Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Of course there were going to be problems. Twilight refused to go there and check on them. It would have meant wasting too much time, and she had precious little of it. At least she had tried. She was heading back to Ponyville, to her laboratory. She needed all the best equipment she had.

The barriers had appeared as soon as the evacuation orders had gone out, before anyone had had time to reach inside the cities with a scale. Twilight couldn't waste time trying to figure out how to remove them. They could easily be in the same ballpark of complexity as the cube, except worse as they weren't meant to be opened. They could easily be all different enough that solving one wouldn't help with the others.

What they could do was try to find a way to orient existing portals so they would open inside the bubbles. But research on the technique was nowhere near far enough, not even with what she'd managed to salvage and copy from the other world before leaving it. The calculations alone risked taking too long to get to all cities, and if they went for the wrong one first and didn't get it in time the whole thing would end in disaster.

Canterlot was cut off. That meant Celestia was cut off. That meant Rainbow was cut off as well, she'd been there trying to figure out Luna's situation. That helped. It meant there was a way for Twilight to easily, extensively communicate with everyone inside that bubble. That included everything to the mountain's base. Even for Stellaria it seemed the Behemoth was too much, she'd blocked off a far larger area compared to all other cities.

Ponyville was the only one of the marked locations that hadn't been sealed off. The reason why was obvious. It was always going to be the last place to be blown up if Twilight failed. That, and evidently the self proclaimed Empress wanted to give her her best chance at succeeding.

The evening approached as Twilight looked at the cube sitting next to her, the only company in the train carriage she occupied, heading back towards her castle. Not yet sunset, not quite, but that too was approaching. A little more than a day left before the first city was destroyed, and she had no doubt Stellaria would do good on her threat.

Was telling the ponies trapped inside to look for the scales worth it? No. It was almost certain they weren't there yet. They would be installed later, if they were going to be used at all. They weren't strictly needed to destroy areas that large, magic could do that with enough knowledge and power. They had been a way to get her attention, though Twilight was sure there was more to come with them.

Was she expected to solve the puzzle? Probably not. Stellaria wanted to mock her. But she was also smart enough to make solving it her best alternative.

Comments

[Speckle]

So, dream talk with the girls while trying to crack the puzzle with those available. I'm curious about where Stella even got this cube and what it means if/when Twilight unlocks it. For all we know, it's a cleverly crafted bomb or some sort of eldritch horror sealed in a box, and this is Stella's twisted idea of an assassination. Which is real mature by the way, Miss Empress, top notch mind game territory

Then again, if Stella is locked in The Waiting Room, is she really going to be able to implement her plan? Assuming that's how it works, anyway, otherwise I just made a donkey out of myself (no donkey emoji?).

I feel like there's a way to fix this, to solve this, but the idea that a lot of ponies will get hurt before that happens sucks Congrats, Miss Empress, you just made me hate your guts even more