Well, after ending with the Mane Group falling into an erupting volcano, we somehow have another chapter. Turns out Twi was rather fast with her horn. The group did indeed all land in the lava, but she managed to get a barrier around them all, though it was a very tight fit. Tick Tock and Rarity meanwhile worked at keeping the temperature spell up around everypony, though they all knew they couldn't keep this up forever.
And yet, despite them being so close to being flash fried in moments... it is one of the most hilarious scenes yet. Starting right off with RD, yes RD, giving everypony a well deserved "I told you so!' Again, her entire character is so so much better this time around, that, really fits, she doesn't go off on a rant, doesn't get pissed, doesn't act overly confrontational, just "I told you so!"
Then we get the fun of all the ponies being pressed right up next to each other. The expect "Hey, whose hoof is that down there?" "Watch where you're touching" etc...
“Psh, don’t act like you don’t like it,” Pinkie said, shaking her rear back and forth in Rarity’s face. “♫My milkshake brings all the mares to the yard.”
Rainbow gave a loud groan, embarrassed just by being in Pinkie’s vicinity. “Pinks, never say those words in that order ever again,” she said. “Ever.”
...
Lockwood said, giving a content sigh. “Mmm... I know that most stallions would dream of being where I am now.”
“I think that’s my flank you’re touching,” Flathoof interjected.
Lockwood coughed and tried to yank his hoof away from where it was. “Oh! Uh... you working out there, buddy? You’ve got some... tone.”
Rainbow snickered. “Awww, you guys are cute together.”
So, damn, funny. And yet, not really taking away from the tension, the danger, just.. lightening the mood a bit, keeping it from getting to dark and depressing over their imminent deaths. Plus, Lockwood giving RD a PERFECT opening for one of her rants against him, and her just making a rather amusing and friendly joke. Love it!
Twi eventually gets them to focus on finding a way out instead. Though, since they are trapped in a lake of lava and the bottom of a caldera, there options for 'out' are rather limited. And not helping matters is Pinkie starting to get sea.. err lava-sick, from all the jostling and rolling around the bubble is doing. Not a pleasant thought, at all. Though that does make all of them notice just how much more their container is rolling and moving, Tick Tock taking a few looks around and saying they just might be able to get out, since the volcano was getting ready to erupt.
“Oh, wonderful!” Rainbow said, not trying to hide her sarcasm. She sighed and pressed her face against the bubble. “Sometimes I hate being right, y’know? This whole thing is straight out of Daring Do and the Mystery of the Dragon’s Eye, only without the promise of treasure. Three percent, my flank!”
Again, a perfectly reasonable complaint/gripe from her, that fully fits her character and isn't taken to far. Also, yeah you did kind of set yourself up for these Tick Tock, better work on the math a bit more before coming up with those odds. Though she does point out that an eruption is actually a good thing this time, since if Twilight can keep her barrier up long enough, and powerful enough, they could simply use it to ride the rush of lava out of the crater. Which gives Pinkie the idea to see if she can rig her Party Canon to fire ponies. Alright, I actually want to see that happening.
Rainbow wasn’t sure if she trusted Tick Tock’s judgement, and wished that Twilight were in a better position to do it herself. “Are you sure you’ve got this right this time, Tick Tock? I don’t want another ‘margin of error’ excuse.”
Again, perfectly reasonable feeling at this point. Though Tick Tock does point out that it's not like they have any other options at this point so, nothing to lose. Though I do have to question just what the hell Tick Tock is doing or calculating or really in any way needing to use her judgement on. It's not like she's giving exact numbers, alterations to the shape/size of the sphere to better catch or ride out the force of the explosion, trying to guide it along a path, anything. All she does is call out to Twilight when the eruption is about to happen so she could pump more power into the shield, that's it. So, yeah.. kind of odd.
And just before the eruption happen we get this little gem.
“Oh boy oh boy oh boy!” Pinkie cheered, grabbing onto the nearest pony in her excitement, which happened to be Flathoof. “You ready for some fun! We’re gonna ride this sucker!”
Ummmmm... no comment.
This, was an absolutely amazing scene. It managed to keep the tone rather light, having plenty of comedy, and not black comedy, yet at the same time never stop feeling like there is a real threat. You always knew things were serious, that there was real danger, but it doesn't dampen down the story. You're not scared about somepony actually dying, worrying what's going to happen, being to anxious to enjoy. It's less "Will they get out of this?" and more "How will they get out of this." It's a near perfect blend of suspense, danger, and humor. Though, while them getting shot out of the top of the volcano like a canon is awesome, kind of would have found it funnier for them to see a crack in the side of the crater and have to hamster ball their way over to it, just for the humor of seeing them all getting rolled around more. Plus, maybe if Pinkie had lost it, they would have finally admitted there was no damn point in wearing their clothes after they got THAT soiled.
We jump over to the Mean 6, with Starlight Shadow quietly thinking to herself that maybe, just maybe, Havocwing was right and the Mane Group (It's not really the Mane 6 since they have the three EQ V ponies with them too.) were taking the alternate path over the Redblade Mountains. She also recounts all the reasons why it was a perfectly legitimate and correct assumption on her part to think they weren't. First, while she thought maybe the Chronomancer might take the risk, everything they were told about the Mane 6, especially Twilight, made it seem they were far less likely to take the risk.
This, is only an issue because she assumed that all of them knew as much about the area as she did and knew just how dangerous it was. Instead of only relying on what Tick Tock told them, and her downplaying the dangers.
Second, that while it was technically a shortcut, the dangers far outweighed the benefit in time saved, unless time was a major issue and 'father' hadn't mentioned anything about that. So yes, given that the only reason the Mane Group took that path was Tick Tock downplaying how dangerous it was, and them being on a time table that Star did not know about, her not thinking they would take the route is perfectly reasonable. Again, this is something I LOVE about the story, the characters are often wrong, yet in believable ways. In ways the make perfect sense given what they are limited in knowing.
This does raise a question of WHY Silvertongue didn't tell the Mean 6 about the Mane 6 being on a time crunch. Shadowstep overheard that part, knew they only had about a month to get home, so why didn't he tell the Mean 6 this? Was it simply, well not an oversight but, something he simply did not feel was important enough for them to know, and so didn't bother wasting time on it. Or was there another reason, was it a very specific choice not to give them this information. Given just how epic a Chessmaster he is, I would not put it past this being some small play for something later, some tiny bit of manipulation.
They were about to find out if they were indeed going the wrong way, since in response to apparently the thirtieth time that day of Havocwing asking "Are we there yet" (and yes, I could totally see Starlight counting them) we find out they are about two miles from the checkpoint, whatever that is. It apparently has ponies there, since once they get there, they will be able to find out of the Mane Group did indeed come this way. Though she cuts off mid lecture, her eyes glowing pure white.
Okay, I don't remember Red being THIS damn creepy the first time. Seriously, she went from, well kind of creepy and a bit scary, to down right fucking TERRIFYING!
After the rest all show some worry about her, well except Insipid who simply wants to know how she got her eyes to do that and gushes about how awesome it looks, she snaps out of it. She had detected an enormous surge of magic from the direction of the Redblade Mountain pass. A surge she knew came from Twilight, since no other unicorn save her and their father could have put out that much power. Said power signature was traveling very, very rapidly and Star was able to track where it was heading, the Mean 6 all heading out to intercept them.
Very good scene again. While it's main point was just explaining how the Mean 6 figured out where the Mane 6 were and caught up with them, it also shows something else. It shows more about just how, despite how much they argue and fight and complain about each other, they DO actually care for each other. Their reaction to Starlight's little magic surge, many showing actual concern. Yeah, you can tell that they DO have actual feelings for each other. Even Red, in her own sick, twisted, creepy, and downright horrifying way, cares about the others. It's really amazing being able to strike that balance, have such constant fighting, arguing, and yet still make it believable that they would be together. And really comes into play later, but the seeds are shown here, and in all the Mean 6's scenes more or less.
Back with the Mane 6, Tick Tock's plan worked, probably better then she thought, as the pony-ball was shot flying into the air, so high that they actually breached the magical curtain above and saw the actual sky, for some of them, the first time in their lives they'd seen it. It was night time, two moons hung in the sky, and Twi lamented that the ball was tossing and rolling to much for her to get a good look at some of the new constellations above her.. It's really quite the beautiful/powerful scene.
Though it is marred by a bit of, wait, how does that work? First off, even with an eruption, being shot THAT high, seems rather unlikely, second, Pinkie. Granted she's Pinkie but...
“Wheeee! Hee hee, this is great you guys! Feel that wind in your manes!
They are still all inside the bubble, the one strong enough to block LAVA, how can she feel air moving though.. wait... how the hell were they able to breathe? Is the bubble permeable to air and air alone? Gahhh so many questions. But either way, it's still a damn good scene.
Then, the realization the other little issue about getting shot so far up in the air, getting back down. The rest of them having just assumed Twi's shield would protect them, though she disagrees. Telling them that while the shield itself could take the impact, it wouldn't do anything to cushion their fall, they'd simply be splattered against the inside of it, until it collapsed anyway. that is amazing, keeping limits to the powers, yes magic is magic and all, but there still has to be some logic, some limits, and this story does a very good job of using those right. One of the things Twi finds most impressive about Tick Tock is her the other mare can take normal spells, and find new ways to use them, work out other tricks they can do, ways to tweak them to do things, that once Twi sees them make sense, but she'd never think to try on her own.
RD to the rescue! She gets her and the other two pegasi to get out of the sphere and push up from under it, trying to slow it down enough. And, I know I'm turning into a broken record here but, DAMN is this story doing a MUCH better job with Dash then the first time.
“Fluttershy and Lockwood can help!” Rainbow shouted. “Right?! Normally I wouldn’t ask, but right now every little bit makes a difference!”
That is both reasonable, makes sense, and shows she IS caring about and noting that Fluttershy would NOT like this, would not be comfortable, and wouldn't normally do this, all while pointing, they don't really have an option, they NEED the help. And all without being a dick about it.
Then we get this....
He accidentally brushed his hoof along Rarity’s hind leg in the process. “Heavens, Mister Lockwood, mind your hooves!” she shouted.
I don't know why, but... this just made me groan, and not in a good way. Maybe it's just feedback from how badly the majority of things involving those two feel to me.
Oh and seems Twi CAN make her shield selectively permeable, as she adjusts it to let the pegasi out, while keeping the others inside, and making it one way so they could push against the outside without coming back in. So, guess the whole air thing kind of works out.
It works, the three of them managing to slow the rest down enough for them to land lightly, Twi finally relaxing her magic and letting the shield fade. Lockwood lamenting that he lost his best hat while slowing the bubble.
“Oh don’t fret, darling. You look much more charming without it, I can assure you of that. I’m sure somepony,” she said, shooting a quick aside glance to Fluttershy and back, “would rather you showed off that well-groomed mane of yours, hmm?”
Uhhhhhhhhhhhh, yeah you all know my issue here. And, it's just done so badly, so, over the top, so in your face, yeah we get it, can we please have a single scene with those three in it that DOESN'T devolve into this stupid shipping thing? Even as much as I hate the concept, the execution just makes it worse, it's so overdone, it's like it's beating the reader over the head with what Rarity is trying to do.
And while the rest are all resting and celebrating still being alive, Tick Tock has to go and be a wet blanket, breaking out her map and making a few comments about how things are not okay, and they'll have to change their plans a bit.
And we get from this another great scene between Twi and Tick Tock. The Chronomancer brushing off the set backs, saying you have to anticipate things will go wrong and deal with it. Keep a 'stiff upper lip' and just keep going. As with so many things with her, the issue isn't what she's saying, but how she's saying it. Everything about this is right, you do have to adjust, be adoptable, all that. But she says it almost like she's lecturing foals, like she's imparting wisdom on those who sadly are not quite as good at things as her, and all without coming off as intentionally trying to do that. It's simply how she is, she doesn't mean any insult by it, and likely doesn't even realize that's how she's coming off.
I love this, the complexity. Twi does still trust her, knows she DOES know more about this then any of them. Knows Tick Tock is their only hope at getting home, and she IS trying her best to do that. But that doesn't mean she has to like her personally, like her as a pony. She doesn't hate her, by any means, and is more the willing to try and be her friends, it's just a personality clash that makes them rather incompatible and likely to butt heads, but never taking it to far into being antagonistic about each other. It's also why I have no issues with Dash being more hostile and untrusting of Tick Tock, versus the other two. Tick Tock's personality IS rather abrasive. And while Twi can separate personal and professional opinions about a pony, Dash, not so much. So her personal issues with Tick Tock, effect her opinion of Tick Tock's abilities as well. Again the shear depth here, it's amazing.
Good news bad news time. They landed on the wrong side of the mountains, and still need to get over them, however, they also landed close to the other, safer pass, and in fact did manage to save time, being about two days closer to it then they would have been had they gone there directly, so they did save some time. But, there's some bad news, REALLY bad news...
Pinkie groaned. “I hate bad news! Wait!” she shouted, holding a hoof up to stop Tick Tock from talking. “I have an idea. Maybe, if you tell us the bad news in a good way, it won’t sound so bad.”
Pinkie... I don't think that will work.. though nice reference.
The group had landed in the middle of the largest Gargantuan nest on this side of the mountains. After a bit of word play between Pinkie and RD, Tick Tock mentally facehoofs (I'm assuming) and asks them if ANY of them were paying attention when she talked about them before leaving the city. Twi saying she remembers her mentioning them, but she didn't really say much about them, other then their name, and that they were the reason the wall around NPC was so high. Turns out they are the largest, and only, major predator in the wastes, and more then match for the group. Lockwood seconding it, saying he's heard stories.
Lockwood didn’t meet Flathoof’s gaze. “Well... somepony that’s probably in Hope’s Point at the moment. Anyway, I lack any firsthoof knowledge. Miss Tock? Perhaps you could enlighten us a little more? You seem to act as though you’ve dealt with the things before.”
On the one hand, very nice foreshadowing and hinting added. On the other, making what comes later more apparent and dropping more hints makes the whole Fluttershy/Lockwood thing even dumber and more aggravating.
Tick Tock finally just stops them from talking, saying it's a small miracle that they haven't been attacked yet, and they need to move, fast. They are fairly close to the edge of the region, and just past that is the checkpoint. They can rest when they reach it, but for now, they need to hurry, Twi telling the rest to follow her. After all this is the pony that treated crossing through the caldera of an active volcano as little more then taking a stroll, if she's THIS worried about something, it must be bad.
Oh look, there was a reason, as eventually one of the creatures bursts out of the ground in front of them and attacks. Some kind of weird mash up of every creepy crawler from your nightmares. Spider, scorpion, mantis, yeah pure fucking Nightmare Fuel. Oh and it's also three times the size of even the larger ponies like Flathoof. Okay, how the hell does something THAT huge, and with that many numbers survive out there with so little to eat? it's like the only living things we've seen, what the hell does it eat?
The group tries to fight, but of course, it's armored, nothing they do doing more then getting it's focus on the last pony that attacked it, all while Tick Tock calls out to Twi to hit with the most powerful magic blast she can, Twi telling the rest to keep it busy while she gets set. All the while Fluttershy telling them to stop, to take it easy, not to hurt it.
Twi manages to trip it up, binding it's legs in magical chains, while AJ and RD knock it over, finally Fluttershy screaming out, getting them to sop in surprise as she goes up to it, doing her normal routine, and seemingly working, seeming to get it calmed down, despite Tick Tock's constant call for her to get away, telling the rest they had to get her away from it. The Mane 6 of course taking Fluttershy's side, saying she's got this, and for Tick Tock to stop being so nasty to her. Right up until the beast jams it's stinger into the yellow pegasi's back, causing her to crumble to the ground at once. The monster then seeming to die almost instantly.
The group starts to panic, as the wound on Fluttershy's back was quite obviously poisoned. Tick Tock using some magic on it and saying she's bought her some time, but they have to move. She can't cure the poison here, but the checkpoint has an anti-venom if they can get her to it in time, and worse, the venom inside her would attract other Gargantuans, make them easier to find, so they had to move, and move FAST!
Okay, question, given the issues, needing to get Fluttershy to the checkpoint ASAP, being about as far from it as she has time left, and with her attracting more of them just by being there... Why don't they just give her to Dash, who can easily carry her quite a ways, and have Dash fly her ahead, above the level the Gargantuans could get to them at, and getting her to checkpoint a lot faster then if they all moved on hoof?
Rarity shook her head. “Move her? Twilight, we can’t move her so suddenly, and certainly not so brusquely! We’d risk hurting her even more!”
“Rarity, listen, we need to move quickly,” Twilight explained, as carefully as she could. She could see that Rarity was in hysterics, and didn’t want to agitate her any more than she already was.
“I understand that, Twilight, but she’s likely in pain. We need to be concerned about making sure she’s comfortable if we’re to move her. I know time is of the essence, but—"
Lockwood interjected, placing a hoof on Rarity’s shoulder. “Rarity, Twilight’s right, we really should—"
“I will not risk her well-being just to make things go faster!”
You know, I think these edits are doing something i did not expect. I actually like RD.. so far... a lot better, but now, It's Rarity that's making me sigh and just, wonder what the fuck. I get she's panicking, but really... she's fine normally, but, anytime Lockwood or Fluttershy gets near her, it's like her IQ gets cut in half and she becomes an idiot. Starts acting like the cliche she's supposed to subvert, like the worst parts of The Chick, and, it's only in scenes involving those two.
Well Twi slaps her across the face... thank you for that... until she calms the fuck down and realizes, hey if we don't move her now, and quickly, she's DEAD, now shut up and get running.
She gets them set up and works out the plan, Pinkie, Flathoof, and Tick Tock up front, Twi, AJ, and RD in the rear, with Rarity and Lockwood carrying Fluttershy between the two groups. If more show up, the three in the rear will keep it occupied while the rest keep running. Don't stop, don't wait, those three will catch up later, all that matters is that Fluttershy gets out of there ASAP.
Very nice battle plan. Tick Tock in the lead since she's the one who knows where to go, Pinkie helping, since as much as Tick Tock might doubt it, her Pinkie Sense could help, and Flathoof to give them some muscle. Meanwhile, their 3 best fighters bring up the rear and serve as a distraction, while the least combat capable ponies work as stretcher bearers. Very good plan.
Overall for the scene, not quite as good as the last two, but only because they were REALLY good. The subversion of Fluttershy taming the beast was nice, coming at JUST the right time when you start thinking, oh it worked.. again. Aside from Rarity's over reaction, it all flowed well and went great, and serves further how the rest of the group sees Tick Tock, starting to see that maybe, just maybe she DOES know what she's talking about. Now, we have a ticking clock, and some REAL danger. Though of course Like You Would Really Do It is in full effect.
Well, seems things went bad rather quick, as we jump to a scene mid fight, RD, AJ, and Twi dealing with several of the creatures. Twi yells for AJ and RD to go, to catch up to the group while she deals with these ones. Just in time as the rest of the ponies were being attacked by even more of them, unable to get through till AJ and RD bash a hole, Tick Tock yelling that they are just about out of Gargantuan territory, able to see the edge of it, though that news is met by Pinkie hiccuping.
“Well maybe this’ll be a good thing, and it’ll scare off some of these bugs?” Rainbow said.
Well, first off, seems Tick Tock is finally coming around to accepting Pinkie Sense, secondly, well you can always hope RD... to bad it's in vane, as the 'earthquake' turned out to be an adult Gargantuan, yeah those 2-3 times the size of a pony monstrosities? They were just the kids.
For those ponies that had pants on... lets hope they get to a point very very soon where they can wash them.
Hey, Twilight.. good to see you again, nice timing. The unicorn teleports back to join the group just as the massive beast was about to crush them with a single claw, deflecting it with a shield, putting another one up around the party, though she couldn't hold it long, every blow making it flicker, and causing her to flinch. Even with Rarity's help, they only had a few seconds, less once the young ones joined in.
“We ain’t gonna abandon ya, Twi,” Applejack said, stepping up alongside Twilight. “Rainbow ‘n’ me can distract it, an’ then—"
The adult reared its claw back again, and prepared to strike once more.
“Aw horseapples...”
“Too late!” Rainbow shouted.
Applejack watched in horror as the claw came rushing downwards. Twilight squeezed her eyes shut in preparation for the strike. Everypony else held their breath.
“Hey ugly! Eat heat!”
Yup, the Mean 6 finally met up with heir quarry, just in time to save their flanks. Havoc swooping in first, tossing fireballs at the beast to get it's attention, though they do little more then annoy it. The juvenile ones pressing their attack, overwhelming Twi's shield.
Luckily, this kept the blood spatter from hitting her face. The insect squealed in agony and stumbled away.
NICE fake out here, as Red shows up to cut it's claw off just in time, AJ even having to do a double take to make sure it wasn't Pinkie standing next to her. (Wait, she notices it's NOT Pinkie, in part due to the different Cutie Mark, yet also due to her wearing a jumpsuit. How would a jumpsuit leave he Cutie Mark visible? Do they simply have holes cut to show them off? Have the cutie mark on them? how does that work?)
A second attacker is taken out by Insipid blowing a hole it with the lightning power she still has from the robots, though unlike the other two, her grand entrance is a bit spoiler when she tries to leap dramatically in front of the Mane group... and ends up face-planting. Smooth.
Greyscale joins the fight, crushing one of the bugs, much to Red's anger at the kill stealing, not that the pegasus gave a buck. Eventually they were down to only the adult left, the Mane Group simply standing around watching, trying to figure out what the hell was going on, who these ponies were, and how the non unicorns were using magic like they were. A little Fastball Special from Grey gets Red onto it's back, distracting it long enough for Havoc to finish it off.
Twilight stepped forward. “Thank—"
At which point the four other mares immediately began arguing.
Okay, that, while funny and exactly what I was expecting, feels really weird and.. why would you write it like that? Just "They started arguing", when you are leaping right into their argument and hearing them bicker, why would you have to add that line? It, it's just so out of place, so clunky, it's more like a bit of the outline got left in.
The four fight, well mostly Red and Havoc fight with each other while Grey just stands off to the side not giving a shit, and Insipid bounces around being her normal idiotic self which the rest ignore. The Mane 6 simply trying to figure out what the hell was going on, and if they should maybe just kind of, get away from them. (best bit, the little "that only counts as one" reference.)
Their arguing finally broken up by Starlight showing up, apologizing for her 'associates' behavior and giving out proper introductions. Twilight cutting hers short when she came to Fluttershy, apologizing for not stopping to properly show their gratitude, but they had to get her to safety ASAP and couldn't delay any longer. Star saying they were heading to the same place, having veered off upon hearing the group fighting to see what was going on, offering to help escort the group there, and offer they all accept quite readily.
As most of the group head off, Star keeps Havoc and Curacao back to talk. being puzzled by the Mane 6's reaction to them, or rather lack of reaction. Given that they were responsible for the 'accident' that caused the Mean 6 to lose their memories. Either it really was an accident, and they were truly unaware of what they had done, or they were hiding their recognition and playing dumb.
“Havoc, is there a particular reason you feel the need to exposit upon my original plan?”
Okay, that was funny.
Curacao and Star work out a new plan, the Mean 6 pretend to not know the Mane 6, keep acting like strangers that just happened to meet, all while slowly working their way closer, working to undermine them, to tempt them, turn them, make them willing to join Silvertongue. And despite what Havoc would prefer, kill them ONLY as a last resort. But for now, play along, pretend to be friends.
Thoughts-Well, nice ending, and things are about to get very interesting. Overall, another great chapter, the Mean 6 and the Mane 6 finally meet, and loved how it was done. A great Big Damn Heroes moment, though we of course know it's really a Big Damn Villains one. More characterization for the Mean 6 and the Mane party. Just great.
Though it does raise one huge question for me, the geography. If NPC is supposed to be at the North Pole (And we'll figure there's some hand wave for it not being frozen) then how does it work, with them having to go South, let going further south doesn't get them across the mountains, or it's just odd, really wish ere was a map or better explanation of the geography.
Most of the rest I talked about already. The title, very very nice one this time "Infection" which is exactly what happens to the group, the start of their being infected by the Mean 6, something that will have consequences throughout the rest of the story. Some more then others (*Glares at what ends up happening to Fluttershy because of it*).
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