Chapter 115 – Plan of the Future
"What is this?" Lady Kiane asked as she knelt down and gingerly picked up the damaged machine.
"That is a spy drone." Blade said flatly, "We've been finding them for a few days now."
"A spy drone?" she asked, and flipped it over in her hands.
"Image said he tried to tell you about them, but your mental block was so strong he almost hurt himself in the attempt." Twilight said, "I was going to tell you, but there were always too many of them around, we didn't want them to know that we knew."
"I understand." Lady Kiane said with a sigh, "I suppose my obsession is to blame."
"What do you mean?" Rainbow asked.
"I am a bit of a 'slave to clean'…as they say in the city." she admitted.
"We just call that a 'clean freak'." Rainbow Dash mumbled, mostly to herself.
"Rainbow!" Twilight hissed in a whisper, "Shhh!"
"And unfortunately, when Meltackians try to communicate with me, I tend to have to force myself to commune properly." she admitted with hesitation, "However, as of late and thanks to the trauma, I suppose it has become much more difficult for me to control."
"Why do you have to force yourself to commune?" Kklement asked curiously.
"Because it feels like an invasion of my senses and mind, similar to how I feel when my mind tells me that I am dirty. Like I'm being forced to do something my mind screams at me to reject." the Hylop official told them.
"Have you tried hypnosis?" Pilit asked.
"I…" the Lady said as she opened her eyes in realization, "…have not actually. I'm not sure I could go through with it."
"Why not try getting hypnotized by somepony you trust?" they all heard Fluttershy ask as she approached them. The yellow pegasus had a tray on her wing, balanced with precision, and several paper cups perched on top of it with steam coming from their rims.
"Perhaps. Are there spells that let you do things like that?" Lady Kiane asked in surprise.
"Maybe?" Twilight said in curiosity, "I've never really looked into it."
"Well, how about some calming tea to start?" the yellow pegasus asked as she moved the tray to offer everyone there a cup.
"Thank you, Fluttershy." Blade and Twilight said together, only to glance at each other in surprise at the identical response.
"But you said it just suddenly shut off?" Kklement asked in worry, trying to redirect the conversation.
"What are you thinking it means?" Writch asked as she directed her gaze to the dark-furred pegasus.
"Not sure, but it's gonna be big, whatever it is." he said in response.
"I know Treeopon don't do anything like this without a good reason." Pilit said and gripped her arms with her hands in comfort, "I don't like this. It feels like we're walking into a trap."
"Well, I'm not gonna let it scare me." the blue pegasus said in a huff.
"Rainbow." Twilight scolded, "This could be serious. You were not ready for Kkelmar during the last race, we can't underestimate him again."
"He made fools out of you and Breeze last time." the grey pegasus added in, "He and Kklesstic are forces to be reckoned with, and if they start working together…" He simply shuttered at the thought.
"He…" Rainbow Dash began with hesitation, "…Did say that the egghead was right about our Mass Stun Pulse Cannon and its effective range." she admitted.
"From what you've told us, he also knew about the shot limitations." Blade said as he placed a hoof to his chin in thought, "It's obvious that they're working together, but to what extent?"
"Was he able to figure out the shot limit simply by calculations?" Twilight asked as she placed a hoof on her chin.
"Since we didn't even know about the limit until after the first time Rainbow used it." Blade said in thought, "It's possible, but he could have figured it out after as well, who knows how long they've been spying on us."
"Is spying like this illegal in the race?" Rainbow Dash asked as she turned to Lady Kiane.
"Drones have never been used like this." she admitted, "At least not to this extent. Mark my words, I'll make sure to bring this up to the council for further review."
"What do we do in the meantime?" Kklement asked in curiosity.
"We stick to the plan." Tusks said, a steel-like determination in his voice, "If we can focus {snort} on getting Kklesstic removed from the race, Kkelmar will be much {snort} less of a threat to deal with. A raging enemy is more {snort} likely to mess up than a confident enemy."
"You mean a hot bolt gets stuck in the threads." Writch said, using an old Treeopon saying.
"Or welds to them." he added with a smile.
"I think I get it." Pilit said with an energetic realization, "We get Kklesstic to make a mistake, then without his tech and planning, we can make Kkelmar frustrated with our own maneuvers."
"Once Kkelmar is alone, he'll be easier to deal with." Kklement added, a smile on his face.
"Then it's a plan." Twilight said with confidence and turned to Rainbow Dash, "Think you can knock Kklesstic out of the race?"
"I'm sure as Celestia gonna try!" the blue pegasus said with confidence, "We knocked out his drones when we hit him with the M.S.P.C. Let's see if we can do it again."
"Be prepared for some kind of bypass or upgrade." Blade said, "But that does sound like the best course of action."
"We can also see if we can somehow increase the shot capacity of the M.S.P.C." Writch said, "If the problem is the part overheating, we can try to attach a small heatsink to it."
Blade scoffed at the thought, "I tried that already, drew a lot more power from the engine to conduct the same impact."
"So, it's either too much power or too much heat?" Twilight asked, "What if we balance it? Have the shot power slightly lowered so Rainbow has to get closer than before, but allow for at least one extra shot."
Blade placed a wing feather to his chin and Writch placed a hooved finger to her cheek, both in thought of the idea, "It might work." the female Treeopon said in her thought.
"What if we give Rainbow the choice?" Blade said, "Kklesstic is assuming we control or set all aspects like that, but what if we can throw him off, introduce a new variable, one he'll have trouble predicting."
"A variable like Rainbow Dash!" Twilight said as she smiled at the blue pegasus.
"Me?" she asked in surprise.
"Why not?" Writch asked, "Let's say we let you charge it somehow."
"This lets you not only choose how many shots you have but also how powerful the shot you're taking is." Pilit said with both enthusiasm and recognition in her voice.
"So, I could either fry the part in one shot or spread it out over several shots?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Kklesstic is arrogant and very intelligent." Twilight said, "He's going to expect us to either make the blast stronger or increase the shot capacity, not both. And he's not going to guess that we'll give you the option to choose."
"Why is that?" Kklement asked in innocents.
"Because he would never give that power away." Twilight said, "He'd rather keep something like that for when he can use it for leverage."
"Then let's get it built." Writch said, "I've already got some ideas."
"Can I make the HUD?" Pilit asked in excitement.
"Sure, when the ship is properly cleaned." Tusks said with a grin, getting the entire crew to glance at the Rainbow Trail Mk.3 and remember what they were doing in the first place. everyone started giggling as they started to wash the racer again, while his hearty laughter echoed throughout the garage, catching the attention and confusion of the rest of the crew.