Chapter 3: Audience
The ground shook with the force of distant thunder, though there were no clouds in the sky and no inclement weather scheduled. Each blast brought distant flashes of light from below, accompanied by a sound that could only be distant screaming. Chance did not know how an enemy could have penetrated this far into Equestrian territory, didn't know for sure who was even attacking or why. But it didn't matter. She had to do something.
"Spike!" She called, breaking their stunned silence. "Get close to me! You're alright teleporting back to our room, right?"
The dragon complied. "Please. Twilight was dragging me through teleports when you were still in diapers."
Even under the circumstances it was impossible not to smile at least a little. "I don't think that's actually true," she said, before closing her eyes and forcing all her attention to the spell. Teleportation was one of the more difficult forms of enchantment a unicorn could learn, partially because it required both a large natural store of thaumaturgical energy as because a mastery of complex mathematics was also involved.
Second Chance could not have asked for a better teacher, though she only ever needed help with the first. When it came to mathematics, she actually had an advantage over her instructor. Her body contained one of the most sophisticated human innovations: the Nanophage. This model was one constructed specifically for scientists and intellectuals, and provided its user with increased response time and access to mathematical sub-processors.
Magically there was no competing with her mentor, nor would there ever be. But that was fine. Twilight was a very patient teacher when you made your very best effort. Thanks to all those years of careful instruction, Chance was able to draw down the strange phenomena the natives of this world had taught her to call "magic". Through force of will she bridged the distance between the gardens and the bedroom. There was a brief imposition of air, a pressing of otherworldly forces against their flesh, and then a bang like a low-caliber gunshot as they forced air aside that already occupied their destination.
Chance still hadn't mastered managing the air displacement so teleporting didn't sound like the first shots of a war. Not that it mattered, considering the sky outside was already providing ample noise.
Whenever Second Chance visited the castle she was always given the same room, which normally felt enormously spacious but tonight a little less so since beds had been brought for her friends. Of the three former Crusaders only Scootaloo looked alert, standing upright and looking out the window at the flashes of orange light and subsequent screams. Apple Bloom was just sitting up, and Sweetie Belle seemed to be trying to cover her ears with her hooves, moaning in protest at the interruption.
"Those flashes are coming from the ironworks!" Scootaloo shouted, her voice panicked. "The Fury! What if she catches on fire in the drydock? We have to go make sure she's okay!" The little pegasus darted over to Sweetie's bed and yanked the covers off with one powerful tug. "Come on, we'll need your magic to put out the fire!"
"I don't reckon this was an accident," said Apple Bloom as she rolled out of bed, taking her saddlebag full of tools and shrugging it on. It did not take long for her judgements to be confirmed. Though evidently taken off-guard, Chance watched from the window as Canterlot's defenses rose to animated life. She smiled to herself as a low vibration began to shake the ground beneath her, accompanied by a series of loud mechanical noises. The sky lit up with the tracer rounds from the city's newly installed M-18 HURRICANE turrets. The loss of the Mesh network's main hub had evidently delayed their activation. It was fortunate the city had measures in place for Truth's loss.
Fires began in the air, and rubble began to rain down on Canterlot doing nearly as much damage as the bombs and spreading fires. As scary as the airships were, they couldn't compare to the roar that shook the air, and the dark shape she saw hurtling for the castle. Tracers from the HURRICANE AA rounds impacted without any discernible effect, and it seemed to be gaining speed rather than losing it as it approached the castle. It was going to collide.
There were only seconds to brace for the impact, but they proved unnecessary. The magically-reinforced structure shuddered at the force of an incredible impact, but ultimately held. Even so, the volume was spectacular. A great rumbling in the mountain, glass shattering and stone tumbling down. It hurt to hear, as much from the thought of the beautiful structure being damaged as the raw decibels.
"Why would somepony be attacking us?!" Sweetie shouted, her voice only slightly less shrill than she had been a decade ago. Far from being annoyed by the volume, Chance was encouraged to hear that Sweetie Belle was fully awake.
"Doesn't matter!" she answered, looking quickly between the three ponies and one dragon. "Whatever that was, it's out of our league. But if we can get Prismatic Fury into the air, maybe we can help somehow." Chance hurried over to their belongings, dragging a large hard-plastic case away from the loose pile of Scootaloo's clothes that had formed a little hill on top of everything else. With a few clicks the case was open, revealing a pair of Magnetic Accelerator Rifles. She lifted both into the air, clicking the only non-practice clips they had with them into each one. She passed one to Sweetie Belle before throwing the one made for her over her shoulder by the strap. A pity they didn't have the custom-built harness that would allow Scootaloo or Apple Bloom to use the weapons, but they had hardly anticipated to be in a battle.
Chance didn't particularly like the idea of pointing a gun at anything that wasn't a paper target on a practice range. But what alternative was there, hiding and leaving Canterlot to its fate?
There was nothing they could do about the strange object that had collided with the opposite wing of the castle, or the periodic roars that shook the foundation. Magic flashes from behind them as they ran into the streets of the city told them Celestia and Luna must be dealing with it. Spike felt heavier on her back than he had when she was a filly. But with the adrenaline pounding in her veins, she hardly even noticed.
The damage to Canterlot wasn't nearly as extensive as it had seemed. Chunks of burning airship cluttered the streets, but magic was already containing the worst of the fires. They could hear the sounds of combat from further into the city, and more than once squads of armed guards passed them at a rapid gallop. Whatever this attack was, it was clear the Equestrian population was doing what it took to get it contained.
That did not mean they were safe, though. Somehow, an unknown enemy had managed to get troops on the ground in the heart of Equestria. How many were still at large? What kind of monsters were they?
That question resolved itself as they reached the industrial quarter, and private dwellings were replaced with factories and warehouses. There were fewer soldiers here, and no mage-crews despite several large fires. "C'mon!" Scootaloo urged as they rounded a corner and the ironworks came into view. "We can't let anything happen to her!"
That was when Apple Bloom noticed they were being followed and shouted for them to turn. It was harder to do an about face on four legs than two, but Chance managed. Granted, Spike had to wrap his arms around her neck and cling for dear life, but if she hadn't they might not have lived through what came next.
The monsters (she could think of no other word to describe them) were taller than adult ponies, with nearly albino flesh that bubbled with uneven growths. They were bipedal and armored with uneven scraps of metal and leather, with reptilian eyes and muscular scaly tails. Her mind struggled to identify them from any of the Equestrian books of species and classification she had studied, though it took no great struggle to identify the weapons they carried. Large muskets, with wickedly curved bayonets.
There were less than twenty meters between the five of them and the pair of muscular hairless abominations. The monsters were at a full charge, and upon seeing the ponies had noticed them both let out guttural roars and pounded at the ground with focused determination, preparing for lethal strikes.
Neither got the chance. In the heat of the moment a pony lifted a human-designed weapon into the air with a shimmer of magic, took careful aim assisted by nanophage implants, and fired two shots.
The MAR's electromagnets accelerated a pair of shaped rounds to supersonic velocity, causing a series of loud bangs. First as the rounds left the muzzle, and then as the rounds hit their targets. Rough steel and iron plate might have blocked an arrow or even a low-impact ball like those a musket fired, but offered almost no resistance to a human weapon meant to counter human personnel armors made of strong nanomaterials.
Both monsters kept their forward momentum when they were hit, skidding to a halt about a meter from where Sweetie Belle was standing with the rifle still held in her magic. Chance wasn't the only one who spent several seconds staring blankly at her friend, not believing what she was seeing. Somehow, demure little Sweetie Belle had just saved all their lives! The unicorn herself seemed to be suffering from the greatest disbelief, her body locked into a motionless rigor.
"We best get goin'!" Apple Bloom pushed Sweetie Belle, turning her to face the foundry. As it turned out, the large wooden roof that sheltered the drydock seemed to be in good shape, though the warehouse next door had changed into a bonfire. There were no fire-containment unicorns in sight, and no water trucks. How long would it take the fire to spread?
"Y-yeah..." Squeaked the white unicorn, as though watching the capital burn and killing monsters was the most normal thing in her life. Then, without warning, she lowered her head to the ground and began to heave, body shaking violently.
Scootaloo whimpered. "I'll get her ready for takeoff!" She managed to call back, galloping off toward the apparently empty structure.
Apple Bloom stood beside her struggling friend while Chance and Spike kept watch, though there seemed to be no further immediate danger other than the spreading fires. Sweetie Belle's moment of strength appeared to have passed, and her heaves gradually gave way to incomprehensible sobbing.
"Ah know ya' feel awful," she encouraged, nudging Sweetie forward with gentle gestures. "But if we don't get that there airship up soon, then we'll lose it and won't be able to do a darn thing to help anypony."
"I... shot them..." Cried the unicorn, along with plenty of other sounds that were nearly some words and almost others. Still, she did begin to amble forward, at a pace not nearly equal with the speed the flames were spreading. "Killed."
"You saved our lives," Chance added, lifting Sweetie Belle's rifle away from her and into Spike's clawed grip. The dragon was on his own two feet by now, and though he had barely any practice with the weapon he took it with a resolute nod. "They tried to kill us. They're burning Canterlot down... killing ponies. Your big sister is back at the castle right now... we've got to get the airship and get back to help!"
This seemed to work as a motivator, because the shell-shocked pony started to move again, and they galloped through the huge door Scootaloo had left swinging ajar.
The shipyards were a strange structure with no close parallel Chance could remember from her past. The structure was built over one of the mountainous edges of Canterlot, and consisted largely of thick wooden docks and supports over empty air. The ceiling was flat, resting on metal tracks that allowed it to be retracted. There was only one ship, occupying the smallest of three docking sections. The young mares raced the flames across the room toward it and the pony who scurried busily along the docks.
The Prismatic Fury was a very old ship, and to Chance's eyes resembled an ancient schooner that had decided inexplicably that gravity wasn't worth listening to after all and had taken to the air. It had two masts and numerous sails, all of which Scootaloo could name and precisely describe. The Prismatic Fury had been a luxury yacht for some rich unicorn a century ago, but had fallen into such poor condition that the four no-longer-Crusaders had paid little more than the cost of lumber for it. Years of labor and all their disposable income (which was considerable when you held an important crown-appointed position) had done far better than just restore her. Each had contributed in her own way, but none so much as Scootaloo. Even after all these years she was an extremely weak flier. The Fury had given her back her wings.
And now leaping flames were near to taking them away and turning half a decade's worth of labor to ashes. Though still clearly disoriented even Sweetie Belle charged with renewed determination, shadows leaping in the strange light that came from above. It was like a gigantic orange animal was eating its way in, cracking rather than chewing as it went. The beams were strong, but beams and tarred thatch made for a fire that was almost alive.
Scootaloo passed them as they ran, a large blade in her mouth. Rather than take the time to loosen the complicated moorings, she was cutting away at what bound the ship to the docks. It seemed these were the last she had to sever, because the Prismatic Fury had already started to drift in the wind, its side grinding loudly against the dock before beginning to slowly list the other way. Apple Bloom was first, and cleared the gap onto the ship with ease. Her momentum made the jump a little harder for Sweetie Belle and Spike, though both ultimately cleared the growing gap. By the time Chance brought up the rear, there were nearly three full meters of empty air separating her from the ship. Far too great a distance for her to confidently jump, even at a full gallop.
It might have meant disaster, if she weren't able to teleport. Twilight's intense magical training meant that complicated spellcasting on demand did not phase her, even when her mind was already heavily weighed down with stress and fear. Besides, crossing a distance that was within sight was far easier than the spell she had done earlier with Spike, and she appeared on the deck with another loud bang.
"I'm taking her down!" Called Scootaloo as she raced past them onto the raised rear deck, wings beating furiously. There was a nautical name for it, but Chance hardly tried to remember as she followed. "Everypony find something to hold on to! I won't let her burn!"
The latest run of upgrades and improvements was far from complete, and they scrambled over loose bundles of wire and piles of raw materials. Still, whatever the case of the electrical systems Truth had custom-designed for this ship, the underlying Equestrian thaumaturgical engineering should still be intact. Even if all the consoles and fancy weapons didn't work as well as they ought to, or at all.
Sweetie Belle passed her, disappearing below deck. Apple Bloom braced herself against one of the masts, taking a line of thick rope in her teeth. Chance jammed herself up against the railing, putting as much pressure against it as she could. Just in time, too.
Enchanting was not Chance's field, so she knew little about the thaumic "Levitation Seed" or how it worked. She only knew enough to know its effects could be controlled from the helm to alter the ship's altitude. In one quick jab of her hooves, Scootaloo slammed the control all the way down to the "off" setting. This was a mistake, something you never ought to do, since it caused gravity to reassert itself on each and every part of the ship as though they were all free falling bodies and not a single entity. Chance felt her stomach ripped out from under her along with the ground, which fell away from her hooves just an inch or so before her back caught against the railing and prevented her fatal separation from the Prismatic Fury. Plenty of loose objects on deck were not so lucky, and the air around her was soon filled with dangerous debris. Of course the acceleration imparted by gravity was universal, but the different shapes and densities made Chance feel as though she were suddenly under-water, with tools and wire and bits of unsecured deck planking floating along with her.
Scootaloo might be young, but she was a skilled enough captain to know not to reactivate the antigravity all at once, which would seem to the ship and all its passengers like suddenly striking a solid surface. It was likely neither would survive such a mistake. Instead, she waited three seconds, long enough for the ship to get considerable distance from the burning warehouse, before reinitializing gravity on its lowest setting. The ship continued to fall, but at a gradually reducing rate. Eventually Chance's hooves touched delicately back on the deck, though all around her debris of all sorts from the Fury's unfinished refit impacted more harshly, spinning or spiraling out of sight.
By all accounts it was some expert flying, and the ship's crew joined together in a hearty cheer. They had more or less stopped about two hundred feet from the ground, and aside from the moonlight and the flicker of the distant burning city the deck was dark.
Scootaloo was the first to regain her composure. "I know she wasn't ready," she said, looking around with obvious displeasure at the state of the deck. Chance had seen Scootaloo's bedroom, and it was usually a mess. She was a disorderly student and sometimes couldn't even be bothered to brush her mane. But when it came to the state of her ship (even though they theoretically owned it together) she would never have permitted such disorder. "What about those fancy weapons you were putting in, Chance? Does anything on here pack more punch than the guns we put around Canterlot?"
The young mare thought about that for a moment, considering the imperfect state of the ship's modifications and exactly what the power systems could handle. Eventually she settled on her answer, and took a few tentative steps toward the stairwell that led belowdecks. "Yeah. I think we do." She looked over to Apple Bloom. "Got your tools?" The other mare didn't have to say a word; she already had a wrench in her mouth and a spanner close at hoof. It made Chance smile. "Ten minutes, Captain! We just need ten minutes!"
* * *
A little earlier...
As the first and only sovereign of the Steel Tower, Richard had experienced many failures. Indeed the term "leader" ought to be synonymous with failure so far as he was concerned. This day, however, might very well be one of the worst examples he had ever experienced. Not only had the enemy beaten them through the universal gulf, but they already had diplomatic relations established with the natives on the other side. Not only did they understand perfectly well what his people had done with their OMICRON Core, but they were very unhappy about the disruption it had caused. Nearly a decade's careful planning was going up in smoke around him.
Well maybe not completely. They were still willing to hear him, and the offer he had made was unlike any the opposition had made. With universal travel disallowed, the United Earth Federation could only trade the limited number of goods and technologies that could be manufactured by the OMICRON Core that was already here. He had violated that injunction, and brought trade goods in volume and quality that no Core could ever manufacture.
And there was something else, some unspoken stress he saw in each of the rulers. In some way they were animals to him, yet the behavior was quite familiar. Each buckled under the stress somewhat differently, yet all seemed oppressed by it somehow. In his mind this was why they had even bothered to hear him out for so long. In the midst of confusion and even disgust, they seemed to see him sometimes as though he were the timely answer to a prayer.
Yet they were also experienced. The purple one who had first met him, the youngest and most inexperienced, said only innocuous things and asked few questions. The others, Luna and Celestia, spoke so carefully that he knew not even his most adroit probability-mitigation algorithm would be able to explain what they might be thinking, not without more information about what the current situation here in Equestria was like. He feared they would not be permitted to remain long enough for that.
He would not have to. Without a word exchanged between the three ponies, all three looked suddenly alert and almost frightened, eyes directed outward towards the windows. It was impossible to see anything through the stained glass, which meant to Richard that their "magical" senses must have been triggered somehow. He judged the expressions for anything they might reveal, though only the purple one kept anything on her face for him to read it confidently. Distress and fear, the kind of fear one felt when people they loved were in personal danger. Richard knew that feeling well, since it had been a part of his life for so long.
It was as if his entourage had suddenly ceased to exist for all the attention the ruling ponies paid him. "Luna," said Celestia, as all three rose to their hooves.
"Of course, dear sister. Our ponies are ready." The pony named Luna really did vanish, blinking out of existence with a brief surge of electromagnetic radiation his enhanced senses could detect but make nothing of. The natives called it teleportation, and it was one of the examples of why calling this planet "primitive" was not strictly true.
"Twilight Sparkle, if you would join the battlemages in the eastern tower. I believe they could use your magic."
"O-of course," she stammered in reply, before vanishing nearly as elegantly as Luna had. That left Richard and his men along with Celestia and her guards at the door, with a growing understanding of what was going on.
Celestia glided gently down to the ground about ten feet ahead of him. "I am sorry to say that-" She was interrupted by a sudden shaking beneath their feet, and the distant rumble of an explosion. The software in his brain analyzed the sound before she even finished speaking, identifying it as a black powder based charge of about fifty pounds in an iron shell. "Canterlot is under attack. Princess Luna and Princess Twilight Sparkle have left to augment the city's defenses. I will remain here and ensure no harm comes to you." There was no change in her he could see, except perhaps a certain steely tone in her voice.
Richard bowed just slightly, though as he spoke his mind was alight with conversation on radio transmission between himself and his guards, as well as his men back in the village they had arrived in. "We need no protection, Princess," he said. And even as he said it, he listened to the captain he had chosen coordinating the defense of the room. His guards drew their weapons and began to fan out, forming a very loose barrier of protection around him. This seemed to unnerve the pony guards a little, though not as much as he expected. They must not have much experience with accelerator rifles. "We can remain here if you are needed to defend your city." The ground shook again, this time with much greater intensity.
Maybe Celestia would have taken him up on the offer, maybe not. He would never find out.
One of the walls of wonderfully worked stained glass abruptly exploded in a shower of stone and glass as a gigantic shape came through it with the force of a freight train. One of his men was not fast enough, and vanished with a scream beneath the rubble along with one of the pony guards that had been unlucky enough to be standing nearby.
Richard spent a few precious processor cycles debating whether he should take the white-furred ruler with him as he leapt backward through the air to avoid the massive intruder. In the greatly slowed time that was his most battle-accelerated reactions, he saw this was not required. Celestia sprung backward even more rapidly than he could with muscles made from the strongest artificial substitute. Richard retreated in a single twenty-foot bound, landing near the rear wall.
He got a good look at the creature while it shook bricks and glass from black scales, adjusting its massive bulk. Even though this was an alien world with alien creatures, good king Richard knew immediately what he was looking at. A dragon, perhaps a hundred feet long from snout to tail. Red fire burned in its eyes, and light glistened from teeth that were each as long as his arm. It seemed a miracle the structure beneath them could even support such a bulk.
Of course there were some aspects he did not understand, like the way its black scales seemed to glow faintly with symbols he couldn't read. The symbols flickered and danced on almost every part of its body.
The beast raised its head on its long neck and looked towards Celestia. Then it spoke. Richard did not understand the language that it spoke, its tones so deep that they shook the floor like the explosions further away. Yet somehow, impossibly, it sounded as though the beast was speaking English. "Your reign is over, Lightbringer," it said to Celestia, who hovered in the air about fifteen feet above where Richard stood. It seemed not to see anyone else. Not the pony guards rushing at it, or his own spreading out to tactical positions around the room. It did not even see him, resplendent in royal regalia atop the mightiest armor of the tower. To those eyes there was only one equal here; all other creatures were less than insects. "Your city is in flames. I shall take your head before my father and devour your court."
Several of the pony guards were trembling, and at least one had already fled. One of his own men was also motionless, too fearful and surprised to properly react. That left Richard only with the captain of his guard, Sir Gray, who ignored the words in order to approach the creature from the side, flanking it. It took no more notice of him than an ant crawling along the floor. 'At your command,' came his voice silently over the radio. 'I can put a plasma charge though its neck.'
'No,' Richard replied immediately. 'Not yet. Is Lewis dead?'
'Crushed,' came the instant reply. 'All systems destroyed. Cortical recorder is giving me a green signal, though. It survived.'
Or very nearly instant, since Celestia was already replying. Once again Richard found himself almost paralyzed with fascination as he listened. The language was the same, far stranger than the noises Equestria's natives usually made. Yet at the same time he heard the words as perfect English. There also seemed to be a faint light coming from Celestia, one that did not register on any spectrum his sensors could detect. "Was it worth your life to penetrate Equestria's defenses for a moment?" Celestia replied. In spite of everything, she sounded as compassionate as ever. "Perhaps defiling yourself with those runes allowed you to teleport a few ships, but no more. My sister has dismantled entire navies with her hooves alone, and she will not be alone in the seat of our strength." She gestured imperiously to the sky. "Leave now and spend your last hours in peace."
The dragon was clearly not in much of a mood to debate, because it did not listen any longer. Instead it let back its massive neck, heat and light boiling up from deep within its body. Not only did dragons exist then, but they could also breathe fire.
Richard took a few great strides, tearing the robe in his haste to get behind some nearby rubble as quickly as possible. A second later the room lit up with brilliant green and orange. His mind lit up with a barrage of warnings, even though he had cleared the area of danger. 'Plasma weaponry detected in vicinity. Gamma radiation source detected. Internal defense systems activated, magnetic capacitors charging. No strategic coordination drones detected, deploying.' The grenade launcher embedded in his left shoulder tore through his robe as it inclined straight up, releasing a fist-sized drone to hover as close to the ceiling as it could. Its battery of cameras and sensors opened the entire battlefield to his eyes, highlighting the areas of danger and those of safety. Had there been more of his soldiers, they would all share the sensor input and be able to coordinate their strategies accordingly. As it was, he had only two men besides himself.
How were their odds? Three men, a handful of pony guards, and one princess against an enormous mythical beast?
Maybe better than he thought. When the flames cleared Celestia was still there, a little bubble of protection vanishing from around her. As the beast bore down on her, she replied in kind with a wave of invisible force. As though gripped by the very hand of God, the dragon's claws scraped huge divots in the floor as it was slammed backward out the opening, vanishing from sight as it sunk down to the garden below.
"Flee!" Came her voice, in that same language that was at once universal and commanding. The command was for all, human and pony alike. "None of you can fight a dragon! Retreat to the eastern tower!"
Her guards did not salute, but they obeyed immediately. Richard was shocked to see his own men obeyed as well, at least the two he still had. As though compelled by some supernatural force, they ran from the chamber, keeping pace with the pony guards who they seemed to be trusting to lead them. Of all who heard the voice, there was only one who had the strength of will to resist the command it gave. Richard could hear his advisers screaming in protest as he drew off what was left of his royal vestments, letting them fall callously to the ground.
He had every right to leave. By all accounts, the princess wanted him to get out of here and away from danger. His advisers were already appalled at the enormous risk to his person this expedition had become. If they could see what he was about to do, he couldn't even guess how they would react.
But that didn't matter. Celestia, this ruler of Equestria, was locked in combat with a deadly foe, one who had "killed" one of his own men. It was true he had everything to gain by assisting this pony in deadly battle when he wanted to become her ally. But that was not what motivated him to draw the longsword from its sheath on his back, the weapon which until now he had considered to be purely ceremonial.
No, Richard was not motivated to fight by the political gains. He fought because he honored the same oath he expected his knights to keep. Richard was a good king.
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Good to see Celestia not get immediately worfed- at least, not yet.
Seriously, what has the political climate been for the last few years? Sweetie seems as shocked as we would be to see someone attacking Canterlot, yet she's taken weapons training offscreen, and Scootaloo's retrofitted an airship?... Well, they got to be awesome too, at any rate.
...First?
Well, I'm pleased to see that Canterlot was prepared to some degree. Makes my estimation of their intellect shoot up.
And, if I read it correctly, Sweetie has the Nanophage upgrades as well? Has Chance been spreading it around? Because she really should. Earth and Pegasus ponies would probably kill for neurolinked drones to act as 'hands'.
Also, I would still like an explanation about the Mythos books from the last series. Were humans fooling around Mythos magic?
*grumblegrumble*omnitool*grumblegrumble*
Captain Scootaloo of the Radiant Prism is AWESOME!!!!! I also love Celestia basically bitch smacking the dragon out of her throne room. I also can't wait to see how Richard and Celestia fare against the dragon... and a very small part of me wants to see them recreate the classic Kinght and Charger vs Dragon image.
View count is 666......
THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPLES YOU!
Why does a superadvanced transhuman use a sword for a battle, instead of a particle rifle or similar?
You keep on repeating, "Richard WAS a good king." I have a feeling this has some importance.
4646091 It was ceremonial. He has weapons built into his body, but every bit helps I guess.
4646091 Dragon scales tend to be flame/plasma resistant, and decent vs projectiles as well. A sword could be used to pry more effectively, perhaps?
At last I am caught up. Liking it very much so far. At first it seemed really odd that the Crusaders should be so involved and knowledgeable, but if they've all been given nanophage I guess it makes sense. This implication that Chance and friends are about to do battle in old pleasure yacht doesn't make as much sense to. I don't know why anything like that would be armed and protected well enough to charge into a warzone, if that's their plan. I feel like Chance should probably no better than that, too. Even if they're all augments now, these are still young ponies. Presumably they'll be trying something a bit more clever than trying to fight Equestria's battle themselves.
Over all you seem to have handled the "ten years have passed" thing pretty well, though the exposition for stuff like those turrets appearing feels a bit minimal and rushed. Sorry I can't think of more specifically positive stuff, but I'm me and I've been up for over twenty hours now.
I can't help picturing the Fury as the Galleon from Guns of Icarus, without the gas bag. We should play that some time.
And here I thought it was Richard who planed this (maybe he did, too early to know anything)
Not a single out of place word or error, this pleases me.
A+
Keep up the good work
4646195 The use of the past tense is simply in keeping with the overall narration. What you suggest is still possible, but I think it's more likely that it either simply reiterates his view of himself as a good king (whether he is or not), and, if it's an allusion, that it alludes to Richard III of England's sometime nickname "Good King Richard".
4646909 Nitpick:
I believe you have mixed up two turns of phrase: "partially because ... as because". I believe it should either be "as much because ... as because" or "partially because ... and partially because/but also because/whatever".
4647313
4646909
I don't want to be busy body but, dude.....Wrong comments
4613975
Yeah, it didn't until season 2, and most people didn't make it that far. Which was a shame, because I thought it got pretty good by the end. (I don't think many other people got far enough to have an opinion like that)
4614104
There's nothing that says she won't, although it may not be in time. Then again, as the twins might say; Constants and variables. Some things change, some things can't be changed. Which are which? Why? Or maybe it's a bunch of crap.
fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/188/6/2/simple_doctor_whooves_vector_by_demonreapergirl-d568rmu.png
4614354
I really really really hope not. But then, if there was no chance at all the drama of the story wouldn't be interesting because we would all recognize it for absurdity. It's like Orwell in 1984. Even though he was a socialist and stuff he wrote lots of strongly-worded fiction as a warning to fellow socialists about the dangers one might encounter if socialism was taken to its worse extremes. Maybe that's what I'm doing with technology, since I happen to be a strong personal supporter of technological development.
4615011
They get worse, every time. I hope I can one day master the technique exemplified by Jim Butcher to make each chapter a series of increasingly frustrating cliffhangers that make you physically unable to put the book down until you're done. That'd be an awesome accomplishment. Every time I get a review from someone saying they read MLA in one sitting, I party a little inside.
4617829
When the only thing to get past me is some weird formatting symbol, I feel like the new editing process has left me in good shape. ^^ I've got some really fantastic editing people.
4620559
I agree that is an interesting question and I fully intend to explore it. I feel that Spike got a little shorthooved in the last story, I plan on giving him a little more screen time if I can help it.
4628484 4631111
Don't worry, Discord hasn't forgotten Discord. He does seem to be conspicuously absent from the story so far, but that does not at all mean that he won't make an appearance. Assuming his reformation in the end of season 4 was really genuine this time, he could offer some pretty significant contributions should he invest the magical effort. I have a feeling we'll be seeing him again.
4637345
Not the same one, at any rate. The midquel was about events that never happened. When I first conceived of MLA, I imagined a climactic ending where at the end of all the adventures Twilgiht and Chance are chilling somewhere when the technology that got Chance into their world is used to start to pull her back. Twilight sees the event as a magical assault (and so does Chance, neither of them understanding what is really going on), and extends one of her most powerful shields around them both to try and protect her apprentice and anchor them to the world. Unfortunately she falls short and the only thing she accomplishes is being drawn through with her.
The story would've ended with a revealing shot of a pony Chance and Twilight lying unconscious in a laboratory on Luna 7, in our world and without access to Equestrian magic. But things just didn't work out for that ending. I didn't want to do things that hadn't been led up to. It felt pretty BS to telling one story and kidnap them both with no lead up at the end. So there really wasn't a midquel to tell anymore.
I have thought about writing a brief story about the adventures of Amber Sands, though at present I'm too absorbed in this story to spare the time. Maybe once this story is back to the attention MLA used to get with new updates I'll take the time, but right now I've got to focus on this.
4645832
Don't worry, the next chapter should answer those sorts of questions. As best as they can be answered, at any rate. I wanted to keep the audience in the dark as much as Richard. Once he knows... everybody knows.
4645901
I don't want to go into detail too much with the Mythos stuff, but yes. Or if not mythos magic, than communication at the very least. The mythos things can do "magic" in our universe in any case, providing information and the like. More about this will be revealed later on, as well as the extent of the Nanophage's distribution.
4645948
Ha! I do think Celestia intends to kick some serious ass, but I doubt she would be too terribly happy about someone riding on her back. That doesn't seem like her style.
4646091
There are some seriously powerful human weapons we'll see over the course of this story. Plasma weapons, hyper-dense mass accelerators, molecular disruption weapons, advanced guidance systems. There is some seriously powerful hardware out there.
Unfortunately, Richard wasn't traveling to battle, he was traveling to negotiate. Nothing about his arrival indicated they were in any danger or else they probably would've brought "real" weapons. By their perspective the natives are primitive and weak and wouldn't stand a chance, and all they expected to run into were native ponies. Had they known there was going to be an invasion, Richard likely would've packed some real guns.
But he was traveling to negotiate. Even if he had carried big weapons into Canterlot, which is possible, there's no way the Equestrians would've let them into negotiate without taking them away first. Nobody lets a potential assassin or enemy into close quarters with the rulers with a weapon that can hurt them. Or at least nobody who expects to rule for long.
So he was stuck with what he had, a ceremonial sword and the weapons built into his armor. If this was an expected battle, there's no way any human soldiers would be using swords.
4646845
I don't think the expect to do protracted battle. Scootaloo's plan seems to be using the ship as a sort of mounted weapons battery and use whatever upgraded human guns are on the thing to fight the enemy. I don't think she expects a broadside ship-on-ship duel. That said, the ship would probably do alright since it's been fully upgraded and outfitted with every human system possible. It may've started as an old pleasure ship, but not much is left from those days besides some of the timber.
4646909
No hands that don't belong, yay! I still have to check for this when I write sometimes. So don't think your suggestions haven't made a difference.
4647313
I'll look into that one tomorrow when I'm not feeling so tired. I'm not sure if it's technically wrong but it could be made more readable with a minor alteration or two. I'm thinking of an and, but I don't want to try to fix it and screw up now.
4649642
Heh. Well, that makes Chance kind of eat her words about humans and magic. Talking to and possibly gaining boons from the Things that dwell Outside sounds like it qualifies as magic.
Can Truth manufacture another Omnitrix if required?
4649311 I am not sure what you mean by "wrong".
4649642 I'm thinking for the final blow, the dragon is coming from the air, all of Richard's long range weapons are disabled, out of ammo, or charging to slow to be of any use, and Celestia needs to focus on breaching a magical shield or something. I don't want it to be a permanent thing, just a one time alliance against a common foe by necessity.
So, to test my understanding of our background so far:
Humans were contacting Things from Beyond Time and Space.
This lead to a massive upswing in technology, primarily militaristic.
Humanity, possibly with the urging of the Things, split into two factions: Meat and Metal. Following this, they had an idealogical war.
The Meat People(Federation) and Metal People(Steel Tower) hate each other.
Richard was a big enough dick to one of his robot monkeys that, when it reached
Equestria, it decided 'Fuck Richard' and helped out the Equestrians while stating that its motivation was revenge.
The Tower and Federation are still at war because they're both stupid. Also, most of Earth is irradiated and filled with abominations crafted by arcane sciences given to human by Beings that transcend mundane conceptions reality.
That about it? Also, is Richard a giant dick?
4649572 I thought it got better. But it still wasn't muh Stargate!
It most certainly had progressed much faster into far more action than MLA, but I feel that this is necessary for a sequel such as this one! On another note: Futuristic/Sci-Fi Combat! I absolutely adore this, and I'm wondering exactly what will entail from it. Also, I'm fascinated by King Richard's complexion, it's so... Weird. He believes in his heart (Robotic or not) that what he's doing is what any good king would do for his nation, but many of the things he does are inhumane and atrocious, it's so fascinating!
4649760
Then I am seeing wrong things then
4649642 As it turns out, I was overlooking another issue: with the "partially this, partially that" setup, the "both" is left completely hanging: there's only one item in that part of the sentence.
4649657
I suppose it reflects on Chance's definition of magic more than anything. Namely, something you can do yourself without assistance that seems to violate what she would term as conventional laws. If you asked her, she would say communication with the outsiders in both directions is a well-documented and scientifically sound practice that can be reproduced through experimentation and therefore not magic.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Equestrian definition of "magic" and "technology" are very similar if not directly connected, since you rarely have one without the other in that world. Furthermore Twilight Sparkle applies the scientific method to magic on several occasions. Not sure what she would think of Chance's human definition of magic being "something you do yourself without outside help".
But no, an OMICRON Core cannot make all human technology. Truth said in the last story that some things require elements not known to exist in Equestria. It could be that Equestrian mining just isn't good enough to get at them yet, but unless it does improve or these elements are discovered some human technologies will not be possible to produce.
Since it doesn't matter at all to the story, I suppose I'll go ahead and tell you that in my mind, the Federation AIs like Truth involve a sort of successively-layered bootstrapping routine, not merely the creation of a new piece of software. You couldn't copy over the data for Truth and expect it to work. Thus, even if the elements were avalable to make a core, he couldn't make it directly, but would have to first make the complicated computers required to create the controlling AI. Either that, or wait the thousands of years it takes for the program to attain sentience on its own. Truth could wait that long, but ponies probably wouldn't want to. Even Celestia and Luna would probably be pretty bored.
4649835
Well you'll know soon enough! Weird writing/editing schedule means that chapter is finished and presently sitting on the desks of the Alpha Readers. I really am quite happy with the dramatic decrease in errors that has resulted from such a modified schedule.
4649940
You're right until the one about Leo the Bold. He didn't leave the Steel Tower because Richard was a dick to him, but because Clover the Clever indicated that their society was in serious jeopardy and needed help. Through some means not revealed, Leo traveled between the worlds at Richard's direct instruction. When he said "Vengeance" in the last story, he didn't mean revenge on Richard for mistreating him, but revenge on the creatures from beyond time and space for killing earth. He wanted revenge by thwarting their plans in Equestria.
Little has been revealed about the state of the Federation and the Steel Tower, but this story has indicated so far that open hostilities are over. Both factions have earth-side bunkers, while the Federation controls a small martian colony and several large lunar colonies. The steel tower has a single large city of earth's surface inhabited by full synthetics. Various bits of dialogue indicate that these factions are no longer at active war, though Chance's behavior in MLA indicates a great deal of hostility still exists in the attitude of citizens.
Is Richard a dick? He surely hopes not. King Richard was a good king. That's what he keeps saying. So obviously it must be true, right? Who's ever thought something wrong about themselves before? That would be unheard-of!
4651894
We all like to see ourselves as the hero of our own story. Even history's worst usually thought they were doing the best for their people. Richard's goals are even more ambitious though. He doesn't want to just do the best for the Steel Tower, but be remembered as a good king. From my own perspective, his moral ambiguity is way more interesting than someone outright good or evil. Also feels like a fairer portrayal of humans. A human bad guy ought to believe, like most of us do, that we are doing the right thing.
Forgot to mention this when I read the chapter yesterday, but remember to keep an eye on those dialogue tags.
The CMC have their own personal warship?
With Scootaloo as the pilot?
Okay, Richard is really kind of awesome. I really hope we get to keep him and his forces as a potential ally for the fights to come.
4646091 The sword's edges must be enhance with the newest of tachyon weaponry or something. You know, future logic.
>the strange phenomena the natives of this world had taught her to call "magic"
Is that intended to be plural?
When did Sweetie Bell get nanophage augmentation?
such emotion! Got my heart pounding here!
Great sequel. It will be interesting to see how Second Chance will influence things.
Also, I am rather curious as to how these dragons aquired this magic. Clearly they have new ally/allies, but who/what are they?
I'll tell you, it's really weird reading a sequel that was written before its preceeding story.
There's so many little inconsistencies that detract from the experience.