//------------------------------// // (Not so) Welcome to Equestria // Story: ♘TCB Starbound - Era of pony // by Shaderai //------------------------------// Chapter 2: (Not so) Welcome to Equestria ~~~~~ A beam lit as two figures materialized, one rather scientific looking, the other rather dark and edgy, both were looking around and surveying the fields, for different reasons. The scientific one began to scan the surrounding area, stopping when they found a village, they gestured the other to follow, which they slowly followed, "Oh don't be so edgy, this is just a simple exploring mission," the female voice of the scientist said. "Doesn't it just seem suspicious though?" the edgy dude asked. "What, the bright grass or the perfect sky?" she asked. "Um, everything about it," he replied. "Don't be such a downer David!" She said, then happily skipped toward the village, but stopped when she noticed that he wasn't with her, "Hey, you coming or what!" "Nah, I'll just guard the ship," He said, "You go on ahead Trinity." "No, come on," She lost her cuddly voice for a second before cutely gesturing to him. "Ok coming," He hurried, not wanting to make her any unhappier. "The village seems to be primitive, even by low standards, likely a class 0 civilization," She told him, she had slowed her pace a little "Class 0? So it was something else that brought it here," David yawned a little, he knew it was not natural the way it appeared. "More than likely, but then again, we could be wrong," Trinity said, they were approaching the little village when they saw it, blurs ran left and right, disappearing into homes and hiding in any available spot, they seemed to run on four legs and (obviously) had hooves. "Nice greeting," David smirked, but he couldn't blame them, he did have a Vibranite sword strapped to his hip. "Then they can thank you, Mr. Edgy," She gave him a wicked smile. "Geez, this again, I dress like this to keep the memory of my squad alive," He said in a more serious tone. "Alright i'm just saying, it's kinda edgy," She brought a hand to a stop gesture. "Geez," He sighed and rubbed his arm, they were walking down the street as the deafening silence hung over. Then without warning three small creatures walked up to them, they stopped and looked down, ponies, one with a red mane and pale fur, another with a purple mane and orange fur, and the last with a bubblegum mix mane and silver fur, each had adorable pleading eyes, Davids' weakness. "Excuse me mister, are you both hoomans?" the silver one asked, how adorable. "Why yes we are little one, what are you?" Trinity knelt down and asked. "We're ponies," She answered. "Ponies huh?" Trinity said as she wrote it down in her species directory under sapient, David on the other hand was slowly cuteficating to death on the inside. "You don't seem evil," the orange one said. "What?" Trinity looked up from her notes, just in time to see two light orange hooves kick her right in the ribs, she was sent tumbling as the attacker pulled back and reared up to kick David, who hardly budged as the kick made contact, stumbling the attacker, Trinity coughed "Ow ow ow." "Trin!" David rushed over to her and knelt next to her, he assessed the damage before turning to her, "Just a couple broken ribs." "Ok, ow!" she cringed when she spoke, "You take care of *ow* the crazy horse *rrr* while I use a med pack." "Right," David stood and turned to the attacker, who was a light orange pony with a hat on and a blond mane. "Now ahm gonna buck ya to next week," She threatened, charging him, to which he responded by grabbing her around the midsection and lifting her over his head, bringing her down with a hard crash as he back flipped over her and held her down, the pony struggled for air as her held her, "Let me go!" "Nope," David grunted, but he couldn't hold her, a blue blur hit him clean off her and tumbled with him as they slowly got up, this one had a rainbow mane, and a bandage around her head, "Geez, had a rough night huh skittles?" "Shut up, worthless human," She growled, only to cringe and hold her head. "You don't look so good prism head," He taunted as he moved closer, he would take her down with his own fist if she attacked again. "RAINBOW! You were supposed to wait for the rest of us," another group of ponies came in and helped the hat pony up. "Finally got backup huh?" David smirked at her, he knew she was the strong type, liked to be seen as awesome and a lonewolf. "I said shut up! ah!" she held her head as she almost collapsed. "Take it easy Rainbow Dash, you're just recovering," the lavender unicorn said, "An what are two humans doing here, did you get out of a lab? did you're master lose you?" "Dafuq?" David didn't understand, but he didn't like the demeaning way she said humans. "Or are you from the wild pack that has been running around in the Everfree," lavender guessed again, David gave her an odd look, "So you are, then I can rectify this quickly," her horn glowed as a bottle with a glowing liquid appeared in front of her, she threw it at Trinity. "No!" David jumped toward his partner, but was intercepted by the blue one, once the potion shattered on Trinity she began to violently cough and spasm, "GET OFF!" He elbowed gay pride right in the head, no grunt or anything, she fell, unconscious. "Take her to the library, she will need time to calm down," Twilight said, then turned to David, who was trying to help Trinity, "Don't keep the male, he's too violent." "Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie then hopped toward Trinity. "Sure thing darling," Rarity followed close behind. "Ah'll handle the big feller," Applejack said adjusting her eye patch, she dusted herself off. "I'll take Rainbow to the hospital," Twilight said as she levitated her over. "Back off!" David said as he reached for his sword, but instead he felt a bump on his arm, he looked and saw Trinity smiling, she was mutating into a pony, and had pushed his ship recall, "No Trinity!" But he was already on the ship, "DAMMIT!!! NOOO!!!" ~~~~~ Spike slowly regain consciousness as he rubbed his stomach, which felt fine, and more fit, he opened his eyes and saw that he was on a ship, plants grew on the wall and the green of the ship wasn't helping, Spike stood up to take a look around, but upon standing up he wobbled a little, he sure was tall. "It'sss good to see you have completely recovered," A female voice called from the door, in walked the most beautiful (and only) plant girl he had ever seen, "hey, please don't stare at my leaves." "Oh sorry," He apologized, his voice was much deeper too, " This is the first time I've met someone like you." "Oh i'm sure young Drago," Flo smiled, sitting down she noticed his confused expression, "You are a Drago yess?" "I'm a dragon, why?" Spike was confused. "Oh no, you are much too small for a dragon," she said. "Cause I'm a baby dragon," Spike replied. "No no, even dragon infants have wings," she still smiled, "You my friend are a Drago, one of the oldest species to exist." "So a Drago is what I am?" Spike asked. "Yess, your race and the Nova are the two oldest known species ever discovered," She explained, "And no one hass been able to determine which livess longer." "How long do they live?" Spike asked. "As a Dragon lives thousands to millions of years," she paused, "Drago live from million to billions of yearsss, that we know anyway." "W-wow," Spike was flabbergasted, he had so long to live, and he never even knew his species. "Yes well, you are hungry i presume," Flo asked, a grumble answered her, she chuckled, "Come, Conifer has prepared a meal, just in the situation you are hungry." "Alright, cool," Spike liked her, but what about this conifer person, but then he remembered, "Hey, why am I so much bigger now?" "Ah yes, when we gave you medical treatment we found that ssomeone had put a growth stunting program, so we got rid of it," she smile as he thought it over for a second, Twilight. "Well thank you, most likely i would never had made it if not for you," Spike thanked her. "What about me?" asked a voice from inside the lunch room they were headed to, a male Floran poked his head out. "Thiss is Conifer," She introduced Spike to him. "Ssssup, name's Coniferous, jusst call me Conifer for short," He gave him a bow. "Oh right, never introduced myself," Spike said, but paused, he couldn't tell them his name, it just didn't fit now, "I'm Solirin Amethyst," Wow, it fit so well, it felt so natural, like it was right. "Excellent to make your acquaintance," He replied, "Would you like some lunch?" "Thank you," Solirin smiled and bowed. "Come on in, have some buffet," He offered. "Sure, thanks," Solirin smile and they went to lunch. ~~~~~ The Avian ship 'Freesoul' sat in a crater in the Eyre Mountain Forest, engines totaled and communications offline, but the AC was working, which is nice. "It's no good," Fentera yelled, she wiped her beak, "The communication system was annihilated upon crash, we would need some spare metal and three miles of wire to get it fixed." "I was hoping that wasn't the case," Rehawk sighed and began to mess with the ships computer, "Hey, we got visor view though." "Give it a try," Fentera said, she hadn't stopped working with the wires. "Ok, just a second," He hummed as he worked, the system still in disarray, "Looks like the generator was disconnected, i'll go reconnect it." "Sure, just look out for the-" a crash signaled that he had found out, she sighed, "Split locker." She could hear him messing with things near the generator, he sure was noisy when he worked, whether it be humming, claw tapping, using items like drumsticks, so noisy, but she didn't mind, she then heard a 'Got it!' and the generator fully kick on. "That took longer than expected," Rehawk called, another crash indicated that he found the split locker again, "I'm ok," he said as he came back in and started to fiddle with the system. "I wonder if we could find a big iron deposit," Fentera mumbled to herself, she had managed to clean up the communication system, now all she needed was parts, she then heard as the front window lock pulled away, they would have a view, but she found another wire knot, geez another, but Rehawk put his wing on her shoulder, she was momentarily startled, she looked up to see he had a surprised look on, what was it? "You need to see this," He said, voice in awe. "What?" She got up and peeked out the window, what was outside was surprising to say the least, Gryphons in armor, poking and investigating the ship, they seemed startled as they saw what was inside. "What the Avia is this!" Rehawk said, the Gryphons outside began to poke at the front window, they didn't seem to happy. "Calm down and turn on the outer communication," Fentera told him. "Sure," He said as he enabled it, then in came the yells from outside, and they understood it. "Invaders!" One yelled. "Come out here and fight!" another yelled. "You will face justice you Equestrian spy scum!" yet another yelled. "Calm down! We aren't spies or invaders!" Fentera tried. "Shut up you freaks, we know you are!" one yelled and pointed the spear. "That little," Rehawk stormed off from the room, leaving her to talk them down. "Listen, we crashed here, from space," she said. "Aliens?" one said. "Yes!" She smiled. "Aliens my claw! they are nothing but invaders!" nother said "No!" she lost her smile. "Come out here so we can take you for experimenting," One smirked. A click was heard as the ship closed, Rehawk had gone outside, the Gryphons stopped and Fentera gulped. "Now get over here you feathered lion hybrids!!" Rehawak's voice came through the ships speakers. "What did you say!!?" the gryphon soldiers raced toward him, "Die scum!!" With one swift lift of his blade and a twirl he had decapitated one and cleaved another in half, the third one, being the smartest of the three decided to run, Rehawk took aim. "Don't!" Fentera yelled from in the ship, "Let him go." "Fine," He sheathed his sword 'Eagle's beak' and huffed, "But i'll be the one to handle any future problems." "Alright," She began to mess with the system module, "Get in here, we need to work on a plan." ~~~~~ Twilight Sparkle had a major headache, probably not as bad as Rainbow, but it was still enough to keep her from fully focusing. The task at hoof was the fact that the newfoal she had made was still mentally resisting the serum, how ridiculous it was that they resisted even in the face of defeat. Between another group of humans and Spike missing, this was all beginning to become too much for her to handle. "Still no sign of the male human Twi, sorry," Applejack said, unknowingly increasing the headache intensity. "But it's impossible," Twilight had replayed the moment in her mind, "Human's don't have magic, and it left no trace afterward." "Maybe it's not magic we're dealing with darling," Rarity suggested, making Twilight's eyes go wide. "That's right, they always used that inferior technology," Twilight conjured a quill and parchment, "Maybe it's some form of teleportation technology, that would explain it, somewhat." "Did ya send a letter to the queen yet Twi?" Applejack asked. "Yes, but without Spike it had to be sent through the regular system," Twilight said, she was unsure when the queen would get the news, "Hey, maybe the newfoal has some information on this technology that they posses," Rarity said, she was so full of useful ideas today. "That could be!" Twilight forgot her headache for a moment, but then it returned with a vengeance, "But wait, she's still resisting the serum." "That could pose a problem," Rarity paused in thought. "We will have to wait then," Twilight sighed, but before they could discuss it further there was a flash and pop behind them, the queen had arrived. She smiled at then gently as they bowed, "Rise my little ponies," she said in a soft tone as they did, "I got your report of the two humans that attacked, and I must say it bothers me so that they posses technology which allows them to teleport, but have no fear, this was expected." "What?!" the ponies yelled in unison. "Indeed, it appears that they have advance far beyond the other humans we have encountered thus far," She explained, "they are even capable of space travel." Twilight and her friends were all dumbstruck, to think that the creatures they had deemed nothing more than glorified animals was actually travelling among the stars, it almost broke their minds, "But that can't be! They can hardly withstand their own world, how can they be in space!!?" Twilight couldn't logically explain how they even traveled without somehow renewing their oxygen and food supply. "It is a true fact regardless," Celestia summoned up an image of the base on the earth ruin, it was glowing with activity, "They have risen even higher now that their world has been destroyed, but they are still as beasts in wise ponies clothing." "But how are we going to get them when they could be spread out through the stars my queen?" Twilight asked, the answer to which surprised her. "I don't know," Celestia responded, but continued before they could freak out, "But we will find those that present themselves to us." Twilight and company seemed happy with such response, then heard a scream from Twilight's room, the newfoal, they had forgotten. "Another human, i remember from your letter," Celestia said, then turned to Twilight, "As for your question in the letter, I am unaware of any method that can cause a human to resist the serum for so long, my only guess is that it has strong willpower." "But no human could possibly possess such strong willpower," Rarity said, confused. "Thought I would agree Rarity," Twilight started, "There were many humans who were able to resist the potion for nearly fifteen minutes in my experience." "Twilight dear, this human is still resisting after nearly an hour," Rarity replied. "Perhaps I can speed up the process," Celestia suggested, her horn taking on a menacing glow. ~~~~~ In the icy fields of the frozen north, the ship 'Lightchaser' touched down, it's thrusters serving to melt a small patch of snow around it, out of the ship a small team of bipedal creatures jumped, the sound of a hatch sealing behind them. "Any clue where this is?" One said turning to the other. "Nope, just glad to be out and about," Gram said, he lifted his scarf, as to not get snow in his gears. "Stay focused, we're not here to play," The captain ordered. "Roger sir," Melisa said, scouting ahead. Not far from their ship was a mountain, coated in pure ice, within was surely the material they needed, a few of them took out their matter manipulators and began to create a hole in the ice, inside was a dark and frozen cave, the stone permafrozen. "Keep scanners on a constant loop, we can't afford to miss anything," The Captain spoke as he fiddled with his manipulator. "Yes Sir!" They both said, splitting up and scanning all they could. "Sir, I'm picking up an intense concentration of gems within all the walls," Gram double checked his readings. "Same here," Melisa reported. "Odd, you usually find gems at a frequency of .67%," Captain said, "But these readings show them at a 102% frequency." "Er captain," The voice of Dreph, another crew member spoke. "Yes?" The Captain stopped scanning for a moment. "The ship is picking up the readings of what seems to be a cloaking barrier," Dreph said, startling the Captain. "This day just keeps getting better," He muttered, then called to the others who were mining, "You folks keep diggin, I have to see this, and report any unusual happenings." A chorus of 'Aye sir' or 'Yes sir' came as he walked back out into the snowy weather, working his way back into the ship. ~~~~~ From the orbit close around the sun sat a ship, the very train like appearance giving it a rather intimidating look, from the cockpit a person sat, scanner warbling and beeping as it scanned the sudden addition to the star system. The star emblem upon the glowing orange face focused intently on the information being presented, "Mighty interesting."