Chapter 26: Awakening
The six Alliance soldiers stood frozen. All the guns placed on them made any action suicide. The only one who didn't seem to notice the almost two hundred Dratali was Twilight. All her focus was on one figure; the only other pony outside Avol.
“Xa... Xander.” Twilight couldn't believe it. It was him, but he looked a little different from before. The first thing she noticed was his eyes. They weren't his real eyes, but a pair of black onyx stones. She read enough on the dark arts to recognize what that meant...necromancy. It was almost unheard of on Avol, but is still a form of punishment in some parts of Zebrica.
His body was the next thing she noticed. The fact that it was even there was a shock. It wasn't a mechanical body, or a body from some other creature, but his body, the one that was left on Avol when his head followed her through the wormhole, or at least that's what it looked like.
“You look like you've seen a ghost,” the evil pony said with a chuckle.
“Xander?” Debby looked from the undead pony back to Twilight, “You mean the guy that sent you here in the first place? I thought he was dead.”
“Oh, yes,” replied the villain, “I was very much dead. I'll admit it was quite foolish of me to use a spell I didn't fully understand, but not as foolish as Twilight running off and leaving the Black Book behind with my head.”
“The Black Book?” Twilight exclaimed, “It's here too?”
Xander smirked at Twilight, “Oh yes, and the Dratali here were gracious enough to bring me back from the dead to decipher it for them. After providing them with a few spells and displaying my power, they made me a general in their military. And now I'm gathering strength to invade Avol. You delayed my plans to steal the Princesses’ power, but that's all. For now, I'll have to settle for draining you. Take her alive...kill the rest.”
With the order given, the Dratali opened fire. Thankfully, Twilight's reflexes have improved by leaps and bounds. In an instant, the group of soldiers and friends was surrounded in a purple barrier. Shots and shells were reflected away from her and her friends, some hitting Dratali. Xander looked at it in amusement.
“Not bad, but it won't save you.” Xander approached the barrier with his horn glowing. He leaned in and touched the shield with his horn. Tendrils of dark energy spread across the surface of the shield. Twilight watched as it seemed to envelop the entirety of the barrier. Too late she saw what it was as the energy surged toward her. She let out a pained scream as her body was burned by the malicious energy. The pain only ended when darkness took her.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
“My goodness,” Celestia gasped, “Xander...”
“That traitor!” Luna seethed at the mere mention of his name.
“What happened next?” Dash begged, “Come on, Twi, don't leave us hangin'.”
“Well, I was kinda comatose for a while,” Twilight explained, “I heard the story, but I think it would be better for someone else to take up this part.”
“Alright,” Curt said, “I guess I'll take over. Debby, you know when to chime in right?” She gave a nod, “Don't worry, I'll tell it like it actually was. So big bad pony guy laid Twilight down for a nap...”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Curt watched in horror as the shield collapsed on Twilight, and her limp body crumble in a heap.
“My my, that was easier than I thought,” Xander mused, “Okay, fin-”
He was cut off as a big black arrowhead appeared overhead. The Black Beast rained hell down on the Dratali forces. The conscious Griffins took cover behind the destroyed Puma. Xander knew he was out gunned and opted to retreat, but first gave one more order.
“Kill them all!” he shouted, “Start with the unicorn!” and in a cowardly flash of light he was gone.
Curt saw several Dratali advance on the downed unicorn. Fear gripped him, but so did another feeling. It felt like a fire was lit in his gut, pushing him toward his four legged friend. He shot out of cover as fast as he could. With his weapon's rate of fire he couldn't take them all out so he did the only other thing he could think of. As their weapons took aim, he dove for the unicorn, throwing himself on top of her as they opened fire. He held his eyes shut tight awaiting the pain of the hot metal that would surely come. Instead, he heard a muffled thumping and confused grunts and barks in the Dratali language. Slowly Curt opened his eyes and saw the two of them surrounded in a blue dome.
Twilight's magic isn't blue, Curt thought to himself in confusion.
He looked down at the unicorn for verification the her horn wasn't glowing and was shocked. The same blue that was surrounding them was covering his hands in a magic aura. The shield was his. His mind blanked for half a second. Somehow, he was doing something no human had done in two thousand years. Somehow he was using magic. After two and a half long seconds of shock, a brilliant flash of light and a loud bang came from behind him. He looked back to see the Dratali reeling, blinded and disoriented by Seth and Debby's flash-bangs. Curt came to his senses, picked up Twilight, and ran with the others. It wasn't long before the Dratali came around and opened fire again.
“What was that?” Debby asked, coming along side Curt.
“I don't know,” he answered, “I think I used magic?”
“How?”
“Fuck if I know! Just keep running.”
Charged metal whizzed past their heads as rounds from the enemy rifles came within inches of them. Curt held Twilight tight to his chest like a protective father guarding his child. He would not let them take her, even if it killed him. His legs pumped despite the burning that crept into them, fueled by the need to save his friend.
A gust of wind blasted overhead as the Black Beast moved into position to retrieve them. A boarding ramp lowered, hovering mere inches from the ground. Debby and Raak, being the fastest of the group made it first, followed by Seth. When Curt and his charge finally made it, the ship started gaining altitude quickly, but before the ramp could close, an explosion from a Dratali rocket launcher knocked Curt off his feet, still clutching the unicorn. He slid down the ramp, falling from the edge. Like a blue and silver bolt of lightning, Raak's hand found Curt's. The sniper dangled by one arm while holding Twilight for dear life. Before the Korg could pull them up, another explosion sent a few pieces of shrapnel into Curt's shoulder, causing his arm to go limp and its precious cargo to plummet back toward the planet's surface. Curt watched in horror as his friend fell to her certain death.
“Twilight!”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
There was no thought, only a reaction as Debby found her feet carrying her toward the ramp and into the open air. She heard someone call something, but it was lost in the wind whipping past. Tilting her body forward, she made herself more aerodynamic than the sill knocked out pony. Her tiny wings worked instinctively, trying in vain to speed her along in her nose dive.
What the hell am I doing? She thought to herself, Why did I jump? Ah fuck it. Too late to change anything now.
She continued her advance. The falling purple figure grew larger and larger until Debby was Finally close enough to grab her. The half-Aviva held her close as the ground continued to grow nearer. The pilot closed her eyes, unable to watch...then nothing.
I should have hit dirt by now.
Slowly she opened her eyes everything was still moving incredibly fast, but in the wrong direction. Instead of moving toward her, it was moving past her. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Looking to the side, she caught a glimpse of an ethereal shape moving up and down.
A-a wing? Debby turned her head around to get a better look, and sure enough a pair of translucent magenta wings sprouted from her back, moving in unison with her natural ones. No fucking way! I have wings! Er... bigger wings!
She gave them an experimental flap and immediately began gaining altitude. She almost forgot the danger she was just in and the fact that Dratali soldiers were on their tail. The sensation of flying under her own power was something she always dreamed of and now it was happening. Flying fighters had nothing on this.
The Black Beast descended from the clouds and leveled out right in front of them. The ramp was once again fully open with three jaws following its example. Debby made straight for the opening with the biggest smile on her face she ever had. She never felt so alive, so free, so...about to crash.
“Oh, Shi-!” was all she could mutter before slamming into Raak sending all three of them rolling. When they finally came to a stop, Twilight's eyes fluttered open to see the position she was in. She was laying on top of the Korg with her lips pressed against his. Her eyes drooped and a light blush filled her cheeks. Raak quickly pushed her off and got to his feet. Twilight staggered as if drunk, with a stupid grin on her face.
“Hehehe, me gets Raak kiss,” Twilight said, her IQ practically vanishing.
“We should get back to the bridge,” Raak said quickly in his embarrassment.
“Bridges go over water,” Twilight mumbled incoherently.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Rainbow Dash and Pinkie were reduced to a pair of laughing heaps.
“I-I was not that bad!” Twilight protested.
“I hate to say it, but she's telling the truth, Twilight,” Seth stated, “You were kind of out of it for a while.”
“Lies! Slander! Untruth! Okay maybe I did kind of lose myself for a minute,” Twilight admitted, “I can't help it that Raak's a hunk. Anyway, I can take it from here.”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
The five of them made their way toward the bridge to find Aden sitting at his normal place at Engineering. What confused them was two things. The first was that you can't fly the ship from that position. The second was that he was staring blankly at the monitor.
“Hey guys,” came Aden's voice from the PA system, “You won't believe this, but I've interfaced with the ship. I don't know how. All I know is that I started the ship up after James sent me back, and I then I was inside the ships systems. It's weird, but I can feel the whole ship.”
“Can you undo it?” Seth asked with a hint of worry.
“Yeah, no problem,” Aden answered, “It's like I just know how.”
The situation brought Twilight from her Korg lip induced stupor. She looked at the pilot and opened her senses. She could see the spell working through him, but that wasn't all. As she looked at each of her friends, she could see mana flowing through them.
“What the hell?” her question brought all attention to her, “How are you guys...?”
“What is it, Twilight?” Seth asked.
“You guys... I can sense magic in you.”
Everyone looked at each other confused.
“All of us?” Curt asked.
“Yes. It's at varying strengths, but yes.” Twilight's shock turned into contemplation as she pondered what could have happened, an idea hit her. “Of course! That orb! It didn't change me, it used me as a conduit to change you! Think about it, pony magic is human magic. It used my magic to kind of jumpstart all of you. Each of you either are human or part humans. Even Raak is part human, although, your magic feels similar to earth pony magic, but it's there.”
“So...what you're saying is...” The corners of Curt's lips twisted upward in a massive smile, “We can learn magic?”
Twilight's face matched his, “I'm going to be the first pony to teach non-ponies in almost a thousand years!”
“Yeah, well first things first,” Seth turned to the catatonic Aden, “So, uh...can you plot us a course for the nearest Alliance station?.”
“Yes sir,” replied the man in the machine.
“Good. Do that and, uh...come out...or...whatever...” Seth sighed and massaged his temples, “This is gonna take some getting used to.”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Rainbow Dash glared at Debby and Debby glared back. A silent challenge was issued and the two took off into the sky. Dash furiously beat her feathered appendage, as Debby's newly revealed ethereal wings matched her pace.
“Well...” Celestia said, as she, like everyone else, watched the abrupt race, “I suppose this means a break?”
Just as Twilight was about to answer two loud booms erupted overhead as twin rings of every color spread across the Equestrian sky.
“Whoa!” Pinkie shouted, “Double rainboom!”
“Fully awesome...” Curt said in wonder.
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Double rainbooms, what does it mean?
double rainbow all the way acroooss the sky
Awesomeness has been doubled!!
My goodness. That was awesome. A real shame that Celestia has to approve the whole Alliance forces combine with Equestria to fight the Dratli since they are coming to
AvalonAvol.It means one hell of a plot device. Magic for EVERYONE!!!
Double Rainboom, Yeah, YEAAAAAH, So Intense
I like James, he seems like the best kind of guy to sit around a drink with while playing poker
DOUBLE RAINBOW YEAHHHHHHHHHHH
APPLIED PHLEBOTINUM MUCH?
Love the chapter anyway!
It's a double rainboom, all the way!
it's so intense, what does it mean?
*faints*
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?!?!
2097173
Double Rainboom all the way across the skkyyyyyyyy!!! Woah-ohwoahwoah look a that Rainboom!
2097202
Then he makes your cards go transparent and then you are hospitalised.
2097323 Only because the doctors won't know if the eggplant growing out of your head is contagious
Pacing just took a nosedive... And yo, this needs a bit of a proofread.
2097352
Oh god please ship Debbie and RD. That would be fantastic.
Buck yes update! I needed something to cheer me up after the Fighting is Magic cancellation.
DOUBLE RAINBOOM!
...I barely call applied phlebotonium on this one.
2097383 Fighting is Magic was canceled?! Now I need cheering up
Double rainboom all the way across the sky! Yeah, yeah so intense!
2097394 It's not. I just haven't explained it yet.
This story is quickly approaching cheesiness...
for a second, i was really scared you were going to go with "sex with ponies gives you magic!"
but then i remembered that the humans had magic before and simply lost it. and then Debby got it too. I have never been more relieved.
also, this chapter went way too fast. For this kinda action sequence, it really deserved to be a bit longer. That's the only thing that bugs me about this fic, the chapters are too short.
Huh. Something odd about this chapter, but not quite sure what it is. Sentances don't really flow together very well.
Or maybe I'm just expecting everything to be in past tense instead of present tense. I always get confused when I jump from one story to another.
2097291 That's not enough cheese.
So the Dratali do know of Avol now. Did they know of necromancy before hand? That could be a real bitch on the battlefield. I like the fact humanity is slowly starting to regain magic, though you do not want to fall into the trap of making them experts or even truly competent with magic already. Twilight spent years under Celestia just learning magic and no matter how good she is at learning it, it doesn't mean Twilight is just as good at teaching it. Not too mention that they are still in the military which cuts their time to learn down significantly.
So overall they need more time than the less than half a year to even be considered...*glasses*... adept.
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Actually that'd be a good thing for Celestia and Luna to do, teach the team more about magic. Learn from the Master's Master so to speak. Plus it'd help build up trust between the Diarch's and the Alliance soldiers since they should still be a bit wary of each other despite their mutual link through Twilight because you know. ALIENS! Not something to brush over in a mere few chapters. I mean that's pretty freaking earth shaking.
I mean can you imagine having a friend that supposedly came back from the dead, told you this wild story about aliens saving him and then meeting these aliens? I mean even if you trust and believe that person, it's one thing to hear about it than it is to actually see and experience it first hand.
TL;DR version: Don't make the same mistake so many authors stupidly make in making the ponies become jaded about meeting a species from another world!
Also Twilight's punishment seems to have been forgotten completely.
2097149 SOOO INTENSE!
2097121 Well, a "double rainboom" is a phenomenon of optics that displays a spectrum of light due to the sun shining on droplets of moisture in the atmosphere. Does that explain it?
(Idk what that means, i copied it from Lux, the lady of luminosity)
damn youtube wouldn't let me copy the video right.
2097232
216 kilometric flanktons of it.
come out of the computer?
Is that a euphemism?
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This keeps getting better and better.
Excuse me but I think I lost my jaw somewhere, be back in a moment.
*finds missing bodypiece, reattaches it*
Oke back to business.
*goes full nerdgasm*
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Best chapter so far. Even better then the revalations in the last chapter.
My grin could rival Cameron Diaz' one for sure right now.
Tbh, I envy you right now. I had similar things in mind when I was planning on my own story but due to my bad case of low selfesteem it never got published.
You are doing a great job so far, keep up!!!!
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well now this just got more interesting.
2097202 right up until he wins with an Uno card, a ticket to the 1922 World Series game 4, a leaf, and the label from a Budweiser bottle.
AH deam it forgott to add:
2097885 No, it was literal. His mind was inside the computer.
2097232 2097779 No, applied phlebotonium is something that isn't explained (saying "because it's magic" doesn't count). It works because it works for the sake of moving the plot forward. Twilight gives a brief explanation of what it does:
The orb isn't something that's going to be forgotten. There's more that's going to be said about it.
2098005 There's a good reason. You'll have to wait and see.
2097943
QUICK! HE'S GETTING AWAY WITH IT! FIRE ALL THE MEDIUM PULSE LASERS!
Just kidding. It was kinda out of the blue, that is all... I think? I have trouble remembering all the stories I follow.
2097452 I can do it again if you want
2097943
double entendre?
Allowing a human, even a half-human, to just go off at Mach 10??? What trickery is this?
(someone did the math, and a sonic rainboom is actually Mach 10 based on the angle of the Mach cone, so yeah.)
Interesting how you described the light from Xander's teleportation as "cowardly"
2098015
If anything I don't think she actually made a Sonic Rainboom, but rather, a Sonic Boom which then joined into RD's giving the appearance of two Rainbooms.
My biggest question now is, are RD and Debby like some sort of weird cloning experiment where they cloned a brain then placed it in two completely different species to see the results. Sounds chaotic if you ask me.
Something tells me Xander is bluffing with his true power; and that he partially still dead persay with a Dratali somehow imputted into his mind so that he can gain the knowledge that Xander had had before his death.
oh shi~
do we get human mane6 with Twi as element of Magic?
2097372 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew ew ew! that was not am image i needed
2098433
wat? selfcest is the best cest!
My first thoughts when everyone started to use magic all of a sudden.
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