Zetta
“You mean you can actually fly with those things?”
“Uhhh, yeah?” Rainbow Dash squinted at one of the many youngsters crowding around her as she trudged slowly through the lengths of Sanctuary. “You sure you can actually trot with those?”
A colt giggled, shuffling his hooves across the floor. “Could you do it now?”
“Do what?”
“Fly!” several of the nearby ponies all shouted at once. “Fly like a pegasus!”
“Hmmmmm...” Rainbow Dash tongued the inside of her mouth and eyed the torchlit ceiling of the corridor. “Well... I dunno...”
“Oh please? Please please please please?”
“Hmmm. Okay. But don't blame me if you collapse from the sheer awesomeness.” She held her breath, flapped her wings for the first time in hours, and levitated over the heads of the gasping lot of young Silvadelians.
Many of the youngsters cheered and squealed with joy. Older ponies from the far edges of the passing corridors smiled and waved at the sight. With or without meaning to, Rainbow Dash had once more become the center of attention.
“That's so incredible!”
“Can you outrace dragons?!”
“I bet you could fly above the smog!”
“Listen, kids.” Rainbow Dash smiled nervously as she passed corridors full of metalworks, marketplaces, and indoor schoolyards. “You guys are living down here for a reason. The world is pretty darn dangerous, even if you have wings.”
“But if things get really bad, you can fly away in a blink, right?”
Rainbow Dash lingered as she hovered past a steep cavern. “The key to having wings, guys, is being able to go places where other ponies can't. Even if they're places you don't wanna go.”
The ponies murmured with one another. In the meantime, a loud grinding noise wafted across the dimly lit corridor. Rainbow Dash swiveled in mid-air and gazed towards the far end of the cavern. She saw a deep, dark tunnel clustered with heavy metal equipment and hulking containers of bubbling liquid. Soot-stained ponies were rushing in and out of the thin strait, taking turns exploring the shadowed depths with weighted clusters of drilling tools.
“What... What are they doing over there?” Rainbow Dash murmured.
“You mean you don't know?” One of the foals remarked. The blank flank stepped up, sporting a pair of green goggles over his petite head. “It's the Grand Project! The one that the Council commissioned three years ago! It's almost finished and everypony is so excited!”
“Yeah, but what exactly is the tunnel there to do—?” Rainbow stopped, doing a double-take as he looked at the colt more closely.
The young pony blinked, a flare of torchlight glinting off his horn. “What?”
Rainbow's eyes narrowed. “You're a unicorn...”
The colt instantly blushed, biting his lip and smiling bashfully. “Yeah. Yeah, I am.”
“Why is that?”
“You know about unicorns, pegasus?”
“I've met several. I'm just not familiar with any of them living underground beneath an apocalyptic landscape full of murderous dragons.”
“There're not a lot of us. We live over in Sparklight, the unicorn district of Sanctuary. But the Silvadelians are cool with us and all!” He gasped and brightened. “You should meet Zetta! He's the one in charge of the Grand Project! He'd be totally jazzed to see a pegasus visiting us!”
“I don't think I'd mind, little guy, or should I call you...?”
“Uhm... My name's Lime Tech.” He smiled and slid his goggles down over his bright eyes. “But most everypony here calls me 'Limey.' Here! I'll show you Zetta's workshop!” He scampered away on little legs.
Rainbow Dash gave the tunnel one last look, took a deep breath, and soared after him. Several colts and fillies excitedly tried their vain best to keep up.
Limey led through several spots where the ceiling dipped until eventually bringing Rainbow Dash to a remarkably cubicle chamber filled with the smell of chemicals and echoes of whirring tools. A dozen unicorns were busily working around several tables cluttered with mechanical equipment and liquid containers. In the center of the place was a large basin—about the size of two ponies—and a lanky unicorn with buzzed mane was busy telekinetically applying a welding tool to its bolted rim.
“Hey! Zetta!” Lime Tech chanted, his goggles sliding loose. He shoved them back to his forehead and pointed at Rainbow Dash, beaming. “Look who I brought!”
The mane-less unicorn jolted, slamming his head against the partially-constructed basin. “Gaah! Grrrr... Sparkplugs! Ugh...”
Rainbow Dash winced.
Zetta glanced over, rubbing his horn and hissing. “What is it, Limey?! Can't you see I'm busy...?” He blinked and slumped back, exhaling hard. “Oh! The ponasus... er, I mean the Pegasy... Er....”
“Just call me Rainbow Dash,” she said, smiling nervously. “The one and only.”
“Aren't we all the one and only, feathered friend?”
“Erm...”
“Forgive my manners. I heard that a winged pony was visiting, but I didn't have any chance to break off from what I'm doing. They don't let me get out much.”
“Uhhhh...” Rainbow Dash glanced beyond the center of the workshop to see a filthy sleeping mat with several bowls filled with uneaten, moldy salad. “Yeah...”
“Zetta's a very important pony!” Limey exclaimed, hopping in place as all the fumes and sounds of the workshop billowed around him. “He's going to help the Silvadelians get their kingdom back!”
“Eh, one thing at a time, spark muncher,” Zetta remarked, twitching. “Assuming I can get this darn thing liquid-tight! I swear, half of this job is attempting to mold arcanium into a useful shape!”
“You've got actual arcanium here?” Rainbow Dash remarked in awe.
“Oh yeah. Totally.”
“How'd you get that?”
“Lots and lots and lots and lots of mining!” Zetta smiled, twitched, and rubbed a hoof over his buzzed mane. “Nnnngh... So much darn coal, and so useless. Had to fill some of the reserve latrines with the stuff just so I could get to some good nodes. Dragons don't care for the stuff: arcanium. So they're there for us to plunder and use against them! Ha!”
“So what...” Rainbow Dash finally touched down and rested her wings. “...is this 'Grand Project' thing?”
“She saw the tunnel that the Council had us build!” Limey said, excited and bubbly.
“Shhh... Simmer down there, buckethead.” Zetta looked at Rainbow Dash as steadily as he could. “This is a crazy time for you to show up, pegasus. The Grand Project is something the Silvadelians have been betting on for a while. Even Prince Sam the Rose digs it, and he hardly digs anything! Heh! Best tunnel I ever dug in my life. The only one that long and straight, come to think of it.”
“What's the tunnel for?” Rainbow Dash leaned forward, her face briefly bright and hopeful. “Is it an escape route for the ponies here?”
“Hah!” Zetta trotted around towards her. “Maybe if it was aimed in the other direction, it would be! Hahahaha—” He bumped into a cluster of discarged metal shards. “Augh! Sparkplugs! Ahem...” He smiled and held his hooves together as he explained, “The Grand Project is to build a corridor stretching directly from here to the Matriarch's lair, where her nest and hoard and magazines and whatever is stashed!”
“What?!” Rainbow Dash gawked, her ruby eyes widening. “What the hay would you build something like that for? Wouldn't she just send her minions back into Sanctuary and end everypony?!”
“We have several charges lined up along the corridor so that everything will seal itself with a single charged blast!”
“Then... I don't get it...” Rainbow Dash's brow furrowed. “What's the point in building the tunnel to begin with if you're only going to blow it to smithereens?”
“It's only gonna be open long enough to get THIS baby through!” Zetta exclaimed, wildly motioning towards the half-finished basin in pride.
Rainbow Dash blinked. “What am I looking at?”
“It's an arcanium container for Silvadelian Death Water!” Zetta exclaimed.
“Silvadelian Death Water...?” Rainbow Dash droned, staring at him with bored eyes.
“Heh. I made the name up myself. Um...” Zetta gestured wide. “Imagine a highly acidic, adhesive compound.” His forelimb smacked a nearby unicorn upside the head. “Ahem. Sorry.” He continued, “Upon contact with any form of matter, it'll latch onto the material and degrade it swiftly, spreading the burning liquid across other surfaces located nearby. Basically, anything the Death Water compound touches or comes into close proximity to will melt away! We're brewing enough of the stuff so that it'll take out a mountain's worth of mass and convert it into goo! Ha!”
“That... sounds really darn dangerous,” Rainbow Dash remarked. “How could you even carry this stuff around?”
“Arcanium is the only substance that resists the acid!” Zetta exclaimed, pointing to the partiaully finished container. “The idea is to brew the stuff in that, contain it, and deliver it to the lair!”
Rainbow Dash blinked. “The Matriarch. You wish to bomb her...”
“Heh... Well, the Council wishes to bomb her. And I really can't complain. I want this place to be dragon free as much as the next horn-less pony,” Zetta said, wringing his hooves together. “Unlike flammable bombs or explosives made to inflict shrapnel wounds, this stuff will cling to the mightiest of dragon scales and melt them as if they were tissue paper!”
“As soon as the tunnel's finished, we're gonna carry this thing to where she sleeps and KABLAMMO!” Limey hopped, almost bumping into a set of equipment. “No more brood queen! No more fire breathing baddies!”
“Wow, you guys must be... really hyped,” Rainbow Dash remarked. She gulped. “Still, sounds like a whole bunch of work for one single moment of stress.”
“Oh, I know a thing or two about stress,” Zetta remarked with a smiling twitch. “It'll all be worth it. I just know it.”
“The Council's lucky to have you unicorns around,” Rainbow Dash said. “Just... uh... why are there unicorns hanging out in the ruins of a kingdom that was once full of earth ponies?”
“Same reason you're here, I'm willing to bet!” Zetta exclaimed. “We were visiting! Er, well, our great, great, great, great, great grandparents were visiting. Then everything went to Tartarus, and generations of us got stuck here! Not that it's a bad thing, mind you. We've helped the Silvadelians build themselves a little paradise here in Sanctuary. They might be good at farming, but earth ponies absolutely suck at digging straight lines. Kind of ironic considering their names. Heheheh...” He leaned sweatily over and elbowed Rainbow hard in the wings. “You know what I'm saying?! Hahahah...”
“Er... Sure...” Rainbow Dash smiled nervously.
“So. Rumor is, you've come from the west!” Zetta smiled wide. “Tell me! Did you see the land of my kind?!”
Rainbow Dash bit her lip. “Uhhhh...”
“Did you see the shiny gray plateaus of Cylindrimane?”
“Cylindri... mane...?”
“Yes! With the gleaming spires of Ringfall and the immense clock towers of Understeam!”
“Uhm... You mean Ring City?” Rainbow Dash remarked. “The capital of Darkstine?”
“Darkstine?!” Zetta's face coiled up in disgust. “As in General Darkstine of the Holy Theological Army?”
“Uhhhhhh...”
“Pfft! That amoral despot had this crazy idea of molding all of society into an unemotional utopia that worshipped industry above individual freedom! It's because of that jerk that so many of my forbearers sought a lifestyle in Silvadel to begin with! Feh! I hope he got eaten by dragons along with all the morons who thought his idea was cool!” Zetta spat on the ground, flinched on a bit, and smiled once more Rainbow's way. “But seriously. How was Clyindrimane, my family's home province?”
“Uhm...” Rainbow Dash smiled brightly. “Oh! It was... It was totally awesome, dude! Like... I really digged those clock towers! They were really... uh... metallic...”
“Heeee!” Zetta swayed back into a workbench and fanned himself. “Ohhhh, I can't wait to get out of this place just so I can see them again! It makes this whole darn Death Water nonsense worth it!”
“Yeah. Uhm...” Rainbow Dash gulped. “About that...”
Just then, the sound of galloping hooves lit the air of the steamy workplace. Rainbow Dash and the others turned to look at a sweating earth pony in canvas armor.
“Are you Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow Dash looked at everypony, then glanced at the earth pony. She flexed her blue wings out and smiled nervously, “I sincerely hope so.”
The earth pony gave a polite smile and spoke between breaths, “The Council is having a meeting. Unless you are predisposed, they would like to see you.”
Rainbow Dash glanced at Zetta and Limey. She looked at the messenger once more. “Yeah? When?”
“Right away.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.076 seconds
Total duration
1,074 users online
1,722,699 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Blackened Waters - Black Label Society
Aww. Poor Zetta's in for a nasty surprise.
Was that an Independence Day reference, or do my eyes deceive me?
1382219
Invitation stands, Zetta.
So this whole plan sounds like it will backfire hilariously and with tragic consequences, it also sounds a little bit like the plot from the Total Recall remake. Interesting that unicorns seem to always end up in places they weren't "supposed" to be and get held up as prisoners, more motif payoffs and some fodder for harmony themes.
Interesting to note, as well, that Silvadel's population, at least their unicorn population, isn't as depressed as I thought they would be. Though, they are a little.. um... affected.
That acid water stuff is like Wizard's Fire, or Balefire. Also, the unicorns are acting like the dwarves from Dragon Age, digging into the dragon lair like that. For some reason that combo doesn't bode well. And Limey just reminded me of Yu-Ghi-Oh abridged and I burst out laughing. Anywho, whereas Rainbow could just swoop in and save the day before I find it difficult to see how she can help out in this situation. The whole amped up danger factor makes her and the other characters seem much more vulnerable. Can't wait for the next chapter
I told you dash -- these are crazy ponies -- get out of there while you still can.
586217
Lime Tech. What an intriguing name for a young unicorn.
Not to mention that that is some very powerful acid compound he's got there. I would not want to be on the wrong end of that bomb.
Holy fucking super bioweapon, Batman.
I was hoping it would update today.
2000 words? Amazing!
Silvadelian Death Water? Slightly insane unicorns? I like where this is going. A lot. Although liquid death seems to put a bit of a damper on any possibility for a laughter motif for this particular arc. Who knows, though? IC is an unpredictable one.
OMGZ! IT's featured again! SERIOUSLY, DO YOU EVER SLEEP?
Oh... Oh my.
RUN AWAY. That plan is guaranteed to end badly.
1383867
Well, we've got a different flavor of Loyalty here, a more bitter one. Perhaps we get some bitter laughter as well. Notice the joy of the unicorns in this chapter.
Who here is surprised that Darkstinian theology was founded by an insane despot? Anyone?
You know, Zetta, you'd be surprised how crazy despots fare in a world that needs a revolution. God knows we've had too many here.
Dash gets called before the council, and she hasn't even broken anything yet!
DUN DUN DUNNNNN
1383430
It's nothing like Balefire, unless you're saying this acid has the ability to alter the past. Things killed by Balefire die before they are struck.
1384186 I just meant the destructive qualities it seems to have. Balefire is pretty permanent, and this stuff, by being able to burn through anything (even dragon scales) seems like it too. I didn't mean the time stuff. Although it has been a while since I've read a Wheel of Time book, I just remember the fire being crazy powerful and making you extra dead
1384211
In that case, yes, they do share certain similarities. Balefire is the only method of killing something that ensures Shai'tan can't just bring it back, so 'deader than dead' is a very good way of describing its effects.
1384229 Oh yeah, its coming back to me now. I really have to get caught up with the series. I think I'm on book ten... Thanks for the reminder, I'll have to dig up my copy during reading week and get back into it
1384269
Stopped on book 10? Can't blame you, that's definitely the weakest book in the series. That book is famous for being almost entirely made up of various characters' reactions to the events that ended book 9. Said events were quite world-changing, but you can only read so many accounts of viewing the same thing before you start getting bored. It's like reading stories about what various people were doing on 9/11 when they heard about what happened.
Haha, if this is a reference to my name, then I'm a total nut! But I love it.
Thanks for that, you've definitely made my week.
Standing by previous comment (1381209). Looks good so far.
I'm going to assume the council wants RD to drop the bomb on the Matriarch.
Time to make some fresh dragon goo!
>Limey
i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/312/563/05d.jpg
1385078
Is that someones username like with the other ocs?
1385972
Well, LimeTech is a play on Lime Attack, I believe.
However, in the most recent Background Pony update, Discord called Lyra "Limey."
ahh, i finished chapter 2 of background pony last night. is it any good? i like it so far
Rainbow really needs to get into contact with CC again. You know, to tell him she's not dead and all.
1401450
No dice, mate. RD's sound stone was crushed at the beginning of her first dragon encounter.
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
So we get some new characters in this chapter who are...interesting. This Zetta seems a but crazy, though. I'm wondering how the Death Water plan will turn out, too. If it fails, which I'm almost positive it will, I'm not sure that Zetta would take it very well. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. Yes! I'm past Regidar! Muahahahaha.
GONNA GET IT DONE TONIGHT WITH ANIMALS AND DARK SIDE OF THE MOON!
1684423 Eh.
Reminds me of Greek Fire and
Selling Death Water and Death Water accessories.
this sounds like a bad idea...
damn an epic ultimate weapon!
So zetta slow!
Yeah there is no way that this is going to end well. At all.
Ponasus?
3681901
Best race.
Oh, I like Zetta.
Zeta makes me smile.
Not laugh though. 
HA! If you think arcanium is hard to mold you've never tried molding unobtainum! You can never obtain the right shape you want with it. At least the dragons can't horde the stuff.
4200328 pun pun pun
4200328 unobtanium is unobtainable.
You know it's a questionably dangerous plan when even Dash is taken aback by it.
I think this is the first time I've heard of something like the "the Holy Theological Army" actually succeeding at their goal.
Especially with a leader who's got a name like Darkstine.
It's just begging to be defeated by a mysterious outsider or ragged band of misfits.
4200328 Man that stuff is almost as and as Sutbornite.
The Philosophical Prismatic Pegasus.
He is going to be in for a bit of a shock, a lot can happen in only a few hundred years
04/01/2017 21:58 UTC
8066591
Agreeing reply: That is an understatement.