Arcane Shadow (Re-Written)

The following morning, before training began, Matt watched the map to see what the dunderheads of Redpine would do now that they were wraiths. Worryingly, they were patrolling their continent, going about it in shifts that only lasted for five minutes, if that. Some lit their horns and willed the lava below to follow their fiery flights, as though they were getting a feel for their newfound powers. Where before, he might have generously called them disarrayed, now… they were highly organized. They almost seemed to be watching the horizons on either side of their home, waiting for someone—or perhaps something—to grace their now profaned presence.

Matt started getting a weird feeling in the back of his mind, almost as though they were playing right into Redpine's hooves. He counted the total forces of Redpine's undead army, and pulled out a piece of paper and a fountain pen with some ink to keep track of the numbers, separating the horned ones from those lacking horns. Thanks to the lightning sprites and their compatriots, there were a lot less hornless wraiths than he had anticipated.

Rainbow Dash watched the scene hawkishly. "Do you think they might have used their earth pony magic to force the eruption?" she asked.

Matt continued jotting numbers down. "It would explain why they stood there with their mouths open before their stupid chant," he said, glancing between paper and map. "But unless they have the raw power, which I'm not willing to rule out for Lance's 'parents,' it shouldn't be possible unless they otherwise have the numbers to do it." He had a flash of irritation in his eyes, as though multitasking somehow made his brain hurt. "And incest of their levels of fuckery should have fucked with their army's innate magic."

Rainbow nodded. Still, something about this whole thing bothered her in ways she couldn't hope to explain. She watched as Matt continued his headcount. "So… numbers. What are we looking at here?"

"Currently, for the Aerie, we have one million, five hundred thousand in our total population—most of which are in active service, not counting the populations of Greenwood, Sunnytown, and the other provinces which have been recently brought into the fold," Matt answered. "However, take two hundred and fifty thousand away to account for children too young to serve in the military, and scatter another few thousand to man the guard posts… of which we have a hundred in the surrounding mountains, and also leave enough soldiers to watch all the kids and newbies, and that leaves about three hundred and fifty thousand or so of both changelings and gryphons able to manage both the supercell and tsunami."

Rainbow whistled at the numbers. "And this is also not counting Tequila's crew, I take it?"

Matt nodded. "However… as you've probably already guessed, physical wraiths are much harder to kill—it would have been bad enough if Redpine's forces went intangible, because then we would have to rely solely on magic to hit them," he said, gesturing to the continent with the fountain pen. "But noooo, they just had to have gone physical—and if you don't know what you're doing, obsidian is tough to crack in some instances. Not to mention, you can burn yourself trying if you're going at it bare-hoofed." He continued to count Redpine's forces, frowning as tallies began piling up on his piece of paper.

The process took a few minutes more, and there were some hiccups here and there because all of the wraiths, barring the leaders, looked identical to one another now. But eventually, Matt pulled through and was able to conjure up their numbers. "... a lot less than I was expecting," he said. "Are we sure Discord didn't kill some while he was over there?"

"He could have," Rainbow said with a shrug. "But it's probably halved because they don't have their sex slaves anymore."

Matt nodded, willing to buy the explanation as he put the pen and ink back where they went, and looked at Redpine's total numbers. "Let's see… they've only got ten thousand left," he said. "Still a lot of wraiths to deal with, and they can inflict serious damage in the meantime. It's not the numbers that the Aerie has, but still… we shouldn't underestimate them."

Rainbow nodded. "And they probably sent another few thousand after Whitefall and Goldenbrick, before those attacking forces went to harass Tequila… which probably halved their forces again, counting the one they sent here…" she mused, putting a wingtip to her chin. "I'm no egghead, but it sounds to me like they were sending out the ponies most likely to break free from their geases without help."

"The ones not as committed to their stupid cause," Matt surmised unhappily, "were the ones they were weeding out." He snorted and shook his head as he folded the paper in his magic. "They were probably trying to avoid a repeat with what happened to Lance."

Rainbow frowned. "And that one dude you prevented from killing himself… how's he holding up?" she asked.

Matt shook his head. "Not good at all. He's eating fine, but that's because we're having to feed him through a tube," he answered. "And when we're not doing that, he keeps howling about how he wants to die." He frowned. "We… might end up having to grant him his wish after all."

Rainbow's frown deepened. "That poor bastard…" she mumbled.

Matt nodded in silent agreement, and turned to watch the Redpine aerial force continue their patrols on the continent they called home. Once more, the five-minute shifts were changing hooves, and another few hundred or so wraiths patrolled a portion of the continent's perimeter. The rest began to flex their wings, spreading embers and ash with each flap and twitch, without any spoken words between them. It seemed the geases were doing more than keeping them under the hoof and claw of their oppressors, who watched their contingent with horrible sneers on their burning faces.

Matt shook his head. "Those bone plates and lava means Katie's not gonna be able to get a clean shot at draining them," he added, eyes narrowing at the thought. "So that's gonna rule out draining them of their hatred and despair in the old-fashioned way, unless we can put out the lava first."

"And do they have the numbers to force the eruption?" Rainbow asked.

Matt shook his head. "No. You'd need a thousand strong alicorns for the feat, and… well, we both saw the attacking force a few days ago," he answered grimly. "I didn't see any signs that Godcat tampered with the volcano either, so we can also rule out divine intervention. Unless we count Discord as divine, and we didn't see him trigger the eruption, merely speed it along." He gestured to the lava wraiths on the projection with a hoof. "And none of them have cutie marks, so they don't have any geomancers, either."

"In fact, they might be able to counter the supercell and tsunami, to a given degree. Pyromancy goes a long way, when it's all you know," he added, retracting his hoof. "And they look like they're getting very proficient at it."

Rainbow looked at Matt. "Has Lance… always been a pyromancer?" she asked.

Matt nodded. "He has, yes, on top of being an electromancer. We watched him closely when he started showing his skills through channeling his magic via magitek," he answered. "Fortunately, he kept his antics either to the battlefield, or to the training areas." He turned back to Redpine's projection, and sighed as darkness moved to shroud the area—he could still see the volcano and everything, but now there was a dome of shadow over the continent. "Ah great, the Void's back. Now we gotta inform everyone of that little thing later this evening…" he grumbled.

Rainbow crossed her forelegs. "So what's the deal with the Void anyway?" she asked.

"Long story short, Akron once had control of it, back when he was alive," Matt replied, lighting his horn to send Rainbow a telepathic image of what Akron looked like back then. She shuddered at how twisted he looked, almost wraith-like and yet somehow not in equal measure. At least… that was his upper, more equine half; an image of his tooth-laden, tentacle-studded maw of a bottom half caused her to wonder if he had been created during one of Godcat's fever dreams. "Since we killed him, and by we I mean myself, Natalie, and Lance, the Void's just been… all over the place. It showed up when we went to confront Godcat, too."

"Do you think… Akron was in control of some parts of the afterlife?" Rainbow asked, looking at Matt again. "I mean… he looks like he fits the bill, if we're talking about the damned here." She gestured at the projection. "And those guys are damned enough."

Matt put a hoof to his chin and pondered. "It could be possible… but if he was governing the hellish part of the afterlife, then why would he be sealed in the physical realm? If you wanted to get rid of him, you'd seal him in the afterlife—it doesn't make much sense…" he muttered, tapping his chin as gears span in his head.

"Yeah, it doesn't—especially since the culprits have sealed Godcat. Maybe they just wanted to tidy up loose ends before really getting to work," Rainbow said, shaking her head as she considered how likely that possibility was. Matt nodded, and continued to watch the patrolling wraiths, wondering what they would do now that the Void had covered their home.

Some wraiths, including the grand and glorious bozos attempted to leave. But they were shoved back by shadowy, glass-like tendrils that sparkled in what scant light the wraiths could generate from their own bodies. They tried again and again, yet the Void would not let them budge even an inch beyond their continent. The ash from the land willed itself upwards, as did some lava that then twisted into the shape of a flame-like rock that crackled with blue and red lightning. The ash formed legs, a body, a horned head, and a hellish sneer with glowing green eyes that sized the wraiths up and down.

Matt's brow furrowed at this development. "Peachy… just when I thought it couldn't get any worse somehow," he grumbled. The Tormentor grinned, lifted its ashy hooves and clapped its frogs once, and then dissipated into wisps of ash and embers, its form wafting around the entire continent to form chains of molten rock and kindling that tightened around the Void, further keeping its captives from getting out of their continent.

"And if we know what happened the last time, the Void is just gonna let us go right in and tidy things up," Rainbow said, shaking her head. "Which means that the Tormentor guy is gonna allow us to get in killshots."

"Yeah, but he might bug us about sins in the meantime," Matt replied, wilting at that prospect. "And he'll keep going on and on and on and on, until we make him shut up." He sagged further in the chair he sat in. "That reminds me, I'm gonna have to ask Anna how she made him shut his fucking claptrap."

"... is the Tormentor always like that? Just yaps and yaps?" Rainbow asked.

Matt nodded. "Part of why me and the others keep awakening at ungodly hours," he affirmed. "He has this weird… fetish with taking our voices, making them sound demonic to each other, and tormenting us through our shapes for some reason." He shuddered. "And every time, we have to wake up and then affirm to each other that we're still us. Not him."

"Yikes. I'd hate for that guy to take Twilight's shape and berate me in my nightmares over my lack of being an egghead," Rainbow said, her mind painting a vivid picture of exactly that happening. The mental image… left a lot to be desired. The only thing that was probably worse than that was the Tormentor adding singing mushrooms to that mix.

"Yeah. And he also really, really likes to get creepily sexual when he does it to us," Matt said, turning a little green as some sort of sordid memory flashed in his mind. Whatever made him turn that color, Rainbow did not want to find out. "The fucker is as sleazy as he is slimy, and invulnerable. Everything we've tried in the dream world, he just laughs off. It's like he wants us to feel powerless…"

Both ponies turned back to the dome that was the Void, seeing the grand and glorious bastards try to force their way out of it. Alas, the Void didn't budge in the slightest—in fact, its tendrils struck the bone plates guarding where their vulnerables once were, not cracking them but still pushing them back all the same. Soon after that, the shouting matches began anew again, both leaders starting to kick and scratch at one another in an attempt to assert dominance over their partner in crime.

That's when the infighting amongst the rest of the geased wraiths began; punches, kicks, lava-powered magic that was now ineffective against their brethren… it turned into complete chaos once again, and this time, Discord didn't have anything to do with it. Though, Matt wasn't surprised at all to find him appearing within the Void, watching the proceedings with popcorn whose kernels were filled with rangoons.

Matt shook his head at it all. "So… both assholes are capable of geases… lovely…" He buried his head in his hooves. "Makes me wonder who got to Lance first…"

"Probably his 'mom,'" Rainbow answered, even as she began turning green around the gills herself as soon as the words left her mouth. "'Dad' probably added to it, without realizing what she was doing under his own snout…"

Matt shuddered, unwilling to remove his head from his hooves. He released a long, suffering groan into his forelegs as a result. "Oh, this is not gonna be fun… not fun at all.." he hissed.

"Well, at least they're busy with each other… if they're going to fight like fillies, they're less likely to attack us when we do show up," Rainbow said, causing Matt to lift his head from his hooves. "I mean… the attacking force they've got over there? It's like a nuthouse right now—a nuthouse where the inmates aren't running the show. They might think they're running the show, but… the Void pretty much says otherwise."

"And if they're resorting to bullying tactics just to try and get a leg up on one another, what's that say about their fighting skills? Sure, they're molten wraiths now, but let's face it: we still got the upper hoof on them. And while they might set aside their differences when we show up, there's probably going to be infighting through the ranks." Rainbow pantomimed two opposing factions, teeth clenched in teamwork, fighting each other as well as their enemy. "And they're using geases to keep everything glued together, which… I know I'm not an egghead, but I did read that some unicorns of the Three Tribes era doing that for their armies, and… let's just say Celestia extincted them when she came into power," Rainbow finished, shaking her head.

"Celestia. As in, the motherly Princess of the fucking Sun who'd rather avoid collateral damage?" Matt asked, looking at Rainbow in wide-eyed disbelief.

"Yep. But she had to: those unicorns and their armies kinda became wraiths, and were threatening Equestria with their stupidity," Rainbow answered with a nod. "Luna helped as well, and until Discord rolled around, it was more or less that—just them killing whatever wraiths popped up to threaten the nation. After that, geas magic became illegal in Equestria, because of what they saw happened to those armies they had to kill."

"And the fact that they're popping up in Equestria after all of that means something's up," Rainbow concluded. She crossed her forelegs, her wings fanning out and folding partially to rub her temples. "She's probably investigating that right now, and taking a lot of notes on each case."

"Celestia is meticulous?" Matt asked.

Rainbow nodded again. "Kinda has to be, with what running Equestria and all," she confirmed. "If anything gets past the nobles, it's not gonna get past her so easily. And if it somehow bypasses her, Luna's gonna catch it." She shrugged. "I'm kinda surprised that Blueblood's father thought he could get the drop on her, all things considered."

"Oh yeah, the whole 'make a racist alicorn if we can to install on the Equestrian throne' plan…" Matt shook his head and snorted at the prospect. "What does he think he is, descended from Celestia or some shit? Even if he were—even if Celestia had foals with the founder of the Blueblood clan—did he really think every detail of his plan would work out in the end? Breeding for alicorns can go wrong in thousands of ways, and he'd practically have to make all the stars fucking align for that to even be feasable."

"Yeah, and Faust and Godcat are a thing, even if One of Them is still sealed," Rainbow agreed with a nod. "Godcat would just smite any potential alicorns coming from his side of the gene pool if they turned out to be warmongering racists."

Matt snorted again, now graced by a mental image of a racist alicorn born of the Blueblood clan squaring off against Godcat. The result couldn't even be called a battle, but more of a one-sided flick of a paw's digits sending that alicorn off to the stars. If said alicorn squared off against Faust, the same result would be achieved by a deft flick of one primary feather. There was just no hope of winning with that stupid ploy, in either the long-term or the short-term.

That series of mental images made the green color diminish on his face somewhat, as it allowed him to think on other things that didn't pertain to Lance's formerly abusive situation. Thus, he was able to weigh Rainbow's words about the wraiths and their little infighting fiasco, and realize that compared to all-powerful deities with a thirst for blood and vengeance, these guys were small potatoes in comparison to that…

Okay, maybe regular potatoes in comparison to bloodthirsty, all-powerful deities given the percentage of alicorns they were dealing with, but still. And as with all potatoes, there would come a time when the biggest ones of the harvest would let themselves be unearthed. He figured that time would be very, very soon after Redpine was dealt with, and though he might not have been ready for it, he still had to pony up and tackle it all the same.

Still, the entire prospect was not going to be fun at all.

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Lunch rolled around, and Rainbow reported her findings to Spitfire, as well as briefing her on what the Void was so that she would be prepared to take it on when the time came. Spitfire chewed on that information as well as her food. "So basically, the former master of the Void is dead, and the Void is acting independently of its former master's will," Spitfire said slowly, almost as if she were struggling to parse the information herself.

"Yeah. And to be honest, it almost sounds like the Void is singling out bad areas for us to clean up—it showed up like, what, two days after the Aerie's airships hovered over Greenwood? And the Tormentor dude—" This took another brief bout of elaboration to explain to Spitfire before Rainbow continued, "—showed up then, too. Killed all of Greenwood's remaining elders that stayed on the ground, and then went after Anna and her sister."

Spitfire brought some peas to her mouth and chewed them up once they came off the spoon. "And… what did the elders of Greenwood do to warrant being killed?" Soarin asked.

Rainbow looked at him. "Trust me, you do not want to know," she replied bluntly. "Besides, if you ask Anna directly, she might have to be restrained. It's a sore topic for her."

Soarin nodded, and sighed. "She'll tell us on her own time?" he wagered.

Rainbow shook her head. "No; the information is… sensitive," she answered. "Like… like how our wings are sensitive to air currents and temperatures and things like that. Mainly because if the Canterlot nobles learned about it, they'd probably try shunting her into something she wouldn't want, if they actually had the power to do so."

Spitfire nodded. "Or at least, try severely pressuring her into whatever whims they want," she surmised. "Though they're more likely to spout racist platitudes at her, given her preferred company." She fed herself another spoonful of food and chewed on it. "I mean… that stupid plan to initiate war with Fantasia had to be the dumbest bunk of horse manure I've ever seen. It's clear that most of the nobility aren't thinking things through regarding Fantasia, because they have no information to work with."

"Well, that lack of information worked out in their favor—it means the nobles can't plan as easily for them as they could for Celestia," Thunderlane said, pausing to chew on some bread. "Sure, the nobles know what they look like, but not what they can do," he added once he had swallowed.

"And even then, Celestia will still be able to run laps around them, without even needing to try," High Winds chimed in, shaking her head as she took a sip of her drink. "She's lived longer than most nobles can say they've had their entire Houses exist. Even if they had precognitive ponies in their families, they've probably wasted those talents keeping their Houses afloat while damning all else."

"Then again, entitlement blinds you to everything you don't consider important…" Misty Fly muttered, frowning as she took a bite of a vegetable pie. "And they probably don't consider the Fantasian military as important as, say, Princess Luna's return—even though they probably should in the coming years."

"Wouldn't be surprised if one stuffy noble tried proposing to Natalie, and I also wouldn't be surprised if she slapped them in the face after," Rainbow said, shaking her head at the mental image. "They take love, freedom, and consent here seriously—and in their eyes, arranged marriages fly in the face of all of that. I'll bet you ten bits, a biscuit, and several bridles that the nobles are gonna be upset when they learn that the Aerie has outlawed the practice."

Spitfire raised her brow. "Wait, arranged marriages are illegal here?" she asked.

Rainbow nodded firmly. "Yeah—especially if it's a foal marrying an older stallion. Said older stallions of such unions, they just vaporize with their space laser," she affirmed. "And oh yeah, speaking about their space laser… basically, ancient magitek whose controls the Aerie has hacked, the firing part of which is in the atmosphere somewhere, and which they don't use that often because of how deadly it is. It's called the ION Cannon—Incineration Orbital Neutralization."

Spitfire whistled. "So, the Aerie has all sorts of fancy toys… I wonder if we can get some," she quipped.

"Well, it's ancient feline technology, so they might be able to replicate it so easily," Rainbow replied with a shrug.

"But once they do, they might be on par with Equestria—and for a city-state, that's honestly a terrifying thought," Thunderlane said, taking a swig of water. "I'm just glad they're willing to give friendship and diplomacy a shot."

"Yeah. Too bad the nobles don't like that at all," Soarin said, shaking his head. He turned to Rainbow and added, "Ever since you've been here, we've been getting letters from the nobles non-stop, telling us that we should mobilize an air force to take over Fantasia from the skies, while battlemages and earth ponies wage war on the ground… because they think that Fantasia has cloud cities like we do."

Rainbow frowned. "You're not pulling my leg, are you?" she asked.

Soarin shook his head. "No, I am not," he affirmed. A plaid portal, no bigger than a bar of soap, opened up a few inches above the table, and deposited a half-opened letter embossed with the wax seal of a mountain of bits overlaid by a crest sporting a crowned unicorn's head. Rainbow's frown deepened, and she picked up the letter to study the wax seal as the portal closed. She turned to Soarin again.

"This came from Blueblood's 'dad,' didn't it?" she hissed. At Soarin's mute node, Rainbow snorted and unfolded the letter in full, brow furrowing as she read the cursive gobbledygook trying to pass itself off as something coherent. As with the plan to initiate war with Fantasia through a seedy hotel of all things, this sort of rambling could only be found in a nuthouse where the inmates truly did run the asylum. She didn't even bother reading the letter in full, instead opting to skim over the parts that would have made her brain hurt if she even tried applying the barest hints of logic and common sense to them. It was a miracle that the one who had penned the letter hadn't been banished sooner from Equestria.

In fact, the letter itself didn't make a lick of sense, beyond calling the Wonderbolts 'worthless feather dusters' and 'weather factory rejects' on top of its insane demands for them to mobilize an air squadron for wiping out Fantasia's supposed cloud cities. And it had been a good thing he'd been banished; otherwise, he might have poisoned the rest of the Canterlot nobility with his flagrant stupidity. Maybe hearing about what happened to him in his banishment would shape the rest of the nobles up, at least enough to not follow their conspiring compatriot who thought it would be a good idea to commit treason to the Crown.

Rainbow crumpled the letter in her hooves, ruining the wax seal and parchment as she rolled them into a ball. "Against the Aerie's airships, you guys would've had a hard time against the cannons if Equestria just invaded without preparing first," she said, tossing the letter up into the air to watch it land on the table. She crushed it under her hoof, flattening it into a disc. "At least, until you would've broken a window to disable the pilot."

Spitfire nodded. "And barring Redpine, the sky pirates, and the Aerie, how much prepared-ness would we have had to deal with, if we did end up invading Fantasia?" she asked.

Rainbow shook her head. "Small hamlets, each of them backwater in comparison," she answered. "And because only mercenaries outside of the Aerie have their cutie marks these days, you'd have practically steamrolled over everypony." She sighed. "Only the sky pirates and the Aerie would have put up any real fight, if invasion were to happen." She shuddered at the thought. "Not to mention, I'd think the nobles would advocate for war crimes on our end, just to stick it to the Fantasians."

"... the standard faire, I would assume?" Spitfire asked, raising a brow.

Rainbow nodded. "Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried bringing back geas magic for the more… questionable parts of that faire," she answered uncomfortably.

Spitfire nodded, crossing her hooves over one another upon the table. "Given the letters we have received from ex-Duke Blueblood alone, I wouldn't be surprised either," she said unhappily. "Makes me glad Celestia dealt with him before he could carry out his plans." She sighed. "Wouldn't be surprised if he also stuffed Cadence's mailbox with his own letters too…" Another portal opened up above the table, and deposited another letter with the same symbol as the previous one embossed on the wax seal. Unlike the one addressed to the Wonderbolts, it was unopened, and addressed to Cadence, though it looked like it had never seen a mailbox before in its life. Perhaps it was never meant to be sent?

Rainbow grabbed the letter and opened it, her brow furrowing at what she beheld. As with the last letter, she skimmed over much of the nonsensical gloating, and got to the meat of the letter. Basically, the writer of the parchment promised to… neutralize Shining Armor and put Cadence with somepony they thought would better benefit her station and title as a princess, while also dismissing Love itself as a senseless platitude that would have no place in the new order of things that the letter promised. Whatever that new order was… Rainbow did not want to find out.

She looked squarely at Spitfire. "I'll be right back; I think Shining should see this," she said, spreading her wings and standing up to disengage herself from the table. Spitfire nodded, and watched as Rainbow got a bit of distance from the table before taking off with the letter in hoof. It didn't take long before the changeling soldiers began to hiss as they talked among each other, as though they were sensing the foul mood that the second parchment contained.

Rainbow returned to the table and sat back down moments later. "Yeah… Shining's showing the letter to the changelings, and let's just say it might as well be a slap in the face for them," she said, frowning. "Let's just say things might have gotten worse for Blueblood's dad in the Iron Hold…"

"So… they're basically calling for his death, and potential re-death if he somehow comes back as a wraith after," Soarin surmised unhappily, brow furrowing as Rainbow nodded.

"And if he does become a wraith, they'll probably just have Katie drain him dry. Or turn him into an ice cube. I think either way would suit her just fine, if she somehow doesn't do both to him at once," Rainbow added, shaking her head. "I will even go as far as to say that I think many of the Canterlot nobles wouldn't give a rat's plot about the Aerie's motto of consent, love, and freedom because they're thinking that everypony else must think like they do—only to start whining the instant they learn that they're liable to be slapped upside the head by Lance and his Lieutenants, if Celestia doesn't slap them first."

Spitfire nodded. "That way of thinking probably contributed to a lot of problems over Equestria's years… how Celestia hasn't stamped it out, I can only wonder," she muttered, ruffling her wings with the thought. "Truth be told, I'm glad the soldiers here don't think like that at all."

Rainbow nodded once more, smiling at that brief bit of good. "Though, I wonder… since the ponies of Goldenbrick and Whitefall were attacked, would they help out with the tsunami?" she asked.

Spitfire shook her head. "They can if they want, but… honestly, we shouldn't expect them too," she said, a mite severely. "Besides, their worlds turned upside-down very recently, so… we should let them adjust first."

Thunderlane nodded. "Although, I wouldn't be surprised if they helped anyway," he pointed out. "Their homes were destroyed, so they have some major beef with Redpine. And while they might not have their cutie marks, they can still earn them in the long run."

"Yeah… and truthfully, if they want to help, they're gonna have to earn their marks as soon as possible," Soarin agreed with a ruffle of his wings. "But if they do so, how would they help?" As he asked that, he heard the sound of particularly heavy hoofsteps approaching their table, and turned to the side to find Bartholomew trotting up to them with ears perked and attentive.

"I think I know of a way to help out," Bartholomew said, wearing an enigmatic smile on his face. "It might be unconventional, but it could work…"