"You okay, Leo?" Rainbow glanced over at me. "You've been kinda jumpy for the last few blocks." I furtively looked around, catching another grouping of Unown hiding under somepony's eaves. I flinched back into Rainbow's side. "Yeah, like that." She sighed.
<<Where to start?>> I gave a slightly manic giggle. <<We are surrounded by creatures that bend reality to their whim!>> Fluttershy glanced at us, but quickly rejoined everyone else at ogling the crystal structures.
"Uh-huh." I scowled at Rainbow's disbelieving look. "We've dealt with their kind before, we can kick their ass."
I flicked one of my flaps onto her back. <<No, not these ones. They're... a hive mind. Individually, Fluttershy could take one on. But a group? Five would be difficult, ten would be a problem.>> I gulped. <<Thirty can fake life; make illusionary copies of Legendaries!>>
Rainbow frowned. "How's that a bad thing? So they can make an illusion of windigos, big deal. We-"
<<Not legends, Rainbow!>> I hissed at her. <<Legendaries! Summons so powerful that there are only a pawful of each species in the world! The weakest of which would give Celestia a run for her money! And these Unown can create copies that never eat, never sleep, and never tire!>> Rainbow joined me in fearfully looking around. <<The only saving grace about them is that they should be incredibly passive. So long as no one gives them anything that sounds like a wish or a command, we'll be okay.>> I looked over the rest of the mares. <<So I don't like our odds.>>
"Do you know what I should look out for?"
<<They look like circles with squiggles. The circles are their eyes. They have twenty eight distinct forms.>> I slowed my walk, eyes locked onto another group. <<Look down the alleyway to the right. You see the window above the stack of barrels?>>
"Yeah..."
<<Look just under the sill.>>
"I don't...?" She flinched. "The bucking wall blinked at me!" She hoarsely whispered at me.
<<That's some of them.>> I forced myself to face forward.
Rainbow kept looking around. "How many have you seen so far?"
<<Individually?>>
"Yeah."
<<I lost track at fifty.>> I squeaked out.
"We're so screwed."
<<The good news is, is that I don't think they're on Sombra's side.>> I knew I sounded hysterical, but I didn't really care. <<But I also don't think that they're on our side, either!>> Rainbow gulped and flinched away from another Unown sighting.
"Y'all okay, Sugarcube?" Applejack asked Rainbow. "Yer jumpier than a cat in a rockin' chair factory."
"You don't want to know."
"But-!"
"Trust me on this one." Rainbow hooked a leg around Applejack's neck to force her to look Rainbow in the eyes. "You don't want to know. Leo!" She smacked me with her tail. "Don't tell her. You shouldn't have told me, but you did." She refocused on the farmmare. "And now I'm telling you; you don't want to know. If it becomes relevant, I'll tell you, but it's not right now, so I won't." Applejack shivered.
"Rainbow," Shining began in a low tone, "if you know something that can help us keep Sombra out..."
"If what Leo told me is correct, they might help us, they might not. Just..." Rainbow floundered for a moment. "Just don't go giving orders or making wishes when there's nopony around."
"What did Leo tell you, Rainbow?" Twilight lowly asked.
I dropped an icicle in between my mare and Twilight. <<Hey! Lay off her!>>
Rainbow tapped her hoof and fidgeted her wings. "Do you remember Discord, Twilight?"
Everypony flinched, and Fluttershy gasped. Twilight took a deep breath. "Yeah...?"
"According to Leo, these things gain power the more of them there are in a group. Enough to be as strong as him." Rainbow locked eyes with the studious mare. "Maybe even stronger. And Leo recognized them."
Shining shivered. "How have these things not taken over the world?"
"Because they are very weak when alone?" Rainbow looked to me for confirmation.
I nodded and spoke up through Fluttershy. <<And I've only seen them here. Sombrero might have found some way of tapping into their power, but I don't think he can do it right now.>>
"What makes you think that?"
I pointed over my shoulder. <<He's still out there, isn't he? But these things... Twilight, they scare me. They have the powers of a god, and the restraint of Pinkie.>>
"Hey!" Pinkie frowned. "I have amazing restraint!"
Rarity lightly poked the party pony. "I would like to remind you of the MMM."
"Oh..." Pinkie went back to frowning. "I have terrible restraint!"
Rainbow waved a wing at Pinkie. "And Leo's seen enough of them for them to be a major problem if we go poking at them. And I agree with Leo, unless things go pear shaped, we avoid them."
Twilight shared a look with her brother. "If you're sure..."
"I'm sure." Rainbow confidently nodded.
<<If they start moving, I'll let you know.>> I poked her side. <<Because then we'll have a problem.>>
"Yeah, we'll keep an eye on them." With Rainbow's assurances, the group continued towards the palace.
Even with Rainbow and I keeping an eye out for more Unown, we made good time. Rarity quickly returned to gushing over the crystal beauty around us, but I paid her no mind, even when we reached the palace.
<<Hey, Rainbow?>> I faintly asked, looking up at the bottom of the palace. <<You mind if I stay out here for now?>>
"Eh?" Rainbow looked over her shoulder at me, before glancing up as well. Her face paled before returning to face forward. "Yeah, sure. See you soon." She squeaked out.
"You okay, Dashie?" I heard Pinkie chirp before the doors closed behind them. I hadn't looked away from the alphabets of Unown staring down at me the entire time.
Motherfluffing quotes worth quoting.
i.ibb.co/c8HPLrv/Unown.png
Oof, a massive Unown infestation in the Crystal Empire. But about the illusion Legendaries, there is an upside to them: They are more concerned with fulfilling the wish or command that manifested them. Though that can also be a downside, as they will fight anyone and anything that tries to compromise that wish or command to the death.
Worth remembering that the whole reason we call them "pseudo-legendaries" is because they have the same BST as minor Legendary Pokémon like Entei. So if the former is summonable, the latter probably is with the same caveats (which prevent anyone I'd be comfortable calling a hero from actually doing it).
I wonder if wishing at them to "protect the Crystal Empire from Evil/Dark/???" would work well...
What do you call a group of Unown? Well, you call that a problem first and foremost. The second, you can call them Arceus's eyes. But well, let's see what the alphabet wants. I ... never mind, I won't say that I don't want them to think it's a demand.
11880487
Well what you hope would happen is that they stomp Sombra
What would actually happen is they hunt down the dark type Umbreon in the group and cause a bunch of problems inside the empire
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DON'T TELL THEM THA-!
Think like an Ursa Major... but more compact. And fully sentient, more often than not.
As the saying goes, "Choose your next words VERY carefully!"
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It's not just a question of power but rarity as well. Legendaries are usually singular, while psudos aren't.
11880487
Be careful what you wish for. They might make it eternal day.
Can we have an image of the alphabet of unknown please
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Here’s one.
i.ebayimg.com/images/g/WcUAAOSw9BJfKQLd/s-l400.jpg
The freakout factor Leo and Rainbow are experiencing (minus the enforced forgetting):
Yay, update.
now i want to see someone teleported like the eevees where into ponyville as an unknown
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You know what? So do I... Hey, you've got a story prompt now! Why not try it out?
While an alphabet of unown is good for a group of arbitrary size, I do have 3 other options based on group size (and therefore power), and used for when they are working together.
1. A "word" of Unown. A rather small group, normally up to 10 individuals.
2. A "sentence" of Unown. A larger group, the ~50 that Leo claims she has seen would likely be called a sentence in the context that they start doing something.
3. A "paragraph" of Unown. This is a massive group, capable of the most powerful of outcomes, and likely to look like a swarming psychic mass.
11880592
When is a Duck not a Duck?
When its a B?
As long as they dont end up with an Australia or Fallout of Unknown, the planet shouldnt be in too much trouble?
I use them in one of my stories as well.
Actually I probably going to make them universally the Equus standard language.
Making it a living breathing language to never die out
Awesome chapter, I wonder if the Crystal Empire is their foundation.
This chapter gave me shivers and reminded me how dangerous Unknown are. Like the saying goes ignorance is bliss.
...
And I had a whole (very nearly full) box of Unown in one of the Gen 4 games...
The whole alphabet, plus Exclamation and Question.
I am suddenly very, very glad you can never have more than six with you at a time...
Knowing twilight she will be the one to do something that sets off the unknown. Considering she rarely doesn't have a one track mind.
I wonder if Leo can use them like Minions?
Well, that's somewhat existentially terrifying.
Not sure what to call a group of unown. Maybe a congregation?
The unions could be so troublesome. If you can look up the unown alphabet. So maybe you can make some creepy messages. If I can find my souvenir coin that has all of them on it I could try to send you a pic. Or maybe one of the pack was enough of a fan to learn how to read it.
Dand spell check. I meant to put Unowns.
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How many would be a 'novel'?
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If you come across a novel of Unown, then forget everything you thought you knew about reality.
Don’t even trust your own memory.
Love that Atlantis: The Lost Empire reference.
Side? The Unown are on nobody's side, because nobody is on their side. Nobody cares for the words anymore.
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Argument to this however:
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters)
This is one word
An entire CITY of Unown. I... I can't even. There are are entire dedicated horror stories that are comedies in comparison to the thought of an ENTIRE CITY of Unown. Fuck warping reality, they could warp... everything. EVERYTHING. The universe, the multiverse, multiple mulitverses, EVERYTHING.
If Sombra had even the slightest control of them, he would have conquered the world with ease. So, since that's not the case, why are they there if they didn't serve him?
And since Leo can't speak Japanese to converse, is she going to have to use "letters"?
Edit: OH SHIT! I just had to re-watch the 3rd movie and realized the crystal mansion. IS THE ENTIRE CITY.
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Second edit: Leo probably saw close to 200 Unown just going down that one street. With how big the city is, that would EASILY be close, if not more than a total of 10,000 Unown. Before you count the palace. And the catacombs.
Oh, and they're psychic type. Leo's FAVORITE.
Good luck Leo! Please don't accidentally start erasing things from reality! No pressure! That's not their ability!
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Extra long words (georg) are outliers and should not be counted.
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But they're part of this world!
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So.... new in the horror isle.
Unown, The Movie
German Edition