Moving through the corridor, I trotted along, flanked by Skitter and two other guards as I headed towards the main command center. Just because the moon had gone down didn't mean things were over. There could be a thousand reasons to why it went down.
No time to play messenger tag anymore.
Suddenly a pony dove out of a side passage, a hat on her head and a pen and papers in her magic field, “Lord Page, Hot Scoop, Sunrise Times. What is really going on here? Where is Princess Celestia?”
“Fuck off.” I snarled and pushed her out of the way.
To be fair, I could likely have handled that better, but I didn't have the patience for any kind of bullshit right now. How the hell did she even get in here!? The press was banned form the castle grounds.
I didn't look back as there was the sound of yelling and a struggle as the two guards descended on her, instead I simply pushed on to the command center.
The doors opened before me, revealing the brain of the Equestrian Royal Guard. It reminded me a bit of a world war two command bunker. It was centered around a big map, showing Canterlot and the surrounding countryside, the place was bustling with officers and messengers running between them and the different groups in the field.
XXXXXXXX
“Your thoughts, Captain?” I asked, looking at the captain of the Day Guard. Before Lunas return they had simply been the Royal Guard for a thousand years. Now there was a difference.
The unicorn frowned in thought before he nodded, “I agree with your suggestion, My Lord. It should allow a good search rate without leaving Canterlot vulnerable in case it is some sort of ruse to pull our forces away.”
With the search of the city and castle completed with no sign, we needed to spread our search. The sky might look normal now, but that was no reason to relax.
The princesses were not returned yet and until they were found, the search would continue. In this case, half the the guards pegasi would pull unicorns in sky carriages. The unicorns would be running their best magical scans and the pegasi would allow them to cover a lot of ground.
In theory a alicorn should stand out like a neon bulb. In theory. But everyone knew it was a longshot which is why the city had been searched by hoof.
Even I knew how to block one of those scans. But maybe we would get lucky.
I turned to his pegasi counterpart of the Night Guard, “Captain? Any suggestions?”
He shook his head, “No, it is as good a plan we can hope for without risking the city.” he answered, his eyes flicking to Skitter who pretended not to notice.
“Well, let's be about...” I started to say before the doors of the command center opened and... Oh thank Luna.
The previously mentioned Alicorn walked inside, flanked by a pair of Night Guard. She looked tired but she smiled as she spotted me.
My eyes flicked to Skitter who looked back at me before nodding once with a small smile. It was her.
It was really her!
I wanted to gallop over there to kiss her and... just hold her close to make sure she was real. Instead I trotted over, passing the now bowing captains of the guard to meet her.
Appearance.
I couldn't, I wouldn't embarrass her. If I allowed myself, I knew I would break down. She didn't need that right now. Neither did the ponies in here, they needed me to be collected.
Stopping before her, I smiled up at her, “Luna.”
“My Page.” she whispered back with a smile, leaning down to nuzzle softly. Returning the nuzzle I moved closer to rest my head against the side of her neck as she sat down, her wings sliding around me.
I didn't know how long we stayed like that. Could have been five minutes. Could have been five hours. Finally I pulled back slightly, ignoring the slightly wet spots my eyes left on her silky fur before I looked up at her, “Never do that again.” I whispered quietly.
Luna smiled softly and nuzzled between my ears, “I'll do my best, My Page. I was so worried for you.”
“For me!?”
She swallowed and nodded, “We were trapped, unable to move or cast, unable to fall asleep or see. We knew nothing of what happened with the outside world. For all We knew... you were in the same position. Or worse. It...it was all We could think of.”
I swallowed. To be trapped like that... for hours upon hours...
“Celestia?” I asked after a moment.
“My sister is fine. She is conversing with Princess Twilight Sparkle. They should soon return again.” Luna answered softly, pulling me close with her wings again.
Both were safe. All of them were safe.
I allowed myself to relax slightly against her, “Who did this?”
“Discord.”
Snarling at that thought, I pulled back to stare up at her, “Discord!? I knew that fucking bastard would be trouble. I assume he is stoned again?”
Luna shook her head and settled down, bringing us to more of eye level, “He is not. In fact he helped stop it.”
“...Huh?”
“It was a old plan he put in place when we first turned him to stone. He had forgotten about it. He assisted Twilight Sparkle in defeating the stranglevines that had captured me and my sister and threatened Ponyville,” Luna explained before she smiled slightly, “For a certain value of assisting in any case.”
I looked a her for a long moment before I nuzzled softly and shifted to settle down against her side beneath her wing without further comment. Even as I relaxed, my mind was filled with murder.
I might not be able to actually kill Discord, but if he ever get close to either of us again, I'm going to give it my best shot.
“I want him returned to stone,” I finally said quietly, “Too dangerous, too unpredictable. Too powerful. He is a threat to not only you and Celestia, but Equestria as a whole.”
Luna nodded and nosed softly at my ear, “He is,” she whispered softly, “But my sister is right, he is also a great boon if kept in check. This was something he did before we defeated him for the first time and none got really hurt.”
Pulling back I glared up at her, “So he is just getting of scoot free with a dual princess kidnapping!?”
She smiled at that and clicked her horn against mine, “I didn't say that. That's is part of what my sister is discussing with Twilight Sparkle right now. Some... community service if you will.”
Not enough. Not nearly enough. But that was part of the problem with Discord. Any punishment would be either voluntary on his part or semi-permanent.
Letting out my breath, I sighed, sliding my horn against hers until I rested my forehead against hers as I looked into her eyes, “I don't like it. But I suppose it's all that I'm getting. I missed you.”
“I missed you as well, My Page.”
Neither of us noticed, but everyone in the command center had evacuated at some point. Even Skitter had gotten herself out of sight.
Huzzah! And happy midsummer!
This is like crack to me. I can't get enough!
I want to see Page drop kick Discord.
Discord has it coming.
Quite a quandary I don't think Page has had explained to him yet.
Any major threat attacking in the future might be chaotic enough to awaken Discord yet again, and as far as the Princesses know, the EoH bearers are mortal.
If this happens when even one of them is dead, there would likely be nothing to stop him for years, so best to tame him now.
Whether the Bearers will still be mortal when they are essentially upgraded to Living EoH after Tirek's rampage is a matter of debate...
That's it Page, don't let them see you crack. Way to make us humans proud by staying cool under pressure.
Ah, Blank Page, Master of the art of handling the press.
Hmmmm.. I have to wonder how he's going to handle Tirek when he comes around...
"I used to be a human. Humans don't have a drop of magic and yet we're perfectly capable of killing the shit out of each other. Now if I can just remember the formula for gun powder...."
Ah a sweet and tender reunion and it was nice that the other ponies thought it best to leave them alone.
-BFBL
7334480 Yeah, best to befriend him now when the threat to stone him still exists.
Yeah, there's no evidence the Rainbow of Light or whatever was anything other than a one-off generated as a side-effect of creating the new castle. I have no idea where this fanon idea that the Mane 6 can now summon rainbow power at will comes from, but we never see anything that so much as hints at it in S5 or S6.
Calling it now, page is gonna use dark magic on discord, possibly the flaying spell.
Yeah. Page's gonna use horrible dark magic on discord by the time Tirek shows up and that whole deal happens.
He's gonna just flipping leave again once this season is over.
I mean he's calling it right now what's going to happen again
7334670
Hey centaur guy wanna give me a hand testing this, I call it a cannon!
7336001
Six parts redacted one part redacted one part redacted.
I really wanted Page to bring up (or think about bringing up) his former conversation with Luna in an earlier chapter where Luna was like, "Pfft. Long term plans? This is Discord; he does not have the patience for those." But, for the sake of his relationship, I am glad that he didn't.
They were actually called plundervines.
You forgot the apostrophe in "Luna's".
Should be either "That's part" or "That is part", since saying "That's is part" is like saying "That is is part".
7381978
S.C.P. Fountain knows your location is already on its way
7334670
I mean, I think they have fireworks...
7334670
Yas!
Problem though. It'll have to be the old black powder instead. The new gunpowder recipe is highly guarded. Wouldn't want that recipe getting out to the public, now would we? Not that it would help anything. We could do it with black powder till we got a hold of enough ammo and weapons to arm medium nation.
How their reunion actually went:
Discord: accidently forgets a trap he laid way back in the day, and helps fix it
Page: i want him gone
Me: mate at least wait till Tirek to threaten him holy shit
9364620
Off memory, three fourths saltpeter, one eighth coal, one eighth sulfur.
9364620
Actualy the recipie for gunpowder is easy to find out, same for TNT and other things like that
however geting the components to MAKE it is a diffrent mater, the average school kid can buy the stuff to make black powder (and back in the day they did, used in the manufacturer of smoke and stink bombs)
but actualg gunpowder the core ingredients require a chemists lissence to obtain in any apreciable amounts.
10213269
Dude all you need to do to make gunpowder is to pee in a bucket and let it evaporate and crystallize and then you can combine it with charcoal from a softwood. It's stupid easy to make gunpowder at home
10223155
Um... don't you need three components for gunpowder? Fuel, accelerant, and expansion. Fuel, charcoal, it is what burns. Saltpeter (basically urine and shit that you leave around to mature into that crystal stuff) that makes the charcoal burn quicker and sulphur, the stuff when burnt expands to create the characteristic puff and when confined creates the explosion? I think that is the order of things if memory serves... its been fifteen years since I looked up blackpowder recipes.
10351270
7334670
9364620
10223155
Gunpowder is not smokeless powder. Guns use smokeless powder, while old flintlocks and cannons use gunpowder.
Smokeless powder is made with restricted chemicals, but the recipe is there in the internet.
Gunpowder on the other hand, is black powder. Easy to make and the ingredients very much available.
Simple gunpowder recipe:
75% saltpeter, 15% coal, 10% sulfur (you can also use equal parts coal and sulfur, experiment with the ratio). All in powder form.
Mill them together with a ball mill, or mortar and pestle if you don't have them. When they're mixed enough... There you go, DIY black powder, although not really. It will burn, but not refined enough for serious usage.
More refined gunpowder recipe:
75% Saltpetre, 15% Coal, 10% Sulfur.
600 milliliters of Isopropyl Alcohol for every 100 grams of Coal-Sulfur mixture, near-freezing cold.
Some more cold isopropyl alcohol.
120ml of water for every 300 grams of saltpetre.
Stove and pans.
Cloth.
1. Mill everything to dust, mix coal and sulfur
2. Mix isopropyl alcohol with coal-sulfur mixture.
3. Heat and mix saltpetre with water until fully dissolved, then mix coal-sulfur mixture.
4. Turn off stove and pour isopropyl alcohol to bring temperature down.
5. Take your mixture to the freezer. The faster it reaches 0°C, the better.
6. Drain water and liquid from mixture, use cloth to absorb it as best as you could.
7. Spread and dry the mixture further over a dry cloth, under Celestia's sun (this one's a must).
8. Break and carefully grind the dry mixture until it's dusty.
9. Enjoy your 30 minutes of pyromaniacal fun until the police come knocking on your door.
10479552
I can make mustered gas, just give me 10 minutes to run the the store. It is weird the amount of dangerous shit you can make with chemicals you can buy at Walmart
10351270
Basically urine contains an oxidizer (accelerant).
The process is slightly more complicated than peeing in a bucket and waiting. You need a stabilizer, such as wood ashes containing potassium, some aeration, and the right bacteria, found in manure. Then after a year of regularly adding urine you need to dissolve the potassium nitrate with alcohol and filter out the impurities.
The bacteria breaks down the urea CO(NH2)2 in urine into ammonia NH3, CO2, and H2O, which then binds to the potassium as potassium nitrate KNO3, with water as a byproduct. (I'm missing some steps in here; my stoichiometry doesn't work out). Nitrates contain weak but stable oxygen bonds, which break down with heat, donating their oxygen atoms, producing CO2 and even more heat.
10663292
Dr. Stone up in this bitch
Aaaand nobody mentioned that the Elements of Harmony are gone...
Page:
"Why can't we stone him for this stunt?"
Luna:
"The element of Harmony are gone."
Page:
"Well that great, maybe he turns all human for fun."
Discord:
"Meh... Done that, not enough chaos, turning humans to ponies was way more fun..."
Page:
Isn't it supposed to be...
(remembers a certain Crusader he met in Ponyville)
never mind
11737173
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought of that.