By the time the group arrived in Terawatt Forest, Twilight's wings had dried out completely and the whole group was ready to continue their exploration. The forest itself was brightly lit and full of lush vegetation in bright colors, with a solid stone path to follow along. The only momentary concern was electrical interference that interrupted their connection with Aphelion, though Ratchet was able to solve it quickly, though with no guarantee that the fix would hold.
"From these readings," Ratchet informed them, "the very rocks of the Forest seem to be emitting some form of aberrant energy."
"Right," Twilight confirmed. "I'll be sure to grab several dozen samples."
"That's not- oh, nevermind," Ratchet grumbled.
"We'd best have a carry capsule that can contain the aberrant energy so nothing else gets affected," Nefarious suggested logically.
"Oh, I'm sure we'll come up with something," Twilight purred happily. "But first we need to find some of those rocks..."
As they walked, they came across yet another hostile creature, a strange cross between a mantis and a ladybug the size of Alister called an Anthropod. It broke from a single strike of any weapon, and was rapidly ignored.
Not far beyond, a new weapons vendor was located, with new weapons available. Twilight happily bought the whole group each a Thunder-Smack, a weapon designed to generate miniature thunderstorms. "So, how will we tweak this one?" Nefarious asked eagerly.
"How about making it capable of generating a localized weather system of any sort, with a selector switch?" Twilight offered excitedly.
"Genius!" The pair immediately fell to tinkering as they walked, with Alister and Qwark focusing on dealing with the actual hostiles.
Before long, they encountered a large capsule containing several large spheres, with platforms to interact with. "That's an Orb-o-matic," Nefarious explained after a few moments. "Croid designed it as a...children's play toy for use in hostile environments."
"And it's here because...?" Qwark began, curious of any sort of explanation.
"Let's find out!" Twilight offered eagerly, stepping up to the device and activating it. "Wah!" she yelped out as energy launched out from the device, surrounding her in a metallic sphere that rolled around as she moved. "...freaky..."
"The spheres conduct electricity on their outsides," Nefarious explained as he stepped up. "We should be able to use them to complete electrical circuits and the like. Like the one right there which probably controls a bridge." He pointed to the two electrical towers with no connection between them.
"Then let's transform and roll out!" Qwark proclaimed as he stepped up to the platform and was ensphered. "Ooh! Tingly!"
Alister rolled his eyes heavenward in resignation before getting into a ball himself.
Once they were all balled up, they discovered that they could unfold from the balls and reenter them at will, much to Twilight's relief as she was unable to tinker with Nefarious while in a ball. Various other devices also were designed to work with the balls, so that worked out well. As they continued, a new hostile entity approached. This one looked like a grey alligator with blue spikes on its back, hunched over as it dragged a legless lower body along behind it. As it reached some strange blue crystalline structure on the ground, it expanded, its body turning red as it started giving off an electrical field, allowing the group to identify it as a Shard Beast.
"Those must be the stones giving off the odd energy!" Twilight called out. "They're amplifying the Shard Beast's power!"
"Then lets break the crystals!" Qwark shouted out, swinging his Smashhammer. Rushing forward, he smashed the large crystals erupting from the ground to bits. When the Shard Beast shrank, Qwark seized it by its lower body and proceeded to smash it against the ground repeatedly until it burst apart in a final impact crater. He stared down at for a moment. "Ha! Puny, uh, whatever you were!"
Rolling her eyes and giggling, Twilight threw Qwark a cookie which he snatched out of the air in his mouth, making Nefarious burst into peals of laughter.
Once Twilight and Nefarious had successfully collected some samples through the simple expedient of having Twilight launch them into space at high speeds for Aphelion to capture and place in her storage area, where the energy emissions couldn't effect anything, the group continued forward across more bouncy mushrooms. As they continued, one of the larger Minion robots tried to block their way, but its actions drew the attention of an even more massive Guardian Robot that - until it moved - had been mistaken for the top of a mountain.
"...I want one," Twilight purred as she stared up at the Guardian Robot, licking her lips eagerly.
Qwark and Alister rolled their eyes. Nefarious, however, rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
The group made their way forward carefully, avoiding the watchful eyes of the Guardian Robot, and others like it along the narrow path. Not much further along, they encountered a smaller mech unit identified as a Croid Bot, a purple mech with a small robotic pilot, armed with two clawed tentacles and four plasma blasters. Unfortunately, its armor left much to be desired.
"Does anyone else think we might have a bit too much in the way of arsenal for this world?" Alister asked curiously.
All three others turned to stare at him as though he'd just said something incredibly stupid. After all, Nefarious and Twilight at least would have found him growing a second head absolutely fascinating.
Alister sighed fitfully. "Just me then," he grumbled, following along as the group continued their destructive path.
Wait when did Ratchet show up? He is only here for this part! Darn he is good!
Twilight, you're supposed to collect the rocks, not eat them!
(launch)
salzdummyspit.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/images+1.jpg
Transformer reference yes
7456868
He's communicating remotely from Aphelion.
7456868 Ratchet, Clank and the others arnt with Twis group, they r contacting them remotely from orbit
7456901
They've been quite for so long I had forgotten they where there. I feel foolish now.
7456868
Ratchet has been there from almost the very beginning; some kind of anomaly has kept Aphelion from landing. That's how they're getting new weapons; early on, satellites that transfer them were launched planet-side. Ratchet is likely communicating to them through an open line at these points, but is otherwise unable to.
Alister should know by now that this group practically breathes the "no kill like overkill" trope.
Alister I would like to point you in the direction of The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries. Once you have arrived at your destination I would advise you to read Maxim 37. It states thusly that there is no such thing as overkill. There is only "open fire" and "I need to reload." I would also like to direct Twilight's attention to Maxim 34. It delivers a heartfelt statement that if you are leaving scorch-marks, you need a bigger gun.
I will leave the res of these helpful tips here in case anyone else is in need of their widom.
http://schlockmercenary.wikia.com/wiki/The_Seventy_Maxims_of_Maximally_Effective_Mercenaries
Loved the Transformers reference Also I STILL say when and IF twilight and friends visit Equestria.... Poor Poor Equestria will NEVER be the same. Hmm... Twilight and friends VS Tirek.
7457009 "Oh, you eat magic? How do you like a RYNO?"
7457031 Meanwhile discord watches on and thinks to himself 'note to self do NOT PISS OFF that pony or her friends'
7456889 you should a pwnyverse fic with the transformers
When did Ratchet get there?
7457111 Who is left to visit?
And which of THOSE Universes?
Discord in Transformers Prime?
Blueblood in the Unicron Trilogy?
Gilda in Animated?
Flurry in the Beast Wars?
I love all the back and forth banter and references you keep throwing in. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the great work. Deus tecum.
7457159 there is still lyra but as far as the author goes there is not enough canon for him to write her, apparently vinyl and octavia have more canon for that
7457006
That's why I do all my weapon shopping with Strohl Munitions.
"Leave craters, not scorch marks."
7457035
Considering that Twilight is already an Alicorn, it would simply be more reason to resist Tirek's offer. Not as big of a reason as upsetting Fluttershy, but enough to be a tipping point.
7457171
To be fair, Bon Bon has more canon lore than Lyra does now. (Ex-Secret Agent vs. one of Twi's old friends who happens to sit oddly.) That said, they are kind of a packaged deal anyway, so between the two of them and fanon, something might be workable.
Edit: ...for a second there, the thought of Bon Bon and James Bond came to mind, but 007 would make a horrible father. Just ask all the illegitimate children he has left in his wake.
7457287
You mean Q's super-agent breeding program? (My personal headcanon for why Bond keeps changing appearance.)
7457297
Eh, after reading a 007/Doctor Who crossover, my money is actually on Time Lord.
7457159 Tatsurou has a website somewhere detailing all of the PWNYverse stories, including ones already completed and ones not yet started. Suffice to say; transformers are in none of them.
7456868 He's up in orbit with Aphelion. I think they were dropping those weapons kiosks.
7457297 That, is now mine as well.
7457297
7457304
I've heard a theory that "James Bond" is actually a cover name given to each new 007 after the old one has died. Certainly explains his being well known world wide with different faces. But eh, to boring
7457125 In the game you got Zephyr and Cronk but because Alister is still alive and Twilight is the focus of the story, Ratchet and Clank joined the two bots on a failed rescue mission that also allows them to send bolts to Gadgetron and gear to the team.
I kinda wish that he had chapters that added the other four-person team's quirks. Since Aphelion is pretty much a house on the inside there should be some jokes there and humor with Clank giving the other two bots directions when they got lost.
7457252 I want all of my weapons to come with "ominous hum" and "light at the end of the tunnel" attachments.
and Alister offically became dumber than Quark...wow
7458036
The "ominous hummmmmmmmmmmmmm" and "light at the end of the tunnel" settings, as well as the larger weapon casing have to be manually added back in after the fact; the current top of the line model is a dinky blue wand.
so the orb o matic is basically a morph ball, I wonder if twilight will incorporate a battle suit with it
Silly Alister, there is no such thing as to many guns. More Dakka for the win!
love the transformers and the avengers references
(Transform and roll out- transformers)
(Hulk throwing Loki around like a rag doll, "Puny god" first Avengers movie)
Transformers Quote for the win, baby!
7467682
There no kill like overkill.