Chapter 38
“You’re sure about this?” It took less than two hours—two hours for Elise to finish looking over the code and for him to gather together the other members of their growing conspiracy. Katie had agreed to come without question, but she hadn’t been sure about her older sister. They weren’t sure about Harley either, though none of them actually knew where she was.
Elise gestured pointedly at the scribbles she had made on the page. Her mouth writing was impressive for being so new, better than he could’ve done, but he still had to squint a little to read the characters.
“Positive. Eric had already translated the hex values into letters, but that wasn’t the code. Based on the vowel placement in the—”
Jacob interrupted her. “Eric, do you agree with her interpretation?”
He nodded. “I think she’s right.”
Elise glared up at Jacob. “You aren’t going to let me explain?”
“I don't understand.” He gestured back at the page. “The first part is simple enough, ‘I hide the frozen moment until the floors are swept?’ After that it’s… just a bunch of numbers.”
“Very specifically formatted numbers. Not another code, a set of GPS coordinates.” Elise extended a hoof, pointing. “If I remember anything about navigation, this is either Greenland or some icy wasteland of the Atlantic ocean. Only the southern coastal areas see any significant human presence—if this was anywhere else, it could be sitting out in the open and not have a soul to notice it. Whatever it is.”
“Whoever.” Eric smiled slightly, clearing his throat. “With respect to Agent Elise, I believe she missed something important. Well, not missed. She correctly discovered that the keyword used to encode this message was ‘Twilight.’”
“For the pony general who coordinated most of the war. A sensible, if obvious choice.”
“I believe it was a signature.” He pointed again. “This message was not effectively coded, Jacob. It took Elise under an hour to crack it, and that was as an outsider. There are computer-based codes that can take billions of years to crack, even with the best computers. Whoever put his message in the computer wanted to be found.”
Jacob raised a hand for silence, pressing his ear to the door as someone walked past. There were voices from outside, but the words came through only muffled. They didn’t try to open the door, and after a few more moments he lowered his hand. “But if they wanted the message found, why wasn’t it saved as a message? Who would put that on every file in the database?”
“Not just every file.” Eric’s smile got a little wider. “I went through it all again this morning. Not only do they all have the message, but I couldn’t find a single one that doesn’t have a modification record from the day of the attack or later. Even the read-only system stuff had been changed.”
Elise’s eyes widened, but Jacob only shrugged. “That’s bad?”
“No!” He shoved him. “The oldest edits I could find were all from the exact same moment—4:32 PM. We don’t know how big the pony database is, but one of their technicians back in Unity gave me a number in the hundreds of terabytes. Not super huge, but way too big to alter all at once. Either someone faked it, which is possible, though I wouldn’t see a point… or they used magic.”
“That’s my theory. Twilight’s body was never found, Sunset said. No parts of the mirror, either. Sure maybe it got lost… or maybe she got away, right at the last second. Maybe she knew we had been betrayed, but didn’t want anypony to know she made it until we had figured that out and got rid of the leak.”
“And yet, here she is,” Katie muttered, bitter. “Infiltrating even now.”
It was such a strange thing for her to say, Jacob’s eyes widened. “It could be. I guess she thought it was better we hide long enough that we had time to start digging around in files, assuming it was even her. Twilight would know about Imperium—if the mirror was still intact, you’d think she’d have offered it to us as an escape route by now.”
Eric shrugged. “I can only tell you how the pattern looks to me, and that’s what I see. You ponies get to decide what we do about it.”
“At least it isn’t the ‘now we have to betray everyone’ kind of secret code. If Twilight really is alive, it might be just what we need.” Elise sat up, looking more enthusiastic by the minute. “She might’ve gone out on lots of missions, but I never saw her hurt anyone. Just shields and teleports.”
“Twilight’s call sign was ‘Control’ for good reason,” Katie said. ”Just because a pony doesn’t lift her hooves doesn’t mean she isn’t killing. She was always more strategic than Sunset. We dismantled whole armored units with some of her maneuvers.”
“You went on missions with Twilight?” Eric looked over at her, raising an eyebrow.
Jacob abruptly pulled his arm free of her, glaring. “Katie, what did I promise to do for you when we got back to civilization?”
Jacob hadn’t promised anything, but he sounded like he had. Predictably, “Katie” looked more nervous than hurt. “That you’d... introduce me to your sister?”
Danni advanced suddenly towards her from behind, standing beside Jacob and the door. “Don’t run.”
“Where is Katie?” Far from getting angry, Jacob only felt more drained. They really were terrible at this conspiracy business. “She’s pulling late shift on weather duty again, isn’t she?”
Katie’s outline started to fuzz, sparkling with little flickers of blue magic. She got taller—taller than he was, adult human height again. It was an unnerving thing to see, and an even stranger one to feel. Changeling magic and the pony variety were quite distinct. Harley wasn’t any more pony than she had been before—of all the Equestrian advisors, she was the only one who could teleport, blasting foes with a wand and transforming when she wished, without losing her illusion. “What gave it away?”
“You aren’t Katie.” He blushed, his tail tucking a little between his legs. He hadn’t exactly admitted his feelings for her to any of the others. While he had always known Eric had a thing for Danni, both he and Katie had been going out of their way to hide what they were doing from her elder sister (and by extension, everyone else).
“Well, I’m no Queen Chrysalis either. Ten minutes with any prey animal in the world, and she could have their spouse and children throwing the original away as the imposter.”
He shivered, trying and failing to banish that thought. “Did Sunset suspect us? Did she send you to spy? Warn her if we tried anything?”
She laughed. Harley shoved him backward into the shelves—not hard enough that it would have stopped him normally, but hard enough that he struggled with only hooves to hold him up. “Jacob, you’re some of the ponies she trusts most. Danni helped the ponies escape containment, you routinely save the lives of her subjects. Your idea of a betrayal is to hide in a pantry and plot ways to rescue one of her best friends.”
That gave him pause. It was true, he had been unwilling to do anything that might put Imperium’s ponies in danger. They wouldn’t be revealing their position to the Light Tenders, assuming they didn’t already know. But he did want to depose her. Maybe he hadn’t said as much with “Katie” around. “Since you’ve decided to join us, do you think Sunset would let us go if we asked? Have ourselves a little field mission?”
The others all glared at her, but Harley was unabashed. “You, not a chance in hell. Sunset intends to keep you close until you burn your soul right out with those healings of yours. Danni, you could go if your training was done. But until then, Sunset isn’t going to want the magic that made you go to waste. Earthbreakers aren’t cheap.”
“I know,” she muttered, eyes fixed on the ground at her hooves. “I remember vividly.”
“I go on missions all the time, when I’m not getting poked and prodded by the hornheads. Er, uh… no offense, Jacob.” He just shrugged, and she continued. “Elise is a traitor, so they’d never let her out on her own. Any attempt to get her out would be seen as a betrayal, considering who she knows. Eric, you’re the only one without an essential function, so you could probably persuade her. Katie could too—with so little weather to make, one pair of wings is much like another.”
Jacob found himself tensing up again, his hooves scratching involuntarily at the ground. He forced one hand out of a fist. “No offense, I assume?”
“No offense,” she repeated. “But if all you want to do is bring Twilight here and hope she’ll mellow Sunset out, just tell her about the code. Explain what you think it means, and let her send the team.
Jacob shifted uneasily, shaking his head. He had already considered this angle, and rejected it. “We don’t want to take a chance that Twilight’s interpretation will be shaped by anyone’s interference. Unless she’s a totally different person from the one the show illustrated, I’m afraid she might be manipulated into seeing things Sunset’s way.”
“You know her better.” Danni looked up, rocking back and forth on her hooves. “Are we wrong?”
Harley looked contemplative, but eventually shook her head. “Twilight Sparkle governs by regulation and code. She’s read every book on leadership, but being able to recreate them isn’t quite the same skill. There’s no law for deposing a ruler without Celestia.”
“We know,” Eric grumbled. “We went through the laws first. We couldn’t find anything.”
“They can’t imagine a world that doesn’t have their immortal rulers in it,” Harley said, shrugging one shoulder. “When missions to Earth started, most ponies refused to come, afraid of what would happen to their ‘souls’ without Celestia around. Like, if they died or whatever.” She laughed, her voice bitter. “They called us primitives.”
Jacob cleared his throat. “So you don’t think Twilight would try to stop Sunset, if she were here?”
“She would try to get in touch with Celestia. Getting the mirror setup, or crossing over without one. If anypony could make a portal without the mirror, it’s her.”
“So it has to be us,” Jacob repeated. “We have to find her, and convince her that someone has to stop Sunset.”
Eric was suddenly quiet, his voice almost a whisper. “What would Celestia do? Would she approve of Sunset’s methods?”
Again Harley looked contemplative. “Her motivations are difficult for me to understand. If you think I did a poor job imitating Katie… she has a sterling reputation. Deep historical, cultural, and religious significance… not to mention she’s immortal. Equestria didn’t become the most powerful country on our planet because it sat there giving out free hugs to every army who tried to invade.”
“Her Solar Guard… some of the most dangerous ponies you’ll ever meet, and she’s the one who taught them how.”
Jacob raised an eyebrow. “You mean the useless ponies who stand around holding spears or shields they never use and run away terrified from a single changeling?”
For once, Harley did not laugh. She wasn’t even smiling. “Tell me, human, why would an immortal keep guards who couldn’t protect her?”
“For appearances. Important people always have attendants.”
“True. Celestia and Luna have those. The Royal Guard are really a glorified gentlecolts club for highborn stallions who want to wear fetching uniforms and practice weapon spells on weekends. The pegasi pull her carriage, the earth ponies are some fairly skilled engineers… but none of them know how to fight. In the invasion, they hardly amounted to a distraction. If you want a judge for their incompetence, we didn’t even have to kill them.”
“The Solar and Lunar Guard are… a bit different. Nopony knows for sure who they recruit from, except for rumors. Ancient pony heroes of lore, who sleep when they aren’t needed, then rise to defend the realm. Sounds like horseshit to me, but you never know.”
“They’re skilled, determined killers. Two of them drove the entire changeling army from Canterlot. They killed hundreds of my sisters. I…” she slowed, blinking tears away. “Only lived because I’m a coward.” She stopped then, staring blankly at the floor.
He was still angry with her for breaking into their secret cabal, but not angry enough that he would ignore obvious pain. Maybe it was being so much of the way into a pony that made him soft, or maybe he felt too much debt to her after she had saved his life. Whatever the reason, Jacob reached out and embraced her. He wasn’t tall enough to do it as an equal anymore, but that didn’t stop him from trying. He didn’t say anything.
“You ponies are all alike,” Harley eventually squeaked, resting one hand on his head. “One day you should tell me where you get all that love from.”
“If I ever find out, I’ll let you know.” He felt awkward standing there, but he didn’t hold on for long. Once he was sure Harley had recovered, he broke apart. “I think we’ve made our decision. Hopefully we can get the real Katie and Jackie involved. I’d feel better with their help.” He looked up at Harley. “Do you think you could use those changeling skills of yours to get us to the surface?”
“Sure, but… it’s pretty shit up there after what we did. It won’t be easy to get around. We won't be able to teleport right to those coordinates. We don't have any ponies in Greenland. Gatecrashers would only send us to territory with a safehouse or an existing set of supply caches for us to fall back on. That means we have to somehow get passage out of either the US, Canada, Australia, or the UK. Air travel is probably grounded all over the world after the attack. Our planes have stealth magic, but... good luck getting Sunset to lend us a pilot.”
"What if I knew a pilot? Are the aircraft hiding up there standard enough a human could fly them? Do you know where to find them?"
Harley nodded. "Sure, sure. If you know a human who would be willing to airbus around this freakshow." She gestured at them. "We'll probably seem like some new mutation of the bioweapon to an average person."
"I know someone who might be willing to overlook that. I've got a pilot in my family."
"Oh hell." Danni winced, covered her face with a hoof. "You can't possibly mean..."
"I do." Jacob was grinning. "I think it's time to visit my sister."
Stats
Page generated in 0.031 seconds
Total duration
958 users online
1,475,516 hits today, 2,280,440 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.®
Yay they finally get to go back.On another note, That message, if magic was used, could have been anyone. But there are some possibilities that are more likely than others here....
Cadence and Shining Armour are super-soldiers? I wonder if Cadence is a unicorn in this story, since she was originally storyboarded as one.
I didn't notice at the time, but my answer from yesterday apparently uses Twilight Sparkle as the keyword, so it's probably the right answer.
7563658 Remember how Cadance thougth that figthing and destroying giant killer worm is fun?
Or how both Shinning and her know how to place a shield around a city and keep it up for days?
Well, slap me silly and call me a poodle! Jacob's sister is a pilot!
One
wordsentence. I'm so glad that you put up chapter every (week)day, otherwise I don't think I could stand the suspense on what is actually gonna happen. So, moar please (for tomorrow).Take a fav, and a like.
Time for the crazy train to pull into the station.
Back to two chapters ago, Sunset's plan was to turn the entire world into the biggest mob of cannon fodder, and there's no guarantee that the humans-turned would go along with Sunset. I mean, think of history of the past.
Early 13 Colonies, the British Empire needed to pay off for the war with the natives. They taxed the colonies without getting consent. Thus, the colonies got pissed.
It is likely the British representatives, or equivalent thereof, told the colonies about the taxing plan, but either didn't wait for feedback, or didn't listen. Involuntary taxation.
Sunset is about to tell the world, "Hey. Most of you aren't humans, but instead are quadrupedal equestrians with horns that can bend the laws of physics and nature with magic, wings that can fly and manipulate weather, and neither that can shape the very EARTH beneath your feet. Were about to fix that, and take you back with us. Why? I'm not going to tell you. No reason to let you chose, because you knew what you were, even if you didn't. Stop lying to yourselves. Good day, and welcome to your life as a pony."
Now most people I know wouldn't agree to that. It's right out of left field, and there's no way to respond to it to say, "No thanks, I don't want to be a talking horse."
Conversion without representation, or consent. Doesn't even have to be FiO or TCB for it to happen.
See what I'm getting at here?
Sunset is planning on making ponies so numerous, that killing all of them isn't practical. Killing a few short term is, but this could be avoided. How is still in development, but mass forced induction isn't cool.
I'm sure if someone made this a game but removed the ponies, people would argue about the idea for years, and solve the problem for us on HOW to to it right, and whether or not it IS right.
-Page Break-
Back to now, I still ask why the ponies need more ponies. Why not leave well enough alone? So what if humans are ponies? So what if they are colonists? They were alive. That's what you wanted. Why take them back?
Monsters? Is there a war back in Equestria?
WHY ARE PONIES MUCKING AROUND ON EARTH?!
To quote a particular fan favorite in Starcraft... Hell, it's about time!
cdn.meme.am/instances/500x/63970820.jpg
It really feels like we've reached the second act of the story. And, honestly, I'm glad. For as much as I love the story so far, Jacob's passiveness was starting to wear a bit thin for me. It's refreshing to see him finally being proactive.
On an unrelated note, I had a thought and figured I could add it to all the other wild mass epileptic trees. Could there be an Earth equivalent to the Element Bearers? If so, my guesses so far are... Loyalty: Elise. Honesty: Harley. Kindness: Eric (maybe). Friendship/Magic: Jacob. I'm not sure about the other two, though.
7564180 Harley kind of answered your last question earlier. the ponies believe that we need help, so they are going to help us. think of it from more a religion pov. we are thier lost brothers and sisters and they want to lead us back to the light, and if we refuse it's because we don't know any better