And we open to Li'lpip in thought after the revelation of the opponent. And looking at the Zebra, she realizes, all the racism, all the propaganda she'd heard about them. It didn't matter, she wasn't going to blame this Zebra for what others had done, she'd seen plenty of evidence of just how base and cruel ponies could be. Wondering just what she will do when it comes her time to fight, since she was next in line to face the new foe.
And she realizes part of Redeye's plan, either she would die in the arena, or be forced to kill otherwise innocent slaves, ones forced into this just like her, trying to strip away her few remaining boundaries, wear down her resolve and her sense of right, grind away her virtue, making her more like him. Forced to either destroy the part of her that she held most dear, or let herself die.
No, There must be another way.
She watches the fight unfold, the Zebra clearly outmatching the other pony in skill, though he took every chance to fight dirty, and had greater strength, all the while one of the other ponies on her team telling all about her, including some positively HIDEOUS, for the love of Celestia pass the Brain Bleach shit. (Only thing saving that from going to far was it was just a really quick mention of it having happened, not actually having it happen 'on screen')
And Xenith finishes the fight, showing that she knows some form of pressure point fighting, paralyzing Daff before snapping his neck, and Li'lpip winces, knowing she would have to fight her next.
For a second, seeing the crowds cheering at her impending death, at the blood already spilled, she understands why Redeye thinks it's alright to enslave them, to do what he does, and struggles to avoid feeling the same.
Much to her shock, Xenith quietly tells her she's sorry, which makes her drop her guard, letting the Zebra send her flying. Li'lpip trying to avoid her hooves, while struggling to convince her to stop, to join with her, to escape together, finally and fully realizing how colossally idiotic the whole idea of coming in here was. Just wanting to get out of the city, eventually force choking her till she drops, though letting go before she dies. Before the guards can start shooting to make her kill the now helpless Zebra, she opens all the barrels, taking the thick radioactive goop and forming a curtain above the arena, blocking their sight, hovering both her and Zenith to the hatch on top, using TK alone to pick the lock while the gryphons fire blindly.
Getting out she runs, a bullet just barely nicking her Pipbuck, hitting hard enough to twist it, causing her to drop her magic, her and Xenith falling onto a roller coaster track. Passing out from strain and pain, waking up to find Xenith carrying her, having woken up during the escape, and now aiding her, dodging the pursuing guards. Looking down she finds her leg is badly sprained, to hurt to move, if not outright broken, and while her Pipbuck was fine, the broadcaster she needed to call Calamity was ruined.
She tries to use her TK to help levitate them, reduce their weight, and feels herself near burning out, losing her magic till she can rest and recover, but does what she can. Knocking a set of cars lose, sending them hurtling down the tracks, bowling over pursing slavers, while her and Xenith are taken down the tracks, only the gryphons able to pursue, one getting killed by their own gun as Li'lpip grabs it and turns it around, unloading the last shot on another, sending both down. The car entering the MOM hub and derailing, Li'lpip telling Xenith the plan was to make their way to the roof, commandeer the Pinkie Balloon tied to it and fly out of the city.
While trying to use some TK to deal with the last gryphon to follow her in, she finds out she's in burnout, unable to use magic at all till she can rest. Though Xenith manages to sneak behind him and take him out quickly. While sneaking though the building, they reach a point with two guards they can't slip past, Li'lpip having a quick pang of unease, unsure she could kill somepony just for being in her way, even if they would attack the moment they saw her. Again she has lines, one of which being killing a helpless pony unless absolutely necessary. Xenith however, has no issues dealing with them, and of course, Li'lpip decides to see what they are guarding.
And finds another memory orb vault like under Shattered Hoof, she collects whatever orbs were left, working on opening the safes in the back, finally getting in, and noting that only one of them had been opened since the War. Inside was another (damaged) memory orb, and a cloak, without the clasp. (that'll be important later.) a new Stealthbuck (Quite convenient how she always gets JUST the right amount of them to have one and only one just when she needs them most.) Some balefire eggs. Basically mini nukes that served as the basis of a balefire megaspell. Li'lpip reminding us
That’s right. Fluttershy didn’t actually design city-destroying spells. She designed the magical framework that would take a normal spell and augment it
A few pre war files from MOM observations, and in the final one, the one Redeye was able to use, the plans for the radiation powered engine.
And moving on, we get one of the most hilarious things in the entire story DOOMBUNNY Xenith seeing a poster of Fluttershy, with Angel on it, and telling Li'lpip that he was the most feared creature there was on the battle field, utterly annihilating any Zebra that raised hoof or weapon against Fluttershy. That, that is both so hilarious a thing to think of, and something I have no issue with seeing actually happening, complete with Fluttershy's meek little "now now Angel you shouldn't hurt them so badly it's not their fault" every time he went Killer Rabbit on a Zebra.
They end up in the lab, Zenith taking out the only pony in the rooms, while Li'lpip snags their lab coat, so she could feel more science-y. Li'lpip just barely managing to resist the urge to brew up some PTM's distracting herself with one of the recording she found in the safe. A call between Luna and Rarity, though she could only hear Rarity's end. And it seems like just a general little chat, a mention about something happening to Zecora, and discussion of the rest of the mane 6, including a few lines that remind Li'lpip about how the Mane 6 had been covering for Pinkie about her drug addiction to the Princess. The call ending on Rarity realizing just how long it's been since they were all together at once, noticing how far they've been drifting, and telling herself she must do something about this.
(And knowing just what that was, ohhhhh boy.)
And while looting she just happens to stumble on the OTHER major thing she was sent to find, Redeye's Bypass Spell research. Finding out that despite what the Steel Rangers thought, the MAS HAD discovered the secret just before the war ended.
They had even begun limited use, not for weapons but to create shield screens that would only allow specific materials to pass through.
Oh, oh my, oh this is just, just. Holy fuck. I can only imagine the look on Kkat's face during A Canterlot Wedding.
Though on the bad side, Redeye had apparently already discovered the data he needed for at least one thing he wanted, a bypass spell that would let a weapon ignore certain things, though and details had been erased. Though another line of research, changing, or tricking an existing spell into letting something else through looked like a dead end. And before she could get any further, well, I doubt that lab coat stayed white for long after that, since rising from the Fillydelphia Crater, is a super alicorn, having soaked up enough radiation to grow three times it's normal size, and flying right for them.
Queue a lot of swearing, and full engagement in Plan B. The alicorn simply tearing through walls, floors, ceilings, anything in it's way, leading Li'lpip to wonder if she wouldn't simply bring the whole building down on them. It's shield so strong not even it could cast through it, having to open a hole to hurl spells at Li'lpip and the Zebra. And while using it's heart attack spell on Xenith, Li'lpip hurls herself at the opening it made, the shield thin and hard enough to cut her rather severely as she hung on it, dumping a saddle bag worth of memory orbs into the shield, kicking out before it snaps closed, the alicorn ignoring the orbs, though doing so caused her to miss the balefire eggs that were dumped in with them. No more super alicorn
Okay the alicorns are far and away some of the best things EVER. They never stop being threatening, they never go out like a punk, every time Li'lpip and crew take some out it's either through surprise, or guile, or luck. And they remember everything done to one of them, preventing the exact same trick from working more then once unless they are distracted or get cocky, which is rarely. These things are the elitist of the Elite Mooks
She wakes up in a bathroom, Xenith tending to her wounds, a large supply of bandages showing how long it took to stop her bleeding, her head fuzzy, knowing she'd been given some painkillers. Xenith saying they couldn't stay any longer, they were being hunted, by Redeye's pet dog, now a cyberdog.
The dog herds them onto the roof, not only the Pinkie Balloon she had wanted to steal waiting but three others, all with heir weapons trained on her, holding fire despite her yelling at them to just get it over with, waiting for Redeye to come personally. Waiting just long enough for something else to raise out of the irradiated crater, enlarged and empowered by the normally deadly energy, Pyrelight. She tears the balloons apart, scattering the salvers out in the open, though also destroying Li'lpip's only way out of the city. Leaving her and Zenith trapped, exhausted, wounded, and unable to fight when reinforcements arrive to capture them
Left in a room, gryphons and the cyberdog guarding them, till Redeye shows up, dismissing the guards. Xenith immediately running to attack him, bouncing off an alicorn shield being projected from just outside the room. While Redeye simply takes a seat, wanting to chat with Li'lpip, and even saying he has a quest for her, something she was going to do anyway, he simply wanted her to speed it up a bit. namely, kill the Goddess.
Saying that till now it had been a partnership, but now tings were going less and less his way, that while he wanted Unity, he didn't want it with her controlling everypony like puppets. Dropping enough hints to make clear he thought he would assume her role, become a god to replace her somehow, and admitting he might not succeed, but either way he would be gone, and telling Li'lpip he was sure she would take over, continue building the future he had started, and that she might even be able to do so without the regrettable need of slavery.
(if it was so regrettable, why the fuck DO it, proof that while he does have some worthy goals, and plenty of admirable traits, he's still evil.)
And then saying that if she doesn't do this, it would mean the life of her friends in the tower, Li'lpip instantly remembering what she had sent her group to do, Redeye saying he had sent a full squad out to deal with them, even turning on a monitor to show her the results, only for the "call" to be answered by Calamity
“Yer welcomin’ party? That who ya was expectin? Sorry, but they all can’t make it on account of them bein’ mostly blown up.”
They had kept Stern alive figuring they might need a chip to bargain with for Li'lpip, and Redeye agrees to the exchange, though just as Li'lpip is leaving the city, reminds her that by killing the Goddess, she would be getting rid of her, him, and save her friends in the tower. Li'lpip just looking at him in confusion, her friends were right there. No, he meant the other tower. Tenpony Tower. If she fails to kill the Goddess, he'll detonate a balefire bomb under it.
Perk time, double perk, extra SATS for unarmed fighting, eh guess it's useful as an emergency thing. And a Quest perk of increased DT and radiation resistance from surviving Fillydelphia.
Thoughts- Well Fillydelphia was certainly one of the biggest deals yet, alone, unarmed, barely surviving death or worse, and also showing that one of the main bad guys, isn't fully evil. Oh he's evil alright, but not capitol E Evil. Ruthless, willing to ignore the suffering of others, to inflict pain and death on innocent ponies to get his way. But his goals are quite admirable, even Li'lpip agrees they are the right ones, ones that everypony should be striving for. It's his methods that make him evil, the depths to which he'll sink to achieve those goals.
His capture and releasing of Li'lpip also feels perfectly normal, something I could see a villain like him doing. He doesn't see her as an enemy, he sees her as somepony, one of the few in the Wastes, that actually shares not just his goal, but his willingness to do whatever they can to achieve them. Though still clinging to the morality he had long ago discarded. And yet, I think in his own way he respects her all the more for it. He is genuine in wanting her to take over where he left off. Perfectly fine with her doing it her own way, as long as it gets done. He wants her to succeed, to make the Wasteland a better place without having to resort to slavery, brutality, even if he sees no reason to stop using those method's himself.
And then the end, HO-LY FUCK! that, that was, that was just pure, unconditional AWESOME. The shear roller coaster of emotion in those few moments. Fear over the group in the tower, then a HA Fuck you Redeye/HELL YEAH when Calamity gets on the screen, taunting Redeye, the group having out done him, and then WHAM, punch to the gut out of nowhere...without detracting or diminishing the groups rather epic deeds in the slightest. That may be the most perfectly crafted scene in the entire story. And [insert about half a page of gushing over the same point here]
and finally free of Fillydelphia, Li'lpip will be moving on to...to....to quite possibly the most INFURIATING, make you want to reach through the page and throttle the fucking sick, twisted, demented, EVIL bastards, and yet knowing it would still be to good for them for what they did and were continuing to do.
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