Welcome to the jungle

by Hiver

Chapter 27

Resting on my wings, I slowly circled above the village before going in for a landing, the soft buzzing on Ambers wings behind me showing her position.

Settling down on the platform outside the workshop, I stretched my wings for a second, taking in the night air.

The scent of rain in the air, it would rain soon.

We really need to find some weather ponies willing to move here. There were only six pegasi in town with the right education and that just wasn’t enough to move the large clouds around.

But what they did do was give us plenty of warning in case of storms and such. Something that had thankfully only happened twice.

Over a week since Luna, Celestia and the rest left for Canterlot and I had finally caught up with the backlog of work that had built up during their visit.

The new schedule worked… as evidenced by the fact that I had actually been able to catch up and not just watch the pile grow and grow.

“You okay there, Amber?” I asked and looked back at the changeling as she landed softly behind me.

“I’m fine, sir,” she said and buzzed her wings softly, “Dark doesn’t bother changelings as much as day ponies.”

Which was a very good thing. ‘Lings were almost as adapted to this place as Thestrals, even if there wasn’t much for them to eat.

I paused at that thought, “Amber, there are a dozenish ‘lings in the village now, are you all getting enough to eat?”

Amber nodded with a small smile, “We’re doing fine, sir,” she said before she scraped her hoof against the wooden floor, “But… we shouldn’t allow our population to get much bigger than twice this before yours do. Princess Skitter has expressed interest in moving her subhive here, but that will not be possible until the pony population of Nocturnis has grown significantly.”

I nodded in agreement, “Just let me know if it starts to become a problem, okay?” I asked and gave her a quick hug.

Amber nodded, leaning against me for a second, “We will, sir.”

I smiled at her and nodded before I let go and turned to push the door open, walking into the brightly lit workshop.

Blinking, I raised my hoof against the bright lights before looking around.

“Page!”

I looked over towards an open door at the other side that led out onto another platform to see Midnight poking her head in through the open port, waving for me.

I trotted over to her, Amber trailing behind, “You wanted to see me?” I asked.

Midnight nodded and stepped into the light with a smile, “Yes!” she said and fluffed her wings slightly, “I have already shown the guard commander, but I thought you wanted to see the new ballista design before we start to upgrade the village defenses.”

“Oh!” I said and grinned, “You finished it? Nice! Let’s have a look?”

Midnight motioned for me to follow and we walked out onto the torch lit platform below. The ballista turret was set up in the middle and there was a target set up some thirty meters away on the trunk of a tree, lit up by some glowing crystals.

Tempest gave me a bow as we got close, “Your Majesty.”

“Tempest,” I greeted her in turn with a smile, “I assume you’ll be our operator today?”

“Yes, sir,” she agreed and stood up again, looking up at the ballista.

It was very different from what the old ones were. The old ones were rather simple with a strong bow, somewhere to put the arrow and a simple sight. That with a winch to pull the string back and we had a weapon system that could hurt a Rexosaurus.

This one was different. It has gears, three bows that seem stacked ontop of each other, a seat for the operator and wheels for them to spin.

“What am I looking at, Midnight?” I asked as Tempest climbed up into the seat.

“At the core, there is a clockwork mechanism,” Midnight explained, “It’s used to move and aim the ballista,” she said as Tempest demonstrated, turning and pitching the entire thing by spinning a pair of wheels with her hooves, causing the entire thing to move with clicking sounds.

“You have to turn it up?” I asked.

Midnight nodded and pointed at the spokes pointing out from it about at barrel height around the machine, “You tension the spring at the same time as you pull the bow strings back,” she said and demonstrated by using her magic and causing the wheel start to turn and the three bowstrings started to pull back one by one.

“How hard is it to do?” I asked and sat down to watch, “How many ponies does it take to operate?”

“Three,” Midnight said and stopped when it finished pulling the bows back, “Two loaders/chargers and one gunner, or one unicorn but that’s rather stressful if one unicorn has to do it all. I also worked some on the bolts and bolt heads, it currently shoots these,” she said and floated a large bolt before me.

Thicker than a unicorn horn, at the end there was a wicked looking cutting broadhead with some stabilizers at the other end.

“You load it as such,” Midnight continued and floated them up, sliding them into the weapon from the back. There were a couple of clicks when they were fully in place, “And the weapon is ready to fire. Tempest?”

Tempest nodded and spun the wheels, turning it fully towards the target, peering through the sight, making an adjustment before she kicked a pedal with her rear hoof.

The weapon let out an almighty ‘twang!’ of a sound and the entire platform seemed to vibrate beneath my hooves as a bolt smashed into the target and from how deep it went, it seemed to have sunk halfway into the tree as well.

Tempest made another adjustment and kicked the pedal again and there was another twang, sending another bolt down range, quickly followed by the third.

I looked towards the target. Three bolts halfway buried into it, one a bit low, the others close to the target.

“That seems like a lot more force too,” I said as I nodded.

“About twice as much per bolt as the old ones,” Midnight confirmed, “With the new charging mechanism, it’s actually possible for an non-earth pony to pull something like that back.

“Midnight,” I said seriously as I turned to her, “You’re a genius.”

“I have a certificate on it,” she answered cheerfully, “Best thing, it’s nothing special to build, any skilled crafts pony can make and put it together or repair it if it breaks.”

If something big decided to attack the village, it would not live to regret it.

I just have to keep an eye on Midnight to make sure that she didn’t build a flying suit of armour or something.

...At least if she didn’t make one for me too.

Comments

[shadow wolf1573]

Nice

[Silent Wing]

This remndes me a lot of a AA-Gun fromm WW2.

[Fishsticks]

10948179
Apart from the rapid firing aspect, it's very close to some of the more advanced defensive ballista from the days of old.

[Mystic Chicken]

this reminds me of the giant balista in the buring lake underneath the Catacombs of Carthus in Dark Souls 3

[Bobbles]

[drFraud]

I just have to keep an eye on Midnight to make sure that she didn’t build a flying suit of armour or something.

My stallion, did you even get hair caught between two pieces of metal? I have, it's not fun, don't do full metal armour kids.

[Bojack H]

at this rate midnight is gonna invent the cannon by pure necessity

[windy_prance]

Amber nodded with a small smile, “We’re doing fine, sir,” she said before she scraped her hoof against the wooden floor, “But… we shouldn’t allow our population to get much bigger than twice this before yours do. Princess Skitter has expressed interest in moving her subhive here, but that will not be possible until the pony population of Nocturnis has grown significantly.”

MEANWHILE...CADANCE IS HAVING TEA WITH CHRYSALIS...

Cadance: I just told you! It has only been a week. We won't know yet if my off-screen "tourist activities" in Nocturnis has caused a baby boom. Let alone enough of one to make moving Skitter's hive possible.

Chrysalis: *pout* Curse the slow reproduction rate of your species! I would have had at least 5 eggs laid within the same time span.

Cadance: Well considering Page is in charge, I'm not surprised he's not actively thinking enough about family planning. It's hard enough trying to add to his herd..let alone procreate!

Chrysalis: *rolls eyes* Ugh why are the best males also the most frustrating to educate on their primary function?! Stupid beautiful predator pony!

MEANWHILE IN NOCTURNIS...

Page: ...Why do I suddenly feel objectified and incredibly insulted...?

[Black--Soul]

Iron mare / stud incoming ✌

[Derpmeister]

At this rate she's going to invent the main battle tank in a decade or two.

[The Great Scribbly One]

Not enuff dakka! We needz moar! Add anovver three arras an' use dat boot we don't be needin' right now too!

10948229
That's what a gambeson is for, along with cushioning blunt force impacts.

[ShadowHell]

“At the core, there is a clockwork mechanism,” Midnight explained, “It’s used to move and aim the ballista,” she said as Tempest demonstrated, turning and pitching the entire thing by spinning a pair of wheels with her hooves, causing the entire thing to move with clicking sounds.

I have Dark Souls 3 flashbacks. Smouldering Lake flashback to be precise

[Asolem2]

...At least if she didn’t make one for me too.

[gibbelblonk]

Midnight: Let me show you it's features!

[Totally Not A Pony]

I just have to keep an eye on Midnight to make sure that she didn’t build a flying suit of armour or something.

Just keep her distracted and away from any too-promising caves with boxes of scraps...should be easy, right?

[ArcherStern]

I just have to keep an eye on Midnight to make sure that she didn’t build a flying suit of armour or something.

...At least if she didn’t make one for me too.

I mean, who doesn't want their very own Ironman suit?

[Midknight Defender]

10948964
Ironmare, of course.

[Well Geboren]

So the ponies now have something close to a 40mm AA gun, nice.

[Oblivionwalker]

10963155
My thoughts exactly, I had literality had the image of a Triple A gun from a cod game pop into my mind when I read about the new ballista.

[Guardiansentry]

10948201
My thoughts exactly

[Mahtan]

In this case a pony shaped mobile would be a mobile suit or a mobile armor?