//------------------------------// // 11: Alf // Story: Friendship: Beyond Equestria // by law abiding pony //------------------------------// Prism Flash had one foreleg over Apple Kuchen’s shoulders as she was assisted into sickbay. The young pegasus was gulping breath as her heart hammered in her chest, causing the craggy older mare to snort derisively at her. Yet any sort of pep talk was cut short by the sight of a dozen wounded soldiers and a plethora of beeping vital monitors. The well-lit state of sickbay allowed Apple Kuchen to see that whatever the emergency situation had been, it had passed. With the exception of two nurses keeping a close eye on the worst cases, Sawbones, four other doctors, and the rest of the on-duty nursing staff were catching their breaths, either by leaning on the walls, or sitting down in chairs. None of them had been given enough time to remove their bloodied surgical clothing, but at least a janitor was already cleaning up the floors. Apple Kuchen found an empty patient table nearby and slowly tugged Prism Flash along towards it. As for Prism herself, she gave no resistance, and simply checked the room hoping to find no body bags. Fortunately for her mood, it appeared all of the soldiers here would survive. That or the dead never made it here. Prism didn’t have much time to dwell on that thought before Kuchen unceremoniously dumped Prism onto the hospital bed. “I tell you this, mädchen, I like your spirit, but killing yourself isn’t going to help.” “It might,” Prism hissed as a stabbing pain shot through her chest. “If this works.” Given the recent emergency treatments, Sawbones would have left a nurse to assess the new walk in, but all of them were just as fatigued as he was. So he opted to summon the last dregs of his energy and trudged over to Prism’s bed. “Please state the nature of your medical emergency.” “Herr doktor, Prism requires an infusion of earth magic. Sooner rather than later.” Sawbones gave a blank blink at the request, but recovered quickly enough. Twilight had not exactly made Prism’s current efforts to become a full alicorn public knowledge, but over the last six weeks, Sawbones had been informed fairly early on. While questions popped up in his mind, Sawbones’ professionalism prompted him to move for a bottle of ether stored in the kit behind Prism’s bed. “Mana Exhaustion again? You know there’s ether available at nearly every first aid kit across the colony right?” Apple Kuchen placed a restraining, yet gentle hoof on the small hatch to the medicine cabinet. “Not ether, doktor. A straight infusion.” Sawbones restrained himself enough to keep from groaning aloud. “You do realize that procedure is only used on unicorns with a nonfunctional carbuncle right? Besides,” he lowered his voice to an almost conspiratorial whisper. “I thought you were supposed to create your own earth magic.” Prism gave him a smirk that ended in her doubling over in pain. “Yeah well, that, that wasn’t quite working. So I got an idea-” “You can tell me afterwards,” Sawbones interjected as he lit his horn. The ceiling above Prism’s bed opened up to reveal a dense collection of different machines hidden in the ceiling. One piece in particular glided down silently, with the ceiling panels closing back up, save for a notch to keep from hitting the extending machine. “Right now, let’s make sure you don’t suffer any permanent damage.” He turned to Kuchen. “Am I to assume you’ll be the donor?” “Affirmative. Just tell me vhat to do, doktor.” “Just stand still, and try not to move.” The machine above was a gaunt-looking thing with clear, brilliantly cut crystals mounted on two spindly arms. A small steel-grey base acted as the housing for the mount. Under Sawbones’ command, one crystal made its way towards Kuchen with the other poking Prism in the ribs after she was directed to lay on her back. Kuchen’s mana was siphoned out of her, processed in the machine's mounting into a more pure form of earth magic to eliminate the risk of rejection, and then funneled into Prism. It felt to Prism as if she took a long drink of cold water on a sweltering day. Sawbones closely monitored Prism’s vitals until he was comfortable enough to turn the machine off. “There, that should do it.” As with most earth ponies, Kuchen barely felt the effects of a quarter of her mana being drained away, and simply waited for Sawbones to dismiss them. Prism practically jumped off the bed, feeling reenergized. “Wow that is some strong stuff.” Sawbones kept an interested eye on the vital readings. Prism’s decidedly un-earth-like body was accepting the mana readily, far more than any pegasus should. “Now, you two mind telling me what this plan of yours was before I give a medical order to halt said plan?” “It is nothing malicious herr doktor. We vanted to test a new approach to awakening Flash’s assumed capability to produce earth magic.” Prism rolled the stiffness out of a shoulder. “It’s gotta work compared to everything else so far.” She felt a number of pops come out from her joints, and sighed in sudden relief at each one. A long inquizitive frown from Sawbones made Prism elaborate. “Well farming wasn’t working-” “It vould if you had the patience,” Apple Kuchen snapped with little actual irritation. “This one thinks she can grow food as fast as any earth pony without our magic. Turns out, she found a plant that liked alicorn magic a little too much.” Prism cringed all the same, letting her ears droop. The fur on the back of Sawbones’ neck stood up. “I hesitate to ask.” “It’d be best if you didn’t. She won’t let me back into hydroponics.” Prism shook off the unseen oppressive glare from Apple Kuchen with visible effort. “So I tried turning my dorm into a miniature forest and all that did was piss off the maintenance crew, and then-” Sawbones silently listened to Prism regale him with her misadventures with plants, soil, pranks, and counter pranks, something Sawbones found irrelevant. But through it all, there was one thing Sawbones picked up on most: the total lack of identifiable success. The medical scanner pinged aloud, prompting Sawbones to open the wall panel to peruse, gesturing Prism to continue speaking as he did. What he found got an inquisitive hum out of him. Prism caught it and fell silent, giving Sawbones the perfect opportunity to speak his mind. “The pretreatment readings indicate you already had trace amounts of earth magic within you, nowhere near enough to have an effect sadly. Are you sure this is your first infusion?” Prism’s initial excitement was dashed by his downplay of her magic. “It is. Just how small we talking here?” Sawbones closed the panel and fixed her with a sympathetic half-frown. “An infant earth pony with a defective carbuncle makes more than you at present.” “Ouch doc, your bedside manner is world class,” Prism fell on her back in a huff. At least it’s working a little bit. Apple Kuchen came to the same conclusion. “That just means we’re going to be working together for a lot longer, Pathfinder. I hope you liked forest training, ‘cause that’s what we’re going to turn your dorm into.” Prism froze in utter terror at her one sanctuary being threatened. “If you ask me,” he interjected before either mare could act further. “I think that time will be your biggest ally in this.” Prism and Kuchen gave each other a puzzled look before turning to Sawbones. “At this point, doc, I’ll take whatever advice you got.” “Very well.” Sawbones took a moment to collect his thoughts. “Granted, there’s not a lot of data regarding this, but if you put the facts together: sudden onset of unicorn magic, your body struggling to adapt to it, and the slow build up of earth magic. I’d wager you might be going through a sort of second puberty.” “Please don’t tell me that, doc, I barely made it through my first one.” Prism shuddered at the memories of her first few estrous cycles, among other things. Kuchen actually allowed some sympathy to break through her perpetual drill sergeant facade. That fell away quickly though. “Stop vhining about getting eternal youth already.” The craggy older mare mulled over Sawbones’ theory for a bit before addressing him. “I’ll be frank, doktor, our attempts on physical therapy for her has apparently met with miserable success. Even a crippled earth pony would be showing more earth mana by now.” Prism scowled at her, but was quick to let it go when Kuchen shot a look at her. Not my fault. I’ve done everything you asked, you old bat. Kuchen continued speaking without missing a beat. “I will consider your theory.” “Happy to help,” Sawbones said tiredly. He turned away from the mares upon hearing a four chimed alert. “I’d love to give some more advice, but I’m going to have to ask you to clear out. We’ve got another group of wounded coming in and I’m going to need that bed. Apparently the Fifty Second got hit hard while trying to clean out a nest of giant wasps.” “We’ll be on our way, doktor.” Kuchen started marching for the door with Prism quickly falling in line. The pair made it out into the hallway in time to see a medical shuttle moving towards the nearby docking port. She stepped off to the side to allow the paramedics plenty of room to move before addressing Prism. “Pathfinder, ultimately our task together is to awaken earth magic with you. If the doktor is right about this whole puberty thing, our training together will ultimately be a wasted effort since our time could be spent elsewhere.” “For the good of the colony,” Prism said, mimicking Kuchen’s unsaid feelings. “Precisely. Since we’ve been at this for six weeks, I want to suspend our efforts for an equal length of time. At the end of said time, we will reassess your magic and plan from there.” Prism stood at attention. “I’ll tell mother about the new plan.” “Good. Should our work together not be needed, I must say, Pathfinder, you’re sloppy, but determined to succeed. Don’t lose that.” Prism snapped a crisp salute. “Yes, Ma’am.” I won’t lose being sloppy, she mused with a mental cackle. “I want to thank you for everything.” Kuchen arched a surprised eyebrow at her. “Doing all this extra stuff with me probably stopped you from doing more important things.” “The only important thing I’ve ever done is serving the will of the princesses.” Although Kuchen’s voice was level, Prism could hear the condescending in her tone. “Doing Twilight’s will is important.” Prism wilted a little under the rebuff. “Should you ascend to her level, you would do well to remember that will be the same for you.” “May I speak freely, ma’am?” Prism hazarded cautiously. Kuchen nodded curtly. “Assuming I get my horn, could you ever see yourself giving me the same weight you give mom?” “If there’s one thing I like about you, Pathfinder, it is that you have a penchant for good questions.” Kuchen eventually shook her head. “Probably not, Pathfinder, but you get the unique opportunity to see that respect come to be in future generations. They will be the ones who put you in the same league as Twilight herself. Provided you show us all that you’re worth such reverence.” Kuchen closed in on Prism’s face. Prism drew upon the conviction she felt every time she considered Twilight’s advice and Firefly’s speech at the beach. She fixed Kuchen with a determined smirk and ‘thumbed’ her snout. “You really think it would take me that long?! You watch me!” With an approving nod, Apple Kuchen turned to leave. “I will, Pathfinder, you can be assured of that.” With nothing else to say, she departed counterclockwise through the ring. Prism shot into the air in the opposite direction. She barely cleared the racing medics before a sharp cramp stabbed her in the right wing, making her crash in front of several onlookers. Her surging good mood fell as flat as she did on the floor. Right, rest period sounds like a swell idea after all. I really hope Kuchen didn’t see that. Burning red from embarrassment, Prism made some half baked excuses for her crash, and slipped past the growing crowd who were too preoccupied by the emergency to react to her crash. Maybe I can reserve a spot in that new spa before I get a new assignment. I think I need it after not flying for this long. After clearing the crowd, Prism fell into a brisk trot towards the elevator, threading through more ponies all the while. She pinged Praxia for a phone call. ~“Hey, lovepire, you busy?”~ Praxia’s holographic face materialized just slightly to the right of Prism’s field of vision with disgust clearly evident. ~“You know I hate that nickname.”~ ~“Why do you think I use it?”~ Prism replied with a snarky grin. ~“Anyway, is it true they finally got a translation working for our alien buddy?”~ Praxia was used to Prism’s ‘on a dime’ topic switches, and easily moved on. ~“Voyager completed it last night. Did you want to regale him with your epic yarn of a life?”~ Prism made it into the elevator with a few other ponies, each of them having separate conversations of their own. ~“I might have to wait for mom to finish. Did she speak with him yet?”~ ~“She should be starting soon. She’ll be posting the whole thing after it’s over. For posterity and all that.”~ With the boost of magic infusion starting to ebb away, Prism felt a wave of fatigue hit her full force. She yawned noisily before replying. ~“I think I’ll catch the replay then. By the by, did you do that thing I asked?”~ Praxia’s face soured into a deep scowl. ~“I don’t have time for your childish prank war, so no I didn’t.”~ ~“Are you calling Celestia and Luna childish? They prank all the time.”~ Prism countered with a sly sneer. ~“I might need to tell momma what you think of her mentor.”~ The color drained from Praxia’s face. ~“You wouldn’t!”~ Prism’s sneer only deepened. ~“You would.”~ Praxia growled and stomped the floor. ~“Fine, but if Firefly ever asks, you did it.”~ Prism’s sneer vanished into a friendly grin. ~“Awesome. See ya soon.”~ Twilight Sparkle walked the expanded halls of the science park that housed Alf. Since the vast majority of the colony’s current buildings had been designed chiefly on Equis, the facility had only required minor terrain modification before being expanded. As such, the trip between the relocated rover hub to Alf’s location took quite a bit longer. Not that Twilight minded as it gave her more time to speak with Spike who was walking beside her. “Are you sure the beetles were acting in defense of the wasps?” Spike’s posture was tense, far too much for Twilight’s comfort. The situation wasn’t helped by the large gash in his right arm. The dressing had a long bloodstain on it, but he had yet to voice a complaint about it. “Completely. We ambushed the majority of the wasps and cleaned up the stragglers with only a few lost Firelancers. My colts were placing the demo charges when a whole swarm of beetles came down on us. I’d think it was just an attack of opportunity if more wasps hadn’t surged out from deeper in the nest at the same time. “I swear we only got out of there ‘cause the bots went out of their way to sacrifice themselves to buy us time.” Twilight had the numbers report on her personal display, listing numerous injuries, but thankfully no fatalities. The same could not be said for the new pony-shaped and sized combat robots called Firelancers thanks to the primary weapon. The deployed platoon of bots once numbered eighty strong, but had suffered total losses. “The bots can always be rebuilt. All things considered, I’ll need you to adjust our doctrine to adapt to this development. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen some of the more dangerous fauna teaming up on us.” “It was nothing this blatant before, but I agree.” Spike stopped before entering the biolab leading into Alf’s room. “I better get to it, good luck with our friend in there.” With a simple command via her horn-circlet, the door whisked open. “Hopefully I won’t need it, but thanks, Spike.” Twilight stepped inside the now familiar observation lab where Card Shark’s team was doing some final tests on the translation AI. Alf’s room had changed much to resemble a more livable domicile, complete with more furniture, a bed, the works. In addition, there were several dozen clay models of various ships, each of them had sharp angles and looked to be built for intimidation. All of which had been closely scanned and studied by Twilight Sparkle. Getting clothes for him initially proved to be a challenge since there were only a few tailors in the colony, but now he had a plethora of jumpsuits in various solid colors. Presently, the alien was standing as he observed some ancient history reports now that the updated AI was giving him a much smoother translation. Such work was normally left to the single pair of linguists the colony had, but they were currently off the clock. “Gentlecolts, is it time?” Card Shark pulled himself away from a small hologram of Rosetta Stone, and bowed towards Twilight. “As well as it can be, your highness.” “Excellent, you have my tea ready?” “Mare grey, as requested,” Card Shark replied as he waved a hoof towards a platter holding a teapot and two cups. “Perfect, hopefully we can establish a positive dialogue from here on out.” Without any voiced objections, Twilight teleported to her usual spot at the center of Alf’s room. Upon hearing the teleport, Alf turned to see who it was, and upon seeing it was Twilight, dropped to one knee with both left fists on the ground. As he spoke, his native tongue was heavily muted by the AI who superimposed the translated version over him. The same would be done when Twilight spoke. “Colonial Princess Twilight Sparkle. I fear I have not been giving you the respect demanded by a goddess.” For the life of her, Twilight was taken aback by the new behavior, but she smoothly adopted a professional yet friendly tone. “You need not bow to me, Alf, I am not your goddess.” With almost mechanical movement, Alf stood back up, but refused to look her in the eye. “Perhaps, but as long as I am in your domain, I must give you due reverence.” Twilight grumbled quietly at the display. Although she tolerated the whole goddess bit, Twilight was not so old as to forget her mortal origins. Instead of correcting him further, she opted to glance at what he had been watching. A documentary about the era when Celestia and Luna first appeared. No wonder he’s like this. I need to nip this in the bud. “If that is your wish, I won’t stop you. I will say however, that in our modern society, ponies are pretty lax on our definition of a god, and take a laissez-faire approach to alicorns…” It was in that moment, Twilight realized it was an idiom. “That is to say, ponies ultimately worship us however they wish.” The casual tone and the words themselves made Alf look at her in utter shock. She took it as an opportunity to ‘go for the throat’. “Typically they give a brief bow, maybe necklace of my cutie mark, and curse in my name every now and again.” Alf stood there utterly stupefied by it all, yet he did manage to find his voice again. “If only my people had been so lucky. My gods were not so forgiving.” Were? Over the past six weeks, Twilight would like to think she could be sure it was a deep sorrow that now fell over Alf after watching his body language for so long. His posture did not change, but the small narrowing in his eyes left her little doubt. “We can speak more on it later if that is better. Now that we can speak clearly, I would like to finally get your real name.” Alf was slow to respond. He looked up to the massive skylight to see the peak of Seed One in the distance. Aside from the clouds and the occasional aircraft, the skies were clear. “My old name no longer has any meaning. You called me… Alf was it? Is there a meaning behind it?” Twilight was instantly grateful that her fur partially masked her reddening cheeks, but she managed to keep from turning away out of embarrassment. “Well, you see, it’s - ah - an acronym for Alien Life Form.” Alf gave a quick humorless chuckle as he returned his gaze towards her. “How fitting. That name will do, should you allow it, Colonial Princess.” “If that’s what you want,” Twilight said at length with her embarrassment ebbing away. “Can you at least tell me why your old name holds no meaning for you?” Alf’s depressed face sunk ever deeper, with his arms going slack. “I am all that’s left of my people. In our society, names define where we stand amongst others. Since I stand among you, Alien Life Form is perhaps the best name for me.” Twilight’s heart went out to him, as she searched for something of comfort to say. “Surely there’s something left of your civilization. I assume your kind were spread across many stars and planets.” Alf stared at the ground for the longest time, giving Twilight time to recall the weeks' worth of time Alf had spent in silent meditation. He had gone so far as to smash the Rosetta Stone’s emitter a few times to get some peace before Card Shark had taken the hint. “We did, once. But because I was found by you, and not my own people, I know now that I am all that is left.” He stamped a foot. “This world was meant to be the Eighth Sanctuary, but your images of it’s surface, and very presence proves we failed.” If Alf had been a pony, Twilight would have had a better idea how to broach her next question, but Alf was anything but a pony. So she opted to summon her tea platter. The aroma pulled Alf out of his introspective funk. While no change in his morose expression occurred, he readily accepted the cup as it floated over to him. He downed the whole drink in one go, and exhaled heavily as he felt the steaming hot beverage burn his throat. “We were already on our final strength when my brethren made our attack. Seeing how you are the only source of civilization on this world, Balgrath’s Judgement came to pass.” Twilight sipped at her tea, and took the opportunity to telekinetically drag a chair over for her to sit. Pressing for answers on his people the wrong way could damage things. The last thing I need is him thinking this is an interrogation. Especially after subjecting him to the Rosetta Stone for so long. Even with that in mind, Twilight’s inner diplomat couldn’t compete with her need to protect her subjects. “Is this Judgement a threat to my people?” Alf gave her a dumbstruck blank face and blinked for a few moments. It wasn’t very long before deep chuckling erupted from him, and quickly progressed to outright laughter to the point where he had to put the cup down. Confusion was written on Twilight's face as Alf kept looking between her and the spire of Seed One. “In all likelihood, Colonial Princess, you are the Judgement.” “Okay, you’re going to have to explain that one to me,” Twilight said with compounding confusion. Alf’s laughter died down with a sudden surge of self-control bringing him back to a dour mood. “Forgive me. I speak with no evidence.” Twilight calmed down as well, and poured a second cup for both of them. “Humor me,” she inwardly grumbled at her constant use of figures of speech that she wasn’t sure were translated well. “I’d like to know why you think that, with some context if you will.” Alf collected his thoughts, and rocked on his feet. “To put a hundred years into a few words. I will do what I can. “My people, the Tel’la’dari, were alone in the vast black for much of our history. As we spread from the world of our birth, we were eager to find new races that would bear the mark of the gods.” Alf too seemed to realize he was not speaking plainly. “Those who can be called sapient, I believe your Cogitator Ghost called it. “But my people did not venture far into unknown black without care, so it took us many generations to come across the first Balgrath, or Second Blessed. “I was brought into the black during those times, so I was too young to pay much attention to the news back then, and even after that, my parental units instilled in me a… strong distrust for the news.” Twilight allowed a light titter to escape. “I believe that is something I can understand. There were plenty of times when the media spouted nothing but propaganda and spin.” It took Alf a few moments to make sure she wasn’t mocking him, and continued with an even tone. “You speak as if you disapprove, and yet you are the leader of your people.” Twilight’s casual tone shifted to her stony regal voice, the same one she always used during rough diplomatic meetings. “I lead this colony. I was never a supreme ruler until recently.” Alf sweated a bit and gave a quick deep bow. “Forgive my ignorance, Colonial Princess.” Still in diplomat mode, Twilight let her posture relax and spoke before taking a sip of tea. “No offense was taken. Please, continue.” Alf ended his bow, and only now took his seat. “I was a shipwright on the day when the gods were insulted for the final time by the Balgrath. If you heard the news speak, the Balgrath profaned us constantly, defiled temples, pillaged sacred artifacts, and even went as far as to destroy the Chalice of Tal Rasha. I had never seen a Balgrath up close, so I cannot speak with certainty if they were truly guilty. “Lies or truths, we went to war with the Balgrath. Our warriors cried for justice, our leaders for retribution, and the Supreme Seer only encouraged our soldiers into justified slaughter. In the end, the Balgrath were dead, to the last.” Twilight felt as if her heart had been struck by an arrow. Her teacup rattled noisily as she tried to put it down as emotion swept over her . Alf noticed her reaction instantly, wilting heavily with fresh guilt. To her credit, Twilight recovered within moderately short order. “I should tell you now, Alf, do not bring this particular matter up with my subjects for some time. We’ve been the target of such speciocide twice now, with one in living memory.” “As you wish, Colonial Princess.” Alf gave her a self-deprecating deep frown. “If it puts your morals to rest, the gods saw fit to punish us for this crime. Fittingly, our own Ones of the Cloth were the Balgrath gods’ instrument.” Alf quieted to find the proper words for the next part of his confession, but never had a chance to voice them when the room’s speakers started hissing with loud static. Several alerts popped up on Twilight’s personal display, along with Praxia, Spike, and Card Shark pinging her for a call within seconds. She opened all three at once with stony concern coloring her voice. “What’s going on with the system?” By now, Alf had completely forgotten the conversation to cover his ears from the painful static. His teacup laid broken on the floor. He closely studied Twilight as it was the first time he saw borderline real anger on her face. Although both Praxia and Spike’s avatars were speaking, the static was only getting worse, and completely drowned out their voices. Twilight was about to teleport out and personally find out what was happening when the static ended with a snap. The ensuing silence lasted just barely long enough for Twilight to realize it when music started playing over the room’s speakers. The deep drums and choir set Twilight instantly on edge as it brought back dark memories of years prior. When the false crowd started cheering, she addressed Alf with stony resolve he’d never seen from her before. “I know who this is, stay here.” Without waiting for acknowledgement, she teleported back into the observation lab. As she feared, the music was playing here as well, sending the scientists into a tizzy. Card Shark practically leapt in front of her and prostrated himself. “Your highness, I don’t know what’s going on, we di—” Twilight telekinetically lifted the biologist back onto his hooves, not wanting to wait for him to do it himself. “I know you didn’t do this. Just stay here for Alf, I have to get to the CC.” Card Shark dumbly watched her leave in something just short of a gallop. Twilight raced her way to the rover hub since calling Voyager for a teleport beacon was presently not an option. Most ponies were quick to move out of her way, and she simply teleported past the ones that weren’t. The lights aren’t flickering, so the attack isn’t meant to cripple us. Are they going for our records? Survey data most likely. With the attack going on, the rover terminal was on lockdown, leaving Twilight her pick of vehicle. Here too, the music was playing uninterrupted, and most annoying to Twilight, even passed into the rover she commandeered. Her personal ID cleared her from lockdown, allowing her to leave. Authentication is still working. Is the attack only aimed at audio? Twilight barely left the science park when the music was sharply cut off. Voyager’s featureless head manifested in Twilight’s display, and she assumed for every other pony as well. “Intrusion countermeasures successful. I have reasserted full control of all systems.” Twilight slouched in her chair, but only for a moment. “Voyager, assess the damage, what happened?” “The attack came from an outside source beyond the orbit of the two moons. All sensitive information remains secure, only the PA system and verbal communications were hijacked.” The AI paused, tilting its head for a moment. “There is an incoming hail from the attack’s source, for you by name.” Twilight had to forcibly remove the snarl that threatened to break out. Instead she took a long moment to center herself by breathing slowly and closing her eyes. Not that she would answer the hail right away, anyway. Posturing had its place after all. She stopped the rover and smoothed out any out of place fur on her face and opened her now calm regal eyes. “Open the channel.” The entire front of her personal display was taken up by the view of a white feathered griffin sitting with his claws steepled and his piercing gaze perched just behind them. He wore a white naval uniform with some modest gold trims and rank insignias. Upon his brow was a flat topped officer’s hat with four old style naval guns in a fan-like formation indicating his rank of High Admiral. Thanks to the moderately wide angle, Twilight could see an honor guard of four armored griffins arrayed behind his throne of a chair. “Princess Twilight Sparkle. It took you over three minutes to silence our anthem. Don’t tell me your security’s gotten lax with all this time by yourselves.” Just off to the side of the admiral’s picture, a small window of a video feed showed Twilight a massive seed ship come out of silent running as its energy signature climbed far above the universal background. “Not at all, High Admiral Thorn. I thought we might start off on the right hoof by giving your anthem a respectable amount of time to play given how long the Equestrian anthem played over your lands.” A soft dignified chuckle echoed over the room from Thorn. “Oh, how much I have missed our banter.”