Chapter 5
Fluttershy follows the Minotaur with her necklace out of the building. The plan isn’t going very well- as a matter of fact, she’s pretty sure they’re playing with them. She hears a low pop in the distance. Her ear pricks- and she sees more than one of the guards ‘happening along’ in the field also prick their ears, glancing in the direction it had come from: The wall. The North wall, to be specific.
She chooses to disregard it. She’s close to her Element, she’s not about to give up. She creeps further forwards. The Minotaurs don’t seem to have noticed the pop.
“What’re you looking at?” one of the Minotaurs asks one of the Guards.
The mess hall explodes. Violently. She spots at least one Minotaur form fly over the wall, thrown by the blast.
The one carrying her Element nearly drops it, staring at the destruction.
The Guards almost panic.
The inquiring Minotaur growls as he marches forwards on the Guards. “What are you looking at?” he demands again.
He shakes his head. “I don’t know. I heard-!”
She lets out a scream as the admin building behind her explodes. The Minotaur carrying her Element jumps- tossing it in the air. Sensing an opportunity, she bolts forwards.
She sees a Guard’s eyes widening as he sees what she’s trying to do. It looks like he wants to stop her.
Right. She hasn’t told them who she is. They’d explicitly requested she not, actually- and only asked if she thought she could perform her part of the plan. She’d been certain she could.
She sticks her head through her necklace, and keeps going. If any other pony, Minotaur, or other grown language-using creature were to do this, save only the other Element Bearers, the Element of Kindness would reject them- and fall off.
On her, though, she sticks her head through it backwards. The gemstone is set to land on her withers- but it glows suddenly as she runs. The necklace spins around her neck, orienting itself correctly. The gemstone thumps firmly against her chest as she breaks into a full gallop.
She has her Element back.
And, on a side note, all the guards now know who she is. The Element of Kindness would not have performed that same correction on any other pony.
Something catches her tail- and she has a sudden revelation.
The Minotaurs also know who she is. That’s exactly what the Guards had been trying to avoid.
She lets out a scream as she crumples to the ground. The Minotaur holding her tail lets out a very short growl- before breaking off, letting her go at the same time, when the berthing hall explodes. She scrambles back to her hooves, resumes her gallop. The Guards group around her- and stop her.
A surge of Minotaurs has blocked the gate. Their escape has been blocked. The Guard ‘watching’ the gate has been killed, thrown on the ground.
She takes in a deep breath, looking rapidly between the various groups of minotaurs scattering throughout the base around them.
“We’re done for,” one Guard mutters near her.
She looks at the ground. She’s pretty sure she’s not trembling hard enough to shake the rocks in the gravel. Or to make them bounce.
Then her eyes widen. The ground is trembling independently.
She looks up, fear in her eyes, taking in a breath… just in time to see it.
She has time for just a glimpse of metal overhanging the wall before the north wall explodes- all the way from the gate to where it meets the west wall, all at once. With no fire.
The wall fragments apart, becoming so many pony-sized stone missiles, for but a moment. In the distance, she can see the west wall crumpling like so much tinfoil under the same onslaught.
She can’t believe her eyes.
Wall fragments and Minotaurs alike are being smashed firmly into the ground. A solid, stone fort wall is crumpling like tinfoil. All under the onslaught of the great metal thing that had landed on and nearly killed her so long ago.
“Holy Mother of Celes-!” a Guard near her mutters- before the boulders start hitting the ground on their own… and the roar of a cannon echoes away from the thing. A momentary flash of light near the top- and seconds later, the barracks explodes.
“Go!” she screams- and pushes forwards. Towards the thing.
Towards the brand-new fort-sized gate.
A guard tower vanishes underneath it.
She dodges to her right; the Minotaur blade falls on dirt instead. The Guards on her right take alarm, moving to protect her.
A sharp but oddly muted snap sounds from the thing- and a minotaur in front of them collapses, leaking blood from its brand-new chest cavity. She jumps over it.
The Minotaurs are forming up on them. They’re faster. Somehow.
She squints for a moment. Yes, that’s definitely magic… Probably placed on them by something else, like a centaur. She dodges another blow- and more Guards shift to protect her.
She sheds a tear for them as she pushes herself as hard as she can. She knows she can’t stop. Their job is to protect her, at all costs. They won’t be able to.
Another pop, another headless minotaur. She dodges around it, letting it absorb another minotaur’s strike at her. Another boom, another huge explosion- right in the middle of the advancing Minotaur army. Another disintegrating Guard post. The thing grinds to a halt in front of her and the Guards. A long metal ramp extrudes itself from its side, next to one of the holes, and hits the ground in their path.
More Guards shift to cover her. They’re dwindling. Dying off.
She wishes she could do that for them instead- but Equestria needs her. Alongside her friends.
She slows slightly as they reach the ramp; it’s angled rather severely upwards, and she’d rather not collapse as she hits it, for lack of strength. Once on the ramp, she pushes herself as hard as she can. She gallops up it as fast as she can.
More Guards fall behind her. The pop sounds a third time, but she doesn’t see what effect it has. Another boom, and following explosion. That big metal pipe is swinging out to point down at the continuing battle. Is it some kind of cannon? She doesn’t know. But it most certainly doesn’t look gentle.
She keeps running. Hopefully, whatever that pipe is can aid in the battle enough to save some of the Guards as well.
She reaches the top of the ramp and stops, turning around. She prays to find a Guard right behind her- at least one.
But there are none. She watches the last Guard fall to a Minotaur’s blade halfway up the ramp.
Another Minotaur had dodged past him, though. It’s almost at the top- raising its blade to strike at her.
She dodges to the side. It misses. Something pony-sized and metal suddenly lands on the minotaur’s head.
Then the metal she’s standing on twitches perceptibly- as she closes her eyes and flattens her ears against the sudden overload to both sets of organs.
Then the pressure comes.
Something just exploded. Very close. She blinks her blindness away as quickly as she can, searching for the source of the blast- for where she can run. Then she stops. The metal thing that had landed on her attacker is buzzing slightly as it leaps into the air again, wobbling oddly before it clunks into something and disappears into a closing hatch.
The ramp is retracting with an odd buzzing, grinding noise.
The pipe… hasn’t moved. But there’s a thin trail of smoke amidst the heat waves trailing out its tip.
Then she looks further out.
The entire fort has… disappeared. A crater at least three times the size of the fort is all that remains of the attacking Minotaurs.
She sits down in place, and raises one hoof to her chest, to touch her Element. At least she has it now.
Her touch triggers the communication spell; good thing it does not rely on her innate magic, rather drawing on the Element itself. It comes back empty-hooved.
She quickly stabilizes herself. The pipe is moving back into place- but so is the entire… thing moving. Slowly, at first- and ever so gently. But it’s moving, and it’s turning to carry her west.
She allows herself to collapse.
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I just got an idea for another weapon that has ludicrously high potential for a bolo. Admittedly its in context probably only a soft (or un-armored) target weapon but still.
I present : the 50 cal. Rail gun.
The reason why I'm proposing this is simple. In most sci-fi universes and irl rail-guns are impractical do to their energy requirements. Or that they are 'to slow' for space combat. However. Given enough energy and good magnets (or gravity generators) the story looks a bit different.
To put it bluntly, if you dump enough energy in to such a weapon it can essentially turn in to solid particle weapon when the projectile disintegrates from acceleration. (Because reasons it will work :) )
Plus the fire rate in reality is depending on how fast the barrel can be recharged. So by the same logic, the fire rate is as fast as you can pump ammo in to it if the barrel stays constantly powered.
All in all a solid long range precession weapon for a bolo that has energy to spare. It also wont be useless on low energy since anything without armor or even with it, will be shredded by mach 16 fast projectiles.
Though I'm only proposing this because it looks like bolo's don't have many anti personal weapons for all I know.
9166487
So, something like Honorverse' 'pulser' handguns?
It so happens Bolos come fully equipped with anti-squishy weapons as well; as a matter of fact, that Howitzer might fall into that category with some kinds of ammunition. However, I do plan on using weapons like that here as well- say, hoofguns...
Thank you!
9166752
Don't know about the honorverse since I only read two books of it that havent mentioned them.
My thought process was more along the lines of a twin-mounted turret to provide covering fire/point defense.(like a railgun version of a tf2 sentry at lvl 2 or 3) But if the howitzer covers that than it would be redundant of course. Plus I just realized that most 'really small' weapons would be down from previous engagements and need repairs.
And I only mentioned it at all after I saw that our dear bolo seemingly got only four-ish kills in danger close engagements With nearby allies.
9166774
So, more like the dorsal pulse cannon on an Honorverse Navy Pinnace. (Same kind of gravity-and-projectile-based weapon, just upscaled. Twin-barrel, to boot.)
And yes, many of our Bolo's smaller weapons are toast as well- like the antipersonnel flak cannons normally used to shred insufficiently armored targets at moderate to close range.
It might be worth note that a Howitzer is similar to a mortar- as a high-trajectory cannon. With guided rounds, because this is high-tech Bolo and Howitzers are current technology.
Yes again, our Bolo has acquired four-ish kills- three ring penetrators, used here as a sniper... and four (if I remember correctly) Howitzer rounds. If we don't count the Minotaurs caught inside the destroyed buildings, smashed under her tracks, blown to smithereens by the Howitzer that targeted the Minotaur army, or simply incinerated by the closing Hellbore, then yes, she had a total of four kills (including the one the recon drone landed on). If we are counting those, she got all the kills. Or pretty close to that, at least- the guards were overwhelmed quickly. Yes, she would have saved more guards if she could (heh, more than none is still more), but lacked the antipersonnel weaponry (and ammo) to do so.
Good chapter.
9166791
Then i'm looking forward to what she can do with some repairs done. Because there is no better kill then overkill
9166932
Me too. *Squish*
9166487
Technically, that's what the Hellbore is. It's a railgun that magnetically fuses and contains plasma, and shoots it at fractional c. I don't know if making the particle mass a freakin' star improves the firepower, but it does increase the awesome levels. (Once you get to sufficient speeds, mere gas (note that this is semi-solid exploding plasma too) is a dangerous thing. A more easy-to-create alternative is a waterjet cutter. Those things are scary.)
Later books in the Boloverse mention a "Hellrail" which is probably even closer to what you mentioned. Although, both of those are main weaponry, and not point defense. For that...
Bolos also literally bristle with smaller cannons and guns. I think they have several "Ion-Bolt" infinite repeaters, which are basically smaller Hellbores (early versions were "merely" main guns from normal tanks, firing physical ammo), and also have a ton of various mines, claymores, and guns for that personal touch. Heh. Talk about overengineered.
This one feels a bit OOC, or maybe she's in shock? Even with a war on, the guards all just died protecting her. I suspect that'll cause issues once it sinks in (yet another reason for me to avoid writing stuff like that in mine. I wouldn't know how to write that reaction!)
9167061
Sounds awesome but this is my 'first contact' with the bolo verese so to speak. So in all honestly all I know about them is that bolos are giant mobile fortresses with enough firepower to be considered a dreadnought plus in the other sci-fi universes I know of. (Or something that feels right at home in warhammer 40k were the only kill is overkill)
Right now im looking through other fan fiction sites as well and may have found some more stories of the bolo verse wich I will read once im done with my current reading material. Maybe that will clear up some confusion for me.
P.s. if there is an official story can I get a link to it?
9167286
I can recommend Bolo! by David Webber. That’s my (only) exposure to Keith Laumer’s Bolos... and an awesome one, at that. Note that our Bolo here is higher-mark than any official Bolo (max is 33, or XXXIII)- so, firmly into the fanmade/design-your-own territory...
In short, a Bolo is a giant, self-aware supertank. So yes, you’re about right.
9167155
Yes, I’m attributing her immediate non-reaction to a combination of shock and adrenaline. When it wore off, she collapsed... In what state, I didn’t specify- and won’t; the timegap between this & next chapter covers her recovery neatly.
WARNING: Technical infodump ahead!
9167061
Yes. Our Bolo here is equipped with Hellbore secondaries; somewhere down the line, she is also equipped with (currently trashed) ion bolt repeaters. These low-draw energy weapons have less firepower than even the smallest Hellbore- but they have machinegun-esque maximum fire rates, and enough punishing power to demolish mountainsides- or “medium” enemy armor... specifically, medium to a Bolo. These ion bolts actually do propel an “energy” bolt- of ions, of course, hence the name. I don’t think they’re ever scienced out in Laumen’s universe like the Hellbores are.
For point defense, she’s equipped with quite a few laser cannons- whoch, since they really can’t be used in the offensive role, she probably isn’t counting any of them that are still working as available weapons. They’re potentially kiloton-range laser weapons designed to wipe out incoming missiles.
For antipersonnel, she’s got mortars, howitzers, small missiles, snipe-suitable ring penetrators, flak cannons, and the standard drive-and-stomp that often doesn’t work against enemy armor. Possibly some more, I don’t know yet.
The Hellrail is basically a giant railgun, to propel a large hunk of metal (possibly plus explosives) at c-fractional velocities. Many times the mass of a Hellbore and, if engineered properly, it won’t fragment apart in flight- thence, less likely to scatter as it goes... and suitable for interstellar ranges, if necessary. Shoot a Hellbore at the moon, you might make a small radiation storm on the moon- even a 3-meter one like hers. Shoot a similar-sized Hellrail at the moon, and you suddenly have three or four moons of proportionately less mass. Since they are physical weapons rather than energy, ammo is far more limited- preventing a general shift.
Our Bolo’s main batteries... are my own invention. They’re power-hungry energy weapons with no name (yet), losely based on the Hellbore but many times as strong and most definitely not scienced out. They’re also 4-meter weapons, nevermind the largest official weapon- if I remember correctly- is a 330-cm Hellbore.
9167355
Thanks.
Also David Webber, I know a few of his books so this is bound to be good.
9167389
Agreed. I personally enjoy the Honorverse (haven’t read much else)- and kinda wish I was good enough to be worthy of writing an Honorverse FimFic
9167399
Well so far your doing a damn fine job with this story. So keep on going
(Its also way better than the train wrecks im working on, by a long shot.)
9167442
You know, that makes me curious.
Edit: Took a peek, it's not my kind of story (I tend to prefer FIM stories over EQG). Good premise, though.
On the topic of Honorverse fics... Sure, I might be ok, decent, good, or whatever, but Weber is on a whole 'nother level. I'm just not there yet.
9167957
Funny enough I prefer anthro equstria as a setting. My current one is the only eqg I have come up with in almost four years of struggling for some solid ideas. Im also debating to publish some other stories that are on the backburner right now but i'm not sure if that is the right thing to do.
As for David Webber. From what I know about the 'big' authors with publisher and all that are out there, they tend to have several people to help them: professional proofreaders/editor's for example. Plus in some cases the publisher can veto certain parts of a story if they think it will ruin the sales.
We 'smaller' writers don't get that much support in most cases. So there is bound to be a difference at first.
But that doesn't mean we can't improve over time to get on equal footing with out idols.
9168090
Well of course.
I'm talking about the level of detail. The average Honor Harrington book has something like 50-100 characters- each with their own, consistent personality, name, rank, and so on. Each nation has its own maps, government, etc... Everything is just down to such detail and precision that, even when it's not specifically referred to, provides depth for the story. It's just his style, you know?
Nevermind that Honorverse superdreadnoughts & the like have a density on par with cigar smoke... and Nike in Bolo!- being a fairly well-known official Bolo- I calculated to have a density approximately 1/6th that of water. Small mistakes, yes... and the very reason I am so intentionally vague with size/weight of my Bolos. You'll notice I never specify.