "Do you think you were seen?"
"Hard to say; I find it hard to believe the Dogs monitor everything inside their own Hive's territory all the time. The blast won't leave any lasting signs, fortunately. You're the one with satellite launch training; anypony you were with talk much about what gets launched?"
Gravity looked up at the branches overhead, muttering to herself. Finally, she flicked both wings in a shrug. "There's a lot of stuff up there, but mostly mining and early warning. There are dedicated optical satellites looking down, but a lot also surveil the nearby debris ring objects. There are the long range thaumic sensors, but you didn't put that much effort into it, because I couldn't feel the pulse like I did back at the Institute."
"We'll find out, I suppose." Fusion moved the makeshift barricade and walked into the little chamber Gravity had dug into the side of the tree-covered hill. Seven ponies, all on thick beds of springy pine boughs, were completely unmoving. The eighth... Packet, what are we going to do with you? "Whatever Spiral did, it's very good," Fusion said with a whisper. Gravity nodded, then settled down in the doorway, closing her eyes. The soft glow of violet magic lit the shadow half of Fusion's vision, and she turned to her own magic, hooking into the sharing Gravity was establishing with the distant Spiral.
A fraction of her attention on the exchange between her sister and the veterinarian, Fusion opened the late Bastion's medical kit and started to collect the drugs they'd need to safely 'resurrect' the ponies. Fortunately, the awakening was much easier than the reverse, relying mostly on stimulants administered at specific times during a careful warming of the bodies.
Spiral was so close that Fusion could nearly feel the touch of the other mare's fur. A gentle pressure guided her magic and she relaxed, letting the other pony work through her. It was the strangest of sensations, like being a puppet. Gravity stood by with the drug injectors and, as Fusion gently warmed the ponies up, administered the correct doses at Spiral's command. Before the kilosecond was out, all eight hearts were beating unaided and Spiral withdrew, her part complete.
Little coils of green magic twisted within each skull, keeping all the ponies asleep. "That's the easy part done with," Fusion said. "Who shall we start with?" A slight motion, little more than a twitch of a hoof, attracted her attention. Redshift moved again, this time a momentary flaring of his nostrils and a folding of his ears. "Huh... that spell of Spiral's really is like being asleep. I wonder what he's dreaming?"
"Considering what he was going through when Lilac removed his Blessing, I doubt it's a pleasant one." Gravity looked thoughtful, staring at the violet stallion. "Perhaps this is a better way to do things... what about if we share with them while they are asleep? One of us can keep them under, while the other tries to talk them around."
"That's a very interesting idea; it would also remove any risk of them hurting themselves in a struggle." The white mare fluttered her wings uncomfortably, then sighed. "I think we should leave Packet out of it for now." She stared at her friend; the lemon stallion was propped up against one wall, legs held rigid within their metal frames. "We'll start with those we at least have a chance with. I don't have your skill with the sharing; are you willing to take the lead?"
Gravity nodded, suddenly looking nervous. "At least if it goes wrong we can wake them up and just proceed as we otherwise might. Follow me in?"
===
Gravity looked searchingly at Redshift, then cast her gaze along the line of sleeping ponies. This seems so cruel, pulling these ponies away from those they love. "At least they will all be united soon," she muttered, shaking her head when Fusion twitched an ear in her direction. ...and it won't be for long. This whole situation feels like we're trying to balance on one hoof. "It's the waiting I can't stand," she said, flashing a smile at her sister. So let's be about it.
Her horn glowed, filling the little chamber with a violet haze. Eyes closed, Gravity reached out with her magic, forming the sharing pattern and delicately probing the sleeping Redshift's mind. No resistance, unlike with Packet-- Gravity bit off the thought, feeling cold inside. Is this the same thing -- just because he doesn't know I'm doing this, doesn't mean it's right. The thoughts were buried deep, isolated from the sharing and her sister's gentle presence. She cringed inside at Fusion's remembered words; the rebuke had been as painful as a slap. No, this is just like when Fusion was paralysed. I'm here to help, not hurt.
Little flashes, scarcely more than fragments of some larger image, started to flicker into her mind. A low, threatening sky, filled with bulbous clouds that seemed to press in like the heavy rock ceiling of some deep cavern. A strand of wire, all rust and cruel spines, wrapped tightly around a limb covered with blood-stained violet fur. It wasn't just visual images, either -- she could feel the cloying mud sucking at the bottom of her hooves, smell the dark tang of blood and corruption on the stagnant air, and hear the high, thin scream of a foal.
The world blossomed around Gravity, a ruined landscape full of dead trees and thick mud under a thunderous sky. The ground was pocked by circular, water filled craters and laced with dense patches of bramble. The mare immediately began to sink in the glutinous muck, the icy-cold fluid taking a firm hold on her fetlocks, just like it was a living thing.
The grip tightened and Gravity looked down in alarm. "It is alive!" she said, trying to hide the tremor in her voice. Even while she was sinking, the mud was mounding up around her legs, oozing through her fur and up towards her belly. Transfixed by the sight, Gravity tentatively tried to lift a foreleg, muscles straining against a suction that threatened to pull her under. A little further away, one of the patches of brambles moved, sending a questing runner in her direction.
Attention switching to this new threat, the blue mare stared at the shoot, eyes going wide at the regular pattern of curved thorns along its length. "Oh, Redshift, if this is just the edges of your dream..." The vine, or whatever it was, had reached the patch of mud still trying to entomb her, close enough that she could get a good look at it in the leaden light leaking through the clouds. It wasn't vegetation at all, but strands of rusty wire, all coiled so as to cover the whole with jagged spines. The tip, a point composed of a near fractal branching of hair-fine metal, lifted off the ground and quested towards her face.
Behind her eyes, Gravity could feel Fusion's disquiet. Can you not sweep all this aside and build your own world, like you did for me? she said.
"I could, but this is Redshift's mind in the raw. We'll never get a better idea of what he's thinking and how he'll react," she said, fascinated by the sinuous movements of the metal vine. "If we could have done this with Packet..."
Before he knew about us? Spying on the dreams of ponies to identify those most likely to be receptive to rebellion. That is an interesting idea... Fusion's mental voice tailed off, the mare deep in thought. Kinder than waiting for them to go into fugue, at any rate. I wonder what the Blessing does with dreams?
"Something to consider," Gravity said, narrowing her eyes. "This might be your world, Red, but that is quite enough research." The blue mare exerted her power, translating it through the sharing to bend the local environment to her will. Corrosion bloomed on the surface of the metal vine, spreading with time-lapse speed over the wires. In seconds the vile thing crumbled into a fine red powder that drifted away in the gentle breeze that radiated from her body. Beneath Gravity's hooves the mud recoiled as if stung, and she daintily stepped forward on to the rapidly drying ground. Where are you, Redshift? she thought, feeling through the sharing for any clue as to the location of his point of focus.
There was something on the horizon; a spindly bipedal figure that towered over the landscape like a monorail pylon, but unlike any creature, it moved in a strange, jerky way, as if a machine with damaged joints. For an instant, Gravity caught a glimpse of the thing in profile, and the sense of déjà-vu became overpowering. It had sleek, pointed ears above a muzzle twisted into a smile that couldn't ever be described as friendly, all covered with a coat of brindled fur. As the final piece of the puzzle dropped into place, the mare froze, nearly overwhelmed with hate.
"Salrath," she hissed, in time with a surge of revulsion from Fusion. Light bloomed out from her in an expanding bubble and, where it passed, mud dried and brambles crumbled to dust, but it took more effort than she expected to change the dreamscape. Her failure to sweep everything away with the simple force of her will made Gravity pause, her desire for revenge against this imagined version of Salrath momentarily stilled. "You are nothing more than a symptom," she told the figment of Redshift's imagination, "but an important one, I think."
Spiral told me that his mate had mentioned that he was afraid that this Dog had their colt, Fusion thought, all her attention on the figure.
I would not be surprised if that was the case for most of these ponies. Gravity resumed her search, picking through Redshift's dream, hunting for the locus of the stallion's mind. Where are you? You must be somewhere nearby; what's the point of this terror if you can't experience it?
Abruptly, the figure lifted one airtruck-sized paw, opening the fingers to reveal a blue shape with an indigo mane and tail, and the long legs and shorter body of a foal. The other paw came over, gripping the foal by the hindquarters and dangling it over the distant mud. Something about the dream state distorted details; while the bulk of the monster was blurred and indistinct, its face and paws were visible with painful clarity... as was the terror in the foal's eyes. The youngster screamed again, a long, high wail that rang out across the mud and patches of steel brambles.
"Master, please, take me, not my foal--"
The words, weak and full of pain, cut off with a gasp, but that little bit of sound was all Gravity needed. One hop and she was airborne, flying with unnatural speed to the monster, arrowing down to a patch of mud strewn with the remains of drowned trees. Her magic flared, then died at a spike of interest from her passenger. "What? I know you've thought of something, I can feel it."
I know you want to intervene and smash that-that thing... I do, too. But... this is Red's battle; perhaps we should give him a chance to taste victory?
===
The mud covered Redshift so completely that he was nearly indistinguishable from the twisted stumps of the trees that dotted the quagmire. Ears folded back, he made another desperate lurch forward, straining against the brambles that had wrapped themselves in a thorny bridle about his head and muzzle. They were linked to others that coiled around his neck and withers and buried themselves in a tangle a few lengths behind. The spines dug bloody tracks into his skin with every movement, but still he pressed forward.
Ahead, the Master gestured him onwards with a paw closed like a cage around the struggling blue colt, and he leaned forward against the brambles, pulling a hind leg free and planting it back in the mud. Another hoof-span of ground gained. Teeth gritted against the pain, Redshift managed to shift his other hind leg, only to have the Master move back a step, widening the distance on one of her giant strides. Please Master, I'm trying, the stallion thought through the haze of fatigue, eyes locked on that frantic blue shape.
The figure shifted, opening her paw and using the thumb and finger on the other to pick Shock Diamond up by his haunches and dangle him upside down. The colt screamed, the sound running through Redshift like an electric shock and driving him to new efforts. "Master, please, take me, not my foal--" The figure laughed at him, a low guttural chuckle that stole the temporary strength from his muscles and filled him with the chill of a winter river. The first paw came forward, sharp claws extending Shock's left wing out from his side, despite the youngster's best efforts to keep it closed. The Master looked him in the eyes and grinned, crouching down until her paws were only a couple of lengths from his head. She held out Shock, pulling on his wing until it was at full stretch. Muscles under the colt's fur twisted, and he let out a gasp of pain.
"You know what happens next."
The voice was so unexpected, that he forgot to cry out to the Master for forgiveness for whatever crime he'd committed. Young, but full of emotion and naggingly familiar, the words came from some place in the middle of his head; a sourceless presence that washed away some of the pain and fear. Little worms of violet light, a darker hue than his own magic and almost invisible against the blood-stained mud covering his muzzle, traced the vines looped around his head. Where they touched, metal dissolved to dust, like it was burning with heatless flames and, all of a sudden, movement became easier.
"I know this creature; it does not deserve your obedience. If you do obey, it will make no difference to the final outcome."
"But what am I supposed to do?" he whispered, eyes wide and staring at the struggling shape hanging from the Master's paws. At the bottom of his mind something stirred, an unfamiliar feeling of anger.
"You do not lack the will, if you are willing to put yourself through this for the ones you love." More of the vines loosened, violet fire burning them from his throat and shoulders. "You just need to have the courage to take back what is yours."
"But...but... she's a Master!" A part of the divine, here in the world, a being I was created to serve.
"Compared to you, she is nothing."
Redshift's mouth twisted, his mud-caked ears folding back. "It's not fair," he muttered, eyes narrowing.
"Of course it's not fair! Life's not fair. The question is: what are you going to do about it?"
The words broke some barrier inside him, and rage bubbled up to fill his mind with fire. A point of electric-blue light bloomed at the tip of his horn, brightening with frightening speed until it lit the undersides of the low clouds a lurid hue. Despite the glare, he could still see everything perfectly; the sudden uncertainty on the face of the giant Master, and the look of awe from the dangling Shock Diamond. "Give him back!" he growled, pouring all his fury into magic.
A bar of solid light the colour of a lightning strike leapt from his horn and caught the Master high up on the chest, engulfing her torso in a writhing cage of electricity. The creature convulsed, starting to fall backwards, then the beam burst out of her back to punch through the clouds an instant later. The leaden sky rolled back from the impact point, evaporating under the radiant heat of the particle beam to reveal a patch of perfect blue. The arm holding the blue colt fell smoking to the ground, severed at the elbow, Shock rolling free and bouncing to his hooves. The colt bounded over to be buried in the extended wings of Redshift.
===
Both sisters sat in the dim chamber, freed of Redshift's dream. "Well," Fusion said, then paused, casting a sidelong glance at Gravity, who just sat there and grinned back. "Wow. I think that's a good sign." The mare wiped her eyes on her forelegs, then shook her head vigorously.
"A pony after my own heart," said Gravity, her smile widening further and taking on a hard edge. "Shall we leave Red to his dreaming for a little while longer?"
"That seems fair." After all, he'll have to live in the real world soon enough. "You did an excellent job there, by the way. That was far better than the best I imagined."
Gravity nodded. "Your idea to let him fight."
"A team effort, then." With renewed interest, Fusion looked at the other six ponies. The others were not dreaming, so after some discussion the pair constructed a sharing environment along the same lines as the one Gravity had made for Fusion back at the Institute. A familiar glade, filled with sunlight and covered with thick grass around a quiet pool of water. It was the work of a moment for Gravity to bring each of the sleepers into the sharing, depositing them around one of the large trees.
At a nod from Gravity, Fusion relaxed her hold on the sleepers, allowing them to slowly awaken within the shared space, while keeping their real-world bodies comatose. The first to move was Thermocline, a green stallion, who looked confusedly up at the tree canopy, before struggling to his hooves at the sight of the sisters.
Transfixed by their gently moving manes, he took a hesitant step forward. "Am... am I dead?" he said, turning in a slow circle. "The last thing I remember is... is..." He fell silent, shivering all over, then peered more closely at the white mare. "Fusion? Is that you? The Master said--" His eyes snapped wide open and he stumbled backwards. Behind him the other ponies had stirred, getting up and gathering into a tight, nervous herd behind the stallion.
"Not today, Thermo. This is a sharing, so we can talk without any interruptions."
The stallion's brow furrowed, and Gravity stepped forward. "I can feel you trying to leave, Thermocline. That won't work; your body is asleep until we wake you up."
Fusion winced at the dawning horror on his face. "Which we will do, as soon as you've heard us out," she said quickly ...and had a chance to actually think about what's going on here. "What's the last thing you remember -- what's the last thing any of you ponies remember?"
There was a moment of shuffling hooves, then Thermocline lowered his head. "There was that Master, the one who-who... and the rumour that she was the one who has our foals. I hurt all over, like somepony had set me on fire," he said softly, turning slightly to look at the other ponies. "Was it the same for you all?"
Nopony said anything, but there was a general air of remembered pain in drooping ears or dipping heads. Triple Point, a chestnut mare, her coat dappled with light yellow, stepped forward, giving Thermocline a nudge. "We all felt that. I know the Masters do what's best, and that they sometimes have to make hard decisions, but..." Her muzzle twisted in distress, and her next words came out as a mumble. "Slip wasn't doing any harm; he knew he couldn't do much, but still he tried." Her head came up and her ears no longer drooped, but were flat against the sides of her head. "That's all we ever want, to be useful, and yet they give us nothing in return." Her voice strengthened as she spoke, her whole posture shifting. "That creature has my foal, and I want her back!" The mare broke off, anger switching to confusion in the blink of an eye.
"You've never thought like that before, have you?" Fusion paced around the little clearing; movement to work away the nervous jitters that were filling her belly. Everypony followed her steps, ears pricked forwards. Around her the light seemed to dim, allowing the pastel colours of the mare's gently flowing mane to cast soft shadows through the trees. Fusion glanced at Gravity, but her sister was standing off to one side, a distant look on her face. What is she doing? Fusion thought, then dismissed anything that didn't relate directly to this conversation.
"There was a thing in your head. A spell, a deceptively simple one." In the centre of the glade, between the herd and the circling Fusion, a magnified image of a green colt's head appeared in the empty air. Disembodied paws held a circle of black metal over the young pony's head. Fusion nodded to Gravity, who winked back. "Whenever you had bad thoughts it would hurt you. Your parents trained you from birth to recognise the authority of the Masters, priming the behaviours that the spell would use to further mould your mind." The image turned to a glass sculpture and thick tentacles of magic cascaded out of the circle to dance through the colt's skull.
Thermocline took a few hesitant steps forward, almost to the point where his muzzle would enter the slowly rotating image. "This... what is this? It looks familiar..."
"Tangent! That's my Tangent Vector!" The cry came from the back of the herd, which separated to let a large orange stallion through.
Fusion took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "I'm sorry, Scalar. It still hurts to see this." The stallion wheeled on Fusion, panic in his eyes, and the mare spoke quickly. "He's fine, with all the rest of the foals..." She left the words hang in the air, then shook her head vigorously. Get a grip, filly. Tell these ponies what they need to know and let them think about it. "If this looks familiar, that's because it is. This is the Blessing being cast," she said, her tone becoming clinical. "It is scanning Tangent's brain, sinking hooks deep into the areas responsible for emotion and pain, after which it ties itself to his horn and becomes a pony's life-long companion."
"But not for us," Thermocline said slowly, like he was sampling the taste of each word. "Is... is this what the Maker's Test is, then? This spell and a pony who can't get his mind off something that it reacts to?"
"Yes. You were all in fugue yesterday, but not anymore." Fusion stopped her pacing, turning to stand square in front of the ponies. "There is no divine touch from the Maker, just this spell and a lifetime of abuse from creatures who are no smarter than we are. As a result of my actions, your Blessings were removed." She gave a pained smile. "I wish I could have asked you first, but there was no way the Blessing would ever let you really think about it... so we did the next best thing. You were all in fugue, and many of you would have died within a few days." And I'll explain about Lilac later.
Many in the herd nodded at this; everypony knew the reputation of the Maker's Test. "What happens now?" Thermocline said, his wings twitching. "I want to go home, talk to my mate..." He tailed off, then stamped his hoof in frustration. "But what can I tell her? The instant she hears this..."
Fusion flicked her wings. "The only way to save you was to report you as dead."
Thermo's ears folded back, and he advanced on the white mare, each hoof-step digging deeply into the ground. "That's it?! We're stuck here -- wherever 'here' is, unable to go home, never to see our families--"
He stopped dead as Fusion shook her head. "There's more. Much more, if you are willing to be a part of it. You'll see your mate again, and we'll get our foals back, every single last one. I stake my life on it." The stallion nodded jerkily, an action mirrored by the rest, and Fusion began to talk once more.
===
Drained of energy and empty of words, Fusion rested on her belly in the leaf litter and stared at the group of ponies as they talked over what they had been told. Gravity, looking as tired as Fusion felt, let her last illusion -- a miniature airtank with fire spraying from its mid deck -- fade and walked to sit at her sister's side. "Thank you for that," Fusion murmured, half an ear cocked towards the herd. "I don't think we could have done better if we'd planned it." Which we should have done; this is too important to be left to chance.
"They are all here because of what Salrath did... it's almost funny that she's the best recruiting tool we have." Gravity looked shocked, and Fusion dipped her head in shame. "It's a terrible thing to say, but the way she had Slip killed has given us something that may tip things in our favour." That particular memory, teased out of a reluctant Spiral, had left Fusion shaken, but she'd fixed every detail in her mind.
"Slip was just another victim, pulled down by the Dogs," Gravity muttered, "another name that will be forgotten, along with all the countless others."
"Slip was a victim, yes... but he's more than that, now. He's the first of his kind, and will never be forgotten. He's..." Fusion smiled bitterly; there was a word, only really used by the Dogs to talk about extremists among their own people, but it fitted the situation very well. "Slipstream is an embodiment of everything that makes what we are doing right. He's our first martyr."
Gravity nodded slowly. "We'll see. We've done what we can; if we can't convince these ponies, then perhaps we should just go it alone." There was a glint in the other mare's eye, a look of anticipation.
Fusion shivered. "Every hoof and horn would be arrayed against us. I really don't want to; with only a few of us it's going to be really hard, no matter how much stronger we think we are. Got to sleep sometime." She looked mournfully at the herd, still deep in an increasingly animated discussion.
Gravity shrugged, glancing up at Fusion's ear. "You want to hear what they are saying? This is my sharing, after all."
"No." The white mare sighed, then laid her head on her forelegs. "We'll know soon enough."
Time passed, but without any of the normal signs of it doing so; the light never changed and the sky through the trees was as bright and as featureless as it had been when Gravity had created it. Finally, some consensus was reached, and the herd walked over to the sisters.
Thermocline, glancing from side-to-side as if asking for permission, took a step forwards. "This is just too much. We all want our families back, but the situation is hopeless." His voice became pleading, head reaching forward. "These are the Masters; there is no way we can fight them. Just let us go, we'll try to make a peace with them--"
The stallion carried on talking, but Fusion wasn't really listening anymore. She flicked her gaze from pony to pony; ears flat and wide-eyed, their fear was telegraphed in every nervous shuffle and hoof stomp. No! Surely some of them will want to help? The mare bit her lips, forcing back the vague and brutal plans that loomed large in her mind, plans for dealing with ponies that they couldn't send back and couldn't spare the effort to keep prisoner. She glanced at Gravity in despair. "What are we going to--?"
Something dark and huge flew silently overhead, blocking out the ersatz daylight. Then, with a crackling roar, the sound came, blasting leaves and twigs from the branches and making the ponies cower under the sudden onslaught. An angular shape fell through the canopy, clawed foot-pads digging deeply into the soft ground. There was a moment of stillness, then it leapt.
Unfolding from its crouch with a roar, the four-armed biped sprang at the herd, bounding forward with great leaps, as if its legs were giant springs. A Master in powered armour -- they've found us! The thought ran through Fusion like an electric shock and she reached for her magic, only to have it die stillborn when Gravity butted her with the side of her head. Desperate measures, Gravity, I hope this works... she thought, the impossibility of an intruder in this mental space suddenly making her feel stupid.
The effect on the other ponies was even more dramatic. There were screams and two jumped into motion, galloping in the opposite direction, while a third leapt straight up, wings beating like the stallion was a startled pigeon. The others stood their ground. Force walls in three colours popped into being along the line of the suit's charge, while two telekinetic fields grasped the thing in mid leap and hurled it into a tree with enough force to crack the trunk.
Wide eyed and trembling, Thermocline trotted forwards, flinching when the suit spun up its rotary cannon and made to rise. His horn flared green and, in one quick motion, he ripped a branch from the tree, smashing the jagged end into the figure again and again, until it stopped moving. Breathing hard, the stallion dropped the weapon, mouth opening and closing as he stared at what he'd done.
"So you can't do anything, eh?" There was no amusement in Gravity's voice as she stood up and spread her wings wide. Around her the light in the clearing started to drop, cloaking the mare in velvety shadows. "I watched a few of your foals fight off a dozen gryphon troopers. You really think you can do less? Even now, scared as you are, you are a force to be reckoned with." Her teeth glinted as she spoke, the only thing other than her bright teal eyes to be clearly visible in the gathering gloom. "You want your lives back? Then fight for them, Maker dammit!"
Fusion stood up and touched Gravity on the shoulder with one wing, and the mare glanced sideways, some of the fury leaving her face. "My sister is right. There is no hiding from this. The People will never let us go without a fight... and we can show you how to fight, show you things that will make you even stronger."
The little herd, all gathered together once more, seemed to shrink under Gravity's glare. Fusion scanned the faces, desperate for any sign at all that she'd managed to convince even one of them. What am I going to do with the ones who won't help? The thought swirled around in her head, circling the one terrible idea she hadn't been able to get out of her mind since the problem became obvious. There, in a twitch of a wing or the flick of an ear, some of the fear had changed to interest, the ponies really starting to think seriously about the possibility.
At long last, Thermocline moved, reaching forwards to tap the battered armour suit with one forehoof. "I begin to see," he said, the words not really meant for anypony other than himself, then his head came up, meeting Gravity's challenging stare. The blue mare smiled and nodded once, her expression becoming feral. "Make me another one, so I can do it again."
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4695029
I think that using the 'bulk download' removes all the author's notes -- would me moving the prereading credits section to the 'notes' make for a cleaner ebook experience, or doesn't it matter?
All right, all right, I'm favoriting this. Scifi darkfic time.
I had finally gotten an order for the surgical cables I build... My first thought was "Watch... there'll be an update to final Solution tempting me with glorious words..."
Eeyup!
4701800 I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Oooh. It's the Fusion torpedo!
Another fantastic chapter, sir. I'll be looking forward to next months release.
Double Edged Sword... oookay, this is... alright how is one side screwing themselves over? And please don't be The Sisters.. they need a bit more of a break. At least till they are ready to break out the foals.
Speaking of... Back to the Sisters YES!
But smell IS particles. Though, if she had her shield up high enough to block the microscopic particles like that, odds are it would end up being completely air tight. Which might be useful to do at some points. But doubt now. Next question, why is she so sore and hot and what are they doing?
Ah, building a place to live large enough for all the added ponies? Or something to keep them contained while they deprogram them? Hiding the refuse at he bottom of a deep lake, smart. So taking steps to make it harder to find them, hopefully that extends to whatever the are building as well.
They really luck out being able to just graze like that. Will make keeping food on hoof easier.... at least till winter.. hmmm, hopefully their rebellion has won by then. But, food shouldn't be TO huge an issue at least.
Should be a third. "hidden well enough to make it hard for the Dogs to find them in the first place." though that's pretty well implied, and they are in the middle of nowhere.
Eventually, once you've MADE them.
Then you'll just have to deal with.. windigoes, spirits of chaos, your sister getting taken over by the Nightmare, Changeling invasions, your student brain washing an entire town because she was going to be late with an assignment, dealing with the 'nobility'.. yeah... you'll get good at working fast.
Ohhh, yeah. Been focusing so much on the unicorn magic, they do still also have the pegasus magic as well. Weather control can really be used to their advantage if they get some ponies that know how to do that well.
To lean how to do it, to have her do it, or simply to have here there to help convince them the Sisters are right?
And, hopefully they start small, one at a time.
Likely, but at least these all have just gotten over the fugue, so might be far more amenable.
Ohhh, back door that it's unlikely anyone would think of. Or, is that the only way in? both are smart idea, bt both have their issues. only one way in, mean only one way out if you get trapped. And having a none underwater door would make things easier. but also make them easier to find.
So, did she just figure out a way to give herself super speed? At least in water anyway? Or, out of it too? At least a way to give herself a quick boost? Given they know about the teleportation they do nwed a few tricks to keep up their sleeve.
Either way, that could come in useful.
I like this. They knew it's possible they can be seen, and so don't do things to draw attention to themselves. know it's possible. But also know it's rather unlikely anydog will actually be looking at these empty areas, they know they simply don't know enough to know what to expect. And instead, simply accept it. Try to be ready for things to go south, while at the same time tying to keep themselves as hidden as possible just to make it harder. They know what they have no control over, and simply make plans for dealing with it, and wait to see. While going about their business and trying their best to enact their plans and prep. Just that, knowing but not stressing stuff. Damn those two are awesome. Accepting things are out of their control, without surrendering what control they do have.
What was keeping them cold in the first place after being taken out of the storage units? Given how long they seemed to be at working on the new home, shouldn't they already be fairly warm now? And waking them all up at once? That.. might not be a good idea.....
including Packet.... that is REALLY not a good idea.....
Oh wait.. so they aren't waking them all up, just, getti them out of their coma's, while still keeping them unconscious, just, slightly less so. Okay that makes sense.
Also a good idea.
I know how you feel.....
..........
I see what you're doing here story. And holy fuck is that good. LOVE IT!
Just love seeing how things started, early hints of what we know will come.
Wait... I just realized something. Gravity, is going into another ponies mind, while they are asleep and dreaming.......
Hmmmmmmm, this, is a really interesting image, but doubt it was meant it for the reason I'm finding it, unless you DO play Ponyfinder. A leg and hoof wrapped in barbed wire is the holy symbol for Ponyfinder's Goddess The Night Mare. It's version of Nightmare Moon.
Also what is it with stories I'm reading and dreams lately. Reading Moonlight, which is all about the CMC helping Luna out with going into ponies dreams to fight a foe giving them nightmares. Last chapter of A Delicate balance was about Twilight having a dream...
Again with the rather good, but also kind of creepy ideas. It does make sense, could be taken very very wrong. But yeah, looking at their mind like this, seeing just how best to help them, talk to them. Did not see this coming but, it does make a lot of sense.
And did we find a new way to watch the bitch suffer over and over? I full approve of a whole chapter that is nothing but these two fighting dream Salrath's and making them suffer, explode, and agonize in new and creative ways.
Ohhhhhhhh I see where this is going. Also... even without her in the chapter, manage to make me hate her even more. Did not think hating her more was possible.
........
That dream fight.... damn.. just damn. So, so much meaning. So perfectly done. No need for long speeches, for trying to talk him through it. Just, showing him, using that caring. And the key to breaking ponies free from their conditioning. Not for themselves, unless they have been brutally mistreated like Lilac. But for their families. For their herd, for others. That's.. really the only thing strong enough to break them free. And such a perfect use of that. Could could go on and on and on about this scene, just how good it was, what all of it means but really, it's pretty obvious and, just so damn well done.
Yeah betting Redshift is converted to their cause, now to see how they deal with the other ponies.
Well he's oddly rationale about this, and quick on the uptake. not to mention accepting.
Yeah, but well still working on it. Seems this went really oddly well. far better then I expected. Of course, still the matter of Packet.
I really really hope she gets to realize this before Fusion rips her apart atom by atom.
Oh, for some reason I thought they were awake now and things were settled. Okay this does make more sense.
Okay, I knew it had to be an illusion, but still... for a brief moment.. it didn't matter.. VERY well done.
Hell yeah Gravity. okay divide the duties. Fusion does the softer talking, the explaining, the rationale part. Let Gravity talk to their emotions, Give the rousing speech. It, just fits them all so well. And, again such a perfect pairing of the two. They work so damn WELL together.
YES!
YESYESYESYESYESYEYSYESYESYESYES!!!!
HELL YES!
That was awesome. And the rebellion has well and trully begun.
Just, DAMN, so perfect, so well done so much to say but, it's all there. How they got them on their side. The fear, overcoming it. Just, fuck yes! Tapping into their anger, their fear not for themselves, but for their family. Just and the Sisters, so perfectly in synch, so perfectly complimenting each other. This is by far one of the best dynamics between the two I've ever seen.
4701800 'Dark' fic? What? Not even close.
Well other then that one chapter... but that doesn't count.
I wouldn't mind at all
4701800 While you're at it, go check out Karazor and Horizon Runner. Both wonderful sci-fi poni writers.
This chapter felt a bit on the short side, but it's nice to see our little rebellion growing. :D
4701800
You weren't already reading this?
Between Gravity starting to work up her dream magic skills and Thermocline wanting another go at the end of the chapter, I'm grinning so hard it nearly hurts. First there was one free pony, then two, then four, then a small herd...
Random question that occurred to me while I was reading, how big are these alicorn ponies compared to regular show ponies? I've been picturing the whole lot of them as similar to in-show Celestia and Luna, but I suddenly wondered if something along the size of season four Twilight might be just as likely.
4703987
It could possible be Salrath, being as they (the sisters) said, their best recruitment tool.
Thanks for the comments, folks!
===
4702949
Heh, supercavitating Fusion torpedo...
4704529
Short in terms of 'not enough stuff'? Where to put the chapter breaks is frequently a problem; I try to keep the lengths roughly even, but sometimes I come up with a line that seems perfect as a closer.
4703987
I thought you'd like this one.
Nope, no Ponyfinder for me. The dream is based off WWI trenches, all wire, shell craters and mud.
I was pleased with the 'dream intervention' idea -- it was one of those lightning-bolt moments that fixed a difficult problem, while fitting so well into canon-to-be.
I probably should have strung Thermo's doubt out longer; I'll look into that (problem is, I like smart characters -- blind belief is an alien thing to me).
4704012
I'll do that, then. I'll keep the hard coded credits at the start, obviously.
4705398
In my head they are Celestia/Luna show scale. Sizing was based on the Diamond Dogs episode via Rarity, but that's a few years ago now and I'd have to go back to check if that matches as well as I thought it did.
Looks like Gravity's right to show them how it would work if they can fight back. However, I wonder about the ones they have to let go though, the ones that don't want to fight the masters. I really, really wish it would be as simple as just letting them go, but they are technically "dead" back there and if they go back there's a huge chance that Salrath would have them all killed first, whether before or after non-fighters tried to lead her back to Fusion's camp. Here's hoping recruiting won't be just as bad.
4707779
You'll have to throw in Gravity's rainbow at some point, too.
4707779
It felt as though not too much happened in this chapter, compared to the others. It isn't a matter of word count (You are delightfully constant in that regards.), but a matter of events. They expanded their base and introduced some new ponies to the rebellion. I think part of my perception that less occurred is the lack of tension and absence of immediate threats, if that makes sense.
This felt a bit like a "Main characters wait for things to happen" chapter.
"I don't know why people say a double-edged sword is bad. It's a sword. With two edges."
(Also, the card art is eerily similar to how I imagine the Blessing.)
In any case, great to see the sisters building their assets. Gravity's first dreamwalk was that wonderful, quiet kind of momentous event that this story is full of. Her gambit with the power armor was inspired. Face your fears, then beat the everloving crap out of them. Thus does the rebellion begin in earnest.
The chapter title is likely referring to the Dogs' treatment of the ponies, but I can't help but wonder what else it might be referring to. What could be waiting to blow up in the ponies' faces?
Well, we'll find out in time. Looking forward to more.
4708368
I think that's a fair way to put it. It's still interesting, for sure, and would be barely noticed if reading it in one gulp, but because it's a slow sequential tale it does have that feel of 'waiting' a touch.
Well-crafted, necessary, but it's like laying a foundation for a house.
Perhaps, however, it is merely I am still groggy from afternoon sleep.
"We can try and make peace with the Masters!"
*Gravity shows Fusion in the autodoc*
That might be a bit harsh though. The sisters should definitely keep it in mind though.
It's also really cool how you're building the sisters' panoply (is that the right word?). The sharing spell leads to Luna's Dreamwalking. Etc.
Oh god, I just pictured Salrath as smiledog.jpg
(Note: Try to avoid googling this with image-loading on. That dog is terrifying.)
I didn't get this at first, but I guess they mean he was the first pony who lost the Blessing?
That's... mildly creepy.
Wait, you told them they were dreaming, are they really going to fall for that?
Oh. Ooooooh.
I think this will work out.
(I really hope Packet Switch comes around, though... :( )
Viva la revolution! Now that that other ponies are being added into the equation, things are starting to get interesting...
I almost (key work being almost) want to burst into tears when Slipstream is mentioned. Sadly, he was the perfect choice for a maytr; he was kind, helpful, and known by all in the corral.
Oh, one last thing. The last couple of chapters have been sitting unread in my favorites for a while. I was reminded of this story by both James Taylor's 'Fire and Rain' and Led Zeplin's 'Stairway to Heaven'. This may be due to the fact that these songs were the first couple of songs that I would listen to when I started reading the first part: Days of Wasp and Spider.
Anyway, keep up the good work. You neer disappoint!
Late reply is late; the weekend was a thing of wonder, but not conducive to pony work.
4708368
4710529
Understood, although I don't really agree (surprise!). It is low tension, compared to my normal practice of putting life-or-death situations in each post, but I'd argue that this is one of those critical cornerstones (foundation was a good analogy). There will be at least one or two more like it (depending on your POV) while I set everything up for what's coming. I'm sure I'll get the balance between action and buildup right eventually (at that point, nobody will be happy...) Anyway, thank you for the comment.
4724340
Thank you -- dreamwalking was one of those really useful things, and solves a really tricky problem. It's annoying we know so little about Celestia!
4727970
Yeah, that is creepy, even in thumbnail.
Slip could be viewed as that, but in this case it's more in the sense of being an example to the rest of ponykind, hence the 'martyr' reference (not the right concept, but the meaning is there).
Yes -- there's no hiding when you're inside somepony else's head... The dream really is very good, and horses being horses, the flight reflex is very hard to fight.
4732545
Thank you! Glad you are enjoying it. Slip... yes, despite him not really appearing other than as a brief background character, that was a tough chapter to write. It wasn't even intentional -- I had plans for him! -- but as soon as I put Salrath in the corral, I knew the story wanted him dead. Now he's a pivotal influence on the whole first half of the book.
This story doesn't have nearly enough likes and Favorites.
I demand an explanation from your readers.
4825816
Excellent point!
Also: welcome!
4825816
Couldn't agree more.
I was able to read the entire story without a problem until now, and suddenly in this chapter It's like I'm reading a different language. I had to read the same sentences over and over before I understood them.
What were the sisters doing in the beginning of the chapter?
Also, the situation is about to get a lot more complicated.
4709079
I honestly don't understand it either. If you have a single-edged sword, you can't make backhand cuts. Double-edged swords are the best.