“Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” Thomas asked quietly, looking at the amassed crowd in front of him. Nearly all of them were ponies of each kind, though a few griffons and even a minotaur could be seen. “This place is way too open,” he mumbled, talking about the large hall. There were numerous windows, the door was wide open and the pillars off to the side provided great hiding spots. His HUD was useless amongst so many non-hostiles, anyone who wanted to attack him would simply not show up.
“Oh, calm down,” Veronica moaned, wearing her full set of T-51b.
“Easy for you to say. You’re fucking bulletproof,” he muttered.
“Yeah, and you chew metal and shit bullets,” she replied. “So shut the fuck up already.”
“You may now ask any questions you have for my guests,” they heard Celestia say.
“This is gonna suck,” Thomas muttered as he stood up from his chair. “Hello!” he exclaimed loudly. “As the Princess said, I am Thomas.”
“What is your response to the allegations that you are responsible for the current conflict?” one of the reporters asked.
“Firstly, don’t cut me off when I’m talking,” Thomas replied harshly, shooting a glare at the blue unicorn. To his credit, the pony didn’t even blink. “Secondly, between leaving three children to a lifetime of slavery and starting a war, I’ll pick war every time.”
“Does this mean you enjoy such things?”
“No. I’m just very good at it,” Thomas replied, sounding curiously unhappy.
“The Princess told us that you have experience our Royal Guard don’t.” From the pegasus’ voice, it was clear she thought that claim was utterly facetious.
“Have your soldiers faced a horde of completely fanatic murderers, most of them better armed than them?” he spat back. “Have they gone against wildlife so deadly going within a hundred yards is suicide? Do they know how to use weapons designed to punch through half a foot of solid steel?” Thomas could feel Veronica’s eyes on the back of his head, knowing she was frowning at his exaggerations. “I’ve fought monsters who used children as suicide bombers, and wiped out towns for fun. I have experience your military never will. And the only way I survived was in armour that makes the stuff your soldiers have look like tin foil.”
The response to that was overwhelming silence. “Way to freak them out, jerk,” Veronica said, slapping him in the back of the head as she stepped forwards. “Ignore this idiot,” she called out to the crowd, pulling off her helmet.
“W-was he telling the truth?”
“He was exaggerating, but for the most part... yeah. He really did wipe out the upper command of those ‘fanatic murderers’ by himself, too” she air-quoted.
“Actually, I had help.”
“Oh, right, Boone.” The power-armoured woman turned to her black friend. “What’s he up to?”
“Back with 1st Recon,” he replied.
“Uh...”
Thomas turned back to the reporters, who were now staring at the pair in shock. “Right, sorry, got distracted. Uh, you there, at the back,” he said, pointing at the minotaur.
“Thank you,” he said, standing up. “What is your opinion on the Diamond Dog forces? Do you feel that the Equestrian military is capable of winning this war?”
“Honestly, I have no idea. The Dogs are strong, probably the toughest thing I’ve faced that wasn’t an animal. As for you ponies... Honestly?” he asked. “Without the griffons, I think you’d be in over your heads.”
The response was everyone shouting in disagreement. “Why do you feel that way!?” one voice, louder than the others, called.
“Because your army is - ” He spun around, raising his arms to cover his face. Just in time, too, because that quick action saved his life, the crossbow bolt meant to end him instead going through his right arm. “MOTHERFUCKER! VERONICA!” he shouted.
The Scribe had acted the even before the first syllable had left his mouth, sprinting for one of the open windows. The lone grey-coated pegasus hovering there, a crossbow in his hooves, only stared in shock as the power-armoured woman managed to somehow jump the fifteen feet from the window ledge with ease. “Oh shit!” she cried as she wrapped her arms around the stallion, bringing them both crashing fifty feet down into a shrubbery.
“My wing...” he moaned.
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever done,” Veronica muttered as she picked herself up. “And I slept with Cass.”
“Veronica! You okay!?” She looked up to see Thomas looking out the window, yelling down at her.
“I just jumped out a damn window, what do you think!?” she yelled back. “What about you!? You got shot in the arm!”
“One second!” He turned back to the shocked crowd and made his way back to the stage, dripping blood the whole time. “I’m afraid we have to cut this short,” he said diplomatically. “Sorry about that.” He walked back to the window. “It fucking hurts, but I’ve had worse!”
“Now hold still,” the nurse told him. “The last thing you want to do is make it worse.” The moment the white earth pony turned around, she heard a cry of pain. “Or you could be like the griffons and completely ignore every word I say,” she muttered through her teeth.
“I’ve had two holes in my skull,” Thomas replied, looking at the freshly-removed bolt. “And this isn’t the first time I’ve been shot, either.”
“Regardless of your experience on the matter, it is my job to make sure you are okay.” The nurse grabbed a roll of bandages. “Now stay still or I will go and collect some volunteers to hold you still.”
Thomas complied, holding out his arm to give the mare easy access to his wound. “I’ve treated myself for worse, you know.”
“There is a difference between field first aid and actual medical attention,” the nurse said tersely. “You don’t know how lucky you are that it went right through, you know.”
“I have two holes in my arm, how is that lucky?”
“Because it missed the bone. No telling how much damage that could have done.”
It was only five minutes later that he emerged from the nurse’s office, a bandage now covering the damage. “Need a drink?” Veronica asked, holding out a bottle of whiskey.
“Thanks.” Thomas gladly took the bottle and drunk from it briefly. “Find out anything about the pegasus that shot me?”
“Never imagined I’d ever hear you say anything like that,” the Scribe commented with a smile. “Anyway, that pony thought you were some demon trying to enslave Equestria or something.”
The man stared at her. “And he thought a bit of steel would stop a demon?”
“I don’t know how crazy people think,” Veronica replied loudly.
“Okay, okay,” Thomas chuckled. “How’d he even fire the crossbow, anyway?”
“It was modified,” Grimfeather replied, landing next to them.
“Way to get yourself shot,” Dom called out snidely, a smirk on the skinless face.
“Modified? How?”
“The model of bow your assailant used is a minotaur design,” the griffon explained. “The only way a pony could use it with hooves was if the trigger and grip were modified to be more hoof-friendly.” He turned to the black man, who had listened patiently. “Someone wants you dead, it seems.”
“Not the first time,” Thomas shrugged calmly.
“What do you mean, everything went to Tartarus!?”
“Exactly what he said, sir,” Clarion Call panted. The grey stallion stood there stoically, but it was very clear that he was in pain.
“There must’ve been at least eighty of them, sir. All heavily armed, all waiting for us.” Frost Lance wheezed as he rubbed at his barrel One of his armour plates had been badly damaged, and the bent metal had gouged into him.
“No civvies, though,” Firebolt added. His face was a mix of blues and blacks, so much so that it hid a lot of his actual crimson coat. “We’re lucky we got out at all.”
“You three are among the best trained soldiers Equestria has seen since the time of Nightmare Moon. Your armour is like nothing seen on this world. How did this happen!?” Shining asked loudly.
“There were three Diamond Dogs down there with magic. Magic, sir,” Clarion repeated.
“Why do you think it looks like I got hit by a train?” Firebolt asked, pointing at his face.
“One of them threw half a boulder at me,” Forst Lance added.
Shining just gaped. “Oh, this is bad.”
Magic Diamonds Dogs ? OP
1946663
The way I see it, they live underground. Explosives are necessary for mining. Geomancy is just expected.
1946667 SUddenly 2m Tall Diamond Dogs Than Rip You In Half And Have Magic
Well, thank you very much for updating.
1946667 Sense has been made.
Okay. Yeah. Let's put a deathclaw in power armor with tesla cannons, too.
Magic Diamond dogs? Meh, the Anti-Material Rifle with Explosive rounds can take them out nice and messy. Wait, does Thomas even have that gun on him?
That would be seriously fucking awesome. I can see it now... Deathclaw In Equestria! A vicious predator, lethal like none other, gets caught in the spatial rend produced by some pesky human device. The split in timespace not only sends the deathclaw to Rquestria, but makes him sentient and strangely attractive while he is there. Oh, and he's got a pair of massive Tesla cannons strapped to his shoulders at all times...
Yep. I'd totally read that.
On more related notes, good chapter if short. It did seem rather fast paced for what it covered.
Erts er cernsperecer!
1946872 that thought makes me shudder x) but we could finally find out if AJ could knock it out if it wore a suit of T51 ;D
Well, at least it wasn't an omake. Tzeentch knows what I would have done if that were the case.
Firstly,
1946872
If that happens, it would have to not be in the main story.
Second, 'Do I feel like keeping you waiting? No.'
Let's hope dem dogs dun have Diamond swords.
Magic toting Diamond Dogs??
Shit, I'd like to introduce you to Fan.
Needs a full stop.
1946667
Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if that were canon. That could explain super fast tunneling speed.
Dang it, the Hellhounds have struck!
dude, its a world were magic is real. of course a subterranean race would develop geomancy. its like moles developing those weird star tentacle nose thingies. Evolution.
Odd place to stop the story, to be honest.
Good to see Thomas back
Anyways nice chapter and it'll be nice to see how Thomas deals with magic/radiation using diamond dogs
Geomancy. Should have seen that coming. To be more specific, Celestia should have seen that coming: "Oops, sorry Shinning Armor. I forgot to tell you that the Diamond Dogs have this tendency to use the very earth itself to magically crush all who stand in their way."
Meh.
also, can you have them talk the nutty pegasus down? I kinda wanna see that!
1946663 Sounds like the Hexhounds from FOE: Outlaw.
Get Boone and this whole mess will be over in a day, also silly pony thought Thomas was a daemon.
And this is why I sided with the Yes Man. Diamond Dogs? Army of robots with laser gatling guns, grenades, and racks of rockets. Down, boy.
1947826
fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/316/f/9/yes_man_by_w3etiki-d32o61m.jpg
Assassination attempts? Suddenly the story is picking up again. Now I want to know more about this crazy conspiracy theorist guy.
Didn't Thomas have like all possible augmentations and thus the arrow would do nothing against his bones because of the adamantium skeleton?
With that even if they shot him in the hearth it wouldn't do anything because its a hunk of metal, would be funny seeing them shooting a crossbow bolt at his head and then it bounces off because he doesn't have a brain but a piece of metal in there.
static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Fallout_7f5468_1542038.jpg
Ok, so there's three dogs with magic. Against what, half the army being unicorns? I don't see this as a problem, just unexpected and ponies are highly adaptable. If anyone has to worry, it's our three bloodthirsty humans (well, one used to be human). I don't care how badass and magic-proof you think you are, a prepared enemy with magic and a devious mind can mess your whole world up. (Whoops, your ammo just detonated itself in your weapon. Cave ins. Magic floor vanished over a deep pit and then a cave in on top. The air around you turned into something bad like fire or sulfurous gas and so on)
I liked it
The opposition forces keep mounting,
Looking forward to more.
That chapter was fine it was worth the wait. And god Thomas can take a hit you really can interrupt a Lv 50 uber courier. Good chapter I was so happy when I saw a new chap the wait was killing me.
1947805 Daemons?
navdi.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/csm.jpeg
*Frost
I read that twice, and several comments, before that caught my eye. I'm kinda surprised that no one else did.
Firstl I gotta say, It wasn't that bad. Could be better, but not bad. Second addressing the omakes, why do people complain about them? The omakes are pretty cool. It would be awesome if you were to make it a seperate story. But finish this first m'kay?
Who hasn't? *Watches as one person raises his hand, only to be grabbed by the collar and dragged away by Cass.*
*Snerk* Veronica with Cass. You know, the one thing I don't like about first person RPGs is a lack of large parties. Party interaction can be so awesome, it was half the fun of playing through Baldur's Gate 2 multiple times. While not the same, I need to find a mod for NV that allows you to have all the companions following you at once...just so I can run around with the most badass posse in the Mojave...and to see how long it takes the AI to rack up a total party kill due to friendly fire.
1950718 I think you mean: 1.bp.blogspot.com/-OxnB2Z7zAt8/T154a8xeaFI/AAAAAAAAAYg/WmNaFk6NjzM/s1600/northernlights-phillip-pullman.jpg Daemons?
1944864Huh, didn't know that. Probably because I don't play Fallout.
2030055 well then the fuck are you doing here? go buy fallout new vegas. everything will become so much clearer
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever done,” Veronica muttered as she picked herself up. “And I slept with Cass.”
*eyes slowly spread apart* also go to YouTube and type in alchestbreach its my YouTube channel and I feel sorry for Veronica she probably has crabs or something like cass was just awful not as bad as willow but pretty bad mmdjfnjf shut the fuck up cass also does that mean Veronica's a lesbian
Nice to see Boone got on with his life. His story arc was one of my favorites.
I hope Thomas makes an example of that stupid pegasus right infront of the press. That would get the point across to the enemy quite clearly.