13: Tip of the Iceberg
The active volcano loomed over the landscape as the royal changeling sisters studied it from a safe distance on the bridge of the Deception. A thin but steady column of steam and ash billowed from its craggy peak. Far below, the last of the lava dogs stirred by the recent eruption were burrowing down into the cooling lava tunnels and the forest fires around Fort Saddlebelt were settling down as the ponies reclaimed control.
Rainbow lowered her telekinetically held spyglass and looked to her sister. “We’re in luck. Mount Boom already blew its top recently, so we can glide right over without worrying about another eruption for at least a month.”
Twilight hummed nervously at the dense layer of ash hanging high above the lonely volcano, but that took a backseat to a more pressing issue as she shot Rainbow a scathing glare. “Mount Boom? Really?”
“What? That’s its name.” Rainbow arched an eyebrow at her fluming sister.
“It’s named The Throat of Chaos,” Twilight stated matter-of-factly.
“Yyyeah, the only ponies you’ll find out here are military. Good luck changing their minds on that.” Rainbow laid it on so thick that a wave front of sarcasm rippled through the hive mind.
Mount Boom, honestly. I can worry about that later. Shaking off a groan before it could escalate, Twilight refocused on the landscape. “Any chance we can use an alternate route? I’d rather not have ash clog everything.”
“That depends on what you want to risk most.” Rainbow rubbed the back of her head to think of all the different outer regions and the chaos spawn that called it home. “As far as I know, nothing flies over Mount Boom, so the volcano’d be our only concern. There’s a mountain range to the east that has gale force winds at all times of the year except spring, but we’re too late in the year for that. We could swing around to the northwest, but that’s Eagle Ant territory. Even with the cloak I’d rather avoid that area if at all possible.”
“Crud.” <Ratchet, can the engines survive going through all of that ash?>
The chief engineer stopped inspecting a troublesome boiler to peer out of a porthole. <We might be able to after the preparations RD ordered, but we’d still have to clean the air intakes afterwards. Some of these older boilers are shaky enough as it is, it would behoove us to take a few hours to clean the ship after we get through.>
Twilight scanned the landscape before her. Somewhere off the distance was the capital of the old Thestarian empire, abandoned long ago due to some great catastrophe. Discord can say he’s innocent all he wants, but it’s not called the Chaos Lands for nothing. “Captain Veselov, take us above the ash layer.”
Veselov’s gaze had never left the far reaching black clouds that ascended too high for him to even see their ceiling amidst the ashfall. “I’m afraid that would be impossible, my queen. The venerable bird may be good in a fight, but she’s not designed to go that high. We’d never get above the ash.”
Rainbow tsked in expected exasperation. “Typical. We can forget waiting it out, by the time the skies are clear, Boom will blow its top again.”
“Then we have no choice,” Twilight replied definatively to her sister and captain alike. “Take us in at best possible speed.”
“Aye, my queen.”
Both royals cantered back to their seats as the drone captain casually walked over to stand behind the wheelhouse. “Helm, come about and put us at fifteen knots. Take the path with the thinnest ash.” Confirmation led him to address the defense station. “Ensign, deploy the cloak, I don’t want any spawn down there thinking we’re a snack.”
<All hooves, this is the captain. We are now at general quarters. I want all eyes on the ground and the sky. Just because the ship’s invisible doesn’t mean we’re out of danger.>
With a mighty lurch, the Deception steamed forward into the dark, ash smothered sky with only a wrinkle in the light to mark its passing.
The dead and burning landscape stretched for several kilometers in all directions of Mount Boom. Small wind storms created miniature ash tornados that blew across the hilly terrain. Ashfall from the black clouds above rained down, covering the airship in soot, along with the crystals projecting the cloaking bubble. The ship was barely halfway past the blasted land when the drone crewing the cloaking terminal looked towards Veselov with a worried expression on her face.
“Captain, the ash is starting to destabilize the crystals. We’re going to lose the cloak in a matter of minutes.”
Veselov looked out across the skies as the ash blizzard slowly trickled down. Glad the air intakes are beneath us. “We have to keep going. The wind should take care of the ash soon enough.” He turned to Twilight with a question on his lips.
It was easy enough for her to sniff it out and she flew over to join him at the soot covered windshield. “Keep the current heading. Luna said this was the general direction of the old Thestral capital.” Twilight used her magic to wipe enough of the window clean so she could peer at the landscape. “There,” she announced after pointing a hoof downward. “That canyon seems to mark where the ash cloud layer is being diverted further north. The wind’s strong enough that you can see it. We need only go that far before we can stop to clean the ash off of us.”
Rainbow Dash cantered over while addressing the cloak technician. “Retract the crystal booms. I don’t want them sheared off by some bad weather.”
The helmsling didn’t need to be prompted and started a slow descent to give the vessel better speed towards the canyon.
Along the way, the engines started coughing and sputtering, but Ratchet and his team of engineers kept the Deception in one piece long enough for the vessel to pass through the ash blizzard and into the tight winds blasting through the canyon below. The sudden gust of violent wind rocked the ship so harshly it was pushed up several meters. The helmsling fought with all of her physical and magical strength to keep the Deception level. “Hang on to your flanks, this is going to be rough!”
Everyone in the room latched onto their chairs as the airship groaned loudly with creaking steel as it struggled to keep itself in one piece. The turbulence threatened to throw everyone to the deck as the shaking vessel tossed drones against walls, along with bursting dozens of pipes, spewing steam and oil in all directions.
After what seemed like an hour, the Deception passed through into the airspace over the dense green/purple forest that miraculously still grew intact on the far side of the canyon. It took the pilot a few moments to level the ship off before she received a nonverbal command from Twilight to cut the forward thrust.
Rainbow Dash was nursing her horn after smacking it into her chair. <I need a damage report pronto!>
Twilight placed a hoof on her chest to calm down. <Everypony okay?>
A round of affirmatives resounded throughout the ship as the helmsling checked her instruments. “Engines one, three, and four are idling, two’s gone dead.”
“Alerting damage control teams,” announced another bridge officer.
The pilot only nodded in acknowledgement. “Altitude controls are responding, and only one of our lift engines appears to have suffered critical damage. As long as nothing else happens, we’ll be fine.”
Rainbow Dash borrowed some of the lower observation drones’ eyes. “Don’t count on that while we’re in the CL.” <Drive Belt, I want those cloak crystals cleaned and online ASAP.> That wind would have torn a lesser ship apart, or grounded it at least.
With the whole ship on high alert, every gun crew scanned the skies and ground for threats. Even if the forest below appeared tame at the moment there was no telling what dangers lurked below the dense canopy.
The overall damage was minor and took less than half an hour to fixed everything, save for getting every last scrap of ash off the cloak crystals. During that time, Twilight couldn’t take her eyes off the scattered purple trees below. It was enough that Rainbow’s curiosity dragged her away from Veselov’s conversation. She cantered over to try and guess what Twilight was looking at. “I don’t think you’re going to find a hay fry joint down there, sis.”
“I could actually go for some right now, but I’m more interested in those Jiyya trees. Celestia told me some time ago that they only grow naturally in the Thestral homeland.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. Only she could be fascinated by a tree when we’re in the middle of a war zone. “I guess purple trees are interesting,” she got an idea that caused a snarky grin to dance over her muzzle. “Maybe if we took some seeds home you could trim them into mini Twilights.”
Twilight guffawed. “I’m more interested in their fruit. Jiyya fruit is a critical part of the Thestrian diet during foalhood and adolescence. So much so that the scant few trees they’ve been able to cultivate has limited Thestal births to less than ten per year. If we could learn how to grow some in the Golden Harvest we could gift it to Luna and the Thestrals to further cement peaceful public relations.”
Rainbow fired a sardonic scowl at her sister. “That’s nice and all, Twi, but what’s stopping you from asking the batwings for some seeds? There’s no need to go down there where who knows what could be lurking about.”
“Because the seeds are exorbitantly expensive, and most of them are used in magical rituals to keep what trees they currently have alive and healthy. We’re currently parked above a figurative gold mine for strengthening relations with Equestria, and it’s too good to pass up.”
“Hmm…” Rainbow’s wings fluttered in contemplation. “Since you put it that way, it might be worth the risk. Even with the horror stories, I find it hard to believe every scrap of land out here is a deathtrap.”
“I hope you’re right,” Twilight commented before addressing Aegis, who was watching the lower decks for boarding attempts. <Captain, we’re sending an away team to gather samples of the Jiyya trees. I want you to go with them.>
<Yes, my queen.> Although she was able to hide it, Aegis grumbled to herself. Why on Equis do we need to go grab fruit in this nightmare land?
A group of eight Clockwerks descended from the Deception towards the largest nearby patch of Jiyya trees as the warship moved in to hover above it. The artificial changelings crashed through the canopy with ease, creating holes for the drones following them to enter.
Aegis and her squad of soldiers swarmed the ground around a pine tree and scoured the area for threats. The only things she found at the business end of her weapon were fleeing birds and rodents, the latter being unusually large. The hole one of the Clockwerks created happened to be where a large nest of hoof sized wasps was located. Ferrum was unlucky enough to be flying in right after the robot only to find himself surrounded by the enraged insects.
Aegis brought her weapon on the swarm. <Ferrum, get clear!>
He barely had time to sprint away before Aegis unleashed a stream of ignited oil that tore straight through the center of the swarm. The flames burned or disoriented the wasps, scattering them to the four winds, but not before stinging Ferrum a half dozen times. With the threat neutralized, Intel and one other soldier flew over to spray foam over the burning oil to dowse it before it could grow out of control.
Intel gave quick orders for everyone to spread out before addressing his commander. “Even with the fire extinguishers, bringing a flamethrower is hardly the best weapon in the middle of the woods, captain. The last thing we need is to broadcast our location with a forest fire.”
“Or damage the trees we came here to harvest,” Riposte added as he swept the landscape for more targets.
“If you have time to complain, you have time to form a perimeter,” Aegis rebuked as she eyed the swaying branches with suspicion. <Spread out into fire teams so we can give the scientists enough room to work. The sooner we get what mother wants out of here, the sooner we go home.>
As everyone spread out to obey, Aegis flew over to find Ferrum hissing in pain on a tree branch. “How you are holding up, guardsling?”
“I’ve had worse,” he rasped at the lumps forming on his flank and legs. “The flame ants back home have a worse bite than this.”
Aegis shook her head and pointed up. “Go back to the ship and get yourself checked out anyway. I’m not risking you over some unknown venom when there are fifty others who can take your place.”
The noise of whooshing flames and cries on the local hive mind cut any retort Ferrum had, so he opted for a quick salute before shakily flying back up to the ship. Aegis turned away after making sure he would make it back, then sped off to find the worst of the action.
It did not take long for the forest denizens to flee in the face of the fire wielding invaders from the sky. The outer ring the changelings had cordoned off for the scientists was more or less safe for the time being. Riposte and a junior soldier prowled the far north eastern edge. His jungle training kept him more or less out of sight; while his companion stayed close to learn from him.
<The thing you have to remember, Flechette, is that anything and everything can be a threat. A small rock could be an ambush spider, a brush could be hiding a cockatrice. Never let your guard down.>
Flechette nodded curtly before she spied a rather oddly shaped plant and pointed at it. <Is it me, or does that small tree look like it’s growing out of a pony?>
“What?” He followed her hoof, and sure enough there was a small tree seemingly growing out of the back of a wooden earth pony as if it was laying down on its belly.
Now, any sane person in the middle of a hostile forest would let sleeping dogs lie, but if there was one weakness that plagued Twilight’s brood the most, it was their insatiable curiosity. So it was, that Riposte felt compelled to walk over to investigate, but not before double checking his surroundings first.
When nothing dangerous seemed to be lurking about, he stepped over as quietly as possible with his tagalong close behind. <Keep an eye out. It might be a lure for something more dangerous.>
Flechette had to fight to keep her ears from falling flat so she could keep them alert for threats <You don’t think a pony was actually taken and… woodified do you?>
The thought made Riposte pause between a pair of dense ferns. A bright orange centipede tried to take a bite out of him, but Flechette was quick to smack it away with a hoof. Riposte nodded appreciatively as the bug scuttled away. <Thanks, kid. As for the pony, I have no idea. I’m not dismissing anything this place might have in store for us.>
The pair was much closer now, barely seven meters with only a few fallen twigs and leaves between them and the wooden pony. Flechette swelled with pride at her brother’s praise, but it didn’t last long as she inspected the object of their attention. Her bile rose at what she saw. <I – I really think it was a pegasus mare. It looks like those tree branches used to be her wings!>
Sure enough, the branches growing out of the wooden pony’s back were akin to flared wings where instead of feathers, short thin green leaves grew in all directions, giving it a very dense canopy. A trio of bright red and purple flowers bloomed along the base of the tree-like wings. The air drifting across both changelings’ noses was cloyingly sweet.
Riposte was more focused on the head, which wore an almost serene expression. His vision began to swim and he shook it to try and clear his thoughts. <Maybe she was a tree remolded to look like a pony, or she could have been willing, Mother knows why.>
He was about to pull back when Flechette slumped to her side and fell out of the fern. No… the - pollen… He fell to his knees, but not before mustering out a pitiful cry for help before darkness claimed his vision. <Ae-gis, plant thi-ng.>
Within moments, he was as still as the forest around him. However, it did not remain so for long. The bark covering the tree-like pony started to chip and crack under its own accord. The leaves started to fold in on themselves and retreat into the now skeletal looking wings. The branches cracked and popped before coming to life and folding neatly at the pony’s barrel as its bark finished transforming into brown fur. Her mane and tail were a tangle of green vines that shook as the mare climbed to its hooves upon stiff legs.
Slitted eyes the color of roses blinked the last vestiges of stiffness away before she sniffed the air. Amid the usual myriad of forest smells, several new ones attacked her nose. Ack-chi-wa! What is that horrendous odor! Her nose directed her to the two comatose changelings several meters away. What manner of animal befouls the air in such a manner?
The plant-like pony sniffed the air to make sure no threats lingered in the area before moving in to investigate the two purple intruders. What a miserable catch. If they reek as foul as the silverback’s backside, they will make a poor meal indeed.
Her nose burned more the closer she approached to the two sleeping creatures, but what she saw, fueled her curiosity. The purple beings were wearing items of metal and most peculiar of all, clothing. The pony eyed the pair with curiosity and trepidation in equal measure.
These beings are beyond mere strange, nor are they food. She sniffed the nozzle of Riposte’s flamethrower, only to fall back on her haunches as her nose suffered chemical burns down to her throat. *cough hack* “What manner of creature shapes metal and smells of fire?” She snorted her nose several times to try and clear it.
The sound of buzzing wings, far heavier than any she had heard before caught her attention. Aegis and two other changelings suddenly broke through the canopy above, and quickly encircled the plant pony. Aegis took one look at her two fallen siblings, the row of carnivorous teeth in the strange green and brown pony, and pointed her flamethrower at the creature. Only Riposte’s proximity to the creature stayed her wrath. “Get away from them!"
The creature cowered at the warning burst from the flamethrower of one of Aegis’ wingmates, and tripped on her own hooves in primal fear of fire. “De’la tu’luna be’resa!” She cried out in abject terror in a language no changeling understood. “Ma ya’delra! Ma ya’delra!”
One of Aegis’ wingmates gasped. <Looks like we found a native, Captain!>
A crazy thought crossed Aegis’ mind and she holstered her flamethrower. <A native, what are the odds of that? I’m taking her – him – or whatever back to the ship. You two, grab Riposte and Flechette. We’re leaving before anything else goes wrong.>
The plant pony saw the strange purple beings were slightly distracted and tried to make a break for it, but barely got three steps before a lavender-orange aura enveloped her. She cried out as she was hefted off the ground. “Da’hua! Dutel’veta calner’ vetiata!?”
Aegis grunted as she had to keep the struggling creature stable in her magic. <Bravo squad, report to my position, we have another catch for the scientists to cream themselves over, and I need some help reeling it in.>
Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash stood in a hallway in front of a door where a frantic plant thing was banging on the walls yelling out in a frantic tone. Aegis stood before her queens, now free of her flamethrower.
“So let me get this straight, Aegis. You found an apparently sentient being and instead of trying to do things diplomatically, you foalnap her?” Twilight inquired with more surprise than ire. Rainbow kept peeking through the small window in the door, but remained silent.
“That thing didn’t come across as willing to talk. I thought that you could learn how to communicate with it under more controllable circumstances. Maybe it could direct us to some ruins that might still be intact.”
“It was a good call if you ask me,” Rainbow announced before Twilight could speak. “There’s no guarantee the old Thestral capital is still there, let alone if it has anything worth digging up.”
“It’s still incredibly rude to have foalnapped her like that,” Twilight rebuked. She waved off Aegis’ rebuttal before it could leave her lips. “But we might as well try to communicate. At the very least so you can apologize.”
Aegis remained stern in the face of her mother’s displeasure. “It sounds like a corrupted version of ancient Thestarian.”
Twilight’s horn lit up and a small sphere of dancing letters and symbols appeared in front of her. “Then at least I have a starting point to work with. Just make sure she keeps talking.”
Rainbow Dash huffed comically at the torrent of fearful shouting. “I don’t think you have to worry about that.”
Over an hour passed before the sphere of letters grew dense enough to grant Twilight enough understanding for her to make an attempt at establishing a dialogue. She opened the door with a tray holding bread and water at her side. She hid the magical sphere behind her to keep it from spooking her guest.
The plant pony stopped crying out and fled to the far wall at the sight of the tall and powerful looking queen. Yet what drew her attention most of all was her ponyish shape and reptilian eyes. Twilight tried to keep a friendly face, but had no idea how any expression would be interpreted.
“Hello, I’m Twilight Sparkle,” she said placatingly, and decided to drop the title. “Can you understand me?”
The brown and green pony-thing nodded dumbly. “The Mark of Reformation is upon your being! By what magic are you not of the lost ones?”
Twilight furrowed an inquisitive brow. “Umm… I have no idea what the mark is, nor who the lost ones are; but can we start with your name? Do you have one?”
“Y-yes. Mine ancestors bestowed the name Arya upon my person, Arya Ge’ula.” Arya’s wing-branches stopped quivering in fear, but her ears were still pinned back.
“Good to meet you, Arya Ge’ula.” Twilight suddenly wished the storeroom they were in had been given a chair or cushion. “I must apologize for my daughter’s rash behavior in bringing you here.”
Arya zeroed in on Twilight’s carnivorous teeth and fangs. “Not good meal am I, oh great and powerful Twilight Sparkle!” Arya attested hastily. “I am more sap than blood.”
Twilight brought the tray over and set it down in front of Arya. “We only brought you here to talk. We don’t want to eat you.”
Arya’s gaze drifted down to the presented bread and water. She glanced warily between the food and Twilight as she sniffed the presented items. They reeked of oil and smoke that was commonplace on the ship, but fine otherwise. She snatched the hunk of bread and tore into it before looking around at the wood and metal room she was bound in. “What manner of flying beast clinks and clanks and thrums and churns?”
“We’re on an…” Twilight said ‘airship’, but the spell failed to translate it out of Vespid. “We’re on a—” Stupid spell never worked right. She sighed to center herself. “We are on a large construct that we have built. It is not a living beast, but an object of our own design.”
Arya quickly devoured her small meal and had started sniffing the steel deck at her hooves while Twilight spoke. “You hear the beast’s thrum and the churning and burning, do you not? How can you not see the life?” Yet before Twilight could even think of a counterargument, Arya gasped with excitement. “Are you the Queen of Prophecy!?”
Twilight’s first replied died on her lips. Let’s hold off on telling her I’m actually a queen. “What prophecy?”
“Yes, yes, you would not know of it! The elders said as much!” Arya bounded over to grovel at Twilight’s hooves, her tone was too ecstatic to carry the reverence she should have been displaying. “She said you would be tall, far taller than any of us. That you would bear the Mark, but also have the eyes of our foremothers!” Arya spread her wooden wings out low in a submissive gesture, something that was mostly lost on Twilight. “Farseer Vel’in once spoke of a great metal sky beast bearing two children of the royal caste! Please, I beg of you to enlighten me, do you have an equal here with you?”
At least she’s completely forgotten about the foalnapping, Twilight mused dryly. “Slow down, please. Before we go into this prophesy business, I’d like to know what you are.”
Arya leapt to her hooves and flared her skeletal wings out to their full height and prostrated herself before the queen. “I am Arya, Child of the Lost Empire, Second Seedling of Ve’tul’na. I may only be a second circle druid, but service to the Ponies Hidden in the Leaves is the highest of callings.” When Twilight did not immediately answer, Arya risked cracking an eye open to see Twilight’s unreadable expression, and inwardly slapped herself. Ah tach! None of that means anything to the prophesied one! “My people are called Tea’la.”
Ah, good. Now we’re getting somewhere. Twilight gestured with a hoof for Arya to rise, and was glad it translated. “As I’ve said, my name is Twilight Sparkle.” There’s no point in hiding it, or insulting her intelligence. “I am a changeling queen here with my sister Rainbow Dash on a…” The spell failed to translate the word she wanted to use, making her grumble at it. “We’re on a journey to uncover our people’s past.”
Arya’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. “And the sky would carry a steel bird that carried two inquisitive podmates born from royal amber. You must come see the elders! They will help you on your journey, I swear it on my people’s honor.”
Twilight was initially taken aback by Arya's enthusiasm, but inwardly shrugged at herself. I’d probably be just as bad if monkeys from space came down and said hello. “I must admit I wasn’t expecting to meet anyone” or thing “friendly out here.” If they can point me at some ruins or even some authentic pottery, that’d be perfect! “If I take you to one of the viewing areas, can you guide us to your people?”
“It should not be difficult to locate. All you must do is find the tall hill with a ring of purple leaved trees. My people are at the center.”
Rainbow Dash had been content to let her sister handle everything up until now, but she felt Twilight was missing a key element. <Hey, Twi, are you going to ask what our part in this prophecy is?>
Twilight halted before she turned around to open the door when Rainbow’s question stopped her. <Bah, I nearly forgot to ask. Hopefully nothing too drastic.> She turned back towards Arya who was trying to decipher the pattern of the woven tray. “Arya, did the prophecy ever say what those of the returning royal family was supposed to do?”
“The elders would know more than I, but all I know is that you will find the true nature of your forbearers’ sins.”
Twilight couldn’t help but tilt her head in curiosity. “I found mention that the royals of old felt that they had done something terrible, but they never said anything definitive. Do you or your elders know what happened?”
“Hiding the truth of the matter? Or has time truly stripped you royals of the inherent guilt?” Arya replied cryptically. “Your desire to relearn is telling and curious all the same.” She eyed Twilight carefully, studying her intently. “This land that I call home is the product of magic beyond imagining. Magic wrought by the old imperial family.”
I don’t like where this is going one bit, Twilight thought dourly as she turned to fully face her guest once more. “What are you trying to say?”
“I know not all the fine details my elders do.” Arya extended her left wing and traced a hoof along the longest branch. “The oldest tales say that this land was once a vast lake of sand and rock. The royals, like yourself, changed all that. But they also changed all who dwelt here. In essence, this land is of our own making.”
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Flamethrowers! Intrigue! Timber Pones! This chapter's got it all!
I am absolutely in love with your worldbuilding for this story. Everything from your interpretation of changeling biology and social structure up to this latest addition of wooden ponies (and why not? we already have crystal ponies, after all!) is making my brain tingle in all kinds of enjoyable ways.
Is that a subtle Princess Bride reference I see?
MOUNT BOOM.
Well, how about that. I gotta wonder how much this Prophecy is going to complicate things.
As a side note, was the unusually large rodents a Princess Bride reference?
The Chaos Lands wouldn't be based on The Blight, would it? They do seem rather similar.
Oooohhh!
WHOOOO! NICE CHAPTER!!!
CAN I HAVE ANOTHER?!!!
DUDE... FOR THE LOVE OF CELESTIA'S WHITE TUSH DONT YOU DARE TO STOP WRITING, YOU SIR ARE A DAMN GENIUS... FIVE MOUSTACHES FOR YOU
AND I HOPE TO SEE MORE OF THIS
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Well buck. Discord really was innocent...
Good work. This story has a lot of depth
I thought it was a bad idea for them to deconstruct the colony ship, and here we are with a situation where a very large ship would have been ideal.
4340869
No one ever believes him. He doesn't seem to be the type to do physical harm to have his fun to me. Broken toys are no fun to play with, after all.
This has really gotten intriguing ... in every sense!
Nitpicks (maybe):
her sister’s fluming.
Should this be "fuming"?
Retract the crystal boons.
Should this be "booms"?
Yet another delightfully wonderful chapter!
PLOT TWISTS AND PROPHECIES - my alternate title for this chapter
(\
There are PLANT PONIES NOW?! oooh~ this just keeps getting better
this is going to be soo awesome /)
nose
I do so love it when an author leaves the beaten paths to build something new and different.
This is very different. I like it. Continue.
Sooo....lit up like a Christmas tree? They know of Christmas in Equestria?
When we read about the ash problem I couldn't help but think this would be good grounds to invent the Deflector Dish and maybe the Bussard Collector. The two used together would mitigate the issues of traveling in the ash cloud and allow better traffic across the volcano...
Who wants to bet that next chapter someone will say," Welcome Twilight. We've been expecting you..."?
Monkeys from space! Twilight, are you implying you want HiE in your AU?
Keep going! ;)
4341509 oh well. No biggie.
so we got bug ponies/Changelings and this new plant ponies, if your going to use water ponies can they be Kelpies
4341685
either that or Equestria is gaining another sentient species.
Are you calling us monkies?
As much as I enjoy this chapter, I can't help but wonder why, of all ponies/changlings, Twilight Sparkle didn't know a spell that could stop ash from entering the intakes. It seems like it would be realitivly simple. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
4342072 not to mention it should be spelled 'monkeys'
Well, on top of everything awesome 'till now,
Mount Boom.............genius.
4341060
That was a ship-shaped colony. It was designed to permanently land and become a building. Deception is probably not doing any worse than Ashes would have in the same situation.
4340828 It doesn't seem too similar. I am guessing the 'The Blight' you are talking about is from Dragon Age: Origins right? Because if so, the Blight did mutate the land and creatures, but it only made them change into 1 single way/thing. Plants would always turn into Blank, Humans would always turn into Blank. The Chaos Lands from what we have seen, changed the land randomly, with no rhyme or reason, but the creatures would change to fit the land. It sounds more like The Elder Scroll's Planes of Oblivions invading into part world, than the blight's ever expanding rampage of unstopableness.
4342494 The Wheel of Time's Blight, actually. I had forgotten that is what they called it in Dragon Age.
4342494 Or he/she could have meant "The Blight" from "Wheel of Time" series of fantasy books.
4342631 He said that already
and I never read that series, so I have no idea how the Blight works there. 
The Throat of Chaos? Waaaaay too dramatic for everyday use.
A plant pegasus? That speaks corrupted ancient Thestarian? Sounds like the changelings aren't the only type of ex-bat pony hanging around.
They figured out how to use alchemy on things other than themselves, didn't they? Went mad they did
meta as fuck
So, unless Discord taught those royal Thestrals of old some Chaos magic, then he is totally innocent about the Chaos Lands.
If he DID teach them however, then he is simply guilty of the equivalent of giving a foal a loaded cannon.
Plant-ponies, I like it. I hope to see more of Arya.
pony tree ents!
same thing...
4342483
Actually, no!
The shape of the craft is restricted by aerodynamics, and the effect of turbulence on a craft decreases as the craft gets larger and/or heavier.
Air currents affect the craft based on the sum of all air currents acting upon it. The larger the craft the more air currents are acting on it at once, and so the effect on the craft will average out. This is the primary reason why large consumer planes are so much less affected by turbulence than a glider.
Mass is more intuitive. Increasing mass means increasing inertia. It takes more force to deflect a heavier object.
If they had kept the colony ship flight-capable then they could have powered through the turbulent air, which would have been far safer all around than flying through volcanic ash. Or they could have flown over it.
That's not even considering the capacity difference in offensive and defensive capabilities.
Really, they strike me as being more than a little unprepared for this trip. RD has known all along exactly what would be was waiting for them, but they didn't think about how to get past Mt. Boom until they were already there. You would think somebody as research obsessed as Twi would have checked a map before setting off.
How long would it have taken to retrofit the Deception with better engines? Or better intakes and filters? They came out of the cloud considering the loss of one engine to be better than anticipated, so did they bring spares? How do they intend to get back?
Also: Why are their away teams so bad at their jobs? Why has RD not beaten caution into them?
Aaaaaand it gets even better still. Looking forward to the next update.
Sweet! A prophecy. I always loved these. I get the feeling by the end of this story, twilight and rainbow will have to fight someone. They both would make the perfect fighting duo. One fights with magic the other fights in the air.
I'm just realizing this now but where the hell is spike
I can't remember if you told us
The Chaos Lands are home to Rodents Of Unusual Size, apparently.
Those cliffhangers though.
Excellent as always! 
T
Away Teams...
dumpaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/red-shirts-star-trek-funny-pictures.jpg
Twilight, your doing it right.
4346451
Your points on the relative merits of the Phoenix and Deception are valid (although I don't believe the stresses of sheer wind would put on the phoenix would exceed its tolerances, as they would be so much of a rounding error compared to normal stresses from gravity and the pitch/yaw/roll from movement), but I didn't mean to suggest taking the entire colony along. That would have been silly.
For a campaign like this you would normally engage in months of planning and preparations, if not years. By all rights flying through the ash cloud should have killed every living creature on board without a sealed hull and an extensive life support system, so I think asking a comparable level of engineering on the engines isn't unreasonable.
Of course, what gives the biggest impression they were unprepared is that they waited until they were AT the volcano to work out what route to take using only information they already had, and that Twilight didn't even know her craft's service ceiling.
4346590
That was done for the benefit of the reader. Rather than having a whole separate scene where Twi and company went over the entire plan in a conference room, i depicted this way to keep the narrative flow moving.
4344346
He's off to discover his biological parents.
4340828
There are many Blights out there, so just that name isn't going to help. But no, i didn't base the CL off anything...consciously anyway.
4340861
Hmmm....hmmmmm Throw in a 6th stash and you got yourself a deal.
4341395
the beaten path was closed due to road construction so I didn't have much choice.
4341495
Humans would bring the ultimate weapon of hands! The attack of petting hands has already tamed cats (as much as they try to deny it) dogs, and all other pets. Should humans come, ponies would have to open rehab centers for petting addiction.
4342859
isn't everyone just a little bit mad?
4344837
Just be glad the Lings don't normally wear red shirts.
4346657 Alrighty, then. I was thinking the Wheel of Time's Blight. It's an extremely hostile place where pretty much everything wants to kill you, including the sticks on the trees. Most of it was caused by experiments made by one of the Forsaken and the rest was the result of the touch of evil upon the land.
We'll have to see how yours shapes up to be, but so far it seems that everything doesn't necessarily want to kill you, they are just extremely able to and have nothing against it.