And we open to Li'lpip listening to a recording that had been left inside the rock from the first Dashite, Scootaloo, mostly going on about irony (Wow, and another close call there, seriously Kkat, stop with the prescient visions) About how she spent so long trying to earn her cutie mark, only for it to be branded off, spent so long trying to save Equestria and build the Stables, only to miss being able to get in one do to being in the hospital with a broken wing, came up with so many experiments for the Stables to find a new way to govern that would prevent this from happening, only for the pegasi to find a way she would never consider, and was sure would be doomed to fail. All while making clear she wasn't going to last long, the surface still fresh with the megaspell detonations, blanketed in radiation. She leaves her Pipbuck with the message before heading off to try and find RD.
And we find out what Calamity had wanted to come get to help fight the Steel Rangers, his own suit of Enclave power armor, and we learn just how he came to be a Dashite. While on a scouting mission below the clouds he saw some ponies getting ambushed by raiders, and instantly went to their aid, when the higher ups learned about this, they gave him one chance to publicly reinforce the party doctrine that ground was a hellish inhospitable waste that would kill any pony. And he did the total opposite, giving a speech about how they should be down their helping, and then they made with the branding iron.
Okay, and that DOES also answer by little WTH from earlier about him being a Dashite, who was caught, then freed, only to have a price put on his recapture. After he was banished the Enclave created a story about him killing his squad to try and discredit him, hence the "wanted fugitive" though it raises another question about how he managed to leave with his armor, though knowing him he just stuck it in a pocket and walked out.
The upshot of it all is Calamity making sure the group knows that most pegasi are like him, would be more then willing and eager to come down and help, to rejoin Equestria, but the Enclave keeps them up there with lies, telling them going below is certain death, there is nothing at all below, etc... making clear that the enemy up there isn't the average pegasi, but JUST the leaders of the Enclave, the rest of them being just as much victims as everypony else.
Oh and uses a comparison that straight up proves my little "Why the hell are people mad about this" rant about New Appleloosa and Redeye, saying it's the same deal, the majority of the town doesn't know what was going on with him, only the leaders.
And as a symbolic gesture, after Calamity takes out the piece of the life he left behind, Velvet replaces it with her Pipbuck, a piece of her old life to leave behind, Li'lpip wishing she had something to leave as well, eventually coming up with something, she downloads the recipe for PTM's to the Pipbuck laying in the rock, then erases it from her own.
And we also get a little sad news, in her recording Scoots had left directions to a shack where she was going to wait for RD, which Calamity followed and had made his home, after burying the pegasus skeleton he had found there......(okay given what we learn about Scoots later, some people wouldn't find it that sad, but I do.)
And we get a little talk between the Applejack's Rangers, discussing their plans, hoping that any pony that agrees with them will be able to slip away to join them before the rest realize what's going on, Li'lpip apologizing, taking the blame on herself, though Steelhooves tells her not to, this was his fault for not acting sooner, when things could have been done peacefully.
And while they fly off, planing to stop at Calamity's shack after he tempted her with the thought of a floor safe there nopony had been able to enter, we get the details of Li'lpip's plan for Stable 2. After sealing the Stable back up to protect them from Steel Rangers or the beasts fleeing the burning forest they would begin preparing for it. And after a few months of preparation, begin moving the entire Stable, the ponies, tech, and even the orchards, to Gawd's territory, forming a new town under her protection, while giving her access to their orchards and water talisman. And giving the Stable ponies a fresh source of (for lack of a better term) breeding stock to prevent the incipient inbreeding.
They reach the shack, though it was located high up on a cliff that only a pegasus could reach. While Calamity flew Velvet up, Li'lpip used her TK to levitate herself up to it, reaching the top before them and deciding to wait for them by looking into another memory orb, not realizing till it was to late that it looked damaged, and by then, there was only pain.
And then the memory starts. She quickly realizes she's inside a Zebra, one wearing a stealth cloak and spying on Rarity, as she is rather awesomely dealing with Prince Blueblood, who being the cretinous buffoon he is, was trying to talk Rarity into a political marriage to him, and being, well, Blueblood, in doing so. And Li'lpip's reactions are just hilarious, and so so match pretty much what most readers would be thinking.
I focused, trying to make my host run over and buck him through sheer force of will.
After a quick glow of her horn that seems to have no effect she rather epically tosses the oaf out of her office. As soon as she was alone, the Zebra Li'lpip was in draws a blade and begins to sneak up on her from behind. As the assassin was about to strike and kill her, there was a sudden shift in weight in her packs, followed by pain and it's entire body going numb and unable to move.
Rarity casually removes the cloak, ignoring the Zebra completely as she gushes over it, making Li'lpip realize that 1. This was the broken cloak they had found in the MOM hub in Fillydelphia, and 2. This was where Stealthbucks came from, reverse engineering the enchanted gemstone that Rarity had just captured. She finally address the stunned Zebra, mentioning just how STUPID it was to try sneaking up on a pony whose greatest skill is detecting gemstones, with a cloak powered by one before taunting it with the Black Book, asking if that was what they were after, before casually calling Pinkie and telling her she has a present for her.
And she comes to inside the shack, Calamity instantly yelling at her for doing something so stupid,since she had thrashed and rolled right off the edge while the damaged orb took hold, nearly taking out all three of them. After a very very massive apology as she realizes just how dumb that was, he lays out some ground rules, from now on no memory orbs unless she is 1. on solid ground. 2. not in combat or any enemies are around. 3. one of her companions is around to watch over her. Common sense that, sadly, we already know will be tossed aside by her in the need to sate her curiosity.
Inside the safe that had brought them here, all that is left intact after time, was a Rainbow Dash statuette, which the rest tell her to take, it's magic filling her as she collects it.
As they approach Stable 29 to drop off the Rangers, Li'lpip nearly has a heart attack as they see smoke pouring from the opening, and a pony in armor steps out to send a bright ball of light hurtling towards them, though it was just a signal flare. They dropped off Steelhooves ad the rest of the Rangers, heading to Tenpony.
And just as Li'lpip thought, all of Redeye's army was arrayed to intercept ponies trying to get in at ground level, not in the air, suddenly realizing that she had more time the she thought before Redeye would think she wasn't going with the plan. He didn't know about their sky carriage, he had to assume that she would be walking everywhere. However still playing it safe Redeye hadn't left the air totally unprotected, an alicorn stood watch on the top of the tower, and takes off to attack them, nearly taking them down before Homage incinerates it with the Star Blaster, getting them into the tower.
Li'lpip talks Homage into letting Xenith in, while keeping her secret safe from the Zebra, after which she invited the group to make themselves at home, since her and Li'lpip would be quite busy. At which Velvet and Homage begin teasing and embarrassing her quite thoroughly. And okay, I know some don't like it but I love these scenes they are just so adorably hilariously cute and funny.
As the group gets settled, Li'lpip talks to Homage, warning her of the megaspell and wanting to work out a way to evacuate the tower quietly, though Homage refuses, saying DJ-PON-3 is to important to the Wastes, their last voice of hope and truth, that they NEEDED him. And even more so, that while he was important, he was not THE most important thing in the Tower. This had been one of the main hubs of the Ministry of Magic. Filled with sealed of areas protected by shields, shields with bypass spells built in. That would only allow certain ponies in, though it turns out they CAN be tricked if somepony is a close enough related descendant.
And aside from the shear research, inside the tower was a Megaspell chamber. The place from which Equestria's greatest weapon was deployed. Though the one in Tenpony was useless at the moment, a recording involving Twilight saying that the Celestia One megaspell requires sunlight to work, so with the cloud cover, is useless. (And also showing a category 5 Twilight freak out over that fact, which I can totally see her doing after the stress she was under, even how she did it.)
Moving on she shows her the labs where spells to purge land and creatures of taint and radiation were made, though the spells were to weak and to small to be practical, Li'lpip realizing that this was where the base spells for The Gardens of Equestria were made, the small, simple spell that was amplified by the megaspell framework and the powers of the Elements of Harmony, to be Equestria's greatest chance at salvation. Li'lpip filling Homage in on them, letting her know that she's one of the ponies needed to activate it.
Homage's reaction? I Need a Freaking Drink. her and Li'lpip get smashed, till Li'lpip recalls what happened in the Stable, how brutally she killed some of the Rangers, breaking down in tears as Homage comforts her, bringing her to bed.
They spend a few days at the tower, Li'lpip simply not even worrying what Redeye thought, knowing his companions needed the rest, and aside from a little of Homage teasing Li'lpip we also get a quick look at the Zebra mind and why the war went as bad as it did, when Li'lpip confronts Xenith about why she was acting so cold to homage, she replies that she has been touched by the stars and is cursed, that no good could ever come of one like her. This, pretty much explains why the Zebras had the reaction they had to Princess Luna and why they wouldn't listen to "reason".
And on to Splendid Valley, Maripony, and The Goddess. The group starts freaking out when five alicorns fly up to meet them, preparing for an attack, but instead they great the group, The Goddess speaking through them, welcoming them as guests. And both Velvet and Li'lpip are Genre Savvy enough by now to begin cursing, since they know what this means, the Goddess has a quest for them.
Inside they are lead to a security room, the Goddess speaking into their minds, Li'lpip noting that her "voice" was really a chorus, with one voice dominate, but several echoing it's words. She tells them to watch a bank of monitors, wanting them to understand her as they play out a recording from the past, the facility, before the war, Twilight overseeing it, telling them to begin pony experiments. reprimanding the pony announcing they were sending in "Test Subject One" telling them not to call her that.
And then, we find out Test Subject One, is Trixie. And the experiment, is to turn her into an alicorn. Twilight reassuring her she doesn't have to do this, and when Trixie still wants to go on, she is given a cup filed with the "experiment" to drink. Just as the megaspell detonated, wrecking the room, tanks of the experimental potion rupturing, the room Twilight was in sealing itself, and Trixie being spilled into the liquid. (okay if it was a potion to drink, why the hell do they have vats and vats full of it just sitting around?)
All but one monitor goes dark, this one showing Twilight in the room, saying it was two days later, she was almost out of supplies and unable to unseal the room, mentioning she was hearing the scream of ponies, and Trixie, even though the room was soundproof. Ending it with telling anyone who found the recording to find Spike. Then flashing a few days later, to Twilight screaming for anypony who finds the message to get out, to drop another missile on the place, just as a projection of Trixie shows up, Telling Twi the experiment worked better then they could ever hope, and that now she would save her, that they would be very close, telekinetic force pulling her down into one of the vats before all the monitors went blank.
They are lead into the same room as The Goddess, who they see only as a giant magical construct of Trixie's face hovering over vats of goo, with the faces of other ponies occasionally show up on her, breaking through to be swallowed again as she says she knows why they are hear, Redeye has betrayed her, and while she is "Great and Powerful" he has found something that might threaten her, something she wishes to know about before she turns and destroys him. And that it was located in Canterlot, behind controls only a pegasus can use, and behind a shield only the Ministry mares (Or their family due to the flaw in the bypass spells) could enter. Meaning it wasn't Li'lpip she had a quest for, but Calamity, and Velvet. Though she goes on to mention that their is one small flaw preventing Unity from taking over and bringing all ponies into it. Which Li'lpip instantly sees and points out...
“Your children can’t even breed,” I pointed out. “Every single alicorn I have seen is a mare. You have no stallions. Now I’ll agree that can be fun; but when it comes to ‘thriving’, that’s a doozy of a problem!”
Which she replies with, she knows, but she will fix it. With the right magic. Leading Li'lpip to instantly know what she wanted her to do, break into Rarity's personal safe and get her little black book
Okay I LOVED this, taking the "traditional" way of dealing with the Master in Fallout, looking at it, having The Goddess have the exact same flaw, and then totally avert the result, in a way that makes total sense. I just really, really love the way that is played out.
As they leave, we learn two things, that Xenith hadn't heard a thing, not a single telepathic whisper. And that Li'lpip realizes Redeye's plan, he was going to become another being just like The Goddess once she was taken out.
Perk time, and Li'lpip is at max level (guess she didn't get any of the expansions) final perk, Celestia level TK.
Thoughts. okay the Goddess being Trixie was just fantastic, the whole way it was done, both playing the story of The Master straight, and averting parts, the really creepy gestalt-ness of her, it was just amazing. Also, again with the freaking telling the future. That Trixie almost perfectly fits with the post magic Duel Trixie, a bit more humble, on good terms with Twilight, though still having the ego ready to come out.
And while it's not as dumb as looking into an orb while 10 feet from a mad scientist, Li'lpip really is just a moron when it comes to those, took far to long for somepony to pound some basic sense into her head about them
Li'lpip and Homage were just adorable together, and the whole baking Ditzy muffins as thanks was great. Overall, a great setup for the fourth part.
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