<<Editors Note: When we decided to make this a narrative I realized that if we only showed our logs, it won’t be a good story. There just wouldn't be any dramatic tension without having the viewpoints of another side to the story. In the aftermath of our first adventure I managed to ‘acquire’ Twilight Sparkle’s diary. The following is a translation of the appropriate diary entry for this point in the narrative from diary entry to narrative text. So, while it is factually accurate to the events, some creative licence had to be taken. Also, Twilight, if you are reading this I’ll totally teach you the decryption spell I used to read your diary if you don’t murder me. - Captain Tylor >>
From the Diary of Princess Twilight Sparkle
I remember when I first became a Princess and complained about my lack of responsibilities, how my title felt empty, that aside from wings and an honorific my life had not changed. I wish I could feel that way again. Too much has changed in the decade since I ascended to my station, though many ponies believe life has finally returned to the way it was back then, but they are wrong.
For thousands of years Equestria was blind to the world. We believed most of it to be barren, sparsely inhabited, and overrun with monstrous creatures. All that was outside Equestria was not something to be especially interested in. Some ponies, myself included, did enjoy venturing out into the wider world to see what we could see but we never got very far. What I now know to be a hex compelled us to come back, to stay within our country.
One day we lost our innocence as a nation. We learned that a massive criminal organization had been controlling everypony, Celestia included, since the rise of the Diarchy itself. It focused on keeping the rest of the world out of Equestria, the world which teamed with life, some amazing and wonderful, plenty dark and wicked.
We overthrew them. It took three years and the help of new friends from far away lands. We received help from other nations once the word got out that we had no idea the Tribunal existed. They had believed the organization operated under Celestia’s orders as her Secret Service. That one group of evil ponies had the entire world fooled for an impossibly long time. Nopony truly believed they were entirely gone, none of us would ever act like they were either.
Immediately after the Tribunal had been driven off, the very moment we believed we felt safe and were hopeful for the future, death swept in from the skies. It was not my first encounter with humans. I have many trips through Starswirl’s mirror, but this was the first time I, or anypony else, had encountered hostile humans.
They called themselves the Arc, and were lead by a man known only as the Admiral. Every single one of them had been chopped up and wired into crude machinery, controlled like puppets by the Admiral in his mad quest to return home and slay the people who banished him to our world. He learned we had time travel spells, and with the Tribunal gone he went to take them.
The Arc was largely immune to magic, and our military and tactics were very crude in those days. Making matters worse was despite the unfinished appearance of their metal bodies, the Admiral’s soldiers fought like machines: Brutal, efficient, and tireless. It took us seven long years of battle to drive them out of Equestria. We lost dozens of towns, Fillydelphia was transformed into a lake, and many ponies lost those who were dear to them.
We survived, but we did not win. We resorted to using dark magic in battle, because light magic was ineffective. We fought, we killed, we resorted to acting on their level. It changed us so much that when at last we were able to penetrate their magical defences, the Elements and I sent the Admiral and his Arc through time just like he wanted. We didn’t send him to his own time, we sent him to the end of time, to the very last second before all of creation ends. We had expected the Elements to restore Equestria to the way it had been, but they didn’t, they couldn’t.
We truly lost our innocence. Ponies today are as happy as we used to be. The rebuilding is all finished, and families are growing once more, but the essence of our race, that spark of love and hope, has dimmed. The elements of harmony do not react well with this change. Much of their power is gone, and so we must now take more care of ourselves with our own hooves.
That is what we lost to humanity, and it is why I took the investigation very seriously when Celestia asked me to begin investigating the Emerald Hive, as she feared they might be experimenting with recovered human technology. In the wrong hooves their technology could kill millions, and even in the right hooves it could be unintentionally dangerous.
Those same reasons where why I had them brought two pegasi guardsmen from Appaloosa who were said to have encountered an Emerald Hive Scout to my castle in Ponyville in order to get an interview. What they told me was literally the worst news anypony could have given me.
“Please tell me one more time. I need more details. Every last thing you can remember. It could have been a changeling impersonating a human and not a human.” I asked.
I needed it to be a shapeshifted changeling. I wanted the elite fighting team part of my life to be over, I had a family now. Rainbow, Scootaloo, and I deserved peace, everypony did. “I don’t want to tell Celestia that humans are back unless you are entirely certain they are.”
Rusted Feathers nodded, his dull red fur was covered in several casts. The report said he suffered broken ribs and multiple fractured bones. “I don’t want them to be back anymore then you do your highness. It is possible I am mistaken, but we need to be cautious. I’ll go over everything I can one more time.”
He sat back in his chair for a moment as he thought. After a few seconds of silence his partner and husband, Midnight Haze, frowned, “She played music while she fought us. I think I can remember some of the words. My helmet couldn't translate all of her language… Wait, that means the enchanting matrix hadn’t heard her language before!”
That was something to note. I summoned a quill and parchment from my study upstairs and wrote down the clue. “So, they were not speaking Russian. That’s important, can you remember any of the song? It could be a battle anthem or a national signature.”
“I believe the opening line was something like ‘The goal of the snake’s creation is revealed in the crystal ball. He rides the waves, colliding with the ships of kings, and he owns your weapon.’ Though, that’s likely mistranslated. The song was played slowly, and featured a string instrument I am unfamiliar with, a full string section, and several trumpets. It sounded rather heroic, it would make for a good regiment’s anthem.” Midnight said with a nod.
“The human was in a uniform,” Rust added, “It was mostly black, but the shoulders were a dark red. She had an insignia on her as well.”
“Could you draw it?” I asked. The Arc had a very distinct emblem, I doubted he would forget the circle containing eight pointed star but that wasn’t out of the question.
“I’ll draw it. You go over the story hon.” Midnight offered.
“Thank you… Lets see, we landed to continue chasing the Scout to detain her as per standing orders, she called out to the human begging to be saved. The human acted surprised, as if she wasn't expecting to see anyone there.”
“Just a minute, you keep saying ‘she’, how can you tell the gender? Arc’s combat fraims don’t show any signs of gender.” I asked.
“Oh! I read your report on the humans of the mirror dimension. This was a female, softer facial features, longer hair, large mammary glands on the front of her chest. I remember the Arc had some individuals of importance in bodies which were more natural for their species so that’s not out of the question.”
I nodded, “True. Go on.”
“So, she acts surprised, I scream for Midnight to take her out in a panic, and he rushes in with a flying kick. He actually hit her too, knocked her over but she kicked him in the… well, a sensitive area and threw him off.”
That was odd. The Admiral’s slaves were armed with internal weapons. “She didn’t use a weapon?”
“No. I figured she was damaged. She threw Midnight to the side and I ran over to help. I threw a punch but she deflected it with her arm. I thought I was dead then, I’ve seen STARS used on a pony before, and she was in a martial stance, but she just threw a straight jab into my stomach. She even shouted a kiai like it was a sparring match! I dodged her strike and we traded a few punches and kicks… I wasn’t familiar with the style she was using and it threw me off. I did manage to hit her in the chest twice… I have heard that they have soft bodied frames too, but it felt like she had real flesh. She even got mad as if it hurt.”
I wrote that down, pieces of the puzzle were beginning to fall into place. Obvious gender, unknown martial art, good enough to hold her own with a Royal Guard… there was not yet enough to be sure. “She was hurt by a punch?”
Rust nodded, “Yes. It completely surprised me. Enough where she was able to grab my shoulders and well… She completely destroyed my ribcage with one quick strike of her knee.”
“Her knee?” I asked.
Midnight nodded, “I saw it. It was a very distinct move, obviously practiced and refined. I have never seen a human use that maneuver before and given what it did to Rust, it’s highly effective. I don’t think this human was with the Admiral. STARS would include that move if he knew about it.”
Another clue, and a big one. The Admiral loved his death dealing toys. “Can you remember anything else?”
“No I passed out after a while and I can’t remember anything from the last minute or so.” Rust informed.
“It’s ok dear, I do.” Midnight said comfortingly, “I had recovered and was about to help when Rust went down. The human said something, which the Scout translated for her. I was pretty mad, and I can’t remember it exactly but it was something along the lines of ‘Leave or I will break your knees.’ I was going to attack, but Rust asked me to take him to the hospital, so accepted her offer to let us retreat. Before I left, I remember the Scout asking her if and I quote ‘Is your Universal Translator broken?’”
Midnight looked up and passed me the page he had sketched on, “This was the emblem. Additionally, there were two small brass pips attached to her uniform on the collar.
I nodded as I looked at the emblem, “This is very close to the Emerald’s heraldry, the circle the arrowhead sits on is the only real difference.” Suddenly I realized something, “Her uniform was black and red, featured this emblem, and had small brass markings?”
He nodded. I double checked my list of clues, then sighed, “If you assume the exoskeleton counts as the black part of the uniform and the sash as the colored portion, the Emeralds have the same design. This is not a coincidence, the Emeralds have likely allied with a human group.”
Rust shook his head, “No that doesn't seem right, the Scout was equally surprised to see her and honestly acted… baffled but delighted. I remember she asked if somthing called the ‘Prime Directive’ was suspended if the knew what the human was, and she mentioned what I think is the name of a place ‘Earth’.”
I blinked, “Corporal, why didn’t you mention this before? Earth is the name of the planet the humans through the mirror live on! The Admiral’s humans came from a world called Terra!”
Midnight’s ears stood up in alarm, “Sweet Luna! It’s a new faction entirely and the changelings made contact with them first!”
I shook my head, “No they have acted as they do for centuries… They must have been aware of this new group’s existence but had not been able to contact them yet.” Which meant they had been somehow observing humans for years, possibly reverse engineering their technology based on their observations.
I sighed, this was bad. If Earth’s humans had the technology to travel across dimensions, they had to be from Earth’s future. The technology of the mirror universe was simply not advanced enough to do the job, and they had no magic. Which meant if they were hostile we were looking at another war. One we could not afford socially, financially, or spiritually.
“I need more information… I’ll have to send somepony to investigate.” I decided.
“Er- your highness, Rust, and I didn’t mention this in the official report for a reason. We fought on the front lines for most of the war. We know how much chaos letting ponies know about this will bring.” Midnight said hesitantly.
Rust nodded, “Also, this is a problem we should nip in the bud. My professional opinion as a soldier is you and the rest of the Elements should take care of this personally. That way if it’s what we fear, you can react instantly and not once it’s too late. Also your diplomatic training means if they are not hostile you have a better chance of getting information then a terrified spy or soldier would be.”
The stallion had a great point. “That is, a better course of action… I’ll see about having a commendation put on your record. No, that won't work. I would have to explain why and nopony accepts vague answers anymore. Perhaps I can award you a spell or charm as a token instead?” I offered.
Rust and Midnight blinked in surprise before holding a whispered conversation between themselves. I could already tell what they were going to ask was going to be personal, the blush on Rust’s face and the nervous body language was more then enough to cue me in. “Gentlecolts, I am not an old mare. I have never had the stigma for male relationships. What do you want to ask me?”
Rust cleared his throat, “Well, your highness, you see, during romantic moments, Midnight has a slight problem with er- entry. There is an issue with sizes of… parts. It often results in pain and the occasional embarrassing visit to a proctologist...”
I held up a hoof, “Say no more. I understand. I assume you want the alteration to be permanent, do you object to gray magic?” I asked, gray magic was relatively new, it was a compromise between light and dark’s strengths and weaknesses.
He shook his head. I closed my eyes and cast a simple transformation spell, the magic took root immediately. I felt the spell’s energy vanish as it did it’s work, and Rust’s yelp of surprise as he felt the effects.
“I’ve increased the size, ensured it stretches without tearing, and have made it self lubricating. For the record gentlecolts, should this spell expire, or you wish to get the same for your husband, it can be found at any erotica shop in Canterlot.”
Midnight glared daggers at Rust, “I told you they sold things like that!”
“I-I thought they just sold well you know, books, image crystals, and toys.” Rust admitted bashfully.
“Now, not a word of this to anypony, especially not my reward. I don’t want ponies to come to me instead of seeking spells commercially… again. I’ll include you two in any reports I send so you will know what happened, and you can get proper credit for your actions in the future. In the mean time, check into the hospital. I’ll pay for magic healing, I want you on your hooves and ready to go incase I need some good soldiers for this. Once healed you may stay in the castle, I will be gathering the Elements so find Lady Dash or our daughter and tell them I said to find the two of you a room… Make that a comfortable room.”
The two bowed offering me a, “Thank you, Princess.”
I smiled, a giggle escaping my lips. “You know, I remember when that bothered me.”
Captain’s Log: August 17th 1012
“Captain Tylor, wake up.”
I groaned and rolled over, pulling my blankets over my head.
“I need you to be awake right now. The other’s are up, I have a mission for you.”
The voice just wouldn’t stop it. THere was sleep to be had. Precious sleep which I hadn’t gotten any of last week, stupid military training.
“Ok then. Everyone, I have unlocked the door to her quarters. We will simply have the briefing in her room.” The voice sighed.
As my doors hissed open I blinked one eye open sleepily, Tess, Kaily, and Ad’ika groggily walked into my quarters. My quarters. I eeped and pulled my blanket tightly over myself as I sat up, scrabbling to the corner of my bed, “God damn it! Get out!”
Tess gave me a glare of death, “We have been waiting for thirty minutes. Get up so we can get this stupid thing over with.”
“We were waiting in a briefing room,” Kaily yawned, “then decided to come get you.”
“That’s nice, get out!” As no one moved I groaned and added, “Fur is really warm, so all I have on right now is this blanket!”
An opaque black wall flickered into existence around my bed and foot locker. “Ah. Right, sorry. I honestly keep forgetting about modesty. That value died you know.” Phoenix informed.
I crawled across my bed muttering darkly to myself. Agreeing to help an AI with a love of jokes from a different era of humanity had not been my best idea ever. It took me a few seconds to get dressed, and by the time I had gotten my vest on I was feeling the dregs of sleep deprivation again. “Almost ready.” I mumbled.
Realizing I had a replicator on my omnitool I flicked the screen on and started sorting through food items. A small icon in the corner of the screen caught my eye, “So… trying to replicate coffee or something. Why is there a little red blinking ‘x’ in the top left-”
“Your omnitool is out of ink.” Phoenix informed, “The internal battery on a civilian model is quite small, but I am not allowed to install them fully charged for safety reasons. You can charge it at any power note within my hull. Once you have passed basic I can upgrade them to military specifications, in the meantime I have remote power packs as a part of your mission gear.”
“‘Kay.” I tapped the black barrier to make sure it wasn’t solid, then stepped through to charge the stupid thing.
“I thought you would know how to operate one.” Ad’ika said in a confused tone.
“Ad’ika, their uniforms are twenty-fourth century. I am thirty-first century. Much of my technology did not exist for them.” Phoenix expertly lied. I made a note to take anything she said with a grain of salt.
As my omnitool beeped to show it was full I went back to choosing a wake up drink. Scrolling through the menu I stopped on one particular drink. “Why is- no screw it I’ve always wanted to try this.”
A few taps of the screen and a few seconds later I had a small silver can in my hand.
“What, you can’t label redbull cans? Copyright law or somthing?” Tess asked confused.
“This isn’t redbull.” I informed, “It’s an energy drink for people who need gratuitous amounts of energy.”
“Did you just replicate a can of powerthirst?” Phoenix asked.
I nodded, popped the top and had about five sips before all of the sleepiness simply vanished. “Woah! This actually works!”
“Um yeah… It’s absorbed right into the bloodstream through the soft tissues in your mouth thanks to containing a… You should drink that really slowly.” Phoenix said nervously.
I flipped off her camera and continued drinking the weirdly ok tasting, actually effective energy drink. I should have bought these all the time back in college. “Let’s just do whatever it is that’s stopping me from getting a full night’s sleep.”
“Yeah, enough waiting!” Tess agreed. Ad’ika and Kaily nodded in agreement.
“Ok.” Phoenix projected a holoscreen into the middle of my room. It showed a bunch of technical stuff, a few maps, and a aerial photo of a small town with a circled area near it, it couldn’t be any more cliche war movie it tried. “The element shown on your screen now is Osmium 187, it’s a fairly rare isotope of Osmium and it’s vital we get at least fifteen kilograms. Before you ask, it can’t be replicated, and because I do not have a fission plant within my hull, or the authorization to construct one, I can not synthesize it either.
“Osmium 187 is one of three substances which can be used to construct the quantum-link batteries required for my primary reactor. I have been running on my three fusion plants since I was revived, as a result power management is quite important, and many of my systems are directly connected to my currently inactive antimatter reactor. As you know, antimatter reactions yield an incredible amount of energy, so as a safety precaution I can not activate my main reactor without the battery banks online to absorb excess energy.
“Unfortunately, over time my batteries degraded and are no longer useable. I can repair them, and much of the material can be recycled but a fresh supply of 187 must be secured. Fifteen kilograms is the minimum required to get my powerplant online. Optimally, we would get 40 kilograms. While my children do have an extensive mining operation beneath my hull, Osmium is not found within the local area.”
“So, you want us to go get some? Pull a fetch quest and trade with some miners?” I asked. I could swear that Phoenix was speaking a bit slower than normal.
“No. Osmium is rare on this world, it is typically found in iridosmine deposits. Fortunately a scout’s report this morning indicates that a Diamond Dog owned mine within Equestria has just found a large vein of iridosmine. I need you to go to the mine and get at least 45 kilograms of iridosmine so I can extract the required amount of Osmium from it.” Phoenix informed.
“Wait,” Ad’ika asked incredulously, “you want them to go to a Diamond Dog mine? I mean, they don’t have a starship’s resources! I’m sure they could get it with a ship and crew, but the four of us? Isn’t that the whole point of putting them into basic training?”
“Yes,” Pheonix answered with a sigh, “but unfortunately all reports I have indicate that the Dog’s take all of the iridosmine they find and ship it to an unknown location. It’s obviously important to them and it won't be there for long. We need to move now, no matter how disadvantaged we are.”
“So it’s a mine… but what are Diamond Dogs?” Tess asked. “Are we going to fight a David Bowie album?”
I could swear everyone was talking much slower than normal. I took another sip of my drink as Kaily pulled up the bestiary she had been making on her omnitool. “Apparently they are bipedal canines, subterranean, highly territorial, hostile to just about everything, spend most of their lives underground, enslave locals to work their mines, and are known to eat their slaves when they are no longer of use.”
“So we need to go retrieve the maguffin crystals from a Duergar mine? I think we can handle that as long as we make a good plan and stick to it.” I said calmly.
“Ok, someone take that from her.” Phoenix groaned.
As I started to plan out how we could infiltrate a mine Kaily snatched the can from my hand, “Hey!”
Giving me a stern look Kaily said something in slow motion. “What?” I asked angrily.
“You were drinking a combat stim Captain. It was named for the old energy drink by soldiers. Please speak slowly, you are in a state of controlled hyperactivity.” This time her voice sounded relatively normal.
“Oh... “ I took a breath and did my best to slow down, “So we are basically going to rob a Duergar mine?”
“Yes.” Phoenix answered, “I have repaired your vehicle and made several upgrades. Additionally, I have equipment prepared for the mission. I know it’s very soon to send you somewhere but the last time we had a shot at getting Osmium was six years ago, and it was inaccessible due to the Equestrian-Arc war. I do have a plan to get you in the mine, though getting out will be largely up to you.”
Kaily nodded and looked at the map, “The circled region is the mine?”
“This is the only known entrance to the mine. It is very likely there are others within the Everfree Forest. The nearby city is capital of the Whitetail fiefdom, an agricultural region managed by the Apple family… Er, to save you a history lesson the region is called Whitetail, it produces a large percentage of the food for the Kingdom of Equestria. It is ruled by Princess Twilight Sparkle from the city of Ponyville, and managed by the Apples, who are a fairly high ranking noble family. The Apples have known about the Diamond Dogs for many years, and brokered a treaty with them. Essentially in return for twenty percent of the mine’s resources the Dogs are permitted the use of the territory.
“Because of this there is an entrance near Ponyville where the Dogs turn over their payment to the ponies. The entrance is large enough for you to drive the Sagan into. While the iridosmine will not be stored there, a large enough distraction can be caused by making a stand at the mine’s entrance. I have constructed two portable cloaking field generators, that’s all I could manage on my current power supply. Two of you can use them to sneak into the mine, which our scout managed to map, make your way to the store room and steal the iridosmine.” Phoenix informed, sounding rather proud of her plan.
“That’s not a bad strategy,” Kaily mused, “But how will we hold off the Dogs? Do they have any way of detecting cloaked objects?”
Ad’ika smiled. “I can do Dogs. I could impersonate a diamond dog and get the iridosmine while someone goes with me cloaked. That way whoever holds off the dogs also has a cloaking field and can use that to their advantage.”
“That’s brilliant! I didn’t know you had learned Dogs Ad’ika, when did you pick that up?” Phoenix asked.
“Three years ago,” she answered, “some Diamond Dogs traded a few tons of iron at Appleloosa and I was able to get a good enough look to figure out how they work.”
“This seems like a good plan. I doubt they can keep up with the RV, so we should only have to prevent them from capturing it.” Tess nodded. “I think Kaily and I should guard the Sagan. Kaily has the ops training so she probably knows how to work the cloak, and I’m basically our big gun so I should guard the exit.”
“That would leave me to help retrieve the iridosmine.” I noted. It was a pretty good plan. We had a map of the mine, cloaking devices, other equipment, “That’s a good plan. What can we expect the Dog’s to be armed with? What weapons will we have?”
Phoenix adjusted her projected screen to display a selection of weapons. “I have manufactured several standard small arms. You can have your choice of them. Additionally I have updated your omnitool’s software, you can now produce hardlight shields and blades. As for the Dogs, they are medieval in technology, but especially vicious. While their underlings are armed often with crudely fashioned weapons, their elites often have fullplate and high quality weapons.
“Additionally, they are adept enchanters. Expect their armor to deflect or stop the first shot, but enough concentrated fire should eventually put them down or force a retreat. Also their weapons have been shown to penetrate force fields with enough strikes. They seem to absorb energy.”
My eyes widened. “That’s pretty damn dangerous to throw us at!” I exclaimed.
“It is,” Phoenix admitted, “but you will be equipped with kinetic barriers, armed with micro-railgun weaponry, and have your hardlight weaponry to fall back on. Admittedly your training is lacking, and the odds are not perfect, but I believe the surprise and fear factor will be more then enough to allow your superior technology to make up for the numbers and magic disadvantages.”
“Fear factor?” I asked along with Kaily.
“You are not technically the first humans to come here. A predominantly cybernetic military force was here before you. They do not count as humans by my programming do to many factors. Chief among which was they were very hostile towards civilians. They were defeated by Equestria in a long war and are no longer on world. Don’t worry, you do not look much like they did. The warframes they used were chrome brain-buckets. But the technology I will give you is very similar to the 27th century technology they had, and will invoke terror in any Dog who fought them.”
Kaily held up a hand, “Woah! Hold it! An invasion force of humans attacked this planet?”
We all remembered her telling us that humans were extinct as far as she could tell.
“They were not native to this universe. They were in no way related to you.” Phoenix informed.
Ad’ika nodded, “Yeah. We think they might have been from the mirror universe. Their ideals were completely the opposite of the Federation’s.”
“Are locals going to shoot us on sight?” I demanded.
“That explains why those two pegasi attacked me without much thought…” Tess muttered.
Phoenix's answer was quick to come. She clearly had it ready. “You resemble the Arc’s humans only in general shape. The fact that you are flesh and bone is a clear difference. Additionally, the fact that you are able to talk to them is something the Arc could not do… They were basically the borg. Furthermore, if you can show someone you can tell a lie they will know you are not affiliated with the Arc and will treat you fairly.”
“Why the fuck would that even work?” I demanded.
“The Arc’s commander sold his species ability to tell a lie to a demon in exchange for psionic abilities. They could not tell a lie no matter how badly they wanted to. This fact is common knowledge. So if you hold up a blue pen and say it’s red, you a have demonstrated that you are in no way related to them, as if you were you would have to tell the complete truth at all times.”
That made sense. “Ok. Everyone remember that. We definitely are going to need to use it. So then… what weapons do we have?”
“I have supplied the Sagan with standardized micro-railguns. You each have a pistol, and a multi-rifle. I have preset the weapons to fire at non-lethal velocities, they will leave a target severely bruised and unconscious but alive, barring accidents of course. While you can switch the weapons to use a deadly velocity via omnitool please only do so only if you absolutely need to kill something. It would be best to have this be as small a diplomatic incident as possible.
“The weapons are smart linked to your nano systems, unlike your training you will have a heads up display projected directly onto your retina. You will know exactly where you are aiming, how much heat has built up in your weapons, and the status of your other equipment. The handguns fire a single round per trigger pull, they are short range but designed to penetrate armor. The Multi-rifles can be cycled between a long range single fire mode, a rapid fire mid range mode, and a shotgun like spread.”
Tess narrowed her eyes angrily. It was damn creepy looking thanks to her new green glowing eyes. “We get a HUD when on missions? Why the hell aren't we training with one?”
“‘Train your troops without their greatest tools and when they have them they will be better for it.’ - Admiral Rubin Prem. In other words, by training you to use your own natural abilities, you learn to think and not rely on your tools. You training is meant to teach you to innovate even under stress.” Phoenix explained.
“Fair enough… So we don’t have to actually kill anyone, we are just there to steel some ore, the enemy is pretty much just orks, we have sci-fi weapons and force fields, a good plan, and super powers. I think we can do this but first I have one question.” I looked towards Phoenix's camera. Deciding to toss a shirt over it or something later, I continued, “Have you tried to get the iridosmine any other way? We have just been sort of going along with your suggestion, surely you can try to trade, or-”
Ad’ika shook her head suddenly enough to make me stop talking. “No. I was here the last time her majesty attempted diplomacy with the Dogs. The ‘negotiation’ ended when one of them ate a nymph to make an example.”
Kaily’s eyes narrowed, “Ate a nymph? As in, one of your children?”
“Not mine, at least I don't think she was, but yes, someone’s child.” Ad’ika answered.
Phoenix sighed. “They see changelings as… subhuman. They refuse to trade with us. The incident was my fault, I could not explain what I was to their chief so he assumed I refused to show myself to him and in a rage, he killed and ate a young Worker. Bit her head clean off. The only reason their treaty with the Apples exists is due to a one hundred and twenty eight day long siege of their mine and the eventual capturing of its chief.”
“So… how exactly do you switch the guns from stun to kill?” Tess asked in a dark tone.
“Oh I don’t care if you kill them, I care how that makes us look to the Equestrians. We will need to formulate an alliance with them later, and they are very pacifistic. Unless the killing was completely justified in that circumstance they would disapprove. They have a piece of arcane enchantment we need, so we can’t afford to anger them overly much in these early stages.”
I nodded, everything seemed pretty cut and dry. “Ok. So we have a small time window to capture a valuable resource, diplomacy is not an option and the enemy are child eating monsters. I’m ready, let’s go. Phoenix you can fill me in on what you have done to my ship while we walk.”
I started walking, the route to the hanger was something I had studied in case things went south. Everyone else followed along quickly, various exclamations of agreement filling the air as we left.