Interlude IV: Power
Father Dmitri stood in the afternoon sunlight atop the crow’s nest of the FAS Honor. The magnificent flagship of Griffonia’s fleet hovered proudly over the city of Griffonstone. Its quad turbine engines roared as they held the enormous monstrosity aloft. Dmitri peered down and could see the glimmer of the magical engines as they converted the ambient magic in the air around them into a means of physical propulsion. Griffons flew to and fro along the ship, storing equipment and preparing for the airship’s imminent journey to Equestria.
From his perch far above the ship, Dmitri watched his griffons complete their tasks. Airgriffs cleaned and recalibrated the ship’s flak burst anti-pegasus guns, the cannons that made up the Honor’s massive broadside armaments were being subjected to numerous tests by his technicians, and the classified payload for his experimental weapon had already been loaded into the ship’s secret compartment, awaiting only a command to be deployed.
The ruler of the griffons allowed himself a small smile as he turned around to examine the ship’s engines. The four horizontal turbines that recessed into the deck of the ship provided his lift, but it was the magical ‘propellers’ that set the Honor apart from its smaller cousins.
Germane technology had allowed the griffons to tap into magic itself instead of relying on their traditional technology. By accessing nodes of mana, the faux-propellers actually processed the air via an electro-magical reaction to allow nearly unheard-of levels of thrust. The Honor may have been the biggest ship in his fleet, but it was also one of the fastest.
Armored plating, engines that could outdistance any major pursuit, weapons for every application from swatting pegasi dogfighters to bombing cities, and a crew composed of Griffonia’s best of the best. Dmitri’s smile widened. “When the war comes… we will not fail.” His eyes trailed over to the airship’s most important asset. Set into the center of the deck was a large purple crystal that pulsed with shimmering energy. As he watched, crewmembers covered the artifact with armored plating, hiding the valuable object from sight. Dmitri shivered as he sensed the crystal activate. Magical suppression. No pony could cast a spell within almost one hundred meters, and any unicorn or alicorn spell would have a very difficult time staying intact anywhere near the suppressor. The device’s intricate matrix allowed it to detect technical spells and filter them out, making it so that the spells powering the engines would be unaffected.
“Victory, your name is honor.”
Dmitri turned to walk down from the crow’s nest, but he slowed himself as the air suddenly became frigid. A predatory smile slowly crept across the griffon’s face. He closed his eyes and reached outward with his senses. Something primeval stirred within him as his hidden power grasped at the projected emotions of the griffons all around him. Dmitri could feel the roughness of their stress, taste the bitter tang of their anxiety, hear the growls of their anger, and see the restless energy of a warrior race prepared for war. But there was something else… Something cold. Something empty. Something hungry…
“Windigo,” he hissed. “How went the battle?”
The air in front of him distorted, and, seconds later, the wispy outline of a large, proud pony appeared. The windigo, empty and hopeless, stared into his eyes. :Imprisoner. Father. Battle ended.: The words resounded in Dmitri’s head, psychically projected by the incorporeal creature of legend.
“Useless imbecile,” Dmitri growled. “Tell me. What happened at the castle?” The father’s eyes glowed bright blue, and a magic far more ancient than anything practiced by ponies or griffons surrendered to his will and latched onto his windigo target.
The windigo swayed back and forth, shaking. He fell to his knees and hung his head. :War. Ponies slain. Many brothers fall. General hurt. Not dead.:
“I know this already,” Dmitri said scornfully. “Did Chaput complete his mission?”
:Ponies trust him. He hears nothing from spies. Still traitor?:
“Chaput is a fool who thinks himself wise. He toys with forces beyond his ken. I do not doubt that he will betray me eventually, but for now, he has followed our plan to the letter.” Dmitri nodded to himself. “What of the princesses? Does she think we seek peace?”
:White goddess believes. Black goddess doubts. They want peace. Will not suspect sneak attack.: The windigo stayed kneeling on the floor of the ship, and his thought-speech bore an air of defeat.
“Good…” the griffon scratched his chin. “And how goes the plot with Yvonne? Are our assassins in position?”
:Pony militants influenced. Angry. Ready to kill. Present target. They strike.:
Dmitri clicked his tongue and nodded. “And then, when the general and the griffoness are slain, we declare war for our vengeance.”
The windigo barely raised his head. :Foolish plan. Ponies strong. Kill you. Free me.:
The griffon snarled and leapt over to the helpless monster. “You do not speak to me that way. You are mine, and I command.”
:For now.:
Dmitri’s claw shot out and he grabbed his victim by the throat. Tightening his grip, he raised the windigo into the air. It tried to resist, struggling against his talons, but it was no use. The windigo could not hurt his master, and he would never be able to do so.
“I always command,” Dmitri whispered. He squeezed, and the windigo’s head separated from his body, severed by razor sharp claws powered by the pure, distilled rage of a nation of killers. The windigo’s remains blew away with the breeze, and Dmitri inhaled deeply as the rush of the kill filled his heart. He stole the windigo’s defiance and kept his anger. The strength it had turned against him became part of his own power.
The wind blew through Dmitri’s feathers as he turned toward the stairs once more. His grizzled beak clicked as he strode forward, his mind set on Equestria.
“They may be strong… but when their fire goes out, I will remain.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.034 seconds
Total duration
1,028 users online
1,365,198 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.®
Well looks like someone is feeling a little edgy today.
6459475
Oh, so ~200k? Cool. Stil waiting till then =))
And I think this would be the flipside of that mashup.
That song though... I too, have used it for stories 8'D
Awesome job on this, short but awesome!
Oh, boy
i.imgflip.com/laktx.jpg
So what's to stop someone from casting a technical spell that turns off the engines? Or just throwing a massive rock at it with magic? Or just casting a super stronk shield around it just outside the anti-magic field?
6459955 okay I'm fairly certain that he's broken more than that for evil overlord rules. let's see i think about 3 more at least. so ya no way what so ever this can backfire on him. "sarcasm heavily implied"
6460099
What's an anti-magic field going to do against lances of furious solar plasma?
And yeah, that's a key point often forgotten. You may be immune to magic. Boulders aren't. And you are not immune to boulders.
Seems like admitting is the unquestionable Big Bad right now.
6460234 I read this and the comment it's replying to, and immediately actually started cackling with malicious glee.
I'M NORMAL!
Oh my god I am probably so late to this but I just watched Hellsing Ultimate and Dmitri soooooo reminds me of the major from there, which would probably make Chaput Anderson. Again, I'm probably late to this realization, but dang.
That dirty Bastard!
*mind blown*
That is all I can think of saying for now.
6460099
6460234
They are a secret, probably, and there are some failsafes for sure.
Well, the fact that it could attack from a few kilometers may be an issue here. And maybe armor, if it was made from some super-magitech-alloys.
So it could fly to and destroy it with AM-field? And range to.
Air will care about that. Even if only in the last hundreed meters. And I somewhat doubt that throwing plasma is easy (we don't know if it possible in the first place), even for Celestia.
And, last, but not the least, Rule of Cool. Gigantic air-floating dreadnoughts may be not the most practical weapon, but HOLY SHIT they are awesome. So, in stories, they will be useful and powerful even against logic.
6459955 ... Said no Overlord ever.
I already know how to destroy that ship. Hack the crystal, disable/reprogram the matrix. Engines fail, ship falls. I can't wait for Dmitri's inevitable fall.
I vote for Dimitri to get his flank kicked by Luna.
6459955 The Evil Overlord Association is going to expel him. Definitely.
WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS
6460583
Logic?
Oh.
Oh shit.
That reminds me.
Keep Calm And Flutter On is canon to this 'verse, isn't it?
Invading countries with Astral Diarchs: I mean, if you plan properly...
Invading countries with Logic-breaking Chaos deities: ???
This Dimitri guy has to be the stupidest conqueror I have ever seen. Want to not go to war with a nation? enslave their populace that was in another nation that you violently took over, cause nothing says wanting peace like a war. Want people to support you since your whole stick was overthrowing a corrupt king? Why conquer other nations, enslave their populace and kill your soldiers over the tiniest questions of loyalty, nothing says anti-corrupt like that. Whats that, your enemy that you specifically want to defeat has found out how to defeat one of your secret weapons? Nah its cool lets just float one of our other secret weapons there and reveal the anti-magic field and gun emplacements to them while carrying the previous secret weapon that has made note that it wants nothing more than to kill you, that sure wont look suspicious as fuck to have been carrying windigos. Oh and now lets cause a false uprising to make us look like the good guys even though we went out conquering and enslaving some ponies, cause no other nation will try to investigate that and call you out on your bullshit.
No surprise there to be honest, I think we all suspected that he was behind the attack.
Still, yay for new chapter!
So, ship superior to pretty much anything?
... why do I have a feeling that once the alicorns combine their might, the ship will crumple into ash?
Hell, if only Celestia gets mad enough, she'd end it right there.
Or just be a troll and have Discord have his fun. Afterall, he controls a different kind of magic than anyone else
I wonder if you're ever going to have Gilda in this story?
Well at least now many of the questions I've been wondering have been answered, and my brain can relax a little.
Damn your gd
I love how convinced he is that his plan is completely fool-proof. I mean, Twilight Sparkle has already proven that she can destroy any Windigo in an immediate area, and with her magical assistants, I don't see much of anything getting past them. And his super secret air ship of doom has so many potential weaknesses. Especially since we have no real idea what Equestria is capable of, here. I mean, couple of chapters ago we saw some sort of super armor that looked like it belonged inside the game. It'll be funny if Equestria actually has something to trump his vaunted flying machine.
Fun
Yes, this story is top today!
Also, it would be hilarious if Trixie went on the ship and used one spell and they all died. x3
6461357
I'm reminded of Twilight's "Alicorn Killer" spell from The Immortal Game (formerly Ponies Make War).
Can't cast spells within a certain radius? Stand outside it, make a pocket dimension in the shape of a torus, set the "down" direction of gravity in that pocket demension to along the inner length of the torus (it infinitely loops then), inject some compressed iron and let it freefall for a bit, and finally inject some heat and more iron until you have a torus full of plasmic iron "falling" at supersonic speeds.
Now, break the torus and point one end into the real world at your target. If it can survive a beam of supersonic iron plasma, then it deserves to win.
(The only reason Twilight didn't win with that was she didn't have enough iron on hoof to have the time to correct her aim.)
6461911
I just recently re-read The Immortal Game! I feel like we're gonna need a super hate death beam to counteract the crazy shit this griffon appears capable of.
6462096
Just for sh... well, just for giggles, I did some math.
Putting any object into frictionless freefall under 1 Earth gravity within the toroid space I mentioned would have it traveling at about 1,315 miles per hour after 1 minute. I'm pretty sure anyone using that spell could hit the gryphon flagship from beyond its cannon range. And since that object would not be under any magical impetus after leaving the toroid space...
Here's an idea everyone!
Lets piss off a being who can raise and lower THE SUN!
...
...good luck with that.
6462763
Well, they do sponsor the story, so that happens.
Windigo language reminds me of Rikti translators from City of Heroes.
6461048 We did, dimitri was using her as a spy by holding her mother hostage. Gustav turned her into a double agent.
That said, it has become VERY clear that Dmitri is in fact not a griffon and is far far older than he would seem. or he possesses a strange artifact.
6468895 really? It wasn't apparent to me that the Griffon Gustav turned double agent was Gilda
6469410 In Interlude III: Part II: Counter-moves, when the griffon first walks in she is addressed as Glenda Goldsmith. I assumed it was the Glenda of Canon. Though I do not recall if she was given a surname in the show.
6469618 IS RGS a pony variant of Redshirt Syndrome?
6470536 yes
<I feel like the thought speech should be quoted in this manner>
6470535 There is no such character as 'Glenda Goldsmith' in the canon. The character must be referring to is named 'Gilda.' She has no surname in the canon too.
6472181 Welp, that is absolutely correct. My mistake.
Welp.
It looks like Dmitri is a Lenin-expy, if Lenin had access to state-of-the-art military and mystical command of winter-beasts from the frozen pits of Russia (basically, all of Russia).
6476156
More like if someone fused Dr. Doom [comic version], and Lenin together. Then armed their fused, genetic abomination with razor sharp claws and functional wings.
Dear Luna! Is Father Dmitri a Changeling?! What a
! -Mauled by an assortment of painful fruit-
Also, will we be seeing any of the Mane 6 down the line? I'm haven't read the following chapters, so I don't know if you already have done so. I'd love to see Twilight absolutely destroy Dmitri, or use the Elements to initiate Rainbow Friendship Rays of Mass Destruction. If the FAS Honor is capable of nullifying the effects of Harmony, only to be amplified by the Element of Magic's power, then the bastard has a right to gloat. There's not exactly a way for him to test that, now...
<A substitute for a lack of evil smile ponymote
I think the world should fear Pinkamena if war occurs and breaks her somehow. There's no telling what an insane mare that is capable of manipulating reality will do when the very thing she stands for is rendered useless. Of course, the Element of Laughter would probably do wonders for wartime morale.
And things grow more interesting by the second.
Oh so he does have control over the Windigoes and ordered the attack. That's very interesting and he seems to be getting power from the dark emotions of the Griffons but isn't a Windigo himself. He's either King Sombra in disguise (or possessing Dmitri's body) or some other entity all together. Honestly I don't know what to think about how this is going to go at this point. He also seems to have the Zebran terrorists under his control considering the Windigoes had their poison.
Chaput being allied with the Changelings was a surprise but now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense as they both employ very similar means and methods to accomplish their goals, preferring subterfuge and politics over brute force. So much for the Pony/Changeling alliance theory though that may still happen.
On the romance side, glad to see Button and Luna actually together now, they have fanatastic chemistry. I did like the scene with Blueblood and Flair and hope he reconsiders, I mean it's obviously Rarity he's not entirely over but Flair seems like a better match for this Blueblood IMO. Now as for Ivanov and Breeze, they seemed fine together but I can't help but think Ivanov is only getting close to her under orders from Chaput, what with all the espionage going on. I can't think of a good reason why and I'd like to think I'm wrong but I really can't say with this story.
Ivanov might well be the Griffon leader of Luna and Button's guild and it'll be interesting to see what that leads to if it's the case but for now. It's time to kick some enemy guild ass.
Technical spells? Like the ones in the gun Captain Flaireymare was using a wee lil bit ago?
Hey, Twiley! I found a weakness! Take a note, it could save your royal bacon someday!
6460875
Oh Discord would be a major blow to everyones plans.
He'd be able to stop everything easily but where'd be the fun in that?