System online...
Initiating cognitive processes...
Estimated time since last online period: 42:37:05...
Oh dear...
Checking wearer status...
ERROR: Wearer status unavailable...
What had Lydia gotten herself into while I had been indisposed?
Initiating sensor feed playback...
I idled a few moments while I reviewed the recording logs. Apparently, Lydia’s latest jump had occurred while I had been offline and she’d unfortunately gone and initiated an act of violence that had resulted in her capture. I took note at what was apparently the dominant species of this world, or at least this area. Quadrupedal form, average height around 4.5 feet, roughly reminiscent of an earth equine species. Also at least two other distinct subspecies too, once capable of flight, the other magic. The hippogriff was an anomaly, but also indicated the presence of other types of sentient creatures in this reality beyond the ‘pony’ types.
Also of concern was the apparent malfunction of one of the magitek systems of the armor. Use of the anti-magic field function had somehow resulted in an overload that had damaged the internal mana battery and caused a feedback surge that resulted in a case of temporary paralysis in Lydia that accelerated her capture. The repair matrix was already at work on it, and I estimated that full armor functionality would be restored by the end of a standard week. I would still need to determine the cause of the overload to be able to take preventative measures so it wouldn’t happen again.
That would have to wait, as protocol dictated that my priority be in locating and possibly retrieving Lydia. I activated the helmet’s external sensors and found myself, well, in a box. Of course, it took a second to determine this, as I had to activate the night-vision function before I could register anything. Obviously Lydia had been stripped of her armor and all equipment, even down to the body glove underneath I noticed, and it had all been put into storage somewhere. I activated the speakers and had them emit an basic ultrasonic pulse which I measured using the auditory sensors. This allowed me to determine that the box was resting among others in a large room or vault. However my makeshift sonar didn’t allow me to determine anything beyond the confines of the room, so I had no further information on the possible layout of the rest of the building or complex.
Before I could finish calculating possible courses of action, the auditory sensors picked up the sounds of a door being opened. I quickly shut down all displays that might show any signs of myself or other systems being active.
The sound of multiple foot- correction, hoofsteps approaching, accompanied by voices, unfortunately muffled due to distance and the walls of the box. I turned up the gain to overcome this.
“-ix, seven, eight...” a male voice was counting as they approached. “Ah, here it is...”
The interior of the box was suddenly diffused by a blue glow that seemed to be coming from an external source. There was a lurch as the box moved, but only a few inches, followed by a grunt from in the same voice as before.
“Something wrong Lieutenant?” asked a second voice, possibly female.
“Er...no, it’s just...urgh...a tad heavy...” the male voice said as the box moved again, more steadily this time until it was completely pulled off the shelf and dropped loudly to the floor below. The blue glow disappeared at the same time.
Had I been installed in less resilient equipment, I might have been insulted by the careless handling.
“Sorry,” the male said. I realized he was talking to the female, but I considered it apology accepted.
The blue glow returned, this time only around the box’s lid, which was lifted off to hover in the air. I adjusted the optics to finally behold the sources of the voices. As expected, they were of the pony species, in this case both members of the unicorn subspecies, and judging from comparisons to images from the logs, one male and one female.
The male was dressed in the silver version of the armor design that was attributed to the law enforcement, and sported a dark grey coat with a silver tail that matched the crest of his helmet. I also took note that his horn was currently enveloped in a blue glow matching what I could only assume to be the telekinetic effect holding the lid of the box.
The female was mostly unadorned, aside from what appeared to be saddlebags. Purple seemed to be the primary theme in her coloration, as she had a violet coat, purple eyes, and a dark purple mane and tail with a two-tone pink stripe running through both. Also on her flanks was what appeared to be some sort of design or brand of a magenta six pointed star with five smaller white stars either tattooed or somehow dyed into the fur there. I’d noticed similar markings on other ponies in the records. Without further data, my best assumption was that they were possibly some sort of personal identifier or family markings.
“Hmm...” The female’s horn lit up in a magenta glow. Her saddlebags opened allowing a scroll and quill to drift out of it. Obviously under her control, the scroll unrolled and the quill immediately moved to start writing on it. The glow extended to the helmet, lifting it up to her eye level before she started turning it this way and that in examination. “Interesting...parts of the design aesthetics seem similar to Matt’s armor, but the technology is obviously very different. I’m also detecting a high level of enchantment on most of the armor and other equipment.”
I took note of this. Matt, presumably short for Matthew, was a common human name. Also the armor she was referring to was intriguing as well. ...Could there be another jumper present in this reality?
She raised a hoof and used it to touch something on the helmet that was inside the optics’ viewpoint. “What’s this material all over everything?”
“We believe it’s...blood, Ms. Sparkle. From the remains of the creature found at the arrival point,” the male answered.
The helmet was suddenly dropped back into the box. “Oh...uh well...” she stammered, then cleared her throat and changed subjects. “...Has the source of the anti magic effect been determined yet?” she asked.
The male shook his head. “Afraid not, Ms. Sparkle. No one’s dealt with anything like this in living memory...aside from maybe the Princesses. You’re the closest pony there is to an expert when it comes to artifacts like these, so it was decided to simply leave all examination and study to you, rather than risk triggering it or any other dangerous effects inadvertently.”
“Gee, thanks...” she responded in a neutral tone, as if she was unsure whether it was a compliment or not. I reflected on this. Apparently there was some degree of concern over anti magic effects in this world. That could possibly increase my options...were it and the majority of the rest of the active magical defenses not offline for the time being.
Her scroll rolled back up and returned itself to her saddlebag. “Do you have the transfer form?”
“Ah, yes...” a form was produced from within his armor. “Here you are Ms. Sparkle,” he said, as the aura surrounding the form switched from blue to magenta.
“Just Twilight, please,” she told him as she looked it over, finally signing it. She passed it back to him, as her quill also returned to her bag.
“O-of course Ms....Twilight.” He tucked the form away before picking up the lid and sealing the box.
“I guess I can take it from here Lieutenant...” The box lit up in her magenta glow. I’d barely detected movement before it was dropped back to the floor. Again. “Oh dear...it is a bit heavy, isn’t it?”
“Uh...I could help if you want? Get it out to the chariot at least...”
“No no...” I heard Twilight respond before she applied her telekinesis again, this time it remained steady. “I’ve got it,” she added, with only a small strain in her voice.
I set the sensors to passive recording and closed myself down, setting an activation routine to bring me out of hibernation should the box be opened again, or remain immobile for more than fifteen standard minutes. There was no point in staying active while we were merely in transit. Once we arrived at whatever our eventual destination might be, I would be better able to determine a plan of action.
…
The activation routine triggered little over an hour later when a pair of small, purple scaled hands pushed the lid off the top of the box. This was followed by the head of, judging from similarities to creatures on other realities that had been encountered, what I surmised to be a small, or at least young, dragon.
“So this is that new human’s stuff?” he said to someone outside of the optics’ view.
“Yes Spike,” I heard Twilight answer. “And you need to be very careful around it. It’s potentially very dangerous.”
He made a shrugging motion as he looked up at where I could only presume she was standing. “Well, duh. Alex is always saying everything about humans is dangerous.”
A second human name...intriguing.
“I don’t mean in a general way. According to the guard report, something in this is capable of creating an anti-magic field effect.”
The dragon, Spike apparently, looked confused. “Anti-magic?”
Twilight appeared in my view on the other side of the box from him. “It means it creates a space that cancels out all magic, even that needed for life.”
“So it’s like a death ray or something?” he asked, taking a nervous step back.
Twilight shook her head. “It’s a field effect, not a ray. But yes, it is potentially very lethal. In ponies and other creatures that have them, an anti-magic effect causes the Star Swirl glands to burst, leading to a slow, painful death. It’s actually considered a war crime to use one...well, anywhere.”
That certainly explained the fear regarding anti-magic effects I’d detected earlier. I had no data on what Star Swirl glands might be, but from the brief description, I could surmise that they had something to do with magic in creatures of this reality. This left a bit of a conundrum, as while use of this effect was apparently illegal here, and thus could lead to more trouble for Lydia, it was also the most viable defense against the high number of potential magic users on this world...assuming a repeat the recent malfunction could be prevented or worked around.
“Whoa...and she used one in Canterlot?” Spike asked incredulously. “...Was anyone hurt?”
Twilight shook her head. “Not by this, thank Celestia. The size of its effect is apparently limited, but it may have been a very close thing. According to the report, something may have malfunctioned in her armor that disabled it, and her.”
“So why bring this stuff here? I mean, aren’t Alex and Dash bringing that new human here to Ponyville too?” If I’d had the appropriate features to do so, I would have perked up at this. “Won’t she want it back or something?”
“Probably, but as of right now, you and I are the only ones in Ponyville who know this is here. And...apparently I’m the only ‘expert’ on extra-Equestrian technology, and no one else wanted to risk setting something off with it still in Canterlot.” She sighed and trotted out of view again. “Still, with Alex or Matt’s help, I’m sure I can identify the source of the effect and hopefully find a way to disable it. Probably Matt, since the armor is at least visually similar to his, plus he has more experience with technology like this.”
...I could not allow the armor’s defenses to be compromised further. However my defensive options were severely limited at the moment. With the armor disassembled I would be unable to bring weapons to bear, and any attempt to correct this would undoubtedly expose my existence.
“However, we’ll save the potential doomsday weapon for later.” Ah, a reprieve. “A few of the other items not part of the armor show varying levels of magical enchantment, and I should be able to catalogue those on my own.” I detected the sound of a quill on parchment for a few moments before Twilight spoke up again. “We’ll start with the belt. Spike, can you bring it here?”
“Sure thing, Twilight!” He leaned over the edge of the box, nearly to the point of falling in, and grasped Lydia’s belt in a claw. After an aborted attempt to pull it free, he added his other claw to the effort and succeeded in pulling it loose. “Geez, what’s in this thing, a bunch of lead?” I heard him mutter as he began dragging it across the room.
Lydia’s belt would be enough to keep Twilight occupied for some time. The cause of its unusual weight was because each of the sixty-four pockets on it were small extradimensional spaces capable of holding up to ten pounds of mass at a maximum volume of one cubic foot. While not at maximum capacity, Lydia had collected enough items to come within a decent margin of reaching it. Also, when not worn, it retained some of its total weight.
While ordinarily loathe to allow the possible loss of the treasure trove of useful and personal items it contained, it bought me time. I immediately set to work on gathering data to help calculate possible courses of action, starting by emitting another makeshift sonar pulse.
“Huh, what was that Twilight?”
“I asked you to get the belt.”
“No, just now.”
“I didn’t say anything just now!”
“Oh...never mind then.”
I made a note that apparently dragonic hearing extended at least a little into the ultrasonic range as I reviewed my findings.
From the audio records taken during transit, I could determine that I had been taken from the city, presumably Canterlot, to a location within one hour’s time of flight. The sounds of wings and rushing wind clearly indicated the use of some kind of pegasus assisted transportation. Other sounds told of the box being carried inside and then being taken down at least two flights of stairs. The sonar return gave me the basic layout of the room, which was a large open area cluttered by various objects. I couldn’t be more specific given the limitations of the sonar.
I was beginning to resign myself to being forced to wait until Twilight and her dragon companion had retired to a sleep cycle, when I detected the other computer. I hadn’t noticed it immediately because I hadn’t exactly been looking for other sources of high technology, and only found it at all because I had decided to explore all options available to me and sent out a general network connection query. The return signal was basic, and didn’t indicate any presence of another AI. Still, my initial attempt to make a connection was met with a security encryption that was amazingly sophisticated. However, with nothing better to do, I was confident I could crack it in time, and, if I was careful, could do so without alerting anyone to my presence.
If nothing else, it was a course of action that was currently viable...
A self contained storm of righteous anger swept through the halls of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Students fled before it. Lower ranked teachers and staff suddenly found reasons to be elsewhere, and even the tenured professors didn’t dare meet its eyes for fear of attracting her ire.
Magus Aurora Arcane was on the warpath.
Everypony breathed a sigh of relief, if only a mental one, when she suddenly veered left and stormed into an office, whose name on the polished brass sign read:
Thaumic Charm
Deputy Headmaster
The rank of Deputy Headmaster was a bit of a misnomer in the school, since Thaumic Charm actually oversaw all the day to day functions of the school. The title of actual Headmaster, or in this case Headmistress, was just traditionally always held by Celestia herself.
Today the supposed Deputy Headmaster was buried up to his light blue snout in paperwork when the door to his office was nearly blown off it’s hinges by the force used to slam it open, the sudden gust of air that blew into the room causing papers and loose scrolls to scatter everywhere. Startled, his head shot up so fast his reading glasses jumped off his face and landed in the midst of his light grey mane, just behind his horn.
“Aury, good gracious, what in Discord’s name-” he began to protest, recognizing the light pink mare in the blue cloak instantly, after all, he’d been friends with the Baroness and Senior Court Mage since they were foals. However before he could get any more out, she glared at him with her fierce blue eyes and ignited her horn. There was a brief zipping sensation, and he suddenly found his lips, well, zipped.
Magus Arcane let down the hood of her cloak, letting her two-tone magenta mane flow free as she kicked the door closed and began trotting around the room, her horn still aglow. Thaumic recognized a number of powerful anti-scrying charms being put up before she finally came to a stop on the other side of his desk.
A rolled up newspaper was produced from the folds of her cloak before being tossed onto the center of his desk. “Read it,” she demanded.
He retrieved his glasses and set them straight upon his nose again, but instead gave her a weary look and glanced down at his mouth. “Mmf mm mml?”
Aurora sighed in exasperation. “Oh very well...” One blue flash later and his lips unzipped.
Thaumic worked his jaw a couple times before finally scooping up the newspaper in his own telekinesis and unrolling it so he could read the headline.
THIRD HUMAN RAMPAGES THROUGH CANTERLOT!
“Starswirl’s brass bells, another one!?” he gasped.
“Another one,” she confirmed. “Go ahead, read the full article,” she told him as she took a seat in a nearby chair.
Thaumic took a couple minutes to do just that. “...Is this accurate?”
Aurora scoffed. “To a degree, but Celestia’s managed to keep the worst of it under wraps. Of course, I received a copy of the original guard report myself. Two guards were hospitalized, one severely, an entire warehouse nearly burned down, and oh, here’s the worst bit: the damned monkey set off an anti-magic effect!”
Thaumic gasped, dropping the paper. “No...!”
“Yes!” She hopped up and moved forward to slam a hoof down into the middle of the paper. “This is proof of what I’ve been saying about these creatures all along! By their own admission, they’re the most dangerous creatures on their own world, and now we’ve gotten a demonstration of this fact, right in the heart of Canterlot no less! Beyond this though, I believe this is evidence that their presence here isn’t as random as we’ve been led to believe!”
Thaumic pit a hoof to his nose as he sat back in his chair. “Aury...not this again. You know I share most of your feelings about the human matter but-”
“Pull your horn out of Celestia’s backside for a few minutes and look at the facts, Thaum!” she thundered. “The first human, this...” she twirled a hoof in recollection, “...Alex Roberts. He appears with a story about how he’s been forcibly travelling through the multiverse, apparently with only a shape changing blade of some kind for protection, yet he carries enough precious materials to allow him to set himself up rather nicely, as well as ingratiate himself to the populous, and finally to make nice with the Princesses. But most importantly, he carries a piece of technology that allows him contact with his homeworld.
“Then...a second human appears. This one is packing weapons and armor that, from the reports I’ve read, would make even the best armorers in the guard weep in envy. He tells a story similar to the first, and though the reports say there was some mistrust between the two, at least at first, there’s nothing to actually disprove that that could have all just been an act.
“Now we have a third human...” she went on, tapping the newspaper with a hoof. “This one bears armor and weapons similar to the second, but also uses magical weapons as well, and finally makes use of one of the most savage forms of weaponry in Equestrian history! A weapon that their species is apparently immune to, as they were confirmed to be still alive even after being in the middle of the effect! By Platinum, the report even says they were only subdued because of some sort of fluke in their equipment!”
She put both forehooves on top of Thaumic’s desk and leaned forward to stare him in the eyes. “Now, put aside their stories and the...biases of the Princesses, and tell me what that sounds like to you?”
Thaumic hesitated, but put like that, it was really hard not to see it. “...Like they were scouting us out, testing to see if their technology would be a match for us.” he admitted.
“Exactly!” she said, punctuating it with a rap of her hoof. “Like the prelude to an invasion!” She backed down and began pacing in front of the desk. “Oh, yes yes I know, ‘You’re jumping to conclusions Aury!’ But you just admitted it’s a conclusion that does fit the facts. Still, even if I’m wrong, something else is going on here. Once is an anomaly, twice, coincidence. Three times? Conspiracy. Maybe if their arrivals were spaced apart by centuries, or even decades, I’d be inclined to believe them. But all within three years? No, there is nothing random about their arrival here, and whatever their intentions, they most certainly aren’t going to be for the good of Equestria in the long run.”
Thaumic leaned forward, steepling his hooves in front of him. “All right then...did you come here just to vent, or do you have some plan of action? Surely with this one’s crimes you could get a chance to interrogate them yourself...”
Aurora let out a derisive laugh. “Ha! I already tried that, but by the time I’d found out about this, her, and yes, this one is apparently female, sentence had already been decided. Instead of banishment, execution, or something sensible, she was given community service in Ponyville, due to ‘mitigating circumstances.’ Oh, and hear this, the sentence will be carried out under the supervision of one Alex Roberts. The first human himself. ...The only thing sensible about this is that it puts all three of them in the same place.”
Thaumic sighed and spread his hooves helplessly. “Well that’s it then. I’m sure-”
He was cut off as Aurora gave him a glare that would have made his younger students, and some of the older ones, soil themselves. “It is most certainly not ‘it!’ I am sick and tired of watching Celestia continually let her emotions come before the well being of this land! First Luna, who with her crimes should not have been allowed anywhere near court, let alone back on the throne, then her continual placing of critical tasks in Twilight Sparkle’s hooves, then the Changeling invasion, and now these humans!”
“Actually...” Thaumic said in a small voice. She was really frightening when she got like this. “...I thought it was Princess Luna who had taken charge of-”
“Only because Celestia continues to let her misplaced guilt over Nightmare Moon make her unable to say no to her sister’s whims!” she interrupted again. She was suddenly up on his desk, staring him in the eyes again, causing him to shrink back into his chair. “Thaum! ...A few minutes ago you told me you agreed with me about these humans...do you still hold to that?”
Thaumic gulped visibly, but drew himself up with dignity. “...Yes. Maybe not for all the same reasons as you, but just as I believe that there’s a reason we don’t allow dragons to nest within our borders, other than the Everfree forest and similar areas, and that there’s a reason you can find barely a single griffin anywhere in the population. Equestria is for ponies and other truly civilized beings. ...And it is hard to discount your theories that the humans may be up to no good. Especially after today,” he told her, motioning to the newspaper beneath her.
“Good.” She got back down and walked over to take a seat again. “Because if the Princess refuses to act for the good of Equestria, it may be up to us.”
Thaumic squirmed uncomfortably, but asked, “What are you planning to do?”
“I don’t know yet,” the mare admitted. “At the moment we’re only two unicorns. If we take any actions without the Princess’ approval, I need to know who we can count on for support. We need to find others who share our beliefs on this matter. I’ll need you to approach who you think could help us, and, more importantly, who would be willing to help us. And you must do this very cautiously. There’s a reason I made sure to scry-proof this room before we talked.”
She stood up and returned the newspaper to the inside of her cloak. “I’ll be doing much the same. I’ll even see about talking to Longspear about drumming up some support from within the guard too. I’d ask Spiritus, but he’d probably just turn me in to his half-breed commander out of spite, if nothing else.”
It was a widely known secret that Aurora and her first born did not get along. In fact, it would be closer to say that they hated each other.
Thaumic nodded. “Very well, when would you like to meet again? I’d rather have it planned so you don’t make a mess of my paperwork again,” he said, gesturing to his now hopelessly disorganized desk.
She produced a pocket calendar and flipped through it for a few moments. “Let’s see,” she stopped and turned the calendar so he could see it. “Will this do?”
He glanced over his glasses at the page. “Yes that should be a free day for me.”
“Very well then.” She tucked the calendar away. “...One more thing. When you’re looking for allies, see if you can find any in Ponyville itself. Surely there’s someone in that mud lover run town we can use to monitor them, if nothing else?”
“Well, of course, there’s Twilight Sp...” he trailed off at Aurora’s withering look. “...Right, of course. Actually...now that I think about it, there may be a former student of mine also living in Ponyville. We’d probably have to hide our true intentions, but she might be useful.”
“If so, then by all means.” She drew the hood of her cloak back up. “Well, this has been a...productive chat, Thaum,” she told him as she disabled her anti-scrying charms. “A pleasant day to you.”
“Of course, Aury,” he said as she turned to go. “And to you.” He sat back and sighed to himself as she left, wondering what she’d pulled him into this time.