Part 2: Turnover
Olivia was alone in medical. So long as she was in here, she didn’t have to feel guilty about making Forerunner’s only synthsleeve come down to help her. Here the medical bay’s own systems could instruct her, and perform the examinations she needed. Every few hours she got another injection near the spot her leg had been—but mostly she was left alone.
Not to rest. Now that she had changed Lucky’s opinion, part of whatever happened next would be her fault. But never the victory. Lucky will take credit for that. If we save Equestria and bring back our people she’ll be the name they chant in parades. Olivia would be the reason they hadn’t left their neighbor for dead, and no pony would know her name.
A slight chime echoed through the room, repeating several times. The sound of an incoming priority call. Not from Lucky, since anyone in Olivia’s direct chain of command could’ve just intercomed her. But it had to be important if it kept ringing like that. I miss being retired already.
Olivia reluctantly lifted the tablet from the table, pressing the “Accept” button. Then she read the name of the one calling her, and she regretted it. It was General Qingzhi. At least she didn’t have to see his anger—just an “audio only” message at the bottom of the screen. But she could hear it.
“Do you know how many people died on Europa?” The question came entirely without pretense, without even waiting for Olivia to say anything. The general didn’t wait for her to answer. “I don’t think they’d finished tallying the damage when I went in to be scanned for this project. I think last tally suggested at least ten million.”
“What?” Olivia’s mind reeled. Why was Qingzhi telling her this? Though his tone was barely changed from the one he’d used with her last, Olivia recognized it well. That was the anger of a disciplined officer. If he was some sergeant somewhere, spit would’ve been flying across the room. But generals were politicians, and apparently his instincts were trained by propriety.
“Ten million people. That was almost a third of Europa’s population,” he went on. “And Earth called me a hero for it. You should hear what they say about me on Europa.”
She spluttered. “I… I don’t know what that has to do with Equestria.” The general wasn’t in her chain of command. Even if she was back in the military, she didn’t have to answer to him. She didn’t have to apologize for disagreeing with him. “I thought it was better to throw our odds in with the ponies. Our history is history.”
General Qingzhi laughed bitterly. “When I was a child, we still studied from the Art of War. I don’t think half my classmates even knew what a chariot was. But it doesn’t matter. If I have learned one thing about the aliens on Sanctuary, it is that they are not fundamentally different from us. They experience the same range of emotions—they love, they hate, they feel loyalty and compassion and anger. This war will be no different. I will be the hero of a smoldering ruin, with survivors cursing my family forevermore.”
The shock was wearing off, replaced with a little anger of her own. If Qingzhi thought he was going to overwhelm her, it wouldn’t keep working. “You wanted us to run away and rebuild somewhere else,” she said. “To fight off petty warlords and take the land of people barely subsisting while Equestria was conquered.” She wasn’t as good at keeping the accusation from her own voice. “You were going to send my team on a suicide mission into the carrier.”
“Is that what you think I was doing?” No more anger now, only pity. “I will explain to you what I told the governor. She did not understand—I have already been ordered to disengage this offensive, and rendezvous with the Wing of Midnight over the ocean. But perhaps you will see. Maybe you will convince the governor to alter course while there is still time.”
“I doubt it,” Olivia muttered. “I’m listening.”
“If we wait, you’re correct in suggesting that Equestria would be conquered by the enemy. Assuming your team failed, this Storm King would have years perhaps to cement his rule. But years are not long enough to truly subjugate a culture, that takes decades. When we finally arrive, he would view himself as ruler of a nation, when in reality it’s ready to rebel out from under him. He would see the dominated Equestria as his own possession, and thus he would not wish to damage it. We could present ourselves as rivals, not liberators.”
Olivia shifted uncomfortably on the cot as the medical systems started moving again. A telescoping arm rotated out and over her severed hoof, passing over it with a flash of energetic light, beeping cheerfully, then returning to place.
“If we attack him now, then he will not see the nation as his own, but as a rebellion that still needs to be conquered. Consider how much harm he might do to the native population then. How many lives would he sacrifice to break the back of Equestrian opposition? Certainly he will be defeated. He has the same problems we do. He has inferior troops, inferior weapons. Anything he doesn’t put on that carrier is a target, and in time we will find a way aboard. But how much will that victory cost? Will Equestria thank us for saving them when their cities are rubble?”
Qingzhi didn’t wait for a response. Didn’t even stay on the line to argue with her. The call went dead, leaving Olivia alone with her thoughts.
The bridge was packed again—every pony and guest aboard the Wing of Midnight was crammed in. The tables were gone, and the chairs had been removed as well. Everyone just sat on the ground, staring at the central viewscreen.
Olivia hadn’t asked how—somehow, Forerunner had gotten drones into Canterlot. There were several angles, views of a city that had been terrorized. Whatever festival they’d been planning, they probably didn’t expect it to end with overturned carts and burning shops. But considering what he did to Othar, it looks like they got off easy.
His soldiers were everywhere. Mostly the bipedal aliens, with fluff emerging from inside their armor and crude weapons. A handful of griffon or pony elites in the same black armor, with a few dragons circling overhead. But the Storm King had restrained his rage, because there were only little fires. I was right. He wants Equestria for himself.
The why was still a mystery, for now.
“I believe I’ve found him,” Forerunner said, and the angle changed again. His camera was apparently atop a building, and there were fuzzy black feathers visible at the edge of the image. It’s another crow.
The image zoomed in on Canterlot’s central feature, the towering castle that was the nation’s capital. There, from an upper balcony, was a tableau straight out of nightmares. She heard Lucky gasp—Lightning Dust ground her teeth, a few others muttered obscenities.
Two of the princesses of Equestria had been petrified, their bodies frozen in something dark and crystalline. They’d been set on either side of the balcony, where everypony below would get a clear view. Olivia couldn’t really tell the difference between Equestrian royalty, but fortunately she didn’t have to.
“Luna and Cadance…” Lucky muttered. “God, what did he do to them?”
Then the one called Storm King emerged from within. He looked vaguely similar to his guards, though he’d shaved back most of the fluff and didn’t stoop when he walked. The body looked like something that they might’ve engineered for life on some desolate arctic world, except that he clearly wasn’t overheating in the Canterlot sun. And in his hand was a tight silver chain—a chain that led all the way to Flurry Heart’s neck.
The little Alicorn did not look good. Her mane was tangled, her face bruised, and something metal was wrapped around her horn.
“I’m going to fucking kill him,” Lucky said.
“I have a mic…” There was a harsh artificial hissing sound from the screens all around them, then a set of distorted voices. The Storm King’s voice came in over the parabolic microphones, only slightly distorted for the enormous distance.
“Ponies of Equestria. You see my palace floating above Canterlot. Look south and see that I’ve turned your mightiest neighbor to dust. If you don’t wish to share their fate, you will find peace in obedience. For thousands of years your princesses held you captive to the law of a dead civilization. Now I’ve…” He trailed off, looking to one side. Behind him, a tall red unicorn in black armor looked out on the crowd with a mixture of pride and shame. Someone isn’t happy about who she sold out.
When he spoke next, his voice was much quieter, distorted by static. But Olivia could still hear it. “Tempest, you take care of this.” He tossed her the chain around Flurry’s neck, and turned his back on the conquered city.
Below, Olivia could see thousands of ponies. It looked like they’d been dragged out of their homes, their businesses—maybe everyone in the city. Some had been locked in irons, just like what he’d done to their own population.
“Equestria is dead,” said the one apparently called “Tempest.” Olivia recognized her voice too—they’d both stood in her weather factory. These were the ones who had casually killed Forerunner, and tried to do the same to Lightning Dust. “Your lives will change over the next few months. But if you cooperate, your families will be spared. Those who fight will be punished mercilessly.” She shoved Flurry Heart forward to the edge of the balcony. The poor Alicorn looked like she might just fling herself off.
“Say it,” Tempest whispered harshly. “Say it or he’ll punish your father. You know he will.”
Flurry Heart’s voice was a pale ghost of itself. She sounded like the pony Olivia remembered arriving in Othar for the first time, after being forced to watch the end of the universe again and again. Like all her time to heal had been undone. “Listen to them,” she said quietly. “Celestia is dead. Luna and Cadance and I aren’t coming to save you. W-we…” She burst into tears, but Tempest nudged her with a knee and she kept going. “We have surrendered to the true king of the world. If you don’t, you’ll suffer like I did.”
“Forerunner, mute that,” Lucky commanded from beside her. They were suddenly silenced. “Equestria has an army,” she muttered. “They have airships. Where the hell were they?”
“So do you,” Lightning Dust said quietly. “Othar’s gone too.”
“They didn’t have a choice,” Olivia said. She could still see poor Flurry Heart’s face as she recited the Storm King’s message. See the hope of the ponies below crushed. “They must not have a good way to stop the carrier either. I guess Harmony doesn’t care that its terraforming ships are fucking everything up.”
“They had four Alicorns,” Deadlight whispered. “They should’ve been able to burn it right out of the air.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Discord said, watching from a theater-style chair that certainly shouldn’t have been able to fit in the room. He had a huge bowl of popcorn out in front of him, and he held it out to the ponies around him. Starting with Lucky. “Want some?”
A few sirens started going off—intrusion alarms, and more esoteric alerts that Olivia did not well understand. Whatever the hell a causality violation was could be left to the scientists.
“I thought you were on Equestria’s side,” Lucky said through clenched teeth. “On our side. Why the hell did you let him do that?”
Discord shrugged one shoulder, and the popcorn vanished. “Even if he turned Equestria into a giant volcano, no one would really die. Most of those ponies are only out here for more experiences—they’ve lived so long that nothing seems new and exciting anymore. Maybe getting conquered is exciting.”
To Olivia’s surprise, it was Forerunner who spoke next. “Deactivate that carrier. My troops will dismantle the army. End this invasion.”
Discord turned out his empty hands. “Sorry, TI-84. Could if I would. But that isn’t how this works.” He rose to his full height—he shouldn’t have been tall enough to even fit inside the Wing of Midnight’s pony-sized hallways—but he stood straight somehow, towering over them. “What do you think my purpose is? To build an ideal society for the residents of Equus? To prevent you from causing each other misery? Exactly how granular do you want me to be? Enslaving a nation is too much, but should I stop every murder? Should I stop every word from the mouth of an abusive lover, perhaps? Should I stop ponies from even thinking mean things about one another?”
The bridge had fallen completely silent. Except Lightning Dust. “Enslaving a whole country seems pretty clear to me.”
“Maybe it does,” he said. “But I’ve killed countries before. Deadlight remembers that, doesn’t he? And here we are having a civil conversation.”
Deadlight did not look like he wanted to be civil. Far from it—he looked like he might lunge forward and attack Discord at any moment. But he didn’t yet, only sat still and took regular breaths. Melody kept stroking one of his wings, and that seemed to be calming him down.
“Harmony’s the same way?” Lucky asked. Her anger was gone now, replaced with simple pragmatism. “Even though there are citizens there?” She pointed at the screen, at the princesses frozen like horrific statues. “Can’t they just make new bodies somewhere else?”
Discord actually smiled at her. Olivia had fought with only a knife wearing nothing but an exposure suit, she’d seen people cut into pieces to be harvested. Somehow Discord’s smile was more terrifying. “If he had killed them. That isn’t death, it’s a conversion to another kind of life. Bodies meant to observe a developing planet along geologic timescales. They will surely resist as soon as they realize what has happened. But by the time they do, thousands of years will have passed in mere seconds to them. Unless someone does something about it.”
“So tell us what to do,” Lucky said. “You really want that asshole in charge? Don’t you have friends in Equestria? They’ll suffer too.”
For a moment, Discord didn’t seem quite so tall anymore. “Don’t think you’re the only one trying to do something about this. You don’t see Twilight up there, do you? Equestria hasn’t survived for thousands of years because they depend on powerful neighbors to get them out of trouble. Sometimes they depend on powerful Alicorns, or powerful artifacts. It’s completely different.”
“So help us find them,” Olivia said. It went against her better judgement—the last thing she wanted to do was attract this being’s attention. But if Lucky wasn’t going to ask… “If you won’t tell us what to do, help us coordinate with Equestria’s… heroes? We can pool our resources. Lend them a fucking jumper, something. Maybe they know a way to shut that carrier down we haven’t considered.”
Discord rolled his eyes. “I suppose I could do that. It’s a balancing act, you see. Too much intervention, and Harmony might step in to stop me out of spite. Don’t be too surprised—I’ve seen it ruin a perfectly good civilization just because I was enjoying it. But Equestria’s its baby, so I suppose I can be a little daring. You can’t just track them down. If they made themselves easy to find, that oaf hanging up those new flags would find them first. But you can attract them. Wherever you pick to start your rebellion…” He picked up one of the computation surfaces, flicking through it to a map of Equestria. He pointed to the mountains.
“You could pick anywhere, but you should be more careful. Go somewhere like this. Don’t get caught long enough, and I’m sure all those important ponies will hear about you. Oh, and don’t do anything stupid until your clone gives you a call.” He reached into an invisible pocket, removing something strange and plastic. It looked like a brain, except there were twelve buttons on the front arranged into a rough rectangle.
It looked a little like something Olivia might’ve seen in a museum as a child, though she couldn’t name the device. “Let’s see if he’s ready to give you a ring.”
Discord lifted a handset off the plastic thing, and James’s voice echoed from within, the James of the first generation. Male, useless, terrified. Not words exactly, so much as a verbal diarrhea. “Oh god somebody help me please I have no idea what’s going on I think there’s holes in my legs they’re tearing the house apart please don’t eat me I’m gonna die where did Sarah go somebody please—”
He hung up with a click. “Well, I think you get the idea. Brain is still developing, as you can hear. But give it a few days and you might have more luck.” He set the plastic device down on one of the consoles, and vanished in almost the same motion.
Silence returned, except for the slow rumble of the engines outside. The screen still displayed scenes of Canterlot, though they’d gone back to just showing overhead views of the city. Apparently Flurry Heart’s ritual embarrassment was over.
“Alright, Major.” Lucky’s voice, sounding more commanding than she’d ever heard her. “Get ready to land. We’re going to…” She levitated the computation surface over, so she could see. “Right there. You, Deadlight and Lightning Dust are going down there. See if you can convince the population to join us. Hopefully we can get them on our side before some asshole from the Storm King gets there to start enslaving or getting tribute or whatever he plans on…”
She lowered her voice to a dangerous whisper. “Once we do, we’re turning back to Canterlot. I’m not going to leave Flurry Heart behind.”
Maybe hugging the bug wasn’t the best idea. Sarah felt as though each passing second seemed to be making the pony more energetic. She’d begun squeaking even higher-pitched than Sarah herself, and hadn’t stopped yet. “I wonder if anybody remembers… course they don’t, we’ve all died so many times… can we get out again? King Thorax might not even want to leave until we have a plan…”
“Hey, kid.” Sarah squeezed her a little tighter. “I’m glad you’re happy about this. I don’t know why Discord didn’t just fucking tell you, but I’m not really surprised he didn’t. Guy’s a dick sometimes, that’s pretty normal.” There was something moving in the air above them, something large and far away. It sounded a little like a helicopter, with tons of tiny rotors. It was getting closer.
“Something’s coming, I think. Maybe you should wait to celebrate until we’re safe? You did say it wasn’t safe down here.”
Ocellus stopped buzzing. She glanced immediately upward, straight in the direction of the sound Sarah heard. “Yeah, that’s them. If the smell of an outsider wasn’t enough to get some to investigate, damaging the processing node would for sure. We should get out of the way… head towards Chroma.” She lifted off again, but landed a few seconds later. “Maybe not right away, not with your flying.”
Sarah tried not to let that sting as they set off. The floor beneath her feet was almost dirt, though it was more like the debris that might’ve collected at the bottom of an atmospheric reprocessor. Vaguely organic, with a musty odor that pervaded the entire world.
“They will follow our scent. And there would be some in Chroma waiting for us anyway.”
“They?” Sarah repeated. “You keep saying shit like that. Maybe we don’t need to be so vague. I told you where I was from.” Sort of. You’ll have to think I belong on the expedition.
“Ferals. The ones we stole our bodies from. Changelings that Harmony controls. Or its latest models. Plenty of different kinds over the years.” She shifted on her hooves, turning one of her forelegs towards Sarah. Her horn glowed pink for a second—just long enough for Sarah to see the symbols there. Green—Iron—Seventeen—Mahogany. It was more of that weird circular language, though the arrangement struck Sarah like a barcode. Or a brand. “We still have these, even if we make our own bodies now.” She put her horn out just as quickly, returning them to blackness.
She heard it then, like dozens of different footfalls all landing in the uneven dirt behind them. Sarah resisted the urge to run, but she couldn’t help but squeak a few times, checking to see what was following them.
She had expected a scout, or at worst, a small squad, like the drones Forerunner might’ve sent to investigate an intruder.
There were hundreds. They didn’t move like they were being puppeted by an intelligent mind, but more like a swarm of fish. They swept towards the place they’d both been standing with buzzing wings and charging hooves.
Then they got close, and she could see them a little better. Though with so many, it was hard to separate one sound from another. They seemed a lot like Ocellus looked now, except for some subtle differences with the wings and legs. Well, that and their behavior.
She smelled them then, the same way she had briefly smelled Ocellus. They all made that smell almost constantly, like a hive of ants or swarm of bees might’ve done. God if I do this wrong this isn’t going to last very long… The most serious combat Sarah had ever done was kneeing a particularly handsy John in the dick. She wouldn’t stand a chance.
But she didn’t seem to need to think about it. There was that same sensation from behind her, and a slight difference in her scent. Then the drones arrived. She felt hooves briefly touch against her, smelled them as they passed. They had sharp teeth, pointed horns. Like the mythical packs of piranhas that could devour a south American swimmer in moments. But these were real.
Then they passed. Continuing on their way, spreading out in an increasingly dispersed cloud. They never spoke, never vocalized anything at all. Just swarmed right over everything. Well, not all of them had gone. A few dozen were gathered around the place where Sarah had struck. They were doing something to the wall, their mouths working, though she couldn’t see exactly what that was. She didn’t want to know. God hadn’t made ants the size of people for good reason.
They disgusted her. But Ocellus doesn’t. Is it their behavior? That smell? She was going to be smelling it in her dreams if they didn’t get away from here soon.
Ocellus didn’t say anything either, but she did yank on Sarah’s leg, dragging her away from the pillar. There were thousands of others, along with varying levels of detritus, but Ocellus ignored all that. A few moments later and the sound of the swarm was distant, and Ocellus seemed to relax. “Thank the queens they came this way. Your friend… probably wouldn’t have done too well. If they found him unconscious…”
“Maybe you can explain something to me,” Sarah said. She didn’t wait for permission. “In Othar… that’s the city I came from, by the way… we’ve got an AI that runs the day-to-day. I guess it’s like the way Harmony runs this ring. Sanctuary, Equus… whatever its real name is. Our AI is supposed to be a million times dumber than yours, but… it can make all its drones act like people if it wants. Those things seem a little like our maintenance drones, but why aren’t they smarter? If our AI found someone who smelled the same but had fur instead of a shell, they’d shoot them in a second. Those changelings left me alone. They… those are changelings, right?”
Ocellus looked a little exasperated. “Yeah, they are. If you’re asking me to try and make sense of Harmony… I’m not a priest. I can’t explain. And it isn’t really my place to guess.”
Sarah frowned, but then realized her companion probably wouldn’t see her discomfort and just went on anyway. “So fooling sensors… I get that. I know lots of ways to trick dumb systems into thinking you’re something you aren’t. But you have a civilization down here, don’t you? And Harmony is like… a god. So how come he lets you do it?”
“Ah, that one I know.” She nudged Sarah to keep walking. It was a good thing Sarah kept listening, because the ground in front of them ran out not much further away. She could see very little down below, other than what looked like a single structural pillar so wide that her “eyes” almost couldn’t take it in. It was a beam the size of a mountain. The ground was sloping down here, and debris drifted gently past her over the edge. What might lay down there she didn’t want to know—and wouldn’t have to find out today. Ocellus gestured to the side, where a narrow path was marked with faint glowing spots on the ground. Even with a flashlight they would’ve been vanishingly dim, but in the absolute blackness her eyes could spot them easily.
I really am made for this. Would Discord have picked me if I’d been an earth pony or a pegasus instead?
“Long ago, our ancestors made a pact with the god. We made rules, rules it would have to follow in exchange for our worship. The important one is that so long as we don’t ruin anything… so long as we aren’t hurting the ring, or fighting in certain ways… we’re allowed to do what we want. There aren’t actually any rules about living down here. There are whole parts of the ring where people are meant to live. Billions and billions of them. But since we can’t get in, we make do with what we can. Harmony doesn’t like it, but he can’t just stop us. We don’t break the rules, we get to keep living down here.”
“Makes sense,” Sarah said. In the far distance, she could make out many voices, along with a growing sense of illumination. However dark this world might be, it seemed their civilization wanted at least a little light. “So Harmony lets you steal… bodies… so long as you don’t piss on the carpet or claw up the furniture.”
“What does that mean?”
She actually laughed. “I’ll explain when you’re older.” She could see Chroma now, or at least the flurry of activity she guessed had come from it. Compared to being locked into the dark with James and only the guide for company, it was a little jarring.
There was more metal up ahead, a surface that curved outward like another support beam. She couldn’t take in the whole thing even when she let her head lean all the way back. But she didn’t need to, because there was a little opening in the bottom, like a service entrance. A few steps more, and she was inside.
Compared to outside, the volume of Chroma was so intense it almost deafened her. She could hear hundreds of voices, the sound of commerce and art and music and life. They illuminated a central street of sorts, though there were no vehicles here. It was lined with little buildings, which seemed to be mostly scrap walls without roofs. What’s the point of a roof when you’re somewhere it never rains?
There was a little light glowing from one end of town, where some of the voices were the loudest, but Ocellus steered them immediately away. “We need to buy you something to wear first. You’re conspicuous like this. If someone asks you to change and you can’t, well… that would be bad. Might think I’m selling your company.”
“My… company.” She rolled her eyes, but of course Ocellus wouldn’t see that. She hurried to catch up. “Do you have a whole town for whores? Because that’s kinda weird.”
“A whole town for…” Ocellus’s ears flattened. Some gestures crossed even this species-barrier, it seemed. “No. That isn’t what this is.” She seemed to have a destination in mind, a shop that sounded like it had lots of cloth hanging around inside.
As they approached, Sarah moved slowly, taking in the others along the streets. They all sounded about the same to her, creatures that were smaller than she was but with hard coats. Some had frills like Ocellus, some didn’t. Some of them had legs that sounded strange to her, echoing in a way that her mind just couldn’t accept. Ocellus lowered her voice to a whisper. “If anyone asks, you are on an assignment from the crown. You’ve been ordered not to break cover for any reason. Out here no one can see you, but inside…”
“Sure, fine.” They stopped outside the clothing shop.
Ocellus stared down at the ground. It wasn’t exactly clean in here. The whole town smelled like a box of cockroaches Sarah had found behind a dumpster once as a kid. “I don’t suppose you have any money?”
Sarah shook her head. “Only this stuff.” She opened the saddlebags, or really just a satchel now that half the straps were dissolved. To her surprise, the vials Discord had given them were glowing now.
The glow was enough that it lit up the whole street around her, so bright that she got a brief glimpse of a dozen insect faces all staring at her.
Ocellus’s face was bright, but most of these were solid black, with blue eyes splintering into different colors. They entered their own little pocket of silence.
“Don’t open a chemical light here, uh… Phyllium,” Ocellus said, loudly enough that it carried to the people all around them. “This is Chroma! These aren’t fungus farmers…”
“Right!” Sarah had heard that tone before. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean nothin’ by it.”
Ocellus only buzzed in annoyance, dragging her bodily into the shop. The activity outside resumed only slowly.
“What was that?” buzzed a voice from behind the counter. Sarah could hear something soft about the body of that bug, older somehow. There was a tone of cloth hanging all around, muffling the sounds outside. A few other customers. Though how she could judge the quality of clothing in total darkness…
“Nothing,” Ocellus answered, flittering over to the counter. “I need something with plenty of coverage for my friend Phyllium here. She’s… on an assignment now, and she’s tired of answering questions.”
“Say no more.”
A few minutes later, and Sarah was shut into a changing room beside Ocellus, along with half a dozen different robes and masks in various lengths and cuts. The changeling had fallen deadly quiet, but Sarah could still feel her moving, until her hot breath was right next to her ear. She whispered quietly, almost angry. “Why the buzz didn’t you tell me you had royal jelly? Where in upstream did you even get that much?
“I have… no idea what you’re talking about,” she whispered back, voice as harsh as Ocellus’s. “Discord gave it to me. I think James had some too.”
Ocellus stuck out her hoof. “Let me see.”
Far from protesting, Sarah only offered the damaged satchel to her companion. It wasn’t as though she knew what most of it was for.
Ocellus didn’t open it so much as she stuck her face inside. “Incredible. If your friend has this much, then together you two are richer than my uncle. I think the only changeling who ever had this much was Chrysalis herself… with that much love, you could wake up… a thousand people? Two thousand? Ancient queens, I don’t even know. Between that and the quarantine really being lifted…” She stiffened. “All the more reason we need to get you back to my uncle in one piece. If anything will convince the Old Hive that the worst is over, you will. No more walking into chemical recyclers.”
Sarah shrugged into one of the robes—she couldn’t see any of them, couldn’t guess at how they might really look. But considering the situation she’d be using them in, that probably didn’t matter. “Make my… you think I’m going to have to convince them?” she asked, tugging a little on the cloth. It smelled a little musty, but considering where they were Sarah thought of that as a small price to pay. “I’m really just a messenger…”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll do fine,” Ocellus muttered, waving a dismissive hoof. “Who sent you is obvious, and with wealth like that, you could fund a dozen expeditions to the surface without making a dent. I wonder if the Old Hive have their own allies… like Discord is helping us. If they found out you were down here… they’d want very badly to kill you.”
Almost like the universe was listening, Sarah heard a voice from outside. “Excuse me!” It was the shopkeeper, sounding nervous. “You two have some… friends out here. Please come out now.”
“Dammit.”
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Are you sure you didn't mean "get credit" or "get the credit"? I don't get the impression that this is a situation where Lucky would actively seek to take take full credit.
Much the same as a wall, when dealing with a winged civilization? (privacy, access control, etc.)
9002453
I agree that Lucky wouldn't be one to "take" credit. But that's being said from Olivia's point of view so I think it's a bit colored by her own imagination and jealousy.
Honestly, I think Discord calling Forerunner a TI-84 is the funniest part of this fic. Still laughing about that. It's just so rude and demeaning to call a highly advanced AI a fucking calculator. At least it's a graphing calculator,
9002647 Olivia doesn't strike me as the type to get jealous over something like that, though.
Sounds more like she has a certain degree of contempt for Lucky, who has enjoyed success and recognition despite making major tactical blunders throughout their campaign.
I guess they are Thorax and James .
I like how no one listens to Qingzhi.
You got Swiss cheese legs man, I don't think this is going to be your day.
Well now, I do believe that I am a Qingzhi fan.
Poor James, as always.
That sounds like something to hopefully eventually fix.
Easy, to keep nosey changelings out.
Royal jelly? This underground land is intensively insect themed, that's for sure.
Hmn, that's interesting.
The storm king? I keep thinking of a very old saying. 'The best way to stop one sword is with another. The best way to stop an army of swords is one well-placed dagger.'
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Sounds like a sniper's job to me. Wouldn't even hear the rifle before the Storm King's head was turned into a chunky red mist...
And if not a rifle, I'm quite certain our newest resident alicorn would happily use her magic and squish something vital within the King's body to pulp.
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My meaning precisely. Something like the Gepard 14.5mm would do quite nicely I think. And I'd categorize the results as 'chunky salsa', being an old gamer.
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I mean, anything less than 8th dimensional AI probably seems like a toy to Discord.
Changelings could probably stop terraforming ship, what with their shapeshifting and knowledge of ringworld systems. Redeem themsefls in pulic eyes. But it won't be surprising if some of them helped steal it it the first place.
Really enjoying the story! Started 3 days ago and couldn't stop reading until I caught up! Keep the chapters flowin, I look forward to more!
Hmm. Messing with the Mane Six in their latest quest might bollox up some important variables, especially if they haven't made it to the seaponies yet. To say nothing of what Twilight might do to Celestia's murderers right now. She's in a very fragile state at the moment.
Though, knowing Discord, the changelings will likely to serve to fill those holes (and how's that for irony?)
Wheee.. finally caught up, Then again, Glad I didnt start earlier, I wouldve been inclined to comment, such that the Earth system reminds me of Moties?
As for the strange red metal, Im wondering if its at least Majorana mass, or even Time crystal based. Theres weirder stuff theorised.
Very intrested to see how things are coming along, especially Spike not being needed now that Harmony generates bodies directly. which if you use the method of reconfiguring existing atoms, you could make the average human with only a few seconds of a top end coal fired power plant or compact nuclear equivalent? Sorry, its been a couple decades since I ran the numbers.
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It might accidentally be one of the most obscure shouts going as well.
One of the Operating Systems proposed and almost released for an ultra advanced home computer that used the same CPU as the Ti84, was called CaOS.
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I can sympathize with Olivia, even if Lucky herself didn't do anything wrong like trying to take credit, it could be really frustrating to not be recognized for your own contributions (especially literally giving your life for the cause)
That said, Lucky has had it pretty tough. She's just a translator that had all this stuff shoved onto her and she can't really say no to most of it or suffer the consequences
Says the pony who explicitly didn't want to be recognised as a hero last time
But of course he brought popcorn
lawl, TI-84. Now there's a truly ancient reference
Ah yes. He has... personal experience with thar state, does he not?
Woah, woah. She remembers previous lives? Or does she just know the principle?
Ahh, right. Maintenance units. Wow, so they hijacked those and put souls from Equus in them? That's pretty wack.
But why would there be a bio-modifier to turn ponies into these drones? Did they just start off as standard pony biosleeves when they were built?
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You call that ancient? I used a TI-82.