9 When the Cat's Away...
Twilight - Day 15
The Machine Shop, South Jungle - The Island
“Forget that,” I said with a dismissive hoof wave. “One day here is ten back home. They said a month or two. I have two and a half days at the minimum to find Star and Clover, and I’m NOT going to leave here without at least talking to my probable parents!”
Nyota paused, taking a deep breath, her eyes closing for a long moment.
“Twilight… I need a minute,” the zebra said wearily. “I need to process the time gap. Something's not adding up.”
I felt my determined expression soften into a concerned grimace. The revelation about the pending rescue did have it’s other side… She deserved some comfort.
I stepped across the garage and sat down beside her, wrapping my left arm around her shoulders in a short but tight hug.
“Alright. Let’s work things out,” I agreed, needing to see her smile again.
Not just because I doubted I could do this without her, but because well… I was starting to like her.
“The time… Multiply the days by ten,” Nye mumbled, her lips twitching as she clearly through as hard as she could. “What was the last date ye were home?”
That was an easy one to answer. It’s not like I could forget the day.
“The Twenty Third of Megan, in the Seventeenth Year of the Era of Harmony,” I informed.
Nyota blinked, raising one eyebrow. “Era of Harmony? That’s a new one to me,” She admitted uncomfortably. “What’s the RH? I hope our own universes are in synch.”
“Oh! It’s the Five Thousand One Hundred, and Ninety Seventh year of Recorded History,” I amended.
Nyota hummed thoughtfully, her fearful look melting quickly. “Two years after I stumbled into the portal,” she mused, tail flicking. “In that case, the portal must not have only been broken in terms of the spatial link, but also in time. Which makes perfect sense when you think about it in terms of Special Relativity… Though nothing says both space and time have to be mismatched.”
Nyota nodded to herself and stood up slowly, her joints popping slightly. “Right. I panicked over nothing. Went five universes down and about three thousand years to the left. I wonder if I’ll ever meet whoever made that device? I should totally write up an OSHA report and hand deliver it to them. Heh,” Nyota joked, smiling to try and push away the last remains her mini-heart attack.
Unfortunately for her joke.. I knew Sky Trigger.
“He’d probably just show it to his sister, say something like ‘Gaze upon this’ to make some pop culture reference to a long extinct species media and then they would both laugh their plots off,” I grumbled, standing up as well.
Nye blinked, tilting her head in a mixture of surprise and confusion.
“You know the pony responsible?” She asked.
I nodded. “Yep. Sky Trigger. A Pegasus inventor who lucked out with their cutiemark and place of birth. Technopath plus-”
“We've also got a Sky Trigger,” Nye snorted. “I mentioned trying to work for his company, remember?”
“Oh, right! Sorry,” I said with an embarrassed blush. “Um… I hate to push this, but with the news of a rescue coming, well, I know Celestia will likely come herself or send Luna and her Knights to retrieve me. They won't let us stay here any longer, and I REALLY want to meet Starswirl.
“We need to do those bosses now. Unless you think we can make it through the Center without the superior armor.”
Nyota shook her head almost violently. “Absolutely not! Ye don't have a bloody clue what that place is like!” She exclaimed, eyes looking at me worriedly. “Sure, it’s not the Scorched Earth, the world itself isn’t a literal oven. But well… Here, ye’ve got a good handful of tribes. There, ye have three.
“Without the edge power armor provides, we don’t have a chance of getting safely… Well, anywhere.”
I nodded, fully understanding. “Right. Sooo How do we kill these things quickly?” I asked, hoping she had an idea.
“Easy, everyone in the arena gets the engrams. You stay put, I kill them,” Nyota stated bluntly. “I do it all the time to get more element. Aside from the Dragon, it’s not going to be that hard for me to pull off killing the damn things and keeping you safe.”
“Oh! So, we just go kill each one, come back here and then I can build a suit?” I asked hopefully.
That sounded nice and easy.
Nyota sighed, her lashing tail showing me it was NOT going to be nice and easy.
“I have the supplies to summon the Broodmother a few dozen times,” Nyota said in a way which sounded… Bad. “I kept them here so if our basecamp on Ragnarock got raided, we wouldn’t lose the artifacts.
“I dont have the artifacts needed to summon The Megaple… Uh, the Megapla- Buck it, Megakong! I don’t have the stuff needed to fight him, or the Dragon. To get that stuff, we’d need to go across the whole island raiding caves which are actually little dungeons, braving all kinds of hazards to get multiple copies of each artifact.”
I groaned, understanding what she was saying. “And with how long it took to get permission to travel to the Volcano…”
Nyota nodded. “We’d have to do the whole thing in stealth mode,” she said through clenched teeth. “Not… Not a thing I want to do with ye tagging along. No offense. I still think you’re capable as all hell, but-”
“None taken,” I said, snickering. “I’m… Not so great at stealth. I should get some training in that when we get to Equestria.”
Nyota frowned at me as I said that, stroking her chin with one hand. “Lass… When ye say that I can go with ya, what exactly do ye mean?” She asked uncertainly.
I tilted my head curiously. “Um, what do you mean?”
“Do you mean that you’ll let me leave with you, and I can go to your Equestria, but we part ways there, or-”
I shook my head, holding up one hand to interrupt her. “No! I mean you can come live with me. Unless you want to go back to your own home dimension. I think Sky could probably manage that. Or Lyra could do that for you… I think,” I elaborated.
Nyota paused,her ears perking slightly. “Oh! An by ‘with me’, ye mean, what exactly? Room in yer castle or-”
I rolled my eyes then shook my head. “Nye… Flash was right about me. I’ve felt GREAT since we cleared the air and you felt comfortable liking me. I definitely need affection to remain healthy. There’s no question about it,” I said with a smile. “So… Well, Flash wanted me to find somepony to be with before he died. I decided to honor that request… As much as I can at least. You like me, I like you, and you also care about me enough to not just protect me but teach me to protect myself. Personally. With one on one instruction.
“That’s actually fairly unique. Only Flash has ever really done that with me before, and that was with how to do my finances and budgets. Household stuff. I had either a group to learn with, or in the case of Celestia, a mentor to ask questions, but she rarely ever showed me things in person… It was more like taking an EtherNet course since she had to keep up her political duties.
“Heck! Celestia sort of just kicked me out of Canterlot into Ponyville with the vague instructions of ‘make friends’ to advance my training as a wizard. But you? No. You care about me, and you show it. Flash did that too.
“Sooo, yes. You can have a guest room in my castle. One near mine. Maybe you can move into mine one day if we work long term.”
Nye’s ears perked up so much I swore they grew a little. Her face twisted happily, then snapped back to a serious expression as she fought to contain a squee, coughing to cover it up.
“So, uh, we’re marefriends then? That’s cool,” she said fighting the urge to yell it happily the entire time.
I nodded. “Yes. And you don’t have to try to look cool for me. You’re already at least within twenty percent of Dash’s coolness,” I teased.
“She promised me she wouldn’t screech again. It hurts my ears,” Chip called from the other room, the translation collar we made him giving his voice a cute somewhat effeminate male voice with just a little electronic warbling.
It didn’t suit him. I needed to tweak it later.
“Ah,” I said with a short nod.
“Right… So um, since that’s the case,” Nye said decisively as she spun on her heel and walked over to her shelf of radio handsets, quickly snatching one up. “It’s time to go all in.”
She pushed the radio’s talk button and held it to her ear. “Dragonslayers, this is Nyota. Come in, Over,” she requested.
To both of our surprise, the radio crackled instantly as someone picked up.
“Hi, Nye! It’s Kim,” an ambiguous person’s voice greeted excitedly. “How’s the unicorn taming going? Over.”
I raised an eyebrow at Nyota. Nyota glared at the radio. “Shut the fuck up, Kim! First off, ye’re talking about an actual Princess. Second off, we’re dating now and she’s in earshot. Third, this is an emergency! Over.”
I gave Nyota a satisfied nod. She gave me a ‘he’s a dick but we like him’ variety of apologetic smile in return.
“Sheesh! Put the fun in camps why don’t you?” Kim jokingly grumbled before laughing. “Hi there, miss Unicorn! Hope Nye’s not being too weird for you. Wait! Did you say Emergency? Over.”
“Yes, Kim. I did,” Nyota sighed, bringing her hand up to rub her temples while grimacing into her palm. “Alpha level emergency. Is Drake there? Over.”
“He’s taking a crap. I’m surprised you don’t hear the cussing. Jake cooked last night,” Kim replied.
Nye visibly underwent a full body flinch before Kim could continue. I grimaced at the thought of food so bad it could make a pony do that just to hear it had been made…
Guh!
“So yeah, he’s not going to be talking for um… A half hour? What’s the situation? Over.”
“Twilight’s got mail from her home. There’s a rescue mission underway to retrieve her. Shes’ offering me an out alongside her. We have two days. Problem is Twi wants to get her fellow Equestrians out of here too. Which means we need to get to the Center ASAP. She needs power armor. I don’t have the artifacts needed for the ape and the dragon. We can't get them on our own in time. I need your help,” Nyota summarized quickly. “Over.”
“Oh… Well, shit,” Kim sighed on the other end of the radio. “I don’t know what we can do there… I mean-”
“Is that Nyota?” A male’s voice asked over the radio.
“Woah! Drake? How did you recover so quickly?” Kim asked in disbelief.
“I decided suicide was a better choice than toughing that out. Remind me to stab Jake in the face when he gets back from the metal run. And give me that radio,” the radio crackled and screeched as Drak took it from Kim. “Nye? What’s the situation? Over.”
Nyota took a quick breath and repeated herself. “Twilight’s getting a ride out of here in two or four days. She wants to take everypony home with her. Including me. I’d like to go. Over,” she said a bit apprehensively.
Drake paused for a moment. “That’s a major loss, Nyota… But we’re here to bring peace and freedom to the ARKs. If you want to go, go. But I would greatly prefer you stay with us. Over,” he said sadly.
“I understand you feelings… But I need to go. I may never have another chance,” Nyota said her tail lowering as she closed her eyes sadly.
“It’s okay. Well, thanks for telling us instead of just leaving. I assume we can use your stuff after you leave, right? Over,” Drake asked hopefully.
“Of course,” Nye agreed. “But… I need some help.”
“Mhm,” Drake said with an odd tone of voice. “Well… Alright. We do owe you a lot. What’s the favor?”
“Drake, are you ser-” Kim exclaimed before the radio cut off.
“I need help gathering enough artifacts to summon the ape and the dragon. Twi needs power armor to make it through the Center, and that’s where Star is. Over,” she repeated once more.
“Well, I suppose we can afford to leave the keep in Kim and Helga’s hands for a day,” Drake mused. “We’ll do it, Nye, as a going away present. But this is it. Understood? Over.”
Nyota nodded. “I understand. Thank you. Over.”
“We’ve got a drop just behind the base… Should be here soo- Um, now actually. Slice up the Broodmother. You’ll have the artifacts in your vault in an hour. Dragonslayers, over and out.”
Nyota nodded one last time and set the radio back on the shelf, her shoulders slumped slightly.
“I… I’m sorry. I didn’t think about you having to leave people behind. I mean, I haven't met any of them this whole time so-”
“It’s alright, Twi,” Nye said after a moment. “They’ll get out eventually. They’re all humans in the system. This could by my one shot to get home. Drake understands. Besides, we’d never see each other again after they left anyways.”
She turned giving me a smile before walking to the elevator at the back of her garage. “Now go get into yer good armor, lass,” she instructed. “Full kit, best of everything. Each boss creates little helper friends, and they don't go away when you kill the boss. Don’t worry, I’m sure ye can handle them. We’ll be fighting all day. We’ll need to beat each boss three times, once with its cyberware set to each of the different performance boosts.”
I winced. That did NOT sound like fun. “Um, okay. Are you doing the same thing?” I asked curiously.
She nodded, then stepped on the platform, the elevator humming as it lifted her up to her home’s second floor.
I jogged to my room, almost tripping over Chip as I entered, barely managing to catch myself and avoid plowing face first into the wall.
“Ow!” He yelped, tail curling inwards.
“Sorry!” I exclaimed as I looked down to see he had been laying down in the doorway.
Reading a book.
“You can read?” I asked, ears twitching curiously.
He shook his head. “Nope! But this is a story told in pictures. So I sort of understand it. Will you read it to me later? I found a whole box of these in Nyota’s closet while mapping out our new territory,” he explained, turning the book’s pages towards me to reveal…
A magna. One drawn fairly well, and colored okay. Nothing special there, but quite artful. About what I’d expect from Nyota based on the sketches she’d made to show me landmarks to look out for.
But more importantly, it was a magna with me in it. Or at least, a universe's version of me. Also Nightmare Moon. Sitting in a bar. Discussing Nightmare's problems in a calm rational manner. With ‘my’ thought balloons indicating that ‘I’ found her attractive.
I blinked twice. Now THAT was an interesting set up for a story! Why did Nyota hide them? Did she think it would be too weird for me to find artwork of her universe's Twilight? She already explained she had a crush a long time ago. Heck, I knew for a fact that I had stuff like this made starring me back home.
I was a Princess. Of course ponies would want to write historical fiction, and other kinds of stuff with me in it.
“May I see that for a minute?” I asked Chip, kneeling down.
He nodded and held the book up to me, giving me the first close look at his hands. I’d never seen the small thumbs his three clawed hands had before. His normal stance hid them well. No wonder he could climb so well.
Picking up the book I flipped through it quickly, skimming the contents to see where me flirting with Nightmare Moon went. The bar we were in had been styled as a Classical era tavern, indicating this was probably a swords and sorcery stor-
“Oh. THAT’S why she hid it,” I giggled as I flipped to a hentai section. “Yeah that might have been awkward when we first met.”
“What might have been awkward?” Chip asked, cocking his head.
“It’s got love scenes,” I replied, handing the book back. “And sure, I’ll read it to you later. Looks pretty interesting. It’s a fantasy adventure novel, sort of in the same vein as the Ogres and Oubliettes Official Novels. Not my favorite genre, but still something I like.”
“Thanks! I want to know what everypony is saying,” Chip said happily. “Oh! I noticed that the shorter Ponyfolk’s horn is shaped like yourse! Is that a family trait?”
I blinked and raised an eyebrow at my friend. “Um, Chip, that’s supposed to be me. Can't you tell by the colors and face shape?” I asked.
Chip squinted at the page, then back up at me, then at the page again. “No… You’re not the same shade… And the shapes are drawn in a simple way. I guess we see differently,” He mused.
Wait a minute… “How many colors of hair do i have in my mane?” I asked quickly.
“Um, one?” He replied suspiciously.
“Ah! You don’t see the same colors I see. I was wondering why you didn’t tell me I was in the story. I’ll see if we can’t make a spell for that when we get back,” I promised, turning to rummage through my locker for all the good gear Nye had made for me so far.
“Have fun killing the huge spider!” Chip said with a smile. “OH! Save me some? She’s tastier than you smell.”
“Sure thing!” I promised, giving his head floof a tousle as I buckled on my breastplate.
Humm… I wonder if Daring Doo has a manga, or graphic novel adaptation of Daring Doo and the Hidden Mountain? I’d never looked for one and it would be pretty awesome to see Daring and Courage’s sex scene atop the ancient temple illustrated.
I wonder if Nyota would laugh if I tell her that series is right up my ally? Well, I mean it’s slightly weird that I’m a character in it. But still also kind of cool to see myself drawn in that sty-
I froze, turned around and looked at Chip. “D-did you kill the Broodmother once?” I asked eyes widened to the size of dinner plate.
He shook his head. “No. Lots of times. Before they left, my old friends had me help them get the metal tiles she drops that make their advanced things work. The little spiders she makes taste bad, but she’s really, really, REALLY good. If you could save me a leg, I’d really love that,” He asked with a hopeful smile.
“Uh… What friends?” I asked, tilting my head.
“The ones who hooked my great grandparents, grandparents, and parents up with their mates. They used to live a little ways from here down the beach. But that was a really long time ago. I think my pack still lives in their old home. I left because they wouldn’t let me mess around with things to try and learn from them,” Chip replied.
I gulped nervously. “Uh, yeah. Okay. I’ll save you some… Want anything from the other two creatures?” I asked as I continued to buckle on my gear.
“Nah, they also taste bad,” Chip lamented. “Oh! But if you die, can I-”
I rolled my eyes. “Assuming there’s anything left, sure. Just… Don’t eat it while I’m looking.”
That would be just… Wrong. But definitely not a reason to offend the carnivore who thought you were tasty.
Chip chirred sympathetically, his tail drooping as he looked up into my eyes. “Oh my gosh! I didn’t even think about that… I’m sorry. I won't eat your bodies. I can deal with one tasty meal being something I can’t get. It’s okay,” he promised.
“I appreciate that,” I said, giving him a grateful smile as I slipped on my helmet.
That was it. All armored up.
“See you tonight, Chip,” I said as I grabbed the harness with my weapons and quickly strapped it on as I walked towards the door.
“Bye!” He called happily, even waving before I left the room.
I frowned as I realized that I’d be leaving him behind. I’d only known him for two days but he was very nice. A good friend…
Humm… Nothing said I couldn’t bring him with me. And I wanted to bring Sir Hoppyfox. Yeah, I’d ask if he wanted to come later.
Thinking about how the probably very old Trodoon could make a living in Equestria if I did offer to take him with us, I stepped out into Nyota’s garage, noticed the elevator was still at the top floor, and took a seat on a crate to wait for her to come back down.
I didn’t have to wait long. After just a few minutes, a series of loud, ringing footsteps echoed through the house. Each one sounding like a heavy hammer striking an anvil. They traced across the ceiling, stopping at the elevator, which began to descend, it’s hydraulics whining much louder than normal as the multi-ton armored suit was lowered into the garage.
I could see the modifications made to it. I had no idea what it originally looked like, but the hands, upper legs, and helmet were all done in an elegant organic style, colored a lovely burnished silver (or perhaps a chrome), and all clearly belonged together, but not to the rest of the suit.
The rest of the suite was a tad bulky, solid looking boxy but sculpted armor plating covered the torso, lower legs and feet, forearms, and shoulders. A huge tri-jet jetpack in the same boxy style had been fitted to the back as well, it’s upwards swept fins sticking up slightly from the shoulders, giving the wedge-like pauldrons a techy look.
Those parts all screamed ‘Neighponese Mech!’ at the top of their lungs, and wouldn’t have looked out of place on any of the suits I’d ever seen… If they were painted one uniform color.
The custom parts were given a base coat of a bright blue, with bright orange flames painted on the shins, with a flamebolt painted on each forearm, and more decorative flames highlighting the small patch of chrome in the center of the breastplate.
That made it look more like someone's pet project they never took outside incase it got damaged.
“Huh…” I said, ear droop thankfully hidden under my helmet. “I uh, I didn’t expect that look.”
Nyota snickered, her voice amplified, but distorted behind the helmet. “Eh, I made something that looked cool to me. Might as well, since I almost never take her out. Too much work to replace,” She said sounding a bit tired. “Man this thing is hard to move without turning it on!”
“Uh… So… Turn it on?” I asked tilting my head in confusion.
Nyota shook her head, the blank faceplate hiding whatever expressions she had. “No way! I converted this thing to run on a jerry rigged version of promethium since the normal power armor burns through Element like I used to go through pizza. I’d NEVER get the fumes out of my bedroom. Also, this baby is LOUD and I didn’t want you to have a heart attack when I fire her up.”
Before I could ask why she thought a simple loud noise would scare me that badly, Nye reached up with her left arm and grabbed a pull cord attached to the jetpack and yanked it violently forwards. Her armor sputtered for a brief second, then emitted a thundering high pitched, insanely loud, animalistic yet technological warbling roar as at least twelve cylinders worth of internal combustion engine blazed to life. Three jets of bright blue flames shot from the back of the armor for a few seconds. As exhaust.
“Celestia’s mane!” I shouted, reaching up to cover my ears. “THAT IS LOUD!”
Nyota nodded, then held out her right hand, pressed a hidden button on the back of it with her left hand, and slammed her fists together horizontally, slowly drawing them apart. Her suits right arm opened up, revealing a few lenses beneath the armor plating which flashed blue, casting what I sensed to be a teleport spell while also projecting a hologram of brilliant white-orange flames between her two fists as she conjured a sword as tall as herself seemingly from the illusory fire, before sweeping the white ceramic-in-appearance claymore up onto her shoulder.
“Alright,” Nyota said over the engine’s roar. “Let’s go!”
Twilight - Day 15
Dragon Arena, Red Obelisk - The Island
I’d sort of expected the day to not be as long as I’d thought when I’d seen Nye come down in her armor. It looked like the sort of tool to get any job done. I’d actually been wrong about that.
About how long everything would take. Not about my prediction that Nye could tear through just about anything like tissue paper. There were two factors I hadn't known about.
First, the Obelisks didn’t let you just go from one boss’s arena to another. You had to wait a couple hours before one could be summoned again. Probably so they could get another version of the boss ready. Each of them were incredibly complex nano-cybernetic organisms after all. While I’d seen creatures just pop into existence in here I imagine something like the small house sized spider took a while to calibrate.
Second, Nyota’s armor had enough fuel to work for fifteen minutes. Almost exactly fifteen minutes.
We had to set up a small metal shed just out of range of the huge teleport circle beneath the red obelisk and set up a cooking pot and a chemistry station inside to keep making fuel for her to use. Sure she had some stockpiled, but not enough for four hours of combat. Which is about what we had to get through.
Which meant between each battle I’d been helping to make jellied gasoline and then mixing it with a few minerals and an oxidizer. I smelt like death… Death and horrible cooking. And the bathroom at a nightclub.
Maximal ew!
The first three fights we’d done against the Broodmother were barely present in my mind anymore. Mostly because the others were absolutely terrifying. So terrifying that the huge scuttling spider I could have made a house in didn’t really register on the fear-o-meter anymore.
Honestly, the way the entire teleport pad was enveloped in a dome of energy sliding up from the floor, through which the broodmother’s massive mossy, vine strewn cavern had melted into existence was far more terrifying than her. I remember Nyota smacking me after I panicked, almost running through the energy field screaming about teleport failures.
I’d needed that smack. I’d gone full panic over nothing. We were just looking through a forming wormhole.
Another reason she was fairly forgettable was how easily Nyota killed her. Even the most difficult version took her about two minutes. It was clear she had beaten this monster dozens of times before, if not hundreds and her sword made super short work of the monster.
One slice, leg gone. One slice, mandibles gone. One slice, head off. Fight over. Message popping up in my vision saying I’d unlocked Tek items then listing which ones I’d ‘earned’.
No steel sword could have done that to chitin that thick. Not even with the enhanced strength Nyota’s armor provided her with. Naturally I’d asked about it.
“I invented these for use by mechs, this is a small one I managed to make in here after a hundred years of work building equipment to make it which no longer exists,” she’d answered. “It’s a lonsdaleite crystal shaped into a claymore blade and sharpened down to a sixty atom thick edge.
“Yeah that should just shatter when ye hit something with it, but I discovered a trick. Using a combination of ultrasonics and lasers you alter the four dimensional structure of the atoms to create a self-stabilizing oscillating pattern of two different states in the material, and chain these so the entire structure has the same oscillations.
“This forces the material to basically repeat the same moment in time over and over and over. Which in turn makes it nearly indestructible since when damaged, it reverts to the other non-damaged state as the atoms oscillate to the other state faster than kinetic energy can flow through the blade, undoing the damage and restoring it to a pristine state. Then it switches again, but since it repeats the same two moments, the previously damaged state is now undamaged. Hurray for quantum physics!
“I was hoping to get to show it off once employed and get a promotion. But ye know how that went.”
She could have just said ‘It’s a sword made from the hardest material known to science given a self-repairing enchantment’. But no. Apparently in her home universe a ‘Masters in Technoarcana Engineering’ was what comic book fans back home would call a Masters in Superscience.
Ah well, her geekiness made her cute. And was saving our butts today.
Just like her tribe mates had. I was very disappointed that we hadn’t seen them. I’d been looking forward to meet other nice people, but I guess that since Nyota had been honest and said she was planning on leaving they felt it would be awkward to talk in person.
A few minutes after we’d killed the Broodmother for the third time, we’d seen a flare shoot up from Nyota’s house. By the time we’d gotten there, everyone had gone. Leaving behind nothing but the artifacts needed to summon the bosses, and a mess of raptor, iguanodon, and Calithorum tracks in the dust.
Of course, despite their help and Nyota’s exceptional swordsmareship, I still met my new nightmare for the rest of my life.
The Megaphihicus. I’d never imagined myself being absolutely terrified of a giant ape, but now I was.
Five times my height when it walked on all fours, ten times when standing upright. Bright silver fur gleaming like steel, so thick that crossbow bolts bounced right off it like wind blown leaves. Large scars on its face and shoulder, showing that it had survived something much, much more dangerous than me.
Strong enough to rip slabs of stone four times my size out of the rocky mountainside arena and throw them at me in a way which I am damn certain would be enough to get Pinkie’s sister Maud to squee. Its screeches, roars, and bellows still echoed in my ears, even after Nyota had managed to kill it just before her armor ran out of power. Nothing that big should have been able to move that fast…
Oh, and it had remembered how Nyota killed it the last time. And did its best to improve itself. So it revived in the same way we did… Soooo... Yea….
I’d spent the entire hour waiting to be able to summon the Dragon freaked out beyond belief, absolutely horrified that this next monster would somehow be worse.
Nope.
It was just a very big angry dragon. Smaller than the one Rainbow kicked in the face that one time. No big deal.
Or so I had thought...
I’d gotten lonely waiting for the last batch of promethium to cook up, and had gone back to the garage to pick up Chip. Not that Nye wasn’t fun to talk too, but she was very busy making field repairs to her armor. I fully understood why she didn’t use it as her normal equipment.
It broke down pretty quickly, you could tell it had been built with crude tools from salvaged materials. This was her third repair of the day, so she was too busy and frustrated to talk too much.
Fortunately, Chip was happy to keep me company. He’d gotten really bored and had run out of things to do back there. I’d have to work out some form of entertainment for him or something. Maybe teach him how to read.
He’d asked to come into the arena with us when we had been able to go. I’d been talking to him about Equestrian history, and we’d just gotten to the Electric Age. Chip wanted to continue listening to my lecture. Nyota objected at first explaining that it was very dangerous, but changed her mind after Chip accurately described the arena, proving he’d been in it before.
I didn’t have a problem with that. After all, the whole battle would be in the air. Chip and I just had to hide behind some rocks to shield us from any stray fire and wait for Nyota to cut the dragon up enough for it to fall from the sky. Should be ten minutes. Easy peasy.
Haha… No…
I screamed fearfully as a spout of magma blasted up from the ground, the geyser mere decimeters from my nose. The arena’s previously inactive lava flow became active for this last fight. Clouds of hot ash filled the air around me, making it hard to breathe. The Dragon bellowed in pain blinded rage overhead, the sickly purple and orange monster at least twice the previous size, and five times as angry.
I stumbled backwards, managing to avoid falling over thanks to chip running down onto my breastplate to provide counterbalance.
“The safe spot is just ahead! You can make it,” he cheered, giving me a happy smile.
“WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME THE VOLCANO ERUPTS!?” I demanded, eyes wide as they could go behind my helmet.
Chip blinked. “Um… I- I guess it just slipped my mind. This is sort of a ‘oh yeah that happens’ for me,” he apologised.
I took a deep breath and ran forwards, jumping over the glowing crack in the obsidian just before another spout of lava blasted up from the earth's depths, along with a sickly yellow cloud of gas.
Oh great! More hazards.
“Left!” Chip commanded as I approached a jutting finger of obsidian.
I turned left, moving under the rock, almost tripping as the ground sloped down steeply, forming a little ‘hole’ beneath the obsidian spire, right at the edge of the Arena. Literally at the edge, the force field containing the arena crackled a dim orange against the leaning obsidian spire, forming a protective arch with a nice dug out spot below.
I slid into the hole, curling up quickly.
“Lava won't flow into here, right?” I asked urgently.
Chip shook his head. “Nope! This is where my old friend would sit and fire rockets while her brother distracted it.”
“I like that plan… Why don't we have rockets?” I grumbled, chest still heaving in my near panic.
Monsters was one thing. Suddenly being teleported into an erupting volcano… Whole other level!
One just below that ape.
“Sooo can we keep talking?” Chip asked hopefully, still clinging to my breastplate.
I shook my head and leaned against the obsidian spire. “S-sorry,” I gasped. “Need a few minutes.”
“Awww, alright,” he said with a good amount of disappointment.
Crap! He looked just like Spike had as a baby when dissapointed…
I sighed and took a few quick breaths, trying to remember what the history books said. “I‘ll try, okay? Um… After Filament proved that magic could produce electricity very easily, and Doctor Haynenburg invented an electrically powered magelight that cost less to make than the enchanted version, the Electric Age started in full.
“I- I think it lasted for about two hundred years. Because Enchanters discovered some shortcuts which made magic even less expensive again. But before that happ-”
The Dragon screeched wrathfully, the sound alone shaking the ground beneath me. The hissing shriek of its blue-white fire echoed through the dome for several long seconds, the air growing even hotter as it scorched the earth beneath it.
I curled up into a tight ball by reflex. Chip yelled, twisting to pull his tail out from between my legs as I accidently squeezed it between them.
“S-sorry!” I called nervously.
Chip flicked his tail and scampered up onto my left shoulder to look out at the rest of the arena.
“It’s okay, that’s was pretty scary. It’s right above us. Good thing he’s facing the other way,” Chip said, peeking around the obsidian. “Oh wow! He’s really bloody. I think Nye’s almost done!”
“Good!” I squeaked as the dragon roared again.
Taking a deep breath I stood up and looked out from behind the pillar, just in time to see Nyota flying towards the Dragon to strike. The tiny dot of her armor next to the dragon’s immense bulk was almost invisible. I could only track her by the line of flames her jetpack spewed behind her, and the gleaming white flash of her sword catching the light.
The dragon twisted in the air, wings flapping violently as it struggled to get enough lift with the ragged holes sliced into it’s wings. It craned its neck, seeking to sink its teeth into the small creature which had injured it so badly and end the fight once and for all. Nyota seemed to have been waiting for this.
The moment the dragon launched it’s head forwards, she rolled, her jetpack’s flames flaring brightly as she sent extra power to the jets, climbing upwards just enough to fly over the dragon’s gaping maw, her sword held straight out infront of her like a lance. Her blade caught the light once more, flashing brightly, then seeming to vanish as she plowed straight into the dragon head first!
“No!” I yelped fearfully.
Even in her armor, she wouldn't stand much of a chance of surviving bouncing off the dragon and free falling!
Unlocked: Tek Vacuum Chamber
Unlocked: Tek Teleporter
Unlocked: Tek Chestpiece
Oh! Oh thank, Celestia! Now we could leave this absolutely terrifying nightmare of an arena!
I took a deep breath to calm myself and waited, listening for the sound of the teleporters charging up to take us back to the Island. The thirty seconds seemed to take an eternity before the low whine of the charging transporters managed to pierce the sound of bubbling magma and hissing gas. The wine grew to a dull hiss before with a loud crack everything flashed white, blinding me for a few seconds.
I blinked rapidly, each blink clearing some of the brightness from my eyes. We were back atop the rock spire beneath the red obelisk. It was night, the sun had just set. The nocturnal critters were chirping away in the jungle to the north, and the ocean lapped gently against the rocks below.
No more erupting volcano. YAY!
I smiled in relief and sat up, looking around for everyone else. The shiny spider-like terminal was just to my left, putting me in the center of the pad. Chip still on my shoulder, and Nyota was laying face down at the edge of the teleport pad.
I yelped, standing upright and racing to her side in an instant. “Oh my gosh! Are you okay?” I asked just before skidding to a stop next to her.
Nye groaned and pushed herself up, her armor creaking in a very not okay manner. “Yeah, ow. Damn thing headbutted me when it saw I was going to lance it’s brain,” she groaned. “My everything is sore…”
I sighed in relief and smiled, reaching down to help her up. “Thank goodness!”
“Twi… I am in a ton of armor. Literally,” Nyota giggled as she slowly pushed herself up to her feet.
I felt my ears droop. “O-oh. Right. Well, how about we go home and we see if a massage will help with the soreness? You’ve been fighting all day. I think we can do a short break before you’re building things all night,” I suggested hopefully.
“That’s a good plan. I like it! Come on, we’ll leave the shed here for now and head home… Chip, you’re not hurt are you?” Nye asked worriedly. “Got a bit hectic there.”
“Nope!” He exclaimed happily. “We came in on the wrong side of the arena and had to go all the way around, but I showed Twilight where the safe spot is! Um… Just before you killed it. Sooo yes, pretty useless I guess.”
I shook my head slowly. “Hey, it’s all over. I can just whip up some armor in the replicator thingie, then you can customize it, an then we can go see my parents,” I said happily.
“After a massage, right?” Nyota said hopefully.
I nodded and blushed lightly. “Yeah! I need to do something that’s NOT running around screaming in blind panic and that seems like a nice thing, you know?” I asked as I turned to walk up the path to Nyota’s house.
She nodded. “Agreed. Let’s go.”
The walk felt rather short. I remember back when I’d first arrived, even walking around the lake my cabin had been at felt like it took such a long time. But now? With friends at my side, and proper protection across my body, having just survived things a billion times worse than the monsters in the jungle? Fear wasn’t going to make this feel any longer than it was.
We left the jungle, entering the clearing around the base of the hill, and that’s when the fear hit.
The hill was littered with scattered bodies, most of them wearing the bone helmets I’d come to associate with Charlie’s Boys. The others were completely stripped of gear, and limbs. A major battle had been fought here, and not long ago at all. We would have heard it if it hadn’t happened while we were in the arena.
At the top of the hill Nyota’s house still stood, but had several holes blasted through it. The cyan paint blackened, glass cracked, metal walls crumpled in to show large sections of the house completely gutted.
But the worst thing, the absolute worst thing, was the blood covered Razor, limping her way towards us down the hill.
Charlie attacked… Got most of them, the Raptor gurgled as she lay down a dozen meters from us, too wounded and tired to stand anymore. Not enough. Breached shield. Blew up your replicator… Does the Trodoon have more healing drinks? I think I need some…
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Okay, good news, the boss rush went right. Bad news... They need to build another replicator...
Ow, poor Razor. Don't die on us dude.
Also, something i just thought about : in chapter 7, when Twi met Chipfang, she found some items requiring an upgrade of her implant to make them work, yes ? Why do i feel she picked up something that will be really important in future chapters ? Especially when they'll get to the Center ?
Of course things can't go perfectly right now
8144096 Because you heard the sound of a plotpoint dropping like a sack of anvils from the top of a skyscraper?
Woooo! Boss fight montage!!!
I was wondering how Twi was going to find that manga, cuz we know she was going to, it wasn't ever a question.
Now, where have I seen that color scheme before? Oh right, BB tried painting her armor the same thing after that mech anime.
Wow Charly is really gung-ho to get Twi and Ny isn't he, good thing we have plans to GTFO... oh wait, the replicator is gone, and they need that to make all the things they just spent the day getting resources for............................. buck.
8144182
8144096 it's because we've read Meeps adventures long enough to see the upcoming plot devices
8144342
Hummm... I'll have to throw you guys for a loop next story then. Just for fun!
8144343 You can try
8144343 Even I'VE managed to start spotting them, and I'm oblivious half the time. That being said, those items Twi picked up have been really bugging me.
8144434 probably some custom stuff that perchance became just like criminal forbidden items. Or actually somehow smuggled ones. Either way, things that criminals can't get... But she ain't one. She's royalty from another world. There's quite the chance she gets a deluxe civilian implant as a "sorry for imprisoning you in islands of insane psychopaths" present. You know, the usual
Poor Razor. Let's hope she gets better and that Twi can get her home, too. I bet she can be happy in the everfree... Although the lack of mates would be a bummer. No idea how Chip will react to that, though.
Well fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...
I was wondering where the chapter title would come in. Why can't things just go smoothly?
Damn it, Charlie, ya dumb bish. It's time we learn ya why one doesn't fuck with Twilight and Co.
...Right after we patch up Razor and perhaps rally Chip's buddies
8144434
Gonna be honest, I read the bit with the items and thought "huh, that's probably going to be super important" and then promptly forgot they existed
And I finally caught up! Woooooooo
ugh, stupid finals and work making it hard to do so. Can't leave a super long comment as I am on my kindle, but just know I am enjoying this story! Brain fried, not sure what else to say atm.
but yeah! Next chapter, hopefully can be back to my novel comments
.
8145264 Yay! I'm happy to see you in the comments again ^^ I've been missing you, and the comments have been DEAD this story.
8146004
Yeah I have noticed they don't have a lot in here, which is sad really. *hugs* I missed you too! And am glad to be commenting again.
Sorry I haven't been dropping slot of comments, Ill probably try and get working on that some more. Its hard though, what with school and all that... Anyways, it's may by the way! Almost the end of the school year!
That was a pretty quick resolution to that crisis, but it makes sense that it might not have been an issue. There's too much timey wimey stuff going on for even a few thousand years of a time offset to be that much of an insurmountable problem. We already know that Sky has tech that can time hop while dimension hopping.
Also, did Lyra jump to old Equestria and meet young Luna immediately after her visit to anthro pony Japan? That's probably the 3000ish year offset right there, if so.
Hahaha, awkward. (Though technically, reasonably well.)
Bwhahahahaha! Stuff like that is never going to stay hidden forever, it's too narratively rich for it not to come out.
I'm rather curious who Chip's previous people were, though I suppose there's no reason they have to be someone other than just random prisoners.
Dang, these are serious boss mobs. Good thing Twilight brought Chip along. Are these in the base game or developed for the story?
Well, shit, that's not good.
8156907
Yes, time issues are not that much of an issue to over come once you're aware of them. And yes human Lyra met young Luna of the universe she wound up settling down in.
A Brother-Sister criminal duo who were doing time for pirating "cable TV" for an entire sector of space. No one of real consequence.
They are in the base game. There's a fourth boss too, a manticore but it's only accessible on the Scorched Earth map. (THere's also a one-time event boss fo201's Halloween, the Dodorex, it's a huge firebreathing Dodo. it no longer spawns naturally... You CAN use console commands or admin commands to spawn it in tho. And if you do you are an ASSHOLE! It's one of the few things that can destroy almost any given base in mere minutes.)There may have been a fifth boss added in a few days ago with the most recent update as they added in an endgame dungeon and something called the Ascension Gameplay but Wildcard is very tight lipped about it so I'll only know when a youtuber cracks the cave open for a look, or if I can ever do it myself.
Also, the gimmicky way of killing the Broodmother is a thing. It's the only way I know of to take it out which doesn't involve breeding 20 super dinos and training them expressly for combat and NOTHING else. The bosses are amazingly hard, and intended to require 3-5 players to kill. But each one IS possible to do it solo... It's just beyond Dark Souls hard or will take real world weeks of prep time.
But that's fair. the game is designed around forcing players to cooperate, and forcing tribes to compete. (Though many servers are very friendly these days.)