My first day at the Crystal Empire was productive, in terms of getting very little actually done in my point of view. It wasn't long before Cadance recovered from her fainting spell, which allowed Shining to finally have that military discussion with me. While I did pick up some of Equestria's military tactics, as predicted they would just crumble when faced against organized dimensional forces. This became apparent when I just tossed out random scenarios, ranging from a Dixian war machine, waves of insectoid soldiers, to a swarm of robotic drones. So the discussion ended up with Shining teaching me Equestrian and other species’ military tactics as I wrote down various battle situations to give him something to think about in his spare time.
After the discussion, I didn't talk to Cadance again, which probably meant that she may be rethinking her approach towards my attitude. Which is good, because I personally don't want to take more drastic steps, nor do I want to figure out how thick-headed ponies can be. Though sitting in a wheelchair since I couldn’t walk on my broken leg anytime soon is boring as can be, even if I had some pony pushing me around.
Anyways, at the days end I was given a room at the palace to stay in. After spending some time to prepare a letter to send to Pinkie tomorrow, I decided to sleep in the bed that was not only non-crystal, but it was the softest bed I've ever been on. I wondered if I could bring this bed back to Ponyville.
"You know, I expected a few things... but nothing like this."
"Well... after yesterday's 'incident', I thought that maybe I should try approaching you as one adult to another."
"About time somepony figured that out," I said, as I eyed the room Cadance and I were in. This time around, there was pair of chairs, with the one that I guess was for me designed to allow a pony to lounge on it while Cadance's didn't have the same luxury. While I was suspicious of the chair at first, I eventually shrugged and took my seat.
"Aether, before we start, I have something to say to you," Cadance calmly declared, causing me to tilt my head at her.
"What is it?"
"It's about how I treated you yesterday. I apologize for treating you like a foal that just wanted to get her way only. I should have approached you as an adult from the beginning, yet my past foalsitting experience prevented me from giving you that respect."
This caused me only to raise an eyebrow at her humility. "Okay... I guess I can accept your apology."
"Good, so let's try to start all over with a clean slate," Cadance said as she levitated a notepad and a quill over to her. And now I feel like I'm with Twilight again... "So Aether, can you please tell me why you've been so angry lately?"
"Finally somepony said the magic words," I answered dryly, only for Cadance to deadpan at me. "Where to start, where to start... let's see: Princess Celestia basically alerted the dimensional community that there is something odd in this dimension, I'm the only pony that has any knowledge of what this world will have to face so I have to be the one to train a bunch of recruits from a species that is way too peaceful for war, I just learned two weeks ago that some ponies do judge others based on what tribe they're from, oh and that since I'm a foal, it is very hard for anypony to take me seriously unless I take drastic measures to get them to listen."
"I see..." Cadance said as she took down some notes. "How about anything from your past life? Would that have any baring on your anger?"
Tapping a hoof against my chin, I answered, "Well, my past life was horrible, so I hated it. I also hated the fact that I was a member of a species that was dying, and I was generally shorter than most... ponies in my line of work. They always wanted to taunt me for that, especially the new ones. Though after their first mission, they're normally too shocked to say anything else, or they're dead. Mostly the latter case."
Biting her lip, Cadance took a deep breath before continuing with her questioning. "Aether, in order to get some kind of understanding of your... emotional state, do you mind telling me about the... worst mission you've experienced?"
"Hmm... only if you're certain... though I'm not going to tell you about the one were I almost had a run-in with the Venanites, I really don't want to think on that unless I really have to. Now let me think... oh, I could tell you about one of my few joint missions. Those tend to get real nasty, real fast. Though I recommend that you keep a trashcan nearby, in case you can't stomach what you're about to hear." Taking my advice, Cadance whisked a trashcan to the side of her chair.
"Now then, from what I can recall, there were ten of us hired for the job. We all had jobs with this employer, so we were hired for actually surviving and succeeding our first mission with the... employer. Anyway, it was some sort of retrieval mission, where we had to gather some kind of mystery material at a specific location that normal probes couldn't extract by themselves. So once the portal was up and ready, we all head in at once. Big mistake.
“Apparently our boss had forgotten to tell us the exact location we were heading to, only telling us it was a cave in the middle of an alien jungle. He didn't mention that we would be appearing right above the jungle, sweet Celestia that wasn't fun falling down for us. I was lucky to land on a branch, though I nearly broke a rib due to landing on my chest. Six others made it safely, one broke their arm, another ended up with a branch going through her stomach, and the last one... made a mess on the jungle floor." The vague description was enough for Cadance to start to pale as I wondered just what she could be imagining.
"The eight of us didn't mourn our dead; we didn't know each other, nor had the luxury of time to do so. We all rather get the mission over with so we can be in a more familiar and safer place. So we made our way through the jungle, which follows the typical cost pattern of encountering the native predators, where one of us was eaten, and then losing another one to some plant that preys on animals. Eventually we reached the cave, where things turned from bad to worse."
"Bad to worse? How can thi—" Cadance asked before I lifted up a hoof.
"There were six of us left at that point, figure it out. Moving on, we entered the cave, only to find out why a probe wouldn't be able to extract the material. The cave turned out to be the home of some insect hive... that consists of giant bugs," I said with a shiver at that memory. "Another one of us fell to the bugs when we first encountered them, leading to another mad dash for our lives. We eventually hit a fork in the cave, causing us to split up, which was the last I saw of the other two as three of us went the other way. Luckily we found the so called mystery material, some kind of orange metal that we had to retrieve, which thankfully our boss gave us the means to extract some. Sadly, turns out this material was some kind of decoration for the hive's queen, if I'm right about it being the queen, who promptly ate one of us.
But that wasn't the worst of it, for the queen had to block our way out, causing us to have to flee in the other direction. We reached a point where the queen couldn't fit, in a place where there were some worker bugs that for once didn't bother us. Sadly, that part of the cave... was were all the eggs were, which were either somehow sensitive to the presence of foreign life, or it was just their time to hatch, for the eggs cracked open to reveal hundreds of hungry and fast larva. The other... pony and I ran for our lives, sadly she tripped and ended up as a meal for the babies. Thankfully, I spotted a light from the outside via a small air shaft, that I crawled through to make it to safety, though I... knocked my shoulder out of it's place in my arm, back when I had an arm.
After fixing my shoulder, I went back to where the portal was, and waited till it reappeared, where a rope was somehow lowered. I know what you're about to say, if the boss knew about the fall, why didn't he warned us? Simple, he didn't care to. Anyway, I climbed up the rope, to which the portal closed behind me, pretty much dooming any survivors from the group that broke off. In the end; nine folk died, I started to develop a fear of babies, and I was paid enough... bits to last two weeks. Naturally, I took another job the next day, cause I needed more money for basic living expenses in case there was a drop in dimensional jobs."
At the end of my story, Cadance's face was so pale that it looked like she dyed her coat, her mouth shut tight for a moment before she finally gathered the composure to speak. "That... is horrible... for a pony to be sent somewhere... where they could be eaten by anything... even plants."
"Tell me about it, I made a note to avoid jobs that involved underground since then, if I had enough money to last to the next job. But eh, there are untold numbers of folk like me that have to deal with that for a living. Which is also why I didn't like the fact that Celestia sent out a message that alerted at least a few species that something exists here."
After my last words, Cadance remained silent, to which I just kept my mouth shut as I waited for her next move. She then finally took a deep breath before she said, "Aether, after hearing that part of your past, I can understand how... detached you can be about some matters with ponies. However, I still see your hostile reactions and angry issues as an unhealthy thing for anypony to have, regardless about your past. So... I suggest that we seek some way for you to let your aggressiveness out in a peaceful and constructive manner."
"Okay... and how do you intend to do that?" I asked as I tilted my head, wondering what her plan was.
"Well, one possibility is for you to talk about your issu—" Cadance started to say before I deadpanned at her. "Umm... how about get a hobby?"
"...like what?" I asked, still deadpanning.
"Well, since you live with Pinkie, how about baking?" After receiving a flat stare, Cadance gave me a sheepish smile before continuing, "Is there anything you're interested in doing?"
"Magic and living," I simply said.
"Um... nothing else?"
"Can't really say, most of my life was spent worrying on living, and the rest was focused around magic. Makes it hard to find any other interests."
"Well, try something Aether, being angry and frustrated all the time isn't healthy for you."
"Well, I know one way for me to feel a whole lot better."
"What is it?"
"It involves what you're sitting on and the back of Princess Celesia's head."
"What's with you and chairs‽"
"Closest thing on hoof. If we were in a training room, it would be any weapon I can use," I said with a cruel smile as Cadance just facehooved at my antics.
Another lovely chapter.
It occured to me that Aether and Riley (Boondocks) would get along really well.
Ha ha ha. That was quite funny.
DO IT AGAIN!
Yaaaayy 69th part! You know what it means?
Aether could take up painting or sculpting, it could help her show everyone just what they could be dealing with in the future.
I love this series so much can't wait for more , also somepony finally noticed her favoritism with chairs .
Oh noes. If celestia pays a visit while they're in the CRYSTAL empire... I don't want to know what kind of damage that can do to somepony's skull... All in all nice chapter.
Fucking Chairs man XD hahaha, the best weapons!
Nicely done.
At some point, Aether really needs to tell some of these stories to her new team.
Aether,how about talk to Discord and ask him to teach you how to summon chairs?
Aether, I think we need to introduce you to something called 'pillow bombs'.
What we need is Aether to talk to AK Yearling so she can, spruce things up a little?
I think Ill bough out for the moment.
... and at one point Cadence lost it and said: "Aether, seriously, you need to get laid."
Tenses.
if any human other human were to enter least there not alone in the it be awkward like heck to be a baby pony but it nice...
so how different is astral biology? would she get unwanted sympathy if it turn out being turn into a different species mean she still not compatible for having kids due to dna difference?
the chair thing is still going and is still funny. have cadance give the idea to have Aether start a hobby with building chairs.
Anger Issues!
The hobby Aether should have is collecting chairs. And if someone doesn't like the collection, throw all of them in ITS FACE!
Yeah that's definitely not healthy. Aether should look into gaming.
I know that Aether view of her old civilization is perhaps biased, but it starting to feel, well over the top. Big bright blinking sign hanging over the 'dimensional civilization' reading "Evil".
I know for plot convenience this works, but for a more nuanced story, a society that so so blatantly nonfunctional would probably be in some sort of continuous revolution and upheaval. Sort of like current Syria.
Without some sort of stabilizing force (like a nice mind numbing religion, which doesn't appear to be the case here) the underclasses would be constantly sabotaging the system.
I guess it could last in a semi stable state for a while, perhaps a generation or two, but longer than that? Probably fall apart into warring clans. Yes the bosses on top 'today' would spend their money to keep a statuesque but in pyramid arranged societies, who ever at the second or third tier would want to move up, and one clique or another will get the 'bright' idea of a populist movement.
After that things would fall apart pretty hard.
Just give Aether a chair and a frying pan and she'd be the most feared warrior in any dimension.
Aether is really becoming unlikeable and rather one note.
She's acting like a spoiled brat that has to always get her way.
I get the feeling Aether will end up facing an enemy which she can't defeat with raw skill.
So in order to win, she throws one of the recruits at the enemy.
6357662 Keep in mind this isn't like us as we are, in the fast (and in some places still today) that people for one reason or another are mistreated, and every where animals can be found mistreated and exploited by people. To them its perhaps a simple though "Its ether them or us." they decided its them, and while she/he doesn't know if there was just a mishap or something, there has to be some mentality on their side, to not arm them with basic defense (or train them.)
6357227
That is kinda scary in a way.
Aether is a very flat character and rather static. If you are going somewhere with these meetings with cadence then actually make it go somewhere instead of just these chapters which seem to be filler.
forgot the "
i like it
stayclassy
Shining Armor has shields.
Aether has chairs.
Even with Aether's gender-change, I can see the perfect bromance going on here
Aether finally admits she has a fondness for throwing chairs!
p.s. don't let her near ANY armory... or do!
6357662
From what Aether has said there is stability. Just not for new dimensions’ populations. Combine that with multiple dimensional polities only loosely united and you’ve got a recipe for exploitation and suffering.
6357884
She is not flat, she developed, granted most of the development was in the previous story.
Cadance, just teach her chess or Go. She would probably enjoy an strategy game.
I wonder why Pinkie Pie has not taught her to bake yet.
6357474 Eh, the s key is right beside the d key on a qwerty keyboard, I'd just call it a typo.
Previous chapter: she actually DOES act like a child. "listen or I'll hurt myself or you"
Difference is she's willing to follow through.
This chapter: bugs had me thinking of warcraft's mantid
6358420
I made a comment about that on the last chapter. Also realize that she's not acting as jeuvenile as you think: being a very capable adult, trying to direct people who will die if they don't listen to you, and instead being treated like a child, can be extremely frustrating. Put yourself in her hooves and maybe you'll see why she's acting progressively more insane. Cadence's psychologist-office approach is going to do wonders...
6358327
Yeah. Anyhow, it's a nitpick, and I don't think I'd've (Is that a thing?) noticed it had it not been at the end of the chapter.
Again I say, GET HER A CHAIR CANNON!
-ThePortalPonies
Cadence: Let's try Sculpting. Here is a nice big(six foot cube) of clay.
Aether: ...I think I have an idea.
Cadence: Good! I'll be back in a bit to see what you made!
*Many hours later*
Cadence: Is that a chair?
Aether: It's for Celestia. Can-
Cadence: No. You can't give it to her personally.
6358976 beautiful
Pretty much aether
gammanews.in/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/man-hitting-girl-with-chair.gif
It's nice to hear about one of Aether's old jobs. I hope Cadence can find Aether a hobby to help her unwind, but I'd actually think a lot of Aether's anger is just channeled anxiety. After all, she knows exactly how unprepared Equestria if they get invaded, and it's better to be pissed and productive than terrified and not. Still, a hobby would be nice, maybe Button Mash can lend Aether some shooters or something.
The following is a quote I can easily see Aether saying:
6358683 True, true.
6360507
You reply to me a lot.
6360532 Coincidence? I think not!
6359165 YESH!
btw who is getting hit with the chair?
6360592
Therefore you may or may not be.
6358813 I know that this is a little off topic but,did you say portal ponies?
-DA brony of portal
6358349
Giant insects would rule the world if they really existed. One colony of thigh sized ants would have wiped out any city in their path back before gun powder. Maybe even half that size is all it would take. Plus being caught by a giant wasp is possibly the worst way you could die. They don't kill you, they paralyze you, leave your limp body near the larvae/eggs and let them SLOWLY eat you alive.
6363515 we already know that's terrifying. That's why xenomorphs are so scary.