Frames of War

by Starscribe

Chapter 11: Disbelief

Catlin made the trip to see Princess Celestia within her Warframe. It wasn't just that she didn't want the pressure of needing to talk too much, though that was certainly part of it. It was also difficult to ignore just how strangely the locals looked at her. She wasn't naked anymore, and that was something—but she was also a strange alien, on a day strange aliens had killed thousands and begun to unravel their entire civilization. Luna didn't seem to care, though she glanced vaguely in Catlin's direction every few minutes to see if the situation had changed.

The castle was in even worse shape than when she'd fled from within, but that wasn't surprising. A handful of infested had made it over the walls, particularly the flying tribe. There were cleanup crews in the courtyard now, and a growing bonfire of infested flesh. She admired whoever had come up with that particular idea, even if she hadn't mentioned it. That would deny the infestation biomass, if somehow it retook the castle.

Where they passed, ponies quieted to whispers, sometimes even bowing. Sometimes she couldn't tell which of them they gave their respect.

"The monster held the gate on her own," someone whispered.

"No way. The guards must be telling stories."

Catlin didn't care who they thought did what—a large number of locals had lived through the night. Let them invent their own stories for how. The princess could spin the whole thing to her advantage, and further secure her rule. It didn't matter—it wasn't as though Catlin planned on sticking around. As soon as I find a transmitter, I can tell Ordis where I am, and get the hell out of here. Maybe the locals would want to join the wider system, assisting with the Tenno cause of liberation. Maybe they'd just want to be left alone—that was their choice, not hers.

They went all the way to the top of the castle, climbing stair after stair. The sun glowed bright orange in the windows as she climbed, freshly risen. Her frame watched it as they walked, finding the simple act of sunrise comforting for some reason.

Eventually they reached a tower room of white stone, with huge windows running along every side. Narrow stone pillars held up the ceiling, the only thing restricting the sunlight outside. There were curtains too, but all were tied back, exposing the dreadful reality of Canterlot. Buildings burned, and a creeping brown biomass coated whole sections of the city. Down below it collected into a writhing boil, worse than anything that had grown outside Cetus. Lotus, what can kill something like that?

But her mother didn't answer. She hadn't answered for a long time.

"Elder sister, I have her with me. The creature you wished to see."

There was a single pony in the tower, reclining in a line of oversized cushions. She stood as Catlin approached, towering over both of them. Compared to her, even the graceful goddess beside Catlin seemed drab and plain.

Her body was pearlescent white, with a shimmer that caught the sun a different color from every angle. Her mane flowed with brilliant orange and yellows, matching the sunrise outside almost perfectly. Her eyes were embers, burning with the void as few beings she had ever seen.

Her frame wanted to bow again. This time, Catlin stepped sideways, manifesting again as she had done before. It didn't hurt, and she wasn't naked again. That let the horse-shaped frame drop into a bow before this being, while she maintained her dignity. Catlin shifted in her interlocking gold and white armor, colors that would've seemed perfectly at home up here. In this tower, she could almost see a hint of the Orokin's ancient craftsmanship.

This pony didn't react with confusion, as so many others before her. She came alert, her horn glowing suddenly. She rose from the cushions, backing away. "Tenno, here?"

Luna turned, staring at her sister. "Is something the matter, dear sister? This is the hero who begged for our trust, the one who defended the castle by her own hooves. Without her, the contagion would have consumed all. Or perhaps... they both defended us? I am not confident in the details."

The other Alicorn was so big, even with Catlin on two legs. Her sister was bad enough, but this made her feel downright puny. She was shaped more or less the same as the local creatures, though there was a subtle, dangerous edge to her, one that was difficult to put into words. Like she might be about to catch on fire at a moment's notice. She advanced on her, and each hoof step felt like it might knock over the tower. On her, not the frame. Those prey-eyes couldn't both face her at the same time either, she was only looking at one half of her face at a time.

"You don't know these creatures, sister. We're blessed to live in a world that never knew them, that never had to suffer from their touch, or the masters who sent them." Her horn began to glow even brighter, radiating crackling energy from the tip. Even after holding up a shield all day, and having it collapse, she was still standing. Catlin could feel just how empty this being was, yet the feeble morsel of power that remained to her was still enough to wipe away Catlin with hardly a thought.

Is this your equal, Man in the Walls? she thought. Is she your sister as well?

"If she fought to protect us, it was only because some evil master on a distant star commanded her. She has no will of her own, no heart. They're worse than slaves, perpetrators of a genocide against the ancients beyond your imagination."

Her heart nearly stopped beating. I just went through this! Only unlike the judgement with Luna, this pony somehow knew. She might be the first real source of information Catlin had found since waking up on this stupid planet, and she wanted her dead.

She hadn't killed one of the Grineer queens by her own hands to cower now. She hadn't freed Harrow, or slain the Eidolons in their mindless reanimation. Catlin would not bow to powers greater than herself, no matter how confident they sounded.

Catlin ripped off her helmet, tossing it onto the ground at her feet. The clattering metal echoed through the hall, loud enough that both creatures turned to stare. One with anger, one just confused. Luna obviously trusted her sister, yet this information was in such conflict with what she had just seen, she was having trouble accepting it.

"I'm no one's slave, alien. I was. The Orokin controlled all of us, every one of my brothers and sisters." She lifted the amp in one hand, focusing her will into a steady glow of void-light. "We killed them. We left their palaces in ashes, their Dax impaled on their swords. We turned their towers into smoldering ruins in the void, and took vengeance for every innocent they ever killed. The Golden Skymen are dead."

Not all of them, of course. She had met a few now—a single family on Deimos, a preserved mind trapped aboard her orbiter in a prison of glass. And there were a few with Orokin blood who lived on, like Alad V, or the other queen. It wasn't blind genocide.

The sun princess seemed taken aback by her sudden reaction—or maybe it was just that she had a face. "You're alive?" Celestia gasped. Had she even heard a word she said? "Not the malignant spirits that possess the bodies of... innocent creatures." She glanced once at the frame, which cowered in her presence. That creature held so still in Celestia's presence she could've mistaken her for an ordinary Warframe made of machine and steel, not an infested soul with a mind of their own.

"As much as you," she shot back. "Or anyone else here. I won't defend the Orokin—and I won't deny what they made us do. All that stuff is right—except it's not true anymore. We were slaves, but now we're not." And the one who freed us is leading the invasion force wiping out biological life in the system. One day she would probably have to hold that blade, too.

"They defended the castle," Princess Luna said again, recovering. Her sister's surprise was enough to startle her back to reality, it seemed. "If she was here in service to some evil master, she wouldn't have needed to lift a hoof. The archeologists say she is the only reason they escaped the ruins with their lives. She fought for them, too. Why would a being of evil do this? Surely inaction would accomplish the greatest darkness in Canterlot."

"You knew I was Tenno," Catlin said. "But you didn't know I was alive. I thought no one knew our secret except the Orokin themselves—that was why our mother concealed us in the Void for so long. What did you think I would be?"

Celestia was silent for another few seconds, expression still stunned. She glanced from Luna to Catlin and back again, biting her lip. "You speak so boldly... yet I see the pragmatism of pursuing a simple goal, sister. You say the defense was successful?"

The other Alicorn nodded. "The enemy assaulted with great force, but retreated when we did not break. This seemed strange, they were behaving with such animal rage, I did not even think they could retreat. I suspect they must have a leader. What I do not know is how we could possibly sterilize the city. Biomass of all kinds has been converted. Even small wounds appear sufficient to spread the infestation to a healthy creature. We will need to purge even the smallest traces to make the city inhabitable again."

"There is a way." Celestia turned her back on them both, walking to the window. She stared out at the festering mass, expression becoming even more pained than before. "Twilight is working on a spell now, using a variation of the one her brother used during the invasion. It should burn away the infestation once cast, but it won't work if there is another will opposing it." She tapped one hoof on the glass. "That force has a mind of its own, and the magic of the ponies it has killed. We will need to destroy it before my apprentice can cast her spell."

"I will go," Luna said, without hesitation. "And if she is willing, the Tenno can accompany me. We will slay it together."

Catlin opened her mouth to agree, but Celestia was faster. "Not quite yet. We have a little time—the enemy will need to recover from this loss. We will use this time to recover a weapon, and test the truth of this creature's claims. I will not send my younger sister into danger with a knife hovering behind her neck, ready to strike."

"Test all you wish," Catlin said. "But one more thing you might consider... I have allies who could help you. The Tenno support all free colonies in the Origin system. Even this one of... whatever you people are. We have ships. My Orbiter could bombard that pustule from orbit. I have two dozen Warframes aboard, enough weapons to outfit every soldier in this castle, and more. Please, let me call for help. You shouldn't face this invasion alone."

She could not promise the intervention of her clan, of the dozens of Tenno who might've answered her call at any other time. The Sentients were invading the Origin system as they spoke. Every soldier brave enough to hold a weapon was already deployed. But Ordis would come, and maybe that would be enough.

Celestia shook her head once. "You are or were the greatest enemy we've ever known, Tenno. We cannot trust you not to bring down a greater terror down on Equestria." She took another step towards Catlin. "Beneath this castle is an ancient weapon, left here before Equestria was founded in the dark days of cold. Will you submit to its judgement?"

"Yes," she said. Maybe she should've argued more intently. "But do it quickly. Your city doesn't have time to waste questioning my loyalty."

Comments

[Venerable Ro]

Fantastic description of Celestia, I'm on the edge of my seat here.

[Nephilinae]

*teralyst noises*

[Raistlin]

11494801

I like more how, unlike most protagonists, Catlin is standing her ground in front of the two physical goddesses. As expected from someone how has endured the worst the universe could throw at her, and then some more.

[Ninjab33z]

By the sounds of things I feel like celestia should be more surprised by caitlyn manifesting. She's only fought the frames and hearing that the tenno themselves are both child soldiers and slaves, I feel like that make her at least a *little* more compassionate. Maybe not less cautious but at least more polite and less hostile.

That being said, I am loving the story. Especially the 2 main characters.

[FOXTrot2]

Finally! Somebody who knows.

[minibox]

Catlin's taking none of it today. Understandable given the stakes. She wants this test to be done with already. There's more infested to kill.

[Curious Emerald]

11494801
Sounded more like Dawn Breaker though... Troubling.

I'm also very interested in this about Twilights brother's spell. I don't recall them casting anything in particular in the show.

[Venerable Ro]

11495092

Well she is just a little bit stressed right now, temper's running high, you know how it is.

As to Shining's spell, pretty sure they're talking about that yomping great shield spell from the Wedding.

[Warrior Kitten]

That's not Celestia... Or at least, not the version we know so well...

[Teraunce]

you have thoroughly got my attention and I've never played Warframe because it's a pay to win monetization fest.

[HF Fury]

11495365
How so? You can earn everything that actually affects gameplay just by playing at a decent pace (as opposed to almost anything that's a MMO or from EA and Activision). There's so many options people tend to just farm the items they want and trade out what they don't like (this is how most get the elite currency) as almost every Frame and weapon has one or more metas or fun play styles. You can even stop playing for a year or two and comeback without any issue since the missions will teach you the updates and provide necessary equipment (I've done this a few times >_>) . The only people I know that buy frames and equipment are the ones that take a break but still want to get the new stuff or just want to support the company when they can farm it out with just a few game sessions instead. Also their buyable cosmetics are handled right; colors permanently unlocked in huge palettes (sometimes free for seasonal and special events) and 3d artists setup fan-made skins that the company sells for them in game. With the exception of the daily login weapons that show up about once a year you can get a schematic with in-game currency to farm the materials to make and it doesn't take that long although prime weapons and equipment either take longer or require trading. I personally still have a ton of FiM character themed builds which for some of the Frames is the only reason I got them as they are really fun to play that way (ironically there's a Frame named Octavia who's abilities and appearance I run as a Vinyl based build). Considering it's free to jump in spending a little bit to start the build you want to enjoy and just farming out everything else isn't that big a hit on monetization especially if you have any friends that play it.
TLDR : There is no pay to win there's just pay to not play

[FanOfMostEverything]

Her mane flowed with brilliant orange and yellows, matching the sunrise outside almost perfectly. Her eyes were embers, burning with the void as few beings she had ever seen.

Oh dear. These are not good signs in a Celestia.

Ah, a distrustful Celestia dealing with long-buried trauma that’s been triggered by the protagonist’s mere existence. A key part of the Starscribe drinking game. As Catlin said, I hope they can get through this quickly. No telling how much time they actually have.

[M127]

Beneath this castle is an ancient weapon, left here before Equestria was founded in the dark days of cold. Will you submit to its judgement?

Sounds similar to Hunhow.