Multiple incoming bogeys
“School never prepared me for this!” Sundance heard Paradox shout from behind him as he banked to follow the general direction of the ravine. The orchard was below and what a difference could be seen since the Big Cleanup. More work needed to be done, but more work would always need to be done. The river that flowed through the ravine had narrowed a bit, but the water was still fast-flowing.
“I feel wizardy, oh so wizardy! I feel wizardy and witty and—”
“Gay?” Hennessy sang out.
“No, and there goes the spontaneous musical outburst.”
“Oh, drats. I thought we had something.” Then, a moment later, Hennessy added, “Sundance, veer over into yonder meadow. The one above the ridge on the far side of this ravine. It’s a good place to have a looky-loo.”
Sundance did a hard bank left, leveled out, veered a little to the right, and then aligned his flight path so that he might fly along the length of the meadow. To his left, which was eastward, there were hills of the gently rolling variety, and beyond the hills were mountains that looked like jagged teeth. Southward, there was a long, narrow shelf of land that formed a sloped meadow, a place he’d seen but had never fully explored. It ran alongside the ravine for as far as the eye could see, narrow in some places, and broad in others. Heaps of rock could be seen that suspiciously seemed to be rubble, ruined houses perhaps, or possibly cairns.
“There! Over there! There’s a rise with an old dead tree! The roots are hot! Bring us in for a closer look!”
“We’ve found our bunny horde already?” asked Sundance.
“No,” Hennessy replied, “but we found a warren. It’s not big enough to be the cause of the problem, but we’re still going to take it out. For practice!”
Practically speaking, that seemed wise. Any and all rabbits contributed to the overall problem. But it also made Sundance a little sad, because the home of some cute, cuddly critters was about to be obliterated—for practice. He angled his wings, banked, adjusted his speed, and then began to circle the old rotten tree that looked a bit like a griffon’s claw reaching up out of the earth. The old gnarly roots could be seen, and hidden amongst those roots were holes, wee little bunny burrows.
“I’ve never cast complicated magic under these sorts of conditions before,” Paradox said.
To which Hennessy responded, “Should we be worried?”
“Yeah, probably!”
Sundance continued to circle, because he could do little else. Unable to see what Paradox was doing, he had no choice but to wait and be patient. If something exploded, if things turned exciting, he would need to be ready to make good his escape. Perhaps her spell took a while to cast, because nothing seemed to be happening. Maybe she had performance anxiety. Perhaps she might suffer premature detonation or arcanile horn dysfunction. There was no all-wise Princess Celestia around, so it would be up to him to sort her out if something happened.
He hoped that he was up to the task.
“This is harder than I thought it would be,” Paradox said. “All this moving about. I’m used to casting while standing still. How do alicorns do it while they’re flying?” Then, after a few seconds… “Oh no, that sounds so perverse! Stupid brain! Now I’m distracted!”
Distracted? So was Sundance, who’d only heard vague stories about mid-flight docking maneuvers, and largely considered such things to be impossible. Urban legends. Fanciful stories that had no basis in reality. Still, the stories were quite intriguing, but to see if they had any grain of truth to them, he would have to find himself an adventurous sexual-daredevil pegasus that was open to crashing—in all of its various forms.
“Uh, oops. We should fly away now!”
Looking down below him, Sundance saw a glowing nexus of faintly blue light. The orb shifted, blueified, and began to throb with surreal intensity. Something swirled within the sphere of what was now electric blue light, and all of his pegasus-senses tingled. What was going on down there? How much time did he have? Just what exactly had Paradox done, and would they survive it?
“I don’t understand what creates the flashes of blue radiation,” Paradox said, almost shouting. “Princess Celestia doesn’t either. The electrons are all wrong. Too excited. Fly, Sundance! Fly! Hurry! I’ve accidentally created more Paradox radiation!”
Hennessy could be heard saying, “It’s rather pretty…”
Wings pumping with furious intensity, Sundance carved into the aether and brought himself up to speed, which was no easy feat with a load. His wings had the most alarming tingle and it almost felt as though they were hot. He continued with his rapid acceleration, driven onward by Paradox’s worried whimpers. She was scared, from the sounds of it, which rather left him somewhat frightened.
“I don’t know how much longer I can hold it!” Paradox shouted. “Everything is going critical! I’ll do my best to shield us but things are about to get interesting! Go faster, Sundance!”
“We’re going to die—”
“That’s a possibility, Hennessy!” Paradox shouted.
“That is not how you reassure a pony, Paradox!”
“I am socially inept! Why do you think I’m here?”
Then, Sundance heard Hennessy’s tone of voice change: “You can do this, Paradox. I believe in you. No matter how this turns out, I’ll still believe in you. Good luck!”
“Oh! That’s incredibly sweet! Thank you!”
With each furious beat of his wings, Sundance covered an extraordinary stretch of ground. He flew like a pegasus possessed and took no time to have a look backwards. It was up to Hennessy to reassure Paradox, who apparently needed some reassurance. As for Sundance, it was his job to fly as fast as the wind blew, so he did. The peculiar sensation in his wings grew stronger, gained intensity, and he could not help but wonder if he was scared stupid right now.
“I wish you could see this,” Hennessy hollered so that he might be heard over the now-rushing wind caused by Sundance’s acceleration. “My mask allows me to see in multiple wavelengths of light. It’s beautiful—oh no, there it goes!”
A peculiar sensation washed over Sundance, a physical force accompanied by an indescribable sound. Like somepony hitting a drum—only the drum was huge and somehow located inside one’s head. He felt something wash over him from behind and it was like being engulfed in a warm wind. Wings wide, he had to adjust for turbulence so that he could keep himself leveled out. It was all over in seconds, but it felt much, much longer.
“Slow down, Sundance! Circle back around!”
“Is it safe, Henny?”
“I believe so, yes!”
“It just vanished,” Paradox said. “Everything just vanished.”
Trusting in his friends, Sundance reduced his speed and began to bank so that he might turn about. The air slipped over his outstretched, widespread primaries, which raked at the aether like claws. As he came about, he tried to reorient himself by putting the tree in the center of his vision, but there was no tree to be seen. Nor was there a gentle hill, a soft rolling slope. Most of it was just… gone. As confusion and bewilderment began to cloud his mind, Sundance tried to make sense of whatever had just happened.
“Whoops… I tried to make it go away, and it went away.”
“Success!”
“No, Hennessy, I’m worried. I don’t understand what I did. I had my containment field, and I tried to compress the hydrogen into a crystalline form. But I think I made it a liquid, and then I could feel that the electrons were too excited and moving all wrong and I don’t know what happened.”
“I think I know what happened,” Hennessy said.
“You do?”
“I think the bunnies are gone. There’s no longer a hot-zone.”
“Most of the hill is gone—”
“But so are the bun-buns! Success! Victory!”
A victory—even an accidental, unintended one—felt mighty good. A patch of charred black earth was acceptable, as was the loss of a dead tree and a bit of topsoil. Of course, it was a bit worrisome that those things were gone, but there could be no doubt that they were acceptable losses. Sundance thought about this as they flew in a wide circle around the barony in search of more bun-buns.
Of course, as was the way of circles, they came back to where they once were. The southern region was open, sloped plains, as was the west. North was the elevated plateau that formed the backbone of the box canyon. North and east were the Crags and south of the Crags was the orchard ravine. After a completed circuit, Sundance had the lay of the land.
“Head southeast,” Hennessy commanded. “Beyond the orchard, beyond the meadow, and into those foothills. The wooded ones. That seems like a great place to have a better look.”
Squinting ahead, Sundance could see the distant copses of trees to the south and east. It seemed a bit too far away from the barony, but he trusted Hennessy’s judgment. Maybe rabbits could travel long distances. Or maybe the real menace of the bunnies just hadn’t reached them yet—afterall, they weren’t overrun, not yet. That was the outcome they were trying to prevent.
It almost appeared as though the trees were covered in snow. No, not snow Sundance realised. Not snow at all. Webbing. His blood ran cold and his heart skipped a beat or two. Where there were webs, there were bound to be spiders. Big hairy gross spiders, the kind that hide in the shitter. As he flew closer and the webs grew more visible, he tried to calculate just how far they were from the barony, and concluded that it was an acceptable distance for a spider to walk. It was like a trip to the grocery store, only the freezer displays were replaced with outhouses.
“I can see inside the wads of webbing,” Hennessy announced in a voice more than loud enough to be heard clearly. “There are creatures in there… some of which are still alive. And a whole lot of bunnies.”
“So there has to be a warren close by,” Paradox said in response.
“There are spiders in those trees the size of buckboard wagons.”
“Hennessy, I didn’t need to know that.”
“Sorry, Paradox. That’s just the way it is.” Then, one inhaled breath later, “Sundance, we have to eradicate the spiders. They’re too close to the barony. There’s an army here… maybe thousands. You’ll be overrun.”
As much as he didn’t want to, Sundance thought of River Raider, and how chewed up she was. The spiders had invaded her cave and with sheer numbers, had almost subdued her. Hennessy was right. This spider colony was too close, and their numbers continued to grow with the surplus of rabbits available for them to eat. This copse of woods might very well have to be sacrificed—and Sundance decided it was an acceptable loss.
“Hang on,” he said to his friends. “We’re beginning our bombing run. Paradox, destroy the woods if you have to. I want those spiders gone. Turn those trees to splinters if you must, we can’t have those spiders threatening the barony.”
“I’ll do my best, Sundance…”
They came in hard and fast, though perhaps Sundance should have gone low and slow. The plan, such as it was, was to do a flyover, come around, and make repeated passes. Paradox would rain down fireballs, which would no doubt set the woods on fire. But flames could be quenched in a number of ways, and they would sort that out later. For right now, there was a spider-hive to destroy, and maybe, if they were lucky, a spider queen. Hennessy’s mask gave him vision into the dense copse of trees, and of the ginormous spiders hidden within the grove, one certainly might very well be a queen.
Hennessy let out a shout of alarm and cried, “We have incoming!”
Wads of white webbing were coming right at them and Sundance took evasive action. They weren’t close by any stretch of the imagination, but it seemed as though the spiders had incredible range. Long strands and wads of webbing filled the sky in front of him and Sundance was forced to drastic measures to avoid them. His passengers cried out, but Paradox's spell to keep them secure held out. When Sundance rolled and banked upside-down, there was a rather feminine shriek of terror, which could have been either Hennessy or Paradox—Sundance could not tell.
He spun, he whirled, uprighted himself, leveled out, and began to climb, all while the crackle of magic filled his ears. Paradox was shooting web-wads that came close enough to be a danger, while Hennessy shouted out warnings about multiple incoming bogeys. This was exciting and unexpected; the spiders had anti-air defenses. For Sundance, this was as thrilling as it was terrifying. He might very well die doing this, but what a way to go.
The sky was filled with sticky silken strands.
“Spiders incoming!” Hennessy cried out.
Almost panicked, Sundance whipped his head about, trying to spot the danger, and saw several spiders rising up to meet them. Spiders flew? Who knew? Some of the long strands of webbing that filled the sky had spiders on one end, spiders that were now dangerously close. Sundance continued to climb and realised that if Paradox was on the defensive, she wasn’t on the offensive, and this, this was a problem.
An incoming spider waved with one hairy leg as it drew nearer.
“Flicker is deathly afraid of spiders,” Hennessy shouted matter-of-factly. “Of course, he’s battled and killed three beldams. Spider hags. If he were here right now, he’d be freaking out!”
“I’m freaking out!” Paradox shrieked. “Spiders! Spiders everywhere! Why must spiders fly‽”
A massive bloom of flame consumed the sky to Sundance’s left, and with it, several balloonist spiders. Heat and turbulence washed over Sundance, who had to make hasty adjustments for fear that his wings might ignite. Mere moments later, as he was still recovering, there was another burst of flame and heat as Paradox let go a second fireball. It was just supposed to be a bunny bombing run, but now they were battling for their very lives. A sticky blob of webbing flew too close to Sundance for comfort because he almost flew right into it when he swerved to avoid the fireball. If his wings got webbed, it was over. They would go down, or so he feared.
“Tip us over,” Paradox shouted, her voice ragged. “I need a better view of everything down below!”
In response, Sundance gave her exactly what she wanted. His body violently twisted in his harness in response to his sudden action, and he felt a painful wrench in his spine. Somehow, he leveled himself out as he and his sky truck resisted the harsh pull of gravity. Down below him, he saw that the trees were swarming with spiders of all sizes, from itsy-bitsy spiders that liked to crawl up water spouts, to big hairy behemoths.
A teeny, tiny, almost insignificant pea-sized blob of fire shot from Paradox’s horn.
It traveled down like a raindrop, a flickering flame no larger than what might have been found on a candle. Ignited bits of webbing and smouldering chunks of burning spider rained down around them. Time seemed to slow in some odd way. Sundance’s wings seemed to be flapping too fast and too slow at the same time as he struggled to right himself before they fell out of the sky. Momentum would only keep them aloft for so long. The tiny flickering flame streaked towards the spider-infested trees down below.
Perhaps it was panic that gave Paradox strength…
The tiny flame blossomed into a ravenous red-orange rose. Sundance saw it as he righted himself. Heat and furious sound engulfed him, and he heard a roaring from within his ears as the explosive boom gave him a forceful shove. His wings felt as though they might be torn from his sockets as a wall of concussive force slapped him silly. Wings spread wide, he cupped them, angled them just so, and tried to ride the ever-expanding shockwave that rattled his teeth inside his gums. The acceleration was instant and far too powerful. Perhaps riding the shockwave was a bad idea, but he was committed to this course of action.
His eyes were sucked back into his head and he was certain that he felt them pressing against his brain. A column of fire rose up into the sky and then unfurled like a scroll. An endless wave of force seemed to flow from the explosion and Sundance blinked with dull confusion as a burning tree went rocketing past him, tumbling end over end. More trees filled the skies around him, and he struggled to keep his wings cupped so that he might continue to ride the shockwave. It was his only chance to survive, he knew that, as there was no way that he could outfly this.
If he lived through this, he would have a story to tell…
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Glorious fire! Eff spiders, all of them.
I wonder if the fireball and debris cloud is visible from Canterlot?
10053423
I don't know. Canterlot is over 100 miles away.
totally awesome chapter.
cooked bunbun with a side of spider.
Where is the map you drew?
10053494
In a blog post, which is connected to this story. There's a menu up top.
This comes to mind
Such a beautiful blue it is
10053496
Sorry, but I have no idea where to look.
10053501
Up top, where it has 3.5, there is a little arrow drop down menu, and a sub-section for blog posts.
10053507
Thanks,😄
...
...
...
You weren't joking.
Well that trip ended up rather Dim.
I'm not sure if Flicker would be jealous of excited if he saw what Paradox did to the rabbit Warren.
If nothing else, he would probably love to be let loose, with next to no care for collateral damage.
10053498
Yeah, sounds like Cherenkov Radiation to me as well
Nuke um from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.
former spider habitat for rent no need for night lights i.ytimg.com/vi/sgFYApuxZ0E/maxresdefault.jpg
I love this exchange.
Should Paradox be possessive?
Nice use of an interrobang.
I think that it may have been the least bad idea available...
Woof.
First, Paradox nuclear-fireballs a rabbit warren... the Sundance lets her fireball a spider colony, and decides to ride the blastwave out...
Honestly, their chances of survival riding the shockwave are decent, going by what a passable pegasus is capable of in the air. Sundance is a passable pegasus in flying talent, but will he be able to keep Henny and Paradox alive as well... we shall see.
Equestria has discovered the power of nuclear bunbardment.
Not a bad idea to be honest about that sort of thing.
XDDDD
Still, in order to preserve the barony, they may have to locate the warrens by air and land and take them out one the ground. Maybe. Bombing by air has novelty.
Sounds like more supplies for Corduroy. Well, maybe if there are any left. Those were were some exciting explosions.
10053454
Well, you probably have a mental image in your head of how large the spider nest was and how big the ensuing crater will be. You can use an online calculator to figure out how large the blast a crater that size implies. Then you can check other online resources for a graph of mushroom cloud height. From that, you could infer how far away the blast was seen.
The links are things I found after just a few minutes of googling. If you were willing to spend some time on it you could probably find something even better to help.
10054071
It was a delayed blast fireball with a bit of extra oomph. So it shouldn't be hard to figure out the radius and potential damage. (Via dice rolls)
10053454
It's also got some decent elevation.
I’d like to imagine there’s a very concerned guardspony peering at this through a spyglass.
Probably shortly followed by a concerned officer who's just been told “The horizon appears to have exploded."
10054239
"That has to be Paradox."
"Good thing she was 'exiled' from Canterlot. Not our problem, Private. Not our problem."
“Oh... there’s the kaboom...” - Marvin the Martian
10053454
Roll 2 D20’s for passive perception with disadvantage (total of 4D20) and +9(+5 statbonus +4 expertise) for celestia, +6 (+4 stat, +2for proficiency) for Luna
From Ponyville Roll 1D20 for Twilight and give her advantage for being tuned to magic, +7 (+5/+2)
10054078
But then you have the problem that spiderwebs are VERY flammable, and under compression could even detonate. And there were a LOT of webs down there...
10054860
I had a DM accuse me of cheating because I would always put a web spell into a sequencer with a fireball.
10054894
Why, when Grease is far more flammable, and actually has rules for when it ignites? :D
10054917
Sometimes grease went into sequencer too.
Don’t forget that you need an oxidizer as well - just compressing a bunch of spider webs together won’t cause detonation if there’s not enough air (or other oxygen source) in there... if anything, it might put it out. A similar effect is responsible for why a bunch of dust in a pile is relatively stable, but blown into the air it’s explosive.
Maybe Paradox should look into plasma and nuclear fusion.
Did paradox just safi’jiva The forest?
If so well done good mare
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO2wt_P8W6U&feature=share[/embed]Holy shit that was bananas! I did NOT expect to see so much intense and dangerous carnage.
Glad that everyone seems to be ok for the most part, but poor Sundance....his wings must be rather tired and sore.
Enola Gay? Given what Paradox got up to this chapter...