Widening the Lens [MLP ISOT] World Building/discussion thread #4

Fluttertroll? Where did that idea come from?

The third thread actually is where I coined the term on the site. Here's some discussions around it:
http://forums.spacebattles.com/thre...torming-thread-ix.211774/page-16#post-7086890
http://forums.spacebattles.com/thre...torming-thread-ix.211774/page-17#post-7088671
I'll see if I can't track down the very first idea...

On Pumans. If they had Equestrian Spacebattles they just answered the vs. argument, "How many TIC large (Standard series) Surface to Air Missiles are needed to shoot down a dragon?"

One, at Sufficient Velocity?

Or one of sufficient size?

Yes, I suppose a Trident with a repurposed air to air flak burst warhead would work on the big fellas... Just gotta watch that minimum safe distance issue.

Eeyup.

Snippet:
"Greetings, citizens of the world. 13 days ago, a new landmass appeared in the Pacific. A new frontier came into being. A couple of days ago, reports came in of Canadian troops helping to stop a slaver group on this new land. Some of you have seen the pictures, which have been considered simple tricks. Now, I can confirm their truth.
My fellow Americans, we are no longer the only sentient beings on this Earth.
I give you....Her Royal Highness, Princess Celestia of Equestria."
-From Obama's speech revealing Equestria
"Thank you, Mr. President. I am glad to formally be introduced to the world. Though, in a way, since a little over a year ago, many have known of me and my subjects. I am glad me and my kind have many fans. I will be the first to say we will not be seeking legal action of any kind from Hasbro or any fans. In fact, I encourage it. Actually, a show that we thought was fiction for us exists in fact in this world. I am glad to be part of a greater world, and will be looking forward to talking with all of you. Thank you."
-Celestia's speech to the world
EQUESTRIA EXISTS
-Headline on the New York Times the day after Celestia's speech

Fluttershy oohed at something just poking out of the water on the news reel of the human fleet. "ooh, a submarine. Is that a Los Angeles?"

A drawl suprised everyone. "Naw, can't be. The sail is too far forward. That has to be the Seawolf."

(Actually she's the Jimmy Carter, figure all the SEAL and ROV capacity had her scrambled for the area when Equestria first popped up. In TIC she is accidentally conflated with the USS Seawolf in a special, where the team or a SEAL team only loosely associated with the main cast has to go on a rescue mission. Perhaps a covert rescue of pirate hostages?)

All we need now is for Rainbow to try increasing desperate moves to prove she does not watch the show, does not have autographed sourcebooks, and does not have a secret shrine in her house.



And Pinky Pie is introduced to the Carmelldansen.

@Dr.Tempo: Pretty sure that it will be too early for Princess Celestia to leave Equestria for a conference anytime soon.

Yeah I have a story segment way way back that had Celestia First visiting the United Kingdom, it took place some 3 or 4 months after the event occured and was part of a Global tour by celestia, so the timings probably a bit out compared to the existing in story "Cannon"

True. I just can't see Celestia leaving Equestria within a few weeks. Months wouid pass simply so that she has time to calm down the populace.

Luna could go... Just saying.

Or Cadence.

Or Twilight, and do a better job than her TCB: Not Alone counterpart.

A drunk Vaygr could do better diplomacy than TCB:NA!Twilight.

...Fuck, a frikkin Dalek could do better diplomacy than that! And it doesn't even know what diplomacy is!

The Beast from Homeworld was a better diplomat than TCB:NA!Twilight, and that thing is so evil and horrific that unleashing on 40k is Vlad award material, and 40k is gonna be the victim of the cruelty.

Ouch. I'd forgotten about those snippets. My bad. I guess Twilght'd be the one who delivers the speech. She'd be a bit shy, but she does her best.

Anyways... new snippet:
__________________________

Leaning back against the wall of the Sea King's bay, Leading Seaman Matthew Anderson grimaces before reaching up and scratching his shoulder through his jacket when a voice rings out. "You're not helping it heal you know."

Glancing at Haze who's lying under a blanket as the Sea King continues its aerial patrol, he grumbles. "Damn thing itches like a bitch."

Haze just rolls her eyes as she grabs her helmet and walks over before plopping herself beside him. "And if it itches, that's good then." She then glances at the shoulder in question before giving him narrowed, questioning eyes. "What are you doing here anyways when you should be in the infirmary?"

Grunting, Matt gives her a look. "At the moment, we're short staffed among the boarding parties. And having to spread ourselves out over the town until the Marines arrive to help out with the security..." He then shrugs. "Besides, all things considered it's a relatively minor burn."

Haze frowns but nods. "As long as it's not serious." She slowly yawns and shakes her head. "Mind giving me some of that coffee?"

Reaching over, Matt grabs a thermos and pours some coffee into a paper cup and hands it to her as he places the thermos back into the mesh bag hanging from a wall mount. "Here you go."

Smiling, she takes it and gives it a sniff before sighing. "If nothing else you humans have great coffee." Shaking her head, she grimaces. "It's been a long bucking day."

Matt just nods, taking a sip himself. "I hear ya." He then frowns. "Any idea what we're doing this far out?"

Haze glances at him as she swallows the coffee in her mouth. "We're looking for possible Guard reinforcements out from Eisenhorn."

Now Matt's frown deepens. "What possibly could have taken this long? The battle happened around noon..."

Taking another sip, Haze scowls. "No clue." She then sighs and shakes her head. "We're underponied up here since what happened with Discord."

Thinking it over, Matt crosses his arms. "They pulled some of you Guard back?"

Haze nods. "Yeah, a number were sent to reinforce places like Canterlot and Manehatten." She's about to continue when the sensor operator calls for her. "Hmm?" Gulping the last of the coffee, she drops the cup into the small bag and walks over. "Uh, is there a problem?"

The woman just gestures at the radar screen which is showing several shapes. "We got several large flying objects heading this way. Any idea what they might be?"

Frowning, Haze looks over the sensor operator's shoulder for a few seconds before smiling. "That's a Hurricane Formation. It's been the best formation used by Pegasus when entering possibly hostile territory going back to when Commander Hurricane invented it more then a thousand years ago."

The Pilot glances back at her, the light from the instrument panel lighting his face as the twilight outside gathers. "You're heading out?"

Walking back into the helicopter's bay, she nods. "Yeah, can't take the chance of them thinking you hostile after all."

Watching as she picks up her helmet, Matt reaches into a package and holds something out. "Here, you forgot something."

Blinking, she looks and chuckles as she sees one of the radio headsets the techs on the Algonquin modified to fit Pony heads. "Thanks, nearly forgot."

He watches as she straps it on and gives her a nod. "You be careful out there, okay?"

Haze stops for a moment and looks at him before punching him in the shoulder making him wince a bit. "Hey, don't get all mushy on me."

He just snorts. "No need to worry about that." He then frowns. "Just the same though, you give the call and we'll be there if you need us."

Opening the door after putting on her helmet, she looks back with a smile and nod. "I know."

She then jumps out of the Sea King and falls for a dozen feet before her wings open and she starts flapping in the direction of the incoming formation. Matt watches for a moment before slowly closing the door. Meanwhile, Haze keeps heading towards what she hopes to be incoming Pegasi, the cold night air flowing across her. It doesn't take her long to reach the incoming formation where she slowly slows as the leader barks out a challenge. "Who goes there!?"

Swallowing, Haze takes a breath. "Corporal Haze of the Hippocampus Bay Guards."

After a moment, the other Pegasus gather around her with one of them (who she identifies as a 2nd Lieutenant) flapping in front of her. "Good to see you Corporal. We were unsure if we would arrive in time."

Shaking, she takes a breath to calm herself. "You didn't. The battle's been over for hours."

The Pegasi jerk back as if struck before the Lieutenant hangs his head. "We were afraid of that... how bad?"

Haze takes a calming breath before answering. "Most of the town torched, and three quarters of the Guard incapacitated. Either dead or badly injured." She then lets a single tear fall. "We still don't know how many of the civilians are dead or taken." She then smiles a bit. "Thankfully, it could have been much worse if a number of friendlies hadn't shown up."

One of the other Pegasi, a sergeant frowns. "'Friendlies?' Were they Griffins?"

Haze shakes her head. "No Sir. They were humans. Real actual humans."

One of them is about to say something when the 2nd Lt. does. "Humans? Here? I thought that they were down at Filly."

All goes quiet as they turn to him. Haze trembles a bit before asking the question on her mind. "You knew Sir?"

He slowly nods. "I did Corporal. Most of the Officers at Eisenhorn knew after we got a transmission from Fillydelphia." He then sighs and shakes his head. "Head HQ in Canterlot gave orders not to say anything so as to not worry the populace." He then snorts. "Though with how many in Filly already know…" Frowning again, he raises an eyebrow. "So they’re in the bay?"

Haze shakes her head. "Not just there Sir. That’s why I’m here."

A slightly surprised expression crosses his muzzle. "Oh?"

Haze gestures with her hoof back the way she came. "One of their helicopters is back that way about five minutes flight from here." She shakes her head. "I was ordered by Lieutenant Torch to ride in it until it either returned with me on board or we met Guard Reinforcements."

The Sergeant from before frowns. "Lieutenant Torch ordered you? What about Captain Greystone?" The sight of her looking away with a slight sob is all that he needs as he hangs his head. "I’m… sorry. He was a good Guard."

Haze just nods as she swallows. "He was… The best…" She then glares at them. "That reminds me…" She starts shouting as all the frustration comes boiling out. "Where the hay were you!? What in the name of Tarterus took you so long Sir!?"

Seeing some of the soldiers under his command muttering, the 2nd Lieutenant holds up his hoof and looks at each member of his group as the Corporal huffs. "She has the right to ask considering what happened." He then turns to her and sighs. "Earlier today, we got reports of small groups of Diamond Dogs, usually no more then ten at most, attacking small communities farther away then Hippocampus Bay. So we sent troops out to secure them. Usually all they did was torch some buildings and run. We were wondering why up until we got your distress signal. At first, we thought that you might have been dealing with another until your signal cut out without an ‘All Clear’." He then scowls. "Bastards knew just how to distract us and gathering up what troops we could took time and with the fear of another raid…"

Haze shuts her eyes and nods. "I… see…" After a moment, she slowly nods. "Anyways, I’ll take you to the copter and from there we’ll head towards town."

The Lieutenant nods and the group follows her silently. Eventually, another Corporal pipes up. "By the way, why were you with the helicopter? And why have you meet us?"

Haze just glances back. "Because they don’t want any bad situations caused by you thinking that they’re aggressors."

The Sergeant just nods. "Smart of them."

Haze just nods before reaching up and pressing the button to signal the helicopter. "This is Haze calling Rover One."

After a moment, she can hear Matt. "This is Rover One. How are things going?"

She just chuckles as the other Pegasi watch. "It’s going good Rover One. One team of Pegasi encountered and am currently bringing them to your position."

She can hear a small snort over the radio. "Understood Haze, we are on the lookout."

She just looks at the others and shrugs. "Don’t want any misunderstandings to pop up…" The 2nd Lieutenant nods as the group continue on their flight…

Nice snippet.

I just realized Celestia could do the speech I suggested via satellite from the base camp handling the injuries from the Diamond Dog raid,

Well, the Local Guard contingent would have gotten the distress signal and even at ther slowest, there should be Pegasi capable of getting there fairly soon. So what reason could there have been for them to take as long as they did? Simple. The Diamond Dogs used small groups to distract and spread them out over a wide area before hitting the community of Hippocampus Bay with their main force. And, with the danger of farther attacks, it took a while to even gather up a small force.

Right now, they're gathering up the various civilians from the smaller communities and taking them to Eisenhorn which is basically built into a mountain. Hard as hell for the Diamond Dogs to assult and they know it.

Also it nicely proclaims that Diamond Dogs are not as stupid as they might appear. That's a pretty good tactic to keep the enemy busy.

Exactly (though the dragon helped). And, believe this one or not, it's an actual tactic used by real life wolves where they'll use a smaller group in order to distract a herd so they don't notice the main pack.

Either way, the next move for the troops'd be to attack the Diamond Dogs.

What do you think of Celestia doing the speech I suggested via satellite?

Perhaps. I think that the area Commander might be high enough to allow for a combined effort. Though I wouldn't mine the others thoughts on it.

As for the satellite bit, perhaps Luna might be the better choice here.