And we open to Li'lpip in a rage. now some people exaggerate just how often she goes into "RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION", or a "MURDEROUS RAGE" yeah she gets pissed at a lot of stuff, feels it's not right, wrong, can't stand seeing ponies stand by and ignore the suffering of others, but the only time before this she's been filled with just plain, pure, FURY was upon finding out Deadeyes was responsible for what happened to Silver Bell. And now, Steel Rangers, ponies that claim to be acting for the best interest of Equestria, who have the tech, the skill, and the power to actually make a difference, who could be the greatest champions of justice in the Wastes, are invading her home, killing her family, and all because they feel they have the right to whatever they want, no better then raiders while claiming to hold to lofty goals, to be in the right. She would be well within her right to go full Phoenix on them and rip them apart atom by atom, and yes as you can tell I REALLY hate the Rangers and fully agree with Calamity
Far as Ah can see, they’re nothin’ more’n a gang o’ high-tech raiders preyin’ on the innocent.” Calamity kicked at his battle saddle, changing the ammo. “Ponies like that need t’ die, an’ Ah aim t’ kill ‘em. It’s muh policy.”
The rest of the group turning against Steelhooves attempts to be rationale, to calm them down, pressing him to a corner and leaving him no choice but to choose, his Oath to the Rangers that murder innocent ponies for a few trinkets and tech, or his loyalty to Applejack and what she stood for.
Though he wasn't alone, all of them were straining, the stress of this wearing on them all, making them start to turn on each other out of rage, Li'lpip getting them to shut up, to see what was happening. All of them finally admitting Steelhooves did have one point, they stood very little chance of taking out all of the Rangers attacking the Stable, and agreeing to try diplomacy first. While Steelhooves muses that nothing about this makes sense, the Elder leading the attack has no authority in this region, not sure why it was her doing it.
As they approach the Stable they hear the sounds of fighting, Li'lpip having a quick image of all the ponies in the Stable being dragged out and executed, though it turns out the Rangers left to guard the entrance were fighting against a monster that Redeye's fires had chased out of the Everfree. And as the group gear up for the fight, Calamity asks if they could add fifteen minutes to their trip to go grab something, but Li'lpip says no, they already took to long but Velvet changes her mind, saying as long as they took, if 15 minutes mattered, they'd already lost.
And the farm comes into view, and we get a so so SO Hilarious in Hindsight bit about the Apple Family Barn, which was still intact.
I suddenly imagined that Apple Bloom had torn the original barn down while they excavated for Stable Two. Then rebuilt it afterwards. When Stable-Tec builds something, they build it to last.
Damnit Kkat, stop being psychic.
But their detour gets stopped when they see, or rather don't see, what the Rangers are fighting, something Xenith refers to as a "Star Spawn" but we'll find out is a mutated Ursa, which is now invisible...and the group decide to help the Rangers, this being the best chance to talk to them and be diplomatic, Xenith asking if they are all mad for trying to take on something like that...
“Have you met us?” Steel Hooves asked.
(Wow, so they had over 120 Steel rangers attacking the Stable? Since having 12 of them taken out by the Star Spawn counts as being "decimated" rather then "devastated", yes yes cheap way over done semantics joke, moving on.)
They try to take on the beast, their attacks almost useless as it kills some of the few surviving Rangers, Li'lpip using her TK to outline the beast in her magic's glow, though not able to move it, it at least makes it visible, Steelhooves forming a plan and telling her to keep it up, while the beast rears back, and crushes the barn....already joked about that.....and Steelhooves uses the outline from Li'lpip's magic to aim a rocket right at it's eye, sending it into it's brain before it exploded.
That was both incredibly awesome, and yet so so disgusting
As the group recovers from the fight, getting back together and patching up their wounds the two surviving Rangers come up to them, ordering them to leave. Well one of them does, the other one was simply telling them how awesome that was. Steelhooves tells the lead Ranger that the operation was wrong, they had no right to do this and he will stop them. The obviously younger Ranger agreeing with him, while the elder one orders him to get his weapons ready and follow his orders. Calamity shooting him down mid lecture.
“What? Ah gave diplomacy a chance. He obviously wasn’t ‘bout t’ join the good guys.”
And I agree with him, fully. The Ranger he shot was one of those that felt ANYTHING was justified simply because Steel Rangers could do no wrong, while the younger one was one of those that did still know the difference between right and wrong, one of the few that could be made to see reason.
The remaining Ranger telling them why it was the other Elder attacking the Stable, the forces from Steelhooves base were taking Stable 29, the Elder being old and dying, wanting to take the Crusader and upload himself to it. And having been smart enough that the ponies that would be most likely to object to raiding Stable 2 were in the group raiding the deserted Stable 29 instead. And saying he wouldn't stop them, but he couldn't join them either, he wouldn't turn his weapons on other Rangers
And they head in, the first thing they see is half a dozen ponies from the Stable shot dead at the door, one still clutching a bouquet meant as a present to the visitors in her mouth, the sight, nearly breaks Li'lpip, coming close to pushing her over that edge Homage had warned her every hero that didn't die ended up going over, but in the end she pulls back, breaking down in tears as Velvet steps forward taking command of the group for this one, taking the burden off Li'lpip. While my feelings once again echo Calamity's
“That’s it,” I heard Calamity say. He sounded so very far away. “Fuck diplomacy. Any pony who was part o’ this, who even stood by an’ watched, is a dead pony.”
THIS is why I HATE the Steel rangers, why I feel they are vilest refuse in the Wastes. And yes there are many who would do just this, but they do it for the worst possible reasons. The leaders of the group in here specifically having excluded any ranger they thought might balk at doing this from the group. They need to be ENDED!
They move through the Stable killing any ranger on sight, Li'lpip using her Zebra rifle, prior to the fight she had been upset at the thought of using it on them, knowing what it would do, but after the scene at the door, she didn't care. And yes her actions here are brutal, harsh, and slightly over proportional, like emptying a full clip into a single pony, when the first killed it. But there is damn good reasons, she has every right to be feeling like she does, and the Rangers deserve no mercy, no reprieve, nothing except an end to their killing of the ponies they should be protecting.
Xenith proves that she is both skilled, and strong enough to take out a fully armored pony, using some magical brews she'd prepared to literally get the drop on him, hitting hard enough and in the right places to well, kill him in a probably really painful way. They give the last group they found a chance to surrender, Steelhooves personally taking them out when they refuse, saying he wished he could take off the armor, no longer wanting to were it after what his brethren have done. And again personally, I'd say he's redeemed that armor, used it for the purpose it was made for, to defend innocent ponies against hostile, brutal aggressors, Calamity pretty much agreeing with that sentiment, though not in so many words.
They make their way to the main chamber, Velvet using the Stable's broadcasting system to let Steelhooves address all the Rangers left, telling them how wrong what they were doing was, that it was an abomination, giving really one hell of a speech. And the way he opened it, simply reminding them who he was, he was the FIRST Steel Ranger, the only one left alive that actually knew the Mare they swore an oath to. The one, who by all rights should be leading them, if not for his desire not to lead, to merely follow others, finally stepping up, taking the leadership that he had so long let fall to those that were self serving, greedy, short sighted, evil.
Though all it does is get most of the remaining rangers to come charging at them, the group taking hits, but taking them out, Calamity being, well, Calamity, blowing up a small part of the Stable doing so. And Steelhooves, showing just why he's lived so long, and just how hard it is to take down a Canterlot ghoul, doubly so for one in Powered Armor. Though the group running for it when more show up.
Though while slowly fighting their way through the Stable, and using up their supplies very rapidly they do get a little good news, a decent amount of the Steel rangers had decided to side with them, turning on the rest, though they had been locked up fairly securely by the rest. And it would take at least an hour for them to cut through the door and escape, though the rest of the ponies in the Stable were also sealed up behind doors that would take much longer for the rangers to get through, so time wasn't to to vital.
Which is good because the remaining Rangers had pulled back to the most defensible place they could, leaving only one path of approach with a large kill zone. Calamity salvaging a suit of Ranger armor for himself, as a bit of extra protection, while Li'lpip builds a barricade she can move with them to try and shield them as they enter the kill box. Though while it protects them, they rapidly run out of ammo that could be effective on the Rangers, while they continue to take out their cover. Eventually the group was surrounded, trapped, with the Elder asking for them to surrender, Steelhooves pointing out it was just so she could make a rather pubic example of them. But before they could refuse the Rangers get ambushed by a squad of Gryphons, sent by Gawd.
Once the last few Rangers were dealt with, she explain why they were here, Gawd sent them trusting that even without a contract Li'lpip would be sure to return the favor and compensate them (And given how she was before, that says A LOT about how much Li'lpip effected her,) And also that while en route, Ditzy came across them, also trying to respond to the distress signal, giving them supplies and Stealthbucks to aid them. And once it was over, the Overmare unseals the doors and asks Velvet and Li'lpip to come inside, keeping the rest in the sealed area to be safe, and spare them the scene outside.
And after a, both heartbreaking, infuriating, and epic (on the part of Velvet) bit with Li'lpip's mother, the Overmare thanks them, telling them she was sorry for banishing Li'lpip, that this was her home, something she refuses, saying she's been changed to much, been to poisoned by the wastes to return, though getting the leader to agree to repay the Gryphons, and to let her have access to some of the Overmare's records. And finding in it, the first spot of hope, of brightness, the first purely GOOD news to come out of the past. Applejack had survived The End, she had made it into Stable 2 with the rest of her family before it was sealed. And more then that, she had been pregnant at the time.
Li'lpip rushes to share this news with Steelhooves and the fact that she had WANTED to return, to leave the Stable and find him, but Sweetie Belle refused to open the door under any circumstances. Finding him and the other rangers getting their armor redecorated, replacing the Steel ranger symbol on their flanks with Applejack's cutie mark, Li'lpip saying they should rename themselves Applejack's Rangers, though Steelhooves simply calling them outcasts, and saying that they would all be heading to Stable 29, needing to join with the rangers there, who have chosen to side with them, and have stopped the Elder from carrying out his plan.
And they find another bit of not so good news in the records, turns out filling a Stable with ponies that were already related to each other to begin with, wasn't such a good idea, Velvet noting how the Stable was within a generation or two of having a massive inbreeding issue, though Li'lpip says she has a solution.
And we close with the group going to get what Calamity had wanted to get before they had entered the Stable, which turns out to be at the old CMC clubhouse, inside a giant rock he said had been hollowed out and enchanted to open, in which every Dashite had left something of their old life after being exiled. opening it with the password. "Cutie marks don't matter.""
And Perk, more Zebra augmentation.
Thoughts- I, I really have no words, okay no I have some but, damn, just damn. I'll admit, this part, the Fillydelphia-Stable 2 part of the story, is by far the part I least like reading. Not because it's bad, or anything wrong with it, but just because of how bad things ARE in the story. I know I haven't been commenting on the titles as much as I probably should, since some of them add a layer or two to the chapter, but this one, pretty much perfectly sums it up "The Hour of the Wolf" especially with Li'lpip's lines about it.
that mystical black hour where all is darkest and you can’t sleep, when the weight of all your sorrows and bad decisions come weighing on you most heavily, and when the monsters scratch just outside your door.
It sums up this part, it is the blackest part, the part where hope seems the weakest, where you're sure something bad, something just plain WRONG will happen. That's why I, well can't say don't enjoy, but, why I have the least enjoyment from this part, because I'm to busy being worried, or angry, or relieved, there's just to much other emotions in here for just simple enjoyment to factor in. And I know it might not be that way for most, I tend to empathize with the character I read about A LOT, feel what they do, especially when they are so well written, so REAL, that it is all to easy to do so. (one of the reasons I'm leery about PH is I know some of the shit they go through so, yeah not a good combo)
And no, not faulting the story at all, the simple fact it can give me so many feelings is just, amazing, and well this IS "the Hour of the Wolf" the darkest part, the middle of night. It should be the point you have the least hope, and yet it never fully crushes it, even at the worst, there are glimmers of not just hope for the protagonists, but for the Wastes. Steelhooves standing up to the leaders he let run rampant, Calamity and Velvet's relationship growing, and Li'lpip finally fully getting over her jealousy of it. Gawd, once loyal only to the contract, only caring about what she could get out of something, what the deal was, sending her forces out to aide Li'lpip on trust alone. Even Ditzy doing her best to aide them. And even adding hope for the past, in learning that at least one of the mane 6 had a good life, survived, even had a family afterwards.
So in summary, this was the climax to (for me as a reader) the most emotionally charged part of the story, the one that just took my emotions, hope, fear, worry, rage, and played them almost perfectly. And as a result is the one I am the most uncomfortable reading because of all those feelings, but still adds to the story, and makes it so amazing.
Oh and how the buck did ponies NOT see filling a Stable with mostly relatives was a bad idea? Wait......aaand DUH! Li'lpip even said it just before they found out. They never expected ponies to have to live in the Stables long enough for it to matter, okay they get a pass on that one.
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