Ponies Versus Starcraft

by ambion

Rarity vs Information

It was not a practical time for a letter to arrive, but arrive it did, materializing out of warp travel with nary a pop nor poof to announce it. It was rolled up tight and tied with a red ribbon. It hit the ground with the slightest crunching of starchy paper, where it waited innocently until a passing zealot spotted the now familiar curiosities that occasionally appeared and brought it promptly to Rarity.

It served at the very least to distract her from worry for a moment. Nightfall was nearly upon them, and neither of the two patrols she had dispatched from her earlier excursion had yet returned. She had nothing else to do but fret and watch the two photon cannons in transit, for the moment nothing more than curious and mindmelting distortions of spacetime swirling inexplicably inwards and outwards simultaniously.

Rarity neatly untied the ribbon, unrolled the crinkled paper and opened it. She tried to read it by the light that emerged, dizzy and confused, from the unfathomable infinite, but found it rather dim, so Rarity stepped cloeser to the cannon-in-transit and angled the letter the best she could to catch the glow. She had to smile; despite all the technology at their disposal, Twilight still insisted upon writing letters. For as long as they’d been apart, one gone exploring and the other minding the settlement, these had arrived with punctuality, the only moments of anticipation and delight in days as long and empty as the barren expanse of this world.

Tonight looked like it might be the first where Rarity did not take a delightfully excessive amount of time in reading and rereading Twilight’s words, taking care and finding some pleasure in articulating her own responses. Rarity glanced about eagerly. Still no sign of any returning warriors. She might not be able to reply at all tonight, she realized.

Dear Rarity,

We have travelled another two hundred fifty two hundred sixty three kilometres today, putting us only a day or two from the coastline of this continent. The observer has already ranged ahead and scanned every conceivable aspect of it, and a band of volunteers also checked via the warp prism. They say it’s as barren as everything else, the water is far too briney for anything to survive in, I wouldn’t even be able to swim in it safely, but I look forward to it. If only for a change in scenery.

It’s disconcerting, Rarity, how empty hollow devoid this world is. Does that make it safer? Maybe. I never thought before that knowing there was absolutly nothing out there to worry about would make it harder to sleep at night, but it does. Just reread that sentence. I made the sleeping thing sound much worse than it is, really, it’s not a problem at all.

Okay, just reread that bit too. Only made it sound even worse, and it’d be terrible to upset you over me being silly. Or for me to worry that I had worried you into worrying about me worrying about you. Right - the sleeping thing is a very small problem, but nothing a few minutes company with you and a hairbrush couldn’t fix. That’s better. Just seeing the shore will be a relief, that’s when we’ll turn back and head for home. I hope you’re well, and I’ll see you soon.

- Twilight Sparkle

Rarity reread the letter, then did so again. She did not let her mounting anxiety show as she refastened the pretty red ribbon, did not frown or fret as she gave it to Probey Wobey to set in her bedroom drawer with the neat row of other such letters.

A zealot rapped on her door with the delicate sensibility she had taught her fearless warriors. “Miss Rarity,” the soft voice requested telepathically.

“Yes, I’m here.”

“Both patrols have been spotted, they’ll be here soon.”

The mare smiled and sighed her relief. Just the zealots being, well, overly zealous again. She’d give them a gentle reminder about punctuality and be happy to leave it at that. “Very good. I’ll be out to see them ever so shortly.”

Night had fallen, but she felt fresh faced (in no small part thanks to the quick touchup she made to her appearance) as she went out to see the returning warriors. One walked oddly, shunting one leg forward, dragging the other, making for a sillohuette that went tall and skinny then short and squat, switching between the two rhytmically. He had not asked for aid from his allies, nor had they offered it. It was this one Rarity watched as another stepped forwards to report.

“The creep extends for as many miles as we could travel, with no signs of ending.” He knelt, and carved a symbol in the glass ground, like a size twelve ‘X’ trying on a size eight square. Rarity presumed this was a crude depiction of their central nexus. “The edge of the growth seems to be slightly concave, for now.” His psi blade hissed and spat as it scored a gently bending gash, marking the edge. Its curve was centred around themselves, quite naturally.

That could be no good at all, but Rarity dismissed it for the moment. “And what happened to you, good sir?” she asked the wounded zealot.

He nodded without pain. “we encountered a lone mutalisk, presumeably partrolling much like we were. It gave us chase for some time, then fell back.” The warrior’s head hung low. “I am ashamed that I could not have faced the flyer in true battle. There will be no honour for me in this scar.”

“It retreated?” she mused, but quickly forgot that with the more immediate concern of the zealot. “Let me see that, please,” she asked, still keeping her tone terse and formal. It was, after all, what they seemed to expect.

It was not all that bad, considering what it might have been. The zealot’s failing shields had still had the strength to deflect the attack, for the most part. The excess of force and sharp edges that had slipped through had pelted his leg with shrapnel however, some of the nasty little bits of it were likely still embedded under the skin. Even presuming the zealot was too gruff for pain, it must have, if nothing else, itched something fiercely. Either way, Rarity wasn’t liking how nobody showed the slightest interest in amending this. On the spur of the moment, she decided that she’d fix their lack of inclination to fixing things.

“Well,” she said, strutting between those gathered. “If there’s been no other encounter, then one should hope we are not in any immediate danger from zerg...ickyness. That said, I’m told our cannons won’t be properly here until morning, with the additional one being sent to our, ahem, ‘natural’ taking a few hours longer. If there’s any assault there whatsoever, the probes are to retreat to here, cannon or no. Otherwise, we continue as we’ve been doing.” She tapped her chin for a moment. “Probey!” she called, the little shining thing came hovering along. “Queue up an observer, would you? You,” she said, singling out the wounded zealot, “You come with me. I’ll see if I can’t do something for that scrape.”

“But...honour-” he began, but she had been expecting this, and turned on him with a viciously innocent smile.

“Dear,” she began, “didn’t I hear you say there wasn’t any of that silly- I mean any honour about that particular injury?”

“Well-”

“Then surely you can allow me, your lady executor, to have a little peek at it, or shall I have to command it?” she said, still entirely sweet, fluttering her eyelashes daintily.”

“-”

“Splendid, darling, absolutly spendid. Now come along.”

Half an hour and several dozen pitiful telepathic moans later, the zealot was released from Rarity’s care. She had already admonished him for being a big baby about the whole thing; nobody calling themselves a ‘warrior’ should gibber at tweezers like that, or yelp and hide away from antiseptic cream, or whimper as the the bandaid was applied.

"I won't tell anyone," she assured him.

Rarity paused as she wrote all of it down into her letter to Twilight, sparing none of the juicy details. Well, okay, the bandaid whimpering she could sympathise with. The little sticky thing was, after all, a gauche hot pink, which conflicted just horribly with every conceivable colour scheme here.

Oh, and she’d have to mention that other little thing about zerg being present, advancing inch by slimey inch, on this supposeadly empty world, wouldn't she? That was something Twilight would probably like to know, too.

Author's Note:

Less silly and more plot advancing than the average chapter.

I know, PvSC has a plot now? I'm as surprised as anyone.

Comments

[Smirkythread]

That was always something I just plain didn't like about the protoss, absolutely no healing building or units. There were shields of course though so can't really complain.

There is nothing sweeter than allying with a Terran and getting medics though.

[Chalice Longshot]

Good plot. keep it up. I think I know where this is going though.

[RedvsBlue327]

I for one approve this arc.