An empowered Sonic Rainboom travels across the stars and draws the attention of intergalactic powers both benevolent and malevolent.
A certain event bound the destinies of several fillies. However, in this reality, it did so much more. An Equestria where the ponies had a fear of great change had caused their civilization to stagnate in some areas. Fearing what would happen if this continued, the Tree of Harmony sought a way to push equinekind forward again. It found its opportunity in a filly named Rainbow Dash. Through her Sonic Rainboom the Tree empowered it to extend beyond Equus.
Sophia Craft, ruler of the Starcraft Federation, picked up on the energy and decided to investigate. It was there that she found a project for her and her family to work on.
However, the energies of the Rainboom would draw more than Sophia as Equus would soon find itself as a battleground for intergalactic powers that they were woefully unprepared to face.
This story will contain elements of Starcraft but is set far into the future from that timeline where only those from that time who have frozen themselves would be in this story while any others would have long died of old age. Also, while Sophia is anthro normally, she will be in a feral state for the majority of the story so I couldn't say if an anthro tag is necessary. Tags may change or be added as the story progresses.
Strolling onto the bridge of the ship was an anthropomorphic blue rabbit girl wearing a buttoned blue jacket with a white half skirt going down to the back of her knees. She wore white gloves and black skinny pants that would have chaffed with her fur if it weren’t for her abilities. Her boots matched her pants.
She glanced around at the officers on deck before I gave a deadpan look at the ensign, “We’ve been over this, ensign. Just because I step out to use the facilities doesn’t mean you need to announce my presence every time I return.”
The ensign gave a firm salute to her, “Sorry, ma’am!”
She rolled her eyes and returned to the captain’s chair. Though, given her position the crew seemed offended by the chair she sat in. She couldn’t believe the number of times the crew had tried to replace the thing with something more extravagant but she turned it down every time.
The girl’s name was Sophia Archon Craft, heirarch of the Starcraft Federation. She was quite knowledgeable of the original story of the Koprulu Sector. In one variation of that universe, she unified three warring alien races under a single banner through a combination of diplomacy, brute force and guile. The federation was the fruit of her labors; a union of humanity with a technologically advanced race of psychic aliens as well as a race of genetically malleable and brutally ferocious aliens. The latter two were commonly known as the Protoss and the Zerg.
Some may wonder how she could get these races who had fought each other for years to just get along. Overall it was a combination of charisma, power and a sense of honor; traits that were greatly respected among the three races.
She was originally born human, at least, that’s what she thought growing up. It wasn’t until her late teens that she found out that she possessed immense psionic powers which surpassed what humans were capable of. She also learned that she was genetically hybridized with Protoss DNA in an experiment to create a more powerful psychic solder which surpassed the standard human covert ops soldiers known as Ghosts and Spectres. This allowed her to use a myriad of psionic abilities, some of which were highly destructive.
However, her current appearance showed no signs of such hybridization. Part of it was because she was also infused with Zerg DNA which allowed her to adapt her body to a number of conditions. When combined with her Protoss DNA it allowed her the ability to shapeshift to an extent. While she couldn’t turn into other people, she could instantly grow Zerg chitin on her body to use as armor or to attack with. She could also shift into the various strains of Zerg.
The main reason why she didn’t look human was the fact that she had a cousin who was a mad scientist. While she did help her to unleash the full potential of her powers, she also decided to have a bit of fun with Sophia’s DNA so now her base form was that of an anthropomorphic blue rabbit.
She didn’t resent her cousin though. In fact, she actually found it cute and exotic. Plus, she got to play the role of the adversary the enemy always underestimated…up until running in terror screaming bloody murder. She tended to have a bit of a sadistic streak, blaming the predatory instincts she gained from her Zerg genetics.
As for where she was at this time, she was aboard her flagship: The Aquaelie. It wasn’t originally hers since she ended up displacing it from its home universe moments from when it was destined to be destroyed, crew and all. She told the crew back then that she couldn’t return their ship to that universe because of the circumstances. Since they were officially cut off from their original government permanently, the captain and crew decided to serve her for the rest of their days.
That was centuries ago.
Since then she had made her own modifications to the ship and now it was the envy of her entire Starcraft Federation. Even the humans and their Battlecruisers or the Protoss and their capital ships didn’t hold a candle to the vessel.
As for their current mission, they were tracking down a band of pirates who were discovered to be operating in the sector. Rumor had it that the pirate leader was none other than Alan Schezar who was supposed to have died a long time ago to a renegade extremist Protoss. If it really was him then he somehow survived the encounter and probably entered a long sleep in a cryo chamber to preserve himself.
Still, he was no match for her forces so it was only a matter of tracking him down. Even if he did have one of the last few existing Zerg Cerebrates, giant larvae-like creatures with the ability to control an entire brood of Zerg, it wouldn’t be enough.
Her attention was taken from the mission when the ship shook briefly, leading to the officers on the bridge to devote all of their focus on their consoles to investigate what happened. She gave them a few moments to examine their screens. “Report!”
“Ma’am, readings indicate that we encountered an energy wave that crashed into us,” one officer said.
“Why was this not brought to my attention sooner? I thought our sensors were state of the art?”
“They are ma’am! The reason we didn’t get a reading sooner was because the energy wave was nearly completely decayed in potency that it barely registered on our sensors while still having enough force to jar us.”
Sophia nodded, “Alright, let’s get some readings on that energy and find out where it came from. If it’s an enemy attack I want us to be ready.”
After a couple of minutes of scans and data gathering, the officers came to her with their reports. One had reported that there were no enemy vessels nearby. Even if the enemy was using cloaking technology the scanners would have still picked them up. Others went on to scan the energy.
“Ma’am, the energy doesn’t appear to be psionic or void based but it isn’t anything humans could be capable of at this time either,” a Protoss officer reported.
“Does it bear any resemblance to known energy forms, however minor?” Sophia asked.
“It possesses some similarities to psionic energy, but the signature overall appears to be unlike anything we have ever encountered.”
“Hierarch, I have my report ready,” a human officer offered. “I ran some calculations on the energy magnitude and it was rounded up to one point two when it hit us. I suspect we got the tail end of it.”
“One point two is the magnitude of an ion cannon used by Protoss starfighters,” Sophia pointed out. “The range of such energy wouldn’t travel far. What about the radius of the energy wave?”
“Unknown, hierarch, even with our long-range scans we couldn’t pick up the whole thing. It must have traveled a long distance to reach this far. I’d estimate that the point of origin could be in another sector of the Milky Way.”
“What about the arc of the energy wave? Can we make some estimates of its point of origin through that?”
“Just finished the calculations now, ma’am. Rough estimations put the point of origin in the Delta Quadrant.”
“Seriously?!” Sophia loudly stated in shock. Thinking about it, for energy to reach them in the adjacent Beta Quadrant, the energy magnitude would have to be immense.
When comparing other energy sources, Protoss energy weapons ranged from one point two for their starfighters to two for their capital ships which were capable of causing widespread desolation of a planet’s surface over the length of a continent. The energy magnitude system was such that the magnitude from one to two was an exponential difference. Two was the highest for any known starship. Magnitude three was exponentially greater than two and would be the minimum amount of energy required to travel into adjacent quadrants; less if the point of origin was around the border between quadrants. Even then the energy would have to be at least two point eight to reach here.
“This definitely warrants investigation,” Sophia voiced. “Assign the Delta Fleet to continue the hunt for Schezar. Plot the estimated locations on the star map and set course for the general vicinity. I want all non-essential crewmen to take this time off to rest, though be ready at a moment’s notice if we run into trouble.”
Most of the officers stood from their chairs and saluted their leader, “Yes, hierarch!” They filed out the door out of the bridge. The navigational crew members plotted the course then joined the others.
Sophia could have simply opened a rift and been there immediately, but she was aware that the crew had been working hard during this mission and figured that a week of rest would do them good. She could handle most things herself but her officers would get upset with her if she put all of the burdens on herself so she let them do what they wanted.
Since she wasn’t needed on the bridge, Sophia decided to go find something to do while they were en route.
One week ago…
As a certain cyan-coated filly with rainbow mane and tail celebrated her victory against a trio of bullies who often picked on her foalhood friend, whom she didn’t notice that she had knocked out of the clouds and had to be saved by a swarm of butterflies, her actions this day would not only tie her destiny to others, but so much more.
The power of the filly’s Sonic Rainboom didn’t simply travel across the countryside and be observed by half the world. This energy would travel beyond the world of Equus itself and expand throughout a large portion of the galaxy. Of course, the filly’s power alone wouldn’t have nearly been enough to have that effect.
As the rainbow waves surged outward, the Spirit of Harmony itself saw an opportunity to save the land from the thousand years of stagnation that ponykind had wrought upon themselves. Using the rainbow energy, the Tree of Harmony amplified it to extend beyond this world in hopes that someone beyond the stars was listening and will come to restore the balance of order and chaos that will allow ponykind to move forward once more.
While the boost had drained the tree of most of its energy, which it would slowly recover in time while the Elements were dormant, the energy also had the effect of changing the destiny of a certain filly within the town of Sire’s Hollow with a lilac coat and deep purple mane and tail with an aqua stripe.
It was around this time that she and her foalhood friend were playing a game of stacking books when the stack nearly fell on the filly and the colt’s telekinesis saved her, a cutie mark appearing on his flanks afterward.
What changed that day was a tremor that shook the house and overcharged the filly’s horn, sending her into a magic surge that brought the books to life and turned the colt into a book. Thankfully the filly was able to regain her senses once the wave passed. The living books stopped moving once the magic wore off but the magic affecting the colt persisted.
Upon seeing what she did to her foalhood friend, the filly wrapped her hooves around the book that was once the colt and bawled for several minutes until her father rushed into the room to see what happened. When the filly explained what happened, the father was uncertain about what to do until a reddish orange mare with pale green hooves and a mane and tail of three shades of scarlet entered the house to check on her son.
Seeing the state of things, the mare quickly recommended that they take a trip to Canterlot and hope that Princess Celestia could fix her son.
Thankfully, the princess was able to reverse Sunburst’s affliction. Though when Celestia asked the two families about how this came to pass, the explanation left her impressed in the two young ones. However, her attention was more focused on the filly who she could tell possessed tremendous magical potential, just like a certain lavender filly she admitted as her personal student only a few hours ago.
Celestia had a feeling that her protege, Twilight Sparkle, and this filly, Starlight Glimmer, had a great destiny ahead of them.
Even with the best technology available it still took about a week to reach the sector where the ship’s crew estimated the energy wave came from. Sophia contemplated asking her engineering genius nephew if he had any upgrades for the ship’s engines later. Regardless, they had arrived and it was time to examine the nearby star systems.
The crew was refreshed after a week of R and R and ready to return to their duties. Sophia watched as everyone returned to their stations and performed their duties with renewed vigor.
The scans of nearby star systems didn’t show anything out of the ordinary and after hours of scans the crew was beginning to wonder if they had miscalculated the general area the energy wave came from.
That was until one last scan for the current crew’s shift caught their attention. “Hierarch, my scan has detected a world with an anomalous configuration,” said a female Protoss officer. “The system is composed of a planet as the centralized celestial body with a small star and a single moon.”
“A planet with its star orbiting it? That is certainly unusual,” Sophia commented. “Is there any sign that the energy wave may have originated from this world?”
“Unsure, however the energy readouts are picking up a reading that doesn’t match the magnitude but the signature is similar in parts to the energy wave. There is a fairly high chance that the energy originated from this planet.”
“Very well, let us investigate this planet then. The anomalous configuration alone deems this world worth a look.”
“Permission to speak freely, ma’am?” one male human officer requested.
“Granted.”
“Why are we bothering with this matter? Shouldn’t we be using our resources hunting Schezar?”
“It’s not every day that you get an energy readout that greatly surpasses what a starship is capable of. For all we know it could be some super powerful entity showing off or some civilization developed some kind of super weapon capable of destroying planets.”
“You’re a super powerful entity…” another officer muttered in amusement.
Unfortunately for her, Sophia heard that. “I’ll let that slide once, lieutenant, just because it’s true. Please remember your training.” She turned back to address the previous officer. “Energy like that is going to draw the attention of intergalactic powers such as ourselves and depending on who finds this world, they will either want to mine it of its resources or enslave a species if the energy comes from living beings. That’s why I want to investigate this planet before I make a decision on what to do with it. If this world can produce an energy wave that can travel to another quadrant of the galaxy, we can’t leave this matter alone or it could be a potential threat to us.”
The officer nodded, satisfied with her answer. “Orders, ma’am?”
Sophia smiled as she saw her crew returning their attention to the terminals as they resumed their duties. “First, let’s check the atmosphere. Let’s see if the air is breathable.”
“The atmosphere has a composition similar to most inhabited worlds in the Koprulu Sector,” a male Protoss officer replied. “There is a slightly higher composition of argon though.”
“Alright, I’m not even going to bother asking about the climate. We can’t make any proper estimates because of the celestial configuration.”
“Hierarch, I’m picking up an energy reaction coming from the planet’s surface heading directly for the planet’s star!” one officer loudly reported. “It’s registering at magnitude two point two.”
“Let’s see what happens,” Sophia thought out loud.
The next few minutes were fascinating and shocking as the energy reaction wrapped around the star and moved it around to the other side of the planet. The next thing they saw was the lunar satellite being exposed to a second reaction and moved to where the solar satellite was before.
“Where did that signature originate?” Sophia asked. After a few moments, a holographic display of the planet appeared in the center of the room. A red point flashed on the map.
“The observer drones we deployed around the planet gave us this image,” one officer said before indicating the point as a red dot. “Our sensors place the point of origin at this point.”
“Send some observers down planetside, we need to know what we are dealing with,” Sophia ordered.
This task took the rest of the day for the crew, or night as they soon realized from the location of interest. They spotted what appeared to be equine creatures of a wide variety of colors and symbols on their flanks. Because of the time of night, however, there were very few around since most were in their homes. They would need to wait for another energy reaction to return the celestial bodies back to their original configuration before they could reach any conclusions on the population.
They also examined the settlements around the world and witnessed a wide variety of cultures. Using a system of comparing structures to the chronological development of Earth, Sophia concluded that the equine civilization varied from eighteenth century to twentieth century, the latter showing along the eastern coast cities of the region of interest. However, while motorized vehicles were non-existent there were still train tracks which suggested that they may have developed locomotives.
“I see…” Sophia mused. “This scan alone tells me that this world credits the phrase ‘Necessity is the mother of invention.’ They certainly didn’t develop the way humanity did. No airports, few military bases, and train stations follow a design similar to the American Wild West. Looking at other countries, some might have better military than the equine lands but not by much. One country in the far south seems to have the best military and could potentially conquer the world one day.”
“What now, hierarch?” a Protoss officer asked.
“We wait for the next shift in the celestial bodies.”
A couple of hours passed and Sophia had the crew end their shifts while the next set, rested and ready to go, entered the bridge and took their stations. Sophia briefed the new staff on what they had discovered so far.
It wasn’t long before the same energy reaction that moved the star and moon was detected and just as Sophia figured, the celestial orbs moved back to their original position.
“Time for another scan, I want to know if these equine creatures are the civilized species on that part of the continent.”
A few hours passed and the crew found that the equine creatures were going about their days like civilized people. Other countries also had their share of civilized creatures, all of them were of mythological creatures from human legends. She spotted griffons, dragons, hippogryphs, cat people, zebras (not mythical but Sophia noted that their behavior mirrored ancient African tribes), and minotaurs. They also spotted a species of insect-like equines in a region northwest of the equine lands.
Focusing on the lands the energy reaction came from, the crew examined the equines in more detail. They noted that they came in four types: those with horns on their foreheads, those with feathered wings, those with bat wings (Sophia noted that they didn’t mingle with the other types and seemed to keep to themselves), and those without.
One important thing that Sophia noted was that every species in the world radiated energy in subtle amounts, leading to the conclusion that there was something about the planet itself that appeared to guide their evolution.
One observer scanned what appeared to be a garden around the castle in a city built into a mountain. It spotted what appeared to be a fairly large specimen of the equines, taller than any of the others. The equine appeared to have a light fuchsia coat that could be mistaken for white along with a mane that emulated an aurora of cerulean, turquoise, heliotrope and cobalt, that appeared to billow in a non-existent breeze. A mark of a sun flaring in eight directions was on her flank. A crown on her head indicated that she may be a leader. It also gave the crew the impression that the equines lived under a monarchist government.
Other things of note were the large wings and long horn, a combination not found from any other equines. This gave the impression that the combination could be a status symbol, given the adornments and the uniqueness of the creature. More importantly, the crew measured her energy emissions and found that the magnitude exceeded anything else they found on this world. While there were a handful of readings that were well above what could be established as an average, this one gave off the most energy by far.
“I think we found the source of the energy that’s been moving the star and moon,” Sophia noted.
“Orders, ma’am? I think we have learned all we can from remote observations.”
“Indeed,” Sophia agreed. “The energies emitted from this world could have attracted others besides us. I don’t know when, but I am certain that those with ill intent will visit this world. Since we can’t go on protecting this world forever, we will need to implement a permanent solution: destroy the planet or uplift the people so they can protect themselves.”
“Are you sure we can accomplish that?” one officer asked, knowing that the former option was not actually on the table, given how Sophia was. “Those creatures are still technologically medieval and militarily primitive. They seem to still be using swords and spears. Even if they were infused with energy it wouldn’t make them very effective when facing gauss guns and combat walkers.”
“Which is why I am going to be performing a field study before I start drafting plans to uplift them. I have no doubt that it will be a long term project though.”
“You are bringing some bodyguards with you, right?” another officer asked, a tone that allowed no negotiation.”
Sophia chuckled awkwardly while rubbing the back of her head. “Ehehe…right.” As much as she was their leader, the other officers were still allowed to make sure Sophia had protection even if she wouldn’t need it. The last time she went off and did things on her own, her adjutants dumped a literal mountain of paperwork on her desk and had her deal with it without using illusionary clones like she usually did. She was lucky her Zerg biology prevented her from getting carpal tunnel.
Sophia cleared her throat and voiced her decision, “Since these creatures are not ready for extraterrestrial interaction, this will have to be a stealth observation. Me and the two bodyguards of my choice will be going incognito for this. Therefore I have decided on the two to come with me. It’s about time I let those two out of the freezer anyway.”
“‘Those two?’ Hierarch, you don’t mean…”
Sophia nodded, “Yep, they’ve been very useful to me over the centuries but I think it’s time for them to begin acclimating to civilian life before I have them retire. And who knows, maybe they might find someone down there who they are willing to pass down their skills.”
One officer looked at the info on the creatures and looked at her as if she just ordered the whole universe to be compressed into a marble. “With all due respect, ma’am, I can’t imagine these creatures having that kind of potential.”
Sophia chuckled at the officer’s comment, “Look past the biology and see what they have done for themselves. Despite being quadrupeds without grasping limbs, these creatures built an entire civilization with impressive structures. They even built skyscrapers! There is more to them than meets the eye and I want to see where this potential takes them.”
Sophia strolled into the cryo storage chamber aboard the Aquaelie where anything that was to be cryogenically preserved was stored.
It was a dimly lit chamber with a number of cells that were large enough to fit people and that was what most of the cells contained. While some were frozen as a form of punishment for some past crime, there were also some cells where Sophia kept those who have served her well preserved until a later time when she would need their skills again. These people volunteered, of course. Though she was also disappointed that some of the crew used some of the cells like they were freezers to store their food until they felt like eating it later. She would need to talk to them about that at some point.
Regardless, her attention was drawn to two individuals who had served her well in the past, though one of them also made a nuisance of himself a few times.
Accessing a terminal, Sophia activated the two cells that she wanted and peered inside the windows. One was a human female with blonde hair done in a ponytail and, from what she remembered since her eyes were closed, green eyes. She wore a sleek gray suit with thin armor plating. The other was a human male with dark skin and black hair done in dreadlocks and milky white eyes. He wore a black suit with slightly thicker armor plating than the other.
Satisfied with her selection, Sophia began the process of activating the two cells to release the two occupants from their stasis. The process of thawing the two took a few minutes plus a few more for the two to regain cognizance after being frozen for so long.
The female was the first to speak, “W-where are we? How long have I been frozen?”
“Hello Nova Terra and Gabriel Tosh,” Sophia greeted. “You are currently aboard the SFS Aquaelie holding orbit over a planet that we will be investigating once you two have recovered from your cryo hibernation.”
Sophia led Nova and Tosh to a cabin and let them recover, offering cryo-stim supplements to speed their recovery. The drugs shortened their recovery time to a couple of hours before they were mentally ready for their briefing.
The briefing took a few minutes where Sophia went over the information they had gained from the planet they were orbiting. “I am also informing you that this mission may be a long term one and will be the last one before I hand you two your retirement papers.”
“With all due respect, hierarch, I still have plenty of years in me to serve,” Nova protested.
“Heh, a workaholic as ever, woman,” Tosh pointed out.
“At least I didn’t waste most of my career being a scummy pirate!” Nova snapped.
“Don’t start, you two,” Sophia admonished. “My word on this is final, so I suggest you get used to the idea. Who knows, maybe you will find something to catch your interest there. Anyways, I am not expecting significant hostilities yet, especially from the natives. Though we might have others show up at some point.”
“I doubt we have anything to fear from something out of a little girl’s fantasy,” Tosh remarked.
“Regardless, I want to see what we have to work with before I formulate my plans to uplift these creatures. We are going incognito using the genetic morpher. The observers have already scanned the DNA of the various species of the world and I have chosen templates for both of you.”
“Wait, we are going in looking like the natives?” Nova questioned. “You mentioned that they were quadrupeds, but I’ve never fought with an altered center of gravity before and I doubt Tosh has either.”
Tosh shrugged, “It’s true, but I have been known to adapt. I wonder if you are even capable of doing the same given how inflexible you tend to be.”
“Let’s get going,” Sophia interrupted, heading off another argument.
The two agents remained quiet as they made the trip to another room where they figured that they would be transformed into the natives for the mission. Sophia explained that the morpher would transform them and send them down to the surface as long as there was a warp conduit there. Thankfully, one of the observers planted a crystal shard at the intended transport location.
Sophia’s transport system relied on her special crystals which she would plant in strategic locations. By putting a little of her psionic power into a shard, she would be able to nearly instantaneously travel to another shard. These crystals acted as her warp conduits and took her centuries to master it to the extent that she would only need a tiny shard at point A and point B. Until then, it took her an entire crystal formation to properly travel.
Once the three of them were ready for the process, they entered a small chamber as the process started up. A minute of wait was all that was needed for the three of them to be exposed to a blinding light. They closed their eyes and used their arms to block as much of the light as they could. Sophia held up one of her shards as the system reacted to it.
Everything happened within a few seconds. When they lowered their arms, or rather their forelegs, they soon found themselves in a meadow just outside of a dark forest.
As soon as her vision recovered, Nova took the time to gaze upon her hooves, sky blue in color. She found that she could twist her body enough that she could look upon her flank. The image of a familiar skull-shaped mask, like the ones Ghost agents were known to wear, was engraved onto her flank. Her tail looked platinum blonde.
She also noticed something that was missing which immediately made her feel self-conscious. “Wait, where is my suit? Why am I naked?!”
“Relax Nova, from what I could tell from investigating the natives, clothing is optional. You will fit in without your suit. As for where it is, I had your suit placed in a dimensional storage until it’s needed.”
Nova looked around to find Sophia which took her a few seconds until she looked down. Her already large eyes widened while her pupils shrank as she looked at her leader.
She was looking at a rabbit in her feral state. The only unusual thing that would set her apart from other known species of rabbits was the fact that her fur was blue. She also had a white nose and her eyes were amber. Sophia was now half Nova’s size which did make her slightly larger than the average rabbit.
“So how come I was allowed to keep my suit?” Tosh asked. Nova looked at her counterpart and spotted a male equine who had a light gray coat with dark gray stripes around his head. The rest of his body was covered by the equine version of his armor. His dreadlocks were now draped down to the base of his neck. “And why are you a small animal?”
“First, since I didn’t want to complicate things, I turned Nova into one of the wingless and hornless variants. As your bodies acclimate to the environment, I’d like a report on what changes you experience. I turned Tosh into a zebra because I don’t have a lot of data on their kind and I’d like to know what they can do. Second, I wanted the rabbit look because I love selling the adorable but deadly look. It tricks my prey into thinking I’m prey up until they find out I’m higher up on the food chain than they are. Third, I want Tosh to remain in stealth until further notice. Since he’s a zebra and their kind hasn't been seen on this continent, I don’t want to take chances until I can understand why that’s the case.”
“So what’s our mission?” Nova asked.
“We’re still investigating the natives so I want you two to investigate the culture around here. See what you can learn about the characteristics of the various types of natives and how they use the energy of this world. Tosh will be studying remotely while Nova will be trying to mingle with the natives. The nearby town should work for this.”
“And what about you, little rabbit?” Tosh asked, a bit of teasing in his voice.
Sophia didn’t rise to the bait, “I need to explore the lands and set up conduits in places that might be necessary to visit later. After that I plan to learn what I can about the high energy source.”
Sophia lingered to watch in amusement as she saw Nova try to walk away only to trip and fall on her face. “Ow! How do these creatures walk like this?”
“I can’t really help you there, that’s something you will have to learn for yourself. Though I’d advise you to learn before you two are discovered by the natives. I’d rather not let on that we are not from around here too soon.”
Sophia stayed to watch Nova and Tosh struggle to learn how to walk on four legs. The rabbit had no problems moving normally since she had spent time in quadruped forms, including the zergling which kind of moved like a rabbit. Of course, she found that she could give the two some advice on how to move which helped to speed up the learning process.
The three were at it for several hours as Nova and Tosh worked to build muscle memory that would aid them in learning how to walk. However, learning how to trot, canter and gallop would require more practice and they needed to get the mission underway.
Once they were able to walk around without making fools of themselves Sophia bid the two farewell before she raced off at a speed just below what was needed to break the sound barrier since she didn’t want to be causing damage through sonic booms.
Nova and Tosh glanced at one another before the latter gave an amused smirk that made the earth pony glare at him in annoyance. The zebra activated his suit’s personal cloaking while Nova figured that he was moving toward the town.
Sighing in resignation, Nova began walking toward the nearby town as she tried to prepare herself for something her ghost training had never prepared her for…
Nova arrived in the nearby town an hour after her mission started. During that time she became more confident in her walking that she had started to trot her way there.
She spotted a number of the equines wandering around with the highest density being in what she figured was a marketplace where they set up stalls to sell their wares. She probably shouldn’t have been surprised that the food items appeared just like what humans grew. In fact, the general behavior of these creatures mirrored humanity in the nineteenth century.
The townsfolk didn’t seem to pay much attention to Nova at first which meant that her appearance was convincing. Of course, there were a few who gave her odd looks. She glanced at one stallion who quickly looked away and continued walking.
She received more strange looks over the next few minutes until one of them finally worked up the nerve to talk to her. “Excuse me, I’m sorry for staring. It’s just that you have such an exotic cutie mark.” The voice sounded like she was one of the females, a mare if she remembered her biology classes.
“Cutie mark?” Nova questioned. She looked at where the mare was staring and realized that she was looking at the mask icon on her flank. “What about it?”
“Does this mean that you have a talent for making masks?”
Nova really didn’t want to be placed into a role she was ill equipped to back up since there was a chance that she might make the natives suspicious. Instead, she tried to create a profile for herself that was a little closer to the truth without giving anything away. “Actually, I am talented at concealing myself. It doesn’t make me good at making masks though.”
Thankfully the mare seemed to buy the explanation as she nodded. “I see, so what brings you to Ponyville? I’ve never seen your face before.”
“Uhh, actually I just travel a lot.”
“Really? Where are your saddlebags? Surely you don’t travel without any supplies.”
“I umm…lost them in the nearby forest,” Nova lied. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable with the mare’s prodding questions. “I’m hoping to find a replacement here.”
“I can point you in the direction of a store where you can buy a replacement,” the mare offered.
“I can’t afford it I’m afraid; everything I owned was in those saddlebags.”
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry dear. I wish that I could help you retrieve your saddlebags but if they were lost in the Everfree Forest then they may be gone forever.” Nova did her best to look sad at the mare’s comment, realizing that she could lower her ears which the natives took as an expression of distress. “If you are looking to earn some bits I’ve heard that the Apple family at Sweet Apple Acres is looking for part-time help. The Apple family over there is stretched thin because of the coming harvest season and Pear Butter is still recovering from delivering her third foal. I’m sure a well-traveled earth pony like you would be a big help there.”
“Thanks for the advice, I’ll consider it an option. For now I need to get moving,” Nova offered, trying to get away from the mare.
“The farm is on the other end of town if you’re interested.” The mare then walked away.
Despite the discomfort she was feeling trying to talk with that mare, she did pick up on a number of terms that expanded her knowledge of these creatures. She learned that the currency of this country was called the bit and she learned that she was known as an earth pony. What that meant though she would have to learn as she went. They also used equine terms for their kind, such as foal when they likely referred to babies.
Nova was beginning to wonder if it was safe to assume that these creatures reflected horses, or rather ponies, from Earth, given their sizes. She had to wonder how many commonalities these ponies had with Earth equines.
With the exception of the colors and the marks on their flanks she considered that they also had a mainly vegetarian diet while requiring a minimal amount of meat for protein. She did notice one pony eating a sandwich with flowers inside.
That was when another thought occurred to her, Sophia had likely not only altered her form but she had likely also altered her dietary requirements. This meant that there was a good chance that her body was going to reject excessive consumption of meat and will find plants that her old body would have rejected to be appetizing to her new body. That was one thing she was not looking forward to.
Nova continued going over her thoughts as she explored the town.
Tosh was doing his own exploring of the town to pick up on the things that his partner missed. While his cloaking device was active he was confident about not being found. He was also glad that his personal suit carried its own generator so he didn’t have to maintain his invisible state with his psionic power.
Looking up, Tosh noticed the winged variants of the creatures, which he came to the same conclusion as Nova that they were ponies, flying around and physically touching clouds, even moving them around. He even spotted two of them actually standing on one and having a conversation.
He came to the conclusion that this was what the winged variants were capable of, yet for Sophia to take an interest in these creatures there had to be more to it than mere cloud manipulation.
Tosh made sure to study the other two types in town. However, he was unable to make any discoveries about the capabilities of the ones without wings or horns. Since his partner had become one of them he would leave the matter of their study to her.
The horned variants were much easier to study. After watching a young light gray filly with a deep purple mane and tail for a time he noticed that her horn glowed and objects that appeared to be in her focus also glowed the same color. He concluded that the horned variants used a basic form of telekinesis which indicated the possibility that they were naturally psychically gifted, though he would need to observe more of them before he could draw conclusions. However, like with the winged variants he couldn’t help but feel that they should be capable of more than telekinesis.
He continued looking at the scene with the filly for a little longer and saw that her parents watched as their daughter was fixing up a broken appliance for one of the townsponies. For one so young to be fixing machines like that, he could tell that she had a future in electrical engineering. It would be a useful skill to have for the future that Sophia envisioned.
Unfortunately the town seemed to be mainly inhabited by the non-appendaged variants while the winged ones had the second highest density here while the horned ones he could count with one hand, if he still had them. He would need to explore another town to find a better sample size.
For now, Tosh would have to be content with gathering what little information he could while he waited for further orders from Sophia.
Sophia continued racing tirelessly from town to town while planting shards for her future transit system. Sure, she could just use rifts to get around but that carried its own risks such as creating spatial distortions that she would have to repair and that would be a pain to do. Because of that she mainly used them for interplanetary or interdimensional travel. Equus, as the name of the planet she casually picked up from reading the mind of one of the ponies, was just one world and she was focused on a part of it so a warp network of crystal shards would work.
She made sure to leave the shards in places that the ponies would seldom, if ever, visit. If no safe place existed in that settlement then she would have to make the shard invisible with her power.
During her travels, Sophia’s mind drifted to Nova and Tosh. She didn’t tell them that there was another reason why she chose them for this mission.
Nova was twenty-eight years old now, not counting the centuries she spent in cryo stasis. She had spent five years in active service outside of a cryo cell after the End War against the Fallen One. She was one of the most talented and skilled ghosts in Sophia’s organization. The problem was that Nova refused to train new recruits after each mission so her unique skills were left to herself. Sophia refused to allow Nova’s skills to falter by age until she trained at least one apprentice. Given the psionic nature of some of these ponies, she had her hopes that Nova would show interest in one of them.
Sophia’s concerns for the ghost, despite her young age, also stemmed from the sadness she felt for her. The Ghost Program was a cruel one back then. Children such as Nova were forced against their will to participate in the program once the government found out that the child was gifted with psychic powers. Such people were rare so their participation was made mandatory.
Those children were robbed of their childhood and trained as deadly assassins while having implants surgically placed into them to control their powers. Some even had their eyes replaced with mechanical ones to improve their sight and receive mission data.
Nova’s soldier life left her disinterested and unable to have a normal life, not to mention the memory wipes she subjected herself to after each mission, which Sophia discontinued after the End War.
Sophia wanted Nova to experience what it’s like to live a normal life, away from the missions and the political intrigue and maybe try to make some real friends who weren’t coworkers who limited their interactions to professionalism.
On a side note, Sophia was glad that she was able to somehow curb Nova’s aggressive behavior toward spectres like Tosh. She once viewed their kind as psychotic time bombs who needed to be put down but Sophia made the two work together long enough for Nova to soften her opinion of them. The acrimony between the two had been worn down to a passive aggressive relationship at worst. She hoped that this would improve over their time here and the two would form an actual friendship.
Tosh wasn’t much better though he avoided the government longer than Nova did. He was raised on the streets by his grandmother on a world that didn’t have a training facility to hone his powers. The doll around his neck was a final gift from his grandmother. He was only a few years older than Nova. His problem was that he spent most of his life either serving the government or rebelling against it. He at least once had comrades once which he did call his friends though.
Sophia shook herself from her thoughts and continued her race all over the Equestria, which was what she learned was the name of the pony lands from overhearing a conversation. By the time the day turned to evening she had nearly finished setting up. All that remained was the city built into the mountain where the being with the high energy signature resided.
From the appearance of the sun and assuming that the one who moved it kept its cycle to a strict schedule, Sophia had spent the rest of the day planting her crystal shards for her future use. She had just arrived at the foot of the mountain where a city was built upon it.
She didn’t want to be spotted on the roads because she wasn’t sure if a blue rabbit would be seen as odd and didn’t want to test that out. Instead, she levitated herself up the mountain and landed at the outer edge of the city.
She took a few moments to admire the city. The architecture was certainly unlike anything she had seen outside of a fairy tale book. The gold, white and purple colorings gave an extravagant appearance to the city though the fact that it was hanging off the side of the mountain made her wonder how strong the supports were to hold up such a city. Many ivory towers were built into the city while a number of rivers and waterfalls ran through it, giving the city a magical vibe to it.
That was when Sophia realized the nature of the energy these ponies used. She wouldn’t be surprised if they called it magic. Magic was a highly versatile form of energy that could be used to alter the fabric of reality in any number of ways. It was definitely more versatile than psionics which carried many similarities to magic, such as telekinesis, illusions and energy discharge. Magic could also be used to tamper with a mind like psionics could. About the only thing that separated psionics and magic was the source of where the two energies were generated from. For magic users, they had a wellspring of mana to draw that power from while psychics got their power from their minds.
Filing that thought away for later, Sophia hopped into the city and began her exploration, taking note of the interesting architecture.
With the sun beginning to set, Sophia saw the streets were becoming less dense with ponies. She observed the streets from a rooftop, taking in the variety of colors for pony coats and the marks on their flanks that appear to be nearly as unique as individual snowflakes.
Of course, she didn’t expect to go unnoticed forever as a winged pony, or pegasus as they were known in Earth mythology, with gold armor spotted her. It was rather medieval-looking but she guessed that it was enchanted to offer some protection. How it compared to the unenchanted marine corps suits her rank and file human soldiers wore she would have to test at some point.
“How did you get up here?” the guard wondered out loud as he flew in to try and grab Sophia.
However, Sophia wasn’t going to make this easy for him as she jumped over his grab and off his helm and landed on the street before rushing off. It was getting darker but she decided to give the local guard some sport before night fell.
The guard began to give chase from the air while Sophia stayed on the street, doing her best to act like a typical rabbit evading capture. She knew the guard intended to relocate her to the palace gardens since she read his mind a little but she was going to make him work for it.
While the guard was doing well in keeping up with her while she wasn’t using her powers, he became increasingly frustrated when she repeatedly evaded his attempts to grab her in his hooves. “Motherbucker!” he mumbled after the fifth attempt to grab her.
His eighth attempt was met with him crashing into a unicorn guard. Sophia turned into an alleyway and overheard a heated conversation between the two. “Private Shining Armor, did you see where the animal went?”
“Sir! What animal, sergeant, sir?” the private asked while quickly standing at attention.
“The blue rabbit that should have been in front of you just before I crashed into you. Grrr! At ease, private. Help me find this critter, they have to be around here somewhere.”
Sophia decided the short break was over and resumed the chase as she left the alley and blew a raspberry at the two of them, prompting them to resume the chase.
However, just as she was about to run off again, she found herself being lifted telekinetically by the new player in their game, Shining Armor if she heard right. She quickly discovered the source of the field when she saw the unicorn’s horn lighting up. Well, she wasn’t about to be caught so easily, even if she had to cheat a little. Using a tiny amount of her psionic power, she emitted a pulse that caught Shining off guard and disrupted his spell, causing him to raise a hoof to his head as a brief sharp pain made itself known in his horn.
“Private, are you alright?” the sergeant asked.
“I’m fine, sir. Let’s keep going.”
The next fifteen minutes were much more interesting as more guards joined in on the chase. Still, she kept the chase going for a while. At one point she spotted a unicorn mare in an alley getting mugged by an earth pony (based on the info that Nova telepathically sent to her) stallion. She had a few seconds to spare so she bicycle kicked the stallion in the chin, sending him flipping on his back. She was glad to see that Shining Armor was not so incompetent that he ignored the mugging scene and he made sure to check on the victim. Though it did disappoint her that he was the only one who focused on the scene and was forced to handle the suspect on his own while everyone else was focused on her.
She saw the sun quickly dip below the horizon and the moon quickly rose into the sky, giving the bunny a glimpse of a silhouette of a unicorn’s head on the lunar surface. She would have to think about that later.
For now, with the night begun it was time to bring her little game to an end as she raced back to where she felt Shining Armor’s mind. She saw the stallion walk out of the guard post, likely after placing the mugger in a cell. She stood in front of him long enough for him to spot her and wrap his hoof around her. “Gotcha!” he cried. Sophia didn’t struggle and waited for the other guards to arrive.
The sergeant from before glared at the bunny for a moment before he gave a nod to Shining. “Good work, private. See that it gets back to the gardens and make sure it doesn’t try to escape again.”
“Yes, sir!” Shining saluted. He then headed for the castle grounds in a three-legged gait as he didn’t want to risk using his magic to hold the creature and getting another headache for his efforts.
After some time the two entered the gardens where she noticed the hedge mazes in the area. As Shining entered the animal sanctuary of the garden a thought suddenly popped into his head. “Wait, you let me catch you, didn’t you?” Sophia smirked at him in approval of his deduction though she still had to take points away for the slow realization. Still, the stallion showed some promise, unlike the others who chased her earlier. Overall she gave him a passing grade. “What are you thinking?” he wondered. Sophia shrugged which prompted an exasperated sigh from the unicorn.
“Anyway, please don’t leave the garden, the citizens don’t like seeing animals in the streets.” He then turned away and left to return to his duties.
Sophia felt like this was probably a good time to call it a night. There wasn’t much information to be gained from the night scene at this time so she found a place that was not likely to be hit by the morning sun rays and curled up to go to sleep. Despite how she normally slept in a bed on a ship, Sophia was no stranger to roughing it. It kept her instincts sharp.
Sophia awoke an hour before sunrise, about when ponies began to get up and prepare to go about their day. Of course, this was going by Earth time so there was no telling what schedule the sun raiser kept when performing her daily task.
She found herself being stared at by a couple of squirrels and a few birds. It didn’t take a mind reader to know that she appeared odd to them. She owed them no explanation though and decided to leave the critters to their devices.
Today she decided on a little stealth to investigate the palace that served as this country’s seat of power. She needed to get a better look at the one who could use magic powerful enough to move the celestial bodies.
Weaving the shadows around herself, Sophia created a cloak that allowed her to avoid detection by the palace guards. She couldn’t blame them for their lack of means of passively detecting hidden intruders since she figured that such enemies were probably rare around here.
Not long after she entered the palace the rays of sunlight filled the alabaster halls. This didn’t deter her from continuing her exploration.
During her exploration she spotted an amber unicorn with a mane and tail with streaks of crimson and bright yellow racing down the hall with her eyes closed. She had a mark of a flaring star with a balanced mix of red and yellow that matched her mane. She noticed the tears flying onto the carpet. Curious about where the unicorn was going Sophia followed her up until she found a room that contained a mirror. The unicorn looked around as she stood before the mirror before she jumped into it as if the glass was actually water, much to Sophia’s surprise. Huh, must be a magic portal or something, I guess.
With that detour concluded Sophia proceeded to continue her exploration. There wasn’t much else of interest, short of a pair of fillies, one lavender and one lilac, walking around like they belonged here. The lavender one had a navy blue mane and tail with a purple and raspberry stripe and was walking around with her muzzle in a book. She had a magenta six-pointed star over a smaller white six-pointed star with five even smaller white stars around it on her flank. The lilac one had a royal purple mane and tail with an aqua stripe and she appeared to be trying to memorize the layout of the palace like a tourist. On her flank was a purple four-pointed star over an equal-sized white four-pointed star with a pair of vapor trails in two shades of turquoise.
She followed the two fillies until they met with the one she was looking for. Sophia noticed right away that the large mare, who was nearly twice the size of the average pony, appeared distraught.
“I am sorry, my beloved students, but I am afraid that our lesson today will have to be postponed. Recent matters have occurred that require my utmost attention.”
“Princess Celestia? What happened?” the lavender filly asked. “This was supposed to be our first lesson with you.”
“I am sorry for this, Twilight. I will make sure to have time for your lesson tomorrow. I ask that you and Starlight study together and review your knowledge of telekinesis until then.”
The two fillies, Twilight and Starlight, left the chamber, the former with a disappointed look on her face and the latter indifferent as it gave her more time to look around.
The larger mare, Celestia, was left alone in her study. Feeling that she was alone, she gave an exasperated sigh. “Where did I go wrong with Sunset? All I wanted to do was steer her away from dark magic and its corrupting properties. I couldn’t risk another Sombra rising up to torment my little ponies.”
Sophia took a small glimpse into Celestia’s mind and the image of the amber mare from earlier appeared at the forefront. This made her suspect that Celestia had a falling out with that Sunset pony from earlier.
Regardless, it seemed about as good of a time as any for first contact.
After the two fillies left the study, Celestia let out a sorrowful sigh as she worried about her other student, Sunset Shimmer, who had fled from her after she threatened to revoke her status as a student if she continued her studies into dark magic. She didn’t want to use such a heavy hoofed tactic but she couldn’t afford to allow the mare to fall into the same pitfalls that Sombra did. Even in the off chance that she could have surprised her, it wasn’t worth the risk. She only hoped that the guards would bring her back safely.
Her thoughts drifted toward her other two students, Twilight and Starlight, both had shown great promise as mages. Twilight’s magic surge caused a lot of chaos and turned a number of ponies, including her own parents, into potted plants while hatching the dragon egg which should have been impossible and made her suspect that somepony or someponies conspired against the filly; a matter that she would have to investigate later.
Starlight, based on what she had heard from her father, the victim and the victim’s mother, had shown a similar degree of potential. From what she heard, the filly had a surge of her own and brought an entire bookcase worth of tomes to life and turned her foalhood friend into a book. Funny enough, the book contained a detailed biography of the colt’s life from birth to present.
Though what really caught her interest was the effect the surge had on the filly herself. Celestia examined the filly to see if the surge had any lasting side effects. She did the same with Twilight after her episode and was thankful that there was no lasting harm or changes to her. What she found in Starlight, however, was that her intrathaumatic resistance matrix had been altered slightly. The matrix existed in all ponies that allowed their bodies to resist the effects of their own magic to their bodies which prevented them from receiving any significant harm to themselves. The matrix in Starlight was not broken or damaged, only altered. If she was right, then she might be capable of self-levitation now; a feat that was impossible for any unicorn because of the matrix. Of course, Celestia couldn’t teach this to Starlight because it was impossible for anypony but the filly.
Celestia was pulled from her thoughts when her senses picked up on a presence that seemed to be in the room with her. Her ears perked as her head turned in every direction she could as she attempted to locate the source of this presence. “Twilight? Starlight?” No response, so it wasn’t them. She began to suspect an assailant. “Whoever is there, show yourself!”
As if accepting an invitation, the source of the presence dropped onto the floor in front of Celestia, though not before lifting her cloak of shadows before hopping down. To her surprise it was a rabbit, though the color of its fur was unusual. Her attention was drawn to the fact that she was able to sense a significant amount of power coming from the creature but it didn’t feel like magic exactly. It was easy to conclude that this was no ordinary bunny.
The alicorn slowly moved toward the bunny with a scrutinizing gaze, trying to figure out what it was without scaring it off though she sensed no fear from the creature for some reason and it was making Celestia nervous. “What are you…?” she mused.
“Cute and adorable, I would hope.” Sophia replied jokingly. This was followed by an amusing reaction of Celestia backing up into a bookshelf in surprise, the impact dropping an avalanche of books on herself. The rabbit giggled at the mare’s antics before her eyes glowed blue as she grabbed the pile of books in a telekinetic hold and returned them to the shelf, doing her best to remember the order the books were in before they fell.
Celestia sat on her plot with her eyes widened in shock and her jaw hanging open which Sophia closed with a little telekinesis. With no further surprises, Celestia managed to regain her wits enough to speak with her, “You can talk? And perform magic?”
Sophia tilted her head and placed a paw under her muzzle as she considered how to respond to that. “Yes to the talking part but no to the magic. Well…more like a yes and no to the latter. What I used was psychic power which isn’t something that comes from a magical source but comes from my mind. It doesn’t have the versatility that magic has but it still has plenty of uses.”
“What can you do with it?”
“For the basic stuff I can levitate objects or myself.” Sophia demonstrated this by lifting herself into the air before lowering herself back to the floor. “And there’s telepathy; mind reading. While it’s easy to read your surface thoughts, I can see the small part of you who is lamenting eating an entire…germane chocolate cake with a rich vanilla center in one sitting a few days ago?” Sophia gave a deadpan expression, “Really?” Not that she could judge her given the many strange things she had devoured over her life.
The pink in Celestia’s coat became much more pronounced in that moment as she looked away in shame. Sophia sighed and continued, “Look, it’s still pretty tame compared to the things I have eaten.”
“Like what?”
“You don’t want to know, not unless you enjoy having your coat going from that rosy shade of pink to a deep green in record time.”
Celestia nodded in agreement to let that matter slide as she cleared her throat and rolled the conversation back. “You mentioned what you called the basics of psychic power, what are the more advanced things you can do with it?”
“I can create illusions of myself or others and with a lot of training I can increase the range of their capabilities in the physical plane.” Celestia suddenly found another bunny that looked just like Sophia standing next to her hooves and staring at her.
“May I?” the copy asked. Celestia nodded numbly with uncertainty before the rabbit nuzzled her foreleg, getting a smile from the mare. Though just as quickly as the image appeared it vanished in a puff of smoke.
Sophia continued, “There are also more destructive uses for psychic powers but I won’t demonstrate them here. I can create localized lightning storms over small areas or use the shadows to wrap myself in them to make myself invisible and other uses that I’d rather not say because I want us to have a friendly relationship. But just to help you feel better, I am one of the most powerful psychics out there and your average psychic isn’t nearly as powerful as me.”
“While I do appreciate the gesture, I would like to know about those uses that you do not wish to tell me about. It’s nothing personal, I simply do not wish for one of your secrets to lead my little ponies to harm.”
Sophia hesitated for a moment and sighed, “If you insist…” She then went on to tell the princess about the darker aspects of her psionic powers where she sometimes used them for assassination purposes and then the variant that she figured would terrify the alicorn. She informed her about the corrupting power of the void and how it was used to unleash destruction or to directly steal the life force of others.
“I see…” Celestia mused. “It sounds like void energy runs in circles similar to dark magic. You haven’t been influenced by it, have you?”
“Can’t really say, I have spent centuries strengthening my discipline to help insulate myself from its dark influence so I can use it in controlled amounts when necessary. Thankfully, my other abilities have proven sufficient in regular scenarios.”
“‘Centuries?’ You claim to be older than you look?”
“I’ve been around a few millennia,” Sophia casually stated.
“Same, perhaps we are close to the same age,” Celestia giggled. She then gave her a diplomatic smile as she decided that the time for small talk was over. “So, perhaps now you can tell me your name and why you snuck into my palace?”
“As if your guards would ever give someone who looks like a small woodland critter the time of day for a formal appointment,” Sophia shrugged. “My friends and family call me Sophia. In a much more formal setting I go by Sophia ‘Archon’ Craft. I came from a place that is uncharted by your people. As for why I came here, that strange shockwave of energy from before had far-reaching effects that impacted far away places. Your kingdom may be visited by other foreign powers someday, possibly with ill intentions. Power on the scale of what we felt would be coveted by others; others with powerful and advanced technology and weaponry the likes that have probably not been imagined by your greatest minds.”
Celestia knew about the shockwave that happened weeks ago that sent poor Twilight into a magic surge. While she knew that it would have been seen by all of Equestria, she didn’t realize that it was that powerful. No pony should have been able to unleash the level of magic that was felt then, not even herself. She suspected that somepony or something may have amplified the effect.
Then there was the threat, what force in this world would have the power to defeat her nation with advanced technology when she had never heard a thing about them. Certainly news about them would have spread around the world if that were the case. Something about the rabbit’s story didn’t add up.
Sophia didn’t need psychic powers to know that Celestia was skeptical of her. Honestly, if she were in her position she would too. “I don’t need you to believe me right now, but I do wish to provide assistance to your ponies. The fact is that your magic will be a highly coveted resource in the years to come and if you don’t want to become enslaved and used as batteries for your slavers you will need to develop your military quickly to stand a chance against such threats. Honestly, I have no idea why your civilization isn’t as advanced as it should be by now.”
“We have only developed as the need arose, is it not the same as your lands?”
“No it’s the same way for us, we have simply developed as per our needs. Domestic and external issues have pushed us to improve our technology in many areas, including the military. I would hazard a guess that you have brokered peaceful relations with those who could potentially threaten your kingdom. However, a long era of peace could lead to complacency and stagnation which would leave your kingdom unprepared for the next big threat.”
“I am aware of this, it’s just…” Celestia trailed off. Truth be told, she wasn’t sure how to improve upon military technology, that was her sister’s area of expertise. Her sister was the innovative one between them and a brilliant commander. Unfortunately all research and development into military technology slowly ground to a halt over the centuries when she was banished to the moon and her commanders and officers went into self-imposed exile. Because of this Celestia was left with a succession of incompetent military advisors. After a few generations of this she simply left the position vacant.
Before Celestia could say anything else, Sophia’s communicator was chirping in her ear, indicating that the ship’s crew was wanting to tell her something. Celestia looked like she was about to form her response but the bunny cut her off, “We’ll continue this conversation later, I need to attend to something.”
Pulling out a crystal shard, Sophia channeled a little power into it which caused it to activate and pull her body into it, much to Celestia’s shock. The shard shattered into dust when it landed on the floor.
Sophia appeared at the Canterlot relay point which was the most secure place she could find in the city. Putting the prior conversation out of her mind, she swiped her paw and a screen appeared, showing the officer who was trying to talk to her. “This is Sophia.”
“Hierarch, I am so sorry for interrupting your investigation but I wanted to inform you that new information has come up. We did a geological scan of the planet to see if there were any valuable materials that could be helpful for your mission.”
“What did you find?”
“You may not believe this ma’am but the scans found a huge abundance of mineral crystals on the continent you are on. That continent alone is richer than planet Moria, the richest mining node in the Koprulu sector. The rest of the planet doesn’t have quite as much but it’s still more than we have ever seen on one planet before.”
“Are you serious?!” Sophia nearly yelled. “Ugh, nevermind! What about Vespene? Do the scanners detect any pockets under the surface?”
“No ma’am, we can’t detect any geysers on the scanners. If there is any Vespene Gas in the planet somewhere it would be too deep for the scanners to pick up.”
Sophia facepawed, “Wonderful, we found what may be the richest mineral node in the galaxy and no gas. They have the materials to build starships but not the fuel to power them. Well, I’m sure the ponies will be able to find an alternative to universal fuel. One thing is for certain, this planet and these ponies have targets on their backs.”
Taking the mare’s advice, Nova decided to take that job at the apple orchard. She was going to need the local currency if she and Tosh were going to be staying on this world for an extended period of time.
Nova acquainted herself with the Apple family who seemed too numerous for their small household of six so there was no way they were going to be able to offer her shelter. There was the oldest generation, Granny Smith, a lime green earth pony mare who appeared to be in her autumn years, then there was the middle generation composed of Bright Macintosh and his wife, Buttercup, who also went by Pear Butter. The former had a pale olive goat and a bright amaranth mane and tail while the latter had a bright gamboge coat and a darker gamboge mane and tail. The youngest generation was composed of a colt and two fillies with the youngest of them being born a few days ago.
The colt looked scrawny but his father believed that he looked like the way his son did at his age so he was sure he would have the same build as him when he grew up. He was also a bit taller for his age which was why the colt was named Big Macintosh. The colt’s coat had a similar color to Bright Mac’s mane while his mane had a similar color to his mother.
The older filly was named Applejack. She had a coat that looked the same color as her mother’s mane and her mane was the same color as her father’s coat. She had recently received her cutie mark which looked like three apples lined up and wrapped around a conveyor belt. Nova had a strange feeling that the mark wasn’t a conveyor belt though. Her suspicions were reinforced when she learned that Applejack was a natural at driving a tractor.
The youngest filly had the same coat, mane and tail color as her father while her eyes had an eye color resembling her mother’s mane. She was named Apple Bloom. Even someone as hardened as Nova couldn’t resist the heart-melting cuteness of the newborn filly. She was wearing a large pink bow in her mane which was a present her parents gave her for her birthday.
While Nova was happy to see such a close family, which made her feel a little envious when she thought about it, she had her own problems to deal with. The large household only had so much room which meant that they didn’t have room for her. She went into town where she asked around for the location of the town hall. The friendly townsponies led her to the circular building in the middle of town.
Inside the town hall, Nova requested a meeting with the mayor to the aide who informed her that she was in her office. The operative went inside and spotted a mare with a pale amber coat with a graying pink mane and wearing a pair of half moon glasses. Nova spotted the name plate of Mayor Mare on her desk. Not a very original name, but maybe it’s just something the ponies of this planet do I guess. Nova thought.
“May I help you?” Mayor Mare asked, putting on a friendly smile.
“I’d like to ask about finding a place to rent,” Nova responded. “I’m afraid that I’m lacking in bits right now after losing my saddlebags to the Everfree Forest.”
“Oh! So you’re the one I heard about; the wanderer who came into town after losing her possessions. I can help you find a place to rent and we can hold off on any rent fees until you can start earning some bits. You are planning on staying in Ponyville for a while, aren’t you?”
Nova nodded, “I will be in town for the foreseeable future.”
Mayor Mare nodded in response as she looked through her cabinets until she pulled out the appropriate paperwork while muttering to herself. “Ah, here we are!” She then laid the papers on her desk before Nova before moving a quill and inkwell toward her. “This residence is owned by an earth pony and pegasus couple who are looking for somepony to look after the house while they are away.” Although given how often they are away from the place you would think they would just sell the house, she thought to herself. “Sign on the line and I will arrange a letter to the owners.”
The next few moments were probably the most awkward ones of Nova’s life since she had no experience whatsoever writing with her hoof and her signature agreed with that sentiment. What was worse was that the written language was unlike anything she had seen before. This was going to cause her and her comrades trouble later on if they didn’t learn the ponies’ written language.
Regardless of how embarrassing that matter was, she now had a place to rent. Though that also likely meant that she would have to share a house with Tosh and that was not going to be fun.
Speaking of fun, that night turned out to be an exciting one as Nova heard the sound of wolves howling from the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Her instincts told her that she should look into it. It was a good thing that Sophia left her with her psi blade.
Heading to the farm, Nova didn’t see any wolves though when she checked the residents, she found that Bright Mac and Pear Butter were missing. Using her psionic implants, she released a wave of psychic energy to locate the missing couple. To her shock, her senses pointed them toward the Everfree Forest.
Rushing into the forest as quickly as she could, she soon found the pair under attack by a large creature made of many pieces of wood in the shape of a wolf. Nova was not amused by this literal representation of a timberwolf nor would she be later when she discovered that it was actually called that.
Thankfully for the couple Nova was able to reach them in time to deliver a slash at the beast’s muzzle with her energy blade, slicing it off. The timberwolf backed away and glared at its new prey. Nova slowly moved around the wolf to get it to turn away from the wounded couple which worked for a moment until it caught on to what she was doing. However, as it turned back to the others Nova was quick to capitalize on the timberwolf’s decision to go after the easier prey by rushing in and slicing off its right hind leg, leaving the beast off balance for a time.
Much to Nova’s frustration, the timberwolf reassembled itself to continue the fight. Even worse was that the beast decided to ignore her for later while it focused on the couple. The ghost had to be careful but she also had to be quick to save them.
Suddenly the beast yelped as a powerful invisible blast struck it and caused its body to fall apart. Nova had an idea how this happened so she wasted no time reaching the couple and placed Pear Butter on her back while she telepathically dominated Bright Mac to get him to follow her out of danger. She didn’t want the stallion to waste time asking questions right now.
As she was heading back to the farm, the timberwolf recovered from the stunning blast and began reassembling itself. However, a certain zebra spectre noticed what was likely the core of the beast. Before the timberwolf reassembled its protective wood around it, Tosh pulled out his rifle, thankful that Sophia gave him a model that was friendly for hooves, and fired a few rounds into the core, shattering it. As a result, the timberwolf collapsed again while being rendered as nothing more than a pile of wood in the forest.
Chuckling to himself, Tosh reengaged his cloaking device.
Bright Mac and Pear Butter were both admitted to Ponyville General Hospital to be treated for their wounds while Nova returned home to get some sleep.
The next day offered a new surprise, though unlike last night this was a pleasant one. After finishing her day with the Apple family and getting tired from doing extra work while Bright Mac and Pear Butter were in the hospital, she decided to take a walk around town to see what other things she could see or do. If she was going to be living on a peaceful pony planet for an undetermined amount of time, she might as well see what was available since her combat skills were not going to be useful at this time.
While she was wandering the market, Nova discovered a family with the parents being led around by one of their daughters. The father was a light gray unicorn with a brown mane and tail as well as a moustache which looked odd on a pony in Nova’s mind. His cutie mark was three American footballs. The mother had a fuschia coat and two tones of purple for her mane and tail. She wore earrings and a yellow scarf and her cutie mark was three cookies, two of which were bitten into. She was also wearing a harness holding a foal with a light gray coat and a mane that was both fuschia and purple colors and looked like it was curling. All of them were unicorns.
The parents were being led by a light gray filly with a deep purple mane tied into a ponytail and her tail had slight curls. Her cutie mark looked like three crystalline gears interlocking.
Nova overheard their conversation as she walked near them, “Rarity dear, I know you have chosen this path and all, but are you really sure you really want to do something so labor intensive?” the mother asked.
“Maybe she wants to build up a physique and join a hoofball team someday?” the father offered.
The mother glared at her husband, “Really dear, must you bring up hoofball at every opportunity? Your daughter wants to deal in oil and machinery as her chosen career path!”
“It could help her build her muscles.”
“Really Mama, Papa, I’ll be fine,” the older filly said. “I am aware that working with machines can be a filthy task at times, but it can also be rewarding if I am able to build something amazing and file a patent on it. In fact, one idea I had came to me in a dream recently. First I need to build a smelter and since that is quite expensive I need to try and find the parts I need and hope that I can find them at the best prices.”
“And where do you expect to build such a thing, young lady?” the mother asked warily. “Certainly not in our house I hope.”
“No Mama, I will keep the parts in storage until I am old enough to own my own workshop and build it there. I know you wouldn’t want the thing in the house.”
“So, what do you plan to do with a smelter?” the father asked.
“I’m not certain, but I have this feeling that I might be able to do something with gemstones, though the dream did include some things that didn’t make sense; like it was saying that I could create some sort of metal by smelting gemstones.”
Nova stopped listening to the conversation after that. Metal out of gemstones? It seemed crazy but if the gems carried similar properties to mineral crystals, the abundant resource of the Koprulu Sector that the Terrans used to construct their armor, vehicles and star vessels, then this might be a movement in the right direction for Sophia’s plan to uplift the ponies. Of course, this was provided that this Rarity filly was inspired to construct a primitive equivalent to a mineral refinery.
Nova decided to make a note of it and inform Sophia later.
