Chapter XXII: Xartik
"Oh..." Rainbow mumbled before silence took hold as I just turned to look at the screen again. I wasn't sure how much time passed as I just stared at the screen with a neutral expression, but I soon heard the sharp tap of hoofsteps and then felt a wing gently wrap over my back. This broke me out of my stupor to look at the owner of the wing.
Letting out a sigh, I said, "Okay, we spent enough time being sad about this—" Twilight was about to open her mouth in protest before I shoved a hoof into it "—but we need to get home. We can spend more time on this... new piece of information when we're safe again. For now, we need to figure out a way home."
After pulling my hoof out of her mouth, Twilight gave me a cross look before saying, "Fine Aether, we'll do things your way. But you will talk about... this when we get back."
"Glad you see things my way. Now since you're the only one that can figure out a way back home with magic, Rainbow and I are going out to get some... presents," I said with a grin.
"Presents?" Rainbow asked with a tilt of her head. "Why would we be going out now if you say it's so dangerous to even be near an alien?"
"Oh, just getting our hooves on as much technology as we can before we go. Every little bit can help Equestria advance and be more ready when it's truly discovered." As Twilight's eyes started to shine at the implications of my plan, I pointed a hoof at her. "Hey, more thinking and less daydreaming."
With a huff, Twilight started muttering to herself while pacing about as I ignored her in favor of heading over to my closet. Opening it up, I pulled out a few belts, one with a holster on it that included an energy pistol. "Here Dash, put this on," I ordered as I tossed a couple belts her way. Pulling some clothes out of the closet, I turned to our local princess. "Hey Twilight, can you use your magic to turn some of my old clothes into some saddlebags? I don't think we'll be able to find any for sale in this world, or any bags that a pony can use."
After finding a spare card that had a link to my credit account, I did the one thing ;I never thought I’d see myself doing, spending all the funds that I have gathered in one day. Though the shopping trip didn't go the old, typical burn all your earnings for the moment that I saw some naive idiots do after surviving their first job and getting paid. There was so many damn aliens that watched us, with some surely thinking that we were going to be their meal for a few days. Some yelling and pointing the pistol at their heads quickly deterred that line of thinking quickly.
Rainbow was resistant to the idea of going on a shopping spree, citing that it was something Rarity would enjoy but not awesome enough for her. Her grievances quickly came to an end when I told her that her speed would help us get this matter done at a much faster pace, as well as being more useful in a fight if one were to break out. My little bout ego of stroking helped cut back Rainbow's complaints, but that didn't stop her from being incredibly curious about anything that looked 'awesome' to her. Thankfully, the vendors didn't care that they were selling goods to a pair of colorful ponies, all that mattered to them was that we were able to pay for it in the end.
Hours later, our packs filled with various tech, weapons, tools, and enough paste meant for herbivore species for a week, we returned to my humble abode to see Twilight mumbling to herself. Well, it was more like she was in her own little world, for she looked like she was writing something on a chalkboard based on how she was gesturing with her hooves. "Umm... Rainbow, is Twilight okay?"
"Yeah... I think. She has her moments, but normally she has a lot of her egghead stuff with her too."
"Okay... as long as she's still alright in the head," I said as I set my bags down. "Hopefully she finds a way back to Equus soon, I only got us enough paste to eat for a week or two."
"Wait, that wasn't toothpaste? You actually expect me to eat paste‽" Rainbow yelled.
"Fine, you can go outside and eat garbage, or risk going to the outskirts of the city to eat some of the wild plants that could possibly be toxic to ponies. Or maybe you find some yummy plant that turns out to be a sapient... 'foal' of some plant like alien. Or y—"
"Okay! I get it, I get it!" Rainbow replied, crossing her forehooves against her chest as she hovered around, grumbling to herself. Rolling my eyes, I grabbed one of the paste tubes to give it a try.
"Well, figures it's just as bad," I commented before force feeding myself the rest of the gunk. Rainbow just took one look at it before grimacing at the thought of eating it as she landed on my pile of blankets.
"Hey, could you just, I don't know, do what you did before that got us here Aether?" Rainbow asked, to which I rolled my eyes at her.
"That was pure random chance and we were actually lucky to arrive here in one piece. I’d rather not risk being in pieces if we can find out an alternative way," I answered as I tossed aside the tube. Heading over to my closet, I began to take out the rest of my weapons that I had stored and stuffed them into whatever spaced remained in our bags. When living in a world where every... alien is looking out for themselves, it is best to be armed at all times with something.
"Is that all... weapons too?"
"Pretty mu—don't give me that look. This world is downright hostile compared to Equus, so when I could afford it I got myself some weapons just in case I needed them. And yes Rainbow, I actually had to use them a few times," I nonchalantly replied as I continued to pull out more weapons. I was only able to get a small stash of cheap weapons, making sure that I had a couple spares due to losing some during a few of my jobs.
"How can anypony stand to live like this? What you eat looks like it tastes like dirt, and to have everypony ready to attack you at an—"
"I suggest you stop right there Rainbow. All I can say is that those of us in the poor class just endure it, we can't physically escape the system short of living in the wilds or... well it's best not to think of that alternative. Which, I have to say, the last option had been used quite a bit by some aliens." Rainbow was about to make a reply when her face paled, indicating that she figured out what the alternative. That left me free to make my way to my table, jumping onto the chair so I could check my messages for any possible news that I missed. But before I could do that, I heard the click of the door opening.
My old instincts quickly kicked in the first thing I realized I was doing was using my magic to pull out my pistol as I spun around. The next thing I was aware of was sailing across the room and impacting the far wall, a cry escaping my mouth as some of my ribs cracked from the brutal treatment. I heard both Rainbow and Twilight shrieking my name as I turned my head to see what hit me, only for my eyes to widen in shock as I recognized it. Shit... not a Xartik hunter...
In the doorway stood a bluish grey robot, its five green eyes staring dispassionately at us from its simplistic hexagonal prism shaped head. Standing six feet tall, one of its digitigrade legs pulling back, indicating that the leg was the thing that hit me. Its feet ended in three grasping claw-like toes, its arms also ending in hands with four manipulatable talons. The robot had a sleek frame, with glowing blue lines running down its shoulders to its arms.
Rainbow was the first one to react, charging at the hunter only for it to swing an arm at her, knocking her to the side to crash into a wall. The robot took a step inside only for Twilight to finally make her move as she fired a magical beam at it, only to have the beam splash over a personal shield, absorbing the entirety of the strike. It quickly charged at Twilight, only for her to teleport behind it to fire off another beam.
Damn it all, those two don't stand a chance against it in such tight quarters, I thought to myself as I tried to stand up, only to fail as I felt a burst of pain in my chest. That was when I saw the Maralus core rolling nearby, causing me to make a split second decision. Reaching out with one of my hooves, I grabbed the core, quickly moving it to the front of my horn as I ignored the fight occurring in front of me. Concentrating as hard as I could, I pictured the library basement, with the three of us and all our stuff appearing in it. I then smashed the core against my horn; my magic immediately ignited, brighter than ever before it released a silver flash as I closed my eyes.
A short moment later I opened them, only to puzzle at the sight of Ponyville, specifically some random street filled with a few ponies that were doing their day to day business. I was able to spot Rainbow, Twilight, and even all our stuff that was in my room. However, to my dismay, the Xartik hunter had also come along for the ride, its head quickly turning around as it viewed the area, before its view came onto me. The robot charged at me, and before I could try to move or cast a spell, it grabbed my body with its right hand, its talons squeezing me slightly as I saw its other hand picking up the Maralus core.
I struggled in its grasp, only for it to send a surge of electricity through its arm, making me spasm and cry out in pain. Meanwhile, I saw that a panel on the hunter's side pulled away to reveal a small compartment where it stashed the core. I then saw a beam hitting the robot's back, causing it to turn around only to be bucked in the head by Rainbow, though its personal shield withstood the punishment, remaining active. It swung an arm around in attempt to drive Rainbow back, which I took as my opportunity to cast a spell. Sadly, ability to quickly cast anything was lacking as it spotted my horn lighting up. Before I could even get the spell off, the hunter’s other hand closed into a fist, the armored talons being driven into the side of my skull. The moment the fist made contact with the right side of my head, I felt a surge of pain as my vision immediately blacked out, my last thoughts being, Well... I didn't expect to go out this way...
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huh
Xartik: "You didn't think it'd be that easy, did you?"
Aether: "For a second there, yeah I kinda did."
Well, that could have gone better. Bright side though is that the hunter probably can't use the core like Aether can which means it's stuck so it might as well be dead.
So cliffhanger we meet again!
Ouch! Dx This will be interesing...
WEAPONS! :D
Nice job.
Nooo
You make us shiver with antici-
IT NEEDS TO UPDATE FASTER!
And now the rest of the gang can join the "party"
Oh my yes
Oh, shit...
Let's see that shield try to stand up against Applejack's kick!
No! I don't want to wait for Tuesday...
6414185
SAY IT!
CLIFFHANGERS!!!
quickmeme.com/img/0e/0e449b844a83aa3eae2efc710879ccc070c455e05c8a3ea5589ccafa0c8ca160.jpg
GET AWAY!!!
6414117 hahaha
, and not just the main six, hopefully we get to see her squad in action.
6414131 right?
6414213 agreed sir
6414219 you bet
Dear Pinkie. Many robots insides look just like party streamers and make funny noises when you swap bits around.
When did a battlebot recognise and realise the importance of a dimentional jumping Maralus core, unless being so compact, the bot can also be designed as a self contained d jumping hunter which still has to physically transition because it cant transmit back?
Or can it?
6414766 INDEED!
Time for her squad to e experience their first mission!
You know what Astral and Celestia should do. Figure out the mechanism that turned Astral into well . . . Astral when she/he first arrived and use THAT as a defense mechanism.
Won't work on robots, but any non Equestrian sentient life form that arrives in that dimension . . BAM poofed into one of the other native sapient speices at random. Griffin, pony, dragon, diamond dog, changeling.
If they knew they were going to lose their species invading and becoming something else, they'd probably lose all motivation TOO invade.
I can see it now, "You want to experiment on us ponies by invading our world, well guess what, NOW you are one. Your buddies can experiment on YOU instead."
6414397
Applejack? I wanna see Bigmac applebuck it into next week.
6415084 Even better, wait until Pinkie sees this thing trying to hurt her little girl. She's gonna go Cupcakes on his ass.
6415149 or all three at once...
6415073
Keep in mind most of the employees would be poor aliens and would almost certainly not be given all the information. The employers might do it anyway and also experiment on their own, because f
k the poor.
6415184 Nah, the rest would be too bust quaking in fear at the horror story Pinkie unleashes.
Ok...Where is Pinkamena Diana Pie and Aether's squad?
Robot... prepare for an ANGRY PINKIE PIE ATTACK!!! And possibly Fluttershy as well. If we're lucky, Luna or Celestia came to investigate a dimensional disturbance in Ponyville when the core first activated... or Discord is there and will reduce the robot to scrap.
Regardless. R.I.P robot, Rest In Pieces.
6415073 And the poor aliens would swarm Equestria to find a new life.
6415084 How about they both hit it from either side and squish it between them???
6414213 This is the fastest, most consistently updating fic of good quality I know of; what stories do you read? God damn, wanna link some to me?
I feel getting back to Equestria was a bit too easy and they should have stayed in Aether's world a little longer for Twilight to ponder things out and more shenanigans to happen.
6418503 still theres the second option, it teleports whatever u teleported into back to where u teleported from, so if a pony teleported into wood there would be a pony shaped bit of wood teleported back to her original location, of course the pony would still most likely suffocate
Great chapter!
6417022 Sure. PM me.
I like this fit, but goddam does the author need to get an editor to help them out. It's painful at times.
6417022 The Substitute Demon updates at about the same pace.
Darn, they didn't even stick around long enough for Rainbow to be forced to eat the paste
6422071
I could maybe, *maybe* see an argument for it if it were ponies that were almost extinct, due to their useful nature. And that may be an interesting storyline idea.
But for a random species though? One that has been completely absorbed as their planet was invaded, conquered, and stripped of all natural resources like a more 'peaceful' version of The Combine from Halflife 2? Then no value was found in the species themselves and after all their culture and technology was destroyed or absorbed, they were all worked to death to get rid of the vast backlog of 'worthless' aliens?
Aether's previous species... failed her. Badly. Probably through no fault of their own, but she doesn't even have any culture to bring with her except the culture of death and apathy. Some things should be be allowed to die when their time comes, you know? I'd rather she embrace being a pony and actually live her life for the first time, instead of just existing.
well damn you created a team to fight the stuff normal ponies can not fight before me lol can my oc join your team
6423595 Someday, FIMFiction. Someday, you'll properly notify me of responses instead of me wandering over them *shakes fist*
If nothing else, I would assume all the species of the multiverse are biologically infertile with other species, so it would be an easy way to sidestep that issue when it comes to interspecies relationship. If Aether ever returns back to the multiverse, and decides to commercialise it, anyways.
Yeahhhh... pure random chance... about the same odds as every proton in the universe spontaneously decomposing right now. Seriously, this guy travels dimensions for a living and he doesn't find it suspicious that they just happened to end up where he used to live after a magical accident. If this is to be believed, then Astral is REALLY stupid! And so are Twi and Dash... thought I guess it goes without saying for the latter.
6442261
To be fair, Twi and Dash aren't so much stupid as they are out of their depth.
6510411
The latter being Rainbow Dash, we know she's stupid. Twilight is intelligent, but she has very little wisdom is the ways we would consider something wise.
I’m guessing that robot was sent to officially extinct Aether’s species.
8856957
It was probably sent due to the government detecting illegal dimensional travel.