True to her word, Sophia composed letters of her inspections of the goings on in Ponyville. Since she lacked a means of quick delivery and she didn’t trust the postal system to deliver a letter without it getting lost in the system, she personally delivered her letters to Celestia. As fast as she was she could deliver the letter and be back at the house within a minute.
As time passed in the town, there were plenty of things to note. Nova had found that the ponies were very friendly to her and helped her to understand their customs without her letting on that she wasn’t originally a pony. It would later help her to avoid any social faux pas that would have gotten her into various kinds of trouble such as that one time she accidentally bumped another mare’s flank with her own which told the mare that Nova was interested in her. Nova ended up apologizing repeatedly when she made that mistake.
There was the occasional incursion from the Everfree Forest that involved hungry beasts which were repelled when the bunny unleashed a loud beastly roar that frightened the creatures back into the forest. She may have been small but she could still roar like a colossal Ultralisk and that struck fear into the hearts of many predators. The townsponies never figured out where the roar was coming from. The bunny figured that it was better to scare the predators off since the ponies would freak out if they saw dead bodies.
In time more residents moved into the small town. One of them was a young yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail with a cutie mark of three butterflies. She seemed shy and reserved and a look into her mind revealed that she had been the victim of bullying from her peers which left her with little to no confidence. However, she was completely comfortable around creatures who lacked the means to properly communicate but the filly seemed to have a talent for communicating with them.
Sophia could see potential within the filly named Fluttershy who had a knack for patching up wounded animals. If she could apply those skills to ponies she would make for a good medic on the battlefield. However before that could happen Sophia needed to consider ways to boost her confidence.
Another filly moved into town not long after Fluttershy did. Sophia had a feeling that this one followed her friend here out of a sense of guilt. This one was a pegasus with a cyan coat and a multi-colored mane and tail in the colors of the rainbow with a mark of a cloud unleashing a bolt of tri-colored lightning. This one had ambition and a desire to show off her greatness to everypony which gave rise to an uncontrolled ego. However, further analysis of her psyche told Sophia that this behavior was a means to conceal how insecure she was about herself.
With proper discipline and military training, this pony, Rainbow Dash, could become a fine soldier and with the amount of power she noticed being released by her flying, perhaps an ace in a starfighter one day.
A third arrival was a truly strange one and one she would need to be careful–
“Hi there!”
Sophia could believe that she jumped over the pink pony’s head when she was startled by her sudden appearance. Sophia, the rabbit who could sense any mind coming from a mile away, didn’t sense the presence of the pink one.
This was why she needed to be careful of this one. Pinkie Pie had a very uncanny power that Sophia equated to Toon Force, a powerful and dangerous ability that manipulated the laws of the universe for comedic effect. This earth pony could use this power all she wanted as long as it was meant to be funny. Sophia had seen cartoons before and this pony behaved just like a cartoon character.
If Pinkie could utilize the darker form of comedy on her enemies she could devastate entire armies with her power.
In response to her surprise greeting, Sophia went into a series of angry squeaks and other rabbit sounds to show how upset she was. She wasn’t going to show the ponies she could talk just yet.
“So, whatcha thinkin’ about? Are you planning on attending Gummy’s adoption party tomorrow at six PM?” Sophia thought about Pinkie’s question and decided it was better for her to attend than get the filly upset. With a nod, Sophia received a tiny invitation card before the pink pony pronked off.
The bunny had a feeling that Pinkie knew that she could talk but seemed intent on keeping her secret. She decided to put that out of her mind and focus on other matters.
While the ponies lacked vehicles that were not powered by themselves, the Apples had a tractor that didn’t have a motor but it appeared to be powered by their own magic. The middle of the three siblings, Applejack, appeared to move the vehicle by planting her rear hooves on a floor plate that appeared to conduct the magic in the mare’s hooves while her front hooves were operating the steering wheel. She had seen the other family members try their hooves at driving the tractor but were either unable to power it properly or couldn’t steer it properly. Sophia concluded that the filly had a talent for driving vehicles; a skill that she.hoped could be baseline for ponykind someday.
Sophia’s thoughts turned to the light gray filly with a purple mane. She had heard rumors that Rarity was the one who built the tractor for Applejack. It was clear that this filly had a knack for mechanical engineering and building machinery. With enough investment, this filly could be the key to her plans. She considered getting her nephew out of his workshop; a feat that takes an effort short of miraculous to pull off sometimes since he pretty much ate and slept in there as well. He may consider taking on an apprentice.
One other pony that caught Sophia’s attention was an orange pegasus filly with a magenta mane and tail. She appeared to be living with her aunts since her parents were always busy with their work and were seldom ever in Ponyville. The filly appeared to be about the same age as Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. Though what really caught her attention was something she discovered from the minds of her aunts.
Apparently, the doctors had diagnosed the filly, Scootaloo, with having undeveloped mana channels in her wings which screamed ‘birth defect’ in Sophia’s mind. It was a particularly harsh one as well for a pegasus as it meant that flight may not be possible for her as it was likely that she would have to live with stunted wings her whole life.
Still, the filly had spirit and a determination to make do with what she had. Sophia decided to keep an eye on Scootaloo as well in case she had potential as well.
Sophia continued her observations to see if there were other ponies with potential.
A few months later Sophia paid her weekly visit to Canterlot. This time she stayed to observe Celestia’s two apprentices. The lavender one, going by Twilight Sparkle, was an inquisitive one who desired to learn all she could from books though she also spent time playing with her baby dragon, Spike, and her best friend, Starlight Glimmer.
It was easy to tell that the two fillies knew a great deal of spells though Twilight appeared to be a jack-of-all-trades type when it came to the various forms of magic. Celestia appeared to be steering the filly away from the darker arts of magic though. That would have worked if Starlight hadn’t found out where the ruler kept the books.
Speaking of the lilac filly, Sophia noticed that Starlight took an interest in watching military training drills. A look into the filly’s mind made the bunny’s eyes glisten with pride as she noticed that Starlight was noting the lack of efficiency in the soldier’s movements and considered ideas to improve on that. Many of them were bad ones but if these thoughts could be properly nurtured there might be hope for this country’s train wreck of a military.
As for her magical studies, Starlight did learn many spells but she appeared to lean toward combat spells. The bunny templar mentally applauded the filly taking initiative.
Time marched on as the months soon turned into years with the three visitors getting acclimated to the world.
Every now and then Sophia had to leave Equus to take care of matters such as stamping out an evil galactic empire that threatened her federation but she was never gone for more than a week. She would often bring Nova and Tosh along to make sure their skills don’t rust.
Nova eventually introduced the ponies to Tosh, who had his armor and weapons taken by Sophia at the time. Naturally the ponies were nervous around the zebra and prepared to hide in their homes but Nova mentioned that Tosh was the one who defeated the timberwolf that nearly killed Bright Mac and Pear Butter. One pony got it into their head that Nova and Tosh were special someponies and that led to some rumors spreading and ponies eventually warming up to the Spectre Zebra. For the sake of Tosh’s relationship with the community, they decided not to dispel the rumors. Plus, Sophia agreed to let the rumors spread.
The years in Equestria had their ups and downs and one tragedy did occur during their time there. A hydra attacked Ponyville one day and caused a lot of damage. This was during a time Sophia was away on business. The hydra caused a lot of property damage before Nova and Tosh were able to drive it off with the Spectre frightening the creature with a painful Psionic Lash that left it greatly wounded.
Unfortunately, while there were no fatalities, there was one casualty during this incident where one filly was trampled by the hydra. With her body so badly mangled the doctors gave little hope that she would ever be able to walk again. Even worse, the attack also left her with a broken horn. She was currently on life support after suffering numerous fractures to her ribs and legs along with heavy internal bleeding and a severely damaged spine. She was lucky to even be alive right now.
That filly’s name was Sweetie Belle.
When Sophia heard about this it made her frustrated that her duties drew her away at the worst time. Even more so was the fact that while she did have a method to restore the filly’s body, it wouldn’t have worked in this case. Her body was so badly damaged that using regenerative Zerg cells would run the risk of infesting the poor filly, leaving her in an even worse state.
While Sweetie was staying in the hospital, Sophia decided to check on Rarity who had opened up a workshop in the carousel-like building and had constructed her refinery.
While the filly was overjoyed when her theory finally bore fruit when she used a few sapphires for her experiment and was shocked when the refinery produced liquid metal that poured into the prepared crucible, Sophia could tell that Rarity was also using work to mask her pain after the incident. She appeared to blame herself for leaving her sister alone during a time when she needed her most.
Quickly searching through her shop for an ingot mold, she found one and poured the liquid metal inside. Rarity went to her bedroom to rest while the ingot was cooling.
Sophia snuck into the workshop to examine the ingot that was still sitting where Rarity left it. Once it was cool enough she touched it to feel its texture and durability. She was also able to get a read on its molecular composition with her power which left the bunny shocked when she realized what she was looking at.
“What’s the verdict?” Nova asked telepathically.
“It’s definitely the kind of stuff you could forge a starship from but the quality is much better than anything found in the Koprulu sector. She forged this from a couple of sapphires. If this stuff can be mass produced, Equestria could one day become a powerful ally or a dangerous foe on the intergalactic stage.”
“Then we better make sure it’s the former when the time comes,” Tosh commented.
“Agreed, now that I have a better glimpse at this filly’s potential, I think it’s time to give her something more challenging.”
Opening a rift, Sophia went through and appeared in her headquarters, a space colony vessel that housed an autonomous civilization under her rule. Using her Zerg morphing ability, she altered her form back to her anthro rabbit state with her uniform reforming around her.
Back in her normal state, she proceeded to her nephew’s workshop which was nearby. She knocked on the workshop door which was met with no response. A second knock hit the door harder and threatened destruction to the resident if he didn’t open soon.
The door opened a few seconds later to reveal a disheveled human with a look that gave the impression that he disregarded the concept of a sleep schedule. Despite that he wore his victorian era suit and coat while wearing a monocle over his left eye and a top hat.
Sophia gave her nephew a deadpan look, “Still haven’t let go of your obsession with steampunk, Ingram? You know the things you make would put such things to shame.”
Ingram met Sophia’s look with a glare of his own, “Really love? You threaten to smash my door down and then you critique my fashion sense? Bloody, is this another ploy to get me out of my workshop, or are you just in that foul of a mood that you would choose me to vent your frustrations upon? Besides, cyberpunk never agreed with me.”
Sophia rolled her eyes. It did irk her a little that her nephew had such a wonderful British accent and he was still a loner. “As much as I really want you to get out and get some fresh air, maybe meet someone to spend their lifetime with, I am here on another matter.”
“You are here for the schematic, aren’t you? If you are, then my precognition device has had a successful test.” Ingram smirked when his aunt nodded. He then tossed the rolled up schematics into her hands. “If that filly you have taken an interest in can improve upon this schematic then I may consider taking her on as an apprentice. For now, good day, Auntie Sophia.” He then closed his door.
Sophia sighed as she turned away from the door. She opened a rift back to Equestria but gave one last glance at the door. “You better keep your word this time.”
The Sun was nearly out of sight when Sophia returned. Returning to her feral form then heading to Rarity’s workshop, Sophia planted the schematics where she would find them. It was a few minutes later that Rarity came down from her room to continue her work on the strange metal.
Rarity picked up the metal ingot and stared at it for a time. “Hmm, what shall I do with you?” As she put the ingot away she went to her desk where she spotted a rolled up scroll. “What’s this? I never put this here.” She unrolled the scroll before her eyes became so wide that they nearly flew out of their sockets. “By Celestia’s horn, where did this blueprint come from?” As she looked it over a faint sense of hope rose from within her as her thoughts drifted toward her sister.
That was when an idea came to her. It was risky and never been done before but she was willing to give it a try since her sister’s life was at stake and even if she recovered she wouldn’t have much of a future if she were unable to use her hooves or her horn. A number of worries flooded her mind about how she was going to handle the key issues that would arise from such a procedure.
Rarity was drawn from her musings by a knock at the door. Strangely, the knock sounded lower to the ground than usual. Even stranger was that her shop was supposed to be closed so there shouldn’t be any customers tonight. These strange occurrences put the near adult filly on edge as she suspected an unwanted guest at the other end of the door.
More knocking was heard as Rarity walked toward the door. “Who could be out there at this time of night?” she wondered out loud.
“Open up Miss Rarity, we need to discuss a few things about your inventions,” called out the voice from outside.
Rarity finally decided to open the door to see who could be outside at this time, expecting some filly or a customer whom she forgot to return an appliance to.
She was not expecting to see a blue rabbit looking up at her with an impatient look in her posture.