//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: The fall of the mountains 
// Story: Harmony Installation 
// by Jhonn 
//------------------------------//


in the distant past.....in the deep space



"The construction of Maethrillian does not present problems, if we use the materials of the Uranus system, we could accelerate the process and finish in a few weeks" - reported Newblood.
"Understood, send several Retrievers to extract the materials, if you find sensitive life, inform me immediately" - said Elián, while he contemplated the construction of what could be, his new home, or at least, for now.

Originally, Maethrillian was designed to be a city, but for want of inhabitants, Elián decided that the buildings became research centers, more specifically, to investigate a way to go home, it could be useless, but at least Elián felt that he lose not anything with trying, while he watched the sentinels builders of all kinds working, Elián remembered his first day in that planet, he was one with a lot of surprises.

First, the constructors had not finished making the installation where Elián planned to use as a shelter, great was his surprise to see that it was only the entrance, when he entered the building, the corridor was submerged more and more in the ground, after walking a little more, he arrived at where the builders were.
Elián had no idea that the constructors could do several jobs at once when he left building the Sentinel manufacturing facility, the Gateway, and a Keyship, he thought they would do it as if it were a list of objectives, but apparently, that was not true. 
the constructors made an enormous warehouse, as big as a small town, if Elián could make an estimate, he could easily have kilometers in diameter.

Only a few hours have passed, and they were already building a mini-city.
The constructors apparently gave priority to creating more of themselves, so most were already doing a Sentinel manufacturing, with a few initiating what Elián thinks is a Keyship, just missing the Gateway.

Leaving his stupor, Elián left the viewpoint of the small creatures of its constructors and went to continue exploring, fearful that they forgot to include a bedroom and he has to sleep on the floor of a hallway.

As he continued walking, he found what appeared to be an observation room, if the holograms of the planet he was on there were not obvious enough.

There they showed that the planet was almost exactly the same everywhere, meadows, small hills with forests, and lakes, but what seemed surprising to Elián, is that there was no intelligent life on the planet, his sentinels found several animals, an entire ecosystem, no had more specific data thanks to the order he had given of non-interference, Elián decided to wait until his sentinels finished mapping the planet, he still did not have a cartographer, so he could not do a deeper analysis.

Leaving the room, he soon found a bedroom for him, much to his relief, but he found it curious that his style was relatively normal, much like a room you would see in a science fiction movie, except for some large screens that showed the landscape outside, checking better his bedroom, he discovered that it had all the basic needs.
That was the beginning of surprise after surprise, a few days later, Elián had already learned how to fly with his wings, although several times the sentinels saved him from falling to the sea or to the ground, since, apparently, Elián's security was scheduled as a priority for them.

The constructors had already finished their work some days alter, except for the Gateway for some unknown reason, and Elian was preparing to leave the planet in the Keyship, the huge Forerunner ship intimidated enough, but when entering it, it was quite comfortable, very similar to the place where he had been staying, the sentinels had already explored the whole planet and unfortunately there was no intelligent life, although the data indicated that it should, Elián suspected that maybe there was an underground city or something similar, the scanners showed that this was not the case, a mystery more than in the future would have an answer.

The piloting of the ship was relatively easy thanks to the knowledge of the Forerunner technology that he had in his head, while taking off from the hangar, followed by several Sentinel manufacturing facilities and their units, Elián saw that it looked like a mini fleet, but a single occupant, loneliness was beginning to notice enough, the only times he spoke it was for him, or to give orders, at first he seemed nothing, but he becomes very lonely, Elián missed his family and friends, even if he only had one, but even so, it was a more reason to want to return home, and maybe, if he did not find help, or intelligent life, or Equestria and his magic, he would have to fend for himself, although considering his capacity, it would be equal or better to the help that the ponies could give him.

When he spent a few days in space, orbiting the planet, he saw that the other planets orbiting each other were actually moons, but without saying that, they were exactly the same, full of life, but without intelligence, something that, in his memories of his previous life, and added to what the data told him, was very rare.

When Elián was able to build several Retrievers, he wondered what he could build as his home, something big enough to be his headquarters, and he remembered Maethrillian, the capital city of the Forerunners, Elián had perhaps considered the installation 00 or the greater ark, but those were facilities for destruction and preservation, his goal was to return home, nothing more.

With that in mind, Elián decided to do something else as well, which would help him better coordinate the builders and sentinels, and help him fight his growing loneliness like a plus.

Making constructors to take care of what was necessary for their project, Elián remembered everything about the Contender-class Ancilla, a type of Forerunner AI, the most advanced of its time, but for something like that, and like most Forerunner AIs, He needed a base to build it, and he decided to use his mind for that.

The Forerunners, in their infinite wisdom, decided that it is better to use a natural base, better than to build since zero, so they could choose the noblest and loyal to create AI with important roles, there could be mistakes, and Mendicant Bias was an example.

Leaving his memories, Elián reviewed the list of planets that over the months was discovering, the Keyship had been equipped with a halo cartographer at the expense of their weapons and had enough defenses in case something happened.

Two hundred habitable planets, that was the count so far, of which only five should have intelligent life, with that in mind, it was clear that something had happened, something or someone was interfering, when Elián finished with the construction of Newblood, both they came to an agreement that a deep study was needed, it was not a few weeks until Newblood found what could be the problem, and it turned out that magic might have something to do with it.

Elián's magic had an effect in space that could be easily identifiable, but not traceable, and apparently, the magic had something to do with it, Newblood, reminding Elián of the MLP series, explained that maybe all the species The intelligent galaxy had been transported to a single point, although one theory, seemed to be the most feasible.

They had not yet found Equus, that was a secondary task of the Sojourner Dreadnoughts ships that Elián and Newblood had made to be explorers, according to Newblood calculations, they have only covered twenty percent of the visible space, and of all the species that they know each other from Equus, assuming that each race has its own planet, they have not yet found half of the planets capable of harboring intelligent life.

With a sigh, Elián left the cartographer.

"Bored of the monotonous routine?" - asked Newblood, although the in essence was a copy of Elián, his voice was very different, it seemed the voice that you would expect from a nobleman.

"Do not mention it, I'm tempted to accept your suggestion" - said Elián, while his ears were attached to his head.

"Prolonged hibernation, I would only wake you up if something important happens, I understand your need to find someone to talk, but we have not found anything yet, and a society full of clones of you would not be healthy either" - said Newblood, while opening a viewpoint to the space, it was something beautiful.

"We still need to create a list of investigations to return home, and return to normal" - sighed Elián.

"Although I understand your desire to go home, and I really do, it is almost impossible for us to find something, when you fabricated me I also obtained the knowledge of the Forerunners, and not only about their technology, also their research, and let me tell you that Finding your planet of origin is almost impossible, it would take you as much or more years to find it than the age itself of this universe, and even if you send an impossible number of sentinels, you would not know if that is your universe until after several centuries, not to mention if it's your same time "- said Newblood.

"I do not lose anything with trying, if the alicorn's long life, mixed with the technology of the Forerunners, living an eternity would not be impossible, get on my ... hooves, before I only worried about history classes, now, I have the power and capacity of the damned Forerunner, and what is worse, I'm alone! "- Elián shouted.

Calming their nerves a little, he breathed deeply before speaking again.

"I'm sorry Newblood, I did not intend to retaliate with you, I'm just tired" - Elián said sadly.

"Maybe starting to pay attention to your cutie mark is not a bad idea? It's the symbol of the mantle of responsibility, and by definition, when transferred to this place, you have the duty to protect all sensitive life and wait to an heir, technically you are the only one of your species, a hybrid pony-Forerunner, it would be a pity if all this is lost in time "- said Newblood.

"First we have to find them, do not you think?, although I suppose that is already the reason for your insistence to leave defense facilities on habitable planets" - said Elián with a smile.

"I appreciate that at least you are considering it, and yes, you saw that the planets that can sustain sensitive life are very rare, we can build them, but nature is the best teacher, that's why there is a rule of no interference unless the mantle of responsibility so demand it "- said Newblood.
"Only until Tier 4, right?" - Elián asked.

In their search for resources for the construction of Maethrillian, Newblood agreed that if they found any intelligent species, they should proceed with care and only monitor, decided to follow the mantle of responsibility and use the Forerunner system to catalog the species, from tier 7 the lowest level of technology, and 0 surpassing even the Forerunners (fortunately that is a theoretical assumption), from tier 7 to 5, any interference was prohibited unless endangered, and from tier 4 onwards, they could make contact.

"Yes, but I doubt we will find something like this, assuming that this universe of MLP is equal to yours, so they are barely reaching the space age, they do not show much data of their technology in the series" - said Newblood.

"True, but you are not counting the version of Equestria girls" - Elián said with a smile, maybe it was a parallel dimension or something like that, but it showed that this place was on the same technological level as his old home, or At least it seems.

"Irrelevant, they would have the same treatment" - said Newblood.

"Of course yes, now, what do we still have to do?" - Elián said as he walked to his bedroom.






Equestria-seven months after the first attack of the Empire. 


Things were not going well for anyone in Equestria, the attempt to stop the war was a fiasco, just one day after sending the message, the next news they received was that the empire attacked and destroyed the coast defense line near Hippogriffia, it was a massacre, Queen Novo barely had time to escape with less than half her subjects, and Seaquestria was no exception to the attack, using gun-like weapons with spikes, filled the sea with underwater explosions, few managed to escape before the first explosions.

Rescuing all those who could, the Equestria alliance, as they called themselves, began the counter-offensive, thanks to the help of Celestia's old student and friend of Twilight, who sent them knowledge of the world on the other side of the mirror, there was a boom in the technology of Equestria, It would have been wonderful if it has been in other circumstances.

After updating their armament, it seemed that they had managed to control the battlefield, the first of the preservation cities, as the project was called, already had several refugees and displaced of war, everything seemed to go pretty well.

But the empire war machines arrived, according to how Sunset had described them, they had the same principle as the machines of her world, but fortunately, they were inventions of the empire, so they did not have to worry about a war between dimensions.

The great number of the empire army had been previously countered with the advanced armament of the world of Sunset, but now with that new technology of the empire, that advantage was no longer enough, little by little, cities were taken, the few survivors seemed traumatized, the few who had managed to escape said they tortured them to get all the information about Equestria, especially about the new technology, fortunately, few knew their origin, thanks to that they strengthened the borders of Abyssinia and the Crystal Empire, Queen Novo, devastated, decided to take a profile more active in the war, his people had no opposition.

"The anti-aircraft defenses have managed to keep the landings at bay in the rest of the coastal defense line, we thought that, if we send more storm clouds to the coast, we could make the enemy be forced to use the Saddle Arabia line, the desert would give us the opportunity on their motorized infantry and tanks, with the help of the Wonderbolts, we could close their escape line and destroy their outpost"- said Chancellor Grove while pointing to the map of Equestria.

"We would have to leave the front line, retreating dangerously close the front to Saddle Arabia, we would have to evacuate the cities, and we can not fight a war of attrition, it is not worth the princess!" - declared Shining Armor, Prince of Crystal Empire.

Each had their point, on the one hoof, if they managed to destroy the outpost of the Griffin Empire, they could strike a very important blow to the empire, forcing them perhaps to take a less aggressive approach, the empire was trying to land elsewhere, but with the loss of their vanguard on land, they would have to choose whether to keep the land gained, or to continue with their landing attempts.

But they did not have a clear capacity of the army of the empire, if they had more soldiers and managed to recover the outpost and reinforce the attempts of disembarkation, they would lose a lot of land and soldiers, forcing them to leave Saddle Arabia, hundreds, if not thousands, would be displaced.

"Prepare the retreat, when we close the outpost of the enemy, the Wonderbolts will bombard the area, so we will clean the area with few casualties and we can recover the coast" - said Luna, responding to Celestia, who clearly was in conflict.

"That's a better plan, but will the new bombers be ready?" - the chancellor asked.

"Reports say that the first will be ready for next month, enough time to execute the plan, but it would be a bet, the schedule would be very tight" - said Shining Armor, with some relief.

"good, some reports on the ships of the empire?" - Celestia asked.

"Yes, your majesty, the scouts found a huge warship outside the blockade area, but quite close, according to the report of the commander of the mission, it is approximately two hundred meters long and fifty wide, its armament is unknown, but it is capable of transporting enough airplanes to destroy a city, we suppose that, if each area of attack comes from one of these aircraft carriers, we estimate that maybe we have to worry about at least three, maybe more "- answered Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts.

"More and more varieties of weapons and war machines arrive because they do not attack with everything they have?" - the chancellor murmured.

"I have no idea, maybe they are underestimating us, or they just did not expect to find so much resistance" - answered Shining Armor.

"Possible, but -" - before Spitfire could finish, they were interrupted by a guard.

"Your Majesty, King Aspen has arrived, says he has updated" - informed the guard.

"Excellent, have him pass, please" - said Celestia.

"Conjure a soundproofing spell, Shining, my sister and I will also do it, Captain Spitfire, what you are going to listen to is part of the New Contact plan, together with the communication project, what is heard here, does not leave these walls, Understood? "- Luna said, while her magic covered the room.

"Understood your majesty" - answered Spitfire, curious and somewhat excited to know about the communication project, to be captain of the Wonderbolts, she had heard of the project, thanks to the new technology, they were developing a better way of communicating with the front, since it took a few days to bring the updates, but with this project, things could be almost instantaneous.

King Aspen looked almost the same as his usual self, except for the eyes tired for lack of sleep, now not only had to coordinate the constructions of the shelters, the project of communication and New Contact also demanded enough.

"It's good to see you, King Aspen, how's the project going?" - the chancellor asked.

"It is also good to see you as chancellor, and with regard to your question, things are progressing well, unfortunately, we have a problem with the New Contact plan" - said King Aspen.

"What is happening?" - asked Spitfire.

Noticing the new presence, King Aspen turned to the princesses, who gave him a simple signal that he could continue.

"The New Contact project does not have the necessary technology to finish its last phase, the atmosphere of the planet is very dense, maybe it is environmental magic, but it is impossible to send signals to deep space, we have to send them from out of the atmosphere of the planet, and we have no way of doing it, no Pegasus or Griffin can get so high, and less with the necessary equipment "- ended King Aspen, gaining a rather confused look from Spitfire.

Seeing that it would be necessary to clarify the situation, Celestia gave her the same lecture as she did at the observatory.

"That ... makes it quite clear" - said Spitfire, somewhat pale with the new information.

"What do you need from us, King Aspen?"- Luna asked.

"I had heard that the information that the Celestia student sent us had something about an artifact called a satellite, maybe with that we could not only communicate much better with our forces, it would promote a new era of communication, communication antennas are obsolete, although efficient, they need kilometers of cables, with the satellite, they can save a lot of expenses, and make the New Contact project viable "- replied King Aspen, clearly excited, his kingdom, although tense because of the war, was helping with the progress peace, knowledge, and technology, perhaps, when the war is over, they not will be known only as the guardians of forests, but also of knowledge.

"We will send you what you need, King Aspen" - answered Celestia.

"I would greatly appreciate it" - the king replied happily.

Before Celestia could say anything, a guard opened the door while he was panting.

"This meeting is private, you better have a good reason to interrupt it!" shouted Shining.

"Princesses, Griffonstone has fallen, the empire has attacked with unknown weaponry, decimated the defenses and bombed the city, currently, what remains of the coastal defense receded to Manehattan and Baltimare!!" - informed the guard.

The chancellor was speechless, he arrived from Griffonstone not a few days ago, and the messages only took no more than two days, so Griffonstone fell in less than a week, something neither the demons of yesteryear could do in years of siege!

"This complicates things more, one of the shelters was being built there" - King Aspen said with pain, at least each shelter had a few thousand deer and diamond dogs, they would be the first loss of his kingdom.

"Send a message to King Thorax to send reinforcements to Manhattan and Baltimare, also send a message to the Crystal Empire to send vanguard class ships to defend the city, we can not afford to lose the coast!" - ordered Luna.

"Chancellor, I recommend that you stay in the castle, from here it is safer to reorganize your town" - said Celestia.

"I appreciate the offer, princess, but I can also do that in Manhattan, I hope it does not bother you to take one of their ships" - said the chancellor.

"Of course not, I will send a message to Abyssinia so that I send extra reinforcements, this new weapon must have been some type of experimental plane, if I attack such a high place and difficult to access, so we will give priority to the turbojets"- said Celestia, gaining a grateful look from the chancellor, as he left the room escorted by some guards.

"I will send several of the fortress-class golems prototypes to help, maybe we'll win some time" - said King Aspen, clearly looking worried, one of the refuge cities was a few kilometers from Baltimare, thanks to technological progress, the subjects of his kingdom helped to create a huge wooden golems, fused with technology from the world of Sunset, although prototypes, could help the defense of the city, since they could keep fighting even if they lost their ability to move.

"Any news about the dragons? their help would be appreciated "- asked Shining Armor.

"Nothing yet, with the tension in the front, sending a messenger is impossible, from what we hear, the Empire was also attacking them, but I doubt they can do anything against the dragons" - Luna said.

"Things are getting worse and worse" - Celestia whispered, worried.

"With your permission, your majesty, but I will go with my unit to reinforce the coastline, we can not move units from the front of Saddle Arabia, so we will go as a unit of shock" - said Spitfire.

"I was about to order the same captain, you got used to the new addictions?" - Celestia asked.

The Wonderbolts units received a new combat uniform, the wings were covered with fine blades, capable of cutting a ground pony, added with their speed, they would be able to cut even the steel, they also received new rifles that were small enough to load, but lethal, they had little ammunition, but it served more as a secondary weapon.

"They are perfect for close combat, although we have problems with the antiaircraft of the warships of the empire, I would recommend the development of a magic shield for our units" - answered Spitfire.

"I can help in its development, with the cooperation of the Crystal Empire, we could be able to develop some kind of shield that will resist enough so that its units can get close enough to the enemy" - replied King Aspen.

"And maybe, we could equip not only the air units but also the ground units and possibly buildings, our defenses could withstand the bombardment of the enemy's guns" - Shining Armor replied.

"There is still to know the unknown weapon that destroyed Griffonstone" - said Luna.

"Maybe King Thorax would able send spies to identify the type of weapons, even if they are discovered, his soldiers have already proven themselves capable of escaping on more than one occasion" - said Celestia.

"I will leave immediately and inform King Thorax about the plan, I wish you luck princesses" - said King Aspen while retreating along with Spitfire.

"If things continue like this, we may have to make recruitments mandatory" - said Shining Armor, with a sad look, they were losing more and more soldiers, and with the fall of Griffonstone, the number of assets was considerably reduced, even the plan of Saddle Arabia's pincer would be impossible.

"We have no choice, we will prepare what is necessary to make the military service of the ponies from nineteen to twenty-five, with exceptions in specific cases, but I am afraid that we are running out of choice" - said Luna, while Celestia had a face of pain in his face, it had been centuries since the young people marched to war, but their survival depended on at least, expelled the Empire or signed peace.

"If the young march, sister, so will I, I will not be sitting in the security of the capital while our soldiers die in the front line"- said Celestia, perhaps, she could tip the scales with her powerful magic, it is risky, but the situation not only demanded new weapons but gained a worried look from Luna.

"It's risky, princess, but maybe your presence increases the morale of the soldiers, as Prince of the Crystal Empire, I will also go with you, along with the avant-garde of the Crystal Empire" - said Shining Armor, receiving a slight thanks from Luna, Shining could conjuring powerful shields, with their defensive power, and their sister's attack capability, might be able to defend the coast of Manehattan.

"Then we have a plan, we will meet in Manehattan in two days, I will take my personal guard as extra reinforcement, sister, inform Twilight that she and her team have to help King Aspen with whatever they need, Shining Armor, informs Cadence about the situation and that she act together with Abyssinia "- ordered Celestia.

"Do not worry, sister, and please be careful" - said Luna, hugging her sister.

"We will be fine Luna, the yaks are protecting the mountains, and we are resisting better than we think, when this is over, Equestria may be more united than ever" - said Celestia, hugging her sister a little harder.

"And a new era of peace will reign in Equestria, I wish it were without spilling the blood of innocents" - said Luna, sadly.

"I also think the same, princesses" - Shining said Armor, with ears stuck in the head and a sad look, several friends of his have died, good ponies, all with family, the number of widows who were living in Equestria was increasing very fast, and not only for the ponies, whole families were eliminated in the fall of Seaquestria, and now the young people would be forced to go to arms.

So much has already happened and the war was just beginning.