Chapter 53: Dirge of a Civilization
Part 1: Distance
TIME: 15:31 ERST
DATE: WAr Day 510/9 Noneus 1003 C.S.
LOCATION: Coltonville Ruins
I watched as Trixie, seeing her own beating heart torn from her chest, expired right in front of me. Her eyes were tiny dots. She couldn't form words. Blood poured from her mouth. Her intestines were spilled everywhere.
And there was Pinkamena, holding the heart.
Trixie slowly slumped to the ground, first to her knees, then to her left side. Pinkamena dropped the heart on her face, and paced over to me.
Pinkamena: "Human." She nodded, in a calm voice. "K----. Thank you for giving Pinkie something she always wanted." She gently rubbed a blood-soaked hoof on my cheek..
..just as Twilight came up, with Forest Spirit close behind.
Twilight: "Pink..?" She started.
Pinkamena: "It wasn't for your sake, Purple. It was for Pinkie." She hugged me. "You're special to her. Take care of her."
K: "You're leaving, now?" I asked calmly.
Pinkamena: "Forever." She looked up at me. "Remember me?"
K: "Always." I gently kissed her snout.
She cried a little as she stepped back, and went down to all fours. There was a bit of a gust of wind.. and I swore I heard wind chimes.. I swore I could see something float away.. and Pinkie's hair popped back up on its own.
Pinkie: "..she's gone." She was sad, though.
Twilight: "Pinkie.." She paced over, and put a foreleg over her. "..thank you."
Pinkie just embraced her, and for probably the first time since she was a filly, she let her own emotions out, unguarded.
Forest Spirit: "You okay, K?" He side-glanced at me.
K: "I'm fine." I went back to the little area I'd dropped everything at, and grabbed all of my gear. C> "This is Alpha to all callsigns. Trixie Lulamoon is dead."
I could tell at least some people were happy.. why wouldn't they be? She'd brought suffering to so many people.. ponies. Killed so many. I looked down at the amulet in my hands, and stuck it in my pocket. No.. I wouldn't let anyone know about this. It was.. would have to be.. a military secret.
Forest Spirit: "K?" He was looking for me.
K: "Over here, Spirit." I came out with my gear back on.
Forest Spirit: "Now what?" He tilted his head at me.
K: "Take Pinkie back to the bivouac." I shrugged. "She needs to recover. And take Trixie's corpse way away from here, cremate it, and scatter the ashes. I don't want her popping back up again. Just to be nice, save a small amount of it if we find her family, out of respect." I hefted the radio. C> "Applejack, you there?"
Applejack: C> "Readin' ya loud'n'clear, honeybun. Good on ya fer gettin' rid of that snake, Trixie." She said, with a bit of good humor.
K: C> "Wasn't me, it was Pinkie. I was just a distraction. What's your location?"
Applejack: C> "Cain't rightly say. Gonna pop a flare. We dun lost that other snake, Somnambula. Katrina'n the others can't feel her no more."
K: *Sigh* C> "Alright, I'll have Blinda direct you back to the bivouac for now. We'll take the rest of the day to relax." I paused. C> "Alpha to Mike Two."
Blinda: C> "Mike two. Go, Alpha."
K: C> "Direct the Expedition Party back to the Bivouac. I'll be along shortly with Mike One and change."
Blinda: C> "Roger."
K: *Sigh-grunt* "Get me a.. sack or something, Spirit." I paced over to Twilight. "Twi? What the hell IS this, she was trying to do?" I gestured at the huge sigil in the ground.
Twilight: "I-I'm not.. sure." She shook her head. "Honestly! I've never seen anything like this before!" She was still hugging Pinkie. "Don't touch it, though."
K: "I'm not that dumb. Spirit? This is a Hero's Potential Catch-22. We don't know what this is or what it does, but it COULD be really, really bad. Disturbing it could be as bad as letting it sit as-is, as letting it sit could allow another bad guy to come along and finish it." I nodded. "We need more information on it."
Spirit: "I'll go get a gunny sack for Trixie's corpse. Be right back." He trotted off at a near-gallop.
While I don't have fourth-wall breaking powers, I do have a rucksack full of things I packed for the expedition. I pulled mine off and rooted round in it. Finding what I was looking for, I walked over to Pinkie.
K: "Hey, Pinkie?" I got in a catcher's stance next to her.
Pinkie: *Sniffle* "Yeah?"
I stuck a carrot cake-vanilla frosted cupcake in her mouth.
K: "My turn." I smiled warmly.
Pinkie: "Oh, K----!" She hugged ME this time.. and started to giggle.
Then giggle some more.
Then laugh.
Then fall over, laughing harder than I'd ever seen her before.
Pinkie: *HAHAHA!* "Ohh.. ohh.. ahh.." She stood straight up, and dusted herself off. "I needed that."
She grinned her little Pinkie Grin, just as Forest Spirit came back with Dr. Allcome and a gunny sack.
Dr. Allcome: "Oh, my..." *Tsk-tsk-tsk* "...such a waste." He moved over to Trixie's corpse, and put his hoofpad to her neck. "Dead, for sure. What a waste." He shook his head solemnly. "If only we'd been able to reach her..."
K: "Pinkie sure did." I said, deadpan. "She reached right to her heart and found it wasn't black."
Dr. Allcome actually gave me a very annoyed, slightly angry look.
K: *Sigh* "Sorry, Doc." I shrugged. "I get it. You feel for her, because she was one of us. A pony." Even though I'm human. "She betrayed us, but we all kinda hoped she'd come around.. you know.. come to her senses." I shrugged. "Maybe somehow bring everyone she killed, back." I gestured. "And her death was a waste of a young life. I get that." I looked at him. "But can you honestly say the body of ponykind isn't healither with her dead?" I gestured to Pinkie. "That the T-Cell didn't get the virus, in the end? A T-Cell.. responding to what a virus does, destroy."
Dr. Allcome: "You have a gift for alliteration, K. You are right. But I can still mourn the tragic loss.. if only we'd stopped her." He sighed. "Enemy or not, she was a pony. Like us."
Twilight: "I think that's something I need to learn, too, Doctor.. I can't forgive her. Not after she nearly murdered me." She shrugged.
Dr. Allcome: "I can understand, Twilight."
We got Trixie's body about a kilometer from the edge of town and had the Marines incinerate it with magic. Most of the ashes were scattered around the area, but as I requested, a small amount was saved for her family.
She was well and truly dead. No more resurrections for her.
It wouldn't stop my nightmares, or anyone else's, but it did end Pinkie's alter-ego.. she was cleansed. That was something.
[End of Part 1]
Part 2: Location
TIME: 08:22 ERST
DATE: War Day 511/30 Octavius, 1003 C.S.
LOCTION: Coltonville Ruins, near the Sigil.
Our best were examining Trixie's handiwork. Marines had dug in and guarded it overnight. Everyone was digging through Trixie's things, consulting, or discussing.
I had.. no input. So, I was at the edge of the area with Forest Spirit, walking patrol.
K: "Kinda unusual, the highest ranked Flag Officer of a branch doing a simple security patrol." I shrugged.
Forest Spirit: "Any stranger than the commander in chief doing it?" He smirked. "Nah, I still see myelf as a field officer, even with the eye." He shook his head.
K: "You saved Campa." I shrugged. "If it hadn't been for you.."
Forest Spirit: "Yeah, I know." He looked off to the hills. "I never said I wasn't brave and a little stupid." He beamed a grin.
K: "Describes a Marine quite well." I patted his shoulder.
Forest Spirit: "Ah.. you and Applejack going to want another foal?" He looked at me. "I mean, with Florale and all, now." And shrugged.
K: "Nah, we still want another." I gestured a bit with one hand. "AJ wants to be fully pregnant and everything."
Forest Spirit: "Kinda.. still.. you asking me.." He was a tad uncomfortable.
K: "You and the guys are my best friends." I shrugged. "Besides, once the war's over, you'll be the most likely to be right by my side, so you can see your seedlings grow up. I have a feeling Norfy, Gaze and Cosmic are going to end up in staff and admin positions, or just leave the military altogether." I shrugged. "That's if we survive it."
Twilight: "K! COME HERE!"
K: "Welp." I gestured.
We returned to the Sigil together. I was still thinking about how Forest Spirit's donations meant a lot to me, given I wasn't compatible with AJ genetically.
Katrina: "It's a good thing Trixie didn't die a little more to the left." She gestured with a paw-hand. "This sigil demands blood sacrifice. Death. If Pinkamena had killed her in the sigil, we'd all be dead right now." She shrugged.
K: "What IS it?" I gestured at it.
Twilight: "It's worse than I thought it was. It's an ancient monster worse than the Hydra.. the only name I know it by is The Draconic Avegir." She shook her head slowly.
Katrina: "Fortunately, this IS something I remember - Somnambula, too, no doubt. Avegir was the 'weapon' sent to retrieve the power the Hydra stole from the God of Dragons. It's basically pure magical essence, given form. The legend goes that, before even Ponies, there was a Draconic civilization of great advancement. One day, the Hydra appeared, the child of a Dragon and an outside race - don't ask me what-"
Jade: "A Salamander." She lowered her head. "The mystic kind, not the little things we see around the forest." She looked at me. "Salamanders.. er.. poop.. the most pure fire gems." She gestured to me.
Katrina: "Thanks, Jade." She petted her. "Anyway. The story goes that the Hydra grew jealous and spiteful towards Dragon society, despite being raised in it. So, one day, to prove that it was indeed as powerful as they were, Hydra stole the power of the God of Dragons." She shrugged wide.
K: "Let me guess.. his name is Bahamut?" I tilted my head. "Consort's name is Tiamat?"
Twilight: "K! I didn't realize they had dragons in your world, too! Or that you were so worldly about them!" She was genuinely surprised.
K: "I'm not, we don't, and that sort of connection is actually a VERY common theme in our fictive works. Honestly, I have no idea where it started, but it's purely fictive, not based on any religion, as far as I know." I waved my hand. "Let's see.. Katrina.. I'm going to take a guess, here, based on how positive things generally ARE, here, and assume that this Tiamat and Bahamut were a very happy couple, with a mess'a kiddos and a very parental attitude?"
Katrina: "On the contrary, they coveted each other and remained united only because their Hoards had been mixed at the beginning of time and division of the Hoard was impossible - and their powers counterbalanced the other Ancient Gods, so.. it's usually depicted as a business arrangement that occasionally involved what we'd interperet as anger-sex or fight-sex." She shrugged. "Dragons aren't known for taking good care of their babies."
K: "Sheesh." I blinked.
Katrina: "No, but Tiamat did create Avegir to reclaim the lost powers, by force. To kill Hydra, and seal away its own powers so it can never rise again. Problem is, there was a cataclysm and Dragon society mostly died out.. what we have left are the dragons we see today. Fractured, loners, gluttons, greedy... save Spike, most dragons see us as lesser creatures and.." She shook her head.
K: "So, why is Avegir, here?" I open-palm pointed to the Sigil.
Katrina: "I'm honestly not sure about the WHY. But I can also say that the spell covering the city ruins in this grassy field and making these hills, is tied to the seal. We break the seal, we unleash Avegir, but we also unbury the city." A wide shrug, with an annoyed tail whoosh.
K: "Would Avegir just.. start trying to wreck everything..? Probably 'yeah', huh? It was made by Dragons, and they see us as ants. Something like that would see us as LESS than ants." I sighed with exasperation. "Soooo... what do we do?"
Twilight: "This seal is only temporary, too. As near as we can figure, it was made with some kind of energy - magical energy - and, like a battery, it's keeping this ground charged to seal Avegir." She looked at Katrina.
Katrina: "A century, maybe less. This sigil cut into that energy and drained off some of it. It would've lasted a thousand more years, otherwise." She shrugged. "We need to deal with this, and soon. No later than... oh, before we go fight Tirek. Afterwards, we're going to be caught up with trying to clean up the mess of the aftermath, and that could take decades. Long enough to forget.." She narrowed her eyes at me, slightly. "I don't want this to be forgotten."
Jade: "Katrina's right. If we don't deal with Avegir soon, we won't have the power to do so, later. What if we end up destroying the Rainbow of Light to kill Tirek? What if we need YOU.. and... you.." She lowered her head.
K: "I get it. So, main question, any danger to us immediately, or Spike?" I crossed my arms and looked down.
Katrina: "No, Avegir is asleep." She gestured to the Sigil. "Really, it's a good thing we found this - this might've been the source of the next Great Cataclysm that seems to sweep this planet every.. few thousand years.." She paused and tapped her chin. "I wonder if this was intentional? Like, Avegir and Hydra were both sealed away at the same time, specifically to force this Cataclysm to happen right on schedule?"
Forest Spirit: "For that matter, what was Trixie doing? I didn't see any hostages, and she'd be a fool to think she could take any one of us out, now, that we've gotten stronger. Even us non-magic users." He raised a hoof.
K: "My guess is, Trixie was given one last chance. She lost me, she withheld the truth of my capture from Tirek, her schemes against him were exposed.. he probably threatened her with a fate far worse than death. And I can think of a few." I looked at them. "This was a literal suicide mission for her. A good death versus a slow, painful, tormentuous existence. Or.. maybe he threatened to Extract her, and the fear of that beats the idea of slitting her wrists or something?" I looked to Dr. Allcome.
Dr. Allcome: "You may be right. How tragic." He shook his head.
K: "Well.. I'm pretty sure we'd need the Rainbow of Light and us at our strongest to take out Avegir or seal him away more permanently, or.. maybe we find a better way to do things? Either way, this is not something we should be doing at this moment."
Forest Spirit: "Agreed."
Blinda: "Oh, definitely, sir."
Twilight: "I think we can ALL agree on THAT." She nodded.
K: "Now, the question is..." I looked at the 'hills'. "..can we get inside those without screwing things up?"
Katrina: "I see no reason why not? They should be covered in about 15cm of dirt." She shrugged. "And likely magically preserved. Thing is, I guarantee, anyone in them is dead." She paced to the nearet hill and set her hand on it. "I'm pretty sure the combined energies of everyone left in the city was used to create the battery that's held Avegir asleep, all this time."
Dr. Allcome: "What a shame. I wonder how many there were?" He tilted his head.
Katrina: "Between 10,000 and 40,000 - roughly." She shrugged. "It depends on a lot of factors, but the main one is how efficient the Caster was at converting Life Essence to this magical battery. The civilization was about 8,000 years ago, right? So, if they had a very high efficiency and converted them at a rate of roughly one life to one year.." She gestured. "..but, still, anyone with the skill necessary to cast this shouldn't be less efficient than four lives to one year's worth of energy. And add another two to ten thousand for the initial spell."
K: "So, anywhere from twelve to fifty thousand souls were here when Avegir was sealed. Fuck me." I shook my head.
We had some of the answers we sought. I'd have to write a full report to Celestia about this. She wasn't going to like it.. and neither did I.
[End of Part 2]
Part 3: Rooting
TIME: 09:22 ERST
DATE: War Day 512/1 Noneus, 1003 C.S.
LOCATION: Coltonville Ruins
I drew a team with Applejack and Twilight. We determined through aerial recon that, if Somnambula HAD been here, she beat it when we killed Trixie. There was no sign of her.
That left us to root around the ruins in peace. I felt like a grave robber.
We were in what used to be some kind of corner store, after having dug out a chunk of sod covering a wall (oops!) and the loading door in the rear.
K: "Look at all this stuff." I picked up a can. "I wonder.."
Out comes my Multi-Tool, pop out the can opener.. nice hiss.
Twilight: "K----, you can't be serious!" She recoiled a bit. "That was canned over eight thousand years ago!"
Opened! Inside were very readily identifiable slices of peaches, no scent of rot or "smells off." No, it looked perfect. I plucked one out..!
K: "FOR SCIENCE!"
Twilight: "K! NO!"
Applejack: "HONEYBUN!"
*Glumpf!* *Om-non-nom..*
K: "Ooo... light syrup." *Dramatic belch!* "Seriously, they're perfectly preserved. Must be part of the spell." I shrugged.
Twilight: "...you're hoofing me." She opened her mouth.
I placed a slice on her tongue.
Twilight nommed the fruit.. swished it around in her mouth.. and..
Twilight: "This is delicious!"
Applejack: "Nu-uh!" She gently shoved Twilight out of the way and opened HER mouth.
I gave her a peach slice.. and gently fingered her mouth, lewdly, as I did. She just gave me bedroom eyes in return, but she ate the treat when I got my finger out of there.
Applejack: "T'ain't no apple, but'cher right, it's fine!" She smiled a bit.
We finished the treat with much more flirting between us married folks, while Twilight I was a perfect gentleman with.
Twilight: "You know, there's no electricity.." She paced around, the can now empty. "..I wonder if any of these food items in sealed bags are okay?"
K: "Mm.."
I shrugged, and paced over to the cashier's counter. I noted the drawer was pulled out and most of the moeny was missing. There were a few scattered notes on the ground, and some change. I picked up a 50 *dollar* bill.. and examined it.
K: "Well, fuck me. This is Fiat Currency!" I showed it to them.
Applejack: *Sigh* "Twi?"
Twilight: "He means it's not backed by precious metals, gems, or anything like that. It's backed only by the government's say-so that it's worth what it's printed as. Problem with that, is, the value of it can fluctuate a LOT.. yeah, it might be worth fifty, but that could buy you a sack full of apples one day, and ten apples the next - it's driven by market forces, not a set value."
K: "She's pretty much right. Since Equestrian Bits are backed by the Royal Treasury and each Bit is made of precious metal, its melt value might change a bit over time, but if it's ever worth significantly LESS than its weight, you can get it exchanged. Not so with this stuff.. my world uses it. And it's terrible. The American Dollar has lost 95% of its value since Fiat Currency was started about a hundred years before I came to Equestria. That's what eventually happens, since it's based on controlled inflation - or, thought about another way, controlled devaluation."
Applejack: "Why'n'th'heck'd you do somethin' like that?" She furrowed her brow.
K: "Simple answer? It makes it so there can be a LOT more money available in the economy, for investment and rapid growth. Problem is, you have to pay the butcher eventually, the bubble it creates isn't infinite. We've gone about a century.. I figure if nothing terrible happens, we might go another half century or more, unless one of our competing currencies collapses, which will artificially bolster ours for some more time." I shrugged. "It's like a sugar rush for the economy. Problem is, all sugar rushes eventually end in a crash."
Applejack: "So... whut's'at mean fer us?" She nodded to the paper money.
K: "They had a very advanced civilization that figured out Fiat Economics. And if the prices on the shelves are any indication, a pretty stable version of it. Those prices are FAR better than I saw at relatively the same point in time. That big can of peaches? It was a dollar and ten cents. If this was about 1999, then in the same year, I'd've bought the same sized can for about a dollar and ten cents more." I shrugged. "This is just more evidence that their civilization was doing a good job of things."
Twilight: "Huh! Their inflation was only, then, what.. half of yours?" She cocked a brow. "You know, if I don't run for elected office in this Parliament you want after the war, I'm going to be REALLY busy as a Professor of Ancient History." She smiled. "You're such a great friend, K. Now I have multiple possible careers."
Applejack: "Mm.. I'll vote fer ya." She patted her on the back. "S'long as you don't raise taxes on apples."
K: "Be careful, you two. This is how corrupt politics start." I smirked. "Next thing you know, Twilight will be granting Apple Subsidies." I beamed.
Twilight: "You're terrible!" She smiled, though, too.
Dusty: C> "This is Dusty! I think we've found something, here."
K: C> "Go ahead, Dusty."
Dusty: C> "It seems to be some kind of school.. we're looking for a pony named Bright Eyes, right? Well, I found a trace of her. Jade's going to set off a magic flare. Come to us."
K: C> "Roger that."
I motioned for the girls to follow me, but in the meantime, I grabbed three cans of 'Corned Beef' (actually just salted beef in fat and water). It wasn't prime rib, but it'd be a welcome addition to the poultry and pork.
We made our way to the flare. And then it struck me..
K: "Schoolhouse is our very first stop.. then let's try the ice cream shoppe.." I stated, not sang, the lines.
Twilight: "What's that, K?" She tilted her head.
K: "Theme song from Generation Two." I paused. "I also sang the Gen Three themesong to myself when I was in that house by Mount Frost." I shook my head. "These memories.. they're becoming very real to me, Twi. Especially with you girls around me all the time."
Twilight: "Huh." She nodded, though. "Maybe it's some kind of effect of being here for three years?" She tilted her head.
K: "Well, we know I'm very vulnerable to magic. I dunno." I shrugged.
Applejack: "Welp. All's I know is, I got me a fine stallion out o' the deal." She shrugged, and we kept walking.
Finally, we got to the flare. Dusty and Jade were standing outside of the mound. Part of it had been cleared away.
K: "Huh. Wonder what my wife would say about this?" I tilted my head.
(Truth is, I'll never find out. J died in real life as I was writing this chapter)
Applejack: "She a fan, too?" Applejack plodded up.
K: "Yeah.. she liked the colorations. Hm.. and the Big Brothers from Gen 1." I shrugged.
Dusty: "General." She nodded. "Come on inside."
K: "Right." I glanced about, and followed her in.
Inside, we found the school from Gen 2, alright, with a few alterations. Besides time more or less being frozen, in a sense, there were clear updates to the school itself. I noted it had RJ-56 cables running on the ceiling..
K: "..they have internet.." I muttered to myself.
Twilight: "What's that, K?" She tilted her head at me.
K: "Nothing, never mind." I shrugged. "It wouldn't do us any good, anyway." Not without electrical power, that is.
Dusty: "Over here." She took us to a large display case.
Jade: "We found this." She pointed to a photograph.
It was Bright Eyes, alright, as an adult, not a teen/tween. She's standing with the school principal, handing over a comically oversized check for what looks like 100,000 of their currency. Below the picture is a large trophy. Mathlympics, and Bright Eyes' name is on it.
K: "So, she WAS a genuis." I shrugged. "More than the show let on, too."
Dusty: "The check actually has the same address on it. Here." She pointed to the corner of the photograph.
Indeed, the same address that'd been on the piece of paper, was listed as the address for Bright Eyes, on the check. The check was drawn off the Bright Eye Corporation's corporate account. Was the address, their headquarters?
K: "We need to find a street map." I shook my head. "A real one, not a generalized one."
Jade: "Well.. would the school library have one?" She tilted her head.
K: "It might. Come on, let's go."
With that, we took off. The school was well labelled, with the signage pointing us in the right direction.
[End of Part 3]
Part 4: Pathway
TIME: 10:21 ERST
DATE: War Day 512/1 Noneus, 1003 C.S.
LOCATION: Coltonville School House, Coltonville Ruins
The library. Information. And lots of it. More than I expected. I went right for the newspapers.. and I got an answer I didn't want.
K: "..ohh.. oh..." I stammered, and slid into a small chair.
Applejack: "Honeybun!? Are yewe alraight!?" She rushed immediately to my side.
K: "The date on this paper.. the date is the same as the date I vanished." I held it out to her.
Applejack: "Holy HAY-bales!"
Indeed. The date was September 12, 2012. The headline? 'MYSTERY DEEPENS!'
There's also a picture of Bright Eyes on the front page.
Twilight came over and took the paper from Applejack, then read the lead story.
Twilight: "At eight fifteen PM last night, the energy pulses that have been plaguing our community returned. This time, power was lost throughout the city, and electric company crews worked for several hours to replace electrically damanged equipment at the city's sub-stations. Dr. Bright Eyes, CEO of the Bright Eye Corporation, reiterated her outlandish conspiracy theory that these power surges were due to an awakening monster of some kind.." She looked at me. "..oh."
K: "An awakening monster. That means someone in the distant past summoned that creature here." I shook my head. "If she froze herself - and that's the only thing I can think happened, if she expected me to come find her in their year 2145 or later - then she probably went and did it right after that interview." I shrugged. "Cryogenics, we call it. The idea is, if you flash freeze living cells fast and complete enough, you can store your body for centuries. We hadn't perfected it in my world, but we were pretty close. I know some successful experiments had been done." I waved my right hand around. "She predicted the future somehow. I don't know how. I have a feeling she's still alive, cryogenically frozen, waiting for me to wake her up."
Twilight: "But, K, we know that was over eight thousand years ago." She shrugged. "Can a cryogenic.. uh.. freezer.. last that long?"
K: "Theoretically. If the support equipment and systems are intact." I tilted my head.
Dusty: "Twilight.. these books." She brought one over to her. "History books."
Jade: "Well! Hey! We can get some other answers, here, at least! Like the stuff that happened that they knew, for sure. Like, maybe.. uh.. my dad's time?" She winced a little.
K: "Worth a shot." I raised up. C> "K to Doc Allcome, come in."
Dr. Allcome: C> "Yes, K. What's your location, over?"
K: "Schoolhouse. I'll have Jade throw up another flare. I need you, here. There's history books. Written for fillies, but, it's concrete history facts and more. That's kinda your bag, Doc. We're looking for an intact road map, and an accurate one. Over." I nodded to Jade to head outside and fire another flare, up.
Forest Spirit: C> "I'm with the Doc, General. We're at a.. some kind of small store.. with.. there's a panel over here that says 'Emergency Pump Stop.' Uh.."
K: C> "That's a GAS STATION! They'll have road maps! Look around, Spirit. Find one. Over."
Dr. Allcome: C> "Well, then! I think we have. There's a rotating rack of them near the door.. aha.. Province of Ponyland. We'll be there soon. I'll grab as many different ones as I can. Doc out."
K: C> "Roger." I replied. C> "K to Lyra." Time for the other historian.
Lyra: C> "Arredy on aer way, K. We be watchin' fer th' flare. We di'int fin' much, other'n a nice barber shop. Over."
K: C> "Gotcha. Eyes up, it'll be just a bit. K, out."
It was a good thing that, by now, radios were becoming commonplace, and thanks to Crystal Kingdom technology, small enough to carry by an individual soldier. This was a far cry from Neighpon.
TIME: 11:17 ESRT
By now, most of the teams had just assembled at the School House. We were looking over our artifacts and things. Lyra was trying out some donuts that had been 'flash frozen' at a bakery, that Coco had found.
Coco: "..and it's the strangest thing, sir, both Webley and I thought we were being watched." She shrugged.
Webley: "Mm, yes. We were careful, doubled back around, everything. No trace." She shook her head. "Also, I should mention, I'm not getting ANY reception here, at all." She looked right at me.
K: "Noted. That's a bit troubling." I looked at Katrina.
Katrina: "I'm positive it's because of the Avegir." She shook her head, idly eating from her mess kit. "It has very strange and damaging effects on magic." She looked at Webley. "The stranger the magic, the stronger the effect."
K: "Even with it asleep?" I tilted my head.
Katrina: "Yes. It would affect the dream realm much more strongly in its current state." She looked between me and Applejack. "I don't think you'll be able to contact Princess Luna with us this close."
K: "I'm still wondering if the Avegir was the mysterious energy the papers mentioned." I shook my head.
Katrina: "Seems likely." She looked at Gaze.
Gaze: "Suh." He looked back at me, twitching his mouth a bit. "Iff'n ah'm right.." He looked around, and down. "..an' what me Nan told me is anywhere near cerrect.." A shrug. "..then the 'pocalypse that happened here was prolly stopped by one'a me ancestors."
K: "Oh, REALLY, now?" I leaned in. "You didn't mention this."
Gaze: "Wazzn't sure, suh. After lookin' at all'a this? Aye, seems likely. I gots a line with strong mages goin' back generations. Powers've thinned a lot, y'see-"
Twilight: "Don't count yourself short, there, Lid." She gave him a smile.
Lyra: "No kiddin', honey." She nuzzled him.
Gaze: "-ah! Thenks. Heh.. er-eh-anyhoos.." He cleared his throat. "Nan told me we once had'a 'bility t'freeze everythin' in time. Puts it all to sleep. She weren't clear onnit, really, but it sounds a lot li' this." He glanced around.
K: "Seems as likely as anything. It would certainly explain how you ended up falling into my orbit. Fate's kinda funny in this world - when it can, it puts the right ponies in the right place to do the right thing." I shrugged. "Everypony here has made a vital contribution.."
Pinkie: "He's right. About fate." She was busying herself with a pile of comic books. "It's just how it goes!" She grinned.
Dr. Allcome: "K. I think we've figured out where to go next. The research facility is clearly marked, right here." He showed me the map.
'Bright Eye Corp. Research Facility.' Right along a line that said 'West Highway 3.'
K: "If I'm right, looks like it's about twelve miles from here, beyond the city limits." I shrugged. "We could march it, but I'd rather take the XY's and a support team." I nodded.
Twilight: "It's still pretty early. We could get there today." She shrugged, and nodded. "Shouldn't be too hard."
K: "Question is, was the facility caught in this magical field, or not? If it wasn't, then we have a problem. Even high grade steel doesn't hold up well after eight millenia." I stood up. "Cosmic."
Cosmic: "Gotcha. I'll call in the cavalry to come pick us up." He paced for the door, as I followed.
[End of Part 4]
Part 5: Creeping
TIME: 12:02 ERST
DATE: War Day 512/1 Noneus, 1003 C.S.
LOCATION: Coltonville School House, Coltonville Ruins
We paced outside, and as we did, both Cosmic and I reached for our weapons. Slowly. We both knew something was up.
Cosmic: "Left, sir." He said in a low tone, his eyes more or less straight ahead.
I pivoted on the balls of my feet, and sighted down on something that didn't really have a good description. It was bipedal, about a pony's height, scrawny, and.. all black, like it literally absorbed light.
I fired a three-shot burst at it. It dodged aside, faster than I could react.
Cosmic rolled forwards, and fired himself, at the scraggly being. Again, it dodged. But it did so in a very predictable manner, I could see that..
..and I aimed where it landed, firing a three shot burst into it at about head level. This put it down, just as everyone else came out to see what the shooting was all about.
K: "Little bastard was creeping around the shadows.." I said, more or less to myself.
Katrina: "Shadow creatures!" She hissed, cat-like. "This is Somnambula's doing, I'm certain of it."
Twilight: "I like the term 'creeper.' Seems fitting." She shrugged.
Rarity: "Another bug to hunt." A short, haughty sniff. "Does Tirek and his fellows think, really think, darlings, that such little pests can really get us?" She moved over to it and gave it a sniff. "We've learned entirely too much." She gave me a short flash of bedroom eyes.
Cosmic: "They dodge. But they can't dodge perfectly." He immediately made his report. "One pony alone might be overwhelmed, they're too fast." He shook his head. "Be careful, okay?"
K: "What he said." I nodded sideways to him. "They may look scrawny, but they're quick."
Applejack: "Yeah, 'n there's more." She nod-pointed to the sides of several smaller mounds a few meters away.
Katrina: "They don't do well in the daylight, I wager.." She glanced around, cat-eyes glimmering.
K: "Fan out, double-back, everyone watch yourself." I moved a bit to the side, and covered for Cosmic.
Gaze: "S'we'gunna wipe 'em out?" He moved to cover Kiwi.
K: "That's the plan. I don't want these things skulking around. Cosmic, call for backup." I nodded.
Cosmic: "Right." He grabbed the mic on his radio pack. C> "Alpha to Crystal Alpha. Encountered magical hostiles. Five klicks south-south-west of Bivouac. Requesting backup. How copy?"
Iris: C> "This is Crystal Six-One. We copy. The XY's are on their way, Crystal Alpha Actual being advised. Hold tight, ETA is fifteen."
Cosmic: C> "Alpha, acknowledged." He glanced at me, but we could all hear it.
K: "Defensive formation." I looked up at them.
Forest Spirit: "Here we go." He pointed. "They're advancing."
K: "Open fire, fire at-will." I stated plainly.
Rarity and Lyra soon found their snipering abilities were useless - these things were too fast. Either they were dodging the bullets themselves (unlikely, but, hey, magic) or they were dodging the intent of the shooter at the last second, denying them a chance to correct.
The others had an easier time, as these things, lacking cover, simply rushed us. A stream of darkness coming from the shadows, each one of them dodging any intentional shots fired their way.
Gorcat: "I'm having an easier time just mowing them down!" He reported, one-handing the Abrams and just raking the lines.
Applejack: "That're pickin' off someone else's dodges!" She yelled out.
K: "NEW TACTIC! GRAB YOUR PARTNER, PICK A TARGET, ONE FIRES, THE OTHER CATCHES THE REBOUND!" I directed.
Katrina: "I'm raising a shield! That'll slow them down.." She focused herself a moment, then pushed outwards, and a large magical wave engulfed the creatures.
Like waves crashing on the shore, the magical barrier acted to slow their advance, AND their dodge speed.
Dash: C> "This is Dash! Gilda and I are coming in hot! Call the strafe, K!"
K: C> "Strafe with grenades ten meters from our cluster, line going west to east! Hit the black stuff!"
Dash: C> "Roger that! Watch your heads!"
I watched Gilda and Dash come out of the sun and dive right towards the creatures. Dash started firing her Gavin grenade launcher as soon as she could, reloading and firing as rapidly as possible. Gilda started by hosing down the enemy lines from above with her Merill. Once they got almost over the top of them, they both switched to grenades.
One of the things I'd stolen from the Herdiets was pony grenades. We now had our own models, both White Phosphorous and High Explosive/Fragmentation, and they were more or less a direct copy. This made them usable by both them, and me.
Dash had four on her, Gilda had six, and they dropped them all.
K: "COVER! COVER! GET DOWN!" I hit the dirt, and ended up with Cosmic's face right in mine.
Cosmic: "Hey, sir! Great battle." He smiled. Smiled!
K: *Heh!* "We're doing better than First Ponyville." I grinned.
The grenades went off, and I could hear these things dying.
K: "UP! UP!" I pulled myself to my feet, changing magazines, and sighted in on the remaining Creepers.
Not many left.
K: "COUNTER-ATTACK! RUSH 'EM!" I directed, and we charged into the fray.
In close quarters, their claws were more deadly, but they couldn't dodge well. The closer you got, the easier it was to shoot them. Cosmic and I moved in together, not aiming, just hosing. I got close enough to use my size advantage and start kicking them, bashing them with the rifle's stock, and pressing the barrel to their bodies before firing.
Jade and Katrina turned the "push field" into a razor death chamber with Jade's jewel magic, sending shards of light crystals inwards, towards the back of the crowd.
It was all done in less than five minutes.
Twilight: "..that's all of them." She looked over the mess.
K: "Hm." I shook my head. "Kat, take a few minutes to examine them."
Rarity: "Always something, darlings!" She smirked.
K: "Yeah. Now, let's go find Bright Eyes." I nodded, and looked to the sky, seeing the XY's in the distance.
Soon, Bright Eyes. Soon.
{End of Chapter 53}
