//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 (Uneditted) // Story: A Collective View On Friendship // by Admiral Q Ponyform //------------------------------// A Collective View of Friendship By Admiral Q Twilight was out late at night check out some ruins. She may have found the ruins of the old kingdoms before Equestria. Such a scientific find will make waves in Equestria. The past two hundred years has seen Equestria grow in territory so it would be a matter of time before they found their original homeland. It was best to find and preserve what ruins remain before they really start settling around here. There was already a small town of Cloversdale a few miles away. She was going their for supplies while she was out here. She leaned back taking a break from digging and notice her tunic was a mess. Rarity would have a fit if she saw it like this. She chuckled at the thought and smiled. She was so glad she still had her friends. When she became an alicorn she was shocked and overwhelmed by it. Then she became happy till Celestia told her that as an alicorn she was ageless. She would see her friends grow old and die on her. Even Spike would one day pass away. But after that Tirek event she and her friends became the embodiment of their Elements. So while not alicorns they were ageless as well and she was grateful for that. She and Cadance took Shining's death hard. But thankfully when ever she saw little Flurry Heart she can see a bit of her brother in her. Though calling her little would be in error. She had grown into a beautiful mare. As kind as Cadance but as protective as Shining she was a joy to have around. Twilight decided to take a longer break and laid out on the grass and view the night sky. Luna's work beautiful as always. She thought about her friends. Rainbow was Commodore of the Wonderbolts. A rank made for her since it would be unfair for no pony but her ever to be Captain. As such the Captain still does the day to day running of the group but Rainbow plans the events and runs them during combat duty. She has the freedom to fly and that's all that mattered to Rainbow, especially since Soarin died. Though Rainbow has shown interest in her lately and frankly after losing Flash she be interested in a relationship with someone she doesn't have to worry about dying on her, but she hasn't made a decision on that yet. Applejack still runs the farm and watches over Big Mac's and Applebloom's descendants. Looking over her family was really the only thing keeping her going outside of their group. Pinkie was the most well adjusted of the group to the ageless thing. Sure she was sad when the Cakes passed away but meeting new ponies always cheered her up. She ran Sugarcube Corner now and still was the town's Premier Party Pony. Rarity was the only other one besides Rainbow and Twilight to leave Ponyville for long period of time. She set up Canterlot Carousel as her base but after a few years she returned to Ponyville preferring the simple village then Canterlot's constantly busy life. Fluttershy stayed in her cottage for decades before seeing so many of her animal friends die on her that Rarity forced her to move in with her after finding her sobbing after another animal of hers had died. It worked and Fluttershy now helps out with the sewing of dresses and she seems content if not happy. Twilight would have offered by she takes so many trips around Equestria outside of their friendship quests of course. Spike, well Spike was taking his first century long nap and still had ninety years to go before it will end. Thankfully he doesn't snore smoke. All in all her friends were doing well and they make sure that at least once a month they have a few days of a get together. Twilight noticed a shooting star coming in and smiled at Luna's work in action, however it didn't quickly fade from view like others had. No it was still up their and now the angle was off. Soon the orange glow faded and she thought she saw a black object with faded green lines before she heard an impact on the ground. She took to the air and after getting some altitude she noticed a massive path ripped through the forest before ending at a massive rock. She dove in for a closer look. Thankfully she had gotten decent enough at flying to not annoy Rainbow anymore. The mare only griped that it took twenty years for it to happen. She landed on top of the rock and powered her horn in a spotlight setting and what she found astounded her. Below her was a vessel of some kind. As big as the largest zepplins she had seen but it didn't look like one at all. It was made out of black metal that seemed to glean in light and it had green lights going throughout it's body. There was small fires, sparks, and steam coming from several places not to mention hull breaches everywhere. Some ponies might be hurt in this vessel. She went to the nearest hole in the hull and jumped in. “Hello, any pony here? My name is Twilight Sparkle and I just want to help.” She said aloud and she looked around. The inside was nothing like she had ever seen before. It was all hallways with little alcoves along the walls. Everything was bathed in a green and gold light and steam was every where as well as sparks. She didn't see anypony nearby so she moved on through the vessel. Everything was the same, alcoves everywhere and nothing else. Until her hoof hit something. She looked down and saw remains of a being. It had no snout and had weird armor that covered it's body and parts of it's face. And it was cut in half. Twilight brought a hand to her mouth and backed away from the gorey site and she tripped on something. She flailed her arms and would have fallen to the floor but somepony was behind her and she collioded with them but the pony held firm and even grabbed her. She started to look back to say thanks but felt something bite her neck. She manage to turn around and saw an intact figure. Like the dead one it was covered in armor but this one had glow and blinking point over it. It also had an abnormally long arm while the other was average length. It's face was a light gray and held no emotion. Even from the one eye she could see while the other was covered by some device. Before she could say anything she felt weak and fell to the floor. Why? Why was she weak? An alicorn had the strength on par with an Earth pony and she hadn't exerted herself too much today. As things went dark she thought she heard voices, several voices. They weren't clear in what they were saying but one thing. * * * * * * Twilight manage to wake up to find herself staring at a ceiling. She tried to move but couldn't and she heard the murmur of the voices but they felt like they were in her head. She tried to move but couldn't. She panicked a bit and even more so, things felt cooler for some reason. Then the voices returned. They were a bit clearer. They talked about losing contact with a collective and reporting of various damages and repairs being made. They also talked about establishing a new collective and preparing a new queen. 'What in Equestria are they talking about and who is this new Queen?' She then saw a figure approach her and extend that odd arm that was too long and it touched something on her and she felt sleepy. Her last thoughts was wishing her friends were here. When she woke again she was not the same pony. * * * * * Outskirts of Cloversdale.... Comfy Living walked into the office of her families inn. Being the only one in the young town made her have some success. Her cousin Cosey Inn was at the desk and smile when she saw Comfy walk in. “Did you here the ruckus a couple hours ago?” “Yeah, that's why I was out checking the rooms to make sure there was no damage. Everything is good but it did sound like something crashed in the woods beyond.” Cosey just shrugged at that. “Tartarus if I know what that was. Hey did you run into princess Sparkle out there? She was in the woods the last I heard.” Comfy just shook her head. “Didn't see a lick of her out there.” Comfy looked out a window. “Sure hope she is okay.” Cosey brushed it off. “She's a Princess of Equestria and has beaten the likes of Nightmare Moon, Discord, and the Changeling Queen. She can handle anything.” Before that discussion could go any further they heard the door open again and both turned to see who it was. It was unlike any pony they had ever seen. Flat faced and in some kind of black armor the being faced them. “Um, welcome to Comfy Inn and how can we serve you today?” Comfy asked and the being simply walked towards her and before she could act it grabbed her, pulled her close and inserted something in her neck. Cosey tried to come to her cousins aid but anotehr creature came from another doorway and grabbed her and repeated the process. Both mares fell to the floor staring in confusion as their coloration stared to fade and voices could be heard in their heads. Unbeknownst to the ponies of Cloversdale the dark of night hid a threat till it was on it's doorstep. Silent figures approached the small town with a feminine form leading the way.