Chapter 18: A meeting in Canterlot
The day passed like a raging river under a haze of frantic activity, held fast by the steady rock that was Celestia. Orders were passed via form and bellow, the stamp of hooves filling the pathways with thunder as the staff of Canterlot prepared to do without their ruler; a council of nobles was formed to handle the day-to-day paperwork and minutiae that would pile up, even in the short absence of leadership, there were forms to stamp with the royal seal, crowds to reassure and guards to assign.
The white alicorn moved through this torrent of busy-work and tedium like a fish through still water, her calm smile never faltered nor hesitated, nor did her voice tremble or stray from it's soft motherly tones as she slowly drew order out from the anarchy.
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In the New dawn the situation was that of quiet order, all the crew were hard at work preparing for Celestia's arrival, panels were being stripped and walls replaced as the engineering team moved to plant anti-psychic emitters in every spot they could, to keep control of their soon to be guests.
Captain Morgan stalked the corridors with the iron authority of command ringing in his voice and a heavy step to his stride, his face was calm but grim, the old eyes in his wrinkled face inspecting every part of his ship as he passed it. For a few minutes the aged officer paused inside the observation room of Luna's cell, smiling slightly as the princess had fun in a virtual playground. The team of five that played with her were apparently growing quite fond of the captive 'god', even so far as to request a real-world meeting with the 'Berserker Angel ' -as she had been nicknamed- Watching the screens and hearing the game Morgan could quite see where the name came from.
Her twin axes ( now augmented by a super-diamond edge and heating coils) cut glittering arcs through the dark air of the 'nightfall' arena, the princess showing a near complete lack of self-preservation instinct as she leapt into the centre of a bloody melee, then hurling herself through hails of gunfire to throw grenades into bunker windows before posing atop the corpses of her opponents, bellowing a victory cry in a fashion that was quickly growing to become legend among the ship's circle of arena combat enthusiasts.
“FLEE CRETINS! THOU ART BUT WHELPS, MEWLING LAMBS AWAITING SLAUGHTER.”
Morgan smirked at the watching crew, who were all failing to hide their packets of popcorn and synth-nectar bottles “It seems our guest has some anger issues to work out. Is there anything less violent she can play? I'd hate for her sister to think us a corrupting influence.”
The medical officer in charge shook her head “EVA let her try her hand at strategy and some of the other sims, but she always got bored and went back to the blood-pit. I think she's planning to take part in the tourney.”
The captain nodded, his eye straying to the screen just in time to watch Luna scream out as a burst of auto-cannon fire tore one of her wings to shreds“I hope she learns to duck first” he couldn't help comment, the princess finally falling to a few well placed sniper rounds.
Chuckling morbidly at the frustration on the captive alicorn's face Morgan moved on...
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The marine on the mountain gazed down his scope at the pony in the distance, the barrel of his gun following the movement of her pencil across a pad of paper as she sketched out what seemed to be a suit of marine armour.
After half an hour or so of careful drawing the horse was apparently happy with her art and placed it down to the side, where a stack of several dozen sheets fluttered in the breeze under an anchoring stone.
“Is the horn-head still spying on us?” The officer walked up and placed a hand on the privates shoulder.
“Yep, just got finished sketching a suit of marine armour.” Rolling slightly the marine looked back up at the older man “Any word from the CSO yet? I'm ready to take the shot.”
The officer raised his own rifle and gazed down at the distant unicorn “CSO says to leave the local alone, if she wants to draw us so badly, then let 'er draw”
The sniper nodded, then swiveled on the spot to point down range “What about the other one?”
Down the range there stood another unicorn, this one lime-green with a streak of white through her mane. She was trying to garner the attention of a nearby marine, all the while pointing desperately at his gauntlet, apparently excited about some aspect of the limb by the way she babbled near incoherently at another pony (this one without horn or wing, a beige colour with a two-tone purple-pink mane).
“Leave her, so long as she doesn't cross the fence, disrupt the bots or annoy the engineers then she's fine” the officer grunted, settling back in his perch.
“Okay then, what about all the rest of them?” the private queried, zoning in on some distant point.
“Rest of them..?” the officer turned on his knee, scope springing up to his eye.
Looking to the far edge of the clearing, there a small crowd of ponies had gathered to watch the humans at work, including a crowd of foals and their magenta chaperon. A larger stallion clad in red fur and orange mane stood at the front of the crowd, waving a hoof and shouting...
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“Y'all had better head on back!” Big Mac glared at the host of towns-ponies that had followed him out to gather the crusaders -who had since joined what seemed like half the town's foals in an excited gaggle. “Ain't safe to stay here!”
Cheerilee, who was trying her level best to stop the horde of excited young ones from rushing the fence, grimaced at the big male's bellow “Sorry Mac, I had to keep an eye on all these little rebels, they were very insistent on coming to check on their friends.”
Colgate stood forward and scratched the back of her head “Yeah.. we were all curious.” she brightened up despite Big Mac's level gaze, his manner back to a more reserved nonchalance “Besides Mr. Macintosh, didn't you read the paper today?”
“Eenope”
The blue pony lost some steam but recovered quickly “Well if you had you'd know that the princess is going to negotiations tomorrow! These aliens can't be that dangerous if the princess is giving them a chance, right?” she looked to the crowd behind her for support, who all nodded and made general noises of consent.
The farmpony looked about to soften, when a voice rose up behind him, speaking with a somber grimness and a backing of anger “You are all fools, to stray so near, I know what they are, and you are right to fear. I shall warn you now, even with the great Big Mac, I am afraid for our lives if they decide to attack.” Zecora stepped down from the back of the cart, her mane disheveled and only half spiked up.
Big Mac looked at the Zebra shaman queerly, but said nothing
The shaman stamped the ground, glaring at the distant aliens with venom in her eyes “These aliens are not so far from their home as they seem, I have seen them before in the darkest of dream.” She turned with the flare of a dramatic story gathering in her voice “In my homeland of Zebrica, they are known by many a name, but everywhere they are feared, putting even lions to shame.” She fumbled at where her powder-pouch usually sat, but swore in foreign when her hoof found nothing, recovering her poise she elaborated “Laughing apes and Forest shades, Jolly demons and their hidden glades. They are told of to foals as the moon starts to rise, but to think them mere stories is to invite your demise.”
Cheerilee spoke from the back of the herd of foal's, who had all sat down to listen “So you're saying that these aliens are some sort of 'demon' from Zebrica?”
Zecora nodded, looking to where Lyra still stood with Bon-Bon holding onto her tail to stop the unicorn from climbing the fence “They are monsters and evil of most disgusting sort, with Discord himself did their ancestors cavort. If they catch you alone your life they will end, laughing and chuckling as your innards they rend. “
The foals and some of the adults looked certainly frightened, but Apple-bloom raised her hoof “Uhh, Miss Zecora, that's a scary story and all but they didn't hurt us. Not even when they had you all tied up, or after you kicked that one between his legs."
A few stallions and colts cringed, then all the assembled ponies looked to the Zebra.
Zecora's anger faltered for but a moment “Of why I am unharmed I am not sure, but whatever their intentions they are not pure” She began to walk away, throwing back “I do not care if you take my advice, but know that in dealing with those creatures, with death you do dice.”
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Up on the mountain the private watched as the crowd began to mill around, some heading away with the striped pony, some moving closer in while others simply made ready to settle where they stood.
“Hey Corp” he called back over his shoulder, eyes still on his scope.
“Yes Private?”
“Have you ever noticed that the striped one is nearly the only horse without a tattoo on her ass?”
“...”
“Corp?”
“Will you Stop staring at their backsides!”
“I wasn't even... yes Corp.”
“...” The officer gazed through his own lens “Besides Private, the striped one does have a tattoo, it's just hard to spot.”
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The day passed swiftly on.
At the cusp of dusk the surge of power once again headed for the New Dawn, aimed for it's captive princess. This time however, the anti-'magic' shields were turned off, a split second before the energy impacted, thereby allowing it unfettered access to the alicorn. As soon as the energy surge left however, the shields and restraining emitters were re-activated, once gain taking Luna's power away from her.
Luna reportedly kicked several dents in her wall immediately following this.
On the ground, the 'Ponyville Expeditionary Force' settled in for a night in the ever-free, with a few pegasi darting between the base outside the alien landing zone and the town, picking up supplies, clothing and tents for everyone.
Just metres away from the developing camp, the work on the planet-side base was going well, with the first two bulk-lifter hangars dug out of the mountainside, a central shaft sunk deep into the ground, and the first of four above-ground manufacturing facilities laid out.
Private O' Malley and Corporal Britten were still on the mountainside, with a small betting pool developing among their friends as to how long the CSO was going to leave them there.
In Canterlot, the final preparations were made, with the alien artifacts safely hidden in plain sight at the Canterlot museum's 'Ancient Aliens and Zebrican legends' exhibition.
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Then came the dawn over Canterlot Castle, and with it came a sound of thunder.
Five lights fell down on the castle, streaking down with the speed of lightning, leaving a ribbon of silver smoke in the early morning air.
With a clap of metal on stone they crashed down in the throne room of Princess Celestia, entering in a diamond pattern around the hole their predecessor had made, only two days before.
There was silence in the room as the dust and smoke cleared away, once more revealing white-hot cylinders of alien design.
Celestia shook the grey stone-dust from her mane and sighed “At least they are punctual, if nothing else.” she looked to Shining Armour “Captain, approach them, if you would.”
The unicorn guard nodded, throwing up a salute.
He approached the foremost device nervously, as one might approach a sleeping bear that has thus far proven amiable. As the metal cooled to cherry red a white scrawl of graffiti on the casing came into view, stating in bold stencil font 'SUIT FOR CAPTAIN SHINING ARMOUR, CANTERLOT CASTLE, EQUESTRIA. ' Captain Armour read the address out with uncertainty, stepping closer just as a red glass bulb popped out of an unseen hatch, a red line of light springing from the globe and scanning over the surprised unicorn's face
.
Even as the stallion reared back in shock at the light there came a sharp robotic voice. “ID CONFIRMED. SHINING ARMOUR.”
The court room reared back as the casing of the cylinder began to split open like a flower, four petals slowly coming apart with a hiss of hydraulics and equalizing pressure, the interior was lit from below and above, the base of the projectile supported in the air by a thin strip of metal, letting the whole room see...
The suit; shaped like a unicorn in white, blue and chrome, a suit of hard plates and soft joints, with mirrored visor and steel hooves, tubing running from stream-lined saddle-bags (each made of plastic, with shiny readout screens and wide, hoof-friendly buttons) to the neck and each of it's limbs, along the back of the neck and at the base of the spine were bulges, space for tails and manes it seemed. The suit was posed in a bipedal fashion, standing unsupported in mid-air between the base and top.
With a sound like a gentle sigh the suit moved of it's own accord, shifting down to match the stance of a regular pony, the chest clearly emblazoned with Shining Armour's rank and title.
Celestia watched the scene from her throne, smiling at her spell-bound captain of the guard. With a gentle voice she urged him “What a wonderful gift my captain, perhaps you should try it on?”
Shining saluted crisply and shook himself from his stupor, taking another step towards the alien device and his suit. As he approached the base of the tall cylinder the four petals sank down to form a ramp that he could climb, when his hoof stepped upon the ramp a screen sprang into existence and floated to his side, the colourful pane of light showing through simple images how to put on the suit.
While the stallion was occupied with his suit, the Diarch stepped off her throne and smiled to the stunned audience in her throne-room “Do not be alarmed my ponies, I assure you that this is for the best.”
The centre most cylinder was addressed to her, and split open as soon as the grating voice confirmed that the god before it was indeed the princess it was looking for.
Celestia's suit was different. It had space for both wing and horn, where Shining Armour was white, chrome and enamel blue hers was purest white with gold highlights, the visor mirrored gold to match.
Guisarme arrived in a storm of feathers and clacking beak, his talons scratching the stone as the bird of prey ground to a halt. He watched the alicorn mount her cylinder and begin to dress, with an edge of panic Guisarme screeched screeched “What is zis your majesty?! I came expecting attack, I thought zat ze 'umans might 'ave reneged on our agreement.”
Celestia chuckled at him, her magic raising the last piece of her suit (the helmet) up to her head “Not so Ambassador. They were simply delivering our clothing as promised.” the hard shell slid easily onto her horn and over her eyes, automatic clasps snapping to lock it in place. When she spoke again it came out metallic, as if filtered and echoed through a steel tube “I think that one there is for you” she motioned to the rightmost cylinder with a swish of her horn.
.
Guisarme's suit was red and brass, with black trimming and only a small bulge for his tail. The shell of his helmet swooped to match the curve of his bill, even so far as to include a hook at the end, Guisarme's visor was split in two unlike that of Shining Armour or Celestia, the lensed glass of his bubbled lenses tinted red to match his identification badge and saddlebags.
The griffin dressed quickly then tried to stretch his wings, but found that instead the suit had only lumps to house them, making it impossible to move them much inside the suit. “I would wish zat they included zer wings. I do hate it when clothing restricts movement" he grumbled, inspecting the steel talons that housed his own.
Celestia nodded silently, glancing to where her own pinions sat beneath the suit.
“When they mentioned suits, I thought they would make something that looks a little less like battle armour.” Shinescale rumbled like an earthquake when he strode into the throne-room, his eyes half watching the alicorn, half gazing towards a cylinder that was clearly marked for him.
Shining Armour spoke up from where he stood, turning around to examine his own suit “Yeah, they do kinda look like armour, but this isn't metal.” With a few sharp raps the guard struck his own chest-plate “feels pretty tough though”
Shinescale's cylinder contained a segmented plate suit of massive proportions, divided into pieces. Unlike the other's suits, who had hard plastic suits with fabric over the top and electronics along the inside, the dragon's suit was made mostly out of hard white ceramics, with electronics built into shielded purple compartments. Also notable was the connection of a thick hose from the front of the helmet to a large device that was mounted on the chest.
The draconic ambassador put on the suit with great care, grumbling slightly at the weird device that no one else possessed, but it went on swiftly, and fitted very well, the inside expanding slightly to hug the drake's form more snugly. When the helmet was fitted carefully on Shinescale grunted “I will have to ask the purpose of this strange device” he poked at the hose with a claw, the shiny tube being made of shimmering fabric.
The crowd that still occupied the throne room made their way forward to examine the newly suited four, some were a little nervous at the cool touch of the enclosing material, the rest were fascinated.
Then came the sound of rampant hooves and panicked breaths. All the crowd turned to watch as the zebra ambassador came charging past the doors, flanked and preceded by his guards in their armour, all the striped ponies carried spears at the ready as they ground to a halt, speechless at the scene before them.
Celestia hopped down off her cylinder, the metal boots of her suit making a hard CRACK on the stone floor “Good morning Ambassador Hekima, nice of you to join us. Your suit has arrived."
Hekima dropped his spear to a resting position, but didn't order his guards to do the same “Foals” he snorted, his voice loud and abrasive in the hushed silence “You are all foals, stumbling towards the lion's den with hooves held wide and throats bared. You agree to come aboard their vessel, you would wear the cursed armour they send? How can you trust them?!”
Shining Armour stepped forward, his face hidden but voice rife with annoyance “Watch your tone ambassador, We are perfectly safe. If they mean to attack us as you claim, why would they send us armoured suits?”
Hekima snapped back “Because they care not for armour you foal. Perhaps they lie about the dangers of 'space' if that is where they truly take you, perhaps you walk right into their trap by relying on their tainted air for sustenance. I tell you now, that armour they send is cursed. The only gifts the laughing apes send are lies and death.”
Guisarme could not hold his tongue any longer “oh be quiet you ignorant lache, I will hear no more of your nonsense.”
Hekima crinkled his nose “What did you call me?”
“Un lache. A coward.” Guisarme stated, inspecting the back of his gauntlet with an idle air.
“You tread dangerous ground raptor, I am no coward” Hekima growled angrily, spear leaning back towards ready.
The griffin snorted dismissively “Of course you are 'ekima, you are a cowardly cub hiding behind your idiotic superstition and ignorance. Cowering away from a simple meeting because of zer bogeyman.”
The zebra raged, his body tense “I am afraid of nothing!”
Celestia finally spoke, cutting the argument off “Prove it ambassador. Though he may be blunt in his delivery, Ambassador Guisarme is right, your continued hatred of Captain Morgan does strike of cowardice. I would propose you wear your suit, and try to at least act civil. If you are proven correct about these 'laughing apes', then I will be sure to smash them from my sky. If you are wrong, I will expect an apology to the good captain.”
The room agreed, though the Zebrican bodyguards seemed alarmed at the mention of laughing apes, after a moment the Zebra ambassador looked from left to right with thinned eyes, snorted and stamped “Fine.” His anger faded into apprehension though, as his steps took him closer to the towering alien cylinder. Hekima visibly cringed as the red light ran over him, his ears flattening when the voice rang out his name.
The cylinder slowly opened to reveal a pure white suit, shaped with smooth lines and clear cut angles to match Hekima's muzzle. There was even room for his mohican and tail to expand to their full size, though both were the same blank white. The zebra examined the suit critically as he made his way up the steps and took the suit out of it's suspension, one hoof slipping the gold rings off his neck and the horse-shoes from his hooves.
It began as the first piece went on. Where the others had their colours fixed in place, the nervous ambassador's chest-piece flared with light as it went into place,and then faded to show a pattern of stripes, identical to those that covered the startled pony below the material. Each piece did the same, until the entire suit was covered in a pattern identical to the ambassador's fur, tail and mane. The split visors changed colour too, matching their hue to that of the ambassador's irises. The identification badge was a bright gold to contrast, as were the 'saddlebags' on his sides.
Shinescale looked up from his efforts, still trying to get his tail-piece on the right way “If I didn't know better Ambassador Hekima, I would say that Captain Morgan is making an extra effort to impress you. There came a grunt of victory when the tail-piece latched into place with a hiss of meeting seals.
Hekima's face was hidden beneath the mask, but his scathing tone told of his emotion “whatever trick they wish to pull, they will not fool me. A magic suit is not enough to hide their true nature, I will laugh as they do when I am proven right." With a stamp of his leg the zebra swept up his ornaments and shoes, making a rapid retreat down the ramp to where his guards stood, a mixture of awe and disgust playing across each face as they inspected the 'laughing ape' suit, there were harsh words in Zebrican passed before they all left.
There was a pause before Celestia spoke “I hope he doesn't do anything silly.” she smiled brightly while making her gentle way back to her throne. With a whirl and snap of metal she sat down, horn flaring to take her helmet off and place it to her side, the tiara of office floating back into place “Day court is opened again my ponies, at least until we hear once more from Captain Morgan.”
Shining Armour might have been smiling beneath his mask when he came to stand at the base of the throne, trying with some success to fit his sword-belt on over his new suit.
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“Final prep”
“Chocks away, Check engines.”
“Engines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 online and stable. VTOL ready, flaps good.”
“Check pumps, check radiator.”
“Pumps online, radiator holding, below peak.”
“Check nav-com, check orbit-burners.”
“Nav-com online, flight path loaded. Orbit-burners ready.”
The loader had arrived during the night, got loaded and ready. They wanted to make a show, they could go on VTOLs until they reached altitude and switched onto main engines, but that wouldn't be very nice to watch, so it was time for a conventional take-off.
The runway faced the gaggle of watching ponies, or rather the runway had been facing to the east, pointed far away from the pony camp, but the ponies had moved to the end of it for a better view. A few were beginning to get nervous as the whine of eight engines grew to ear-hurting intensity.
Then came the roar, like the wrath of a god came the cacophonous clamor , flame and smoke billowing from behind the lifter until it cleared away into heat distortion. Ponies began to move away as the gigantic machine began to get larger, they reared and bolted as it got faster. As it came like a shadow of flame, thunder and monstrous size over their heads a few screamed, diving to cover up foals with their bodies until the shadow passed and the rumble of head-splitting noise faded to a dull throb of fading thunder.
While it flew across the forest, lifting up past the clouds, a blur of cyan came alongside with rainbow trailing behind.
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Inside the cockpit of the lifter, one pilot turned to another, and pointed to the pegasus flying at their side as if her life depended on it, her wings a blur. “What's our speed?” he asked, watching as she drew level and hung there.
The other pilot glanced to a dial and then to the flying horse “500 kph and accelerating. How in the name of Tartarus..?”
The co-pilot shrugged “dunno. That's what I love about this world, you can just say 'magic' and act like it explains everything. Annoys the Titan out of the engineers” he glanced out at the pegasus, who was fighting to stay level as the lifter swung into a turn, heading on a long lazy curve up towards Canterlot. “We got a minute before we get out of the forest, take us up to just below mach 1. See if little blue can keep up.”
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Rainbow Dash pushed herself hard against the burning cold of altitude, her wings little more than wavers in the air as she kept up with the behemoth flier. Her voice was lost to the wind as she let out a “Heh... Not so fast.” Then the flame spewing engines flared again, and the beast pulled away once more. Suppressing the urge to shake with exertion Rainbow pushed herself to the cusp, a cone of air beginning to build around her.
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“She's keeping up”
“speedy thing ain't she. As soon as we lose the forest punch past to mach one.”
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The cone tightened, she was going to lose it...
There went the forest, and here came the
BOOM
This is what she lived for, the speed, the rush and howl of wind in her ear. The world was a blur of riotous colour but for her and the black beast floating at her side, the gigantic thing flying with no effort it seemed.
The trip to Canterlot took only moments at this velocity, and then the beast was gone, arcing it's flight up and over the white city, it's back hatch opening to let a dozen dots and one blob falling out.
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That was Rainbow Dash to the core, a beast from beyond the stars came to visit the skies, and her first instinct was to race it.
Celestia watched her city cringe at the giant's passing, including the crowd assembled to watch their world's first 'equinauts' fly.
They stood in the gardens in a murmuring mass, watching as the Ponyville speedster twirled her rainbow around the falling aliens then streaked away, flying back towards the forest. High up in the sky above the great beast was slowly doing a back-flip in the clouds, arcing back down with the graceful ease of titanic size. The dots became bodies, became armour, became blurs of speed that slammed into the paving before the crowd, sending out cracks from their kneeling forms.
Then there was a titanic thud and crackle as a greater alien landed, a titan among giants. The gigantic armoured alien stood past sixteen feet as it straightened up, the other aliens standing with it. Their armour gleamed in the mid-morning sun, all shined to perfection, their posture at perfect attention
Their boxy weapons popped from compartments on their backs, all them catching their tools with robotic precision and a near harmonic clatter. They all turned their heads to face towards the stunned and silent crowd, then turning with a click and thump of metal feet to face the giant among them with a salute, who saluted in turn, leading a series of motions in silent parade.
As the little march and stamp ended it was replaced by a roar, the lifter sinking into view with the rush of VTOL air-jets kicking up a cloud of dust.
The unsuited crowd coughed and spluttered at the dust, turning away in the moments it took the few pegasi present to clear the cloud.
I hope you'll forgive the marines. They do love to make a spectacle, and it has been a few years since they got to show off.” Captain Morgan's voice was unmistakable, even through the whine and buzz of cooling aircraft engines. The man strode through the wisps of dust with hands behind his back, his polished silver suit decorated with a single officer's pip, dozens of medals and many more bars of colour.
Celestia smiled with her voice, her face unreadable through the mask “It was entertaining Captain, you are forgiven. Though my cleaners may disagree when they see the dust your great flyer has kicked up.
The garden was covered in a thick layer of dirt and dust, a bush had been knocked over.
The captain smiled through his see-through full face visor, speaking apologetically “heh, sorry about that.” He turned to look at the alicorn's four companions “so, this must be Ambassador Guisarme” the Griffin nodded, his beak clacking inside the suit's covering. “Ambassador Shinescale” the giant dragon rumbled from inside his plate covering “Ambassador Hekima, I'm glad you decided to come.” The striped suit growled, jerking back as if offended “And the infamous Captain Armour.” The unicorn nodded, his sword clinking against his side with the motion.
Hekima barked his question, steeping forward aggressively “How do you know my name monster?! What dark magic have you been using to spy on me?”
The captain seemed delighted by the question, indeed he found it funny enough to chuckle -drawing a fearful step back from Hekima- before he recovered to explain “No magic Mr Hekima, us laughing apes aren't capable of it.” He smiled as several striped members of the crowd stepped back “but let me just say, that just because something closes it's mouth, doesn't mean it's eyes or ears do too”
The captain waited for a few eyes too light up in understanding before he explained “those devices I sent down? They've been recording whatever they see or hear, every minute of every hour of every day since they touched down. We've learned an enormous amount about your history and culture, especially since we got moved into the museum.”
Celestia seemed half amused, a little disturbed by this revelation. “Well, that is interesting Captain, I would hope to learn the same about your species.”
The captain seemed about to respond, when Hekima leaped forward “So you admit it! You are the creatures of nightmare, you are laughing apes!” he seemed about to attack, but neither the armoured marines or the great titan behind them moved a servo.
The captain didn't stop his smile, but it dropped a few giggles “Whelp, might as well get this out of the way.” he sighed “No. We are not laughing apes. We are not even from this version of earth.”
Hekima seemed mollified, but still irate.
“But I suppose honesty is the best policy here, so back in our dimension, there was a species of ape that rose above the rest, that developed tools to hunt, fire to cook , culture and art to make our thoughts run beyond simple needs to the night sky above. We started in the forests and savannah of southern Africa, then spread north to conquer our planet.” The old man's eyes had a slightly misty look to them.
“That ape later named itself as 'Homo Sapiens', an arrogant name that simply means 'wise man'... No Mr Hekima, we are not your laughing apes, but they might well be our distant cousins.”
There was silence for a moment with the weight of the crowd's focus falling on the striped ambassador. Eventually the zebra looked away, and stepped back. Through gritted teeth behind the faceless mask he spoke, repressed anger wavering his voice. “I apologize for my rashness. I shall attempt to keep an open mind about your species” his voice recovered it's fury for but a moment “But do not think this makes us friends alien! I will not trust you, not now, not ever.”
The captain smiled “I wouldn't expect you to Ambassador, us humans can be a scary bunch.” with a sigh he turned to the ship “Now come on aboard. Time's wasting.”
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/Author's Note/ the second half of this should be posted soon, if it is not, please feel free to take away my internet cookies /end Author's Note/
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Can't wait for Celestia and Shining to realize that they have no magic once on the ship and the possibility of Celestia's mortality!
Like I said earlier, I love when someone's preconceptions are shattered!
.........Then they all fucked.End.
Could you post a journal when the second half goes up?
1699881
I have no idea. But I'll certainly try!
welcome to my web said the spider to the fly
this is gonna be fun
This is getting interesting.
I like Captain Morgens shock and awe style of introduction. This will certainly leave a mark on pony society.
Also, drop pods are awesome! I wish youtube had a compilation of orbital drops (Halo:ODST, Section 8, so on)
Ambassador Hekima sure changed his tune quickly. Given the sheer hatred and terror the zebras seem to hold for the 'laughing apes', I wouldn't have expected him to be convinced that easily, let alone actually apologize.
1700022 you are correct sir. I may edit that bit a bit.
I'm not so sure that bringing Hekima along with is a good idea, sounds like a recipe for disaster. The suits are pretty awesome sounding, however. I hope they aren't Trojan Horses (heh), I'll be really disappointed if they end up containing some sort of instant kill function.
Please please please let the humans be on the level with this diplomatic trip.
are they actually going to try and find a laughing ape to study because that would be awesome
Ha! Fool! Your cookies are mine!
Take some more time going over things before uploading them. This chapter, like every other, is loaded with small grammatical and spelling errors that just... just...
My jimmies
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So, go through the chapter with a fine-tooth comb to pick up those errors. One or two here and there are fine. It's when you start finding ten in a paragraph that it gets aggravating.
Still waiting for somePONY to die. But you won't do that will you? You want to get on EQD so you aren't posting any gore.
You selfish,
dumb,
fat,
rice cake.
-Glados
On a little more serious note, the joke about the 'Staring at the horses ass' is getting a tiny bit old.
But, your story, your playground
define soon....my sanity depends on it
Take away your internet cookies?? I would never!
This is going to be AWESOME!!!!
Blood hell! damn that's one long drop!
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Sexy chapter...
It seems pretty obvious the suits are designed to contain them all. They probably can lock up and I can't think of any other use for the dragons strange suit feature than flame suppression, unless im confused and it was just a larger air mechanism. I imagine the zebra will do something stupid in space since that's an easy way for things to go south, if you want to make it agreeing to come aboard believable have it insist on some ritual promise that it believes the apes can't lie with and then only grudgingly agree to come up.
This was a great chapter.
Looking forward to more.
I NEED to see how celestia reacts when she realizes that she has no magic up there and that she is a mortal like everyone else (a REALLY resistant one at that but mortal none the less)
Hypocrite...
OMG ENGINE 6 IS DOWN!
But seriously, you should get a proofreader or three. As has been mentioned, there's a lot of small errors littering your chapters. If nothing else, if you read back through the chapter, out loud, it's usually much easier to catch the vast majority of the smaller mistakes and awkward phrasing.
Are the 'laughing apes' themselves going to be featured? I certainly hope so. And as to what Destructorspace said, make sure to read everything EXACTLY as written, so typos become glaringly obvious. I speed-read, so I haven't noticed as many errors as others, but I HAVE noticed them. I can excuse them for now because of the quality of writing. :D
One question; what happened to engine six?
Not particularly bothered but it kind of stuck out for me.
I sorta, kinda, really hope that they find the "laughing apes". Realize they are some sort of hellish/chaos abomination, and use them to teach a simple lesson in the simple pleasures found in the physics behind kinetic kill weapons fired from high orbit.
Pretty good. Hope the zebra's aren't hiding anything with the "laughing apes".
It can really fuck over a diplomatic meeting if it turns out your at war already.
For all those who think engine 6 is down i say its the main engine for space and they haven't activated it yet. 1701894 i think you meant something else... kinetic stands for movement but i don't know the proper name for it so ill tell you when i figure it out
These laughing apes must have serious mental issues to gain the fear of Zebrica.
I'm so tired of Celestia's arrogance and her belief that she is a god.... Please humble her.
Cut off her connection to magic and disable her regenerative abilitys she mistakes for immortality.
1702759
I think he meant kinetic as in bombarding from orbit without the use of explosives or nuclear weapons only kinetic energy.
As in, if you drop a metal rod from orbit it can develop the same destructive potential as a tactical nuke without the whole radiation stuff.
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1704280 yes but you can't really harness kinetic energy unless you have a solid or liquid object... but it is plausible they could find a way to put Buchanan amounts of kinetic energy into a small bomb making it more destructive or equal to a new but there is a chance you could blow it up as it Burns up or when its pushed out... unless it has thick skin
ahhh... my old enemy has returned. The One Who Precariously Dangles Off Of Precipices.
1704885
it dosn't really matter how big an object is, what's important is how fast its moving if you accelerate a taco to a high enough speed it has enough kinetic energy to destroy a small village. It's simple physics the energy that an object releases when suddenly stopped is determined by the objects mass and velocity.
Best example: Railguns which accelerate solid slugs to speeds of up to mach 10 and these slugs cause far higher destruction than a shell of equal weight filled with explosives.
1700509
Seems legit, do it.
1710084
This penguin knows a lot about weaponry.
1712637
Well seeing as any technological advances the humans have could be reverse engineered by the ponies one day but it's unlikely that humans will match the ponies psychic powers... I thing magic beats hands, and the humans just happen to be a few thousand years of tech ahead right now.
1713176, considering they have anti-psychic weapons, I'm fairly certain that the Humans have encountered psychics before. Hell, some of them may be psychic.
And the space suits look more like Halo styled powered armor than space suits. And orbital drop FTW.
Finally, please don't go "Humans Are Bastards" on us. I know that's not likely, but please don't do it. It makes me
.
Yeah, just read through all you've done so far, and it's safe to say I'm hooked on this story. I mean, three chapters in, and the rest of my favourited chapters that had been updated just got ignored
It's not clear of spelling and grammar errors, I'll say that much; I've seen quite a few during the time I've read up to chapter 18, but the story is still very well done
I also really liked your approach to humanity already existing in Equestria. I've seen a lot of variants where humans are the thing of mythology, but this the first time I've read a version where the human species never left Africa. It's logical, given the world, and also quite clever, especially after you make it clear only zebras have an idea of the 'laughing apes', rather than just Celestia and Luna.
I look forward to more though
Keep up the good work my friend!
Best fanfic i've read in ages. SpaceMarines ftw. Need moar. Will play SC meanwhile.
Its been a week. Cough up the cookies and no one gets hurt.
1748670
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One day past deadline, one internet cookie