Oops
Far out in the plains, five ponies stand, staring at each other. It’s clear to them that their commsets are not working the way they’re supposed to, but they’re still doing something. Whatever had taken control had, after attempting to grab Twilight a few times, merged them into its control network. Once this happened, it had only taken a few milliseconds for their sentient minds to reassert control over their own bodies. As a matter of fact, with each passing second, the coldly mechanical mind controlling all of the turrets surrenders more and more control to them.
Thus, when an array of missiles come over the mountain, clearly seeking them, Rainbow instantly decides they need to take out any command post first- and spots the satellites almost before they come into view, exactly where the turrets’ AI had obediently began searching. Four bolts of light and they’re missing. They then hold fire against the missiles, hoping to have caused a disruption… Only, it seems they’re seeking targeting information from Twilight, who has been hacking their turrets- or at least, trying to. The turrets seem amazed they’re able to pretend to be overtaken like this without detection, and are busy analyzing the software packages Twilight is pushing to them. Reading patterns… It takes only a thought to fling disarray into the targeting info Twilight sends back to the missiles, as she’s using the turrets’ processors as much as her own.
Boom. Boom. Bang. Boom.
Pinkie is unimpressed as the missiles, going exactly where they wanted them to, are picked off in droves. Then, everypony realizes something important. One missile is all it takes to do heavy damage. One missile had not bothered to ask for targeting data. One missile has dodged three separate turrets. One missile is all it takes to kill somepony.
One missile is zeroing in on Twilight.
Fluttershy’s eyes widen, Rainbow’s eyebrows descend.
The air outside the dome, in front of Twilight, is instantly filled with thousands upon thousands of plasma bolts.
But this missile seems to have seen through the strategy. Mostly.
By the time it meets its end, hardly twenty meters from Twilight, the dome has been shredded by their heavy energy fire. They sense Twilight’s eyes widen as the turrets take this moment to attack her commset, and quickly gain a foothold. As a massive surge of white light flows out of the missile’s disintegration point, directly over to and into her body.
Their collective scream is heard by noone, even after it redoubles in strength upon Rainbow’s recognition of a surviving fragment of the missile.
A piece of a similar capsule to the one Twilight had scanned so long ago.
The next thing any of them know, their minds have been ripped away from the turrets, and each other, by a purple glow.
ALERT: Message from Commander: “Goodbye.” Message Analysis Complete: Farewell, no response necessary.
Full System Diagnostic in progress… Working… Done. All systems operational at 0.03% base capability. WARNING: This unit has been incapacitated.
DCC Online. Estimating time to restore Personality Center operability… 49.73 minutes.
Checking Personality Files for corruption… Done. Core files intact; Command file corrupted.
Restoring from backup… ERROR: Backups Corrupted.
Deleting corrupted personality files… Done.
Checking Personality Integrity… Acceptable.
Recovering recent memories… Done.
Pending Personality Center repairs…
Zeus had left some of his regular nanites inside each pony’s earpiece and bracelet, to allow him to operate repairs- or modifications- without taking the headsets from them. These nanites had been handy for five of the Elements’ headsets- but no such modification had been made to the Princesses’ sets. Nopony is aware of these nanites, even through their neural links, as their headsets simply don’t have the software to interface with them properly.
A Bolo’s Damage Control processors are a completely different story. This one has the programming, but not the nanites. Its nanite antennae are also severely damaged, limiting range.
Limiting being the operative key word. When Princess Luna’s earpiece landed on the floor of the command deck, this happened to place its respective nanites in range of those antennae- in particular, one of the ones attached directly to the processors in question. Microseconds later, the barely-functioning processors had snapped into legacy mode, interfaced with the nanites, and used them to relay commands to the nanites in the components still sitting on the table. Less than a second after it hit the floor, before Luna had a chance to pick it up again, there are no nanites left in it, nor in any of the pieces resting on the table.
Before the swift nanites have reached the antenna and processors to ensure continued DCC functionality, instructions are issued. As they sweep in, the antenna is patched, additional DCC processors are touched up and restored to operability.
By the time the Princesses reach the passage to the Anti-Alicorn Emitter, whose blueprints remain whole in the database, all forty nanites are sweeping down cables, striking into the Personality Center itself for a full rebuild. DCC should be able to reconstruct the entire Personality Center by disintegrating several nonfunctioning auxiliary processors for parts. Such disintegration will undoubtedly inconvenience the Personality when it comes on, but it will not inconvenience it near as much as an only partially functioning Personality Center might.
No consideration is given to restoring internal defense grid operability, nor to the sound of weapons fire wafting up that passage. It’s not Damage Control’s job to worry about security.
“How did you do that?” One Princess vocalizes, awed.
“You sent me here for a thousand years,” the other reminds, as if stating the obvious. “About two hundred years ago, the ones of these guarding that control room stopped adapting- and became boring. These follow the same algorithm those used for two hundred years. That makes them easy to dodge.”
“I’m not talking about that,” Celestia states. “I’m talking about the cupcakes.”
“Pinkie’s are better, I believe.”
Celestia raises an eyebrow, staring down the passage they’d just come down. “How, though?”
“How? Oh, it’s easy- you just…. Huh. Not so easy to describe, I guess.”
Celestia offers the passage- and the pink icing coating the walls- one last look before she indicates the next passage by trotting casually down it. At least she doesn’t have to worry about the internal defenses… Was that a pancake? With glowing blue syrup, on a green plate? … And now that gun is launching what looks like apple pies at her sister.
The next safe spot has Celestia staring back at a hallway full of lettuce.
“How?” she asks Luna.
“We’re Alicorns,” the reply comes. “We adapt. Four hundred years ago, this antialicorn thing stopped adapting. I started to find ways around it, to do some things. Very limited, though, and much of it is random. Like the whole foodmunition thing- I figured that one out just days before I used the energy of four stars to facilitate my escape. Unless we can trash this thing or put Guardian back together, I expect it’ll be another two hundred years before either of us can escape.”
Celestia looks at her. “I never could understand how Guardian works,” she mutters. “We’re going to have to smash her Anti-Alicorn emitter. Ready for the next passage?”
“You left them behind?”
“Sorry I lost them, I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
“I’m not worried about the comms, they’re replaceable. What of the Princesses?”
Princess Twilight Sparkle turns white. “Shoot! I’ll go back for them!”
“No. You’ve already burned your horn badly enough; much more and it’ll be irreparable. No, I cannot accelerate that recovery. At least the Princesses are inside the airtight dome, where they’ll be okay for as long as it takes for you to recover properly. Right?”
“Um, about that,” Rainbow mutters. “The dome kinda got shot. A lot.”
“Meaning you’ve managed to not only fail the mission but fail spectacularly. Even an Alicorn can’t survive in vacuum.”
Twilight shrinks away from the angry voice, trying to compress herself into the corner of the room. “Sorry!” Her squeaked utterance is nearly inaudible.
“Then, you only brought half ponies back home.”
“B-b-but you s-said…”
“I know what I said. Only thing is, one of those key elements is missing.”
If she were to be cast into Tartarus for a week, Twilight decides, that would be preferable to this. “M-m-miss-sing...?”
“Yes. You’ve managed to permanently incapacitate Rarity’s magic gland.”
Suddenly, Zeus is not the angriest entity in Equestria.
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8737803
You already referenced the one in the Everfree...
You have got to do the Latin pun. Sea in Latin is Mare...
Large craters/plains on the moon are prefaced with mare (since they are named as seas; Sea of Rains == Mare Imbrium, etc).
Combine that with Terry Pratchett's dog-latin Latatian, and I bet you could come up with something rather pithy.
(There's one scene in Guards Guards where the watch-house is said to have "Fabricati Diem, PVNC" over it, which Nobby swears means "To Serve And Protect")
I leave that to you since I'd rather not spend all day trying to translate the name of that crater.
Mare Crepusculum est Periculum? Eh, I'll stop there.
8737867
In comments, yes, I have mentioned Lake Don'tMessWithTwilight... Not in the story proper.
As for crater names... I think I'll stick with plain old Equestrian- or, as some call it, English. I've also seen it called Eoch.
8737922
I am reading that too, actually. I suspect that you should go through my favorites list. I have not sorted it into "Crowning jewels of epic-ness" and "Stories that I rather enjoyed" yet, but I think that there are a few you might find rather interesting, and maybe good for some ideas too.
8738023
Mmm, potentially, yes.
Okay, the whole cupcake cannon idea is fun. Seems more like something Discord would do; I look forward to that being pointed out to a sputtering Luna.
Good to see Guardian recovering. That was sooner than I had expected, but it makes sense as the comms with the nanites wouldn't be there forever, just until everyone gets home again. (Side note: How the heck did a bolo get abandoned on the moon?!)
The rest of it? At a chapter end? YOU ARE AN EVIL PERSON. Especially Rarity's little injury. I am guessing the Alicorn plot gets a step up, or they get used to canned magic (Now with 100% more preservatives, and made with real magic!) for quite a while. How is it really irreparable, though? He has medical nanites that can fix everything, and he analyzed the organ in question well enough to make something like it for his reactors.
Hm. Why do I suspect that its destruction might trigger whatever process Twilight is undergoing, and they get a new princess that way?...
8738053
Ideas... XD
I'm guessing that 'evil person' part is about the cliffhanger? Sorry... I'm feeling the need to familiarize myself with another canon character for the next chapter.
As per how Guardian got abandoned on the moon... She wasn't abandoned there- she crashed there... Or something. Similar to how Zeus got to Equestria (which is an asofyet unmentioned noodle incident), but somewhat more violent.
OMNI:Oh right rarity isn't a backround pony.
POWER:I could fix it...
OMNI:SHUT UP!(Looks at author)Should I send your infinity stones to your planet?
8738701
Mmm, no, I don't think that will be necessary. However, something simply must happen to fix it...
Oh, I see. She telefragged them? (Well, somehow managed not to include various body parts inside the teleportation bubble?)
8739374
Yes, yes she did leave body parts behind. It's only thanks to Zeus' emergency medical nanites that nopony died.
RIP Rarity.