“There you are sir, there are more being prepared in the kitchens as we speak.”
“Thank you Fields, but I think this will be more than enough already.”
“Very good Emperor, please let me know if your require anything else.”
Strategy focused on the huge stack of buttered pancakes that dominated his plate, and he smacked his lips in anticipation. Not even glancing towards the waiter as the stallion trotted back to the kitchens, he forced himself to sit patiently and wait.
His ears pricked up at the sound of hoof steps from behind him, a grin gracing his face when a certain mare moved to the spare seat beside him after giving him a peck on the cheek.
“Morning,” he greeted while Sparkling joined him. He glanced towards the datapad she placed down on the table, its electronic screen filled with a flurry of information. “I didn’t want to wake you, considering the time you were up to last night.”
“I know,” she sighed, immediately reaching for the coffeepot in front of them. “Still, all of the crop reports are finished at least. At this rate, the storehouses won’t be able to keep up with production and we may actually have to think about trading it off to Equestria.”
Strategy smirked at that, before carefully taking a bite of pancake. Chewing, he glanced over as Sparkling touched her nose to the pad’s surface. A new screen popped up, the mare studying it intently.
“You know, you don’t have to do that stuff anymore.”
“I like it,” she replied with a smile. “Strange I know, but it just feels right when I do it myself.” Her smile grew. “Also, we’ve gotten a report from Chrysalis. It seems like they’ve found a seam of gold as well in the latest shaft, bigger than the others so far. They’ve already begun to dig it up and will be ready to start transporting it shortly.”
The news caused him to roll his eyes. “Let me guess, she wants-“
“It’s only a few extra items,” Sparkling cut in. “A bigger bed, some new and fancier bedsheets, one of those ‘simulator pads’ that she’s seen in those human magazines…”
“A simulator pad? Are you kidding? Have you seen the price of those things?” His mind went back to the advertisement he had seen, likely the same as Chrysalis. “Sure, it’s amazing and I want one myself, but for Chrysalis?”
“She’s been good, and the mines are going really well.”
“Still,” he huffed. “We both know that it’s just because she’s so terrified of the Lead Researcher coming back.”
Sparkling shook her head at him with a sigh. “Okay, how about I talk to the trade official and see whether we can get a deal for two, hmm?” He gave a grumble in response, Sparkling leaning in closer. “Come on; if we give her this then maybe there will eventually be no need for the threat of the Lead Researcher. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
When she gave his neck a brief nuzzle, he could do nothing but give in.
“Gah, fine.”
Sparkling hummed and pressed her nose against the datapad’s screen a few more times, before she pushed it away and began to help herself to a large platter of breakfast fruits that was off to the side. “On that topic, I still can’t believe that it’s been two months. You’d think we’d have heard something by now.”
Strategy grunted, a small smile on his face. “Who knows, they’re both probably on some far-off planet somewhere and have forgotten about us.” He gestured towards the datapad in the center of the table. “After all, it’s not like we don’t have the means to be contacted by them.”
Just as he had said those fateful words and was about to take another bite of delicious breakfast, there was a knock on the stone wall behind them. Turning around in their seats, both Strategy and Sparkling laid eyes upon a very nervous looking human male who was standing in the corridor.
“Uh, good morning Your Highnesses,” the man greeted, one hand running through his short brown hair while the other gripped the handle of a large silver case. Strategy gave him a quick once-over, the off-white lab-coat clearing marking the newcomer as some kind of scientist.
“Good morning,” Sparkling returned with a warm smile before tilting her head. “You’re new, aren’t you? I make it a point to meet all of the scientists that arrive.”
“Yes, I am,” the human answered, standing a little straighter as he tried his own smile. “My name is Jay Hsu, and I just arrived earlier. I’m actually on my way to join the rest of the geological team based at the west mines, but I’ve been asked to do something before.”
“Oh?”
The scientist placed his case on the ground and unlocked it, before he pulled out a flat rectangle that was a dull grey. It fitted easily into his hands, and he carefully walked over to present it to them.
“A man gave it to me in the spaceport before I took the transport here, and asked me to deliver it to you.” He glanced around as Sparkling carefully took the rectangle from him with a raised eye. “I think he was ISA,” Hsu whispered. “Going off the way he knew who I was and where I was going. So you can see why I wasn’t going to argue with him or refuse.”
He backed away and picked up his case, warily glancing at the device that Sparkling was examining. “Anyway, I’m sorry for interrupting your breakfast, Emperor and Empress. I must be getting to the camp before I miss too much.”
“Thank you so much,” Sparkling bid farewell. “Have a good trip.”
Hsu smiled once more before giving a quick bow and leaving from the way he had come, silver case in hand.
Watching him turn a corner, Strategy looked back at Sparkling and peered at the rectangle. “What is it?”
“I think it’s a… ah! There we go!”
Light flicked on as the screen of the device lit up. Both leaned over to stare at it, the picture quite shaky to start off with.
“Nigel, come on, it can’t be that hard.”
“Don’t rush me, I got this. A little to the left… and there!”
The picture cleared up, revealing none other than a smiling Chalmers and Reflection. Both seemed to be outside on a beach, waves slowing lapping at the sand while a red-and-white umbrella provided shade. Nigel was wearing a loose-fitting blue shirt and shorts while he faced the camera, while Reflection was lounging on a beach chair with nothing but a towel and a large pair of sunglasses.
“Only took ten minutes,” Reflection murmured with a smirk, Nigel glancing back at her.
“And I’m sure one such as yourself would have had it done in a flash,” he fired back, Reflection merely taking a sip of an ornate fruit-laden cocktail with a giggle. “Anyway,” Nigel continued, looking back at the camera. “Hello Sparkling and Strategy, or as they say on Perchav Seven, ‘Nuk-nuk Kowowie’. Sorry for not calling earlier, but me and Reflection have been a little busy.”
On the screen, Nigel sat down in his own chair.
“By now you’ve most certainly seen the Judge and read the instructions we left, so I hope the whole ‘rulers’ thing is working out for you two.” He chuckled, looking back over towards Reflection. “Eh, who am I kidding? They’re probably doing a far better job than we ever did!” That earned a laugh from Reflection, the changeling adjusting her spot.
“They can keep it,” she dismissed with a hoof wave. “I’ll gladly trade power for beaches and booze.”
“Evidently,” Chalmers muttered with a grin, turning back to the camera. “Moving on, I guess you’ll want an update. Well, let’s just say that all charges were dropped, certain guys in Legal got really pissed off at my boss, and those gems are really making it big with R and D. I’ve copped some flak and me and Reflection have been getting some stares and comments, but after I nearly killed this one guy with a table people are more curious than outright judgmental.”
“Pfft, I had it under control,” Reflection huffed, before she lifted her glasses with a hoof. “So same from me, hope you two are doing well. We plan to drop in some time to visit, but as you can see there’s some things we need to take care off still.” Grinning, she gave them a wink. “Nigel still has to take me to a snow planet like he promised, so I can try this ‘skiing’ thing.”
“Ha, it’s going to be utterly disaster free, isn’t it?” Nigel muttered the last part, Reflection rolling her eyes at him before focusing back.
“Anyway, Nigel said that his boss has set you up with some cool trade deals, so I hope things are going well. I would talk for longer, but the sun is only up for five hours on this planet and the nights are colder than a snowstorm. I’ll have to bring you both gifts when I get back.”
“Same here,” Nigel butted in. “Anyway, good luck guys.” His smile dropped slightly. “Running that place, you’ll need it.”
“Nigel, stop teasing them or I’ll-“
The screen fizzled out, with Strategy and Sparkling left to stare at the blank panel with a million thoughts running through their heads.
“Good to see nothing’s changed,” Sparkling murmured with a shake of her head, before she picked up her data pad and left the table. “Come on, we’ve got Morning Court on in five minutes.”
She trotted out of the room, Strategy giving one last mournful look towards his rapidly cooling (and half finished) plate of pancakes.
“Coming,” he sighed, sliding out of his seat and making to trot after her. “Missing Court would be such a harsh blow to my day.” Continuing to grumble, his mind drifted off to earlier memories.
‘It almost makes me wish I was still Captain and Chalmers was Emperor.’
“Gah,” he grumbled while he shook his head at the thought. “Something must be wrong with me.”
With that, he put the sour thoughts out of his mind and instead focused on the coming day of running a successful and powerful Empire.
The End.
You win.
....I say it was nice... anti-climatic...but nice. Good job.
reading now but still.. 3 chapters at once (well main + 2) still
pre12.deviantart.net/4e2c/th/pre/i/2013/349/3/f/the_fun_has_been_tripled__by_sapphiremoonbrush-d6y2tkl.png
That was pretty anti-climatic as fuck. . . . . .
Now update Plan B and we'll be good.
This was an entertaining read.^^
It does wrap up everything quite well, and I can't really complain. The climax of the story was obviously the scene with the fight with Levigust's mercs at the peace talks, and the po-po getting Nigel and company. The ending wasn't as over the top as I expected, but it does a good job closing everything up nice and neat.
~Crystalline Electrostatic~
11:28_15/10/2015
Another Nigel fic finished. I can't get enough of your stories but I do genuinely think they sort of end rather quickly. i feel like the rising action is nice and detailed but the falling action is almost nonexistent. Like its combined with the resolution.
In any case i'm always excited when I see an update from you and I very much doubt that'll change anytime soon. Heres to more awesome stories from you. Cheers.
Since no one is going to say it directly, I will. "You should have done this!"
Yep, very direct and literal...probably.
Anti-climatic but nice like BronyofMeddlers and Pabulos said.
Well. The end... Good job.
Alright. it really sad to end here.
A update "I come from a land down under" please?
what happened to celestia?
I liked this end, sad that there wasn't more Orthodox being himself but still good :D
Umm... Not to be, 'That Guy', but...
When's the sequel?
FINALLY! The Imperium has finally made it to Equestria while Chamlers is still on it. My only regret is that he didn't end up commandeering a whole platoon of soldiers and go on to take over Equestria.
another sequel please?
Like a few others have mentioned, what happened with Celestia and the Major?
Other than that, I like how it ended. Kind of anti-climactic, but it was an unexpected way to end it that worked.
As disappointed as I am that this story's over, I'm also delighted because this means you can work on your other stories some more, or even make new ones.
Can we get Bloodmoon updates pls.
And to those who want a sequel. I seriously doubt that it will happen.
Good story.
Can you make an omake of a war between Equestria and the Crystal Empire?
I Quite like the ending. However, I had to invent my own trial to help the ending.
“Masquerading as a ruler over a bunch of primitives, even going so far as to bestow the title of ‘Emperor’ upon oneself, which would mean that a spot of treason has occurred I believe? A very serious and deadly charge indeed, one that I am of course obligated to rectify. Would you care to deny these allegations?”
Reflection spoke up before he could. "This land had a vile and evil rapist slave owner tyrant dictator as a King. That King, King Sombra attacked Charmers and he was forced to defend himself. Upon that King's death, as per the laws of this planet, Charmers then owned the legitimate ownership of the crown, and thus became our new King. There's no 'masquerading' going on and it's our Laws that named him Emperor, not Charmers."
"Okay case dismissed!"
*Cue the song from the end of Breakfast Club*
James didn't get to do anything this time cause he killed a dragon in another fic, right?
Y'know, I'd like to see a fic with all four of them right from the beginning. I can see the body count already..
Although I would have liked Celestia's head on a pike, and for Elijah to eat at least one poniy's soul, I guess this works as well. Super anti-climatic, but eh. Whatever.
No epilogue talking about Equestria, after they factored so damn heavily on the plot? What?
Well I liked what you did with the story it seems like you ended it for good but I'm not sure.
Oui, that was SERIOUSLY Anticlimactic. Funny, but a bit shitty and Anticlimactic. Well, nice to know that the Crystal Empire now has otherworldly allies, and Equestria still digging through scraps to recover.
It was funny, but not too much... Are you going to make a sequel or a spin-off? Maybe how the Crystal Empire progress, or the new adventures of Nigel and Reflection?
...And so it ends...
Great job bear, another one finished.
On that note, when is the sequel to 'Saviour or Destroyer?' coming?
Kind of anticlimactic but hey. I'd say you could do a spin off where the blood of equestrians flows like a river cause I have to admit I would like seeing that.
Plus it'd be nice to see how Equestria lives under the Crystal Empire's thumb.
Why is it with most of these fics the ending is abrupt, usually comes out of left field without warning, and far too soon for any of its fans? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
Well the ending was all in all a bit abrupt, but it was an enjoyable read and despited being a bit abupt it was a good ending.
I guess all surviving main characters got an happy end as long as they're allied with the UIN at the end of the story.
What is it with you and doing great fics with horribly disappointing endings? If you have to have your terribly anti-climactic ending, can you at least do an alternative end that's actually, I dunno, satisfying? Is it so much to ask to have the roaring rampage of revenge that the title implies and the whole story was leading up to?
It's like a roller coaster slowly making its way up the hill, finally making it to the top, juuust about to go down. Then, the roller coaster stops. The ride's over. All that anticipation, for nothing.
See, the key difference between a particularly disappointing roller coaster and your story, is that a roller coaster doesn't take a year and four months to get to the top.
Are you evil? Do you do this on purpose to toy with the hearts of your readers? Why!?
and so, after almost 200K words another great fic has ended... i do hope to see nigel again soon (have to say i love the guy)
so what did we have in the end chapters:
war - quick but done well, the empire (i have the star wars song im my head right now) got a hold of a town, blasted it's way in and won using Orthodox as a special weapon against ponys. short but good
peace talk- Reflection and Strategy goes alone to end the war and in the end having Nigel going into his overkill mode killing Levigust
chrysalis- becoming a good ling under threat that her soul might be eaten
honeymoon - Reflection and nigel on a time off
well... it's a happy ending, good ending for a great fic
Good story, yet another shit ending.
Had to end somewhere. Not bad. Was hoping for another chapter on when they might return but i guess this is fine.
Huh. I blink for a moment and it's done already. I don't know how yet what happens there, but it sure didn't feel like it was even close to finished three chapters ago.
6530297
6530338
Celestia had a conversation. During that conversation she received some information. Due to that information she decided that leaving the Crystal Empire alone was in her country's best interests. (Not that she was even planning to break her side of the bargain to begin with.)
6530985
Such as?
The climax wasn't right at the end of the fic, as 6530237 pointed out.
So far, it seems as like a 50/50 split on like/don't like when it comes to the ending.
The ending was a tad abrupt, but this was still an enjoyable series with a satisfying ending.
6531450
oooo i get it, a hush hush kinda agreement best left unspoken, poor celly.
6531450
'Such as'?? The whole fic is called "Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold" for fucks sakes, so some actual revenge would be nice! It speaks well of you as an author to get me mad on Chamers' behalf, but all that good writing does is make this ending all the more annoying!
You spent the whole fic gaining momentum towards that moment where Celestia gets her ass handed to her! What happens instead? The 'climax' consists of Chambers beating some stupid griffin OC to death that was barely introduced compared to every other character, he then gets 'bored', drops all his grievances despite declaring that Equestria would be burnt to cinders, then gets busted by the fucking space fuzz out of nowhere! You seriously don't understand how this is a tremendously fucked way to end this!? It boggles the fucking mind!
To reiterate, the only reason I'm so pissed off about this is because the whole fic was so fucking good right up until that part! You left this massive unsatisfied pit in my stomach that won't go away until I forget about this story! Just... why!? Were you trying to be funny? Is that it? Why!?!?
I liked the ending, best way it could've turned out considering how things were heating up between Strategy and Chalmers.
Anyone else a little sad that this fic is completed
May we have an epilogue, of how James and Elijah and Orthodox are getting on?
Here's an Idea; Make a Conclusion, A long chapter that goes over 3 other ending that could have happened, one of with involves "Pure Unadulterated Revenge" in detail.
The other two as something realistic or something so insane that even Discord's brain would explode in an endless steam of odd party items and rubber fish and chickens.
Well I sure loved this story. THIS is exactly how a good FiM fic should go! Thanks a whole bunch for a damn good story! Have my Like! :D
Tell Nigel and reflection to watch out for wampas
Finishing up, part of me is going 'Wat' while the rest is laugh-crying that it's over. I never cared about the supposed slaughter many anticipated, just the tale of a futuristic ubermensch fucking around in a world of ponies, with violence on the side.
Though I would say there'd be no harm in entertaining the possibility of a sequel, the shenanigans that'd ensue, if the villains and horrors that attack Equestria foolishly set their sights on the Crystal Empire, to then promptly be cut down in a hail of plasma fire, that'd be nice
<----------this one whould really like to see a sequel but he wouldnt mind it if you are out of ideas for a sequel
6531509
There was plenty of revenge. Celestia was humbled and the Crystal Empire came out on top. While having Nigel punch her in the teeth or whatever might satisfy the calls for violence against her, it wasn't where the fic was aiming to go. It was not my intention to have him painted as the perfect ruler, and when you think about it his departure from power actually is a boon for the Crystal Empire.
Instead of a ruler that lets his emotions and irrational behaviors run rampant throughout his decisions, it ends with the Empire getting two new rulers that are more level-headed while possessing an equal drive to get things done.
And instead the fic was going for an alternate ending all along. Celestia 'gets her ass handed to her' in a way, but without a violent slaughterfest. The other characters in the fic, save for the main, were actively working towards a peaceful outcome. Through their efforts (and admittedly a little outside help), it paid off and that outcome was achieved.
You have read other fics of mine with him, right? This pretty much fits the theme and character pretty well.
I've still yet to hear an actual alternate ending that doesn't consist of 'Killz everythang!'
Because it was a conceivable ending that honestly seemed to make much more sense than other alternatives. It's a rather 'Everyone wins' kind of end, in their own small ways.
6531612
I wouldn't say that Chalmers saw reason, but it's possible that given the time he had to think about it he may of actually...
made a grown-up and selfless decision for once.
6531759
I may add an epilogue, (especially considering the feedback) that will make some attempt to tie it all up a bit more neatly. Knowing me though, it'll take a week or so and will most likely clock in at a few thousand words. Still, it's an idea which I'm probably going to go with.
6531760
I will also consider that idea. I have yet to do a 'Alternate ending' type of deal.
6532335
I have to tear myself away from the rampant bureaucracy that I seem to be inserting into every fic these days...
6532408
I am a complete sequel whore, so I'll likely bring out a third some time in the future. However, it won't be for a while considering the other 4+ in progress fics that need some love.