Chapters
-
Lightning Dust wandered through the strange halls of the place her daughter had called “Transit.” She had been here twice before, though both times she had seen the place only tangentially. Once from outside, in the great shaft that had almost burned them to death. Then, when she had learned of the princess’s kidnapping, she had discovered Lucky’s note and waited for her basically right inside the doorway.She would have explored it further, if Lucky hadn’t come back, or so she told herself. In…-
515.2 K •
-
-
The jumper was not an entertainment craft, with dozens of screens hidden everywhere. It did apparently have a projector, which could aim at the ceiling of the passenger area and display tactical information. Forerunner switched that screen on as they began firing back, and Lucky got her first good look at the fleet.She knew instantly why Forerunner hadn’t shown them this at first—these ships were so large, so powerful, she felt herself start to shake. Ponies used lighter-than-air technology for flight,…
-
515.2 K •
-
-
The “Database” proved to be extremely like the Temple of the Infinite Self in a few respects. They appeared somewhere apparently isolated, with no one else around. In this case, they were in the middle of a huge, vaguely Arabian-looking city, with desert sands in the distance and a constant wind blowing. They stepped off the pad into a library made of cream-colored stone, with books and scrolls and ancient wisdom piled higher than she could see.Fortunately, Olivia could fly, though their route…
-
515.2 K •
-
-
“I assume… you’ve already done everything you can for her. Medically, I mean,” Melody whispered, as she walked into Martin’s lab. She felt sheets of paper crunching under her hooves, covering almost every inch of floor space. Whatever Martin had done, she had been excited about it.“Naturally,” said one of the drones ahead of her, the plain white plastic ones that looked a little like mannequins. They looked far less “human” than the single synthsleeve that Forerunner had copied something…
-
515.2 K •
-
-
Lightning Dust stared down at the screen, eyes wide with shock and wonder. Some part of her longed for the innocence of months ago, when she had thought the things she saw on devices like this were fanciful dreams. But living in Othar had taught her many things, and she knew that Forerunner would not show them lies. He might be a machine, but he had never lied to her.But she wished he could have. She watched a blast of fire so intense that the screen was momentarily filled with white. When it faded, the…
-
515.2 K •
-
-
Olivia had enough hardware to kill an army of primitives. How she had brought it all here, she didn’t well understand, but in many ways, that didn’t matter. Mounted guns, automatic repeating rifles, IFF-drawn seeking grenades. Everything the new Forerunner refused to make for her, the old one had fabricated in great quantity.And yet…She could’ve killed this army thrice over. There was no strategy to the way they attacked the castle, no order in their lines. They surged in through every opening all…
-
515.2 K •
-
-
Ponyville was not a very large town—Lucky knew that, and she knew not to expect much as they finally angled down for their descent. Flying with her mom had been a return to something familiar, back when she had been pretending that there would never be anything more to her life.It was fun to pretend again, though she knew she couldn’t stay. Last time I forgot what I was doing here, Olivia got captured and I ended up in charge. I can’t forget again. Some little part of her felt the temptation to slip…
-
515.2 K •
-
-
Melody felt useless.This wasn’t the first time—feeling useless had been the basic state of her existence since her first breath in her new body. She felt more useless than usual, this time.They had named the massive zeppelin the Speed of Thought, after nothing Melody could guess at. Its sleek shape still would’ve dwarfed the Cyclops, were it not fading into the sunrise. Melody wasn’t the only pony up here on the tarmac—the other members of Othar’s “human” population were here to see off the…
-
515.2 K •
-
-
It might be the last meeting of Lucky’s civilization.This time, it wasn’t the major leading them—there were no higher authority figures for her to go begging to. The success or failure of this entire mission rested squarely on her shoulders.They used the same conference room they had before, where Olivia had lied to them about their mission to Dragon’s Folly. The same gathering was here now—every soldier, every native pony, everyone still alive.Lei made them some refreshments—muffins this time,…
-
515.2 K •
-
-
The screen went black.“That was it,” Forerunner said. “Dr. James Irwin Generation Two tried to treat his injuries, but you know better than most his medical training wasn’t sufficient for an intestinal wound. Without robotic assistance, he passed away a day later. His final instructions were a single command.”Again the recording, though only audio this time. Lucky shivered as she heard her old human voice one last time, shaking with agony. “I order you, Forerunner… don’t… make another…
-
515.2 K •
-
- Previous 1 … 186 187 188 … 222 Next
