//------------------------------// // 26 - The End. // Story: Cataclysm // by Meep the Changeling //------------------------------// Rarity - 23rd of Megan, 17 EoH Canterlot Palace Ruins - Equestria To say that the Prench knights had finished the battle quickly would have been a gross understatement. As well as simply inaccurate. The person who had called herself Faust had apparently spent the entire day teleporting around to find people willing to help fight. The Prench had been but one arm of a two pronged attack, which had them attacking from the center outwards, while a regiment of Neighponese soldiers had encircled the entire Ponyville area and worked their way inwards. Apparently, other willing groups had been sent to other locations as well. The only other largeish deployment of professional soldiers had been to Canterlot, and from what I heard, had been an all Thestral force from Marelund. I’d heard that smaller groups of individual warriors had been sent all over Equestria in small teams to hunt down any stray demons, but I hadn’t really followed up on that. I had something more important to do. I had a missed phone call to make up for. Ayna had been kind enough to open a portal to Canterlot for Indy and I. Well, kind enough in my eyes. Indy had wanted to head back to his hull and begin repairs. But well, I thought it would be nice to show Twilight my new friend, and maybe have her restart his reactor, assuming she wasn’t too pooped from the battle. That way he could help rebuild. There’d be a lot of rebuilding to do, especially since more than just Ponyville had been flattened. Canterlot was almost entirely gone too. I remembered a time I’d overheard Lyra, Vinyl, and Octavia talking about a roleplaying game they enjoyed at the Hayburger. While I wasn’t interested in those kinds of games, I had admired the artwork in the rulebooks which depicted Equestria after a terrible event had destroyed every last vestige of the ‘old world’. The idea of seeing the greatest city in all Equestria reduced to a hooffull of blackened and/or burning towers, a cracked walls, collapsed roofs, and piles of rubble… It seemed so, impossible. Outlandish. Fantastical! I doubted that game would be selling very well for the next few decades. Because seeing the city in reality as it had been depicted… Your heart hurt. How many died here, while the towers fell? Worse still, how many had not? How many were trapped under the rubble? Thank goodness mages were already rescuing people. If I recovered any amount of magic before the job was done, I’d have to go and help. Put my exceptional telekinetic skills to use. “Is this what this place would have looked like before the battle?” Indy asked hopefully, a projection which resembled the old Canterlot popping up on my screen as we walked towards the palace. I looked at the image, and shook my head. “No. You have the shapes basically correct, but no building here was made from glass, or metal. They were all at marble, or at least covered by a veneer of marble. And the roof tops were all plated in gold.” Indy paused mid step. “W-why? That has to be an enormous expense for a pre-fabrication civ- Oh! Yes, of course, wizards can conjure materials as needed,” he decided. “Mmm, well, some materials. That’s very hard to do. And few things will stay around permanently if conjured. They just sort of... Dissolve,” I informed, glad for a conversation to take my mind off the horrific scene we were walking through. Thank goodness the palace was close by. “Then all of this was done with cash, mining, and... “ Indy shook the mech’s head and then hissed in sympathetic pain. “Somewhere out there, an insurance company president weeps, and a bartender rejoices.” I nodded. “Yeah… I didn’t even think about that. Companies are going to collapse over this,” I said quietly, realizing that the worst of this disaster was probably yet to come. “Yep, that’s war for you. Usually more expensive after it’s over then when it’s going on,” Indy sighed. “Is there anything we can do to help?” I asked hopefully. “You have access to a shipyard, right? Could we build buildings there, fly them here, and… Anchor them to the ground, or something?” “Yes. We can. Well, not how you said, but there is a way we can help by commissioning a constructor ship and flying it out here. But it’s not as simple as me just fixing everything. We’ll have to talk to your sovereigns about setting up mining operations, or supply lines. “Then there’s legal and political things to discuss, like what safety regulations are required for structures I create, what each settlement is legally required to have… How to organize neighborhoods in terms of what people believe so communities are not mixed, thus resulting in civil strife… Rebuilding is complicated. It could take years to get started,” Indy grumbled. “I didn’t think it would be. I’m glad we can do something about this,” I said as we walked through the last of the ruined street and stepped into the palace through the hole where half of the double doors had been. I’d always wondered why the doors were so massive before. Did the architects think all four of Equestria’s Alicorns would need to walk inside while standing atop each other’s backs? Regardless, the main hall was more than tall enough for Indy to walk the mech incide. “Are you certain your friends are here?” Indy asked uncertainly. I nodded. “Yes. This is where they would have gone if not to Ponyville, which wasn't there all week. Logically, they would use the place to regroup as it’s the most defended str-” “Oh! Yes, someone's just mentioned the name Twilight. That’s one of your friends, isn’t it?” Indy asked excitedly. I smiled, nodding quickly. “Yes it is! Can you hear anything else?” “No. Sound is too distorted to pick up more than a few snatches of conversation… But I think they are over there,” Indy informed pointing with one arm towards a door at the top of the left staircase. “Which means I can’t go… Not physically, at least. Those stairs probably wouldn’t take this mech’s weight even when brand new. You’ll need to hop out. Don’t worry, I’ll link up with your systems so you can introduce me.” I blinked tilting my head in confusion while the mech’s hatch popped open. “But… They won't be able to see you. Or hear you? Wait, do I have external speakers?” I asked, stroking my chin as I pondered having a sound system or not. “Yes, and also a holo-projector. Which you should have found already… It’s part of your eye’s HUD system. Haven't you explored yourself yet?” Indy asked, kneeling down and releasing the crash harnice so I could step out. “No. I’ve been fairly busy the last few days,” I chuckled as I hopped down, hooves clicking on the cracked marble floor. I felt a slight tingle in my scalp and Indy’s Avatar appeared a few meters in front of me, flickering, tinted blue, and scaled down to a very small size. “Well, that’s fine. It’s not a very good projector. I jerry rigged it from a holoscope,” he said, voice coming from my ear. “This is mostly good for pointing out things, showing small images to others quickly and… Other non-important stuff we can talk about later. Let’s go let your friends know you're okay.” “That’s the plan,” I informed before trotting up the stairs as quickly as my tired body would let me. Recharging that mech took a lot out of me. Even my mechanical leg felt tired. How do cybernetic parts feel tired? It had a nuclear battery, for Celestia’s sake! Or was it simply because all of the parts felt natural? Natural to the point where my body just sort of assumed that they were tired because I was tired? Questions for later. I reached the top of the stairs where my own ears were able to pick up the conversation going on in the small side room. “- but what is there to even do?” Pinkie mumbled sadly. “Well, normally I’d say we rebuild,” AJ sighed. “But it’s all gone. Like, compleatly. There’s probably not even stuff left to pick out of the ruins where the camp was, and I have no idea how bad the rest of the town is. “I don’t reckon folks will want to go back. At least not right way. Too many bad memories. Heck, maybe folks don't want to go back at all, and I can’t blame them if they don’t want to. But they’ll want to stick together. Princess Celestia said Luna evacuated everypony to the Emerald’s hive. We should go there. See about getting everyone willing to rebuild, or build a new town together. Put it in Whitetail woods, or some other nice place close by.” “U-um, that’s an idea,” Fluttershy said softly. “But I um, I think that Pinkie meant what do WE do?” Everypony was silent for a few long moments, giving me just enough time to reach the adjacent door. “Y-yeah,” Dash said quietly. “I don’t know what we’ll do without Ra-” My friends thought I was dead, and were in the middle of a horrible situation, with no homes left to go back to. If there was any time for humor, this was it. Using my mechanical leg’s full strength I threw the door open. It crashed into the wall. AJ’s eyes flew wide with terror. Dash jumped, hovering out of reflex while looking for a way to fly out of the small waiting room. Pinkie gasped in shock. Fluttershy fainted. “Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated!” I announced as dramatically as I could. “Rarity!” Pinkie exclaimed in pure joy, practically teleporting to my barrel, wrapping me in a hug so tight I think it actually bent the steel wrapped around my shoulder and ribs. “For the last time, no, they were not!” Indy grumbled indignantly over my internal radio. “You died FIVE TIMES! I put in a lot of work before you were able to just walk it off.” That was true. But I didn’t like thinking about it... “What the hay happened to you!?” Rainbow exclaimed, dropping out of the air, her eyes locked onto my mechanical foreleg. I returned Pinkie’s hug as best I could before answering. “W-well from what I was told, there was a mid air collision over a sea full of sharks. I was mauled, and my friend Indy saved my life.” “With robot parts?” PInkie asked curiously. I nodded. “Yes, with robot parts.” “They look good on you,” Pinkie decided with a satisfied nod, refusing to let go. “That explains why Pinkie said they found part of your spine, and ribs… And stuff,” Applejack said, a relieved smile pushing through her morose look for a moment while she joined Pinkie in her hug. “I’m going to try routing myself through your speech centers so I can talk to them… Is that alright?” Iny asked me hopefully. “It may tickle a little.” “Go ahead,” I replied. Indy cleared his throat, speaking over whatever external speakers I had. “Excuse me, Pink mare? Hello, I’m Indy. Can you stop squeezing Rarity so hard? If you break the plasteel casing around her ribs I’ll have to get it replaced immediately. That’s what’s keeping her lungs dirt and dust free right now.” PInkie blinked, and turned to look at my left flank. Long with AJ. And Dash. I facehooved. “Is that really the only place you could put a speaker?” I groaned. “Yes… If you want better systems now that the crisis is over we can do that,” Indy offered before clearing his throat again, this time activating his hologram. “Hello, girls! I’m Indy. I’m not like, inside your friend or anything. I’m just using her radio link to introduce myself.” Pinkie’s eyes widened slightly. “R-Rarity? You have a radio in there?” I nodded. “Yes… Though admittedly I’m not at all used to such things.” “Sky is going to be so mad you didn’t call to let us know you were all right when you have a radio in your head,” Pinkie said, frowning sharply after facehoofing. Dash blinked. “That’s actually a good point! If you were with a.. Um, is that projection a Dragon? Yeah, that’s a dragon. If you were with a dragon who had the technology to fix you like this, you totally could have called and let them know you were okay! Why didn’t you?” “I- I just didn’t think about calling…” I admitted my ears drooping sadly. “I’m sorry! I- It’s… There’s no excuse.” “Yes there is,” Indy said firmly. “Rarity was unconscious, dying, or delirious for three straight days, and has only been fully stable for the last twenty five hours. Prior to that, her brain was mostly non-functional, I mean, her head WAS chewed on by a shark. I had to replace a lot of things in there. “Most of her neural activity is now working inside a complex network of… Uh, without making my friend super uncomfortable, in short, she’s got a damn good medical excuse for not thinking of calling home. “The fault’s really mine. I should have thought to ask her if she wanted to call home. But I was under the impression that your civilization was too primitive to have access to radios. So uh, sorry. I blame your love of medieval looking architecture and use of magic for communication, meaning the planet lacks a radio bubble.” I frowned. That didn’t sound right. I’d been perfectly conscious the entire time. “Don’t say anything,” Indy said to me internally. “I’m taking the blame so your friends won't be mad at you… Uh, you're a consciousness transfer though. It may be possible to migrate you back into your gray matter now. I’m not certain. We can go over your medical needs later.” My tail raised in alarm. Well, THAT was something I didn’t need to know! I needed to not think about this. Now! “I’m just glad you're um, mostly safe,” Dash said, giving me a quick hug before letting go and immediately frowning. “Pinkie! Um, you’re kinda bending that panel!” “Oh! Oops,” Pinkie said, quickly letting go. “Sorry.” “It's fine, you didn’t break the seal,” Indy said soothingly. “But you did dent a material stronger than titanium. Well, admittedly a recycled material made without the proper tools… How strong is your species?” “My sister can throw rocks hard enough to make little explosions!” Pinkie said eagerly. “There’ll be lots of rocks to move, I’ll ask her if she’s okay showing somepony- Um, I mean somedragon what she can do!” “Little explosions?” Dash exclaimed, wings flaring open. “I was knocked off my hooves! A hundred meters away!” I frowned, looking around the room. Only now realizing that I hadn’t seen Twilight. I imagined there would be princess stuff to do right after a battle, but surely she could spare a few minutes to check on her friends. “Girls? Is Twilight with Celestia, or something?” I asked curiously. Everypony went silent. The dark mood returning to the room in full force. “T- Twi was tricked by Dawn,” Dash said sadly, looking down at the floor. No… No she wasn’t dead! She couldn’t be! “She touched a teleport trap, or something. We have no idea where she is,” AJ finished, sitting back down on the floor, her face taking on a dark look. “I-it’s okay. I made sure Dawn won’t hurt anypony else. Ever again.” I looked into her eyes, and I knew exactly what she meant. The steely look in them explained exactly what had happened with crystalline clarity. But they also told me something else as well. AJ was… Different. Whatever had happened to her over the last week had changed her. I wasn’t sure how yet, or if the change would be permanent. But I could see it. The simple farm girl who loved tradition wasn’t, well, she wasn’t that anymore. Or at the very least, she was deeply hurt. Either way, she’d been through something hard enough to break down her stubborn nature and allow her a chance to grow as a person. I hoped she took it. I stepped over to her and gave the orange mare a tight hug. “I- I’m sorry. Is there anything we can do to help look for Twilight?” I asked hopefully. Pinkie shook her head. “No… Cadence and Celestia are working on that. All we can do is wait,” she sighed morosely. “That just feels so… Empty,” I murmured, letting go of AJ and sitting down. I didn’t know how to feel. On one hoof, our friend was gone. On the other, she was probably alive. “Although, if anypony can be teleported to some strange place and be perfectly fine, it’s Twilight. I’m certain that if the Princesses can't find her, she’ll make her way back home soon enough,” I said half to myself and half to everypony else. Twilight would be alright. I was certain of it. Princess Celestia - 23rd of Megan, 17 EoH Canterlot Palace Ruins - Equestria It hurt to look out of the palace windows. I’d worked so hard to keep this kind of destruction from my kingdom for so long… A select few incidents notwithstanding, nopony alive had seen one of their cities laid to ruin in the last four generations. Even so, I couldn’t say that I’d failed to protect them. Even the most skilled people can only do so much. Perhaps it was inevitable for tragedy to strike as it did today. I would just have to try harder from now on. I would have to do a lot of things in the near future. I’d have to make absolutely certain that the Dream Creature Luna brought back in exchange for its help was non-hostile (and it seemed to be. At the moment, at least.). I had two major settlements to rebuild, and most definitely lots of smaller settlements to build. I had to deal with the Emerald Hive’s offer to harbor Ponyville’s citizens for as long as necessary, even indefinitely. I had to deal with the public, and ensuring that everypony could move on from this crisis, guiding them with my words and a brave, strong face, despite my own grief at the loss of my student, my friend... I would also have to ensure that Faust remained an ally. Which had to come first right now. Because I was NOT going to make a second deity mad at me today. Despite Azur Lily’s exceptional healing skills, my ribs still ached like mad. I hated how being too old for something wasn’t a real excuse to not do it. The ‘alicorn’ mare sat down on one of the few unruined couches we had been able to find within the palace, facing Luna, Cadence, and I. I’d told Luna she should go and get some sleep, but she’d insisted on remaining awake long enough to at least make sure that the war was over and the rebuilding could begin. “Alright… So, what happens now? With Life, I mean,” I asked Faust with an uncertain look on my face. She tilted her head, slightly confused for a moment. “Oh! Now that there’s no entity overseeing that aspect of the universe's operation?” She asked. I nodded. “I’ll be making some adjustments personally,” Faust promised with a sincere and motherly smile “It will take me a few years worth of your time to do. You must understand that from my perspective, you are… Mayflies. You vanish almost as quickly as you appear. Rest assured that I will ensure at the very least that no child is born diseased or malformed. That’s the absolute least I will do. “I plan on doing more, but managing organic life isn’t my job. I’m not sure what I can do without causing your situation to become worse. I can fix the obvious problems… But someone will need to take the position of Life now that it’s available. I can’t do it forever, I have other work details I need to do too.” Luna nodded. “Alright, if I’m understanding who you are correctly, that means you will be making a new deity to manage us, correct?” Faust shook her head firmly. “No. Well, yes, I AM the designer of the systems from which you emerged. But I won't be making a new god to oversee you. Clearly, I’m bad at that. My plan is simply to observe you for a length of time, test numerous organics and ‘promote’ one of you.” “Promote?” I asked curiously. “You can do that?” “Yes. easily. I have the Mantle of Life right here,” Faust said, lifting a hoof which suddenly held a small shimmering pink orb of light before the orb vanished. “I can give that to any sapient creature, and they’d become a new ‘divine’ as you call us. Though I hypothesise they would retain more freedom of thought and choice than we do. “Which is for the best, I think. Our… Ways are not the same as your own. It would be best for your overseer to have been one of you. To know what it's like. In short, I want to hire an expert. Don’t worry, I’ll be paying VERY close attention from now on. I’ll spot any further malfunctions and squash them.” “Does that mean life will be problem free bliss from now on?” Cadence asked with an odd frown. “Because that seems… Boring.” “Yes. Which is why it won't be problem free. If there’s one thing I learned, it’s that mortals enjoy challenge. Fair challenge mind you. You also value your freedom highly, and you should. I won't take that away. But, where there’s freedom, well, people will sometimes choose to be bad instead of good. “I promise that day to day life WILL be better from now on,” Faust swore, giving the three of us a serious nod. “Though there’s a far more pressing matter at hoof. We need a new Death… Now.” “Any particular reason?” Luna asked for me, raising an eyebrow. “She’s fine. I saw her before I came here.” Faust shook her head. “That fragment made from my daughter's remains isn’t her. I noticed her while I was there. I’m certain she’s a nice person, and perhaps she even remembers some things that Dusk experienced, but the aura’s all different. It’s not her. Nor is she Death.” Wow… Okay, it was a very very good thing that Faust decided to let a mortal have the ‘job’ of Life. I had to say something. “Faust, your opinion on this subject. That’s a perfect example of the differences in how we think. Any pony would embrace Dusk, or the ‘fragment’ as their child,” I informed, doing my best to keep a diplomatic tone. Cadence nodded. “That’s absolutely right!” She agreed, less able to keep her anger under the surface. “Exactly!” Faust agreed with a smile, much to my shock. “We have completely different sets of values, logic, norms… It was one thing to simply create an overseer when I thought you were simply animals. But that won't work. So I will take a period of time, a thousand years or so, and use it to select a proper replacement. I’ll grant agelessness to the candidates so they can provide me with an interview of a proper length. You won't have to worry about a thing. “As for Death, we need a new one. See, mortal souls are important. I don't know why, but they are expressly detailed as important to manage. Without a Death, souls can safely accumulate for a short time before the buffer fills and any new souls which need to be collected... Well, they simply vanish into the ether, or overwrite stored ones, leading to corrupted information… It’s a mess. “Turns out the buffer is smaller than I’d thought. It’s full… Has been for some time most likely. Since Death didn’t malfunction like Life did, I don’t have any problems with creating a replacement. But, I could appoint a mortal, if you’d prefer your afterlife be selected by one of your own kind.” “Um, is that something important? How do afterlives even work? I didn’t believe we got one,” I informed with an embarrassed cough. “Ah. Yes, well… You do. Whatever you did in life, in death you experience an eternity of. Your afterlife is a mirror of your own personal world. Honestly, I think one of your kind would go mad with all the little ethical details they’d need to consider before determining what a fair environment would be,” Faust admitted with a shrug. “But well… The choice is yours.” “I honestly can’t think of any candidates for that,” Cadence admitted with a nervous smile. Nor could I. “It would appear as if it’s best for you to make a new entity for this job,” I agreed. “Wait!” Luna exclaimed. “What if we do both? She makes a new Death, and we on occasion appoint ponies to help teach it, and also to help it make judgments, and with its other duties? Like the old legends of the Reapers who would bring souls to Death.” Faust nodded. “That could work. Sure, we’ll try that for a while,” she decided standing up as if to leave. “I need to go and get that division running now… But before I do, I have an apology for all mortal kind, and I want your help letting your kind know of it.” Faust dipped her horn, a pony high stack of folded papers appearing from nothing just in front of her. “These are instructions on how to make a shrine to me,” Faust explained. “That may sound egotistical, but it’s not. This is me giving you a way to directly speak to me while I am on my home plane. I want you to make copies and distribute them. I’ll help when I am free. “I want every last mortal to know how to be able to speak to me. Because I’m going to grant everyone a single persona a small boon. Nothing major, nothing dangerous, just a small thing which they want. Be it slightly different color fur, or to be a little faster, things like that. It’s my way of making up the harm my son did to the mortals who currently live.” My eyes widened in honest surprise. “T-that’s very kind of you. But are you certain that won't cause further problems?” Faust smiled dangerously. “If it does, I’ll just take back the gift. Remember, I said I’ll be watching. I create entire cosmic systems of objects, ensuring every last particle is exactly where it should be. I’ll know if this is being abused. Keeping track of macro objects is cake.” “Alright… But if the majority of these boons cause problems… Will you stop?” I asked hopefully. After all, I doubted I could make her stop if I had to. “Of course,” Faust said with a hurt look. “I’m trying to help you after all. Goodbye for now. I’ll be in touch!” The goddess vanished in the simple ‘just gone now’ means I’d become slightly accustomed too. Right. Time for my own layer of protection around this plan. “Okay, before we pass these out, we run a few select trial groups. Make sure she won't grant literally ANY request. We then monitor the usage of shrines via some arcane means to make sure that somepony who asks for say, an invisibility spell isn’t using it to be a thief,” I groaned. “Discord will love the chaos this creates,” Luna mumbled under her breath. “I don't think that’s her intention, I think she assumes ponies will ask for things like ‘cure my cancer’ exclusively, or otherwise correct an unfairness within their life… But we all know that’s not how everypony will behave,” I said, sitting down with a sigh. “Besides, Discord is still petrified. From what Megan said, we won't have access to the Elements for nearly a year. Which means we’ve effectively traded one deity for another, and guilt is much harder to appease than boredom,” Cadence grumbled, shaking her head slowly. “Celestia, you’re the best diplomat here. You need to work on convincing her to drop this idea… Or at least come up with some form of proving you’d need the favor before she passes it out.” I nodded. That was absolutely correct. “You took the words right out of my mouth,” Luna agreed, holding back a yawn. “I’d say we don’t actually hand these out… But I don’t want to make her mad. So long as we watch for the bad apples, we can let the bunch prosper. But that’s a short term solution, not a long term one. “Whether we convince her to stop, limit her gifts, or can find a way to integrate this into part of our civilization is an issue we’ll have to work on later. RIght now there’s the more immediate concerns. Like what to do about the displaced populations of Canterlot and Ponyville.” I nodded again. “Yes, that’s more pressing. But we can’t forget about ensuring Faust doesn't unintentional make things worse. Let’s put a pin in that and come back to it after we’ve established where our people will be living in the short term, and how we plan on feeding Canterlot until we can reestablish Ponyville. “After all, the city got most of its produce from there. I imagine that larger cities can provide food for a time, but that will strain local economies after a year or two… Assuming we ever can. Goodness knows what that portal could have done to the local area… A hole directly into Tartarus most certainly could have done major environmental damage… I’ll have to send a team of mages to ensure the land is safe for habitation.” Which meant that Ponyville’s Citizens might be stuck at the Emerald’s Hive for the foreseeable future. I’d have to pencil in a visit to talk to them, and see how they felt about it. “I can only imagine how the nobility and Canterlot’s citizens will feel if we tell them they will have to live in the Empire for the foreseeable future,” Cadence giggled, hiding her smile behind a hoof. “I think we should move them first… Especially with the victory ‘celebration’ I’m certain my ponies want to throw occurring, well, the weekend after we deliver the news. “I could have some geomancers create crystal buildings nearby Canterlot. Give them some complexes to live in during the rebuilding. Well, those who do not have estates outside the city which they can return to, at least.” I nodded for a third time. “Do it. Luna, you’re effectively a citizen of the Hive, our ponies will be comfortable there, right?” Luna snickered, almost falling over in a combination of mirth and exhaustion. “More so than in Ponyville, so long as they aren't claustrophobic,” she insisted as she climbed back up onto her seat properly. “I mean, it’s not a small place. Not even in the hallways, but the lack of sky could be an issue for some Pegasi. But in terms of food, comforts, safety, and a fulfilling job, all of those things can be provided easily.” Luna paused for a moment, giving me just enough time to begin to say “Good,” before she continued. “In fact…” Luna continued her face pulling into an odd frown. “Just before this happened, the Captain ordered a fresh deck excavated and made habitable. Almost like he knew that several thousand people would be coming… Hmmm…” I raised an eyebrow in suspicion. Interesting… If one of their mages had managed to divine the near future and saw this, wouldn’t they have warned us? Questions for later. Besides, it may simply have been coincidence. “Circumstances aside, if the land truly is uninhabitable for whatever reason, I’ll have to work out some form of ‘citizen living abroad’ program. Which means I’ll need to lay the framework for that program immediately, so we can expedite its creation if we do need it,” I said aloud, mostly to clarify the thoughts to myself. “Speaking of living abroad,” Cadence began slowly. “It’s not priority, but the mirror world citizens which led Faust to the Crystal Empire… I can put them up in my palace as guests for a while, but is there any possibility of them being able to go home, or should I urge them to integrate into Equestria somewhere?” I tapped my chin in thought. All things considered that was a very minor problem, but it was also one we could solve in a matter of moments. “Well… Luna, would entering the Dream realm have damaged Starswirl’s Mi-” “It’s screwed,” Luna interrupted, her tone leaving no wiggle room in her assessment. “Could it be repaired?” I asked hopefully. “It was atomized during the initial attack by the Nightmare Creatures when the castle was briefly attacked before Dreams hid it for us,” Luna elaborated. “I uh, I’ll give you a full report in the morning.” I frowned sadly. Any of our foster father's relics were irreplaceable treasures, as well as personal reminders and keepsakes. But in war, loss is unavoidable. “And since Twilight still had the moonstone on her when she vanished-” Cadence began. “She dropped it during her disappearance,” I corrected. “I have it but… Whatever magic was used to transport her destabilized the stone’s magic. It may be repairable, but I’d rather not tinker with it. It could be possible to use it to trace Twilight’s location via the interference.” “Ah,” Cadence said with a quick nod. “In that case, I’ll get them to immigrate, find jobs they like, settle down…” Which is when another thought occurred to me. “We will also need to overhaul our military,” I said aloud. Luna blinked, her wings flaring slightly. “C-come again?” She asked hesitantly. “We survived this crisis because we were lucky, and our opponent was a fool blinded by their desire to inflict suffering,” I said flatly. “We can all agree on this, correct?” Luna nodded sharply. “From what I have been told, yes. This should have gone far more poorly for us. Especially considering the strength and number of daemons in ponyville during the attack on Canterlot.” “Having fought Dawn in person, you have no idea how correct that is, Luna,” Cadence said with a dark laugh. “He had more than enough power to win, but no idea how to use it. He turned Flash into a puddle with a touch, but didn’t even use the same power on us to just win. “Celestia’s right. He should have won this, but he didn’t because he was an idiot. But I also think I understand your point about our military, Celestia. You’re worried about future disasters which a small group of heros can’t solve, aren't you?” I dipped my head in embarrassment. “Yes… I fully admit I relied on the idea of one good shield far too much. But in my defense, it worked this long, did it not? I fully intend to have the Elements working once more… But they can’t be our primary defense. “This isn’t like the last time we lost use of the Elements. I don’t have any prophetic notion of finding loyal subjects to be the new bearers before the next disaster strikes. Even if w-we find a…New pony for Magic, or should Twilight somehow return to us, if we were to be attacked on two fronts, or if the elements are beyond repair, or can now be easily damaged having broken once before… There's far too much risk. I see that now.” I turned to Luna and offered her an apologetic smile. “Sister… I know it’s about six thousand years overdue, but are you still interested in forming an Elite Order of Knights?” Luna paused. I’d expected her to be excited, ecstatic even. Instead… I don’t know what emotion this was. “I’m willing to talk about it. I agree that our military needs an overhaul. But for that military to do it’s job correctly, we’ll need to make some changes to our government’s structure. I… I’ve been meaning to talk to you about a few things ever since I made my return… It’s important. We can talk about this when I’ve rested, but right now, I’m too tired to make sound decisions,” Luna said after a moment’s thought. “At the very least, we need to train more hardened soldiers. I recommend we send an emissary to Hound to ask if we may learn their training methods. “We have the numbers, manufacturing capabilities, and the arcane power to properly arm our pretty much ceremonial military and turn it into a proper army once more, but without proper training, only the Frontier Guard would be of any real use in-” The loudest possible pop exploded behind me like a thunderstone, sending a shower of purple sparks across the ruined room in a fern-shaped wave! I dove for the floor, ears ringing, rolling for the cover of a nearby coffee table and sliding under its arcanely hardened surface for cover. Moments passed. Nothing else exploded. No spellbolts. No demonic laughter. Good. Just something which had been broken finally exploding... “Clear!” Luna called professionally. I crawled out from under the table, my left hoof smacking against something metallic. And warm. Sitting in a small patch of freshly blackened rubble was a small, oddly shaped metallic boxy device, a small folded sheet of bright white paper, and a lock of sapphire blue, violet, and rose hair bound together with a white plastic zip tie. A lock of Twilight’s hair. There was no mistaking it. The ratio of blue to violet to rose was exactly the same as in Twilight’s mane! “That’s Twi-” Luna gasped, noticing the items moments after I did. “It is!” I exclaimed, standing upright with enough force to throw the table across the room. I grabbed the metallic box with my magic, lifting it up to eye level. What was it? Some form of container? Perhaps a arcane vessel for transporting oneself between worlds safely? Maybe if I activated it it would open and somehow reconstitute Twilight here. I frowned realizing something rather creepy. While the majority of the generally rectangular box was metal, some of it was made from what appeared to be bone. Not carved bone ether, more like this ‘box’ was organic in nature, including the metal. Well… That was… Creepy. OH GODS THE ‘BONE’ IS COVERED IN A VERY THIN LAYER OF LIVING TISSUE! I dropped the box out of pure reflex, immediately fumbling for it with my telekinetic grip. The force I exerted on the box somehow activated the device, causing a holographic screen to flicker into existence on one side, as if the device were a clipboard a mage had over engineered to Tartarus and back. The ‘clipboard’ had some text on it, though the language was not one I’d ever seen before. More importantly, it had a picture of Twilight on it. Her face was contorted in a mixture of anger and fear, her eyes glowing with arcane power, a blue ward half formed around herself, trying to negate a spell before it affected her. Exactly how she’d looked when she’d vanished… I felt my heart punch me. It was my fault she’d been banished. I should have been able to stop it. “I sincerely hope that Twilight is responsible for sending us these,” Cadence said uneasily, looking at the image on the clipboard with a nervous twitch of her wings. “If she were, I think she’d send a more… Normal picture,” Luna disagreed with a shake of her head. “Is that a note? I imagine it’s kind of critical to understanding any of this… Why is nopony already reading it!?” "Regardless of what the note says, the picture is of Twilight, and this is a lock of her mane. Those objects came BACK. Dawn lied, there is a way back here from there," I said as a truly happy smile parting my lips. I would see my student again, no matter what it took! “Luna’s right, what does the note say? It is from her?" Cadence asked curiously, picking the folded paper up with her magic. "It very well could be..." I agreed only for my smile to turn into a frown as Cadence read the note, her eyes dilating, lips pulling into a worried frown. "Ummm… I- I can't tell if this is a threat, a warning, or a statement,” Cadence informed, looking at both of us with a worried but bashful frown. "How do you mean?" I asked insistently, my tail lashing with worry. "Well..." Cadence cleared her throat and begun to read. "Good gempulmin. We have all the pony! We (could) lose pony named teleportation. They can not of their free will! The space isn’t safe, we have no right to solve their desired goals. However, we want to keep the alien power. I have to find a pony. Act as soon as possible, its presence blocked the progress of science. What is the image of a sample of tissue from the past pony, of course, we all do. Thank you, Red." "T-that's some really broken Equish right there," Luna said, her eyes looking at the note with a serious gaze, even as her mouth struggled to not twist into a laughing smile. "This is no laughing matter, sister!" I scolded. "We must assume the messenger is hostile. For the sake of being safe... We won't make any aggressive moves. But we will be careful. And we will study these items, and the means by which they arrived. We. Will. Get. Twilight. Back. "No matter what." Unknown Multiverse Unknown Date A world away, one person asked another a simple question. "Hey, Red? Did you send the aliens the note yet?" "Yeah, just sent it. Hopefully they stop sending their people here accidently now," Red answered happily. “It HAS to be an accident. I had to break the crap out of a transporter for it to even send something to them.” "Ah hell…” Their coworker groaned. “Look, Green wanted to double check your translation. It's not like they have been here long enough for us to completely understand-" "Hey!" Red interrupted indignantly. "I read all of the wizards notes. I've worked it out. This baby translates their squiggles flawlessly." "Well... What did you tell them?" The other person asked uneasily. "Maybe you worded it poorly." "I did no such thing!" Red protested. "My note reads as follows: Good evening, gentlemen. We have (presumably) all of the pony-folk you’ve lost via teleporter accidents in our possession. Unfortunately, they can not leave our facility of their own free will, because this is a secure area. Nor are we authorised to release someone within our facility of our own volition. “However, we are authorized to allow individuals on the outside to pickup and drop off individuals. We have authorized you to come and retrieve your pony-folk. Please do so promptly, their presence is a roadblock for scientific progress. We have attached this image and tissue sample from the most recent pony-folk to arrive so you can be assured that we do in fact have all of them. Thank you, Red. "See? Perfectly understandable. Shows we have them, we don’t want them, they're fine, and they can pick them up as soon as possible." “That’s well worded,” came the relieved reply. “Oh! Did you a give them the coordinates of the safe zone? We don't want them arriving inside the system.” “Yep! Put them on a separate note printed on bright red paper so they couldn’t possibly not notice it,” Red replied happily. “Wrote them out in binary too, just so there’s no problems converting the data into whatever mathematical base they use. See? I thought of everything. It’s fine!” "Hummm... Alright, well. I still feel a bit uneasy about this. What if part of the package didn’t successfully transmit? What if they are hostile because our assumption about them sending people accidently here is false?" "You're uneasy about everything outside of operational parameters. Learn to improvise! Surprises can be fun! What's the worst that can happen? We have to wait till they are removed, and then reset the whole system back to a point before they showed up and threw all our data out of whack? Oh wait, we already have to do that," Red chuckled, whistling happily as he returned to his work. The scientist's colleague quietly left. Leaving Red alone with his thoughts. “DAMNIT!” He suddenly store to himself. “I could have written ‘all your equine are belong to us’. Stupid missed chances…” The End For Now...