Twilence came to. She blinked - she didn't have anything swimming around in her head. She just knew there was new information she could access - an update. "How long was I out?"
"A second maybe?" Infinity said.
"Well, that's good."
"Welcome," Mite said.
"Anything useful?" Infinity asked.
"Let me see..." Twilence started scrolling through the comments. "...Mite, can you put an image on that screen over there?"
Mite complied, putting an image of a blue crystal behemoth onscreen. Orchid raised an eyebrow. "...Why?"
"Afizah wants to know if that's what it looks like. What's coming."
"More or less, their shapes vary slightly. And they're yellow."
The image turned yellow. "Corrected," Mite announced.
Twilence shrugged. "Yeah. Still going through. Yes I can see the video. Not in the mood to listen to that right now nor do I have the time. Uh... Nickel. You can have an unusual schedule if you can't talk I won't mind. In fact I've come to expect it from you. As for talking to Heildor... I'll try, if I can."
"That's insane," Orchid said.
Vriska smirked. "All the more reason to try it."
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. "...Don't you usually go for the violent resolution?"
"Now come on Flutters, don't you know me? I'm the crazy bitch!"
"...Can't argue with that, I guess..."
"Zen has a good idea," Twilence said, lighting her horn. She cast a shield spell around the ship they were in - nowhere near large enough to surround Canterlot, but still big enough for their purposes. "Is this going to help?"
Orchid closed her two real eyes. "Maybe. I have not yet seen the outcome of the encounter. They seem to be seeking to capture us rather than kill us, so there's that."
Twilence nodded. "Anyway, I had no intentions of ignoring everything Lore Thirst said, just realizing he could be wrong. And... Mite, is there anything else I can do with this Eye?"
"See."
"See what?"
"Views."
Twilence narrowed her eyes. "That doesn't make any sense... What are you talking about?"
"Allies."
Twilence glanced at Fluttershy. Fluttershy shrugged. "Guess you'll just have to figure that out later."
"I suppose so. Regardless, Ponygood, I don't think the crystal beings are technological in any way. And your links aren't working. I can see the images and video, but whatever else you were linking is hidden to me. ...I'll watch those videos later Wolfe... Ponygood the forum doesn't work either, sorry, can't see it... Josh... Yeah, you have a good point about Creek, I shouldn't judge. It just... surprised me, came out of left field is all. I'll have to ask her about it - unless she doesn't want to talk of course, in which case I'll just have to be fine with that. DLB... I don't have time to liste-" She paused. She sat down. "...That sounds nice"
"Library."
"Hm?" Twilence asked.
"Anytime."
"...You're making a music library."
"Yes."
"...That's amazing," Vriska said.
"Definitely."
Orchid raised an eyebrow. "Listening to music instead of continuing on?"
"Inefficient," Seven Hundred said.
Twilence shook her head again. "Right, right... DLB, you say you don't know what to say. I think I can help with that - the most normal thing to say here is to suggest what I do next. These inputs seemed to be positioned before or during dramatic events - probably specifically so you can give me advice on big decisions. Just talking to me is fine as well, though. And Cree-" Twilence paled. "Creek what happened- oh. Wait so if Keywii said that Creek shut off the mic somewhere else does that mean he's writing for her right this very now? What does that even mean? I-" She shook her head. "Sorry. Not going there. There's no answers down that rabbit hole. Creek, I'm sorry, you just surprised me. You really don't have to talk if you don't want. Just come back, okay? And... Candle. I will have a good day."
Vriska broke out into laughter. Twilence snickered along with her.
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound like nice laughter."
"Isn't," Mite confirmed.
Fluttershy sighed. "We're changing..."
Twilence sighed and nodded. "Yeah. We are. But... But mainly me. Anyway, Vriska, you said Seven Hundred sounded like Kanaya?"
"That robot pronounces everything with extreme care and precision and it annoys me," Vriska stated.
"Apparently on the story for them, it was written in her 'quirk', whatever that is."
Vriska's eyes widened. "Do I speak in eights? Is every b an eight? That'd be awesome."
"I dunno. I doubt it though, I think they'd have commented on that. And... That's everything this import."
Orchid frowned. "A surprising lack of information."
"I got us a shield didn't I?"
"You should have been able to think of that on your own."
Twilence twitched. "I'm just using what 'tools' I have at my disposal."
"No matter. They'll be here in a couple minutes."
"PREPARING BATTLE STATIONS," Four announced.
"That won't work," Orchid said. "They'll capture us if we continue on our current path. Our reinforcements won't arrive until a few minutes after we've been taken away."
"How do you know?" Twilence asked.
"The Eye shows me what the future holds. Unless you somehow manage to do something to change it, which I'm beginning to doubt you can. The shield has already been factored into account, it will fall."
Twilence frowned - she needed to think. She needed to be the one to come up with something here, something that would change the future...
"How high can this thing fly?"
"I Do Not Know Of An Upper Limit," Seven Hundred said.
Twilence smirked. "Do we know how high they can fly?"
"No," Mite said.
Twilence turned to Orchid. "Worth a shot?"
Orchid nodded slowly. "I cannot see the result of this action... You truly are powerful and mysterious."
"Thanks. Seven Hundred, take us up."
The ship they were in suddenly pointed straight upwards and let out an extremely powerful burst of blue fire out of its engines, launching itself higher and higher into the air. The clouds were soon far below them. The inertial dampeners that usually kept the passengers from feeling the intense forces of motion the ship experienced were unable to compensate for the powerful energies experienced when fighting directly against gravity. All the passengers that weren't machines felt themselves pressed violently into a nearby wall. And still, the ship rose. The sky began to darken and the horizon began to curve beneath them.
Twilence stared intently at the screens displaying the world beneath them - despite her discomfort and being pressed against a wall, she was still in awe. She could see everything rushing into her view. There was the Desert, that tall area with golden buildings must have been the city of Heildor. There was a bluish-green forest - the Bluemist Forest. She saw a heavily urbanized peninsula and one that was covered in ice. She saw an archipelago between them - and she also saw a strange, circular cloud formation to the west of the icy peninsula... ...Probably Frau. The Time Tunnels.
Then they went higher still. The sky darkened further - seeming to collapse in a blue band along the edges of her vision. She saw the sparkling lands of magic north of the Lost Desert, and the mountain range that extended far, far beyond Moissan.
She had no idea how much time had passed, she was too enthralled in what was going on.
Then she saw it. At the edge of the mountain range, touching the sea just at the edge of her vision, a landmark she recognized.
The primary volcano of the Dragonlands.
She laughed. They were in the southern hemisphere a quarter turn of the planet west of Equestria. Or, she supposed they were above that now. She looked at the rest of the planet she could see. At the moment it was a tremendous blue ball that dominated most of her vision - but she could see it's spherical nature from this high up.
"KEEP THAT SHIELD UP!" Four bellowed. "IT IS ALL THAT IS LETTING US KEEP ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE! THIS SHIP IS NOT RATED FOR VACUUM TRAVEL!"
Twilence snapped out of her stupor and focused back on the shield. "That would have been nice to know beforehand!"
"THEY ARE ALSO STILL CHASING US."
Twilence gawked. "How? How can they get this high?"
"MAGIC, I PRESUME. I ALSO SUSPECT THEY DO NOT REQUIRE AIR TO SURVIVE."
Orchid nodded. "Well... Do we have any advantages out here?"
"NO. IT IS POSSIBLY WORSE UP HERE THAN IT WOULD HAVE BEEN OTHERWISE."
"Dangnabbit."
"Was that two words?" Vriska perked up.
"No."
"Now is not the time..." Twilence muttered. "We've got to do something..."
Orchid shook her head, lifting out the orbs of Ine and Alderan. "It's not looking like we can. I still see us getting captured. I..." Her eyes all widened. "Hold on a second, what is that?"
Twilence looked at a screen - there was something red, sharp, and obviously artificial rushing towards them at impossibly fast speeds - orbiting Equis. They didn't have time to respond - they just got to see it.
Then it hit them.
The shield never stood a chance at something fast enough to orbit the entire world a few dozen times a day.
A giant red spike shot through the room they were currently standing in, dividing it in two, sheering Four's left arm clean off. Everyone screamed as the sudden change in velocity tossed them to the other wall. Twilence used her magic to make sure nobody broke anything.
"Atmosphere Venting!" Seven Hundred yelled. Everyone felt air rushing out of the room near where the spike had impaled them. This was only accelerated when a yellow-crystal claw poked its way through the nearby wall, resulting in enough airflow to tear Twilence off her feet. She scrambled - unable to resist the explosive decompression. The yellow claw released, and she was shot out of the hole into the void. She didn't feel cold like she had expected - if anything the rays of the sun felt too hot. She did, however, feel like her insides were ready to burst, that she couldn't breathe, that her eyes were boiling away...
She couldn't hear anything. She saw the crystal creature reaching for her...
...and in a flash of pink, she was in some kind of red hallway lined with unusual glyphs she didn't recognize. Everyone was there - except Four and Seven Hundred. She couldn't see Mite. "Mite? Four?"
"Here," Mite said.
"Where's Four?" Twilence blurted.
"Outside. In space," Orchid said. "He'll be fine, he doesn't need air. What I want to know is why I didn't see this place coming..."
"...Well it's obviously some kind of satellite in orbit around the planet," Vriska observed.
Infinity raised a hoof. "Uh... Hey. The chances of a random orbiting satellite crashing into us? Almost zero. Like, really, there's a lot of space up here and as big as that red thing was it really isn't going to hit us by chance."
Twilence furrowed her brow. "It targeted us? But why?"
"Security," Mite said.
Twilence looked around. "You can get into the systems?"
"Yes."
"What have you found?"
"I-"
Orchid's eyes widened. "Four and Seven Hundred are losing we need to-"
The yellow crystal behemoth crashed through a nearby wall - that covered itself in a forcefield before any air could be lost. It really did look like the picture Afizah had sent - except yellow. It reached for them, firing a few dozen crystals.
Twilence shot a laser at it, but the light refracted inside. Orchid backed up. "It's got anti-magic on it!"
Vriska stepped forward. "Allow me..." She took out her dice - and before she could roll them the crystal behemoth grabbed her by the hand. "Fuck you!"
She was punched with impressive force through a nearby wall, revealing a room covered in screens, maps of the planet, and trajectories. Three colored eyes were on the center screen - red, pink, and purple. Twilence blinked - what did that mea-
She was punched across the room, slumping onto the floor.
"DICE! NOW!" Vriska yelled to Orchid. Orchid closed her eyes and looked into the pathways of the future - and nodded. She summoned the infinite sided die and tossed it to Vriska. She grabbed it with ease - and stole the crystal behemoth's luck.
"You are in for it now bucko!" She tossed the thing to the ground - and it lit up.
Krill started appearing from nowhere around them. Metric tons of krill surrounding them on all sides in an uncomfortable manner. All of them - Mite and the crystal behemoth included - were surrounded in the krill, unable to move.
Well this is great... Twilence thought...
Then the krill all teleported at once. Twilence knew they were outside the red ship. Twilence also knew they were falling, and falling fast.
Twilence gulped. Well this was going to be a rough ride...
~~~
A ball of krill fell from Low Equis Orbit into the atmosphere, burning up the outer layers with alarming rapidity. Anypony looking from below would see a giant ball of fire and swear they smelled something fishy. There just happened to be alot of ponies looking from below.
The ponies of Pebbleton.
They saw the krill meteor split in two suddenly - half heading for the Bluemish Forest, the other half heading for the outskirts of town. An entire field of tall grass was decimated by the impact.
The town gathered around the impact site - some of the inner krill were still alive, while others were burnt. Prancey ate one of the ones that was cooked to perfection, finding it delectable. Diorite approached the pile cautiously.
Twilence poked her head out of the pile of krill, gasping for breath. "AAAAA.... Oh. We're fine."
Diorite raised an eyebrow. "...This is most unusual, Twilight."
"It's Twilence now. And... Yeah, it's a long story. But I think we're safe now!"
And then the crystal behemoth erupted out of the pile of krill, obviously very upset. Twilence paled. Crap.
And then the Eye lit up...
Can't really give you much advice on how to destroy the crystal being. Are you able to shape your magic like the proton cannon Vriska fired at the crystal sniper a while ago? Because that's my recommendation.
I was thinking that you could listen to music at the same time as you were doing something else, just leaving it playing in the background. Not sure why you can't access the links, though, since they should lead you to their connected pages. I'll try again, but this time, I'll type out the entire webpage instead of embedding it in (LINK). Links at the bottom.
There is a counter labeled "views" on this story, and it pretty much just tells us how many times this story was viewed by people. By the time I am writing this message, the number's at 452, but not every view has a unique person behind it. Not sure how that relates to having "allies," though.
Space is beautiful, isn't it? Going up there, barely protected from the vacuum of space and the unfiltered radiation and looking down at your home, as it contracts into a smaller and smaller blue sphere... and in the other direction, the stars twinkle invitingly, unobstructed by the atmosphere or light pollution... it makes you really realize just how large the universe is, doesn't it? I haven't ever seen that view, but I would like to, one day.
The red ship is interesting. No idea what it's for, but I think Mite can download an information packet into your Eye, so that you can read it without having to figure out meanings of single words. Hopefully Mite can provide the purpose of the ship, and the identity of the three eyes.
Hmm... when you get a chance, just try accessing anything you can on the Eye. Just on the front page of The Influence, I can see a lot of buttons leading to its different chapters and all our comments, GM's homepage, information, stories, blogs, and I can see more buttons leading to a list of groups, stories, and information from Fimfiction in general, and I can see buttons at the top that let me search the Internet and hold all my open webpages. Can you see something like that? And can you even type in the Eye?
Here are the links:
Web browser: https://www.google.com/
GM's stories: https://www.fimfiction.net/user/275276/GMBlackjack/stories
Forum: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212717/influencing-the-influence
Twilight, here is some battle music if you need to have some epic fight music.
also, I have said that a few times I have been making a world in which you are half-pony, half-phoenix, well I have found an impressive image on what you look like fully powered up in your true state. As well as an image of your father from that universe.
orig06.deviantart.net/c85d/f/2014/118/a/c/twilight_sparkle_fire_version_by_sourkandy-d7gaytx.png
pre03.deviantart.net/b0f2/th/pre/i/2005/352/2/4/the_silver_phoenix_by_banjo_fellabfba.png
this is just a random pic, but this is what that full space view of your planet looks like. right?orig07.deviantart.net/0a5b/f/2010/219/4/6/planet_haroeris_by_pumo_torbernite.jpg
try leading that thing away from the town, other than that I can't think of something that could help you deal with that thing, maybe crush it with a boulder?
Heyo, Candle again! I'm typing this to let you know that Creek'll be back soon, We're just talking to her now!
*CLICK* -FULL OF DAF! I don't care what you say, you need to go REEDING talk to her!
Uh huh, that's interesting Key, well said. But counter argument, why don't you go talk to her since you like her more. I'm just here to make sure actual work gets done.
I'd reeding make her cry and you know that!
I could always go.
NOT NOW CANDLE!
Not now Candle.
Eh
I don't know WHY you've been put in charge but- *CLICK*
Yep, totally working on getting her back! Don't you worry everyone, you'll have her back soon. I mean, I could always go and get her file from HR and tell you all what happened, since I hear this is about her past. It wouldn't take long either, and then you can have your second favourite operator back and we'll all move on. So since I'm reading the chat while the boys argue, what do you think?
8401341 no, just no... if anyones going to tell us what happed it needs to be from creek
8401357
Fine! XD That's okay, I can just wait, not a lot is happening anyway ever since my actual boss went missing. And Mrs. K has been hiring some new guy, but it'll take forever to get somebody good I'd think. The hiring process is a long and complex thing after all! Well, if anything interesting happens, you'll be the first to know! OH, actually, I have a question, are you a real wizard? Like the lightning from the hands type? Or maybe hooves? I have a bet going with my friend about if magic is actually real, and I want to know first hand from a real wizard.
8401417
Unfortunately, there are no wizards here of any kind. Magic itself either doesn't exist or there are no ways to use it.
8401417 no i'm not a real wizard; i just chose that user-name because I like the idea of wizards and magic general, and it's hands not hooves just to be clear
8401425
Spoilsport :)
8401447
Sounds good, thank you!
Wait a minute...
Isn't Diorite a dragon? And this here is a crystal golem? I know dragons eat gems, but can they eat crystals, too? This must be tested.
now that i think about it i can find two ways to take down a crystal entity, as already mentioned a dragon might work or since this is crystal we are talking about you might be able to use its resonance frequency and cause it to shatter from a distance.
Using the resonance frequency of the crystal would be a particularly spectacular way to bring this to an end, but identifying it would take far too long.
The key here is using your magic to manipulate other objects to damage the crystal. What come most readily to mind for me is opening up the ground beneath it and crushing it before it can activate its means of flight. That's not the only possibility, of course—if you can still use your magic to analyze it, for example, you can potentially identify its weaknesses inherent to the nature of a crystalline structure, and use an indirect application of force to split it into pieces.
Other than the fight at hand (read: come back to this after the fight), that room in the satellite looks very interesting to me. I believe I mentioned my alternate interpretation of the prophecy in the dump before last? One of the ideas I was considering, in light of the seriously fucked grammar of the second paragraph of the prophecy, was that it was referring to three separate individuals. It is possible (though, I readily admit, not necessarily the case) that the colored eyes in the satellite support that—the purple was connected to you, the pink to orchid, and the red to another. I also think it's important to note that the eye is red, much like the other one you've seen. This could mean that the third individual is the Overseer, or (if they aren't the same person) the one who visited you in your dreams.
oh and see if mite knows how too fix four and the other fosis machines, it might prove useful in circumstances such as these and who says finding resonance will take awhile, they have magic, twilight might know a spell for that or given how little i know about it, mite might have a way to find it faster
I suppose I'm a bit late to the party, eh? Oh, introductions. Right. I'll go by either Criterian or Scoddri. Anyways, at this point in time, I would recommend getting the crystal golem out of your way as fast as possible. All of its Luck should be gone, so its anti-magic could fail. Also, since crystals are good as gems, Diorite might end up with a snack. Best of luck, Twilence.
8403427
Welcome, Criterian! I wouldn't recommend going by Scoddri, since there's already someone named that on this site. We have a forum you can join where we discuss various things relating to The Influence, if you'd like.
8403446
K.
8402894
You Do Realize that Four won’t let Mite anywhere near him? My suggestion is to have Mite make some sort of repair station or device that either Twilight or Vriska can use to fix him remotely.
[COMPILING...]