Princess Twilight Sparkle awakens swiftly, lying on her side in a metal box. It takes her only half a second to remember what the box is- Zeus had called it a ‘medical na-no-vat’. The pain from the magic surge is completely gone, and a quick glance at her side informs her that she’s no longer full of holes. More interesting, perhaps, is that her horn is tingling- the way it usually does when she uses up all of her power in a single spell. Not that she does that very often. The most interesting part of that is that she’s fully charged… More than that, actually- she’s got about twice as much power floating around in her horn than she normally does, even when she tops off. As she stands up and hops out of the box, the top having slid off while she analyzed her situation, she remembers what had happened.
Right. She’d scanned that capsule. Must be where the extra power came from- but why the tingle? She hadn’t been anywhere close to that when she stepped into the vat! Perhaps-
Twilight freezes, and performs a double-take at her own glossy coat. “Oh, is that what they did?”
“Negative,” she hears Zeus say. “Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash both used the seats in Passenger Seven, as you did; unlike yourself, they also stayed long enough, after medical repairs, for the deep cleaning. Such cleaning is a luxury service from those seats, but sanitation is standard procedure in the Medbay.”
“Uhh…?”
Sigh. “The cleaning- and thence glossy coat- is the last thing those seats do. You left before they got to it, but after everything important was done. Here in the medbay, cleaning and sanitation is one of the first things done, after emergency services- meaning you really had no choice but to get the ‘glossy coat treatment’ here. Don’t worry- Rarity stopped by earlier, for her own little cleaning.”
Twilight stands stone still for about a second, then brushes a hoof dramatically across her forehead, just below her horn. “Whew.” She repeats her search of the room, finding nopony- but there’s a lavender box on the floor right in front of her. “Where is everypony?”
“They left earlier; it’s now early evening. If you would like, that box is a gift, from me to you.”
Twilight looks at it, hoisting it into the air and popping it open with her magic. Next, she stares at it for a second. “What…?”
“That’s a comset, engineered to blend in with your coat. At this point, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Princesses Celestia and Luna each have one.”
The instruction passes quickly.
“So, once on, twice off, thrice to talk to somepony other than you? Won’t the first two be triggered before the third?”
“Negative. The system is adaptive, and will adjust over time to your particular patterns, for better interpretation. Neither of the first two functions will activate without sufficient delay to ensure it is not an invocation of the third. At any time, if an interpretation is found to be inaccurate, such is corrected immediately- and no, taps made by anypony- or anything- else are completely ignored.”
“What if I’m wearing shoes or something?”
“Depends. Some footwear may impede the signal too much for recognition; if ever you’re unsure, you can touch it- while wearing the footwear in question- and ask me.”
“So, I can now talk to my friends anywhere I go?” She had put them on while he spoke.
“To anypony with a comset, yes.”
“Woah. Only one ear… The comset, no?”
“Yes. Nopony else will be able to hear me when I speak to you through it.”
Of all ponies, Twilight is the one to have trouble with this. “Why wouldn’t they, though?”
It’s almost a sigh. “The way sound works. Since it rests inside your ear, it takes a very, very low volume for you to hear. This same volume is too low for anypony else to hear- though they might catch a mumble if they were to press their ear to yours.”
“You’re sure he’s in there?” Applejack asks. “Seems mighty close to that hole to me.” She indicates the wide open accessway into the Everfree alongside this hill.
Fluttershy looks over towards the woods, as if only just realizing this. “Um, yes. Twilight is…” Her head tilts slightly, her eyes unfocusing for a second. The next second, she draws in a breath while her face shows both relief and excitement. “She’s okay?” she asks the rock in front of her- and, after another second of standing still, darts into the cave.
A fairly confused Applejack canters after her. She would gallop, but it hurts too much to do that right now; besides, it’s not like this cave has any forks in it, nor like a single pony with weird magic spells will be hard to find.
Unfortunately for her, her normally slow friend is long gone when she reaches the end of the tunnel- the odd metal doorway that slid open when she walked up, letting her into a large room… With no pegasi, two other doors, and a voice in the air.
“Good evening,” it greets.
“Uh, good evenin’, wherever you are,” she replies, ears and eyes alike questing for the stallion.
“I’m afraid you won’t find me there, as a pony,” he replies. “I’m Fluttershy’s not-a-pony somebolo.”
“Somebolo?”
“Yes, I am a Bolo.”
“Do you have a name?”
“I am called ‘Zeus’.”
“So… Those percentages you gave Fluttershy. What’s the last half a percent?”
“Permanent injury. Fear not, she has made a complete recovery.”
“Nice to hear… Where-” She pauses, considering. “You know anything about all these pains we been getting?”
“Yes.”
Her question has made me think. I gave the affirmative immediately; sonar is enough to detect some large tumors in her body. Past that, I correlated all my medical records to identify a trend.
Interesting. Daring Do was essentially healthy, except for immediate injuries- broken bones and cut flesh, past and present. My Commander had some developing health problems, and all of her friends- including Applejack- had major health problems, including at least one cancer. In fact, each one I look at seems worse than the one before. What’s going on?
One simulation comes up to a 97.41% match to the developments I’ve seen. My exposed drone bay hatches slam open, spitting out twenty stealthed drones for Everfree overflights. I contact Rainbow, and request to see at least one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders for confirmation.
That night, as Fluttershy settles down in her bed, in Twilight’s castle, she taps her bracelet three times. Now she knows Twilight is okay, the mind function isn’t nearly so frightening- and it’s been a long day. Besides, she has this bad feeling she can’t figure out.
It is still unsettling when it comes on. She blinks once or twice as her mind adjusts to the pace- and she begins processing her memories of the day, trying to locate the cause of her bad feeling. One advantage it offers is its perfect recall- once it hears about something, unless she tells it to forget, it remembers it clearly, forever. While this could be somewhat creepy, she knows her memories are hers alone, even with it- and it’s incredibly useful for her processing tasks.
For example, once she finishes sifting through her memories of the day, it has no qualms with cataloging them, marking exactly what happened when with who. Interesting, she notices Pinkie seems to have disappeared after the rumble in the ground? Further analysis allows her to pick out some background details she hadn’t noticed before. Sugarcube Corner had closed early too, right about that same time.
Another detail she notices. Her headset-provided self-health sense is giving her a different reading from earlier: She’s no longer in perfect health. Rather, she’s somewhat far from it. As an extra bonus, all of the little keep-her-healthy ‘nanites’ that had been in her body are all spent; she’s getting these readings from the more passive stopgapper nanites… None of which are doing anything right now, but they do report the neutralization of a single cancerous tumor following the rest of her nanites’ exhaustion this evening.
So she reaches out to Twilight’s ‘nanites’. Different story; Twilight’s stay-healthy nanites are still present, though in a vastly reduced quantity from earlier. Huh. After a minute’s consideration, she reaches out to Rainbow’s… Alas, she’s out of range for nanite communication. However, her comset is more than willing to relay the signal to her. She catches hardly a glimpse of Rainbow’s nanite situation- no stay-healthies, stopgappers haven’t done anything just yet- before she feels something using the very same function on everypony’s communicators, including her own, to pull nanite data. She allows it; this something had instantly been identified as Zeus. As soon as this happens, he requests a communication channel to her- and, after a moment’s consideration, she accepts it.
In that tiny moment, so short even her accelerated mind failed to perceive it, Zeus had correlated all of the current nanite data with his previously collected medical data. He’s also pulled the records from the nanites, correlating those as well. All in all, he has come to a startling conclusion, which he drops into her set as soon as the channel is opened, alongside much of the supporting information.
Fluttershy spends almost half a second just understanding his conclusions and where they came from. When she airs her observations about Pinkie Pie and the bakery, Zeus produces a certainty- 98.85%- that whatever has been inflicting injuries on them whenever any were healed has included Pinkie too, resulting in her debilitation. He follows with another massive chunk of data.
Almost three seconds are taken in understanding this information. He’s correlated all of these medical observations with where each pony had been at the time of any given event, his own defensive barrier activities, and so on. It seems that, whenever one pony was healed, no matter where, the un-health was instantly reproduced, spread across everypony else… But only the ponies that were outside his magic shields, and the damage done by the free magic flowing into Twilight didn’t count. The pattern he’s discovered suggests that only the six Elements are involved in this- and that the total amount of medical damage is gradually increasing- which will, eventually, lead to everypony’s death. He’s run some simulations; theoretically, if they get all six inside his shields, he can restore them all to perfect health and keep them that way. However, a single step outside of the barrier then would likely result in some kind of medical disaster, possibly including death, until the cause can be traced and eliminated.
Once she finishes processing this, she practically- no, literally- flies out of her bed, racing for Sugarcube Corner. In the process, she reaches out to all four communicator-equipped friends- thank Celestia none have taken them off just yet- to call their attention to the situation. Her own neural link- she still doesn’t understand that completely- makes it easy for her to alert them all individually. Zeus helps her out, somehow guessing at what each pony knows already or can deduce on their own- and using these guesses to determine, with amazing accuracy, how best to get each pony into motion. Not that anypony needs any more than her voice making the request.
In any case, Rainbow reaches the bakery first. The Cakes are still awake, and inform her that Pinkie had been taken to the hospital some hours earlier- a timeframe Zeus notes places her collapse at right about the middle of Applejack’s repairs. Fluttershy relays this information to everypony, and reaches the hospital doors at the same time as both Twilight and Rainbow. Rarity can be seen galloping closer as they rush inside, but Applejack is still outside the town limits.
The receptionist is more than willing to tell them where Pinkie is, and summon the doctor for them to speak to. When Twilight asks why they hadn’t heard of it earlier, the kind receptionist flips through some pages for a few seconds before she facehooves; apparently, Pinkie had come in right on a shift change, and this notification had been overlooked in the resulting confusion. The five friends trot up to Pinkie’s room to check on their comless friend while they wait for the doctor.
When they enter the room, they do so to find a nurse doing a quick checkup- and stand out of her way for the few seconds she requires to finish. She informs them nothing has changed in the last two hours, before telling them what she knows of Pinkie’s situation- and total paralysis.
Zeus refuses to stop picking additional information out of everything- from the color of Pinkie’s fur (which, apparently, is slightly off) to the tone of the nurse’s voice- and indicates to Fluttershy that, if Twilight touches Pinkie for a few seconds, he can transfer enough medical nanites to formulate his own, more complete diagnosis. Furthermore, those same nanites should be enough to furnish some repairs- including, on a 83.71% chance, at least some of her paralysis. He does note that she and Rainbow could expect to experience some pain from the rebound, but Pinkie should be able to talk and, most likely, move.
Fluttershy tells Twilight about this through the communicators, without moving her own mouth. They make eye contact briefly, before Twilight rests a hoof on Pinkie’s. When she does so, she uses such words that everypony else steps forwards to join in, using their touch to be there for their friend.
Ten seconds later, everypony is simply smiling at their friend, all hooves connected, when Fluttershy catches her breath. Pinkie’s diagnosis has come through- and does not look pretty.
About as pretty as Zeus had predicted, as a matter of fact. Thirty-seven different kinds of cancer, three different heart diseases, six ruptured disks in her spine, eighty-nine disintegrating bones, an inhibited immune system, low red blood count… The list goes on- and Fluttershy grasps that just a few of these problems could easily kill their friend. All put together, only Pinkie could survive- and that only for as long as her ‘magic gland’ remains intact- it’s caught between two tumors right now. Zeus transfers not only regular medical nanites but also stopgap nanites, using the former to disintegrate the tumors in her heart and the latter to restore function to her nervous system, allowing her to move once again. The doctor walks into the room in time for Pinkie to do what only Pinkie can do- and spring out of the bed with total disregard for her ailments.
One hour later, Pinkie has been officially discharged from the hospital, and everypony- with Zeus’ able help- has convinced Pinkie to come with them to his hill. Pinkie, of course, draws attention to Fluttershy’s oddly instantaneous response times; the other four are already wondering what is going on. She has used the coms to deliver information silently while in the presence of others, but is now speaking, rather than using the coms, as they approach the cave. A fourth one, as a matter of fact, that opens as she approaches it. When everypony else asks why this one, Zeus responds through the coms- and Fluttershy matches his words perfectly, for Pinkie’s benefit.
“Because there’s monsters in the other three.”
They end up cantering down the tunnel, passing through the door- into Passenger Four- only twenty meters in front of another monster. Only, Fluttershy is the last one through- and her hoof refuses to cross the threshhold. First, it’s one of her hind hooves, but when she turns around to push away any invisible claws, it comes right across as soon as her forehoof crosses the threshhold. The monster is only ten meters away when Zeus solves the problem, flexing his antimagic screen inwards, allowing her to pull her hoof in… Then closing the door in front of her and returning the screen to its original position, forcing her hoof through the barrier. She is then able to pull away from the door with ease, to join the others in the passenger bay.
Pinkie, who had been about to rush outside to buck the monster and push her friend in, stops as Fluttershy pulls in, and asks the obvious question. Fluttershy had shown a mild irritation at her hoof sticking, but absolutely no fear as the monster approached- or the door closed in front of her, her hoof sticking to it momentarily.
Fluttershy’s answer involves no hesitation, despite her attempt to shrink away from the question. “I knew what was going to happen,” she answers softly.
In the meantime, Fluttershy had realized she’s the only one to have experienced the neural link thing just yet, and asked Zeus about it. As is his way, he answered her almost before she finished asking, even at her accelerated speeds; she disagrees with his reasoning, though. Why not give it to all of them? It should vastly simplify communication next time they get into an emergency situation! Halfway through her muttered response to Pinkie’s inquiry, she had asked him if there was something they could use for the purpose before he gets it installed in their coms. The answer comes back instantly- yes, the seats have neural headsets built into their headrests. He cautions her that they are more powerful than one he can pack into a comset, but notes they’re not as powerful as the one on his command deck. She elects to stay here, with her friends, rather than taking his offer to the command deck.
“So, what now?” Rainbow asks.
Zeus answers this question. “Take a seat. The headrests are capable of enabling direct communication with your minds, far faster than the eyes or ears. With this system, called a ‘neural link’, we should be able to trace- and solve- the problem far faster than without.”
“Uh, what?”
“The headrests in the seats double as ‘neural link headsets’, allowing a ‘neural link’ to be employed through them. This link will, while active, accelerate the pony’s thoughts and connect them to me- and each other. With this, we can put our minds and knowledge together- yours as well as mine- and identify our enemy far faster and easier. Additionally, the seats themselves can provide any and all desired healing.”
Pinkie leaps into the air, landing in one of the seats with a solid thump. “Sounds good!”
Five minutes later, Everypony is seated in the front row, and Fluttershy’s comset link releases just in time for all six headrests to activate simultaneously.
I am loving this story. Are the Elements evil??
Keep up the incredible work!
8702820
My guess would be more that something's affecting the Six through the Element link. Either malicious, or accidental.
It could even be something along the lines of a previously beneficial magical mechanism gone astray. For example, a magical link set up so that any physical injury done to one Bearer is magically dispersed amongst all of them to mitigate it and speed healing times. Which would have been a good thing before there were hospitals - presumably any magical healing effects might have been networked the same way. But if Zeus's nanobots are effectively performing nonmagical surgery via a million microscopic cuts, even if the intent is to repair and heal, the magical medical effect could be spreading that damage to the other Bearers in ways which cause cancer (amongst other things). That would then activate any nanobots the recipients carried, which would try and repair them using the same method, accelerating the problem. The only way to fix it would be to deactivate the injury-sharing spell/enchantment or to use pure magic to heal the Bearers.
8702893
Hmm... I like that benevolent gone wrong idea... But there's a few pieces of the puzzle that don't make sense with a medical benevolence like that. Zeus' antimagic barrier would block it entirely, first... As indicated by how anypony inside the shield couldn't get hurt, but the ones outside were hurt as the ones inside were healed. On top of that, what's with these monsters and their attempts at saturation...? How did that first one know the moment Rainbow had another exit route opened, back in Chap. 12, Sonic Departure? That's not even counting how Fluttershy- as the last one in- couldn't pull her hoof through Zeus' antimagic barrier until he forced it.
8702820
Mm, the Elements themselves are not evil, no... If they were, the Element of Magic would not have attempted to protect Twilight when she scanned that capsule of power in Chap. 14, Fusion Repair.
But you're both on the right track- and thanks for the ideas!
Notes/Reasoning:
That is a very weird effect. Unless handled very carefully, on observation, that spell causes an immersion break.
Not to mention that his shielding only stops magic passing in and out, not magic inside (We know that still works (several times, most recently Twilight's quick heal), unless he plans to activate that blocker too while healing them. I imagine he does, actually, but if he DOESN'T and the healing DOES work, there's another plot hole (since any sane evil genius would make the spells on each communicate directly with the other 5, not a central controller. That controller is the only thing that Zeus' shields could otherwise block if they are all inside, and they didn't even do that the other few times!). Also, since I state below that the spell is likely on their persons, not being casted from somewhere, it makes the sudden success of this plan even less probable). Also, how is his shield supposed to help anyway, since it was on earlier and the transfer still occurred? That was across the shield, too, which should be harder.
Specifically, it is the first thing here really definable as magic magic (and thus immersion-breaking, since even Discord is somewhat explainable – and he's also the only one shown to actually use magic that would be capable of this – though it’s probably NOT him...).
I don't know the exact thing this spell is doing, but it's transferring either the general type of illness or that exact illness (do the tumors reappear in the others in the same location they were when removed? That would be interesting to know just as background, and could make it even more complicated), which requires some sort of action-at-a-distance to cause a subtle AND needlessly complex effect (TLDR: Illnesses are very complicated, and making the end result of one appear out of nowhere is something only seen in books with the very squishiest of soft magic. Worse, it implies someone is showing off and toying with them, since many simpler, smaller effects could do this BETTER).
This sort of remote intelligence and illness transfer is thus somewhat unusual for the setting (the main magic we see is telekinesis of some form (almost all magic can be broken down into something like telekinesis, though sometimes it requires really fine control or even moving around subatomic particles at absurd rates [transmutation, conversion to stone...]). TK even applies when moving the sun, just on a far larger scale).
Causing tumors (fully grown, not genetic damage that would eventually spawn one)? Overkill. It's causing an effect functionally identical to the end result of a number of chronic (read: requires time and a lot of complicated stuff to happen) conditions, and doing so all at once.
Take a heart condition: It would have to form plaque in the arteries, harden them, which requires widespread scarring and replacement of tissue with certain fats, weaken muscles (the LEAST you could get away with for this type of condition -- and there are around fifty different things listed as being wrong with them -- is an aneurism/weakened ventricle, and even that requires removing muscle or forcefully distending tissues CURRENTLY IN USE when the SLIGHTEST MISTAKE WOULD KILL THEM ANYWAY only to cause an eventually fatal condition JUST TO KILL THEM LATER (but purposely NOT now, and it’s designed to get worse over time!!)... That ignores where the extra mass comes from or where it goes, or the available materials (again, disposal of liquefied artery walls/tissue/muscle and the source of the fats/materials for the scar tissue. It may even need to make fake damaged cells to make up the scar tissue, etc). (You'd need Star Trek Replicator-level manipulation to transmute matter for best results, and do this really slowly so the bits of crap you wash out won't cause a blood clot and kill them instantly(which is, again, far easier)).
To sum up, it is a very much needlessly complex effect that would likely not be possible for anyone but the very strongest (and smartest) beings on that world, and surely none of them would use such a complex, slow method of killing someone when they clearly have more than enough control to do something far simpler and subtle (blood clot, brain tumor ONLY, etc). I thus complain, since it's rather ridiculous, BUUUUTTT it could fit into a defense mechanism on some sort of "things ponykind was not meant to use" device (and at this rate, likely made by someone FAR better at whatever magic really is, long enough ago that no one remembers this “feature”)...
It would also have to be incredibly close to them for this to work, though not all parts have to be; just the payload.
Thus, my conclusion: Since the magic we have seen so far does not seem to support this*, there must be some sort of spell, curse, or artifact in working range (read: is close enough for semi-reasonable energy cost and the accuracy to not directly kill them) of the six that can read their medical status and cause the effect. (by which I mean there can't be a necromancer hiding in a tower in the Badlands causing this personally; the immediate cause must be nearby, probably on their persons or is linked to them with some sort of obvious connection, and likely is some sort of spell or device with onboard processing or logic (it is making decisions about when to advance/re-establish the conditions, and a person is not that attentive.))
*(Even in Eragon, which has that sort of soft magic (and actually discusses this sort of thing!), magic can only be done close by, and gets exponentially harder with distance – as does Equestrian magic. Even there, though, it is really hard to use some sort of really complex magical murder weapon; again, blood clots in the brain are standard, unless in a wizard's duel, and that’s not for lack of trying)
Now for my actual idea of what happened. MASSIVE spoilers that likely cover what the author is planning, simply by sheer range of guessing at all likely causes and their results (Unless the AN can be indeed taken to mean he wanted suggestions, as I suspect, in which case spoilers will then be nearly guaranteed):
Spell/Curse: Some sort of self-sustaining enchantment placed on their persons (someone must have been nearby to put it there) that has some sort of communications device (I imagine it's not a radio link, or that would have been noticed. Whatever it is that magic uses to communicate over distances, maybe quantum (It's a great catch-all)) to talk to the spells on the others and compensate for any health improvements.
Probably not in a fixed (but nearby) location, though, since it works instantly and does not care where the members are, even over a wide area that I doubt the designer fully seeded with repeaters (the bolo site, for instance).
Artifact (More likely, since I imagine the physical state would help with spell cohesion and power): The Elements (my best guess for an artifact that they are always near with a connection to only them) have a protection scheme to prevent anyone from holding them too long and becoming corrupt (or were hacked). Alternately, Twilight’s Castle, but that was created by the elements anyway. Also would probably get the rest of the town, and they are not always near it. I will also note that the Tree of Harmony is IN THE EVERFREE, and monsters there have been acting weird. This is likely either a side effect of whatever also corrupted the tree (updated plunder vines, mutated and (hopefully) unknown to Discord (Stoning would be too good for him if he let this one go)?), or the tree is in control of them.
This is also pointed to by Discord’s chaos-ing seasons earlier. He is arguably the most powerful being, save for mana-juiced Tirek, and would not personally do this (even pre-reformation), since it’s not chaotic and he does not kill (not to mention, Tirek was either planned by him so they COULD open the box (I actually suspect this) or he regretted it). Thus, the only thing more powerful, and arguably dangerous (see enstoning/banishing followed by inevitable opening of sealed-evil-in-a-can – in ALL cases so far!) are the Elements or the Tree of Harmony (Depends on whether you had Twilight absorb four alicorn’s powers (canon) or grab the Elements back during that fight (I don't know, actually, if they did this too. Maybe it's canon...)
).
I have several guesses as to how this might work (some of which are mutually-exclusive):
*(maybe whoever made it had some sort of extra requirement beyond the keys? See the usage of this in The Great Alicorn Hunt (a really good story on its own, something of my inspiration, and most importantly, discusses that box and similar devices that resemble it, and even some of its fail-safes, though none like this)
So, depending how you want to do this, it looks like the Elements of Harm-ony are secretly a type of toxic phlebotinum! Either someone has tampered with them or the Tree, or they are not as benevolent as they seem (and that’s not that much, on reflection).
We know that Twilight, and thus the other Bearers, still have the connection to the Elements, since it saved her from the raw magic in the previous chapter. My guess why it didn’t kill her then is because it wanted the magic, and it didn’t expect her to live even with what it siphoned off OR see*. The connection with the Elements means that there is some interface spell still active (read: the exact sort of device I hypothesize to be the vector of the diseases) which is either now hacked or damaged/corrupted*.
*(It is also possible that the Elements are home to a Trojan Horse (unintentional, and unwanted, pun) style of virus that does not affect their behavior but causes them to damage their Bearers; see what happened to the male Aes Sedai in Jordan’s Wheel of Time; the powers' source is tainted/not safe for non-alicorns and their connection/frequent usage is killing them, despite its otherwise normal behavior), although I am still not sure it isn't the elements themselves trying to kill off the Bearers for some reason). This only debates exactly where the infection is from; I still think it's something to do with the Elements.
Solutions:
Unbinding: (Cons: Weakens them too much). Now they’ll have reduced power since the Elements are unusable/unsafe/destroyed (both from the tainting –whether or not it can be fixed-- and however they had to be removed) and there's sure to be some sort of trouble coming (again, likely whoever did this). This option has the bolo doing a lot more (since the Elements are now unavailable), but that invites Mary-Sue-ing if overused. (Has to single-cannonedly defeat all the enemies for the foreseeable future, rather than make friends, explore, etc. This is also likely to drastically change the feel of the story, since right now it's still fairly close to canon and lighthearted. (Except for the hill-sized tank with MANY plasma cannons, and the aforementioned illnesses.)
The other option is that they get Zeus to give them a little genetic uplift (dare I say ascension) via nanite and turn them into the one creature that can stand the Element's magic?... (Cons: OP, seemingly sudden, though I don't really see a better way, invites serial escalation, might break immersion MORE than a giant metal death machine in the sugar bowl.)
I like the alicorning idea, but it's a teeny bit OP (then again, Bolo...) for this early in the story. Of course, it might actually even the playing field, since someone just nearly took out the Bearers. (Even if that was simply the elements acting on their own, which isn't certain.) It does, however, counter their weakening with the unbinding of the Elements, which would otherwise still be needed for long-term safety, and which are now unbound and unsafe at best.
(Note: In that case, they’ll be wondering if they still have the talents that made them who they are, since that matched up so much with their Elements. You’ll need to write and handle that breakdown at some point, no matter what. Making them the alicorns of __ would actually go some way to solving this.)
Also paves the way for the "Make everyone immortal" plan (Could do so now, or the Bolo might need more of some sort of special element* that is present only in alicorns to give them full power (Ooh, fetch quest! (Again, see The Great Alicorn Hunt)) or convert anyone else yet(Though that won't be too late for Applejack's grandmother (etc), I hope)). Also allows fine control of power levels, since new alicorns are weaker (seemingly canon) for some years yet / need to learn to use their stronger powers since they are unused to them (possible humor; I can see all sort of silly magical accidents or hidden depths from this) / have special alicorn-only magic (channeling rather than mana-pool? Thank Denuo Fortuna for the idea, which I shamelessly steal: Alicorns channel mana to power their massive spellworkings; Twilight only has a mana pool since she's still using it/unaware of channeling, and it would have deteriorated eventually anyway. The changeover will leave her magicless for several months (and his overpowered heal has triggered this, if access to the magic sources of four alicorns didn’t) unless Zeus supplies her with another mana battery (allowing for a magic limit and a way to break it at a plot-critical time, another potentially interesting idea), and the others will start off with little control over this as well. With those limiters, you could actually alicornicate (ahem, whoops. Seriously, what do you call that without sounding naughty?) everyone AND keep power levels sane enough for long enough that the story is meaningful, while making sure that everyone knows their favorite character(s) will no longer outlive all their friends and family. This also ensures no more yearly eldritch shenanigans happen once everyone ages into their full powers (Not really, but the cleanup is a heck of a lot easier).
(Since stories live forever, why not the characters too...)
*Chemical element, obviously.
Edit: Fixing typos...
This really gives me questions, since the barrier should have stopped the illness from noticing that the person inside the shields was being healed. I'd understand if it updated once they left, but not in real-time. Something would have to pass across the shield for it to know, and it's supposed to block that. Also, they can use magic inside the shield, so whatever causes this should only get worse if they are all in one place (Or is that why it still happened? The communication protocol can pass the AM shield, and meanwhile the health-reader spell for the curse to update was still active since they can use magic inside, but there was no influencing ability?). I mention this in my main wall of text, but I want to focus on this part in case it's missed.
I think I gave a bit of a rant impression earlier, but this complicated spell seems like someone is showing off, if it is even possible with the sort of magic available. You'd almost need chaos magic or a miniature, corrupt version of Starswirl's last spell (the polymorph is quite similar to what would be needed for making diseases out of whole cloth, though on a larger scale), so it seems both very harsh and needlessly risky since it's not supposed to kill them instantly (which any screwups in a remotely reality-based local polymorph would do, especially near the heart or brain) and is also far too noticeable for any good assassination spell. And, if it's not, I have no idea what the designer was thinking.
I claim reality-based since most magic is conceivable with nanites or tractor beams, and there's a Bolo. Physics has to apply just a little.
I have also been wondering. I can guess maybe the thing that is making the elements harm them (if it is truly them, I suppose. I don't know who could piggyback a harming spell on them, but I have no guesses as to what else it might be) (but otherwise act normally; the spell version of a trojan) is also controlling the Everfree, but not being able to get inside the shield makes no sense to me.
Also, how did she get loose from having her hoof caught? Did Zeus move/drop the shield, or did it release on its own after she turned around?
I thus claim that the problem is incidental to the Element's "personality." Their normal functions remain, either from their subterfuge or because the spell can't affect them, but there's a second system running on those bonds that causes this issue. Or, again, maybe they were not safe for normal ponies to wear.
8703274
Mmm, ideas... Thank you! It so happens you haven't hit upon exactly what I'm planning for our enemy, even though I'll probably use some of those ideas in its development. Not to mention the rest of the world- Twilight's stockpile-vs-channel should be an interesting plot point, up to and including what Zeus thinks of it. And what happens when he inevitably tries to channel himself, to exceed his own production & pooling capacity?
8703924
Warmer, warmer.
As per how Fluttershy got in, Zeus moved the shield, closed the door, and moved it back. When the shield passed through the (closed) door, something had to give- and the door was stronger than whatever was holding her hoof. Once its grip was broken completely, she could proceed away from the barrier without issue.
Sorry I'm being so vague- I'm somewhat reluctant to make spoilers... So, behind-the-scenes may-not-appear-for-several-chapters, major spoiler alert:
In my mind, this attack is something trying to possess them, using the Tree of Harmony as a channel. The illness- as a physical manifestation of his presence- gets worse as he grows stronger. Whenever Zeus heals them, he is forced out- whatever parts being returned back to his main self, in the Tree of Harmony. He can't spread back in, as Zeus' barriers will still intercept his invasion, even though the Mane Six' links to the Elements are unhindered; he was forced to spread into the others, to continue feeding on their power. When everypony entered the barrier, his invasion took on some sort of telekinetic form to prevent the last target from disappearing- but Zeus' magic shield was powerful enough to shatter that, when he used the door to prevent it from simply pulling her out. He never lowered the barrier; doing so even for a microsecond would have negated the effect of their entering his hull, allowing our enemy to establish a foothold- or, possibly, invade Zeus himself.
So, as he heals them up, our opponent is forcibly concentrated into the Tree of Harmony... which might cause some wild side effects, at least until he can be purged.
8704185
Okay. It still seems a bit fuzzy in terms of what is actually possible with magic, but that is called artistic license. I don't write stories, so I'll quit picking on those who can.
Sounds like an interesting idea, certainly.
8704454
You're welcome to pick at it- after all, if it lacks immersion, what good is the story? Besides, the 'picking'- which I call 'constructive criticism'- is very helpful. If ever I get too bad, I can always rewrite a chapter.
I've reasoned that, given enough power, Equestrian magic can do just about anything. This because, aside from the normal telekinetic appearance, there also seems to be gravity manipulation- as I recall, Twilight does this during their battle for the Crystal Heart, to reach the top of the tower faster. Teleportation and time travel also seem to be in (Twilight's) repertoire- suggesting almost anything can be done. Then, I read the description on an episode about some spell that made Rarity's every whim manifest itself... Never saw it.
As such, given power and understanding, it can do anything. True, telekinesis does seem to be (by far) the easiest spell to perform.
8704484
As I had said, it wasn't impossible, just that it seemed overly complicated and tricky to do "safely".
I didn't like it since it seemed that in its current design it had no mechanism behind the effects.
And especially if it's a evil magical spell being trying to possess them, the shield should have outright killed that segment of its being (or left it under local control. See the Modhri in Timothy Zahn's Quadrail books), either when it passed through the shield or when healing it. It should not have left anything able to move itself back to the tree and then the other Bearers, even through the shield.
I see the entity as a sort of sentient program, but a computer program nonetheless. So, it consists of a spell template (ROM) and an active, executing portion (CPU state) that enables it to process what it should do (aside from its consciousness, however much it has one). (Probably, it's more like a brain, though, where the data storage, execution, and hardware are less than separated, actually.)
It thus uses the links to the Bearers to bootstrap in and start downloading its code. Problem is, crossing the shield to enter the bolo should both break the link and destabilize the part of the hive mind so far downloaded and the bootstrap segment (its metaphysical CPU gets a nice power fluctuation) on the bearer (since the shield breaks any active spell to cross it -- meaning it should already have lost a bunch of segments and its power, permanently). Also, healing the illnesses caused by it should seemingly either delete the associated downloaded program or leave it with nowhere to go until it is gradually destroyed (Kinda like function of the omega worm designed to kill Bolos, while we are on that topic), especially since the shield is supposed to keep it from getting back in in the first place (and thus should keep in any bits that are, but they shouldn't be in the first place! Aagh!). How does it remain intact enough, while having no remaining hardware on that side and no communications link due to the shield, to get back to the tree and infect the others? Again, that ignores how the part even gets into the tank in the first place.
Also, the illnesses are just that. The Bolo found nothing odd about them, other than their existence/number, and he can also find no magic (I mean when he first diagnoses them, not when he found that something has to be behind this. Anyway, that was still due to cross-referencing their health, not so much noticing that some tumor was magical or something).
So how are they caused and how do they actually host or represent the being? They seem to have no relation to the creature you want to use (this might actually explain why healing it can still leave enough of a part for it to move back out, but not how it can), and would only be detrimental, since the possessor would then look like a shoggoth if it's hosts are even still alive.
8704537
A good point. The way I have it set up right now, the possessor is actually a living being, like a ghost. Plus, Zeus' sensors aren't necessarily seeing everything that is there. I've got a plan for that- he hasn't exactly detected their links to the Elements, either.
8704554
That brings up the question of how his shield can stop it from getting back in, while forcing it out (otherwise what's the point) and how it got in in the first place. Maybe actively possessing someone lets it sneak in, and it leaves a small spell on the Bearers that transmits the rest of it out through the aether, which can't be blocked by the shield? It then either has to deal with the destruction of that uploader before it all gets out or there must be some reason it can't use it to download back while inside...
It would need three stages of its lifecycle, if it can be called that:
Raw data, as uploaded by the escape pod (NOT alive, more like a paused program state or memories or something. Needs to reach the ghostform to be re-integrated into a being.)
Active ghost form, needed to possess and manipulate magic
Active possession form, able to pass through AM shields.
Maybe any program large enough to actually launch the dataform is also detected/destroyed by the side effects of healing its corruption, or is part of the corruption itself. (Maybe any spell of this sort that can act alive has this corrupting effect as a side-effect and is thus found and destroyed too, thus it can't get back, not they Zeus should be able to know this, unless he already figured it all out?)
This means that he will be under siege by corrupted squirrels wanting to infect him AND the Bearers. I am sure it's going to try at some point, if it didn't already.
8704575
Good idea, I like that.
8705413
I have to admit that this gave me a great deal of stress, since it made no sense with its strange abilities, but I am glad I came up with some sort of pseudo-explanation. At least it removes plotholes from the smooth path of the story, and we don't need another reset scare.
Maybe the first time she healed Fluttershy (or when she entered the bolo) the abomination truly lost connection to that mind segment, so it implemented a beam-me-up function that lets most of it escape if removed. It's gotta have some reason to expect that, or maybe it's just sufficiently paranoid. I will say that trying to figure out why it can escape from the shield, but not get inside, was really tough.
This still needs explanation as to why getting them all inside the shield won't stop it from traveling 3 feet away and infesting the others, though. Its main mind would need to still be in the tree, and have no spellware of sufficient power on the Bearers yet to reassemble the escaping signal beam, I guess. Perhaps that could be shown since they aren't dead (zombies?) yet (a level of infestation sufficient to reintegrate the mind archive would require full physical integration with the host?)
I imagine that it used the anchor (I see it as a spell placed on the Bearers to communicate with the Elements/Tree) from the Bonds to corrupt them, not that its ghost form is actually mobile (ghost is not the right word, actually. More like... the Overmind; it is immobile and has some sort of bastion somewhere in the Forest.). If it were, we'd have a larger problem. I suspect that will be a future issue to deal with (a la Sombra), but it has not yet siphoned enough power. You'd need to nerf the astral possession or make it contact based if it does become mobile, though (Elements ONLY can allow this, or similar bonded artifacts. Good thing there aren't many.)
To disable re-possession while inside (via outside influence through the same spell type that let it escape), the same argument can apply. Only an active mind segment can reconstitute the rest of the signal, and once all 6 are in the tank, the main form cannot reach them again to replace the infection for good. I view this as some sort of spark of life thing. It needs a sentient mind (or the active part of the spell to reach them via direct magic) to integrate the thoughts/power that comes back to it, and it can only send data over the link once constrained via the shield. Thus, though it can reclaim the bits sent back, it has no way to place them back in the Bearers until it has direct magical influence, not just the scry-link/entanglement comms/mana-net etc.
Perfect!
Again, I can't write worth beans, but I can help with ideas.
8705473
That you most certainly can. Again, I like those ideas; at the moment, I'm having it go exclusively through the Elements. Though... Since I'm setting it up as a parasite (it did spread even from Fluttershy's first stop; she was the only one without cancers, presumably caused by rapid insertion), perhaps it already had that 'escape pod' function as a way to transfer absorbed energy back to its main body, for growth of its main form. It'd take some quick thinking to repurpose such a link for parasite probe retrieval in time for the save involved, but it could do it. By the time Rarity's far faster repairs came along, it would have perfected this- and had no problem drawing out in time.
This might even allow me to, once it separates/is separated from the Tree, re-use it at a later date, in a stronger form- after all, nopony could figure out how to fix their ailments until Zeus came along... Potentially making it a Tirek-level opponent, should it escape and attack other ponies.
8705500
That's along the lines of what I was thinking. Shame it's not some ailment that can only be fixed by alicorn-conversion (whistles innocently).
8706215
Oh don't worry, we'll find some excuse for ascension sometime. Zeus just doesn't know enough to do something like that right now.
37!!??!?!Man I knew pinkie was a tank but DAMN
Harmony is attempting to balance.
10088276
Well then Harmony can SUCK AN EGG