My Little Equestroid: Stompin' is Magic

by ForeverChasingRainbows

Chapter 15 - Picking Up Pieces

**Twilight Sparkle**

"What's her problem?"

Twilight rounded on Thirty-Thirty, struggling to hold in her reactionary anger. "She is going to comfort her sister. Who you have just upset."

"She drew first," the stallion replied simply. After a moment, he added "They're sisters?"

"Yes."

"Huh," he said thoughtfully. "So which one's yer momma?"

Twilight's brain stuttered, stalled, and re-engaged. "W-what? Neither of them! Why would you-"

"Well you said there was only four of ya, they're both mares and you're a whole heap smaller... I figured the missing one's yer father and one of them's your mom."

Understanding dawned in Twilight's mind. "Oh. Oh! No, um, that's not how... alicorns don't work that way. There aren't any stallions, and besides Celestia and Luna being sisters we're not related. Cadance is Celestia and Luna's niece by adoption, but as far as I know neither of us is actually related to either of them. Well, not by blood at any rate."

"So two of ya are sisters and all four of ya are mares... how's that even work?"

"Alicorns aren't born, we're sort of... made. It's a magic thing. I was a regular, plain old unicorn a few years ago, and Cadance was born a pegasus. She's only about ten years older than I am, but she ascended when I was still a foal. Pretty much the first thing she did after that was foalsit me, actually."

Which I find a lot more suspicious now given what's happened to me since, Twilight thought, a small frown flickering across her brow. Then she realised she was actually succeeding at something she was normally quite bad at.

A nice, relaxed, neutral topic of conversation. Passing the time. Small talk! I'm doing it! Yes!

"And how old are you exactly?" Thirty asked. "Not to put too fine a point on things, but you all kinda look like foals from where I'm sittin'."

"I'm twenty-three," Twilight said earnestly. Then she decided to pre-empt the anticipated follow-up questions. "My friends are all within a year or two of that, and Luna and Celestia... well, they pre-date recorded pony history, but they're both at least three thousand. Luna's younger, but I don't know by how much."

"They..." the stallion said uncertainly, "those two? They're three thousand years old?"

"Well," Twilight hedged, "that's just the absolute minimum. They could be a lot older than that. They aren't telling though. Believe me, I've asked. A lot."

Thirty-Thirty seemed to be half lost in thought as he commented "So it's just been the two of them, for..."

"Actually Celestia spent the last thousand years ruling all by herself. Luna was sort of... banished to the moon for a while."

Rather than the expected snarky comment about sending her back there, given how much he apparently disliked Luna after whatever it was had passed between them, Twilight only got a stunned silence from the stallion.

In time he simply said, "Alone?"

"Luna wasn't entirely herself... or really conscious for most of it. Celestia ruled Equestria by herself for a thousand years, but she wasn't exactly alone. Lots of other ponies, after all. Regular ponies don't live as long as alicorns do, but it's not like there wasn't anypony around."

"Nothing else like her, though."

There was something in the way he spoke that made Twilight ask a question of her own. "You mentioned you were the last... how long has it-" she hesitated. "I mean, if you don't mind me asking, I don't want to-"

Buck it no no no no bad wrong ARGH! Twilight tried to stop her curiosity running away with her mouth. Why would you do this to me brain?! I trusted you!

"Don'cha remember?" Thirty-Thirty replied, a hint of vicious mockery edging into his depressed tone, "Was part of the proof. 'Two hundred and forty-three years, two months and eight days'? Weren't just a random number."

The pair sat in silence for what seemed like hours to Twilight, but was probably only a minute or two. Eventually the stallion broke the silence once more.

"I hope she realises how lucky she is."

Twilight looked up but said nothing, hoping to draw him into restarting the conversation.

"I can't even imagine what it's like after a thousand years, but... there's more of ya now. She's got you. Did she know?"

"Hmm?"

"That she wouldn't... that you three'd be arriving."

"There was a prophecy that foretold of her sister's return - or at least, the escape of the thing she had become before she was banished. That combined with the Elements of Harmony giving her a chance to save Luna was probably what kept her going."

Even if Cadance ascending just before that must have seemed ominously like a replacement.

"That's... that's not much to hold on to." Thirty-Thirty glanced at the gradually clearing night sky for a moment. "But she's still lucky. I don't have prophecies or nothin' like that. I'm the last," he said, enunciating the final two words carefully. "Capital-L Last. Thirty of us were made, and twenty-nine are dead. Never gonna be another like me." He took a slow breath.

Twilight hunted for something else to say, and went for the first thing that popped into her head - friends. "So do you live alone, or..." she tailed off and cringed internally.

Darn it, not again. Smooth, Twilight. What're you going to do if the answer is 'yes' after what he's just said? Could you make this any more awkward?

She let out a silent sigh of relief when Thirty-Thirty answered "No, no, I got friends. Life's really picked up the last couple o' years. But they ain't much like me. If anythin' y'all are closer than they are, at least shape-wise. I mean you're tiny, but you're still basically equine. And... they ain't built to last like I am. It'll be a really, really good few decades, but one day... I'm gonna have to bury 'em along with everyone else."

"That does not get any easier," Princess Celestia said, walking back into the firelight, "but it also does not diminish the value of the times between."

Twilight saw something pass between the two as they regarded each other. Not companionship, or even really understanding - more an acknowledgement of a shared pain, and some measure of mutual respect for surviving it.

"We have urgent issues to discuss," Celestia continued after a moment. "Luna is the only one with the entire picture, but she meant what she said to you. She will not reveal any of it herself, but she must also balance that against her duty to protect our lands and our little ponies. To that end, she has suggested some things we might talk about. Things that should lead to a more voluntary exchange of information, and in a more timely fashion than we might have managed undirected. It would appear that we are already held at a disadvantage, and unless we catch up quickly then our mutual enemy will become an uncontrollable threat."

Thirty-Thirty grunted an affirmative, and Twilight shivered.

"So... this isn't over?" she asked nervously.

"Stampede ain't dead yet," Thirty-Thirty said, under his breath but still audible, "or banished, or destroyed, or whichever one applies to whatever the heck he is."

"I have already made a few guesses based on recent events, and if I am correct then... no, Twilight, this is definitely not over." Celestia motioned in the direction of the route the guards had taken out of the camp. "We should return to Canterlot for now; you will all be safer there, and I believe today has been enough of a trial for everypony involved. We can talk a little on the way."

Twilight tried to both disguise her curiosity and watch out of the corner of her eye as Thirty-Thirty stood up. She just couldn't resist watching his strange metal limbs moving. It was a completely alien and unique puzzle being dangled in front of her muzzle, and she could hardly wait to start investigating it as soon as she got the chance. As Twilight moved to extinguish the spell she had used to light the campfire, Celestia lit the way forward with her horn.

"I believe there is one piece of the puzzle we can easily put together," Celestia said as they walked. "The amulet that Stratus was wearing before you disabled him was made of Arcanite. I went to great lengths to ensure that there was none of that material left unsecured, and suddenly more of it is appearing. I believe I already know the answer to this question, but could it have come from your world?"

"I ain't never heard of it before, but I guess it might'a done," Thirty-Thirty replied.

"I think you may have, most likely by whatever name your people have for it," Celestia continued. "A red crystalline material that acts as a potent energy source and magical amplifier. When I sensed trace amounts of it on Stratus, I searched for more... and I believe there is a large quantity of it in your weapon."

Twilight saw the stallion's eyebrows lift as he apparently came to a realisation. "Kerium? Well yeah, that could'a come from New Texas for sure. It's about the only thing the planet's known for. Mining the stuff is pretty much all that goes on there."

"Mining it?" Twilight blurted. The three equines stopped walking. "Just how much Arcanite do you have?"

Thirty-Thirty seemed a little hesitant to respond. "Uh... why would that matter, exactly?"

"There are only seven hoof-sized pieces of Arcanite in all of Equestria!" Twilight exclaimed. "And they're seven of the most powerful magical artefacts in the entire world!"

"Oh."

"'Oh'? What's 'oh'?" Twilight said nervously.

In a subdued tone, the stallion explained, "New Texas is the biggest producer of raw Kerium in the galaxy, more'n every other planet put together. Fuels our entire civilisation, but it don't do much for magic unless you've got a whole heap a' the stuff. We export cargo containers full of it every month. Crystals the size of my head." He gestured towards the weapon on his back. "Sara-Jane here's got a kilo of the stuff loaded in 'er right now."

Twilight didn't even register the fact that the stallion's weapon apparently had a pet name, or the implications of the words 'in the galaxy' or 'every other planet'. She was too busy trying to process all of the potential implications of that much Arcanite just existing, let alone being used in such enormous quantities.

How has the magical flux created by that much Arcanite not shredded their entire world?!

"Then I assume the information we have suggesting magic is a far less common, and much weaker, force in your universe is reliable," Celestia went on. "If it was not, the mere existence of that much Arcanite would have a devastating effect on reality."

"I ain't exactly a magic expert, but it looks that way."

Celestia let out a heavy breath. "It is as I feared, then. Perhaps even worse." She stared off into the darkness for a few moments, lost in thought. "Arcanite is a catalyst and a conduit, allowing a pony to draw upon the local magical field more easily and in greater quantity. It may not have a great magical effect in your world, but here there is much more background magic to draw upon."

After walking a little more in silence, Celestia resumed her explanation. "There have been smaller portals opening across this region of Equestria for the last few months. We assumed they were natural in origin, but given today's events... I believe that may not have been the case. If even a fraction of those events were deliberate, and delivered Arcanite pieces infused with dark magic into the hooves of ponies, then there could be dozens of unfortunates like Stratus out there by now." Celestia's voice grew hard, and her ethereal mane began to snap and flutter soundlessly - as if the strange winds that moved it were disturbed. "Prisoners in their own bodies, forced to work towards some malicious goal."

Twilight felt a twisting, constricting pressure in her gut. "Me," she breathed, and the other two halted and turned toward her. "Me," she repeated, louder this time. "They want me. That's what they're after. The direct attack earlier, and then again just now - he was threatening to hurt everypony else if I didn't surrender."

"Then we got somethin' else to figure out," Thirty-Thirty said. "What makes you so special?"

Celestia began to move forward again, and the others matched her pace as she spoke. "It could be any number of things, but given the specific requirements for generating these portals I would assume Twilight's particular magical abilities make her a target. Only Twilight, Luna and myself are capable of using the dark magic necessary to rend the veil between our worlds, and of the three of us, Twilight is the most vulnerable."

"'Cos she's the youngest?"

"That is one reason, but likely not the primary motivation. Twilight is also the one with the most natural talent in that direction."

"What?!" Twilight stopped in place, then cantered to catch up. "But I don't- I haven't-"

"I had hoped to introduce you to this gradually, Twilight, but it seems I will not be granted that luxury. You are the Element of Magic. Not just the magic of harmony, or friendship. All magic. You have just as much aptitude for dark magic as you do for anything else. It took Luna and I centuries to learn to use what little we can, and you have almost caught up to us in only two years."

Not that that helped me earlier.

As if she'd plucked the thought right out of Twilight's head, Celesia continued, "You're not lacking in ability Twilight, just practice. A great fortress will still fall if its gates stand open. We just need to help you learn to protect yourself."

"So a couple little bits of Kerium are gonna cause all this trouble?"

"If they are prepared with a quantity of dark magic, certainly. One such artefact, the Alicorn Amulet, already exists - it is one of the seven Twilight mentioned a moment ago, and is the reason I went to such lengths to secure all of the Arcanite in Equestria. Any unicorn wearing it has their magical abilities dramatically enhanced, but the amulet also corrupts their mind - and it can only be removed without killing the wearer if they freely choose to be rid of it. You can probably imagine how rarely that happens if somepony wears it for more than a few days." Celestia's face set into an expression of grim determination. "And it would seem our enemy has been creating similar artifacts and giving them to our little ponies. Thankfully the one Stratus was wearing did not seem too durable - the Alicorn Amulet itself is nigh indestructible."

"So what're the other six artefacts o'doom ya got hangin' around?"

Celestia smiled a little. "The other six would be the Elements of Harmony. They represent the six fundamental virtues of friendship, and together with the ponies they bind to as bearers they are among the most powerful forces for good in Equestria. You've already met the current group of bearers."

"Shaman did say that was his most important lesson fer th'Marshal. The most powerful weapon he had was friendship." Twilight felt her face flush slightly as the stallion looked down at her.

"Twilight holds the Element of Magic, and her friends - the other members of the group who found you - are the bearers of Generosity, Honesty, Laughter, Kindness and Loyalty."

"I should probably get to know all o'their names now. Can't exactly go usin' the nicknames I came up with. The only one I got was, uh... Fluttershy? Huh." Thirty-Thirty looked a little surprised.

"What's the matter?" Twilight asked.

"Well I knew what her name was thanks to whatever thing was lettin' her talk t'me, but I didn't actually understand it till I thought about it just now. I knew the sound in your language, and I knew it was her name, but now it kinda makes sense to me. I gotta thank her proper for takin' care a'me."

Twilight allowed a little optimism to creep back into her thoughts. "I'm certain she'll appreciate that. Fluttershy is a really great pony, she's just a bit wary around strangers."

And loud noises, and her own shadow...

Twilight allowed the silence after her comment to stretch out a little, hoping it might draw their guest into starting some conversation of his own. After a minute or two of the trio walking in silence, she realised it wasn't working.

He must have as many questions for us as I do for him, why isn't he saying anything? The thing with Luna must really be bothering him.

**Thirty-Thirty**

The small talk was a welcome distraction. Even the brief exchange with the white princess, the moment of connection the two had shared in their loneliness. Just about enough to let Thirty-Thirty put a calm face on top of the real emotions beneath. He wasn't lying when he said he wanted to see the other little fillies again - especially now he had a chance of understanding more of what was going on - but he couldn't keep Princess Luna out of his head. Figuratively or, apparently, literally.

She knew everything. What he was, what he'd been built for, what he'd done to earn his freedom. Why everyone else was gone. Why he had watched over the sacred hall alone for so long. Every little thought and dream and private memory just pulled right out of his head and into the light. 'Exposed' didn't even begin to cover how he felt about that part. And on top of that, there were a few bits of information in his head that didn't exist anywhere else. The survivors had gone to extreme lengths to make sure of that, to make sure they couldn't be used against them again.

The only reason he could be pretty sure the mare hadn't already abused the knowledge she had gained was how he was feeling about it right now, that he was in a position to be terrified by it. If she was going to abuse what she knew, she wouldn't have made any sort of confession. She could have just told him not to think about it. And, however much he just wanted her to get gone and stay there, he hadn't missed how bad the alicorn had felt about what had happened.

Unless she's just actin' that way so- No. Not goin' there. Paranoia ain't gonna fix anything. She could-

Thirty-Thirty shivered involuntarily and suppressed the urge to do... something. Run, scream, curl up into a ball, smash everything in reach. This was a colt's fear, reaching a cold hand out from his distant past and threatening to drag him back. It had been persistent in its attempts to break him down, but he hadn't fallen victim to it in years now. Hadn't felt it this keenly since he, and the rest of his people, had first freed themselves. He almost stumbled as he walked into the guards' encampment alongside the two smaller equines, and ignored the look they both aimed his way.

She could have done pretty much whatever she wanted, the only reason it would shake out this way is if she weren't lyin' when she promised not to do nothin'. An' even if she was lyin' I wouldn't be able to tell.

Celestia turned to Thirty-Thirty and Twilight as they reached the edge of the aid station. "I will make arrangements for our departure to Canterlot. Twilight, why don't you and our guest find your friends. I think time with some familiar faces would be good for you both." Something about Celestia's mannerisms towards him felt off, and after a moment Thirty realised what it was - she wasn't used to looking up when talking to people. She kept having to adjust her gaze upward every time she turned to address him. "Fortunately the castle was built with larger individuals - and pegasi - in mind, so it's quite generously sized. There shouldn't be too much trouble getting you settled somewhere."

So we're pretendin' nothing is wrong, huh? Guess I can do that, long as she stays well clear a' me.

"I guess so," Thirty said, "an' thanks for helpin' me out."

Twilight seemed to perk up as Celestia acknowledged him with a nod and moved on into the encampment. "Come on," she said, a little eagerness creeping into her voice, "let's go find everypony." Then the little pony's excitement stalled, and she looked a little uncomfortable. Despite his mood, Thirty-Thirty found it impossible to ignore something that small and foal-like in obvious distress.

"What's up?"

"I, uh... I might have said something less than diplomatic to Rainbow Dash earlier. I need to find her and apologise."

"I'm just gonna go ahead and assume that's the one with the rainbow mane."

Twilight looked confused for a moment. "Oh, right. You don't actually know anypony's name. Yes, that's Rainbow Dash. Element of Loyalty," she said, leading the way into the camp. "Everypony should be around here somewhere..."

Thirty-Thirty followed a little warily, conscious of all the stares he was getting from the armed and armoured guards. He couldn't exactly duck behind a tent and avoid notice either, everything was too small. There seemed to be quite a few of the gold-armoured ponies milling around the place, but he couldn't see any of the darker bat-winged ones.

"Why are these guards so different to the one from earlier?" he asked.

"These are Royal Guards - or, well, Solar guards would be more correct these days, both Guards are royal - they're Princess Celestia's. Regular pony volunteers from across Equestria. There's some minor enchantments on the armour to make them all a bit more uniform, hence the grey and white coat colours. The bat-ponies are Princess Luna's Night Guards. They're, uh... complicated."

"Uh-huh," Thirty replied. "Complicated."

"Well Princess Luna only returned from the moon a few years ago, and before that everypony thought Noctrals were just as mythical as Nightmare Moon. They just sort of... reappeared at the same time she did. I did a pretty extensive report on them for Princess Celestia last year. It's being turned into a public information release so everypony can understand them better. They might look a little scary on the outside, but they're really just ponies on the inside."

Thirty-Thirty decided it would probably be inappropriate to mention that he didn't think they were scary at all - in fact, he found them just as adorable as the rest of the ponies he'd encountered so far. They were all too small and fuzzy to be intimidating.

"If you'd like a little light reading I should be able to find a copy of my report somewhere once we get to Canterlot," Twilight went on, "it's only a couple of hundred pages long, and they really are fascinating once you get to know them. We might even be able to find Nightshade around here somewhere - that's the mare you met earlier, by the way - if she's not busy looking after her injured squadmates. Noctrals are fiercely protective of close friends and family members, and that feeds off their slightly insular-"

Suddenly, Twilight was interrupted by some form of screeching, pink ballistic missile.

"OHMYGOSH HI!"

Even if the words now technically made sense, Thirty-Thirty still found the excitable pink pony's assault disorienting. She seemed to be everywhere at once - bouncing up in front of him, tugging and pulling on his legs, arms and tail, and once even poking out of his mane. Her questioning became increasingly frantic and intent with every passing moment.

"Can you talk now, can ya can ya huh huh huh? My name's Pinkie Pie, what's yours? Did you like the cupcake? What's your favourite colour? Balloons or streamers? Truth or dare? Apples or oranges?"

"Pinkie!"

Twilight's horn flashed briefly, and the pony - who apparently actually was called Pinky - was yanked firmly down onto the floor with her mouth clamped shut by a glowing band of magic. "If you want him to answer questions," she slowly explained to the other pony, "you have to actually leave spaces for him to do it in."

The pink pony sat on her haunches, forehooves shoving ineffectually against the magical ring around her muzzle. Then she rounded on Twilight, unleashing a truly plaintive whine and the best set of quivering, slightly damp puppy-dog eyes Thirty-Thirty had ever seen.

Twilight crumbled immediately. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Just... slow down," she said, before releasing Pinky from her magical grip. "Why don't you just take us to wherever the rest of the girls are and we'll do this properly."

"Fine." The pink pony drew the word out, her voice dripping with adolescent pique. Then she rose to her hooves again and trotted ahead, already rebounding back to her previously bright and cheery mood. "Come on, everypony's waiting right over here."

Still a little shell-shocked, Thirty-Thirty threw Twilight a sideways glance. "Is she always-"

"Yes. It's better if you don't think about it too hard."

Comments

[Booster Spice]

Well, meet and greet hasnt lead to any more bodies needing to be dealt with, I wonder just how much kerium is in Sarah Jane relative to say a haulage truck or small spacecraft.

How long before Dash, one of the critical elements of last defence of the world is discovered missing.

Looks like Pinkie wont be unleashed here. You almost feel sorry for Tex and Stampede if she was.

Almost.

[ForeverChasingRainbows]

Productive (in a non-work kind of way) week off means two chapters done, yay! Hopefully everyone's still enjoying things.

Hoo, that was a lot to get through. Would have liked to push the time frame forward a bit, but there was a ton of stuff everyone was going to have to work through immediately once the language barrier was out of the way.

Couple of chapters to go 'til the end of part one now, so don't worry - Rainbow's going to be featuring again soon. Wonder what's gonna happen when somepony tries to give the Element of Loyalty divided loyalties, while simultaneously boosting her magical potential and amping up her aggression towards the out-group...

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Canonically there's virtually no info on Thirty-Thirty, and even less on his gun, despite the amount of screen time he gets. I'm making most of this stuff up as I go, backfilling my own canon without stomping over too much of what little was in the cartoon. Based on its use in the show though, Sara Jane is a pretty normal (in-universe at least) energy weapon - it works like a regular firearm (it's a space-age version of a Winchester 30-30 lever action, which is where the character's name comes from), but it shoots red laser bolts that can have varying levels of lethality and doesn't need ammo. It's a lot more powerful than everything else around though (It's referred to as the most powerful hand-held positronic cannon this side of the galaxy in one episode, and in another he even mods it up to make it more powerful, but the attachment overloads and almost blows up a chunk of the planet). Like the show's other 'laser' guns, it's got the ability to do everything from blowing holes in walls (or, in Sara's case, destroying cliffs and whole buildings) to knocking someone across a room unharmed or just freezing them. They're also treated by the characters as if they're lethal (e.g. when threatened with them or in gun safety after-show messages), although nobody human ever dies or even gets badly hurt as a result of being shot.

[CCC]

Hah! New Texas is stuffed with Arcanite. Knew it!

[Starcat5]

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They're also treated by the characters as if they're lethal (e.g. when threatened with them or in gun safety after-show messages), although nobody human ever dies or even gets badly hurt as a result of being shot.

Technically true, but as Silver Quill will point out, non-Human deaths by energy weapons have happened on the show.

RIP, Imperial Trooper Salaman Bliss.