ONI Sword Base
5 November 2551 0900 MST
Planet Reach
Admiral Langston was looking over the footage from the probe. Normally, he would leave that to subordinates, but they had all given reports that he felt needed to be verified personally. While most of the sensor readings became useless within the first hour or so, apparently as a result of the probe being taken indoors, the video feed was more than enough to pique his curiosity.
Here was an undocumented civilization composed entirely of ponies of the same apparent species the crew of the Guam had been turned into, with the addition of another subspecies with the defining traits of both unicorns and pegasi. The xenoarcheology department was going to love this, mostly because it was a chance to study something that wasn’t the Covenant. In addition, the unicorns in the footage were showing abilities that hadn’t been demonstrated by the unicorns that came from the Guam. Specifically, they were seen moving objects, some larger than the ponies themselves, without any physical contact. This was definitely something that warranted investigation.
According to the report, not only had the probe somehow managed to grab one of the new types of pony on its way out, but it was miraculously still alive and in custody aboard the Commonwealth. If this “Princess Celestia” was indeed a representative of a foreign civilization as she seemed to be, then things had just gotten exponentially more complicated. A possible ally would be the ultimate morale booster in this desperate war, but betrayal by an apparent ally could end it in an instant. They needed to make sure they could trust this princess, and, given the circumstances surrounding the Guam’s crew, he could think of an excellent test of loyalty.
* * * * * * *
UNSC Commonwealth
6 November 2551 1200 MST
Reach Orbit
Sargent Muller walked into the brig with a prisoner escort detail: four ODST armed with shotguns loaded with solid slugs. They were taking no chances with this thing, no matter how polite she seemed to be. Admiral Langston apparently wanted to talk with her and she was to be escorted to Sword Base, but they had no intention of letting her out of gun sight until they knew she could be trusted, and anything that powerful was very hard to trust.
The cell door opened to reveal Celestia standing patiently just inside as though she had been waiting for the past ten minutes. Muller gave no indication that he cared. “Come on. One of the higher-ups wants to have a word with you,” he said, stepping back to make way for her. The escort took up positions behind and to either side of her. This formation then proceeded to the docking port where a shuttle was waiting to taxi them to their destination.
* * * * * * *
The entire trip was an unfathomably new experience for Celestia, and not simply because of the strange locale; the hostility and fear radiating from the humans was startling. Though these five were obviously warriors of some sort, she could tell that that they were all tense, as though they could come under attack without warning. Even with the weapons at their disposal they feared her, and that was what made the whole experience almost unbearable.
For almost as long as she could remember, Celestia had inspired hope, joy, love, and many other positive emotions, but not once had she been truly feared. Now she was trapped away from her friends and loved ones and surrounded by a race that might consider her a serious threat and could end any perceived threat with ease. The only positive light she could see in this was that one of their leaders apparently wished to speak with her, and she might be able to use this opportunity to ease their fears.
That knowledge did little to make the journey any more palatable. She had yet to see anything besides metal and humans, and was beginning to wonder if they knew anything else. The room she was lead to had no apparent exit, and the door through which they entered sealed behind them. Aside from a number of seats along the sides and a few posters on the walls, the room was more or less featureless. Suddenly, there was a hiss, and she felt herself accelerating, despite not seeing any change. The disorientation passed, and she offered what she hoped was a questioning expression to the only human whose face she could see. The only response he made was to declare that “We’re moving.”
Almost an hour later, just as Celestia was starting to get bored, the moving room gave a startling jerk as though it had hit something. She immediately panicked and looked around for anything that might have broken, only to hear one of the suited humans chuckle. “Relax,” he said surprisingly clearly through his helmet. “We just hit atmosphere. We’ll be groundside in about half an hour.” Though the human’s words were hardly reassuring when the room felt like it was trying to shake apart, they weren’t panicking, so she tried to follow his advice. Sure enough, they began decelerating and the shaking slowed to a low rumble. Many minutes later they stopped with a final jolt.
The door they had entered through opened again, not to a metal corridor, but to a ramp leading to what appeared to be a field of black stone. Her escort ushered her outside, where the welcome feeling of sunlight was perhaps the only familiar aspect of the environment. The black stone stretched for miles, occupied by strange machines of various sizes and shapes. The machine she had arrived in was set away from the others, but even at a distance she could see much bigger ones taking off to fly away at unbelievable speeds, while smaller wheeled vehicles with a vague resemblance to carriages ferried groups of humans around. In the background stood a vast stone complex topped with a black monolith of some sort. Mountain peaks could be seen to the side, with a glacier wedged in between them.
Three of the pseudo-carriages, two of which had weapon-looking devices attached to their rear compartment, broke out of the confusedly ordered crowd and approached Princess Celestia. When the three vehicles came to a stop, another human stepped out of the one in the middle. Judging by his more decorative style of dress and the salutes from her escort, this particular human was very important. He saluted back and walked up to Celestia. “So, you’re the princess I’ve heard about. I am Fleet Admiral Marcus Langston of the United Nations Space Command. I apologize if things have gotten off on the wrong foot, or hoof, in your case, but to be perfectly blunt, we don’t trust you. We do however have a way for you to prove yourself. Before we get into the peculiar specifics, however, I’m sure you have a few questions. It’s a slow day, so I have time for one or two.”
As the admiral finished speaking, Celestia already had a question on hoof. In fact, it was the question foremost in her mind since she had first awoken in the humans’ realms. “Why do your people show such blatant hostility and mistrust? In all my years, I have never seen a simple stranger receive such a cold welcome.”
For a brief second, Celestia hoped she had not asked the wrong question, but the admiral just chuckled sadly before he replied. “Ma’am, how much are you willing to risk on that stranger being as simple as he seems?” Seeing that she was about to ask for an explanation, he continued. “You’ll have plenty of time to pick up on the specifics, but suffice it to say that there’s a lot more at stake here than diplomatic relations with a herbivorous monarchy.”
“Very well,” Celestia replied. He had been less straight forward than she had hoped but more so than she had feared. Now for the other question that had been rattling around in her mind since she had awoken. “I would also wish to know the nature of those frightening weapons your people wield. Such power would tear through anything short of a great dragon with ease. Is such force really necessary?”
“Those weapons have been the basis of our military power for nearly eight centuries. They have become steadily more destructive as defenses against them have been developed, and recent events have shown that they are unfortunately all too necessary. If anything, they’re not nearly enough.” The frown he let slip easily proved that he wish it were not so, but was wiped from his face with a skill enviable of the sneakiest of pony politicians.
“Now, moving on to your opportunity, we have a number of personnel who have been transformed into ponies through an accident that was as strange as it will remain vague. The footage we’ve gathered of your people show the unicorns displaying the ability to manipulate objects from a distance, an ability ours have yet to demonstrate. I want to know how they do it, and I want you to teach the skill to ours.”
“That’s strange. Telekinesis is basic magic, something any unicorn should be able to do.” Humans turned into ponies? Could that have something to do with the Element I felt?
“Magic? Right… Whatever it is, it’s an asset we can’t pass up, and you’re the only thing we have with experience working with it. The transport you arrived in will take you to where they are being kept, and if you need anything, you may make a request to the ONI correspondent there, who will forward it to the supply hub.”
Sensing that staying there would give no more answers, and would probably be detrimental to her health, Celestia climbed back aboard the “transport,” which took off again with the same disorienting movement-without-motion. She could already tell that that was going to be rather hard to get used to. Having time on her hooves, and having left her escort behind with the admiral, she decided to investigate the posters on the walls. They were almost to a one urging enlistment in the military to “defend our colonies.” Defend them from what? Is there some power greater than the humans? The more she learned about these humans, the more confusing they became. They were more dangerous than anything she had ever known, and yet it was obvious that they were afraid of something, mortally so. But what could it be? What could strike such terror into being which have had weapons capable of killing an alicorn for nearly a millennium? Whatever it was, she hoped she would soon get some answers.
* * * * * * *
Outpost Epsilon
6 November 2551 1700 MST
Viery Plateaus, Reach
By the time the transport finally slowed to a stop, Celestia was looking forward to seeing ponies again. The humans were just so strange looking; all long limbs and concealing clothes. Whatever they acted like, familiar forms were a welcome sight. In fact, she was already starting to consider them her own people before even seeing them. She simply wished Admiral Langston had been more specific about the problem with the unicorns.
When she stepped out of the now-open door and into the glare of a desert sun, she was surrounded by staring pony faces. At first glance, they seemed to be just like her ponies back in Equestria, albeit clothed in the humans’ style. However, all of their manes and tails were cut uniformly short, and where Equestrian ponies would sometimes have coats colored pink or Spring green, these ponies often sported fur the color of mud and blood, fire and steel, and other cheerless shades. Even many of their cutie marks were of a more violent nature, sporting blades, explosions, or the humans’ strange weapons or vehicles. No, these were not her ponies, though many of them could be mistaken for one. These were just more humans.
Still, in order to return home, to her ponies, she had to gain the trust of the humans, and that meant teaching magic to these pseudo-ponies. “Greetings. I am Princess Celestia, and your leader has sent me to teach you the basics of magic.” They immediately began to murmur among themselves, obviously confused. “Please, there is no need for alarm, as –“
“Since you obviously lack even the slightest knowledge of military protocol, I am going to let this slide.” Celestia nearly jumped at the sudden voice behind her, and swiftly turned to see a light brown earth pony flanked by five ponies in the full body suits that were rapidly becoming familiar. Though none of the human weapons were evident, apparatuses on their right fore-leg gave off a similar deadly feel. How long have they been standing there? The non-suited stallion continued speaking. “However, if you ever intend to make an announcement to my people again, I suggest you run it by me first.”
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry. Would you perhaps oblige me to ask who, exactly, I will be ‘running it by’ in the future, however?” She tried to keep an air of embarrassed innocence, which was easy since she honestly had no idea what she was supposed to be doing. “Admiral Langston forgot to tell me, well, pretty much anything about who I would be working with.”
“I didn’t know we were that classified,” the stallion chuckled. “I’m Captain Arnold of the UNSC Guam. I was told to expect someone with unique knowledge of our situation, and you, as you have announced to everyone within earshot, are a magical princess here to teach us her art. Now if you’ll follow me, we have to work out just how we are going to go about it.” He proceeded to lead her through an array of uniform concrete buildings, with the escort taking up positions around them.
Glancing around, she could see cloud buildings hovering above the others, made in the same utilitarian style. In the distance, red plateaus rose above a parched desert landscape. She could still feel ponies staring at her, and eventually hazarded a question. “Exactly how embarrassing was I back there?”
Captain Arnold glanced back at her before speaking in a neutral tone. “If you were in the military, you could be court-martialed for insubordination. As a civilian, you could be charged with disrupting military affairs and face up to a year in prison. But as I said, I’ll let it slide because you obviously weren’t told anything before you were sent here.”
“That…seems a bit harsh.”
“These times have been a lot harsher, and I’m beginning to suspect you haven’t been told why.”
“The admiral said I’d have plenty of time to find out.”
“Well, I suppose that’s true enough.” He said as they walked between the buildings seemingly at random. “But for now we need to work out how to teach “magic” to approximately five thousand soldiers and crew-people.”
“Hmmm… It’s been such a long time since I’ve taught anything more than a personal pupil or two.” Celestia cast her mind back through the ages, trying to remember anytime she had taught a large crowd. If there were any such instances, they had been lost to even her memory.
Before she could finish searching her memories, however, the Captain continued speaking. “Well, then that’s what we’ll do: train up a small cadre of specialists who will then be able to spread their knowledge to the rest of our forces. Is there any indicator we should look for while gathering said team?”
“Well, a unicorn’s magical power is usually similar to that of its parents, but since everypony here is apparently a first generation, I’d have to look at them all individually. If you have five thousand of them, this will take quite a while.”
“Narrowing it down to just the unicorns leaves just under seventeen hundred, but it’s still a rather significant number for you to interview individually. It could take days, even weeks. While we have the time, that’s quite a while to be performing such a repetitive task.”
“Please, Captain, I said look at, not talk to. And I’ve been doing this for a long time. If you gather all of them together, I can single out the most powerful of them within two hours.” She couldn’t help but let a note of haughty confidence enter her voice.
Captain Arnold seemed surprised by such a fast time table, but he seemed to accept her lack of explanation. “Very well then. It will take an hour or so to gather them all up, so in the mean time you can settle in to your new quarters.” He finished speaking as they walked up to one of the nondescript buildings that apparently made up the entirety of the compound. The door automatically opened to reveal a large, if somewhat sparsely furnished room. Most of the back half was taken up by rows of bunk beds, with a trunk at the foot of each, though many of them were opened and empty. The front half had several tables, a few of which were occupied by ponies that had paused in their card games to stare at the new arrival. “Since the pegasi completed their aerial barracks, most of them have been quartered up there so there’s plenty of room available. Unfortunately, there aren’t any cots for someone of your size.”
Her horn began to glow with a golden light. “Don’t worry. That shouldn’t be a problem.” Two of the bunks were enveloped in a similar sheen of light and rose up into the air. The top bunks detached themselves and were set aside, while the bottom bunks were forced together. Foam and steel flowed and fused, until there was a single, princess-sized bed where the two mass-produces bunks had been. To everypony else’s credit, only a few of the ponies playing cards actually had to close their mouths.
Celestia trotted over to test her new bed as Captain Arnold finished processing what he had just seen. “Well, that was an interesting little demonstration,” he said, though his tone revealed that he was at least slightly shaken by the spell. “The squad will tell you when everything’s ready,” He gestured to the armored ponies. “If you have no further complaints, I have a job to do.” He left without really waiting to see is she had any complaints. Luckily enough, she didn’t.
If the atmosphere relaxed at all without the Captain’s presence, it wasn’t noticeable. The ponies at the tables were staring more warily at her now, and her escort was doing a very good impression of uninteresting statues. With nothing better to do, Celestia approached her new bed and prodded it with a hoof, then watched as the dimple slowly filled back in. “My, this is quite an interesting material. What exactly is it?”
“It’s memory foam,” One of the escort ponies replied, though with their helmets on it was difficult to determine which one. “These beds were made more for durability than comfort, so they’re doubtless a far cry from a royal suite. On the other hand that mattress is probably older than you are.”
“Oh, I highly doubt that.” She hopped onto the bed and curled up, looking more like large cat than a princess. “This is actually rather comfortable,” she murmured to herself. “ Kind of like a cloud, only without that damp feeling. So,” she turned back to her escorts, “do any of you five have names, or are you as faceless as your helmets?”
The escorts looked among themselves for a few moments before one of them sat on his haunches and started fiddling with his helmet. With a hiss, the headgear came free, revealing a stallion with mottled grey fur and mane. He gave a theatrical “Tada!” before putting the helmet back on. “But enough about me. We’d like to know more about you and your people.”
* * * * * * *
Author’s notes: I'm not really sure I like how I played the UNSC here. I can't really put my finger on it, but it feels like something's off about them. Review and help me pin down what I did wrong.
Also, sorry about the delay. Life happened.
Post-revision notes: Now with extended Q&A with Fleet Admiral Langston.