Echoes and Surprises
Where was I?
The ground was hot and blackened, barely illuminated by a sun covered by a deep layer of toxic atmosphere.
Ah... this again...
I looked at myself and sure enough I was a young filly again, the world on my flank covered in a dust-filled layer of clouds and my wings were again too small to be good for flight. I had this dream way too many times...
This was... a memory. A very old memory.
I walked around the still warm ground, looking for something... anything...
This was a few hundred million years after the world was born, still warm from its birth. It was cold enough for the water to be liquid on its surface, so I searched for that. I always looked for water.
People always remember their childhoods with nostalgia, their families taking care of them and they were just without care in the word. I never had any of those. I had a barren rock for a home and myself as my family. I know, I didn't have a very happy childhood.
And neither was this a happy dream. I didn't have any control so the memory carried on, reliving the feelings attached to the memories, and as every time I dreamed this I cried. I cried for something to be there for me, for someone to tell me I wasn't alone and that I didn't have to be sad. No on ever replied back.
This time the dream changed.
"Gaia?" I heard someone calling my name. I turned and saw Luna, looking horrified at her surroundings and very concerned about me. It was then when the hold that the dream had over me broke, and I finally moved on my own. Still, the sadness got the best of me and just nodded at her words.
"Gaia... what is this? Where are we?" Luna asked as she approached me "...and what happened to you?"
"I thought your sister was the inquisitive one" I chuckled, cleaning my tears "This... this is a memory of my world." I said, Luna observing with sadness as she heard my words.
"What happened? It looks... dead" Luna said, not being very tactful with her words.
"It's not what happened, but what didn't, dear. This is way in the past, before any kind of plant and animal existed on my world" I explained to her. Luna raised an eyebrow.
"Truly? That explains your present form" Luna pointed out, making me sigh a bit.
"If that's what you find interesting, young Luna... I wonder how is that you are in my dream" I asked her with curiosity, trying to shake my mind off the memory.
"One of my duties is being the guardian of the dreams, and I sensed that you were having a nightmare. I came to help but... I think this is the first time I have ever seen this kind of dream." Luna told me. Ah, these ponies sure have the most interesting abilities at their disposal.
"It's a recurring memory of mine, dear." I told her. I decided to sit down there and look at one of the multiple volcanoes still erupting and making the atmosphere thicker by each passing minute.
"I can't even fathom how something can live here. No offense, Gaia" Luna said with sadness. I just looked at the sea far away from us and pointed it with my hoof.
"Oh, but there is, young Luna. Right now, millions of microscopic cells are living and dying in those waters, all around the world." I explained to her with a motherly smile. Luna chuckled a bit.
"I see, but please refrain from making those smiles. It's hard to take you seriously with that cute face you have right now." Luna said with a smirk "But I can hardly call microbes as life."
"That's a very common misconception, dear. Life started from these simple cells, and in time they managed to 'band together' as it were and made way to more complex life forms." I told her "And while quite depressing, this was the look of my world for most of its existence."
"Surely you jest?" Luna asked me, unconvinced.
"I'm afraid I'm being serious, young Luna. Almost three billion years passed before life managed to appear, and you already know how old I am. Do the basic math and you will see that I'm right." I explained her. Luna looked pensive for a moment before gasping loudly.
"Is that why this is a nightmare for you? You feel sadness because there are no creatures to share your life with?" Luna asked, concerned. I laughed bitterly.
"No, loneliness was just the start of the nightmare." I told her as one of the volcanoes exploded at the background, a rain of molten slag fell all over the place, splashing water as it fell on the oceans. I looked with pain over the quickly evaporating water. Luna looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
"Why that face, Gaia? It's just water" Luna asked me. The feeling in the memory came back at full force, making me cry as I put a sad smile on my face.
"Because this is the true nightmare... To watch millions of lives die and being unable to stop it. To know that there was nothing in my power I could do to stop this. And that I would live on while they will go where I can't follow..."
I cried. I cried as the filly I was back then, for their deaths and for my own loneliness. It was a very strong revelation back then for my young mind and it still haunts me to this day. I felt a wing draped over me and a pair of legs hugging me as I wailed on poor Luna. I felt foreign tears fall on my head and saw that Luna was crying with me.
And for a brief moment, I didn't feel so alone anymore.
Luna observed the sleeping form of Gaia from her chambers, a solemn look on her face and a newfound respect for the sleeping mare at the gardens.
She knew the pain of losing special ponies to her as her own banishment was still fresh in her mind, but Gaia's feel of utter despair was too deep and real. Compare her own case with Gaia was just disrespectful to the green mare, and she found herself thinking on how Gaia acted and how they interpreted her behavior... and suddenly many pieces of the puzzle fell in place without much work from Luna's part.
She walked out of the room and looked for her sister, as they got separated when she felt Gaia's nightmare and she went to deal with it. Dreams were also a good way to learn about a pony and she didn't want to let the opportunity pass... even if it wasn't what she expected.
She was almost at the throne room when she sensed something odd... a strange presence that was using the shadows to move around the castle. She decided to follow this presence using the same shadows it was using, showing that her title of 'Night Mistress' was not for show.
The presence was very elusive as it took many turns and looked like it was sneaking around in some random pattern, but Luna noticed that she was slowly approaching the exterior halls of the castle, and soon enough she found herself near the gardens... where Gaia rested.
Luna approached the gardens as quietly as she could while sneaking in a hurry. When she was near she heard a strange voice.
"... be useful if we manage to turn her to our side. Such raw power!" said that voice, that was none other than Queen Chrysalis of the changelings. Said queen laughed out loud while a couple of her drones secured a guard that was unconscious near Gaia.
"If she can turn a desert into a flourishing land just imagine if we can control that power! Victory will be mine!" she said while laughing like a maniac.
"Do you always monologue when you are about to perform an act of villainy, queen of the changelings?" Luna asked, making herself present on the scene. Chrysalis scowled at her.
"Princess Luna... I think we haven't been properly introduced..." Chrysalis said cautiously. Luna snorted at her words.
"I know enough. I'll be lenient and let you go unharmed if you leave Gaia alone" Luna said as she stomped her hoof.
"So that's her name... so exotic... And what makes you think that I will be complying to your demands? After all, I have the upper hoof right now." Chrysalis said with smugness. Luna scowled, a flash of light crossing her eyes.
"We have a castle filled with well-trained guards. What makes you think that you will win?" Luna asked her, still pretty mad. Chrysalis laughed louder as she sauntered around Gaia.
"This here is a mare that managed to wield so much energy that makes the love between Shining Armor and Cadence look like a tiny spark in comparison. If I manage to manipulate her to do my will I will be ruling all over Equestria!" she said as she and her minions laughed. Luna rolled her eyes.
"I thought that you will be aiming towards more with so much power at your disposal." Luna said in a mocking manner.
"Silence, fool! Who told you that I will be stopping there? The rest of the world will be next!" Chrysalis replied, offended.
"Of course..." Luna said with a smirk, making Chrysalis mad.
"At least I didn't lose to a bunch of young mares with flashing lights." she said with smugness as she got closer to Gaia.
"Do not think that you are better than me! If you dare to touch her..." Luna said with anger. Chrysalis laughed, raising one of her hooves and moving it over the sleeping mare.
"You what? You will make me yield thanks to your Royal Canterlot voice?" Chrysalis said as she touched Gaia.
And all went to Tartarus.
"All units, code red!" Said a disembodied and slightly mechanical voice, making all the present creatures jump in place.
"Code red!" replied multiple voices multiple times as a small army of small creatures appeared out of nowhere. They were like some kind of armored starfish with three arms. They moved creeping on the ground and even the castle walls as they flicked in place, making themselves appear as if they were using some kind of cloaking spell. They also carried on them some kind of devices that were pointed towards everyone there but Gaia. Both Luna and Chrysalis would be thinking that they looked kinda cute... if it wasn't because they were flooded by them, almost covering every inch of the garden and castle walls surrounding Gaia. When the mass of black-armored starfish took position they heard a sea of clicking noises coming from their strange devices.
"Don't move or we will fire upon ourselves!" One of them said with that strange, metallic voice.
"Don't you mean 'Or we will fire upon you'?" said a younger voice, soon before a slapping sound made itself present "Owie..."
A figure appeared in the middle of the mass of strange creatures, towering over them. It was an alicorn that wore a fully enclosed armor of strange design, with organic and light forms instead of the sharpness expected from a complete set of armor. It walked slowly to the speechless princess and queen.
"It seems that-" he tried to say as a beam of red energy impacted on him, the beam coming from the side. In that side one of the starfish creatures was trembling in place as his now identified weapon cooled off. "Ow! Hey, dude! What the heck are you doing?" the male alicorn said to the thing.
"But the captain said 'Don't move'..."
"Them! It was for them, not for us! How do you expect to do your work if you don't move?" the alicorn said with an angry tone. Murmurs spread through the starfish people, many of them saying things in the line of 'it makes sense'.
The discussion continued as one princess and multiple changelings looked between them with a lost look on their faces.
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And then Gaia wakes up and thinks everyone is having playtime.
Thus Prometheus has arrived to kick flank and chew sugary, elastic food substance which he is clearly out of atm.
oh this is going to be good.
That code red scene seems familiar...
It's Prometheus!
Truly beautiful.
5618790 Originally I was going to do something different, but then I thought "Hey, we had our dose of feels. Time to something funny"
I just had to do it.
HypeHypeHypeHype
Oh god... I like these guys
haha lol
5618800 It was well done sir. I applaud you for your effort.
Figures that Chrysalis would do something like this. She doesn't seem all that smart. Oh well, it just means that the next chapter is going to be priceless. Run Chrysalis run!
is it possible to draw these starfish guys? its kind of hard to see how these "starfish with three arms" move about and somehow carry anything.
This story really needed adorable tentacle/starfish aliens with a tendency to take things literally to to a comical extent. I didn't even know it needed them until they appeared!
I am not joking. This is a good addition.
I am now getting a very "minions" vibe from the tripods... and a strong urge to make them in SPORE.
... OOkkey! Did not see that one coming! ... And now things will get interesting. Hopefully Gaia wakes and defends Luna ... or we may have un invasion of the Squid People in Canterlot (That are traing to protect Gaia ... they don't appear to be all that smart ... this will end well). I can just see Celestia's face now ...
(And she thought Gaia's people were using some sort of spell to travel in space ... how about a huge spaceship? )
Good chapter as always !
I get the feeling, after re-reading the first chapter, that Promie is not too unlike a male Twily
5618831 I'll try to work on something soon. Tribrachidium are pretty alien-like. It just looks wrong to have a tri-symmetrical body instead of a 'normal' bi-symmetrical one. If I manage to sketch/draw something I'll write a blog and put there the pics
5618831
They're apparently
a fictional species made up for SimEarth. I found some cute fan art:talcottstarr.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/se_trichordates.jpg
...and some 'kill it with fire' fan art:
atorapedia.worldofatoria.com/images/b/bd/Trichordate.png
Or at least I think the latter is fan art. Looks pretty realistic. Could be sculpture or something?
My reactions:
-Gaia's nightmare is a sad one....
Chrysalis?! 
(Great reference, BTW. It caught me off-guard, which made it even more brilliant as I was laughing for several minutes straight.)
-
-Don't touch Gaia, or you will summon an army of armored starfish who are trained to fire upon themselves!
5618863 Trichordates, or tribrachidium, are an extinct life form discovered in 1959. They lived in the eidacaran period, and that was like around 600 million years ago
5618875
Really? I'm having trouble finding a source that doesn't point to SimEarth. There's a similar one on Wikipedia, but it uses a different name.
5618883 So far the Wikipedia article looks legit and that's what it says, in several languages too. They are pretty mysterious since there isn't much info about them. They weren't the best at surviving, so there is not much left of them to work on
WHY U NO UPDATE YET?
Aaaaaaaand the shit hits the fan.
I also can't help but realize Prometheus is the only male Alicorn.
Justsayin!
...... How in the world did people that dense create intergalactic space travel.......
5618921 magic, and don't you deny it.
5618921
I wonder if it's a kind of collective intelligence thing, like Cranium rats from Planescape in which they have a localized hive-mind that makes them more intelligent the more of them are together, and the huge number of them in the garden simply is barely enough to get 'stupid guard' mode.
Looks like her son had some bodyguards follow her.
YAY!! FUN STUFF!!
5618800
Where is the Cavalry and the Bagpipes
Anyway, I've just wonder, is Discord the warden of "this" world? It would make (somehow) a lot of sense
Attack of the starfish! Mwahahahahahahaha!
Yay
Kick those changeling butts... But dont hurt Luna for Celestias sake.
(Oh i love the smell of burning changeling Butt in the morning)
5618916 i wonder if gaia will miss the chance of getting a few grandchildren on the far future...
5618777 I like your picture:) Pinkie/Pinkamena is best pony!
Edit: good story bro. congrats on 6 days of being featured!(not in a row though)
I have a feeling Prometheus has a massive bruise on his forehead from the amount of times hes probably face-palmed due to them.
5619037 I like this idea.
Step 1: Abduct foreign alicorn with godlike powers.
Step 2: ...
Step 3: Profit!
5618972
And himself.
5618921
It happens.
5619317
vogons did it and they have a malformed kidney for a brain
5618777 Why yes dear Bruno, a new challenger does appear....
5619288 step 4 survive the wrath of her people and her son and the potential annihilation of your world as an retaliation action.
5619189 clearly there not war like despite there technology ... not suprising
Poor filly Gaïa. :'(
Can't wait for what's next with the son !
And the changelings. I knew it ! X)
5619137
Me too, man.
Me too.
5618773
"I told you guys to warn me when you play Starship Troopers!" -Gaia
Any chance Prometheus and the Celestial twins will *ahem* get to know each other? Momma Gaia probably wants grandchildren.
5618790
that's the starfish people in a nutshell