Chapter XLI: Confrontation
"MONSTER!"
"Gah! What the buck?" I said as I jumped out of bed, my head darting around as I searched for the origin of the disturbance. It wasn't long before my ears registered the sounds of ponies screaming outside.
"What the buck is going on?" I asked myself as I went over to my window, opening it as I looked for what was going on. Poking my head out the window, I only saw some ponies galloping around in a panic. I saw other ponies running into their houses, and I could hear the rather loud sound of ponies nailing boards to their doors and windows. Yet, I couldn't see what was causing the panic, so I decided to climb onto the roof as I looked around further. I finally spotted the source of the commotion, and the sight of it caused my jaw to drop.
Approaching the edge of town was a large crystal creature, ten feet long and four feet tall. Its body was shaped like a triangular prism widest at the top. The main body was about twenty five feet above the ground due to being supported by six crystalline tentacles that ended with four clawed talons. A... a Dixian War Machine! How the fuck did it—gah. Doesn't matter. Damn it all, I hope somepony can do something about it before it destroys the town.
Just before the Dixian War Machine reached the edge of town, I saw Rainbow flying towards it. She zipped around, and appeared to be hitting the machine, but sadly I knew that she lacked the strength to damage its crystalline plating. Her efforts did distract the machine, however, as it swung its tentacles at her, though she was able to dodge all its attacks with some quick flying.
Soon, I saw Twilight and Fluttershy flying towards the machine as well. Fluttershy just stopped right before its eyes. As I tried to comprehend whatever possessed her to do that, I saw that she was trying to stare it down, and looked like she was even trying to berate it. Sadly, I knew it wouldn't work. The machine swung a tentacle at her, only for Rainbow to fly by Fluttershy, pulling her out of the way. That was when Twilight started to make her move, firing what looked to be some kind of energy beam at the machine. This, however, was a futile attempt as well, as I knew that Dixian War Machines possessed an innate resistance to energy-based attacks, which seemed to apply to magic based ones as well as Twilight repeatedly fired at the machine to no avail.
"Aether! What are you doing on the roof?" I heard Mrs. Cake scream from behind me. Glancing back at her, I saw both her and Mr. Cake leaning out my window. "Get back inside! It's not safe with that monster out there!"
Smiling sheepishly, I replied, "Sorry, Mrs. Cake, but I need to do something. I'll explain later." I started making my way off the roof, landing on the ground before Mrs. Cake could even climb out the window. I started dashing down the streets in the direction of the war machine, before I heard the sounds of even more wings flapping.
"Have at thee, thy evil beast!" Luna shouted as I saw her fly over me to engage the machine. Nearby, I saw a pair of pegasi guards unhitching a carriage before they flew after the princess. While watching an alicorn that could move the bucking moon in battle would be quite the sight, I still had to rush to the battleground to see if Luna's attacks would be strong enough to pierce the war machine's crystal plating. It only took moments before I finally reached the town edge, where I caught sight of the battle once more; seeing both Luna and Twilight blasting away at the creature to no effect. Though, I did see that Luna appeared to have a large collection of spells as I saw her hurling summoned swords at the machine, which sadly only managed to scratch the plating.
"Aether!" Pinkie screamed in shock when she caught sight of me. Her shriek also drew the attention of the other ponies, though Twilight and Luna quickly had to return their attention to attacking the war machine. Instantly Pinkie was at my side, grabbing in fear as she said, "I have to get you out of here!"
Before Pinkie could make a move, I pushed aside her face as I looked up at Luna as I said, "Princess Luna! You can't beat it that way!"
Backing away from the beast, Luna looked at me as she asked, "Pray tell, doth thou know what this beast is?"
"It's a… an alien war machine! Your attacks aren't doing anything more than scratching its plating!" I replied, causing Applejack and Rarity to look at me in shock as Pinkie gaped at me.
As Rainbow reengaged the machine, Luna landed near us as she asked, "If thou knoweth about that… machine, dost thou know its weakness?"
"See the tentacles it possesses? Its joints are a vulnerable spot when the armored portion of the tentacle isn't covering it. I believe that is where you can pierce it with one of your summoned swords, but try to use the sword to break off an arm to create a bigger opening."
Nodding, Luna took off into the air as Pinkie looked at me as she asked, "How... how do you know what that thing is?"
Sighing, I answered, "It is a long story, one that you may find hard to believe. Just... take out the war machine before it gets close enough to start destroying homes."
Turning my attention away from Pinkie, I saw Luna encircling the machine from below with a half dozen summoned swords floating
alongside her. It wasn't long before I saw that she spotted her chance as she sent a blade right into one of the machine’s joints. This time, the sword sank into the machine, causing the tentacle connected to the joint to spasm just before Luna sent two more swords into the creature while using the rest to fend off the tentacles that tried to grab her.
As Luna dodged and blocked the tentacles, I started to see the swords in the machine starting to bend. It wasn't long before I heard a crack as the swords broke off one of the tentacles, leaving a gaping hole in the machines armor. "Huzzah! The machine is wou—" Luna started to boast before the machine dropped its main body onto the ground, allowing all five of its tentacles to be free for use.
"Don't boast until the thing is down for good! You just let it get into a defensive stance!" I yelled, as I watched the war machine bury its lower portion to protect the breach in its armor.
"Fear not, for we will lift this machine so that Twilight can finish it off!" Luna declared as the machine is engulfed in her magic. I curious watched as Luna focused from a distance while Twilight and Rainbow remained ready for a chance to strike. After minutes passed, the magic surrounding the war machine disappeared as Luna stated, "How can this be? Our magic can't lift the machine!"
"Um... alien machine made of crystal. I don't think magic would work on it as one would expect," I dryly said.
My comments turned to me as Rainbow said, "Alien? How do you know this thing is an alien machine?" with a skeptical look.
Groaning, I replied, "Do I have to answer that now? How about we try to destroy the machine before it destroys us first?"
"Isn't there some way we could reason with the machine?" Fluttershy asked, as I turned my head to find her a small distance behind our little group. "It's not nice to hurt somepony... much les—"
"It's not a living thing, Fluttershy. It doesn't have feelings, or anything that would give it life. It's just a weapon that wants to destroy all sapient life that isn't its creators. So can we go back to focusing on the matter at hoof?" I said.
"Why? The alien machine isn't mo—whoa!" Rainbow said before dodging a tentacle. The war machine had started to drag itself across the ground, which, while slow, still allowed its underside to be protected by the ground.
"Augh, Princess Luna! Can you please just lift the ground it's on into the air, then break the ground apart so that Twilight can fire into the thing?" I asked as Pinkie Pie started to carry me away from the machine, much to my displeasure.
Pausing to give me a flat stare for daring to give her such a command, Luna lit up her horn again as she grabbed the ground around the machine with her magic. She then quickly yanked the ground into the air, lifting it about thirty feet before she broke the ground into pieces. Cleverly, she only broke away parts of it, meaning that it was still being held in the air but the hole in its armor was exposed. Even when the machine realized the situation, Luna used the ground as a blockade against the tentacles; preventing them from being able to cover the damaged breach.
With the hole finally exposed, Twilight flew in as close as she could before firing a beam of magic into the hole. While the machine's armor was able to resist magic, its insides couldn't as the machine's tentacles started to jerk around like it was having a seizure.
"Encase it in a shield and everyone get down!" I yelled as I grabbed Pinkie Pie's shoulders, giving her a jerk that forced the two of us to fall onto the ground. Luna released her grip on the ground, allowing the machine to fall to the ground as she created a shield over it as everypony jumped for cover.
We only had to wait a few seconds before the machine exploded, the force of the explosion warping Luna's shield, yet thankfully it held. After holding the shield up for a moment after the explosion, Luna finally released it, allowing the smoke from the explosion to clear to reveal the shattered pieces of the machine. Luna then stole a quick glance at me, to which I replied with a roll of my eyes and a nod. "Huzzah! We have vanquished the sinister... machine!" Luna announced as she raised a hoof into the air.
"That was a bit intense, but it was nothing for the fastest flyer in Equestria," Rainbow said as she leaned back while hovering in mid-air.
Snorting, I replied, "Then you should be thankful that it was just a low class war machine."
This caused Rainbow to gape at me in shock as she said, "What‽ There are things worse than that?"
"While I'm wonderin' about that thing too, what I'm more curious about is why Aether knew about it in the first place," Applejack said as the rest of the mares started to gather around me. "I reckon that you have some explainin' to do."
"While your aid did help us beat the 'machine,' Princess Luna, I was wondering why you were here so soon. Spike only just sent a letter to Canterlot moments ago," Twilight said as she looked at her fellow princess.
Rolling my eyes, I decided to just to give them a short explanation as I said, "I'll explain everything later, but basically, Luna is here to take me to Canterlot cause I'm an alien and this world may get invaded by hostile aliens like the ones that made that machine."
This caused all the mares to stare at me wide-eyed with the exception of Luna as they yelled in unison, "What!"
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breaking it to them easy huh?
And the truth is out... Now, what are they going to do?
By pure coincidence I was listing to Darkness of the unknown from Kingdom Hearts II when I saw the new chapter. It ended up complementing the fight scene nicely.
Subtle much Aether?
hahahaha, nice... nice.
Good work on this chapter mate, twas awesome saucy! :D
i.imgur.com/vUJBo79.gif
Nice, at first the fight came a bit sudden for me, but i have to say i really liked the way Aether was in controll.
Good, maybe she doesn´t have to let Pinkie to do with her what she wants, at least not like befor, if she knows he/she was a grown up, maybe she get´s treaten a little bit different.
I just like it that Pinkie maybe have to accept that she can´t treat Aether completely like befor, she can adopt her for real next time if she wants, and Aether accepts it, but i hope she isn´t just going to ignore her for actually being an adult.
Hard to say what i would like to happen actually, i guess that she have to stay a foal for a while, would mean that she is acting like it a little bit, and she could stil accept Pinkie as her mother, i think i would just like it, if Pinkie would treat her a bit more seriously.
Don´t get me wrong, i don´t hate anything right now, i just would like something new, that i more or less, haven´t seen that often.
HOW
6099314
Well, considering the Stuff Twi deals with, is an alien really that weird?
6099362 That... sort of slipped through the editing process
6099322 Well, once exposed, why keep up the facade when you can speed things up instead?
We all saw that ending coming.
6099245 thanks
This was great, can't wait for the next chapter.
Because "Subtlety."
Aether now has the problem, because the war machines have started to arrive, of detailing all the various types they know about, their attack methods and patterns, and most importantly, how to take them down or disable them singly, pairs, and how to deal with groups.
At which point does a Badland Class Solar Flare become useless, and hence Equestrian resources incapable of stopping the assault?
6099481
He has been taking in some of Pinkie's influence. Pinkie is about as subtle as a hammer to the crotch so Aether being less than subtle makes sense to me. If it was Pinkie revealing this fact she would have made it into a whole song and dance routine complete with fireworks, a band, and laser light show using a fog machine. That actually is a badass mental picture.
Can't wait to see the random accusations thrown around before Aether uses her signature attack "Logic" to win again.
6099532 I LOVE THAT STORY! It's actually the first one I read on Fimfiction.
Wow, Aether. Maybe there could've been a less blunt way of explaining that.
-ThePortalPonies
Very amusing way for Aether to reveal her situation. The next few chapters will be very interesting!
thats neat
stayclassy
929chan.us/kusaba/mlp/src/138775051572.png
6099314 6 of them are going to do nothing but gap at her, while Twilight is going to pick her up, Teleport them both to her lab, and is going to see what makes her tick on the inside.
Subtlest way to speak. EVER.
"Dixian war machine"? If that thing's traffic horn doesn't play Battle Hymn of the Republic, I'm gonna be very disappointed
The first "Before" is too many.
6100506 She could do that, if it was not because she already said that Luna is there for her to take her to Canterlot. She is going to wait after Aeter come back to do that.
6100584 isn't this still the little one pinkie pie was raising... do we really want to risk a hostile pinkie pie?... seriously I don't think even discord can help us with that.
6100827 All is good in the name of SCIENCE! *Insert evil laugh here*
Perfect way to break it to them...
Aether activated her Magic Card: I'm an alien!
6099383
True true, hehe
6101124 No, it's obviously a trap card.
6100857 We tried that and got pianos.
6102527 ACME pianos?
6102540
By the way, I just wanted to say, I like the use of interrobangs....
I like this story, but something has cropped up in the last two chapters that's really grinding my gears: the overuse of words. Please get a thesaurus or something; I know purple prose is as annoying to me as it is to the next guy, but the words "tentacles," "armor," "machine," and "ground" are repeated far too often in this chapter. In the last one they were "beast," "timberwolves," and "thicket."
This wasn't a problem at all in any of the other chapters, so it makes me think these last two were pretty rushed when written.
I like the story so far, though. It will be interesting to see how the reveal turns out, but I'll probably drop it if it turns into a "ponies vs. aliens war" story. I liked this specifically because of the slice of life and comedy theme you have going, but this would be a major change in tone and theme.
6101124 it's super effective!!!! I cannot believe I made that joke......
6101038 I am an ailen. Me: THROW THE CHEEEEEEEEEEEESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
asdfgh reference.
Tally ho good sir 'tis very well done
6105206 just asdf, actually.
Even if the crystal structure is resistant to magic it shouldn't be resistant to levitation. When something is resistant to spells it is logicaly easier to push such thing with magic, because there is bigger push against the magic. So when someone is immune to magic it means you can easily defeat him with levitation.
6207479 Nah, you vibrate the air around it with magic until the it achieves resonance with the crystal structure. Then it basically just shatters.
Or you can throw rocks at the crystal cleavage points once you calculate the crystal's internal molecular arrangement, which can be done by analyzing the diffraction pattern of an X-ray beam aimed at it.
Or hit them with a large rock really fast. Even diamond can shatter if it's hit hard enough.
That's the disadvantage of building things out of crystals. Not malleable at all.
6102540
I love everything about this comment thread.
6100577 I believe you meant this
"Battle Hymn of the Republic" was the chosen tune of the Yankees, BTW.
6611973 Haha! Yes!
Don't know all that much about American history. I just assumed it would be appropriate from the lyrics of that Elvis-song (if it's even his song, that is).
Go to destiny get a fallen walker, and bring it here. We need to teach these ponies some fear
6689819 Pffft. A Fallen Walker? Seriously? Those things are a joke.
6806032 You mean DESTINY is a joke, right?