Part 2: Allegiance
“Shit,” Sarah muttered, for perhaps the tenth time. She kept her voice a low whisper from beneath the cloak, though in this world of sightless depths that might still be too much. “They’re going to attack us, aren’t they?”
“Yeah,” Ocellus squeaked, retreating towards Sarah a little. “Sounds like it.”
“Because they saw my… money?”
“Yeah.” The changeling looked sidelong at her. Sarah couldn’t tell for sure what expression that was. Hope? Or desperation. “This is the moment where you tell me that you’re from a powerful warrior culture and you can fight a dozen queens with your hooves tied behind your back, right?
Not even a little bit. Sarah knew how to knee a guy in the dick, she knew how to fire a can of pepper spray or a stun pistol. Somehow she didn’t think her limited experience with martial arts would extend to pony bodies very well. Well it might’ve worked with ponies. James still had junk. Not so much with the bug people.
She could hear the crowd moving around outside. They were talking to each other, though it was hard for Sarah to make out words over her own racing heart. They didn’t want to be overheard. Even so, she estimated their numbers at about a dozen, spread evenly around the shop. They’d thought about blocking the back of the shop with about half their number, so there’d been no convenient exploitation that way. “Can we negotiate? Maybe we can trade some of this to make them let us leave.”
Ocellus shook her head. “Smell them? Those are Old Hive. If they capture us, they’ll recognize me. They’ll kill me just to hurt my uncle, and that’s after they take everything we have. And you… you’ll be food until they suck you dry.”
“So fuck that.” Sarah’s mind raced. She’d been in tougher spots than this before. God, she’d made her way up to the Pioneering Society’s damn space station and back again without getting caught. She could get them out of this somehow. What do we have? A shop with cloth walls, two ponies who don’t know how to fight. A dozen attackers and lots of other people who aren’t getting involved. A few food bars, and two vials of liquid money.
“Could you… swallow it?” she asked, her voice as quiet as she could. “I’m guessing this stuff must be some kind of changeling food.”
Ocellus’s eyes were so wide that they almost seemed to glow. “We won’t get all of it back if I do that. I’m not a queen… our breed doesn’t have those. It’s so much love… lots of it would get wasted.”
What would you be using it for otherwise? Obviously Discord had given it to her for a reason. He might be completely unhelpful and uncooperative, but he did seem to want them to succeed. She was on this mission because of him. Maybe it’s a tool?
“Hey, we know you’re in there!” called a changeling from outside. “Get out here and give us what’s ours! We won’t hurt you, not more than you deserve!”
“I’m sorry,” said the shop owner from outside the changing room. “There’s nothing I can do. I wish I could, but I can’t protect you. There’s so many out there, and the city watch hasn’t done anything… they think this is a civil matter. Won’t get their hooves dirty. You’re on your own.”
“Might not help,” Sarah whispered urgently, opening the bag and thrusting its contents towards Ocellus. “I hear a ‘this is our best chance just fucking do it’ buried in there. Discord never told me what I was supposed to do with this, so maybe this is what he had in mind. And he’s not here, so fuck it if I’m wrong. Just take the power and get us out of here. Oh, and I can’t get those corks out.”
Someone stepped up into the shop, their hooves thumping on old sheet metal. Ocellus looked briefly up in their direction, then downed both vials.
The faint glow from around the bottles became a vibrant flame visible through her body. It illuminated her pink shell, shone out her eyes. Sarah felt a sudden energy radiating from her, like she’d accidentally walked into a power plant. She took a few steps back, right about the time that another few changelings stormed the shop. She could hear the weapons they were holding, and make out a few clear shouts of “Kill her!” from further back in the crowd.
Ocellus herself had lifted off the ground, her wings still and her hooves dangling. Sarah took another few steps back, her rump pressed to the back of the changing room, holding a hoof in front of her eyes. The bright pink light was so vibrant now that both her eyes were watering.
“Queens before us… this is what my uncle meant. I can see it all now…”
The ponies outside the changing room stopped dead, knocking over something just outside. “Buzz, they did have it.”
“Not anymore, run!”
But the message didn’t seem to be getting around, because absolute chaos had descended out there. Support beams tore overhead, shelves began tumbling down, and changelings rushed towards them through the melee.
“I see how you dream, Sarah,” Ocellus said. Her voice split into several more smaller sounds, but instead of confusion they began drifting towards a single harmony. “Stay behind me.”
The shop exploded. Sarah curled up in the back of the stall as metal tore and wood splintered. Shouts of rage became screams of pain as changelings were smashed up against walls and ceiling with juicy thumps. Sarah didn’t want to see it—but even looking away, she could still hear it all. Hear a few changelings that charged for Ocellus anyway, wielding metal weapons. She blasted them away with enough force to trail ichor all the way.
Then Chroma fell still. Sarah chanced a glance up, and she saw the whole town lit by Ocellus’s bodily glow. Her changing booth was the only intact patch of clothing shop left. A half-dozen corpses were scattered all around them. She could see many changelings further away, watching in fear. Some had weapons at the ready, but more looked like whatever passed for civilians.
“Ocellus!” shouted one of them, pointing at her. “What happened? What are you doing?”
“Destroying Chroma!” supplied a changeling with a black shell—now that Sarah could see them in full illumination, she could finally understand what hadn’t made sense about their legs. They had holes, which went all the way through from one end to the other. It looked like it should hurt, but none of them seemed in pain, and none of them were bleeding.
Well, not from that. Almost all the changelings that had been about to attack them were black instead of colorful, and they were bleeding now.
“No!” Ocellus boomed, and the whole town fell silent again. A few of the soldiers that had been advancing through the crowd actually dropped their weapons. All bladed, that Sarah could see. Probably no point to a gun when you can’t see what you’re aiming at. “We’ve been sent a visitor from the outside! These… these changelings tried to stop us from reaching my uncle!” She didn’t walk so much as float away towards the street, trailing a faint snow in the air behind her. Sarah stumbled to her hooves, straightening the robe she never paid for, and hurried after her. Considering the entire shop was in ruins all around them, one stolen robe probably wasn’t such a big deal.
“You!” She pointed at the guards. “You will prepare a chariot for three. My companion and I will be back tomorrow. The chariot will be waiting for us.”
A few guards stumbled out of the crowd. They wore black armor that looked like it had been cut from bits of sheet metal, with surprisingly delicate joints holding it all together. Sarah got as close as she dared to the floating Ocellus, keeping her hood high. Hopefully that made a difference.
“You attacked good citizens of Chroma in cold blood,” said a changeling with a scratched-up shell and a few scavenged bits of armor. He also seemed to be wearing a gun on his back, or at least a complex tool. Sarah had never seen anything exactly like it before. “Your ancestry doesn’t make you immune to punishment. Your father makes it clear that the days of queens are over. You must pay for their deaths.”
“We were attacked,” Ocellus said, settling down onto the ground beside Sarah. At least she’d stopped burning, though the air around her still felt like it might freeze. Little flakes of snow drifted away from her, and her eyes still radiated light. “You may raise a dispute with my uncle if you wish. But I’m sure all those here can see what that mob wanted to do to us.”
Ocellus turned for the entrance, and didn’t walk so much as blurred away. Sarah hurried to keep up with her, conscious of many unfriendly eyes on them. Suspicion and fear was changing to fury. Somehow, she didn’t think she would ever see the inside of Chroma again.
But one step at a time. She got us out. Got to work on her subtlety for next time.
Lightning Dust had always known her punishment was unjust. But even though she’d always known she deserved better, Lightning Dust had never imagined she might become a hero. Not well known like the ponies she had almost killed, perhaps. But no less important.
Equestria was now occupied territory. For most—those who didn’t live in Canterlot—the change would be very slow. There were reasons for all that—things Forerunner and Lucky Break agonized over for hours in her daughter’s tiny office, speaking to her general on a wall and sounding upset whenever she did it. But those sorts of details didn’t matter to Lightning Dust.
She wasn’t a princess, and didn’t want to be. Ponies like that could worry about the large-scale problems. They could delegate. Now her daughter had done just that.
She touched down a few moments later. She was the one in armor, which went all the way up to her neck. Only her face and head were exposed—she hadn’t put on the helmet. Ponies wouldn’t want to trust them when they couldn’t see her face.
Olivia wore one of her uniforms, which was still more cloth than most ponies. As for Deadlight, he had nothing but a set of saddlebags.
Even from the air Lightning Dust had been able to see that Motherlode was in terror. The large refinery was dead silent, and there were no minecarts trundling in and out of the mountain. A large gathering of ponies huddled outside the town’s post office, families all crouched together as though they expected violence any second.
“The messages they’re getting aren’t good,” Olivia whispered in English. “I read some of them last night. Equestria knows it’s been invaded. Seems like most of the cities are cooperating. Places like this would never stand a chance.”
They touched down near the top of the mountain, away from the direction all the ponies were facing. It didn’t look like anypony had noticed them. The Wing of Midnight had already picked out a spot near the square it could land, but it was staying behind the mountain for now. No need to set a precedent.
She glanced to the side, wishing her daughter could’ve come. Lucky was too conspicuous now that she’d become an Alicorn, but this sort of diplomacy stuff was just the sort of thing she was good at. Or maybe they could’ve brought Melody and made these ponies even more confused.
“Who do we talk to?” Olivia asked, as they neared the back of the crowd. There were about five hundred ponies there—mostly earth, though there was a little variety around the outskirts of the crowd. “Is there a… commander?”
“Probably a mayor,” Lightning Dust said. “Little company town like this, might be appointed from somewhere instead of elected. Bet the ponies still look up to her.”
“Find her for me,” Olivia said. But her request was needless. The crowd was already starting to turn around. Ponies gasped and stared, pointing. A few of them retreated closer to their friends. But none of them ran away. It’s a good thing it was us who came down here, and not the Emperor with its war machines. I’d think we were the ones invading if I’d seen all that.
Lightning Dust glanced to the side, waiting for Olivia’s input.
“I’m here if something goes wrong,” Olivia said. “Otherwise, this is your show. Lucky trusts you, and I don’t trust me.”
What did that mean? She didn’t have long to wait.
A burly stallion near the back of the crowd hefted a pickaxe over his shoulder, stepping between them and the group. “And who are you?”
“My name is Lightning Dust,” she answered. “Do you have a mayor? We need to have a private word.”
There was some discontented muttering in the crowd, which split down the middle. Another stallion made his way out of the group, a unicorn instead of an earth pony wearing the vest of a three-piece suit along with a ruffled tie. He settled beside the earth pony, close enough that it was clear he didn’t trust them. “My name is Mayor Pyrite. Who are you?”
“I just told this stallion here,” she said. “I’m Lightning Dust. This is Deadlight and Wayfinder. We’re here because of…” She gestured towards the mail station and its telegraph wire. “Because of that. We should find somewhere to talk.”
“There isn’t anything you could say to me that I don’t want the good ponies of Motherlode to know as well,” Pyrite said, loud enough that the whole crowd could hear him. There were murmurs of agreement from all around them, a few more sturdy stallions and mares settling in beside the mayor. Ready to fight with those rusty mining tools.
Lightning Dust had a brief, horrific vision of what might happen if they decided to attack. Wayfinder had won a fight against armed opponents that were bigger and stronger than she was. She’d kept fighting even while blood rained down from her wounds and stained the clouds beneath her. That was a hero. Or maybe a monster.
“If you insist,” Deadlight said from beside her. “Equestria has surrendered to hostile invaders. The princesses have been captured and Canterlot is being enslaved.” He spoke without bitterness, though his voice was plenty callous. Lightning Dust understood why. Deadlight was a fossil of a dead civilization, almost as old as Luna and Celestia. He had survived the death of everything he loved, and now he had to live to watch time erase it all.
Ponies shifted in the crowd, gasping. A few started whispering, or crying, or muttering terrified consolations to one another. The mayor’s posse all looked to him for support. “It was real!” “That’s why Canterlot isn’t responding!” And other woeful cries.
“And you…” He swallowed. “You’re here to conquer us too. Moving your way out from Canterlot. Taking the whole country one piece at a time.”
“No,” Lightning Dust interrupted him. She could see the way the ponies all around them were reacting. She didn’t have to be a trained diplomat to know what would happen if he convinced the town that they were invaders. “Have you all heard about humans? About Othar?”
The mayor hadn’t. Somepony else from the crowd answered in a frightened whisper. “The one who killed Celestia?”
That was me, actually. But she didn’t say anything that stupid—that much honesty wouldn’t help with this negotiation.
Deadlight saved her. “Your princess abjugated. She chose not to keep ruling you. But that isn’t why Lightning Dust asked.” He removed something from his saddlebags—his computer. He scrolled through the images it contained for a few seconds, before offering it to the mayor. “This is what the Storm King did to our home.”
The mayor took his computer in a glowing magical grip, levitating it over. Lightning Dust remembered what it was like to be amazed and frightened by what computers could do—she could still remember little Lucky hiding in her kitchen, looking at all sorts of pictures and images on a computation surface just like that. But still images were nothing mind-blowing, even if they were on something weird.
The mayor passed the computer around. At least when he spoke next he sounded a little more subdued. “I’m sorry for your loss. But I don’t know why you’re here. Equestria is conquered too, you just said so. Motherlode… we’re nowhere. It might be weeks before anypony remembers we’re here. Home office might not even remember to send supplies… or maybe they’ll send a tyrant to enslave us.”
“Because we share an enemy,” Lightning Dust said. “I’m from Equestria, so is Deadlight. Wayfinder isn’t, and neither are most of the others. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is we’re fighting the same monster. We’ve been sent representing Governor Lucky Break of Othar. She’s our leader, our princess. We want to make a deal.”
“What’s the point?” It was the burly pony from before. He slung his pickaxe onto the ground, where it split a nearby boulder and held fast. “Equestria’s gone. My wife is in Canterlot right now. Nothing matters.”
A few frightened shouts went up from further back in the crowd. He wasn’t the only one who thought that nothing mattered, it seemed. Though there were others who didn’t become hysterical.
“Because we want to fight,” Deadlight said. “Our city is gone, but most of our ponies survived. They are coming towards Equestria aboard an airship bigger than your town. We’re looking for a friendly port. We’re looking for a population of ponies willing to work with us to farm and mine and keep us supplied.”
“There are only…” Pyrite gestured around them. “There are three hundred twenty-one working ponies here in Motherlode. Eighty-one support ponies and spouses, last time I looked. And none of us are fighters. The only royal guards I know of are all retired now. If you start sending fighters out from here, won’t this Storm King be mad? Will he do to us what he did to you?”
Eventually, Lightning Dust thought.
She looked to Olivia, but of course the pony couldn’t speak Eoch very well. She was wearing a translator in her ear, but having her help with the negotiation wasn’t a good idea. Lightning Dust would have to do it instead.
“We can keep that day back,” she said. “A long time. Maybe by the end of the war. We have a plan…” She didn’t know any of it. Olivia had been the one to propose it, something about bribery and extortion and manipulating whatever puppet the Storm King eventually sent.
“Your plan,” said the stallion with the pickaxe, though he was no longer watching her. Instead he was staring off over her shoulder, off towards Canterlot. “Does it involve getting my wife back?”
Deadlight nodded. “I have lived with humans for over a year now. They have always kept their promises to me. And if you’re looking for warriors, you will not find a pony better. Even Princess Luna has been captured. They are… the best hope we have left.”
Not exactly a ringing endorsement. But then, Deadlight had come to Othar as Olivia’s hostage, not been rescued from an advancing Equestrian army. It didn’t entirely surprise Lightning that he still resented that a little.
“I think we should meet your princess,” said the mayor, after a long silence. “Then we’ll vote on it.”
Lightning Dust turned to Olivia. She still spoke in Eoch, so these ponies wouldn’t think she was doing anything underhoofed. But she spoke slowly enough that she hoped Wayfinder would get her message. “Tell her we’re ready.”
The ponies of Motherlode had managed something incredible. They had found a way to make their rebellion sound boring.
Granted, Olivia had only heard the story through Lightning Dust, since she’d spent less time listening to their conversation and more watching for betrayal. However remote the possibility might be, she couldn’t shake the nightmare that the Storm King had somehow beaten them here.
Of course her rational mind rejected that idea. He had a small force, and Motherlode was a very small target. If it wasn’t a company town, if it didn’t produce valuable metal to send back to Canterlot, it might not receive an occupying force for years.
So she’d been a little surprised when Lightning Dust informed her of the pony that would be joining them. Not the mayor as she’d first thought, but his wife. Sunkiss Sheen was going to be the liaison between the ponies of Motherlode and the humans of Othar, and that would begin with meeting the princess. “I am sorry we have to talk this way,” Olivia said, nodding as politely as she could. She’d been an officer a long time—dealing with VIPs wasn’t that strange to her. “I am not very good with your language. Our princess is much better.”
She waited for the “charm” around her neck to repeat the words, still in her voice. Sorry I need more of your processing power, Forerunner. Hopefully you rebuild your brain soon.
Sunkiss stared at the necklace, obviously impressed, though she hardly sounded overwhelmed when she spoke. “Your magic is not like other translation spells I’ve seen. I guess this enchantment is less damaging to the mind?”
Olivia frowned, trying to take that in. The unicorn did look like a scholar of sorts. Tall and thin, with a silvery coat and deep blue eyes. Like her husband, she did not look like a local to the town. But she’d earned the miners’ respect, and that wasn’t nothing.
“It is perfectly safe,” she said. “You could wear it every day and never have any side-effects. The only danger is that the magic might run out and you wouldn’t know what ponies are saying.”
Sunkiss chuckled. “That is remarkable. I hope we can achieve something as remarkable in saving Equestria.” She shook her head once, looking away from her. “Why us? There are much bigger cities. Los Pegasus has a battalion of royal guards you could recruit. The navy is divided between Seaddle and Manehattan. You could have started with one of those cities.”
How much could she trust this emissary? Olivia had spent a long career telling civilians as little as possible. She didn’t have to be dishonest about it. “We don’t want to fight a war. What we really want to do is win before the Storm King can wreck your country. I guess Motherlode is a good place for that.” She didn’t know why exactly, since Discord had been completely unhelpful. She knew it had resources, knew it was far away, knew now that the population was determined and would make for a helpful ground crew.
The Wing of Midnight came roaring overhead. She’d been the one to ask for this display, so that the town would be able to see a little of their power now that they had some goodwill. The roar would echo over the mountains, but they were far enough from civilization that there wouldn’t be much of the enemy to hear it. Instead, she could hear the gasps and mutters of surprise from ponies far below. A few screams, though not so many as before. The Wing of Midnight wasn’t the size of a city, only a large building, and so it could land in Motherlode without much difficulty. Whether they’d try to dress it up like a building or keep it mobile, Olivia didn’t know yet. And didn’t care. They had a governor for questions like that.
Forerunner picked a place just a little up the hill from her, just as she had asked. Olivia made a show of standing still, ignoring the wash of air and dust all around them as its legs extended and the steel bit deep into the stone. The engines switched to idle, then began spinning down, and faint steam began rising from them. “Princess is here.”
“That is… more impressive than a chariot,” Sunkiss said. “How are you going to hide that from the Storm King? That was louder than a Wonderbolts show from the top row seats.”
“We’ll use something else when we fight him,” Olivia said noncommittally. “This airship wasn’t built to be stealthy. We… didn’t expect him to destroy our city. We’re still figuring things out.”
Ponies from all over Motherlode were staring up at the Wing of Midnight as its ramp extended and a few ponies emerged from within. Lucky Break stood out front, wearing a crisp formal uniform that probably didn’t compete very well with the gold and gemstones that Equestrian princesses wore. Beside her was Forerunner, his synthsleeve glittering in the afternoon sun.
Olivia wondered quietly to herself just what these ponies might think of him. He was so much taller than they were, taller than most Alicorns, but at the same time his body was unnaturally thin in places. Those wrists and ankles did not look like they could support his weight, not even to Olivia. Being a horse is wearing me down. I hope we have somewhere for humans to live when this lifetime is over. That would depend on not letting the Storm King keep everything fucked.
“This is the part where we meet her,” Sunkiss said, standing a little straighter. “Come on then. Do you think she’ll let me see inside her airship?”
Olivia shrugged. “You’ll probably negotiate with her in there. Why?”
“Good.” She lowered her voice to a whisper, but Olivia could still hear it clearly. So she wasn’t trying to just keep secrets from her. “There’s no other way to know if you’re all being honest with us. Somepony has to go in there and check to see if there’s anything evil.”
Suddenly Olivia realized why the mayor himself was holding back with Lightning Dust and Deadlight. You volunteered for this, didn’t you? Someone we’d believe was important enough, but who wasn’t really. Someone who we could kidnap and then the whole town would know.
Lucky Break stood in the doorway, looking properly regal for about ten whole seconds. Then she saw Lightning Dust, and she waved like a little kid, grinning from ear to ear. The pegasus waved weakly back, ears flattening.
“I’m sure she’ll give you the tour,” Olivia said. She set off towards the Wing of Midnight at a brisk trot, forcing Sunkiss to hurry along behind her. “You can see all our secrets. Hell, I’ll just tell you now. We have two Alicorns, not just one. But our other one is about to have a baby, and she’s not really in charge of anything…”
“Really?” Sunkiss Sheen’s eyes widened. “I thought you would have more… humans? That’s what that other creature is, right?”
“Physically, yes,” Olivia answered. But they were very close now. Close enough that Lucky and Forerunner would hear them. “Mentally, he’s the least human one here. But I’m the wrong one to explain it.” She stopped about a meter away, close enough that everypony watching in Motherlode would still be able to see this. “Governor, this is Sunkiss Sheen. She’s the wife of the mayor—the town of Motherlode has nominated her to speak for them. Sunkiss, this is Governor Lucky Break, and Forerunner.”
Lucky waited until the translator had finished, though of course she probably would’ve understood even if Olivia had used a dozen different dead languages. When she finally spoke, Olivia was the one who had to listen to her translator, since she used Eoch. “We’re very grateful you’ve agreed to meet with us, Sunkiss Sheen. If Equestria and Othar are going to survive, we will both need ponies willing to forget old feuds and negotiate.”
Sunkiss blinked, looking down on her. “I thought you’d be… taller.” Standing at the bottom of the ramp, Lucky was still the shortest one here. Olivia would’ve been even shorter, except that she’d got a new body when Celestia killed her.
“I’m older than I look,” she said, ears flattening a little in embarrassment. But not anger. That just wasn’t Lucky’s way. “And I have friends who help me. Maybe you will be one of them soon.”
“We’ll see,” Sunkiss said noncommittally. “I want to see your airship. After that we can talk about you bringing more ponies here. Or more…” She looked up at Forerunner. “Humans.”
“We have already brought mostly humans,” Forerunner answered. “There is no outward physical difference. Of the ponies you have met so far, only Deadlight and Lightning Dust are native to Equus. Everyone else you see within is here because I brought them. I think you’ll find we aren’t so different.”
Olivia was able to fade into the background as they went inside. Lucky was no diplomat, that was obvious enough, but she had something even more important when dealing with ponies—simple honesty. She gave Sunkiss the full tour, taking her anywhere aboard the Wing of Midnight she wanted to go. Sunkiss wanted to see Melody, and so they did. She wanted to see their weapons, and so they did. Olivia’s instincts felt like they might give her a minor heart attack at any moment with as much as Lucky was sharing with what might be a potential enemy—but Lucky and Forerunner didn’t seem to care about that, so she didn’t either.
Maybe having a trained UN negotiator for a leader wouldn’t have helped. When they finally sat down to talk out the details, it almost seemed like a formality to Sunkiss. “My husband will want to talk to you too,” she said. “Maybe the whole town, so you can answer our questions. We don’t have a city hall, but we have a cafeteria that we use for things like that.”
“Sure,” Lucky said, sitting up from her little chair and grinning like a schoolgirl. “Any questions we can answer. I don’t know everything, though. Like… the real reason your princesses surrendered. No idea. I don’t know what the Storm King wants. I don’t know how long this war will take. Probably lots of other things too. Whatever you want us to do… it needs to be soon. My carrier is on its way. We need to get established here before the Storm King sends anyone. We need to have a plan for dealing with them when they arrive.” She nodded towards Olivia. “You’ve already met Prefect Olivia. My military liaison. She’s an expert at operations like that. I’m pretty sure she already has a plan.”
Prefect. Lucky Break hadn’t asked for her permission. But “prefect” wasn’t a military position. It was a civilian appointment, the equivalent of a cabinet position for a colony so young it didn’t have a legislative body. There weren’t actually grounds to refuse the position, at least not that Olivia remembered. But it had been a long time since she’d reviewed the Pioneering Society handbook. How long did you search for a way to get me back into your command structure, I wonder. Did you come up with it, or Forerunner?
That question would have to wait. “That’s fine,” Sunkiss was saying. “My husband already planned a meeting tonight, to vote on whether we should accept your help. You can talk to Motherlode then, make your case. Since this is… a little beyond the scope of working for FlimFlam Energy, you’ll have to convince the ponies to support you. But I don’t think that will be very hard. We aren’t… overflowing with options here.”
Olivia could see the signs. This pony was convinced. She would be their ally in convincing the rest of Motherlode as well. Their position was as good as secure. We have a foothold. Too bad I probably won’t be sticking around here. They would need to send people into Equestria immediately—to find out what the Storm King was actually doing, to find out how to get aboard his carrier. And to free their captives. This was the part of the plan for her to shine. General Qingzhi would be the one at the helm once it became an open war—but the longer they kept that from happening, the better.
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Forerunner and crew will be keeping most of the Storm Kings forces distracted up here while a skeleton crew goes looking for the Mane 6 if its following the movie any?
If its the source of Bottled Sunlight, using a special mineral that creates Slow Glass? then Forerunner could use the possibility that fracturing it releases all that energy at once, giving a Flash bang for a day, right up to if theres anything in long term charging, its going to be like rupturing a D Sink?
Nah, that's how all rebellions go eventually.
9017032
Are we reading the same story?
9017465
Sorry about that, I tend to get lost in L Space too easily.
Did the big mothership thing actually decide to come to Equestria yet, or are they going to conquer the slave colonies first? I didn't see that decision actually get made.
.. that sounds .. hurt .. a lot.
9017625
General Qingzhi was ordered by Lucky to cancel his operation to liberate the slave colonies and rendezvous with the Othar evacuees. He tells Olivia this in the first scene of the previous chapter.
9017968
Yeah, but he also told Olivia that staying was the better choice and asked her to persuade Lucky to not do that.
9018058
We never see Olivia talk to Lucky about it, true, but considering she doubted she'd be able to convince Lucky to rescind her order, it's possible Olivia didn't bother, or Lucky simply remained unconvinced.
9017860
Ponies are very flexible.
9018073
Yeah. I was wondering if I'd missed that scene, but it looks like it was just skipped.
9018420
Probably wasn't worth showing. It'd just be Olivia repeating what Qingzhi told Lucky.
Motherlode is a boon and looks as if it will be a vary good strong hold.
i am vary interested in how this will play out.
Phenomenal cosmic power!
This seems like a good place to establish as a backwoods home base.
Oh no.
9020744
Politics makes strange bedfellows.
Their industrial capabilities and knowledge will be useful in arming the rebellion though.
9017032
Bottled sunlight?
If they have that why stop at flash bang when you can settle for turning that terriforming ship into molten slag?
A boring rebellion is good. Don't want the invaders to know you're there before you're ready for them. Let's just hope the Flimflams aren't collaborating woth the Storm King and offering him company towns like they were appetizers.
As for Sarah and Ocellus, the fallout there is going to be very messy indeed. Hopefully Thorax can help smooth things over, assuming they ever even get to speak to him.
pics.onsizzle.com/excuse-me-what-the-fuck-32339881.png
hope the townponies and humans feel like sticking together and declare motherlode othar 2
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The raw materials from the mine would surely contribute to the society's growth.
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Could still get in some classic guerrilla warfare going though. Isn't that the plan? I'd honestly like to see a story where the factory owners work for the good guys. That sort of situation tends to be far and few inbetween.
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They had to form a committee
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They had to form cells. Comettee is roadstone toward failure.
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But first they had form a committee to deliberate the the forming if cells to begin with then a subcommittee was formed to deliberate the benefits vs risks in the decision to use a cell format. Then the put forward the results of their deliberations to the committee to be further discussed on the formation of a cell format in which the assignment of who should be in what cell which is then delegated to another subcommittee who then evaluate individuals into which cell and how many cells they can then utilize in a viable fashion. Those results a again pushed back up to the deliberating committee for decisions.
You've not seen "The Life of Brian" have you?
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Nope, was too young ( well, one year older than movie). And currently it is considered inappropriate content in country, do wouldn't be licensed :/
But basing off Moon is Harsh Mistress, all you need is the first cell.
This is, um, one heck of an "Epilogue." I knew I was in for something massive when I saw that there was still a whole 40% of the story left, but I really didn't expect the story parameters to expand this much!
I don't have a clue what direction this story is going, but I'm loving it.
Didn't Discord say he could easily act as their queen with the variation of olfactory signals she could give?
Would that work on more than just the ferals?
This was about as subtle as humanity's first encounter with ponies on the ring
Ha. Committees.
Well, it's a mining town. Perhaps Forerunner can get some resources out of the ground more easily here.
Forerunner, without clothing? That's unusual. Maybe he never got the time to get any...
Well, Discord was in there a while ago, but he's gone now. But he's not exactly evil. Still a bit of an asshole, though.
Honestly, probably the best way for new folks to first see their princess
Oh dear, that pair is involved?
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If Celestia can be a murderous cunt, maybe these two can be cool.
Hold up— Lucky's still short? Like, movie-Twilight short? For some reason when she ascended I was under the impression that she became, like, Celestia-sized. Or at least Luna-sized. I dunno, maybe I misread something that gave me that idea. *shrug*
Guess I've been seeing things 'wrong' since then as I've been reading…
I'm also curious about something else: Othar was destroyed, yes. A couple chapters back Forerunner said that the majority of its programming (or whatever it was, the majority of its something) was there when the city was destroyed. But what about the original ship's landing place? Before Othar was even a thing? That was Forerunner's original base of operations; it didn't get destroyed, did it? It's been a while since I would have read that part, so I don't remember if that was indeed the case.
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Pretty sure the equestrians destroyed it. I remembered reading that.
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).
You've got a better memory than me, then (though that isn't exactly a high bar to meet
FlimFlam Energy
Oh dear…