//------------------------------// // Among the Stars // Story: Eve Equestria // by AnnonyMouse //------------------------------// Eve Equestria. 01 Among the Stars Rarity groaned as her senses slowly returned to her numbed body and mind. The first thing she could feel, other than stifness through her entire body, was a strange tingling sensation, that, and a really hard, flat surface under her. She could hear a strange humming sound all around her as well. Cracking her eyes open, she was greeted with dim light, and as her eyes cleared, she became aware of something that really unnerved her. Bars. Rarity's mind quickly cleared up as she looked all around. She was in a metal cage. Panic nearly set in, but the highly observant unicorn noticed many strange things all about her. Many metal crates were haphazardly stacked up all around her cage. Before she could see about finding a way out of her cage, a strange voice spoke, seemingly from nowhere. It was a language Rarity had never heard before. In Equestria, every creature capable of speech all spoke the same language, so a language that she was unfamiliar with seemed... alien. Suddenly the whole place seemed to vibrate. It was no earthquake. She'd felt a few in her life. No, this was something completely different. The vibration slowed and seemed to fade quickly. Before she had a chance to examine her cage, she heard a hissing sound, then some more rumbling. The lights brightened and strange metal creatures floated in. They had claw tipped arms, but no legs. Their eyes looked strangely large and glassy. They were certainly not natural, and she got a very good look at one as it grabbed her cage and lifted it off the floor. She got a very good look, and could tell it was something unnatural. A machine, though nothing like any train or airship she'd ever seen. The 'creature' carried her cage, with her inside, through a massive door that had opened beyond a stack of crates. Other 'creatures' were efficiently moving all the other crates from this room, down a ramp into an absurdly large room, metal and ramps everywhere, and onto some sort of flat-bed vehicle. Looking back, Rarity gasped. It was massive. Larger than even the tallest tower in Canterlot. Was it some sort of airship? She did not know, only that it was hideous. It was a rusty brown, with many angular faces and plates, as well as what almost looked like black panels that reminded her of sails on ships. Then the flat-bed vehical seemed to hum, lift off the ground, and speed off. It entered a tunnel and soon was traveling faster than any train she knew of could hope to match. She wanted to scream, yet the ride, strangely, was very smooth. Some sort of strange shimmering bubble kept the wind from batting her around her enclosure. Finally, it came to a stop, and another metal creature unloaded her and brought her through a large set of doors, through some halls, and finally into a place that only mildly reminded her of Twilight's basement lab, only FAR more complex. A strange creature, this one standing on two legs, with two arms, a rather flat face with a small nose and two small eyes came over to look at her. It spoke, seemingly to her, in that strange language. Its mouth was small, with dark lips, only slightly darker than its skin. It had no mane whatsoever, and she could see a pair of small round ears. "I'm sorry, I do not understand what you are saying. Now, if you could let me out of here and return me home, I would really appreciate that." The creature blinked, a strange expression on its face. It pulled out some small device with a flat surface, and started tapping away. It spoke again. "Again, I do not understand your language." More tapping. "Understand?" "Oh!" Rarity blinked. "I think so now." More tapping. "Speak more." Rarity frowned. "What do you want me to say? What are you? Where am I? Why have you taken me from my home." More tapping. "Can you understand me now." "Ah, yes, better. Now, answer my questions." "Interesting. An alien species, sapient, though appearing to be some sort of animal. Equine in nature, baring a horn upon the center of its forehead." "I am NOT an it. I am a lady, thank you very much. My name is Rarity, and I demand you let me free." The creature cackled with glee. "Oh, I don't think so. You're an animal, regardless of your apparent intellect. I think I am going to have fun experimenting on you." He pulled an 'L' shaped object from his belt, pointed it at Rarity, and a sudden flash. Rarity felt her entire body and mind go numb... ... Again Rarity slowly came back to her senses. She cracked her eyes open. She was still in that strange lab, but this time... This time she was laying on her back, strapped down and unable to move. She struggled, but the binding was too tight, almost to the point where breathing was difficult. She tried to light up her horn to try to magic her way out, but all she got was a tingling sensation. "Ah, finally awake are we? Good, I don't want you to miss this. I've scanned your body, taken all the genetic samples I need. Now I will see if you are compatible with capsuleer tech." "I do not understand what you mean." She tried to use her magic again, but for some reason, she was unable. "You have been administered a drug that blocks your unusual mental abilities. Just a precaution, thank you. Now. if you look above you, you will see something... special." Rarity tilted her head back, and gasped in horror. She could see a perfect doppleganger of herself. It was breathing, the occasional twitch, and lacking her cutie mark. "W-what is that?" "You said your name is Rarity, correct? Well Rarity, that will soon be you." Dread filled Rarity's mind. "No... you're going to send that... THING to replace me back home? Why are you doing this?" "Why? Simple really. I want to know if sapient non-humans can utilize capsuleer tech. Nothing more, nothing less." The creature stepped into view and places some nodes onto her head. "Now, I'm afraid it is time for you to die." Rarity screamed as the 'human' pressed its finger to that pad once again. It hadn't hurt at all. Her mind just went... white. Then nothing. Rarity Stargem was dead. ... "Uhh..." Rarity groaned as the white fog filling her mind slowly faded. She felt strange. Rather, she felt good. Was this the afterlife? Her eyes snapped open the moment she heard that creature shout with joy. "YES! It works. So humans are not the only beings capable of being cloned. This is amazing. So many tests to perform." Rarity stared at the human, then nearly freaked out at the sight of her body laying on a table, still strapped down with the nodes on her head. She watched as her cutie marks faded, and felt a tingle on her flanks. "What the?" The human stared in surprise. "What? How did that happen? Aura, explain?" "Unknown energy signature within the new clone. Warning, energy buildup within the subject's horn." "Oh no, no no no! I forgot to administer the drug to the clone." Rarity's horn lit up a soft blue, and the same glow wrapped around the human. "What have you done to me?" She lifted the human so they were face to face, her large, blue eyes narrowing dangerously as she ripped that pad from his hands. She looked at it, and even though she had never seen the alien written language before, she understood it perfectly. She grinned and activated the release clamps that held her 'cloned body' in place. Falling to the metal floor, she landed on her hooves. She yanked the human down to eye level again. "I am leaving, and there is nothing you can do to stop me now." The human smiled and nodded. "By all means. I was actually going to give you a capsule and a ship so you could leave this place. All part of my experiment after all." Rarity scowled. "I will be leaving, and I am not going to be an experiment for any... creature. I have to return home. My friends, family, students, they are all most likely wondering where I went. Now, if you don't mind. Show me this capsule and ship, and I will be on my way." "By all means. Just let me show you the way... after you release me from your psycho kinetic grasp." "It's levitation magic." "Magic? Well, you do appear to be something out of a fairy tale. Yes, fine. Magic it is, though I am very interested how it works, as well as how that symbol transfered from your original body and onto your clone." "That is none of your concern, you fiend." Rarity unceremoniously dropped the human. "I've been called worse. Now, this way to your freedom." He snickered and walked down the hall. Rarity followed the human, and soon they got onto what might have been a train, took a long ride, and finally stopped before a set of sliding doors. She followed her 'guide' through them and down a long corridor. Finally, they stopped at a single door. "Place your hand, well, hoof I guess, over this panel. It will register you and you can enter." "This had better not be some sick trap." She did so, and the door slid open, revealing a rather boring and bland looking room. It had basic furniture, as well as some storage, a bed, come floating images, as well as a full length mirror. Rarity rushed past the human, making her way toward the mirror. Slowing down, she was unsure what to do. After a moment, she stepped forward and looked at her reflection. Rarity saw her own face. Her mane was a little messed up, but nothing a quick brushing couldn't fix. Turning sideways she was pleased to see her cutie mark right where it was supposed to be. Then she noticed something out of place. Something on her back, from her neck down. Blue metal 'disks' seemed to be attached to her. No, not attached to her, she could FEEL them now. They were PART of her. "What have you done to me? You kill me, then put me in... THIS? This is not my own body. Why did you do this?" "Science. I wanted to know if I could, and I did.” He stepped into the room. Now, your means of escape is right over there.” He pointed down a hall. “You will find your capsule at the end, as well as a ship that you can use to fly away in.” Rarity wanted to hurt this human... but oddly, she chose not too. She felt normal, other than the five blue metal disks on her back, just barely above her skin. Glaring at the human, she rushed down the hall. She placed her hoof on the pad next to the door, and it slid open, revealing a balcony overlooking a room that could easily house the entirety of Canterlot, and maybe even the mountain itself. Machines and metal walls were everywhere. Massive floating screens depicting strange images floated in the far background. Looking over the railing, she knew the drop from here to the deck below would be fatal. Then she spotted a ramp and catwalk leading to a horrid green and black... pod. The front was open, revealing a seat and many controls. Rarity looked them over, realizing she knew exactly what each and every one of them was for. “How do I know what all that is?” “Simple. I injected the skills into your brain.” The human walked over, and tapped on a console next to the railing. A few moment later, a strange looking ship was towed into view. It was over fifty meters long, if Rarity was judging it right. That was easily the size of a medium sized airship. The human spoke, not in a cruel or condescending tone. “That is your Corvette Class Impairor. Amarr technology.” It looked like it was made from gold, with a creamy off white color. Sleek, overall, with a somewhat ‘hawk beak’ form at the front, and black engine housing at the rear. There were some oval domes on the sides, top and bottom. It sported flowing, beautiful designs along the front sides, as well as the top, near the rear of the ship. Somehow, Rarity knew those were some sort of weapon system. How she knew, she didn't actually know. Was this more injected knowledge? “So, what do you think of your ship?” Rarity was stunned. “It’s... beautiful.” “And it’s free. Feel free to give your Impairor a name. Well, only if you want. I’m sure you won’t be keeping it for too long. There are larger, more powerful and faster ships out there, after all.” “Free? I don’t see how that’s possible. A ship like this mist cost thousands of Isk. Wait, Isk? Bits. No, Isk. Goodness me. I even know what your currency is. I do not know how you were able to teach me all this new knowledge...” The human snickered. “Don’t thank me. Really. It was really easy. Now, you do have a few options here. One, you can fly off in your little corvette, and see just how far you will make it before something blows you up. Or, you can work for me for just a while. Earn some Isk, and maybe even earn a better ship that will greatly increase your chances of survival. By the way, the chances of finding your own way home on your own? 0% chance. I know the location of the wormhole, as well as its rather unique designation. If you wish to return home, you know what you have to do.” Rarity wanted to grab the man and just throw him over the railing with her magic. No, that would not do. If he was telling the truth, then he was Rarity’s only hope for ever making it home once again. “Fine...” She griped. The human smiled. “Glad to hear. I’m Jafrak Nalton by the way. Fellow Capsuleer, explorer and scientist. Now, hop into your capsule, and let’s get this started. A few simple jobs and I will release the location of where I found the wormhole to where I... acquired you.” Rarity hopped into the capsule, and took her seat. It felt strange to be sitting upright, with her privates pretty much on display. She tapped a few buttons, and the front of the capsule closed up. She gasped as she felt something penetrate her back, right where each of the blue metal disks rested. Suddenly she became aware of this pod. She felt she could see out of any surface, somehow. “Optical systems on the surface of the pod are now your eyes.” Jafrak smiled. “Now, just will yourself to dock with your ship, and we can have it towed out so you can try flying around a little. Get used to the feel of how it moves.” Rarity relinquished her fate to this alien’s commands. She willed the capsule to dock, and it suddenly moves, hovering through the air and then into a small port on the bottom of the ship. Once inside, the capsule connected to all the ship’s systems. She could SEE. She could almost feel the ship like it was an extension of her own body. “This... this is simply amazing. It’s like magic.” “Science, when advanced enough, can be mistaken for magic. I forget who coined that phrase, but I guess it applies.” Jafrak’s voice seemed to echo within her ears, though he was obviously still on that balcony. “Now, to tow you out of here. You’re in for a real treat Rarity.” The structure she was in was beyond imagining. She could see other ships traversing the massive corridor as well. Ships that dwarfed her own. Ships that dwarfed the one that had brought her to this strange place. And then her breath was taken away as she approached a huge shimmering field. Beyond it was the sky, filled with stars and creamy brown clouds. No, not the sky... There was no planet below her. She was among the stars. Princess Twilight would be jealous. Heck, Rainbow Dash might actually enjoy this. “You are now under your own control.” Jafrak’s voice spoke up. “Now, try moving your ship.” Rarity nodded, and willed her ship to move. Well, not really willed it. Rather, she moved it like she would move her own body, simply by thinking it. Picking up speeds she knew no simple airship could achieve, she rocketed forward. She then became aware of the various systems on the ship. Afterburners, two pulse laser cannons, two mining lasers, and finally an armor hull plate repair system. There was even something called an ‘acolyte I’ as well. She looked at the various and data that seemed to float in her vision. She grinned and kicked in the afterburners. She didn't even feel the increase of speed. Rather, she didn't really notice anything strange. The stars never became any closer. Then she became aware of other systems. She could see data on other ships, though she couldn't see them. Asteroid belts, planets, moons. Rarity gasped as all the information became available to her. It was almost intoxicating. “Rarity, now, I need you to run me those errands. First off, here are the co-ordinates to an off the map rogue asteroid. I need you to head over to it and harvest some of the ore from it.” The location and data was available to her. She turned her ship toward it, accelerated, and then she hit warp. She screamed as space warped and stretched. She KNEW she was flying faster than... well, anything she could imagine. She was traveling faster than light itself. Then Rarity’s scream became laughter. “Who’s the fastest pony now Rainbow Dash.” And then within seconds, her ship slowed and fell out of warp. She could see it now, the asteroid. It was a lot larger than her own ship by far. “Wow, that was rather intense. I think I can get used to traveling like this.” “I am sure you can. Now, I will be needing a lot of the ore in that rock. Keep an eye out for any hostiles that may have noticed it and may want to harvest it for themselves.” “H-hostiles?” Rarity gulped. “Wait... this ship has weapons, right? You don’t expect me to fight, do you?” “Not unless you want to get blown up.” “Damn you Jafrak... When I get my hooves on the location to get home... you will NEVER see me again.” Jafrak simply chuckled. “I suggest you deploy your acolyte while you’re mining that ore. It will offer you some additional protection and firepower.” “Additional protection and firepower.” Rarity replied back sarcastically. She simply willed the solitary drone to launch. She was aware of it, but felt that it was somewhat autonomous, though she felt that she could take direct control of it if she wished. Targeting the asteroid, she activated the mining laser. A sharp blue beam shot out and started digging into the massive mini-moon sized object. It was larger than Canterlot Mountain itself. Sitting there, she watched tractor beams start pulling in chunks of stone that looked different from the surface stone. She watched a meter, showing how much cargo space she had available. It was slowly filling up. “How much of this stuff do you want?” Jafrak shrugged. “As much as you can carry in your cargo hold.” How Rarity knew he shrugged was unclear to her. She could just tell he had shrugged. After what felt like forever, she noted that the hold was only half full. It was then that she sensed, or maybe detected, a pair of ships warping in on her location. “Jafrak? What do I do?” “Target them once they’re in range and fire your lasers. Orbit that asteroid to make yourself harder to hit. Your acolyte should really help you too.” Rarity targeted both ships, aimed her laser turret and frowned. “They’re over 20 kilometers away. There’s no way any kind of weapon known to ponykind can hit anything that far away.” “Calm down. You can see the range of your weapons just by thinking about it.” Jafrak didn’t really sound too concerned. “Look, your Acolyte is already engaging one of them. It shouldn’t last long. You’re only against some rookie pirates.” “I think I would classify myself as less than a rookie.” Rarity cried out as she activated the afterburners and started orbiting the asteroid at insane speeds. Somehow, she was able to keep the corvette under her control. Coming into sight of the second pirate, she was greeted with a communication. “This asteroid is claimed already. I’d tell ya to git, but I think I will just kill ya and add yer corpse to me collection.” Rarity was horrified. “Never.” She closed her eyes, but could still see the incoming ship. It was about the same size as her own, but thankfully, it had not launched a drone of its own. That made things... “Jafrak? They’re shooting at me!” “Don’t worry. You have some shields to soak a few blasts, but it’s the ship’s armor that will impress you. If you take damage, you can activate the armor repair system and just laugh at their pitiful attempts at killing you.” “Oh yes, and keep mining that ore. The faster you can fill your hold, the faster you can get out of there if you are not feeling up to shooting back.” Rarity scowled, hoping to keep out of the pirate’s range, but she felt impacts on her shields. She knew they would not hold for very long. She became aware of a warning. Her Acolyte, while it had dished out a fair amount of damage to the first pirate’s shields, it had not been enough to tear through them before it blossomed into an impressive ball of fire. “Jafrak, they’re both on me now. I have to get out of here.” Warnings were going off. “What’s warp scrambled mean? Why am I slowing down?” Rarity was on the verge of having a mental breakdown as her systems warned her that her own shields were buckling. Then they were gone. Her ship rocked from the impact of enemy weapons. It was do or die. She had no choice now. She took aim with her turret... and released a brilliant white beam of searing light at the first ship. The shields just melted, and a deep line of molten armor plates was her reward. She felt powerful. Rarity felt like she could take on anything, even as her own ship’s armor was starting to get ripped into. Activating the armor repair system, Rarity watched as the armor was slowly staring to pull itself together. Somehow she knew that something called nanites were repairing her ship. But not fast enough. The pair of ships was just piling on the damage too fast. She fired her laser again, scoring another good hit, but the shields of that ship seemed to just soak the majority of the blast, resulting in very little damage to the armor. This kept up, the pair of pirates hammering Rarity’s ship in a brutal crossfire. She kept the armor repair systems running, even as she kept firing at the first ship. The armor was starting to buckle, alarms blaring like mad. Armor was now critical, and no matter how Rarity kept firing at the ship that was apparently keeping her from escaping into warp, its shields just kept regenerating barely fast enough to keep her from scoring a decisive hit. Burst after burst of thermal and kinetic rounds tore into her armor, and soon, into the very hull of her ship. Rarity screamed as her ship started exploding. Emergency systems ejected her pod into space. She was no longer trapped by that anti-warp weapon, so she focused on returning back to where Jafrak was. As she turned, alarms rang in her head again. Warp scrambled again before she could even escape, she heard laughing. “Nice try rookie. We may have been in these little corvettes, but meh. Maybe we’ll cross paths again sometime.” And then they opened fire. Rarity screamed as her capsule was breached, exposing her to the cold, deadly vacuum of space... just before her entire capsule exploded, vaporizing her corpse and leaving no remains to be claimed. To Be Continued...