Days of Wasp and Spider
by Luna-tic Scientist
=== Chapter 28 (remastered): Ask me for anything but time ===
There was blood everywhere. Gravity stared, mesmerised by the fine layer of red that coated everything in a one length circle about the young stallion. There was no cauterisation at all; the laser used a rapid string of nanosecond pulses, each explosively vaporising a tiny patch of flesh and blowing a hoof-wide hole to let the next pulse through. In a microsecond that beam had cut a channel from the underside of one flank to the middle of Lilac's back, just in front of his hips.
The shock only lasted a moment, pushed aside by anger, self recrimination, and the desperate need to do something. Accidents were a fact of life for any pony working in heavy industry, and Gravity had vicariously experienced the actions of many pony heroes stored in the learning centre's crystal archive. Most were of disasters and how the actions of a pony could save lives and protect property, but all emphasised the need for speed. Casting around, her gaze alighted on one of the ubiquitous emergency kits; a flash of magic and it was open and by her side, the contents a confusing jumble of bags and spray cans. This was a kit designed for Masters to use and had instructions in a language she'd not been taught, but the pictograms were clear enough. She'd even received the standard medic courses -- actually having to do it all by herself, though...
Lilac was still under the grips of the Blessing, back arcing and near featherless wings jerking, as the spell reacted to his guilt. Gravity dropped the kit into the spreading pool of blood, equipment and tools for broken limbs, electrical burns or poisoning flicking out and away as she sought the items she needed. Magic closing on the large injury pack, her gaze flicked back to Lilac, trying to decide where to start. What she saw made her heart sink further; only the front half of his body was being afflicted by Punishment. His back legs lay perfectly still, the pale fur dappled with a fine mist of atomised blood.
Gravity picked up a can of trauma spray, the thing looking hopelessly inadequate for the amount of damage, pointed the nozzle into the wound and held the trigger down. Why couldn't I have specialised in healing? she thought, ears folding flat as Lilac gasped and squirmed when she added to his pain by opening the wound channel to get the liquid as deep as possible. His breathing slowed, whimpers dying away, iron-hard muscles relaxing as the anaesthetic part of the spray took hold.
The drugs must have broken the hold the spell had over him, because he stared up at Gravity with frightened eyes, a faint purple glow flickering over his horn. “Tell my Master I'm sorry, but I can’t fix it,” he said miserably, voice faltering, “I don’t know how.”
The mare opened her mouth to say something comforting, but words failed her. Lilac needed a skilled pony medic, preferably a team, working on him night and day. Nothing immediately critical had been hit -- heart, lungs and major blood vessels were all undamaged by the laser strike -- but his back was broken, and there was no way you could poke a hole right through somepony without going through a whole load of gut. “We’ll sort something out, just hang in there,” she said huskily.
Something stabbed at the back of her head, a surge of other magic. Her telekinesis fluctuated, causing the near empty can to crumple in her grip. Shaking her head, Gravity pushed the invading presence away and focused on the next step in the process. A pair of white pads, fat square things with inner surfaces that glittered with a carpet of tiny, needle-like crystals when the protective casing was removed. Gravity's control slipped again when the other returned, bringing with it a cluster of invisible tendrils that seemed to grow up her spine towards her head.
She didn't recognise the spell, but it was obvious that the Security ponies had moved at least one of their number in close enough to act as a spotter and conduit through the open radiation lock door. The magic seemed to be trying to plug into her nervous system and, for a moment, Gravity was reminded of the Blessing. Whatever it was she'd left it too long and it had become established; little flashes of sensation crawled over her skin, rapidly turning to fiery needles that burrowed into her flesh. Fine control vanished and the medic patches slipped from her grasp to lie uselessly on Lilac's flank.
Gravity could feel Lilac's life slipping away; the trauma spray had bought him vital seconds, but wasn't a sole treatment for this level of injury. The decision was agony. Spending the time to remove the spell and prevent further interruptions would save her, but almost certainly doom this youngster.
===
Korn crouched by the wall, watching the tableau. The blue servitor was trying to provide aid for the young stallion, but something was obviously wrong. This one must keep the servitor's good will, he thought, the image of what had happened to the Security trooper burned in his mind. "Let Korn help," he said, voice sounding faint and muffled to his own ears. Beside him, the police officer hissed something urgent sounding, but Korn ignored him and got unsteadily to his knees.
“Do it,” the pony said, swaying as if drunk, then walked with increasing confidence towards the radiation lock. The creature had not escaped the firefight unscathed; burns and minor wounds dotted her body, blood flowing freely from a few of them. Her expression was still determined, though, and the burning light from her horn was painful to look at. Almost to the lock entrance she paused, as if thinking of something for the first time, her head swinging around to stare at the other two People.
If she’d looked fierce before, now all Korn could see was anger. Her eyes had lost their teal colour, filming over with a pure, radiant white. There was a sensation like standing next to a power transformer, and Korn remembered what had happened the last time he’d seen a pony with eyes like that.
"I will be back, have no doubt,” she said, an almost electronic distortion creeping over the normally melodic servitor tones, then stalked from the room.
Korn stared after her for a moment, then ran over to the stallion's side. He'd never encountered the creature before -- no doubt it was one of hundreds subjected to various levels of research, part of a program trying to unpick exactly what the Creation Stones had done to the original species -- but that was hardly important.
“I’m sorry to cause so much trouble, Master,” the pony said, staring at Korn with hopeless eyes. “I tried to stop the thing, but my magic--“ The words cut off as its jaw locked solid, breath coming in a pained gasp.
Korn winced. This was the biggest problem with the Blessing, the tendency for a servitor to get itself into such a state that it became self-destructive. It was especially an issue with young ones that lacked the perspective of working with the People. This servitor had probably been separated from its kin at a relatively early age and had lived in a laboratory stable since then, all to minimise environmental variables. Carefully instructed and never having had to deal with conflicting orders or People that didn’t have its best interests at heart.
With one paw he held the magically active pad against the gaping wound, running the other around the rim to activate the enchantments within it. The thing glowed a deep red, seeming to sink through the fur as it welded itself to the servitor’s flesh. Korn kept one eye on it -- they were only supposed to be for use on the People, but if Gravity came back and found the stallion dead... He placed his paws on either side of the youngster’s muzzle, forcing it to look him in the eyes.
“Does this one accept Korn as its Master?” he said, putting as much authority into the words as he could muster, then cursed inside at the tremor in his tone. Beneath his paws he could feel the jaw muscles bunching and relaxing, the big green eyes darting from side to side as if trying to escape.
“I-I-“
The pain in the voice was obvious; intense enough that the drugs in the trauma spray were not suppressing it completely. Korn’s tone became stronger, more assertive -- the so-called ‘voice of command’ taught to those who dealt with servitors on a daily basis. The creature has no communicator, Korn has to sound like he’s in charge, he reminded himself. “This one is Student Korn of the Anomalous Physics Institute. This one is assuming command of the servitor for the duration of this emergency. Does the pony acknowledge temporary transfer of ownership?” he demanded.
The muscles of the young stallion’s head relaxed and he gave a long tremulous sigh. “Yes, Master. What are your orders?” He almost seemed happy.
Korn gave his own sigh, then let his paws drop, picking up the other active bandage and stripping off the protective backing. “The pony is not at fault for any of these events, all of this was outside its experience and skill set.” The stallion nodded gratefully, an adoring look in his eyes. There was a grunting noise from somewhere behind Korn, the sound of someone repeatedly trying to lift something heavy, but he ignored it, intent on making sure the servitor had the best possible chance. ”The pony is ordered to carry out as much healing magic as it can, while this one applies first aid.”
The stallion -- Lilac, Gravity had called it -- nodded reflexively, then gasped at the sudden shriek of metal against stone. Korn looked over his shoulder in time to see the police officer stand up, the spike that had pinned him to the ground clutched in his paws. He was still manacled to the pole, but there was enough play in the joint for him to hold it as a weapon. He started, jumping to his paws. How in the Maker's name did Largorth get free? he thought, then realised Gravity had made a mistake. The floor of the beam chamber was a relatively thin skin sitting on vibration damping supports, and not the heavy concrete she'd obviously thought it was.
“What does the Officer think he’s doing?” Korn said, casting a nervous glance at the radiation lock, where the irregular flicker of violet light was suddenly overwhelmed by a bright flash. Out in the corridor something screamed, in rage or pain, Korn couldn’t tell.
===
The spell was aggressive and insidious, sending spurious signals through her nerves as it climbed up her spine and towards her brain. Gravity staggered into the radiation lock, turning her shadow sight inwards as she unpicked the enchantment. The thing was highly redundant and the other ponies worked to rebuild it as fast as she tore it down; it would have been easy if she hadn’t let it take root, but the weird sensations were making it difficult to concentrate. A tide of pain rolled through her withers and rippled up her neck; with an unexpected surge the magic reached her brain stem and her breathing shuddered to a halt, lungs no longer taking orders.
More pain followed it, her heart slowing its trip-hammer beat and falling into an irregular rhythm as neural pathways were supplanted. They are going to kill me, Gravity thought, the idea almost earth-shattering in its implications, despite all she’d done up to this point. I can’t fight it like this. Synaesthesia was starting to take hold; the violet flare of her magic had the taste of copper, strong and tingling, while the smell of blood and explosives filled the corridor with the electrical crackle of a high voltage arc.
Giving up on the complexity, she focused instead on the pony powering it. Twisted threads led to a figure surrounded by an orange aura, from whom the threads unravelled, fanning out as they headed down the corridor. A movement caught her attention and her force field came on, diverting a hail of gunfire from the end of the corridor -- not just the rattle of a gryphon’s rifle, but the high speed rip-roar of a power suit’s rotary cannon. Gravity tried to gasp at the sudden extra effort needed to keep the field up, but there was no air. Stumbling, she fell down behind a pile of rubble.
The fire cut off abruptly and the mare dropped her field again, abandoning her failing defence to lash out at the pony with the orange magic. No longer slowed by her countermeasures, the spell leapt up her neck and caused her awareness to splinter into a dozen disconnected fragments, just as her own strike went home. There was a high pitched pony scream and Gravity’s mind snapped back into focus, the hostile magic falling apart as its controlling will and power source was cut off.
The blue mare took a great, shuddering breath, shaking off the clinging remnants of the spell while sheltered from direct gunfire. Oh, Maker, I'm sorry, she thought. That would have hurt the others a great deal; all that effort with nowhere to go. A small black object flew over the top of the rubble pile on dragonfly wings, swerving to arrow in her direction. Without thinking she crushed it, throwing the crumpled machine back the way it came. Heartbeat back to its normal rhythm, Gravity gritted her teeth and pulled lumps of rock from the rubble pile, lifting them up to form a whirling mass between her and her attackers.
More shots, the same monster scream of the rotary, but this time accompanied by the crack of larger explosives and the green flash of a laser that lit the dusty tunnel like it was the inside of a lighting tube. Should have done that first, Gravity thought with a hysterical little giggle. Her sightline was completely blocked by flying rocks, but that didn't matter.
With the crack-crack-crack of sonic booms, Gravity pushed some of her rocks towards the purple glows of active antimagic fields. The owners of those glows were already moving, falling back after they saw the futility of their ambush, but not fast enough. Lumps of concrete, reduced to shotgun blasts of pebbles by the extreme acceleration, smashed through the corridor walls like so much paper. Both antimagic fields went dead.
Gravity trotted forwards into the murk, occasionally using her wings to glide over parts of the collapsed ceiling. Another few steps and the smell hit her, the metallic tang of blood combining with the foulness of offal to overpower the muzzle-wrinkling odour of spent explosives. The first body was sprawled in an ungainly heap against a pile of rubble, burnished copper wings tattered and spread across the wreckage. One of her metal bars had struck the gryphon just under his shoulder, passing through his body to leave several hoof-widths of bloody steel emerging from his side. Blood and armour fragments had exploded from the exit wound, leaving the pale concrete black and glistening in her violet horn light.
Gravity averted her eyes, but behind the first was another, this one with her head crushed by a hoof-sized metal ball that had stoved in her helmet, just above the visor. Blood had sprayed from the gryphoness' gaping beak and her big yellow eyes stared accusingly back at the mare. Gravity felt her stomach lurch and her head start to spin. Steady, she thought, they were trying to kill you. This wasn't like the Masters, though. No clean illusion of broken machines that let the mind distance itself from the hard reality of shattered bone and blood splashed up the walls.
Beyond that was the pony. She'd been behind one of the rubble piles, out of direct line of sight of the lock door; when the magic had hit, her legs had given out and she'd dropped like a discarded toy. Gravity felt the breath woof out of her like she'd been kicked in the gut; her legs trembled and threatened to send her to her knees next to the dead mare.
It was the first time Gravity had seen one of the Security ponies. Dressed like the gryphons, with scaly armour that made her seem insectile and festooned with packs and panniers, little could be seen of the mare inside. The tip of her horn and muzzle, both a pale orange, were the only parts of her body not covered by ceramic plates and, if it wasn't for the circumstances, Gravity could almost have convinced herself that the mare had fallen asleep.
A closer look dispelled any such illusion. Her eyes, visible through the clear domes on each side of her helmet, were wide and staring, still holding a trace of the pain she must have felt when the arcane backlash had hit. Tracks of blood, nearly black in this light, ran from the corners of her eyes to soak into the fur of her muzzle. Oh, dear Maker, I-- The thought died as the sick realisation hit Gravity. She'd seen the way the pony's magic had vanished, but had refused to believe that she'd done anymore than knock the other pony out.
Did you have foals? A mate who will be waiting for you? A black fury welled up inside her, not directed outwards, but in at herself. I should have found a way, all this power and I couldn't hold off a few ponies. What use is any of this if I can't save them? A tentative touch of magic from somewhere ahead brought Gravity out of her reverie; it wasn't directed at her, but was feeling the space left by the orange mare. Her anger faded to be replaced with a great sadness. A working herd is a close-knit thing, she thought, remembering the group she'd joined at the launch site. Ponies she'd just started to make friends with, and whom she'd probably never see again.
She leaned down and gently brushed muzzles with the dead mare, the flesh still warm to the touch. I'm sorry, she thought, you had no choice, but I didn't have to kill you. Lifting her head, Gravity sniffed back her tears and headed towards where the magic had come from.
The urgency of the situation drove the mare onwards, thoughts of Lilac, life leaking away on the floor of the beam chamber, keeping the guilt at bay. She kept a close watch over the various potential threats, holding a small force field plane in front of her as a shield behind the now diminished cloud of rocks that still circled, shark-like, a little further forward. The remaining Security ponies were still recovering from the arcane shock and were unable to interfere in any meaningful way; one tried to fight her, but without the help of his fellows it was trivial to hold him at bay.
The end of the corridor was total chaos. To the left was a rubble pile that occupied half the height of the passageway, behind which were two of the Security ponies, both collapsed and moving their heads unsteadily, as if drugged. Behind that was an impromptu aid station, injured gryphons tending those more severely hurt than themselves. To the right was another mound of rubble, smaller than the first, with the upper torso of a Master in a battered armoured suit protruding from it. Two more ponies were behind that, one collapsed like the other two, the last one completely unconscious and sprawled on the floor some distance away.
The blank wall at the very end of the corridor must have abutted one of the heavy support pillars the upper levels rested upon. Unlike the relatively light side walls, this was a vastly stronger structure made of multiple layers of metal fibre reinforced concrete, and hadn't failed under the onslaught of high velocity rock and machine parts Gravity had sent its way. This was where the Master that had shot Lilac ended up.
The armour suit was made of the best and toughest materials the People could devise, and that was the reason it was still possible to identify it for what it was. The unreasonably strong alloy that formed its frame was still intact despite the impact, but if the occupant hadn't died when Gravity had crushed the suit in her telekinesis, he was definitely dead now. Accelerated to nearly half the speed of sound over less than two lengths, the powered armour had been smashed into the concrete so thoroughly that the mare had trouble telling where the suit stopped and the pillar began. Large cracks radiated out from the vertical crater, probably putting the upper floors at risk of collapse.
Gravity stared at the mangled remains for a moment; compared to the obvious flesh and blood of the others she'd killed, this was scarcely recognizable as a once living being. Faced with such a death, she felt nothing other than it wasn't enough. She wanted to pull the thing out of the wall, to smash and pound and rend until there was nothing left. He was defenceless, she thought, fighting down her anger, I hope you felt every microsecond.
Gravity turned her gaze towards the most awake looking Security pony. The sweat caked dust and grime, coupled with the armour the stallion wore, made it almost impossible to tell his original colour, but for a few patches on his horn. She could just see his eyes through the helmet visor, bulging domes of transparent material on each side of his head that gave him the appearance of a blind fish. He gaped up at her, mouth working before he finally managed to speak.
"W-why?" The voice was hoarse with pain and confusion, barely recognisable as coming from a pony.
The mare paused, at a sudden loss of what to say that could ever justify what she'd just done to this poor Blessed creature. She reached out with her magic and gently unsnapped the connectors joining the muzzle guard and visor to the gorget, pulling the whole thing free from the pony's head. It had only been a day since Fusion had stripped the Maker’s Touch from her, leaving her head as empty as that of a foal. Much less time than that since she’d accepted her sister’s new view of the world.
What would it take to convince this pony, she thought, one used to oppressing his own kind? What atrocity would he have to witness after I remove his Blessing? Gravity shivered, the thought had a kind of instinctive revulsion attached to it, then pushed past her immediate reaction. Something else I need to learn how to do. She stared hard into the pony’s eyes. “My Blessing was removed. The world looks different without that little voice in your ear. What is your name?”
The stallion’s ears twitched and he whimpered; for a moment Gravity thought she’d lost him to punishment fugue, but he quickly recovered. “B-Bastion WK9915," he said. "I’m so sorry, I don't blame you for Parapet; I can’t imagine what it must be like to have lost the Maker’s Touch. Come with us, we can set things right.”
Parapet, a name for my first victim. How many more will follow you? Gravity thought, then gave the stallion a twisted smile as the absurdity of his statement sank in. “I have seen the extent of the Master’s mercy, and I will not put myself in that position.” Her smile faded. I must convince them to leave, she thought, conscious that she’d left Fusion and Lilac alone for too long already, it’s either that or hurt them badly enough that they can’t interfere. The idea sat in her head like a mountain, a solid cliff wall that seemed impassable.
"I'm so sorry for your friend, I did not want--" she broke off, shaking her head. This is not you any more. Show no weakness, she thought. “You cannot stop me,” she said flatly.
He recognized it for a statement of fact, rather than a question. “No.” The answer caused him obvious pain. Tears started to dampen the fur of his muzzle, dripping off his cheeks and streaking the dust caking the front of his armour.
Behind him was a movement; one of the gryphons had levered himself up onto shaky forelegs, struggling to bring a discarded rifle to bear on Gravity. The mare’s horn, already glowing from the other magics she was still powering, brightened infinitesimally as she pulled it from his grasp and twisted it into metal junk. The gryphon shied away from the distorted, sparking mass, trying to drag his twisted hindquarters further from the discharging superconductors.
Gravity raised her voice, addressing all of the Security force. “I will let you leave, all of you. You will take nothing but yourselves and the wounded, leave everything else here, exiting via the upper mass transit route. I assume somepony has medical training?" Bastion nodded vigorously, suddenly looking alert and worried. "Good," Gravity said, flicking her ears in return. "You will come with me, and will leave with the Masters I hold in the beam chamber.”
This prompted some mutinous looks and muttering from the gryphons, but the green pony lying at her hooves didn’t hesitate. “We will do it,” he said, as he struggled up to all fours. A green nimbus flickered around his panniers and armour set, various components falling free and sliding off his body as he stepped forwards. A shake of the wings lost the carapace, and he trotted down the corridor in front of Gravity. She followed him, keeping one ear cocked to listen to sounds of other ponies dropping their equipment and the suddenly angry voices of the gryphon troops.
The ponies answered in kind, at which point the gryphons made the mistake of assuming that the normally skittish ponies would follow their orders when Master’s lives were at stake. Varicoloured light shone up the corridor behind the blue mare, the gryphons eventually falling silent when they realised that the ponies just weren’t listening.
In the silence, Gravity heard other raised voices, these ones from the beam chamber in front of her.
===
Fusion couldn't get the taste of iron out of her mouth.
The stinging slap of the shockwave had taken her completely by surprise, leaving her stunned and the world muffled as if behind layers of heavy cloth. Awareness of her body was slow to return; it was just as loose and unresponsive as it had been when she’d been drugged, and the inability to change position or scratch an itch was a rising torment. Her head, unlike the rest of her, was under the influence of the trauma spray and felt like a block of wood. Considering how much the surgery had hurt, this was not something that she saw as a problem.
Magic was equally distant; there was the faintest hint of something where her power should have been, but so vague and dispersed that it was like trying to catch fog with a net. That she could still sense the sun, just had no way to actually open the connection, made it doubly frustrating.
Her thoughts went back to Gravity. The sharing connection had died abruptly a few moments after she'd stepped out of the beam chamber for the first time and the other mare had been too distracted to renew it. Fusion had grown used to looking through her sister's eyes, used to the echo of sound passed through an extra brain on the way to her own, that tenth of a second lag between her ears and Gravity’s.
Instead, Fusion was forced to rely solely on sound, trying to piece together what was happening in the corridor. Come back to me, sister, she thought, listening to the rattle and boom of projectiles trying to take the mare’s life, take no chances.
With half an ear she listened to Korn making sure Lilac would accept him as his Master, the stern tones and formal wording bringing back old memories of her own training, but her mind was on what was happening outside. The gryphons were still shooting, meaning Gravity was still fighting back, but the biggest threat would be the Masters and the Security ponies. What would I do if forced to hurt another pony, one that had no choice but to attack me? The idea was distressing, and she felt her heartbeat and breathing accelerate. There were ways to stop another’s magic, but that generally required a gentle touch to avoid feedback; such things would be hard to manage under attack from multiple enemies.
“What does the Officer think he’s doing?” Korn said, and Fusion was suddenly on edge, aware of another presence close by. Somepony screamed out in the corridor, making her jump, but it wasn’t Gravity.
Come back to me, Gravity, she thought nervously, I don’t like this.
“Korn did a good job of keeping it distracted, now these ones can escape.” For a moment Fusion had trouble placing that voice, then realised it must be the police officer.
Good, go. Save us the trouble of deciding what to do with you. That particular decision had been preying on Fusion ever since they’d started to collect Masters; the only way to really make a clean break would be to kill them, then destroy the facility to hide their escape. Even after all that had been done to her she didn’t think she could do it in cold blood. No, there has to be another way.
"Is Largorth insane? Does he know what will happen if he tries to leave?”
"Then this one will just have to give the servitor something else to worry about, rather than chasing the People.”
Fusion had a sudden premonition of what he was talking about. No, please, not like this! Her breathing accelerated further and her heart pounded under the influence of a useless fight/flight reaction. Something moved her wing, then she let out an involuntary grunt as someone stepped on her flank.
“Just about..."
The cold tip of something metallic traced a line through the fur along her ribs, tapping twice just behind her forelegs. Please, don’t do this, we’d have let you go, left you behind and teleported away... Her thoughts tailed away into a whine, nerves singing with the anticipation.
“...here.”
The hammer blow made something crack inside her chest, flooding her body with pain and stunning the muscles enough that she couldn’t draw her next breath.
===
Lilac could feel the enchanted dressing start to help him heal; it would never be able to fix his gut -- that would require a real veterinarian -- but it gave him the time to focus on the thousand other broken and damaged things, preserving his own life as he'd been ordered. He started to feel a little hope; if the Master said that he could be fixed, then it must be so. He worked his magic with a will, sealing, repairing and merging blood vessels so that he’d have the best chance at an infirmary. With some fraction of his awareness he could hear the Masters talking, angry and frightened, but he had his orders and paid them no heed.
There was a grunt from the white pony behind him, then the sound of a heavy impact on flesh. Shocked away from his magic, Lilac looked up just in time to see the enemy Master, one booted paw on Fusion's flank, raise the bar he'd been manacled to above his head. The stallion's eyes grew large and he flicked his gaze to his Master's face. The Student’s expression was one of horror, and that was enough for Lilac. He’d not had much in the way of a formal education and his only lessons were half remembered hints at the back of his mind, but he had the same near instinctive desire to follow his Master’s orders, even if they were only implied.
Lilac fastened his telekinesis around the metal bar, the sudden immobility of it making Largorth give a wordless cry. “Let this one go!” he shouted then, when Lilac ignored him, directed his anger at Korn. ”Control that creature,” he snarled at Korn, “this is our chance to escape.” Still hanging on to the bar, Largorth lifted the boot he had on Fusion’s side, stamping down on the place he’d struck with the bar. The mare gave an odd bubbling cough, little drops of blood spraying from her muzzle.
Korn’s open mouth snapped shut with an audible click of teeth. “Hold the Officer still,” he said hoarsely, but Lilac had already picked Largorth up and levitated him a quarter length in the air. Korn picked up a roll of sealing tape, pulling out a long strip as he stepped over to the floating Master. Lilac obligingly cut the bar free and folded Largorth's arms so his paws pressed against his chest.
“Korn will never see the outside of prison again if he does this,” Largorth said, muzzle wrinkling and pulling lips back from big canine teeth.
The Student gave a shaky laugh as he started to loop the tape around Largorth’s chest, binding his arms to his body. “The criminal justice system can fight with Security for Korn’s prison time; he suspects he will vanish as soon as this is over.”
Lilac’s confusion mounted, the certainty he’d felt when Korn had declared himself his owner bleeding away. “Master? I don’t understand. Is Officer Largorth not an agent for another Hive?”
Korn froze, as the implications of what he’d just said sank in. “He--“
“No, this one is not an enemy agent!” Largorth said quickly, mouth parting in a feral grin. "The pony has been lied to by this criminal."
Lilac stared at Korn, willing his Master to provide an explanation for this disturbing information, but the Student just stared back at him, mouth half open and a look of horror on his face. He’d not had time to get used to the Student’s body language, so couldn’t read him as well as the scientists who normally gave him his orders, but what he could see was clear. The awful truth dawned on Lilac; his new Master and these other ponies had manipulated him.
If the Officer isn’t an enemy, then I’ve held one of the People captive for no reason, he thought, breathing accelerating and panic flooding his mind. Pain spiked inside his head and he gently put the Master down, pulling off the tape and unbending the improvised cuffs. Hooves scrabbling on the concrete, he tried to drag himself away from Fusion in an attempt to distance himself from one of the ponies who... “Master, please forgive me, I had no way to know--“
Largorth frowned down at him and the pain surged into an all consuming tide that bent his back like a bow and filled his mind with static.
===
“Don’t get any ideas,” Gravity shouted to Bastion, leaping over his head, wings flicking out and beating with delicate little flutters as she skimmed over the rubble towards the beam chamber. Too long, I left them alone too long, she thought, already imagining all the horrors that could be perpetrated on her helpless sister and the wounded Lilac. Behind her Bastion did the same, fighting to keep up with the smaller and more manoeuvrable Gravity.
The blue mare fell through the opening in the radiation lock door, wings flashing shut then open again. Before her was what she had feared; Korn was struggling with the far more heavily built Largorth for control of a metal bar, the same one she'd used as a ground stake. Lilac was lying on his side, breath whistling through clenched teeth, forelegs kicking weakly and blood soaking through the dressing covering the hole in his belly.
Her horn flashed and pulled the two Masters apart, holding them high enough that a fall would be dangerous. This immediately got their attention and both fell silent with little gasps. The Security pony entered the room a second later, his own telekinesis reaching out for the suspended figures. “Put them down!” he said, futilely trying to loosen Gravity’s hold.
“Do what you’re here for, make sure the stallion lives,” Gravity said, not taking her gaze from the pair.
“Let them down first, or--“
“Or you’ll let an innocent pony suffer? I don’t think so.” As she said the words, Gravity realised the stupidity of the statement; of course a Master's safety would come first. She pulled them both down to ground level, picking up the discarded roll of tape as she did so. Behind her the Security pony knelt down next to Lilac and swept his body with a plane of green light.
“Just so you don’t get your hopes up. Although I am a multispecies combat medic, full reconstruction of a wound like this is beyond me,” he murmured, eyes closed and concentrating on what his magic was showing him. “This pony needs the attention of a general practitioner, and will do for days, before completely healed. I can stabilize him, but without that he will slowly starve.” Part of his attention was diverted by the medical section of the emergency kit; picking up a single use injector he applied it to Lilac's throat. The young stallion immediately relaxed, the agony of Punishment washed away by powerful drugs.
Gravity paused from where she was winding tape around the arms and legs of Korn and Largorth, her anger fading to a sick sense of despair. “I understand,” she said, then cut the tape and started to bind Korn’s wrists to his ankles. Where are we going to find a willing medic? Anypony we meet will turn us in without a second thought.
"May I instruct the rest of my team to start pulling out the wounded and dead?"
"Yes. Remember what I said about equipment; they can pile that outside the radiation lock." Gravity pushed the two Masters against the wall, turning to Vanca and pulling off another strip of tape. The Academician shrank away from her, paws slipping in the concrete as she tried to push herself through the wall. There was a wet, bubbling cough from somewhere behind her and the mare froze, magic forming around the scientist's ankles. Gravity's eyes shot to the discarded metal bar, connecting the noise to the scene she'd interrupted. No, not just in time, just too late! she thought, cursing silently for not checking Fusion first.
Dropping the tape, she leapt to her sister's side, placing one ear against her chest. The normal hissing sounds of moving air, so familiar from when she was a little filly with the habit of sleeping with her head resting on Fusion's flank, were gone. Instead it sounded like somepony trying to suck up the last dregs of a thick drink through a straw. Under her cheek, the hard ridges of Fusion's ribs felt queasily soft and flexible.
Gravity reared back as Fusion coughed again, dark liquid spraying from her nostrils. "Bastion, check my sister, quickly!" The Security pony's head jerked up, confused for a second, then his eyes narrowed at the sight of blood dripping from Fusion's mouth. Green light swept along her body, pausing at mid chest height.
The glow from his horn intensified, worms of light running over Fusion's blood caked fur. Something flexed under her skin, bones moving and stretching before settling back into their correct positions. More flickers of light, these concentrated over the damaged area. "The bone is set, and I've done a patch job on her lung," he said, frowning, the expression of a professional forced to do a rushed and imperfect job, "but she will need time to heal. Those ribs are still very weak. The same applies to the punctured lung; too much excitement and it will go again."
"Do as much as you can," Gravity said, anger making her voice rough, "help her with the pain -- but keep her conscious," she added, when Bastion reached for another drug injector.
"It will be uncomfortable for her," he said, still distracted by his magic, "but I will do what you ask."
Gravity nodded, turning her gaze on the two bound Masters. "Did I not say I would return?" she said with quiet menace. "Did you not think there would be consequences if you did something stupid?" Gravity felt her anger rising and did nothing to stop it. "Every time I tell myself to show mercy, that you cannot all be the same, something like this happens." She lifted the police officer, still bound, up to head height with a circle of magic about his throat. "My sister, the pony you tried to beat to death, wanted me to show restraint," she spat the last word, making the band of magic expand and tilt his head back at an increasingly painful angle. “What possible reason do I have for that?”
"If you hurt him, our agreement is off," Bastion said from where he lay next to Fusion and Lilac.
Gravity hissed through her teeth, relaxing her telekinetic grip a little. A glance showed her that the other pony was serious; the little worms of magic had ceased to flow over Fusion. Instead, Gravity could feel him focusing his strength in an attempt to stop her. It was the look of fear and determination on his face that settled it. He knows he can't beat me, yet he will try anyway, she thought, her anger evaporating to be replaced with a bone-deep weariness. What choice do I have? I need him.
She dropped the Officer to the floor, hard enough that he gasped and Bastion twitched, magic reaching out with the instinctive desire to catch him. Gravity stared down at the coughing Master, using one hoof to roll him onto his back. "This is your lucky day. That pony just saved your life." She pressed down on his chest with the hoof, feeling his ribs flex under her weight. The breath wheezed out of him and she narrowed her eyes. A little more and... Terror filled his face and Gravity reined in her anger. "Pray to the Maker that we don't meet again," she said, stepping back.
Behind her the Security pony gave a little involuntary whinny, then let out a long breath. "Thank you, I knew you hadn't turned completely away from the Make--" He stopped abruptly when he saw the look on Gravity's face. "Thank you," he finished lamely, closing his eyes and returning to his healing spells.
The blue mare struggled to get a grip on her emotions while he worked. "How much more can you do? I want to talk with my sister." she asked finally. How much longer before they can mount a response to what I've done here? she thought. I can't imagine what sort of panic this has caused.
Bastion reluctantly opened his eyes, glancing over at the three Masters, all of whom were staring back at him with great intensity. He shuddered under the weight of those eyes, starting to breathe heavily as he clumsily got to his hooves. “I am not a general practitioner; while I could do a little more, I’m really at the end of my skill here. They will both live -- the mare will recover fully, given time and peace, the stallion...” He looked down at Lilac, sighing deeply. “...needs far more help than he’s likely to be allowed.”
Gravity’s own ears flattened and she chewed at her lower lip. Bastion has seen many injured ponies, she thought, how many has he helped to euthanize, how many were deemed ‘not worth saving’? “How long before...?”
“A day or so of good health with minimal pain, after which my fixes will do more harm than good and he’ll go down hill quickly.” His horn glowed slightly, lifting three single use injectors out of his own medical kit. Covered in black and yellow stripes, they looked like giant wasps, complete with stinger under a protective cap. He held them out to the blue mare, close enough that she could see the pony skull poison symbols. “For the end, whenever it happens.”
One each, Gravity thought blackly, gripping them with her own magic. “I am not ready to die just yet,” she said, crushing the devices and throwing the remains across the room.
Bastion followed their trajectory, his ears drooping. "I didn't think so." He pulled out a fourth euthanization injector, placing it on the ground next to Lilac, then dropped his own medical kit near it. "The stallion... it's not a peaceful way to go," he said, standing up and walking to the radiation lock. "I'm sorry."
Gravity watched him go, then carefully picked up the injector and put it back in the medical kit. "Me too," she whispered.
Alright, what idiot scheduled a riding lesson and a chapter update on the same date as my birthday?
3056381
The same genius who wrote this chapter? Also, happy birthday, completely forgot to add that.
Sorry, i had to. Great update, Luna-tic. I can't wait to see where this goes.
Happy birthday!
What?! No way...
Happy birthday, Luna-tic.
Well, crap. Gravity just can't catch a break. Of course, when all of society is against you, I suppose that's to be expected...
In any case, looking forward to wherever the story goes from here. I'm honestly not sure where that's going to be. We appear to have reached the end of an arc, and I can't plot the course of the next one. Until then.
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Poor Luna, but I suspect that Parapet is only the first of the ponies she's going to end up directly killing. Revolutions don't tend to be bloodless, after all, and the dogs have what's probably millions of blessed ponies that would make for a serious military asset.
Hah! That's exactly what I was wondering about a few chapters ago. That ingrained order to protect Masters is going to cause a lot of chain of command issues (so maybe less of an asset than I was thinking just above).
In terms of personal safety, what Largorth tried to do was pretty much Darwin Award material. If not for the circumstances that stayed Luna's hand (hoof?) he'd almost certainly be painfully dead right now. But in terms of the safety of his species, offing Celestia would have been a massive win.
You know, I really hope they keep Korn around if and when they escape. He's pretty much toast unless if he stays, so throwing his lot in with Celestia and Luna may be the best chance he's got of surviving.
Happy birthday, man.
Happy Birthday, Luna-tic!
Birthday... Birthday...?
Fine! I'll get you something! How about a nice can of write the fuck MORE~!
In all seriousness, I totally don't mind if you have the day off for a happy B-Day. Don't stress yourself too much.
Tomorrow on the other hand... Gonna be crackin' the whip~!
Happy birthday, mate! Name of the Security pony, Bastion, gave me an idea. I've sent you a private message concerning that.
Now then, with my thoughts on this chapter:
Nice idea with the pulse laser, have you thought of it yourself or you have you took it from the Battletech universe?
Parapet. You've named a pony "Parapet". I don't know if this was intended or not, but "Parapet" means "windowsill" in Polish.
Damn, you've put Celestia through a lot. Stuff like that would utterly destroy one's psychics, not to mention what happens to, well, pretty much everyone in this story.
And as always, thanks for the chapter (thought it might be the first time I'm actually thanking you properly).
Happy birthday, Luna-tic! Your story continues to be one of my favorite bits of hard science fiction pony.
3057656
Actually, a parapet in English is a low defensive rooftop wall. Like one of those blocks you see on top of a castle tower. Makes it so you can get closer to the roof's edge without getting an arrow through your eye-hole.
3058103
Yup, you're right! There's no mention of those parapets on the Polish wiki, though, at least not under that name.
Happy Birthday!
That said, that security officer now ranks with Salrath on 'Things I can't wait to see ended'
Psst, hey! Floating chaos-not-quite-Discord-thing from space! Might want to come down and start turning the clouds to cotton candy now! Time ta show these Masters something beyond their comprehension in terms of power! Any time.... really... go right ahead.
*taps hoof impatiently* Oh sure, NOW you don't want to interfere!
3056381 Happy birthday to you too! Mine was Wednesday! A new chapter... Such an awesome birthday gift! Thanks!
You're on a very small list of fanfic authors I would be willing to continue reading after I see that the first line is "There was blood everywhere." Take care that you do not tarry too far into brutality, lest it lose its consequence. I do continue to enjoy the character development of Gravity.
Hum, just read an entire page of comments backwards.
I've taken a break of the whole internet thing. That said, your story was one of the couple of exceptions to this hiatus!!!
Bore snake! Genius! Want more contraptions! Go wild!
Awww Lilac now knows to have been fooled.
And still no teleport, and soon enough no hostages!!! What were you thinking, Gravity!
Or are you lying to Bastion, are you?
And everyone is still stuck in a corridor+chamber duplex. C'mon when do we get to see the world! I miss the 007 movies where you get scenes at many exotic locations...
Hum, how are you going to make, if ever, 2 ponies save ponykind without too much deus ex machina? Is there going to be a Resistance?
Commentator-block.
Wrapping it up with a very late happy birthday, Luna-tic Scientist !!
3059453
Always interesting to hear what doesn't work for people, thank you.
Just to make sure I understand correctly:
don't over use gore, otherwise it loses its impact to shock
...is that the nub of your comment? ie the graphic description of Lilac's injury might have been better left in more general terms (does that also extend to the dead gryphons/pony in the hallway)? Or is it something more general, that you feel the level of violence/cruelty that's on show is excessive for the situation?
In my defence, I do believe 'blood everywhere' is an accurate description of the way that laser works; it's completely unlike a solid bullet (I'm quite prepared to be wrong, if you can convince me otherwise!).
Happy birthday!
3060003
As for 'Blood Everywhere', a high-strength laser capable of searing through the tissue would and vaporizing the blood in a microsecond pulse (assuming the seconds are similar here and there) would have scorched the tissue along the 'walls' of the wound, leaving little bloodspray at all.
That said, the vaporized tissue int he air would go everywhere, but would be little more than microscopic-fine ash and dust.
The resulting wound would be very clean, with a very faint dusting of gray and a thick burn scar along the wall behind.
Unless this isn't actually a military-grade laser, and is instead a heat-pulse gun, which would cause the internal portions of the tissues involved to heat nigh-instantly to a couple hundred degrees centigrade, causing a meaty 'explosion' of vaporized tissue and fluids, which would result in a fine, pinkish-red mist laying delicately across the coat and the floor nearby very finely.
Like a puff of powdered sugar blown from your hand, but red.
3056625, 3056635, 3056829, 3056934, 3058103,3056787, 3058483
Thanks all, I appreciate it.
3059299
Sorry it was late! Hope you had a good one.
3056753
I see I'm going to have to listen to some more Voltare now. Oh, I have so many (older) friends I can play this for...
3056933
Designing all the implications of the Blessing has been entertaining, to say the least. I play them as 'three laws safe', although with extra safeguards.
3057250
Thanks! I think. Don't worry, the horse made me suffer for my 'day off', so there's no need to get your whip arm tired.
3057656
The laser is (mostly) from Real Physics (TM), envisioned by better physicists than me on the alt.rec.sfscience news group (yes, I'm that old!). Interesting to hear the word convergence; I'm rubbish at anything other than English (don't say it!)! Originates from the Italian 'parapetto', apparently.
I've always believed that Celestia has enormous strength of will; hopefully I have/will incorporate enough 'stress effects' to make it believable.
3059751
A break from the internet? Is that even possible?
There are a few more 'lessons to be learned', but we will be departing within a few chapters (this is a pivotal section, with a lot of 'firsts' for everyone concerned, so it's taking longer than I thought it would).
===
Whew! Hopefully this multi reply isn't annoying -- thanks for commenting everyone!
3060069
More like your second case, only as a string of pulses in quick succession. The problem with lasers is they don't have much penetration, and dump all their energy in the top most layers (unless you have a lot of power to spare). To get around that, each pulse is very short, producing an explosive vaporisation due to the very high peak pressures, opening a 'temporary cavity' that lets the next pulse through, and so on. The final wound track is narrow, but the zone of disrupted tissue is larger (and it's that you see spread over the surfaces).
...now that I think about it, anything you do to burn through that much flesh in that short a time really has to be an explosive event -- in your first case, you'd need to vaporise a column maybe 50cm long and <1cm wide in a microsecond, an event that would generate a large volume of water vapour and pressures high enough to rip the target in half.
...which is why I'm using lots of little pulses (<50joules each).
I'm a chemist, not a physicist, so feel free to point an laugh if you think I'm wrong (you'll need to show your working!).
3060128
My 'whipping arm' doesn't get tired anymore. I've been doing the editing thing for so long now that I am able to effectively multitask both arms, ambidextrously, so that I can whip the author, and masturbate to their screams of agony. When one arm begins to slow, I swap off the whip to the other.
(lol, wtf is wrong with me...?)
3060179
Well, it is important to vary your exercise routine
(and to think I deleted my comment about understanding how Catherine the Great must have felt )
3060161
Not so much that you'd be wrong, but at 50+ joules per microburst... wait, that's only a 50 degree increase in temperature per pulse (under the undoubtedly false assumptions ponies are pure water, but I'll use it because I don't know the energy requirements for heating pony flesh is, especially with their already energy-resistant hides) at most, which is not enough to vaporise the flesh at all in a half-second 'beam'.
I would actually suggest the second route, which would allow not only for naming imprecision quirks to enter play, and also would account for the much larger and less healable gap in Lilac. It would also allow you explain why there's a 'blood spray' from the energy weapons, and why it takes such a large apparatus instead of a single tiny charged-crystal 'bullet' that is discarded as a depleted 'shell' afterwards.
After all, if it was a true laser, then it would've blown about halfway through him, not all the way, while the lazily-named heat beam would need a larger focusing array, as opposed to an easily more powerful and just as easily 'clip system' compatible laser rifle.
All you'd need for the rifle is a focusing array 'barrel' and a 'clip' full of small, cyclindrical charged crystals that violently discharge their energy (and about a tenth of their mass, making them go from clear to smokey in the process) once the trigger is hit, causing it to fire a 'burst fire' beam of coherent laser pulses, each hitting about 290 to 800 joules of output per burst, depending on the size 'shell'.
You could even set up a 'shotgun' style weapon by having it go through a slight diffractor at the last stage, causing the still considerable pulses to hit everything nearer but in a 20 degree cone (you don't want anything less focused, or you'll lose too much energy and have to hit everything three or more times just to inflict significant damage)
Admittedly, this relies on having spell-charging, a steady high-grade or synthetic crystal supply, and the metal-working skills to produce what amounts to a series of focusing arrays with direction chambers and clip mounts.
But it could work!
3060332
For a variety of reasons, the weapons the Masters use are tech, rather than magitech, so I'm diffraction limited (ie reasonable range means a mirror of reasonable size). Nice idea though -- there are endless possibilities.
===
What matters here is power, rather than energy. 50J isn't very much, but when you dump it on your target over one nanosecond, that translates to 50GW. There's no time for the energy to disperse, so it all goes into heating the target's outer surface, which promptly explodes (over a small area and a shallow depth, but the pressures generated are very high). This is what produces the cratering effect (according to this calculator: LINK, about 2cm deep and 5cm wide).
I've not checked the calculations, but the general idea does seem to match up with my understanding of laser physics. For a through and through shot, that's about a kilo of material spread about, which isn't a vast amount over a 4m diameter circle, but is probably enough for a good (if patchy, for paint) coating.
The closest I can imagine is putting a firecracker in a bucket of paint.
EDIT: link corrected
3060500
Alright, so I checked the calculations, and it seems we were both a bit off.
Although, you did get closer than me.
Also, the magical disuse would support the heat beam better, it's easier to produce, even with modern science, but I'm getting off-track there.
BUT
You're right, it's the transference that would be the kicker, and I goofed in forgetting to factor that in. That said, the laser's residual heat would still leave a lot of charred meat as well, and lumpy bits to go with. you'd have basically shredded the poor colt, more or less.
(effect check: put a marshmallow in a mircowave. I was surprised, but that's the equivalent to flesh under the conditions to set, but in slow-mo. It also doesn't explode, and the result is edible, so make sure you do so in a bowl and have a spoon on hand. It's delicious, like pony meat)
So, you actually have about as close to accurate as we can get without actually finding a pony and using a 50 Gigawatt pulse microlaser. (+10 points if you read that and thought 'jiggawatts' as the pronunciation first)
That said, the pulse laser might actually be harder to get, because it's ridiculously hard to get a laser as fine as was described in the story without overheating the lenses and making them explode, catch fire, and then vaporize into plasma.
As such,you'd need some sort of magical field or incredibly hyper-advanced gravitic field to bend the laser's beam that precisely.
Which is, again, why the heat-projector ray might actually be more effective, in the setting, unless you have a way to either produce access to the sun for the energy (without just weaponizing that) or a really impressive heat dump, like into the middle of space, which, again, could simply be weaponized as-is.
3060639
The optics are the tricky bit, no question (especially the target facing main mirror, as this is exposed to the environment), but even if I don't want to use magic to 'help physics along' in the weapon, I'm quite happy to use it to manufacture the perfect optical surfaces.
As to the beam pulse times -- the National Ignition Facility manages a several megajoule pulse in ~4nsec (admittedly it's the size of a building, but that's why I'm writing science fiction!).
Good discussion, thanks!
3060796
You're welcome, I enjoy intelligent chats that can be resolved peacefully, with a minimum of shouting.
I also enjoy belligerent shouting matches in the midst of barroom brawls, but that's mainly because then I have a viable excuse to hit someone with a chair.
You have woven quite the compelling story, and I can't wait to see the next chapter. If you ever want to chat about anything science-y or science fiction-y or just in general, feel free to shoot me a PM.
I'd especially love to see some of your ideas on the three branches of metaphysics, arranged around the 'trunk', which is simple physics. (The three branches are Magic, Hyperscience, and Psionics)
3060888
So much !!SCIENCE!! going on here!
I never could get a handle on what makes psionics fundamentally different from magic, especially when a branch of magic involves mind-altering effects or requires a high INT score to use.
3061014
Here's a quick (sorta) rundown on the three branches:
Magic is an energy form used to alter the rules of reality at a local level, 'local' being relative to the ability of the spellcaster(s). Magic is capable of a wide variety of effects, including miracles, curses, blessings, transformations, and many other things. It is, by its nature, counteractive to Hyperscience, though not wholly incompatible. Among other things, one of the traits about magic is that it is, inherently, active on its own. Simply bringing magic around is dangerous, as it will find a way to express itself, sometimes violently. Also, Magic can be given or even taught to another being, allowing it to be used by anyone that Magic is willing to interact with.
Psionics are entirely in the mind, and are based on the user's abilities entirely. While Magic simply requires a caster to focus it, Psionics are based int he caster themselves. Magic may be able to use your life-force as a power supply, but Psionics are a manifestation of your life-force itself. While Psionic energies can technically be bequeathed to another being, it's almost always temporary, unless that being has the innate ability on their own. Also, Psionics cannot be imbued into a wholly inanimate object, while magic can. Psions can use crystals to focus their abilities like a lens, even 'tinting' their powers based on the crystal used, but the crystals themselves do not hold the power. Psionics interact poorly with, but are not necessarily incompatible to, Magic.
And finally, we have Hyperscience. Where Magic changes what the rules are and Psionics simply work around the rules, Hyperscience gleefully plays by the rules... to a certain extent. Hyperscience works because adds new rules to the game, sometimes over-riding the old rules in the process. For example, Star Wars uses Hyperscience and Magic in a delicate mix (until the whole medichlorians thing, which I generally ignore), the best example of which is in the Jedi themselves: they use a mystical power that comes from outside themselves,and is largely sentient, but uninterested in mortal affairs. It guides everything to where it feels they should go, to find balance. The Jedi manipulate this to move objects, control minds, and move faster than physics should allow tendons to flew. But the Lightsabers are possible... if you could find a focusing lens of the exact right size, an incredibly tiny plasma generator, and a cylindrical magnetic field amplifier. Which they explain by having a special crystal that acts as the first, the last, and the power source. And it's about the size and wight of an american-issue gold coin.
Or take a look at the Girl Genius comics, with the reality-defying abilities of the Sparks... which is Magic enabling Hyperscience. Hyperscience gets a little off around Psionics, as they have no formulas or theories; the way one Psion activates their telekinesis may be wildly different from another's.
So, to summarize, Magic swaps out the rules of Reality for your rules, Psionics use the rules as hand-holds to pull yourself higher, and Hyperscience adds new rules as needed.
Some brilliant blendings of the three exist; just look at WarHammer 40K, where it's really hard to tell where one branch ends and another begins. Just look at the Orks, who have a racial Psionic Field that changes reality entirely to whatever they believe it is, and they slap junk together, call it a vehicle, and it works. Because they said so.
Any questions, anyone?
3061131
That was most informative. Thanks!
Sorry for the threadjacking, by the way.
3061174
pfft.
I just hope it's helpful to Luna-Tic.
3060003
I think I made mush of my meaning. The first thing I thought when I read the first sentence was "if this was the first line of a fanfic from an author I didn't know, I'd close the tab." I do ever so enjoy seeing characters broken, that we may see how they rebuild themselves.
That's not to say that I'd like to have the whole rest of the story be a butcher's block. Putting the reader in the combat harness of the assault team was good for providing empathy, but death doesn't have quite the same punch if there isn't sympathy (or at least antipathy). Lilac is a sympathetic character. Gravity and Fusion are sympathetic characters. Salrath is an antipathetic character. The only griffon which I remember approaching empathetic was the nice one guarding an entrance somewhere. Gunnulf was only as antipathetic as a wolf. That griffon in the first wave? Nothing sticks with me about him(her?) except that he(she?) served to demonstrate how awful it is to try and fight a pony. The Academician got some nice characterization to build sympathy. That made Gravity's rough handling shake the reader up when she did it. It holds a mirror up to the reader.
I guess the point of this ramble is that you're doing fine, but dark gets darker when it is outlined in light.
3064263
Heh, glad I asked. Thanks for the analysis; makes perfect sense. You are correct; the purpose of the gryphon sersjant was just to give an idea of how bad it would be, to be 'normal' and in Gravity's way.
3061131
That's a lot of stuff! As is probably obvious, I play over in the 'science fiction physics' side (what you are calling 'hyperscience'), and try to break as few physical laws as possible. Even the magic has a physical basis, or at least produces physics-derived effects (like cloud walking, which works by spreading a pony's weight across millions of water droplets).
3066646
Yw!
And thank you, but yes, your magic is producing observable scientific effects. But it's still blatantly ignoring some of the rules of science, most notably that you can only effect what you're in contact with, even via a chain proxy. The vapor in a cloud is diffuse, and not touching, but the magic makes the concept of a cloud (actually a series of droplets that aren't in contact with each other) act as a singular mass.
So yes, it's changing the rules of reality by quite a bit.
Something to note, Magic and Hyperscience both create and use objects as part of their process, Magic and Psionics both utilize focuses for their effects, and both Psionics and Hyperscience use definable rules for their limits and effects.
3061174
And if you or Luna-Tic want to hear more, seriously, just PM me and I can elaborate much farther. My dream job would be studying these for a living, but oh well.
3067960
Ah, but then you'd have had to wait for each chapter!
A question: what stopped you from reading it earlier, and what made you start?
3066989
Umm... things never usually come into contact with each other, not on an atomic level. There are various forces that attract or repel things, like gravity. The Earth does not touch the Sun, but they interact with each other. Water, which clouds are largely made of in particular, is a molecular dipole.
Also, they can manipulate physical forces with magic, so there is really any number of ways they could make standing on clouds workable. Manipulation of surface tension on water droplets that touch the pony, manipulating reaction with the planet's electromagnetic field to provide extra suspension, or manipulating the Keesom force between water droplets.
3092238
I meant in the sense that each of the droplets in a vapor cloud each disperses individually, not as a cohesive group, as the clouds do in the show. So the whole 'standing on clouds' thing could work any number of ways, but the way described by the author of this story is that it allowed the ponies to distribute their weight across all the particles in the cloud, which means that the cloud is acting as an object, rather than as a group.
Think of it this way: if you tried to walk across a twenty-meter-deep pit filled to the brim with ants, you would sink, because the 'particles' (the ants) would move individually around you. But if you froze them all so that they acted as a single, cohesive mass, rather than a conceptual 'group', they would hold your weight (to a point).
And yes, things don't usually interact at an atomic,or even molecular level, simply sticking to certain things because they fill in a conceptual gap in the outer 'shell' of the atom. Which doesn't exist, it's a generalization, not an actual area.
Magic, as a force, can ignore or replace rules of the universe, the usual victims of this abuse usually being the whole 'can't make or annihilate matter or energy' thing, which magic usually either ignores or bends into a pretzel. As in the food, not the shape, because it's magic.
Psionics can't break the rules, so they go around them by working in a different field entirely, like a legal company using the loophole that if it looks similar but has only a similar name, then it's copyright infringement. Oftentimes, Psionics simply amplify what people can do, but beyond the levels which they can normal go, even with real machines, drugs, or other things to work with. An example is that people with Psionics specializing in kinetic amplification can basically will their punches to have more energy in them than is actually put in, by using their force of will to bend the rule, making it so that it isn't 'you can't create energy from nothing' into 'you can't make an infinite amount of energy from nothing' instead.
Hyperscience allows you to say, "But what if I could make energy from nothing?" and then shoots you with an infinite-repeater cannon and obliterates the universe. Yay mad science!
3092479
Clouds do act as an object though, in a number of different ways. Its a function of probabilities regressing towards the mean in a chaotic system.
3094197
Such, but putting anything without a fairly large surface area still causes you to fall through them, as the cloud acts like a fluid and simply moves around you.
I guess I should be saying that the magic lets the ponies interact with the clouds as if they were semisolids instead of fluids.
And yes, I use the description of gases as 'very low-density liquids'. I know that they have additional properties, but if liquid water was somehow less dense than air, it'd act the same way in earth's atmosphere as any other gas. And it'd still be a liquid, so...
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Surface area may provide lift, but there are a number of other considerations to think about, such as density, or velocity. Updrafts alone can support rather massive chunks of ice with small surface area to volume ratios.
Air does this with itself sometimes. You may be familiar with the concept of an inversion layer, where the normal air gradient gets inverted.
Obviously magic is at work in ponies walking on clouds, but like a gecko hanging from a sheer surface due to weak force, you could manipulate the dipolar interaction between water droplets to form a semi-ridged composition.
Also: If liquid water were somehow less dense than air, it would float up, but it would not compress or decompress like gasses would. It would probably then boil off into a gas due to low pressure changing the boiling point, and probably escape the atmosphere all together due to sputtering. In any case, it is a mistake to conflate the concept of fluids with the concept of liquids. Clouds are made up of gases and liquids at the same time. (but I digress)
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I think my problem is that I'm not getting my words across correctly.
I have a hard time with translating ideas and thoughts into words, as a result of my high-functioning aspergers status.
No, I'm not trying to say it's an excuse, except kinda.
Blegh, I have a hard time with this, it's why I've got such a big vocabulary; it's easier to say things if you know all the words.
But yes, I understand what you're saying, and I'm trying to explain the same thing, but I was making a supposition based on the Word of God from the author, which that is that the magic allows the pony to spread their weight across every individual particle in the cloud, thus treating the whole thing as 'surface tension' while allowing the cloud to react normally to the air around it. Thus, it's treating the cloud as a singular object, rather than a case-by-case with millions of objects (the individual droplets) that simply happen to stay near each other due to easily-overcome forces. (you can easily compact the cloud together again chemically or otherwise to force rain and such, thereby depleting the amount of water in the cloud itself)
Anyways, I'm not sure I can coherently make my point anymore, because I'm not getting my words across, likely of my own fault, but I can tell you also know what you're talking about, and have probably studied it more than my passing hobbyism of most sciences.
And even if you haven't I still can't seem to say what I mean.
Finally caught up!
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My only point is that it is not necessarily blatantly ignoring the rules of physics. It may be bending things a little bit, but distributing your weight across a cloud is something you could accomplish with a meticulously shaped and powered magnetic field.
hi hi
Once more I am surprised. I didn't think Lilac was going to survive to the end of this chapter. I've had my guts opened up before, and as the anesthetic wore off, I very nearly passed out. (I have vague memories of someone yelling at me to stay awake and breathe.) I guess that is some good luck swimming in a sea of bad.
Maybe if Fusion Pulse and Gravity Resonance can re-establish their mental link, Fusion Pulse could tap into Gravity Resonance's power and use it to teleport? I mean the connection seems to go both ways, even though Fusion Pulse isn't sustaining it herself.
I suppose with the hostages out of the way, they might be more willing to just detonate the entire facility. That would allow for Fusion and Gravity to make a clean escape, if everyone else thinks they died in the blast.
Still, every time I ponder Fusion and Gravity escaping, I can't help but think about Random Walk and those colts and fillies...
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But which you could not do with organic hooves made of keratin, with no major magnetic structures in the body. Just because you can do it with something, does not mean you can do it without that something, which is what magic does: By changing the rules, it allows you to do the impossible: Charge a light on your forehead, and stand on a cloud with hooves that would not spread out your weight enough to do so.
So how would they create that magnetic field without magic, and no technological or organic creations which would allow them to do so?
Hyperscience would say 'Nanites, because they can totally create those magnetic structures instantly from themselves, and become nanites again.'
Psionics would say 'my will can cover that much area, so it'll support me by making my feet interact with that much of the cloud.'
And regular Physics says 'you can't you need something to create that field.
Once again, though, it comes down to word of god: they stand on the clouds, because magic distributes the weight across every atom and molecule trapped in the cloud. This may mimic the action of a specially-built and precisely tuned magnetic field generator, but it isn't. There is no technology or biological structures producing this field, it's just because they are ponies with wings.
Also, they fly because of magic, as they would not be as strong as they are if they were light-boned enough to fly, and their wings are not at the right spots to do so. Nor is their wingspan large enough for it.
But once more, it comes to word of god: the author said so, therefore it is.
Just because it could be another way does not mean it is.
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Very challenging ≠ impossible. Exploiting the rules ≠ changing them.
These are creatures with some level of engineering in their physiology. They have crystalline structures in their wings and horns that interact with the fundamental forces that created the pocket universe they live in, but that is not the same as rewriting the laws of physics.
(On a side note, technobabble might say that nanomachines can do things instantly, only because technobabble doesn't have any idea how things work on a nano scale.)
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But that isn't the point.
And just because I'm saying that magic replaces the rules, doesn't mean the new rules aren't similar. Just different from the original.
And again, this is a universe with markedly different base rules. For example, beings able to tap into the raw power of a stellar body formed from a wormhole that is leaking in pure heat and radiation from the point where two realities collide.
Also, it's a pocket dimension. For all we know, not a single bit of this is magic, but simple how physics works there, but magic is the technical term, because that's the word they use. Memetic drift in action. For them, magic refers to a series of energy-manipulation abilities specific to that micro-universe.
Not impossible doesn't mean probable. Occam's Razor.
And just because 'Exploiting the rules ≠ changing them', does not mean that they aren't changing the rules instead.
For example, in Scrabble, it's easier to change the rules from 'English Words only' to 'Words the whole group recognizes as words, so we can include pony words and Doctor Who words, and (___)'.
Just because you can work inside the rules and exploit words like Quixotic, or Ubiquitous, doesn't mean that isn't the more difficult route, and if it's the more difficult route available, meaning more time consuming, more energy consuming, and more unstable, then it's less likely to occur. Not impossible, but far less probable.
So, instead of wasting hundreds Calories per second just to sit on a cloud, which would be far from a resting state, they instead burn a few dozen, not much more than laying on grass and much safer from predators.
What you're assuming is that I'm saying these things can't be done without magic, and I'm saying they can't be done this easily on a biological level without magic. You keep trying to doge around the fact that the author, who is God Absolute in this case, stated it was magic.
And if you ask any programmer or engineer, they'll tell you that simpler is better, and less likely to break. And if magic's available, that'll be used because, in this case, it's easier to utilize in place of the equivalent pieces of technology.
(As for the nanomachines, yes, people often don't understand the scaling issue when working with time. Hence using Hyperscience to fix that, by, say, installing every one of them with a time-dilation effect of such power, they can each work and move faster than the speed of light without consequence other than burning out after their work. Hence one-use medical-nanite gel in video games)
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"Any technology, no matter how primitive, is magic to those that don't understand it." - Mark Stanley via Florence Ambrose
Probability doesn't matter so much when you've got a civilization with a highly advanced grasp on the laws of their universe. They can make it happen intentionally, rather than waiting for it to happen randomly.
And as long as we're talking about Occam's razor, lets take a look at which hypothesis has more assumptions. That it is possible to achieve the result using the existing laws, which I have demonstrated. Or that, while it is possibly to achieve the result using the existing laws, there are another set of rules that govern this interaction which do not exist anywhere else?
Speaking of Scrabble: it is distinctly NOT easier to change the rules from 'English Words only,' to 'Words the whole group recognizes." Unless someone is working for Hasbro in a position of some authority, they would have to reach such a position before they could alter the rules of Scrabble. Anyone can make their own game with their own rules and can even call it Scrabble if they want, but exploiting the inter-subjective nature of language, and proper nouns in particular, does not make it the same game. If there is someone capable of making their own universe, I would like to meet them.
"The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition." - Carl Sagan
Just because we want an easier way of doing things does not mean that we will get it. We would like to go faster than light, and we would like to be able to build perpetual motion machines, but no matter how easy such inventions would make our lives, we simply are not in a position to change the rules. That actually is impossible, so far as we know. (Having nano-machines move faster than the speed of light does break the laws of physics and is purely magic by your definition.)
I am not trying to dodge around Luna-tic Scientist, I am avoiding putting words in someone else's mouth, especially someone who is not taking part in the discussion. However Luna-tic Scientist did explicitly state that, "Even the magic has a physical basis, or at least produces physics-derived effects." It is a semantic argument based on a definition of magic that isn't totally applicable in this instance. And since your argument is bordering on personal, by accusing me of doing things rather than addressing my assertions, that is all I'm going to say about it.