Chapter 129: Ironish Incident II
Part 1: Thousandfold
TIME: 07:27 GMT
DATE: War Day 1000/31 Lunaris, 1004 C.S.
LOCATION: Office of Assistant Professor Broken Dawn, Royal College of Dublin
We literally took the last five days off. Not necessarily because of what happened to Mary, but that played a part. We went to her mother's grave site again, and found that the youngest Doughenny son had buried her and his parents. He'd also been among the Royal Ambleonian Marines that died in Sumatra. The Doughenny Line was extinguished, as the oldest son had died of disease as a foal, and their only daughter had died in South Cave.
As a terrorist, fighting NEIGHTO.
According to the townsfolk, she blamed me personally for her brother's death. When I was shown a picture of her, I realized I'd killed her personally.
Such disparate and tragic fates. It was.. I admit, I needed a minute. This.. this terror and fear and anguish. Perhaps if we'd found out about things sooner? Gone about things differently? Second guesses I knew I shouldn't be having. Ones that I was comfortable sharing with the girls. And they all reassured me - both that, ultimately, Tirek was to blame. And that there was nothing I could have done to stop this.
K: "Sooooo.. this is YOUR office, ehh?" I said, strolling in.
It was.. small. Not tiny, but certainly on the smaller side. Three desks wide, six long, roughly. Lined with book shelves, and a bust of Diogepony (Diogenes).
Broken: "Aye! Nice, eh?" He (and Magellan on his shoulder) puffed himself up a bit.
Mary: "Ahh.. so thi' is where ye werk when ye's not fightin' Tirek, mmm?" She strolled in.. smiling.. looking at all the stuff.
Broken: "Aye!" He nodded with an even bigger grin.
Dean Hortensculler: "Mmm.. and with his predecessor's most dastardly betrayal, I think the administration would be remiss in not offering you full Tenure, at least, sir." The much older, white-maned, half-moon-glasses wearing unicorn stallion that was Dean of the College, said to him with respect.
Broken: "Oh!" He blushed a bit. "T-Tenure?!"
Dean Hortensculler: "Of course, Lad! You rather well proved the strength of your argument and philosophy over him!" He laughed a bit. "Rather more physically! But, I think Diogepony himself would have had a good laugh at it." He patted the bust.
Broken: "Oh.. an' been upset tha' we couldn'ae settle our differences wi' a debate whilst liftin' stones, sir." He nodded, humbly.
Dean Hortensculler: "Certainly." He nodded, proudly. "You've come so far from the timid lecturist I first hired all that time ago."
Broken: "A-Aye, sir." He gave a respectful nod.
Mary: "Ah. Tenure!" She gently rubbed the side of her head on his shoulder. "A'least if'n'ye dun' stay in th'army, ye'll be well employed when tha' lout Tirek's suckin' peatmoss." She smirked.
Oh.. yeah.. uh.. by the way.. those two? Oh, it was a surer thing every day. And they were almost as cute about it as Fluttershy and Golden! As it turned out, Mary had little formal education, but lofty intellectual goals.. her new favorite thing to do was to pick a random book and have her new special somepony help her read it.
It was.. just.. my heart and my teeth couldn't take the sweetness.
K: "So, you said, there was something here?" I nodded to his.. uh.. not mess, but whatever this organizational system was.
Broken: "AH! Ah-yes! I have a chest over here.." He went to the back of the room (carefully) and started carefully moving things around.
There was a lot of stuff in here. It was clear that he took a bunch of things with him when he joined the Army, and just left the disorganization as it was, when he was done. Excitement and enthusiasm. There was a very clear skeletal framework of organization that had been upended at the last minute, and some signs of outside interference.
Mary: "Ye kno' - ah wuz a maid. Ah'ken help ye.." She gently offered.
Broken: "O-Oh!" He looked up, blushing. "I wouldnae want to impose-"
Mary: "Nonsense!" She nodded, and started cleaning the office.
The dean smiled and gave me a very grandfatherly look of 'we should leave them be.' I nodded with a broad grin of silent agreement.
The two of us pulled back, and I let them get to work.
TIME: 08:07 GMT
LOCATION: Central Library Building, Royal College of Dublin
Oh, this is where the action was.
Twilight and Moon were scattered around, with Trixie and Sunset acting as their minions, close behind. All the Unicorns were hard at work looking for clues. And we had TONS of stuff to go through.
Dean Hortensculler was incredibly helpful. He was Ambleonian, actually, and had been assistant Dean of Princess College, until he was sent here about 17 years ago. He understood why, now. None of the Unicorns here were in on the conspiracy - this is where they generally sent the dissenters.
The THINGS they sent here, they shipped more carefully, and hid in various vaults and collections, just dumping random books and scrolls in places where they should not be, or hiding them in hollows and secret panels and rooms around the various buildings.
Dean Hortensculler had immediately mobilized the faculty and student body to help find everything as soon as news of the Battle of Princess College reached him. The school had responded in fine form, doing their name honor.
K: "Anything interesting, yet, ladies and gents?" I said, stepping into the library area.
Twilight: "Oh, good Celestia. There's so much here. Old magic books, theory books, philosophy stuff.. it's crazy. I'm glad I have help!" She nodded.
Spike: "If you didn't, you'd be here two years!" He grinned.
Twilight: "NONSENSE, Spike! No.. more.. like eighteen months." She blushed a bit, and looked back down at her book.
Flash: "Eighteen months? You don't give yourself enough credit, hon." He smiled and lowered himself next to her, even though he knew he wouldn't understand a thing.
She nudged a bit closer, and rest her head on his shoulder, smiling.
I sat Indian style next to them, pulling a large tome over. I opened it, and realized it was full of scribbles that I could not identify as a language. I raised my brows, and shrugged.
K: "You two are great together." I nodded.
Lightning Dust: "Hey, everyone...! I brought tea!" She came in with Elsie and a cart of tea and snacks from the commissary.
Rainbow Dash: "Hey, thenks!" She trotted over and poured herself a cup. "Y'know, you're pretty cool."
Lightning Dust: "I hear you're the best." She narrowed her eyes just a little. "Once this war's over, I wanna put that to the test!"
Rainbow Dash: "Oh, REALLY?!" She smirked, cockily. "You're on!" She gently poked Dust's chest. "Any time.. any where!" And nodded with a grin.
Gilda: "Mmmm.. picking fights, honey?" She grinned a little from a stack of scrolls.
Rainbow Dash: "Just a lil' friendly competition!" She curled a lip, gently, and poured another cup for her wife.
K: "Mmm." I grinned broadly, and grabbed for a different book.
Dusk: "You know.." He trotted over, with Trixie on one side and Rarity on the other.. "..we pretty much already know where we need to go."
K: "Ultimately. We need to confront Jupiter and find the Sea Ponies." I nodded back to him. "And perhaps Jupiter knows where the Rainbow of Light is."
Trixie: "That doesn't mean there isn't something else here." She paced past him, and grabbed a big donut.. looking at Rarity, she slid it up to her snoot and-
Rarity: "Not now, Trixie, darling." She cooly grabbed a Bismark and bit into it.
K: "You're going to have your hands - hooves - full." I nodded to him.
Dusk: "No kidding." He chuckled uneasily.
Trixie: "Mmm.." She smirked, finishing the donut. "..but, he WILL have a Great and Powerful household." She shrugged a bit. "I can at least do laundry."
Rarity: "Mmm.. indeed." She giggled, teasingly.
And so, the morning went on like this. Most everyone was in here, along with a few students that had been in Broken's class that didn't transfer to Londinium, all helping at least give these hidden books a casual once-over.
I wasn't sure what we'd find, if anything, but it was a break from fighting. Even if this was still conducting operations, it wasn't shooting, crawling through jungles, or crawling over mountains. It was a break. It was a chance for us to relax. Not to mention, learn.
[End of Part 1]
Part 2: Irish Spring
TIME: 13:53 GMT
DATE: War Day 1000/31 Lunaris, 1004 C.S.
LOCATION: Library, Royal College of Dublin
Books, books, books and more books. Many of them were historical in context, telling ABOUT spells and things that ONCE existed but did not any longer. Or spoke OF theorems or philosophical concepts, but did not define them.
Some would call this a bust. Others would call this a treasure of pointers and context clues to tell us where something might be found next. I called it a nice break from throwing bullets, even if the topics were a bit ahead of me.
Some of the books were aimed at the casual reader, and provided a lot of their own context about the subject matter. Others assumed the reader knew certain things, and carried on as though they did. We found sections of collections, indicating other books were missing. Over all, though, we had not yet come up with anything solid..
..we'd also barely processed 10% of the trove.
Moon Dancer: "Ugh!" She stretched. "I've been shrimping again." She rolled her neck a bit, then rolled over on her back, flopping out flat. "K? What're human libraries like?"
K: "Mm.. more organization, less secret passages, plenty of smell of old books and lost knowledge. You could spend an eternity going through them and find at least one new book each time." I shrugged.
Moon Dancer: "Oh, that.. sounds like.." She smiled.
Twilight Sentry: "..heaven." She leaned back and stretched a bit.
Broken: "Aye." He was seated at one of the tables, reading over a book that described (second hand - it was a testimonial) the life of Diogepony as told by one of his last so-called students. "Ah'm shocked the College'd restrict access t'all'a this."
K: "There's probably some very uncomfortable truths in there." I nodded. "I'm betting at least a few of these books-"
Lyra: "HOT DAMN!" She shot up from three rows back. "K! YE'LL NEVER B'LEVE THIS!" She zoomed over to us. "Issa book written.." She looked at Twilight. "By th' FERST Twilight Sparkle!" She handed it to Twilight. "Here."
Twilight Sentry: "M.. me?!" She blinked, having a minor existential crisis almost immediately. Flash put a foreleg over her, as Norfy came over to keep a close watch on her. "O-Oh.. my.." She opened the book (VERY carefully) and had a look.
Katrina: "Hmm.." She slid over and laid on her belly, next to Twilight, on her other side. "..that book is.. not a copy.. it's protected by a very potent Repair Spell.." She blinked.
Jade: "Wow." She slid over, on her wheeled stool. "You think my dad knew about this book existing?"
K: "Maybe." I shrugged. "Twilight was only seen once. She fought Tirek." I nodded.
(Twilight): "I-I.." She suddenly stared blankly ahead. "..I was there. I saw him."
Norfy: "She's having a bleed-through!" He nodded, and scooted almost nose to nose with her. "Twilight. It's Norpheus. Can you hear me?"
(Twilight): "N-Norpheus." She blinked.
Norfy: "What do you see? Twilight, do you have something to say to us?" He WAS the expert, after all.
(Twilight): "We sealed him away. But, I knew, he would return." Her voice actually changed to sound like Laura Dean. "I remember K visiting." She looked directly at me, then to Norfy, then to Rainbow Dash. "I remember. S-She.. She came. She tried to unseal him." She shuddered a little. "I need.. a Doctor.."
Dr. Allcome: "..I don't think she means me." He nodded. C> "Alpha Delta One to SOCOM-Two."
Dr. Whooves: C> "Reading you, Alpha."
Dr. Allcome: C> "Library. Hurry."
Dr. Whooves: C> "One minute."
K: "Keep her talking." I nodded.
Norfy: "Remember playing with the Sea Ponies?" He tried to imitate his own past self's voice.
(Twilight): "They left. They went to a Sea called A-G-N.." She blinked.
Dr. Whooves slid into the room, and moved over to Twilight.
Dr. Whooves: "Twilight. You needed a Doctor?" He tilted his head.
(Twilight): "One-seven-one-five-two-seven-three-eight-eight-nine-five-delta-power-of-three. It is written, and it must be redone. Time is short to redo what has once transpired." She looked right at Dr. Whooves. "River. Song."
Dr. Whooves: "..I wrote that message to myself.." He looked down.
Twilight came out of it right after that. No big jolt, no poof, just.. the essence of "Twilight" evaporated.
Derpy: "..K - you, me, my muffin." She stood up and handed me my Grant.
K: "Derpy?" I looked at her.
Derpy: "Do you know anyone ELSE that can keep THAT kind of a secret?!" She was VERY direct with me.
K: "You h-" I was cut off.
Sunset: "Me." She stood up, and nodded. "I watched." And shrugged her wings.
Applejack: "Mm." She narrowed her eyes at Derpy. "An' ah ain't'a'bout'a send mah stallion off without someone what's in the closed paddock, neither." She nodded to her, respectfully.
Derpy: "Muffin?" She nodded to Dr. Whooves.
Dr. Whooves: "..well, I suppose." He stood up. "I.." He looked at everyone. "You all trust me-"
Cosmic: "Doc. We know there's odd stuff going on with you. We don't care. You're one of us." He nodded. "We mean that."
Katrina: "Mm." She raised her eyebrows. "If I'm right, you're about to go-"
Dr. Whooves: "You're a smart one - and you should have been alive at that time. Do you recall anything?" He tilted his head.
Katrina: "Oh, yes." She smiled. "Meeting myself. Briefly. I thought it was a dream."
K: "Before you were turned to stone, after you reformed, and.." I lowered my head. "..she comes, too."
Dr. Whooves: "Alright. Follow me." He nodded.
K: "Lads, you're in charge until we get back. Go through that book especially."
Cosmic: "You got it." He nodded.
Now.. to put the puzzle pieces together. Didn't one of the other Doctors say there were things that I hadn't done, that I had done, yet? A long time ago?
I think this is one of them.
[End of Part 2]
Part 3: We're Going To Take You Back To The Past...
TIME: 08:49 GMT
DATE: 31 Lunaris, 8984 B.C.
LOCATION: Dream Valley, Ponyland
Timey Wimey Stuff. The Doc knew he was breaking some big time rules. It didn't matter - as he pointed out to me, the death of Glimmer (though not really my fault) left me without another way to time travel.
As he also pointed out, possibilities are infinite, and with someone like him around, even the past isn't a certain thing. There was already multiple conflicting time threads at play. Glimmer's death, ultimately, changed nothing in that regard. They would still have to be addressed.
We.. uh.. exited our transportation right in front of a small village of Ponies - I recognized the Nursery and Paradise Estates in the center, and Megan, spotting us.
Megan: "HOLY MOLEY!" She ran right up to us. "You're BACK!" She grasped my hands.
K: "Hey, Megan! How's the family?" I nodded to her.
Megan: "Ahh.. y-you know.. it's been a few years. You were right. About the Soviets." She hugged me. "No one really died."
I hugged her back.
K: "Thank you, Megan. Listen, Twilight needs us. Where is she?" I nodded. "The Rules are still in effect."
Megan: "Yeah! Uh.. she said she was going far to the north of the valley. That was two days ago." She nodded to me. "Rules. Right. I get it. City on the Edge of Forever."
Sunset: "Ohh.. that was my favorite episode." She walked over and shook hands with her. "Sunset Shimmer."
Did.. I forget to mention that.. uh.. this "process" has temporarily made her human again? Then again, so's everyone else but Katrina (and she's hanging back).
Derpy: "I'm Derpy Whooves, and this is my husband." She nodded to the Doctor.
Megan: "This must be really important." She blinked. "Can I help?"
K: "I don't think so." I shrugged. "Oh, I brought you something." I handed over the M-19. "Trust me, I don't need this any more. Thank you, though, it saved my butt a few times." I nodded to her. "I promised you dad."
Megan: "Oh! Thank you!" She smiled. "I-I know this is probably the last time, but, thank you for being so good to everyone."
K: "You won't be able to come back that much, after this." I nodded.
Megan: "..this is my last time." She looked off into the distance. "I almost couldn't get it to.." She blinked.
I hugged her again. Tightly. Like an uncle would.
K: "You made a huge difference in their lives, Megan. Thank YOU." I cleared her tears with my thumb. "We better see if we can catch up to Twilight."
Megan: "Yeah. I.." She looked down. "..I need to go before I can't, any more. I'll leave the Rainbow in their care, though."
K: "I appreciate it - we'll need it later." I smiled. "Come on, everyone."
And with that, we said good bye to Megan, and headed north on foot. And I mean ON FOOT. That was a.. well, I was surprised Derpy was so used to it. Sunset? Nah, this was old hat. Me and Katrina were bipeds naturally, and the Doc? Well, he was what he was.
Sunset had her Kreuger. Derpy and I had Grant/Gavins. Katrina had a Grant Carbine. David Tennant.. that is.. Dr. Whooves.. actually carried a Morgan pistol, of all things.
K: "You hate guns." I ribbed him.
Dr. Whooves: "Used to." He nodded. "I think I can still think my way out of the situation. But, I'm not what I used to be. Ergo, extra precaution." He nodded confidently.
K: "We're not even sure what the situation is." I shrugged.
Sunset: "We'll figure it out." She nodded, maintaining a military pace. "Mmm.. kinda wish we had more people, but.." She looked at Derpy. "..you know, you're kinda cute?"
Derpy: "Aw, thanks!" She beamed a grin.
Sunset: "Actually.. WHY are we human, again?" She looked at Dr. Whooves. "And with K's skin tone?"
Dr. Whooves: "Because you'd be Caucasians on K's planet or variations thereof, and that's the setting our.. uhm.. transportation.. was set to. You couldn't be ponies and travel.. like that." He shrugged.
Sunset: "Eh.. I'm used to.. well, the shade was kinda similar." She shrugged a bit.
K: "Mmm.." I nodded.
Katrina: "Four humans and a cat walk out into the wilderness." She smirked. "Mmm.. I missed these smells."
K: "There. Up there." I pointed to some mountains in the distance. "That plateau up there is where Galactica is."
I could almost feel her eyes on me. She knew I was here, but she should also be aware that I'm AVOIDING her.. I hoped. I didn't want to piss her off some more. Our relationship wasn't exactly friendly, but it wasn't as enemies, either. We had a common goal: Save the pony race.
Sunset: "Mmm.. okay, who has a theory on why we're here?" She looked at us.
K: "Someone attempts to resurrect Tirek, only early. They fail because I had intervened." I shrugged. "My other guess is that the original version of these events is Twilight killing herself in the process, and as a result, the future isn't as bright."
Dr. Whooves: "Apt." He shrugged. "Even I don't know the answer. Yet."
K: "Don't you START!" I pointed at him, laughing. "Don't you EEEEVEN start with that shit!" And belly laughed.
Sunset: "OH NO!" She laughed, too. "Doc giving us Time Jokes!" She stuck her tongue out at him, playfully. "I think the hour has passed for that!"
Dr. Whooves: "Are you sure?" He smirked. "I think we're about to-"
Derpy: "Muffin." She said, slightly tersely.
Dr. Whooves: "Alright, alright, no pun wars, my love." His voice was soft.
Sunset: "Oh, no WAY 10th would back down like that. Eleven? Maybe for River." She smirked at them. "You really must be his Soul Mate, Derpy."
Derpy: "I am." She smiled, and slid a hand behind his back. "After everything we did for fun? Yeah." She nodded slowly.
K: "Such good friends I have." I smiled.
Katrina: "You know it." She was on the other side of me.
TIME: 12:16 GMT
For ease-of-understanding, I'm using GMT hours, to synch up with the main team at Royal College Dublin.
We stopped for food. Our rations were.. human. Bacon, ration oats properly steeped, some fruit, tea, and some hard cheese. That and pickles.
Sunset: "Mmm.." She crunched one of the dill gherkins. "..nice." She nodded a bit. "When I was living on my own, I ate a lot of these. Filling, zero calories, cheap."
K: "I getcha." I smirked a bit.
Dr. Whooves: "You're the expert, K." He nodded to me. "How far, do you think?"
K: "If it's Tirek, not that much further. By dusk." I nodded.
Katrina: "..yes.. just a second." She quickly slid out from her spot by the big rock next to us, dropped her tactical gear, and slid over a huge pile of rocks behind us.
She was going to keep her appointment.
Dr. Whooves: "..fascinating." He smirked.
K: "That we're trying to do things correctly?" I tilted my head at him.
Dr. Whooves: "Among other things." He nodded.
Katrina was back after about ten minutes, and didn't say a word about her departure. We cleaned up, and got back to marching. I was in the lead, but, truth be told, I was GUESSING at where, exactly, Twilight was headed and..
Gusty: "THERE you are!" She was galloping up behind us.. and a bit out of breath. "I made it." She snorted, and sighed.
She was a lot older than I remember her being.
K: "You're Gusty." I pointed to her.
Sunset: "No kidding?!" She smiled.
Derpy: "OH WOW!" She hugged her husband.
Katrina: "Hello, again, Gusty." She bowed a bit to her.
Dr. Whooves: "Ah, yes." He nodded to her.
Gusty: "Yeah." She nodded. "Don't have a cow, okay? But, we're in a lot of trouble."
K: "It's Tirek, isn't it?" I nodded to her.
Gusty: "Sure is!" She snorted. "What are those things?" She pointed at our guns.
K: "Firearms." I shrugged. "I'm from 10,000 years in the future, Gusty, remember? I'm here because the reincarnation of Twilight told me I had to be. That I had to keep an appointment." I nodded to her.
Gusty: "Alright." She looked thoughtful for a minute. "I wish Mimic was here."
K: "So do I." I remembered her.
Gusty: "It's that way - a while that way." She pointed with her hoof.
K: "Come on." I nodded, and she fell in with us.
Gusty was, at first, rather silent.. I'd seen her my last time I came into the past, but we hadn't much more than said hi. Once she got a bit more comfortable with us, she opened up.
Mainly about her daughter, also named Gusty.
Derpy went on about Dinky, in return. It didn't take long for the two to form a bond over motherhood.
I reflected that, especially back in these times, Ponies were a lot hardier than they were in the future. Gusty was just plain stockier than Rarity, or Twilight had originally been. Her magic was strong, too..
Whatever the reason was that involved Tirek, we'd soon find out.
[End of Part 3]
Part 4: ..To Fight the Shitty Tyrants that Suck Ass..
TIME: 16:44 GMT
DATE: 31 Lunaris, 8984 B.C.
LOCATION: Beyond the northern border of Ponyland
It may be almost 5PM back home, but it was dusk here. We'd covered some distance. I was pretty sure it was about 24 miles. This wasn't my first long march. It wouldn't be my last.
Up ahead were caves and rocks - I recognized them as being at the edge of Flutter Valley.
Then, I got the biggest help I could have ever imagined.
Firefly: "THERE they are!" She zoomed down from the clouds.
Norpheus: "Well.. Megan did warn us." He glided to a stop next to me.
Sunset: "N-Norfy!?" She blinked.
Norpheus: "Hahaha.. only Firefly calls me that." He blushed a bit.
K: "Ah.. hello. I'm K----." I gestured to the others. "This is Sunset, Derpy, and Doc." And nodded to Katrina. "You know Katrina."
Katrina: "Not quite - I'm from 10,000 years in the future, Little Ponies, and on the side of good." She bowed a bit.
Gusty: "They're going to help us with what Twilight warned us about!" Gusty said, stepping forwards, and taking charge (as usual).
K: "Must be pretty serious." I shrugged.
Gusty: "Twilight didn't explain it. She said we needed to get here, fast." She nodded to me.
K: "We know it has to do with Tirek somehow." I shrugged.
Norpheus: "That's what Twilight wanted us to get information about." He nodded slowly. "We found out.. the Rainbow of Light only banished him."
K: "..I see.." I nodded slowly.
Norpheus: "And it didn't do a very good job. Tirek left a way to return. We need to shut that off." He pawed the ground a bit.
K: "That means someone is.. someone's going to try and release him, early." I started walking, and the others followed. "Any idea who?"
Firefly: "Queen Bumble." She snorted. "She's been mad about our so-called deal to harvest pollen in Flutter Valley. She still wants all of it. And her brood has only grown."
K: "I see." I nodded.
The pieces of the puzzle lay before me, but I couldn't decipher them. I was missing information, still. Something.. something here...
TIME: 18:22 GMT
K: "Is it much further? It's getting VERY dark." I nodded.
Firefly: "Oh, yes. At least another half day." She sighed.
K: "We camp, then." I nodded to Norpheus. "Give us some light? So we can find a camping spot."
Gusty: "We should keep going - Twilight might be in trouble." She snorted.
K: "Yeah, and bumble around in the dark, maybe slip and fall? No, it's too risky. And the rest of us have been walking all day. We're tired, and we need rest and food." I nodded to her. "You can graze on grass - we need much more than that."
Gusty: "..yeah, right!" She nodded, suddenly remembering what Meagan, Danny, and Molly had been like. "No problem!"
Norpheus lit the area around us, and we poked around until we found a nice hollow bowl in the terrain, backed by a cliff. Doc and Sunset collected burnables. Derpy went and cut down a small tree - enough wood for the night. Katrina and I set about making food with our camp cookware.
Ration oats all around - and we added dried berries, nuts, and some honey to it. For us humans, some boiled salt pork and vegetables made into a quick soup. The ponies brought us some more berries, and fresh apples. We shared, of course, with our friends.
I didn't want to think about what Norpheus and Firefly were going to experience, and probably very soon.
Tomorrow, we'd discover the truth.
TIME: 11:22 GMT
DATE: 32 Lunaris, 8984 B.C.
LOCATION: Darkspark Caves
We had arrived. Myself, Katrina, Sunset, Doc, Derpy, then Gusty, Norpheus, and Firefly.
I could actually feel evil magic coming from inside.
Sunset: "..this is very, very bad." She had her hand out, pointed palm-out at the cave opening.
Katrina: "I'm not sure who this is. I can smell Bumble, but.. no.. no, this is someone else." She paced forwards, and brought her Grant to low-ready.
K: "Wonderful." I looked at Gusty. "YOU stay BEHIND us. I don't care HOW powerful your magic is, got it?" I almost glared at her.
Gusty: "Fine, fine." She whinnied.
Firefly: "Danger is my life, you know." She narrowed her eyes at me.
K: "On me - I got point." I got into a tactical stance, and started advancing into the cave. "TWILIGHT SPARKLE!" I called out.
Twilight: "BACK HERE!" She called out from within the cave.
I actually looked to Katrina to ask her if that, you know, wasn't some kinda trick. She gave me the high sign, and we moved in.
It took us about ten minutes to find the deepest part of the cave, where, of course, Twilight was imprisoned in a cage, guarded by a single Warrior Bee.
I was.. like.. thrice his size. I just walked over, grabbed him by the throat and gently slapped him against the wall.
K: "Just.. don't. I'll pluck your wings and pull your stinger out." I snorted at him.
Derpy: "Deploying lockpicks." She slid over to the cage.
Warrior Bee: "Pluck my WINGS?! Th-That's cruel! Megan would never-"
K: "I'm not Megan." I glared at him. "I'm an ADULT human. Name's General K. Pleasure. Now, be a good little bee and stay still."
Warrior Bee: "Somehow.. I don't think you're kidding!" He trembled a bit. "I give!"
Twilight: "Thank you for rescuing me." She stepped out of the cage and shook off.
K: "I need to know everything." I said, tying up and gagging the bee, then sticking him in the cage.
Twilight: "Nightshade is Tirek's compatriot - as I was once Megan's." She sighed.
K: "Nightshade.. don't remember them." I shrugged. "Stats?"
Twilight: "Very powerful Magi. From The Land Beyond the Second Rainbow." She shook her head.
K: "Megan's is.." I led in.
Twilight: "The first Rainbow. It leads to her world. The Second Rainbow leads to the world where Prince Scorpius is from - it also has humans, but not like the ones in the world Megan is from." She explained.
K: "What about me?" I nodded to her.
Twilight: "I-I don't.. know.. where you're from." She sighed.
K: "It's fine. Where do we go?" I nodded to the passageway behind us.
Twilight: "Follow me." She led the way.
Interesting.. not that I didn't question why Ponyland had humans in it, before. Now, it made sense. They came from another land beyond another rainbow. It was just a much shorter and easier trip than it was to get to Megan's place. Twilight had no idea why the second rainbow might not exist in our time, but she emphasized that the connection between worlds was almost indistinguishable in some places.
Katrina: "..by my guess, I think the Ley Line Barriers have something to do with it. They don't exist at this point in time, you know." She pointed out.
K: "I think we're about to get some answers.." I could hear chanting in the chamber beyond...
[End of Part 4]
Part 5: Nightshade
TIME: 12:00 GMT
DATE: 32 Lunaris, 8984 B.C.
LOCATION: Darkspark Caves
We were deep in the Darkspark Caves, near Flutter Valley, in Equestria's ancient past - somehow connected to OUR Twilight Sparkle, through her ancestor, also named Twilight Sparkle (though usually just called Twilight), who looked a LOT like Twilight's mom, but of the evolutionary generation of the day. That is, to say, more horselike.
Some magi named Nightshade, a human, from beyond the Second Rainbow, was trying to resurrect Tirek in this time period, about five years after he was first defeated.
We also learned that this.. second rainbow, to another realm, even existed. Even Katrina wasn't aware of it being a thing, but it was.
We had to stop him.
K: "Sunset, right. Katrina, left. Derpy, cover the ponies. Doc, floater." I nodded. "Let's go." I casually raised my Grant so I could see down the sights, and paced into the chamber.
Five mages, with what I presumed to be Nightshade in the lead, were surrounding an ancient seal. Queen Bumble was nearby with several Warrior Bees.
And Pointer.
Nightshade: "Powers of Shadow, grant me the strength.."
Katrina: "Really, Nightshade?" She was a bit behind me, and my team was spreading out to tactical positions in the large chamber.
Nightshade: "KATRINA!" He turned to face us.. and saw we were all human, save her. "Oh, what is this?!"
K: "Your worst nightmare." I nodded. "I have a feeling you don't even want to think about surrender."
Queen Bumble: "Not a CHANCE! The SUNSTONE is rightfully MINE!" She screamed at us.
Nightshade: "And that is her payment for assisting us." He smirked.
K: "Resurrecting Tirek." I nodded to him.. Sunset signaled she had a bead on his head.. and I raised my hand a bit.
When have I ever fought fair? When have I EVER LET A VILLAIN FINISH HIS MONOLOGUE?! Never.
Nightshade: "Oh, you foolish mortal - resurrect? No. Why bother when I can take the essence of his power.. AND RULE MYSELF!?" He laughed, hard. "AND YOU HAVE BROUGHT ME THE SACR-"
I lowered my hand.
Sunset fired.. I saw blood erupt from the center of his head.
Derpy fired a Frag Grenade aimed down into the pit with the mages.
Katrina hit the ground with an Earthquake spell.
Twilight fired magic from her horn.
Norpheus ejected the strongest Utter Flutter he could from his wings.
Firefly let rip with a powerful wind gust, that caught Gusty's magic, and turned the chamber into a wind tunnel.
I whipped my rifle into my off hand, held at the waist, and fired my entire magazine into the mages, as the grenade hit between them all.
We all scattered and ducked as Queen Bumble sent her bees against us. A close fight, I rolled to one side, ejecting my spent magazine, and reloading. I got into a firing stance as Pointer impacted me in the midsection, sending my rifle skittering to the side.
I punched him as hard as I could, in the face, jammed both knees up, and pinched the back of his abdomen between them, isolating his stinger. I managed to get my Dager out, but just as I was about to shoot him in the face, he wriggled free, and took flight. I scooted back along the ground until I could slide up a rock, and drew the Sword of Rainbow's Light in my offhand, in a "kitchen knife" grip.
I could hear the others trying to tag the Warrior Bees with gunfire and magic, but I was focused on Pointer. We didn't really need to fight them, we could just try to disengage. The threat was stopped.
So I thought.
Nightshade: "AHAHAHAHHA!" He rose up like Undertaker - straight to his feet. "THANK YOU FOR THAT! I WAS AFRAID I'D HAVE TO STAB MYSELF!"
The chamber shook.. and went black. I could see absolutely nothing. Worse, I knew the Sword couldn't call any Alicorns here. Luna was not going to save me. I did have one option..
K: "FIRE OF THE NIRIK!" I raised the sword, and it transformed into the Lance of Rainbow's Light, and immediately dispelled the magical darkness, burning it away.
Nightshade: "Oh-hoh!?" He was surprised. "AMAZING!" He grinned at me.. his face gaunt and twisted, teeth broken, eyes glazed over and yellowed, skin gaunt and weathered. "BUT.. BEHOLD!" He turned to Queen Bumble. "It is TIME for YOUR REWARD! AHAHAHHAH!"
He reached out with one hand and fired a powerful purple beam at her, striking her, and then cascade-striking all the other Bees in the chamber. They began to mutate with the dark magic of the Rainbow of Darkness that Nightshade had tapped into.
As he did this, Pointer clashed his stinger with my Lance, and tried to take me down.
They turned BLACK.. they started to WITHER.. their abdomens RETRACTED.. they each lost TWO LEGS.. and.. finally.. Queen Bumble and her entourage.. shifted into the forms of ponies.
They.. became.. Changelings.
K: "OH HOLY FUCK!!"
Bumble/Ecdysis: "AHH! Ohh.. OH!?" She was at first insulted, then looked at her new form. "Mmmmm... I see! You've made us better bugs!" She cackled. "NO MORE is QUEEN BUMBLE.. I am now ECDYSIS!"
The only one unaffected was Pointer.
K: "..you still wanna go?" I looked down at him.
Pointer: "I did NOT sign up to be turned into A MUTANT FREAK!" He hissed. "THE HIVE WILL NOT SUBMIT, VILE DEMON!" He pointed at her.
Ecdysis: "I HAVE NO NEED FOR YOU WEAKLINGS ANY MORE!" She hissed. "So, I'll just have to EAT you! To FEED my NEW BROODS!" And cackled.
K: "Go on, get!" I pointed to Pointer. "I spare you today!"
Pointer: "Mmm." He narrowed his eyes at me. "For that, I shall spare you in return." He looked back at Ecdysis. "I think you just did me a favor." He chuckled to himself, and flew out.
Sunset: "OH GREAT!" She hissed. "If we'd killed him, we might've been able to stop ALL the bees!"
K: "WE GOT BIGGER PROBLEMS!" I said, rolling to where my rifle was, holstering my Dager, and grabbing it. "SHOOT THE BUGS, I'LL GET THE BIG GUY!"
Sunset: "ON IT!" She looked back at the Ponies. "BE CAREFUL! Those BUGS drain LOVE from you! Don't let them get close!"
I charged after Nightshade.
He produced a Mage's Sword from his cloak, and crossed sword-and-lance with me. He tried sending a spell through it, and the Lance of Rainbow's Light simply cut through it, causing me no damage.
I couldn't use any magic with the Lance out, but I could "charge through" his spells. He started flinging them as fast as he could snap his wrist, and I just kept moving through them. I could feel the Fire starting to extinguish, so, I tried to use the Lance's superior reach to get in a few jabs. I didn't get far.
The lance lost its power, and reverted into the Sword.
Nightshade: "ENOUGH OF THIS..!" He raised his hands, and fired off the internalized power of the Rainbow of Darkness, hitting all of us, and sending me flying backwards.
Oh, he was WAY stronger than I thought!
I was dazed, trying to pick myself up.. when I felt him summoning even GREATER power!
K: "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" I screamed at him.
Nightshade: "SIMPLE! With the POWER of the RAINBOW, I can DRAIN this world's magic and EMPOWER MY OWN! Which I shall then CONQUER! As YOU all FADE into DUST!" He laughed, summoning up a massive torrent of Shadow energy around his body.
I didn't think guns were going to pierce that.
K: "Can he DO that?!" I looked at Katrina, who was rolling to her feet.
Katrina: "Not ALL of it, but he can drain ENOUGH to cause global destruction! We're talking end-of-all-life type stuff, K!" She charged a Sigil of Warding and put it between us and him.
Sunset: "KAY!" She was reloading. "WHAT DO WE DO!? We don't have the other elements here!"
Norpheus: "..I think I can disrupt his power." He blinked. "It's.. it's a chance.." He got up, and moved over to me. "That sword.." He nodded to it.
K: "..the Harmony Stone!" I raised my head. "Gusty, Twilight, Sunset, Norph, give me all your magical power!" I raised the sword, and aimed it at Nightshade. "EVERYTHING YOU GOT!"
I HARMONIZED with them instantly, and their power flowed through me. He counter-attacked with the Rainbow of Darkness, and as expected, it hit and zapped everyone BUT Norpheus.
Norpheus: "TOTAL FLUTTER!" He screamed..
..his power hit my sword..
..and it fired into Nightshade.
The ejection of immense magical power caused a massive earthquake, and caused the cave's top to blow away, making the entire area into a crater. I could feel the magical winds.. the energy..
I fought to stay conscious.
And I failed.
{End of Chapter 129}
