Chapter 4 - Scientific Research
Chapter 4 – Scientific Research
It was almost recess time, but the children didn't seem to notice. Their attention was completely caught by the speech of the brown stallion in front of them, intent on explaining the meaning of the drawings and formulas written on the blackboard, and judging from their faces, their interest was real. Cheerilee was pleasantly surprised. When Time Turner had agreed to her idea to give a basic lecture of physics to her class, she had feared that the topics would be too difficult to understand for her students. Instead, the brown stallion had succeeded in explaining the lesson in an understandable way for their still limited knowledge, using practical examples, analogies, and a simplified language.
“... for this reason, because of the presence of the air, which allow the propagation of sounds, if a tree falls in a forest and nopony is nearby, it makes noise anyway,” he concluded, earning a general murmur from the children.
In the bottom of the class, Rumble discreetly handed a candy to Pipsqueak.
“I told you,” the pinto colt whispered happily, collecting the award of the bet.
“And with this, our introduction to physics end here. So, anypony have a question?”
A forest of hands stood up from the entire class.
“I'll take it as a yes,” he chuckled.
He was about to choose the first hand when the alarm on his watch began to sound.
“Oh, blimey! It's already 11 am!” he exclaimed looking at the time. “I'm sorry everypony, but unfortunately I have to go.” The children groaned, clearly disappointed. “But, if your teacher agrees... Maybe I could come back tomorrow and answer your questions. What do you think, Miss Cheerilee?”
“Oh, I think it’s a wonderful idea!” she exclaimed, receiving a unanimous 'YAY!' from the class.
The purple mare rose from her chair and congratulated with him. “Thanks again for coming, professor Turner. My students really enjoyed your lesson.”
“I'm the one that should thank you, Miss Cheerilee, for allowing me to have this splendid experience. Seeing their eyes sparkling with enthusiasm for science was priceless,” he said. “And moreover, this has been a splendid occasion to spend some time with my daughter,” he added turning towards a young unicorn filly sitting in the first row. “Alright Dinky, now daddy has to go, but I'll come back in time to pick you up at the end of school, all right?”
The unicorn filly nodded, oblivious to the surprised stares of her schoolmates, who had heard everything.
“Good. So, see you later everypony. I have some work waiting for me. Allons-y!” he exclaimed, leaving the classroom.
An almost surreal silence pervaded the room, with all the stares directed towards Dinky. It didn't take long before Dinky took notice of her classmates intent on staring at her in surprise.
“Ahem, yes?” she asked uneasily.
“That cool scientist that just did the awesomest lesson ever, is your dad?” asked Pipsqueak, voicing the thoughts of all the children.
“Well, of course. Didn't he say that at the beginning of the lesson?”
All the foals shook their heads.
“Hmm, typical of him. Sometimes it's as if his mind is lost in time and space.”
Time Turner walked on the main street of Ponyville, enjoying the nice view offered by the wooden houses with their straw roofs, surrounded by fields. It reminded him of Trottingham, before his hometown became a frantic and trafficked city. He loved this town. Everything was so homely, so quiet, so... extraneous.
'Every time I come here it's as if I'm visiting a new place,' he thought bitterly.
Even though his family lived here his job at the university required him to spend most of his time in Canterlot, allowing him to come back to Ponyville only on the weekends and holidays. He missed his wife and his daughters and he would have liked it if they had all moved with him to Canterlot, but Ponyville was a better place to raise children then the capital, the small community was also more suitable given the particular condition of his wife's eyes. If there was anything that he had learned about the inhabitants of Canterlot it was that most of them were only a multitude of arrogant snobs who’s only measuring meter was external appearance.
He was so lost in his thoughts that he failed to notice that he had entered a multitude of side streets, effectively getting lost. “Blimey! Who turned out the light?” he exclaimed, crossing a particularly dark alley. After several minutes of walking in the labyrinth of alleyway he finally emerged in the market square.
“Humph, and they say that Canterlot's medieval alleyways are tangled,” he said to nopony in particular.
“Now, who could I ask for information? Oh, look, residents!” he exclaimed happily when he noticed two farmers that were busily unloading crates from an old and rusty pickup. One was an orange mare with blonde mane and tail, both arranged in a ponytail, wearing a red and white checkered shirt, a pair of jeans, and a Stetson hat. For being a mare she was really tall, at least one meter and eighty, and she had also a well toned body, a clear indication of someone accustomed to physical work. The other pony was a huge red earth pony stallion with orange hair wearing a pair of overalls and a white t-shirt.
“Let's see if they can help me.”
“How many crates are left, Mac?” Applejack asked, putting down a crate filled with Golden Delicious on their apple stand.
“T'was the last one sis,” Big Mac said with his deep voice, putting down his own crate.
“All right. Ah'll see ya later then,” Applejack said, climbing in the cab of the pickup. She turned the key but the truck's engine didn't turn on.
“Oh no, please, not today,” she pleaded to the truck, trying again to turn it on with little success. “Aw, c'mon!” the young mare exclaimed, getting out of the truck. She opened the hood and started to fumble with the motor. “Horseapples!” she exclaimed with frustration, kicking the dirt road.
“What's up sis?” the red stallion asked.
“This damn ol' wreck is gone,” she said, taking off her Stetson and drying her forehead with an arm.
“Shall Ah call Greased Gear so he can bring the wrecker?”
“Great idea, were not fer the little detail that he told me yesterday that his wrecker is broken. We'll have ta push the truck to his work shop.”
Big Mac sighed with resignation. What was supposed to be a quiet day of market was about to become a wearisome one. A really wearisome day.
The two siblings were about to start pushing the heavy vehicle when a brown earth pony stallion approached.
“I'm sorry for the intrusion, but maybe I can help you,” he offered.
Applejack eyed him closely, before giving him a doubtful expression.
“Thanks fer the offer, sugarcube, and don't take offense, but ya don't seem ta have the muscles needed.”
“Oh, I wasn't talking about the pushing thing. I would rather give a look at the engine.”
“Are ya a mechanic?”
“Nope, I'm an astrophysicist,” he said smiling.
The two farmers exchanged a look, then they both shrugged.
“Sure, why not?”
“Fantastic! Now if I may...”
The chestnut stallion extracted a screwdriver from his jacket and started to fumble with the motor, humming.
“Ya always bring a screwdriver with ya, mister?” Applejack asked, scratching her head in confusion.
“You never know when you'll need it my friend,” the brown stallion answered without turning. “By the way, what are your names?”
“Uh? Oh, name's Applejack and this big red fella is mah brother Big Mac.”
“Eeyup.”
“Pleasured to meet you both. I'm- Ah-a! There you are!” the brown pony exclaimed happily. He fumbled a little more with the engine before he nodded satisfactorily and closed the hood. “Try now.”
Applejack looked unconvinced, but nonetheless she went back to the driver’s seat and turned the key. To her great surprise the engine turned over at the first attempt.
“How did ya do it?”
“Oh, it was just the mana converter,” he explained. “One of the wires was disconnected from the power geode. It wasn't easy to find the fault, but then I just had to tighten a screw to fix it.”
“Well, Ah don't really know how ta thank ya enough, mister...?”
“Turner, Time Turner,” he answered, accepting her hand to shake it.
“Time Turner? Wait, Ah already know that name...” she slapped herself on the forehead when she recognized him. “You're Derpy's husband!”
“Exactly,” he nodded.
“How can Ah have been so blind?”
“Oh, don't worry. I come to Ponyville rarely, so it's normal that you didn't recognize me. Regarding the truck, it was nothing. I like to fix things, especially if it's helping other ponies. However, I need some directions. Could you be so kind as to tell me where the Golden Oak Library is?”
“Sure! Go straight that way, then when ya reach the shop Quills and Sofa turn right. Ya can't miss it, it's a huge tree with windows and a door.”
“Alright, thank you very much. It was a pleasure meeting both of you,” he said, waving as he resumed his way.
“What a nice fella, don't ya think?” Applejack commented.
“Eeyup.”
“It doesn't happen every day that a pony with a degree fixes your car, eh?”
“Eenope.”
Once he left the marketplace, it took Time Turner just a couple of minutes to reach his destination. True to its name, Golden Oak Library was effectively a huge oak tree with a library inside of it. He stood there observing the peculiar building for a few moments. He had to remember to ask Twilight what kind of magic had been used to keep the tree alive.
Suddenly the giant tree and the ground all around were shaken by an underground explosion. Time Turner remained startled and began to worry, but the ponies in the street continued to carry on with their activities as if nothing had happened, so he deduced that there wasn't any real danger.
'Let's see what's happening,' he thought, heading for the huge tree.
A few minutes earlier
In the main room of the library, a young dragon was reading a comic, enjoying his moment of relaxation. He was in his late teens, with green spikes that ran from the top of his head to his diamond-shaped tail end, and was dressed in a zip hoodie, green t-shirt, and jeans.
Not too far, sitting on the ground, a young orange pegasus stallion, wearing blue pants and a gray t-shirt with the words SOLAR GUARDS written above in black letters, was intent on polishing the various components of his golden armor with a clean rag.
“It's a nice day, don't you think Spike?” Flash Sentry noticed.
“Yep. Let's enjoy it while it lasts.”
“You said it,” the pegasus nodded.
“It's just matter of time, by now,” Spike said in a premonitory tone.
As if it had tripped a timer, an explosion from downstairs shook the whole library, throwing open the door for the basement.
“There we are,” he groaned, clearly annoyed.
“Do you think that Twilight will interrupt her experiments to recharge the geodes?” Flash Sentry commented, stopping to polish his helmet.
The power geodes were mineralogical formations containing silicium and litium, able to accumulate high levels of magic that was transformed by a mana converter into electricity used to power the electric motors of cars. Their main problem was that once discharged, they can be recharged only by positioning them in the so called mana spots, special places were the magical energy of the planet flows freely.
It was a slow process that required time otherwise the geodes would explode violently. And during the last few days there was at least one explosion per day in the basement.
“I’ve known her since my egg hatched Flash, and in all my years I've learned that when an idea has struck her mind she has difficulty abandoning it,” he replied, turning the page of his comic.
“Ehm, guys? A little help here? The lab desk is on fire. Again,” came the sheepish voice of the alicorn from the basement.
“Your turn,” the Pegasus said, resuming his cleaning task.
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” the dragon said while getting up from his spot. “At this rate we're gonna need a subscription to the factory of fire extinguishers,” he muttered, closing the door for the basement behind himself.
Shortly after, somepony knocked on the house door.
“I'm coming,” the young stallion said, opening the door. “Welcome to the Golden Oak Library, also home of- Doctor Turner!” the pegasus exclaimed with a smile when he recognized the brown stallion.
“Flash Sentry?” the earth pony replied, equally surprised. “What a pleasant surprise, my young friend. I haven’t seen you since that expedition to study the polar aurora.” Time Turner said, shaking his hand. “Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you supposed to be in the Crystal Empire?”
“I have been assigned to another task. When princess Celestia decided to assign a bodyguard to Twilight, princess Cadence proposed my name for the job,” he explained with a smile.
“You seem happy about your new task, don't you?”
“Well, I'm proud of being chosen for such an important task, plus the princess and I were already friends,” he said looking away, trying to hide the light blush that was starting to form on his cheeks.
“Oh, I see,” the earth pony commented, smiling inwardly. Knowing the crystal princess there must have been a precise reason behind her decision.
The door for the basement opened, flooding the room with smoke. The smoke thinned quite quickly, revealing Spike, followed by a young purple alicorn mare wearing a scholar uniform and a pair of huge protective goggles.
“I hope that after this umpteenth explosion, you'll pass to a quieter camp of geology, Twilight” commented Spike, brushing away a bit of soot from his shoulder.
The mare lifted the glasses from her face, blackened by the smoke and gave him a sheepish look.
“I just wanted to try one last time,” Twilight tried to justify.
“You said the same thing the last five times,” Spike grumbled, rolling his eyes.
“I still don't know what went wrong,” she muttered.
Time Turner chuckled. “You sound like my wife when she accidentally put the dishes in the washing machine.”
Twilight turned toward him, finally noticing his presence. “Doctor Turner! What a nice surprise. I thought you would come next Monday.”
“Ahem, Twilight? Today is Monday,” Flash Sentry pointed out.
“Really?” She looked at him surprised. “Already?”
“It seems that you've been really busy with your studies,” Time Turner noticed.
“That's an understatement. During the lasts four days she has slept on a cot and came up just to use the bathroom and eat, both operations that she did at night,” Spike deadpanned.
“Spike, stop it. You're describing me as a vampire!” Twilight protested.
Spike just raised a brow, then he pulled the rope that opened the window curtains. The glorious golden rays flooded the entire room.
“Argh! Sunlight!” she hissed, turning her face and shielding her eyes using both hands and wings. Her horn glowed, and she closed the curtains with her magic.
In light of her reaction, Spike began to chuckle while Flash tried to hide a smirk halfway between amusement and sympathy.
“So, how are your studies of geology going?” Time Turner asked, moving the conversation to a less embarrassing topic for the mare.
“My studies on the interaction of magic on the rocks have gone as planned. Between the samples that I borrowed from the Canterlot museum and others given to me by my friend Pinkies sister, I was able to perform all the experiments that I wanted. Regarding the possibility of recharging the power geodes using refined magic instead of mana...”
“You heard the explosion, doc,” Spike simply said, earning a scowl from Twilight.
“Well, magic is not exactly my sector, but I think that I can help you with the part that involves the particle physics. Let’s see what we can obtain when science meets magic.”
“Really? Oh, this will be so exciting!” Twilight exclaimed clapping her hands with enthusiasm.
Several hours after the meeting, Tarya decided to check her uncle's condition. When Vraal had left the bridge, all the stress and tiredness he had accumulated since the battle with the Jiralhanae seemed to have finally prevailed over the big Sangheili.
The door for his cabin was guarded by a single female wearing Minor armor and armed with a storm rifle. It was a scene that until a few years ago would have been impossible. During the time of the Covenant, although they received the same combat training as their male counterparts, females Sangheili could only join the army in rare cases and only in non-combatant units. During the last four years the importance of their role in society had increased, allowing many of them to assume duties previously unthinkable. As a demonstration of this social revolution, one third of the crew of the Last Sunset was composed by females.
“Zealot,” the guard saluted with a nod.
“Minor,” Tarya replied, returning the greeting. “I'm here to visit the Shipmaster,” she stated.
“Just a moment, ma'am,” the guard replied, before activating her radio. “Shipmaster? Your niece is here to see you.”
“Let her come in,” was the reply via intercom.
The guard pressed the holo controls and the door split itself into three sections, allowing Tarya to enter. Compared to the rest of the crew accommodations, the room was wider but not more luxurious. Sangheili didn't care particularly for comfort, their lifestyle was rather simple and austere.
The furnishing was composed of a bed with a footlocker, two chairs near a desk on which a terminal was located, and a bookshelf with three shelves, each one filled with real paper books. Most of the volumes were of Sangheili origin, but there were also many written by human authors. Overall, the room looked ordinary, but there was a detail that stood out immediately. Next to the long window that held the vastness of space, there was a big vase that housed a small Ry'gawi tree. The plant had long hanging green leaves with blue veins, with big yellow tubular flowers at the apex of the branches, a clear indication that soon the tree would produce its characteristic red berries from which distillation results in the famous liquor.
Tarya couldn't help but smile at the sight of the plant. Few people would have imagined that her uncle had the hobby of gardening.
“Seems like it hasn't suffered many damages,” she commented.
“Just a few damaged leaves, but the flowers are all safe,” was the casual reply of the Shipmaster.
Vraal was lying on his bed wearing a long black tunic, intent on reading one of his books, a biography of Fal Chavamee, the first Arbiter. Seen for centuries as a heretic, Fal's figure had been rehabilitated after the Great Schism.
“And that's a good thing; my stock of liquor wasn't so lucky and I'll need all the possible berries to replace the lost bottles,” he said, closing the book and getting off the bed.
“How are you now? You seemed completely exhausted when you left the bridge,” she asked.
“Much better, thanks. There's no better anti-stress than a shower followed by good sleep,” he said, putting the book back on the shelf. “So, discover anything interesting during the last hours?”
“The Huragok and the technicians have completed the calibration of the sensors just one hour ago, so we're not done with the high resolution mapping of the surface, but the communications officer and I have had more success from studying their transmissions. Most of the communications we picked up are television broadcasts and civilian radio stations, but we managed to intercept some transmissions belonging to their military network.” She took off her helmet and put it on the desk. “Huru is still controlling the transmissions but, from what we've seen, there isn't any reference to our ship orbiting around the planet.”
“Excellent news, this gives us a wider room for action,” he said satisfied, extracting a bottle from the low cabinet placed under the bookshelf. “What have you discovered about the inhabitants of the planet?”
“From what we managed to understand, the inhabitants of the region on which we're orbiting define themselves 'ponies'. Using the data gathered by their television programs, we managed to elaborate a CGI model of their anatomy,” she said, extracting a data chip from a pocket in her armor and inserting it into the terminal on the desk.
On the holographic screen appeared CGI images of two creatures similar to what Vraal had seen on the newscast. The models, rather anonymous with their completely gray coloration, showed a male and a female pony standing with their arms open.
As he had previously seen by the newscast, the ponies had a pair of triangular ears on the top of their head and big eyes. He also noticed that their hands had four fingers and one thumb, and a tail at the base of their back.
'Finally a species whose knees are bent in the right way,' Vraal thought, looking at the structure of their legs. Following an evolutionary path similar to that of the Sangheili, instead of putting all the weight on the entire foot, their lower limbs evolved so that it was supported just by the tips, but instead of two hooves per leg, they only had one.
“What are their sizes?”
“In base to our calculations, the average height is comprised between one meter and sixty and one meter and seventy for their females, and between one meter and seventy and one meter and eighty for the males.”
“Roughly like the humans,” he commented.
“With several anatomical differences, beside the obvious presence of fur and tails. As you can see from the models, their big eyes and well developed ears suggest an excellent sense of sight and hearing, while the structure of their digitigrade legs indicate that they can reach a respectable running speed.”
“Interesting.”
“It doesn't end here. Their race seems to be composed by three subspecies.”
“Really?”
She nodded. “What you are looking at now is their base form. The other two varieties have substantially the same basic anatomy, but with some differences." She typed a command and an elongated protuberance appeared on the heads the models. “The first subspecies presents some kind of bony excrescence, or horn, located on the top of their forehead, however its precise purpose is still completely unknown.”
Vraal studied the new form. Beside the horn, there weren't any other differences with the previous one. “And the other one?”
“That is probably the most interesting form,” Tarya brought back the anatomical model to the initial shape, then she inserted another command. At first nothing seemed to happen, but then the models began to turn on themselves, showing their backs.
The Shipmaster blinked in surprise. “Wait, are those...?”
“Wings? Yes,” she confirmed pointing at the feathered appendages.
Vraal frowned. “There's something strange. I'm not a biologist, but even I can tell that the size of the wings is too small to lift a creature that size from the ground.”
“You're right. The ratio mass-wingspan is too low, and the muscles don't seem sufficiently developed. Originally we thought that they were used to help them run or allow them to jump higher, but then we stumbled on this video on one of their television channels.”
Inserting a new command, Tarya made appear a short clip on the screen. It showed a group of six winged ponies, dressed with blue uniforms with yellow lightning-like decors and protective goggles, that were not actively flying, but also performing a series of aerial stunts.
“The Huragok almost went mad when they saw the video. They defy every law of aerodynamics.”
“Considering the nature of the planet, they're not the strangest thing we've seen until now,” the Shipmaster pointed out.
“Fair point,” she conceded, making all three varieties appear on the screen.
Vraal studied all the forms for several minutes, reflecting. The Kig-Yar (1) possessed several breeds, originated in different regions of their homeworld that differed in physique, the shape of the beak, and the presence or absence of feathers, while the Yanme'e (2) changed shape due to genetic factors or aging. Such a massive anatomical diversification was rare in a mammalian species. He couldn't help but wonder what they were capable of. Would they be tougher than they looked, like the humans?
“At least, we know who we are facing. This data will be useful when we meet them personally,” he said finally.
“In this regard, have you thought about our next move?” she asked uncertainly. “As you've said before, they know not of our existence and this allows us greater freedom for action, but whether we like it or not we'll have to reveal ourselves if we want to search a source of fuel to supply the reactor.”
Vraal nodded. “Yeah, I know, and I can't deny that this is a delicate situation. We don't know how they would react to a first contact scenario with what, from their point of view, is an alien race. If we opt for a public revelation, they could get scared or have a violent reaction, both things that could antagonize us to them and their leaders making future relationships difficult. And in our current state we'll need their collaboration.”
“Then the best option would be to contact their leaders and arrange a private meeting so that they can decide on how to introduce us to the inhabitants.”
“That's my same conclusion, but we have absolutely no idea who is in control of their country, nor do we know how to contact them via a secure line.”
“Maybe our priority is to decide exactly which of them to contact...”
“Are you saying that they don't have a central global government?”
“Er, no, but I fear that that's not the main problem,” she said with hesitation.
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” she cleared her voice, “the fact is that the ponies are not the only sentient species on the planet.”
Vraal stopped dead. “Elaborate,” he said, narrowing his eyes.
“We didn't find television images until now, but in their radio broadcasts they have mentioned or were addressing to other creatures called griffons, minotaurs, and zebras.”
“Are we sure they weren't referring to some populations of their own species?”
“Pretty sure, they always refer to themselves using the word ponies.”
“Great!” he said sarcastically. “As if one new species wasn't enough.”
“What should we do?” the Zealot asked. “Try to contact them also?”
He made a quick analysis, imagining some possible scenarios, then he shook his head. “No, we should concentrate our attention on the ponies. So far they're the race that we know better, additionally, if the scans are correct, the energy emissions that we registered previously were originating from their territory. Still, it remains unknown how to approach them.”
“I say that we need a closer look.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Let's send a recon team on the surface to study them closer. This way we'll have a more complete picture of their society and we'll be able to decide how to act.”
Vraal reflected on the idea, before nodding in approval. “It sounds reasonable to me.” He shook his head, still incredulous. “So many different sentient species that evolved on the same planet and still managed to coexist. I wonder how they managed to not kill each other during their evolutionary process.”
“I don't know, but that's what I want to discover once there.”
“You're speaking as if you were the one who will investigate.”
“And why shouldn't I? After all I'll be on the surface with the teams.”
The Shipmaster whirled toward her, scowling. “Wait just one second, when ever did I say that you'll be the one to lead the recon team?”
“What? You're not saying that-”
“Zhar will be at the head of the operation. His experience in black ops is unmatched.”
She stiffened. “With all due respect, sir, he's a Commando, not a scientist. I don’t doubt his combat experience, but we're not talking of an infiltration in a human military facility or a den of Kig-Yar pirates, we're talking about gathering scientific data about a completely new species,” she said, barely managing to contain her anger.
“Still, you're not qualified to lead the teams,” he said, opening the bottle. A pleasurable smell similar to the human cherry brandy pervaded the air.
“Why? Because my field experience is limited? Because I'm a female?” she paused, widening her eyes when she realized his motivations. “Oh, I see. It's because I'm your niece, isn't it?”
“Our blood ties have nothing to do with this,” Vraal said brusquely, attempting to avoid the topic while he poured himself a cup of liquor.
“Oh, I think differently! You worry that something can happen to me, so you think that keeping me on this ship will keep me safe.”
“You should be grateful that I'm concerned for your safety.” From his tone, it was clear that he was trying to keep his agitation under control without much success.
“By treating me like a child?!”
Vraal slammed the bottle on the table, almost cracking the glass. “Goddammit, Tarya!” he exploded. “You almost died not even a day ago and now you're asking me this?”
“What about the whole “I'm proud of you” thing, back in the infirmary?”
“Don't you dare de-contextualize my words, missy,” he warned her menacingly. “What I said back there was the pure truth, but the situation was completely different. You knew exactly what the risks in the engine room were. What we're talking about now is exploring a completely unknown planet.”
“Even if you want keep me on board, you can't.”
“I think otherwise. I'm the Shipmaster, the highest rank on this battlecruiser, and I have the authority to give you orders.”
“The commander of the ship is in charge of military operations, but according to the directives of first contact, the scientific division is the one that directs the ground operations in those cases, and it's required that at least a Zealot is present during the preliminary recon.”
“Those directives were created by the Ministry of Conversion during the Covenant!”
“And were revisited and re-approved by the Fleetmaster Rtas Vadum himself!”
A stony silence fell in the room, with both the Sangheili locked in a staring contest, each one decided to maintain their own position.
“You can't deny me this, uncle. It's what I’ve been training for, the opportunity of my life. Please,” she muttered without looking away in a pleading tone.
Another long period of silence followed, with none of them dropping their gaze.
Vraal finally took a deep breath, then he sighed. “You're exactly like your mother,” he said shaking his head. “Stubborn and always getting into trouble.”
“It must be a family trait,” she replied with her arms crossed.
“Oh, really?” he asked, skeptically raising a ridge-brow. “Give me an example of when I would have acted on impulse.”
“There was the time when you covered the retreat of your team from High Charity during the Flood outbreak with just a half-empty plasma turret.”
“That was a matter of life or death-”
“Like when you attacked that Jiralhanae pack by yourself?”
“To be fair, I wasn't alone.”
“You had just Haka with you, and you both were armed just with your swords against fifty Jiralhanae lead by a War Chieftain. And what about the time when you ran under enemy fire to save that pilot trapped in the wreck of his Banshee before it was it hit by an artillery shell?”
“I could not let him die in such a dishonorable way-”
“And then there is the time-”
“Alright, alright, you made your point,” Vraal exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air with exasperation.
The big Sangheili headed to the window. He remained in silence for a long time pondering the situation with his hands clasped behind his back and his gaze directed toward the planet's surface. "Fine," he finally said without turning."You'll lead the recon team."
The eyes of the Zealot lit up. “Thank you, uncle!”
“BUT," he added with emphasis, “Zhar will be the second in command. He'll keep an eye on you, preventing you from doing something stupid, while you'll have the opportunity to learn from someone with a lot of field experience.”
“In other words, you're giving me a babysitter,” Tarya deadpanned.
“He'll be your guardian angel,” he corrected, taking the glass from the table.
“I would rather say angel of death,” she replied, crossing her arms.
Vraal clicked his lower mandibles, the Sangheili equivalent of a shrug. “It depends from your point of view,” he said, grasping the glass and emptying it in one gulp. He sighed with satisfaction, feeling the familiar warm sensation that spread from his stomach to his whole body.
“Or, more correctly, from which side of his rifle's optic you are.”
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Yes! An update!
I swear to god if you stop right when it's getting good i'll- i'll don't know what i'll do!
I could only think of David Tennant walking around and doing all this stuff as Time Turner.
I can just see Twilights brain melting down when she see's the skill of the Huragok.
I can't wait to see the first contact. But I bet the Elites will be a bit gobsmacked when they see their first Alicorn. I loved Time Turner giving a physics lesson that the colts and fillies enjoyed, reminds me of Bill Nye the Science Guy and his awesome teaching skills... Hmm, might need to think of importing Bill to Equestria as a higher level science teacher if I ever write my own MLP fic.
Anyway, I can't wait to see Tarya meet the Mane 6, I"m sure she'll turn to any Elite who thinks she should just stay in the kitchen and say, "Now those are some capable females, national heroes, and one of them is a princess." Then when meeting Luna, Celestia, and Cadence something similar.
Heaven help the Elites if their first interactions with Ponies turns out to be the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
4390226 Don't worry, I don't lack the inspiration. The writing of the next chapter is already in progress.
Indeed, Time Turner's character is heavily based on the Tenth Doctor, but without the timelord stuff
4391073 Thank you
4391281 I'm working on some gag regarding their interactions.
4402027 I admit that in the first chapters it's not immediately clear, but yes, the story is set in an anthropomorphic Equestria. The ponies' appearance is described in a more detailed way in chapter 4 but, like I said previously, if you want a point of reference took as model the work of artists such as Ambris, ss2sonic, sheperd0821 (level 4),and newyorkx3.
When are the elites gonna meet the ponys........
4589349
Soon, I can assure you
4589367 YAAAAAAAY
Yanm'ee should be spelled Yanme'e.
5830709 Oops
thank you for pointing that out.
This is something that's been bothering me for a while. Why are there no Yanme'e or Kig-Yar in the non Covenant group? Nothing I've found really explains it very well XD.
6070323 I do believe it's becuase the kig yar only worked for money in the covenent and the elites either couldn't afford to pay them to join there side or didn't want them there due to them being mercenaries... And well I think the yanme'e were under full control of the covenant remnants
I think
Thanks man I knew what a yanme was but not kig year so thanks
every fathers torture
4391073 it was him all along
4391281 "THEYAREN'TUSINGMAGICBLLLUUBUBUHBBUBUB"
*foams out of mouth, thud*
*I bend over and poke her* "Kid, kid"
*poke again, the right leg twitches, she then bleeds her from nose*
"Medic."
4391337
I could easily see females being very prominent in the politics of Elite society already though. Considering how many of the males will be off fighting, I can't see them having time for it, or being a politician (aka a professional convincer and possibly liar.) being an amazingly "honourable" job.
I don't know though, I am understudied in Elite society, so I could be completely wrong.
Time turner and the engineers will get along just swimmingly!
As you can see, their big eyes and well developed hears suggest an excellent sense of sight and hearing
As you can ascertain, their big eyes and well developed ears, each having 180 degrees of rotation to determine the bearing of any sound, suggest an excellent sense of sight as well as hearing
Wonder what human books Vraal would keep on his shelves? I'd bet top dollar that he'd have a copy of The Art of War.
8830635
I suppose that would be a classic, although I was originally thinking something different, like Dante's Divine Comedy and some of Shakespears works, like the Hamlet and Richard III (not Romeo and Juliet, I don't think he would appreciate it); I guess that after the events of the Great Schism and the discovery of the truth about the Great Journey and the real reason behind the war against the humans, the themes of betrayal, machinations, sins and redemption would likely attract him.