Five angry ponies, two unicorns, two pegasi and one earth pony, were approaching the Castle of Friendship, where the lonely and sleepy soldier, huge arsenic stallion, was guarding the entrance. Surprisingly, this time nothing prevented them from approaching closer.
“Oh, good morning, officers,” Edez greeted the visitors. “What brings you here?”
“Berg… or should I call you Edez?..” Hidden Path barely managed to keep himself from snapping.
“Well, princess Twilight, her assistant and their friends are far from here, so it doesn’t matter. You can use both variants.”
“Do you even realize what you’ve done?” Grace got angry. “All Canterlot is in a mess now! Everypony heard explosions, but there are only minor damages and no traces of what exploded! Some citizens swear that they have seen earth ponies fighting in the air! And there are several roofs that need immediate repair!”
“But no one got harmed, right?”
“Well, it is so…”
“What’s the problem then? Everyone is safe, Ga’Ke is destroyed… Nothing threatens your planet now! You should relax and enjoy the peace.”
“How we can be sure that we are safe?” Hidden Path yelled.
“Believe me, it is so. Ga’Ke won’t come here. Other evil guys won’t be such a problem.”
“They will not take revenge?” Razor Edge surprised.
“Yes. You know, Ga’Ke can feel the destruction of a fellow being, even if there are light years between them. When we killed this one, they felt it and sent a fleet of nine ships and one hundred thirty thousand soldiers. But… we’ve gotten one more support ship on our side, and it wiped their fleet completely.”
“One ship wiped out nine?” Cloudbreaker surprised. “What kind of mechanic monster is it?”
“A planet-class destroyer. One of few our starships that Ga’Ke really fear.”
“Planet… class?”
“Well… using your units, it’s twenty-eight-mile-long vessel, which is, in fact, a set of cannons with reactors attached to them.”
“Twenty-eight… mile long?” Dim Silhouette was scared.
“Such huge thing would be noticed for sure! It’s bigger than many asteroids!” Razor Edge exclaimed.
“True. That’s why we hid it behind your Moon.”
“Oh…”
“You have the weapon that can destroy our entire planet…” Hidden Path spelled. “How do you even expect us to feel safe knowing this?”
“You think we will attack you? Relax, major Path, if we wanted to take this planet, we would already own it. It’s not that difficult, you know.”
“What?”
“Remember what Affi told you when we were on Kelkerdez Unaad? About the war between Terrans and the Union? Well, that weapons Terrans used on Ateir was mass neurodestruction system. Incredibly effective. You just place a bunch of satellites in the points of a regular net, activate them and in a moment all creatures with developed higher nervous activity die.”
“Goodness…”
“That’s… horrible!” Dim Silhouette exclaimed.
“It is. But you see for yourselves: we have been there for several months already and we haven’t used weapons only if it was self-defense. So just relax and take a good rest,” Edez said.
“After the Canterlot incident more ponies and other creatures may become aware of what is really happening on this planet,” Grace said. “What are you going to do now? Cease you research program? Leave? Or stay here? Show yourselves?”
“Well… It’s not that easy. Probably, we’ll continue our research for few months more and then… declare our presence.”
“What? Really?”
“Why?” Hidden Path asked the main question.
“Because of your princesses and some other powerful creatures of this world,” Edez responded.
“Huh?”
“I don’t understand,” major was surprised.
“Let’s say that they have health problems you won’t be able to cure even in a millennium. It’s especially true in Luna’s case,” Edez said.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve already shared enough information with you, so… pardon me…” Edez spelled and then an awful mix of shrieks, screeches, clicks, snarls and growls came out from researcher’s mouth.
“What the heck was that?” Grace shuddered.
“I’ve just gave your nanites the order not to disclose information about our plans and reasons to stay here,” Edez responded.
“What? How? With those shrieks and snarls?” Cloudbreaker surprised.
“Yup. Ordinary verbal command. In the language of developers of the nanites.”
Officers were angry, but they weren’t able to do anything. These aliens had complete control over them. Nevertheless… Despite what they did, they weren’t a threat. On the contrary, they were offering to help. Probably they are good guys?..
“Speaking about those… nanites you put into us. What will you do with them?” Grace asked.
“We’ll remove them after out declaration of presence.”
“And… what’s next?” Dim Silhouette wondered.
“You… consider us as friends?” Razor Edge suggested.
“Yes,” Edez conformed.
“If so… would you share some of your technologies with us?”
“Seriously?” researcher’s face was a clear indicator of how annoyed he was. “Just… get out!”
Officers looked at the researcher for one more time and went away.
“Damn you, Razor, and your dumb questions!” Grace hissed at him.
“Hey, I just was curi… Ouch!” Cloudbreaker gave him a cuff on the nape.
“Oh, shut up!” Hidden Path growled.
“Yes, sir!”
And they left the Castle site without a word.
Few hours later, in a dark cave beneath Canterlot, three powerful beings met again. This time one side brought additional member.
“Great…” Chrysalis retorted. “Why did you bring him?” she pointed at tall spirit standing near princess Celestia.
“Excuse me, but I was affected by this as well!” Discord replied. “I was with all the princesses at the very place when all this happened!”
“Exactly,” Luna confirmed.
“Grrrr… Well… You wanted to see are we responsible for all the incidents that happened earlier? You got it!”
“Chrysalis, let us…” Celestia was about to say, but changeling queen interrupted her.
“Oh no! I read about what happened on the parade. Five big explosions in the old part of your capital, but there were serious damages on a building right near the parade route. It can mean only one thing: something tried to kill you there back then, but something went wrong. And this something tried to kill you without any magic.”
“Hold on! How can you tell this?” Luna objected.
“I know that after our invasion in Canterlot you have strengthened your defense: installed advanced indicators everywhere, developed new spells and so on. How many changelings have you detected in Canterlot after this? Zero. “That’s because you didn’t even think about trying to do it!” you might say… You think we haven’t tried? Oh no! We’ve tried! For many times! No one was able to pass through your detectors.”
“And what this have to do with anything?” Celestia asked.
“I mean if it was us, you would detect it. You’d feel any magic. If not you, then this absurdist,” she pointed at Discord. “But no one haven’t felt anything. Not your guards, not you. That could mean only one thing: magic weren’t applied. And, besides… I’ve heard that some citizens of your city reported on seeing earth ponies fighting in the air. We would never do something like this! It’s just ridiculous!”
“I agree that it’s ridiculous,” Celestia said. “And we are not suspecting you. On this part, we have trusted you since first meeting.”
“And, yes, our defense system hasn’t detected any creatures using powerful magic back then,” Luna added.
“Ugh!” Chrysalis sighed.
“But it’s disturbing,” Celestia continued. “Someone managed to do such dreadful thing, in fact, right in front of us! We cannot leave things like this. Thus, we’ve initiated the investigation.”
“Our Secret Service is working on it, and…” Luna said, “… they are about to give us the preliminary report. They have collected all the materials on the case and analyzed them. When we see it, we’ll might learn who stand behind all this.”
“General Sir Black Thunder might come to my study by any minute, so… I apologize, but I must go,” Celestia said. “I’ll return in few minutes,” and she teleported away from the cave.
The three creatures that remained in the cave waited for her return in silence.
In about twelve minutes, the day princess teleported back to the meeting spot. She was holding quite a pile of papers with her magic.
“Well?” Chrysalis asked.
“Let’s see…” Celestia spelled, looking through the papers.
“It will take a lot of time looking through all this,” Luna said.
“Allow me to help you,” Discord said.
He took the report with his magic and made all the lists float in the air. Then he snapped his fingers, and all sheets flashed, as well as Celestia’s horn. Princess of the day staggered and barely managed to keep standing.
“Sister!” Luna worried.
“What have you done with her?” Chrysalis surprised.
“Just put all the information from the report to her memory,” Discord explained.
“I’m… fine, Luna! Just a little dizzy!..” Celestia said to clam her sister. “Gosh… Next time warn before doing something like this!” white alicorn hissed on Discord.
“Sure,” the spirit replied.
Celestia recovered quite soon. She managed to stand straight, shook herself and focused.
“Hmm…” she carefully analyzed the information Discord put into her memory and suddenly…
“Celestia!” Luna worried again when her sister froze with expression of a shock on her face.
“No… It can’t be!” white alicorn exclaimed and started to look through the sheets that still were floating in the air.
“What are you doing? Did you find something?” Chrysalis asked.
“I think so… But I hope that I’m wrong…” Celestia replied. A moment later, she grabbed few papers with her magic. “Here!” she showed them to others.
“What’s this?” Chrysalis surprised.
“It was marked as “supposedly connected with the previously mentioned events”, but… considering the information you shared with us… Look!” Celestia pointed at one of the paragraphs. “Three days before the parade incident something strange happened right in the headquarters of the Secret Service. Five ponies came to general Black Thunder to report on something, but slipped into coma right near his office after serious epileptic seizure. Moreover, they slipped into coma at the same time. No one from them was prone to epilepsy! They all woke up few hours after the parade incident. They learned about what happened and… they are still in the state of deep shock.”
“Well, it is strange, but what it has to do with our problem?” Chrysalis wondered.
“It’s the thing they investigated,” Celestia continued. “You see… they suspected that nine ponies Twilight hired to serve as her servants and guards are… well, not ponies at all.”
“Not ponies at all? I guess so. They fought like monsters!” Chrysalis said snidely.
“What?” Discord exclaimed. “I can’t believe that my dearest Anti, my second best friend after Fluttershy, is a monster!”
“You too?” Chrysalis was shocked. “Geez…”
“So… what did they suspect?” Luna wondered.
“They suspected that they might be responsible for strange murders that happened near Dodge City, but they haven’t found any proofs. But… they found many evidences of how these nine showed extraordinary abilities and knowledge.”
“Well, there are some extraordinary ponies among Equestrians,” Luna said, “and special abilities does not depend on the race. It’s not that suspicious.”
“Maybe, but… they have also checked the knowledge they demonstrated and compared it with information about achievements of Europonians that were published. And… These agents proved that servants of Twilight, although they claimed to be Europonians, show knowledge that surpass the declared achievements.”
“Um… maybe they were part of research groups?” Discord suggested.
“They said they came here trying to find a job, but researcher is well-paid job in Europonia,” Celestia responded. “If they were part of a research group, they would have no need to migrate here.”
“Spies?” Luna suggested.
“It might be a suitable explanation, but… there is one thing. Those agents of Secret Service, trying to find a proof, secretly searched the house those nine rent. Other agents found this out while searching for any clues for mysterious coma in major’s Path papers. They found a draft of a report, where all five agents claimed to witness a gravity trap that used no magic at all!”
“What?” Chrysalis and Discord exclaimed.
“Maybe there were some well-hidden magic gems? You know, used as power source,” Luna suggested.
“No. Unicorns who work for major Path are highly skilled and able to sense even the slightest manifestations of magic,” Celestia said. “Europonia maybe the most technologically advanced society, but we are the most advanced society in magic. Our Secret Service has developed detection techniques that allow to find any devices that run on magic power. The problem is… no one in this world knows how to create artificial gravity without using magic!”
“Well… if servants of Twilight are not ponies… than who are they?” Chrysalis asked.
“The hypothesis that those agents suggested seems way too fantastic, but… it might be an explanation. They thought that guards and servants of the Castle of Friendship did not come from this world,” Celestia said.
“Wait, not from this world?” Luna was shocked.
“… and what did they exactly mean by “not from this world”?” Discord wondered. “Because, you know, these words can mean quite a number of things that differ from each other a lot.”
“I don’t know… And there is no information about this in the report,” Celestia said. “Nevertheless… All these weird things, strange observations, explosions with almost no traces… And your words about that you have seen one of them in your dream… We have to find out everything! We must know if they are spies, or… are they what those secret agents suggested.”
“I see… we are going to Ponyville!” Luna exclaimed.
“Yes, but not right now,” Celestia said. “We should not raise any suspicions, and, besides, we need some time to prepare. But you may go whenever you want, just be sure to say undercover,” princess of the day said to Discord and Chrysalis.
“Yeah, thanks, but I have duties too, you know?” changeling queen resented.
“I do not mind,” Discord said. “After all, Ponyville is good place to hang out.”
“We’ll try to finish our duties as soon as possible and come to Ponyville tomorrow morning,” Celestia stated. “We are expecting to meet you all there.”
“We’ll find who or what stands behind all these mysteries,” Luna added.
“Okay,” Discord said.
“Well… I agree,” Chrysalis spelled. “After all, I also want to put end on all this mess.”
“Really?” chaos spirit grinned snidely.
“I hate to be in the dark! And, besides, it is me who ponies should be feared of!”
“Well, you are right about this. It’s easier when you deal with something that you are used to…”
Then they all left the cave in silence.
Next hours were clam and peaceful, as it usually is in Equestria. A day full of pleasant bustling and interesting activities, relaxing evening and calm night. The only thing that spoiled the impression was a fog that vanished only when the sun was already high up above horizon. Nothing special – such things happen from time to time. But… for Ponyville, even considering that it was autumn, such long-lasting fogs were a rare thing. Someone might consider this as a sign that something will happen very soon…
Team One was going to the Castle of Friendship to start another workday and let their friend Max have some rest after the night shift. Everything was calm and peaceful, as it usually was here. Early risers rushed to their works, first workshops, stores and cafés were opening. Typical morning sight, typical ponyvillers with their adorable peculiar traits.
Researchers had already gotten used to them, so they didn’t pay attention to the Flower Trio, who were overactive as usual. This time, Daisy and Lily were trying to calm their friend Rose down, who seemed to see something scary. Flower sellers were permanently overdramatic and could behave like apocalypse in inevitable in the nearest hour only after seeing a mere spider. That’s why researchers just passed by. However… something caught Bluve’s eye. She looked closer at Rose. Cream-colored mare was shocked. She was trembling, and she was very pale. She barely listened to what her friends were saying. This… was troubling. No life being can become so pale on purpose. She wasn’t overacting, she really saw something scary.
“Excuse me, but could you tell me what happened to your friend?” Bluve approached Daisy and Lily.
“Oh, Rose have just seen a creature from Everfree Forest,” Daisy explained.
“It was far away from her, so we try to assure her that it wasn’t a threat,” Lily added.
“It was a monster!” Rose came to her senses and turned to Bluve.
“A monster?” Bluve surprised. Other researchers heard the conversation and came closer too.
“Yes! And I don’t think that it was from the Forest! It was an abomination from Tatrtarus!”
“How did this monster look like?”
“It was like a big cockroach! Huge cockroach! But it looked like it was made of metal knives! Disgusting and scary!”
“A cockroach… made of knives?” Bluve spelled.
“Oh shit…” Edez, Kor, Karin and Zet’rar swore and all researchers ran away.
“Um… what?” were the last words they herd from the Flower Trio.
“Cockroach made of knives!” Zet’rar exclaimed. “It’s friggin’ symbiont robot of Ga’Ke!”
“When did this bastard release it? When???” Kor swore.
“We have to find it!” Oma exclaimed.
“But where? It can be everywhere in the town or near it,” Zet’rar said.
“Call Max!” Edez said to Affi.
“Yes!” she responded and sent the telepathic signal to the biologist. “He’ll come in a minute.”
“Good.”
“Should we separate and start to look?” Karin asked.
“I can’t say,” Kor responded. “Symbiont robots of Ga’Ke are pretty strong, and they can destroy you. It would be bad if it’ll happen in front of many ponies.”
“Right…”
“Where we have to look for it?” Sheim exclaimed. “And now?”
And then…
“You heard the news?” researchers heard a passer-by.
“What news?” his friend responded.
“Princesses Celestia and Luna come to Ponyville today!”
“What?!” researchers exclaimed together with the other passer-by.
“I haven’t heard any announcements!” the second passer-by continued.
“There wasn’t any, it’s a surprise visit.”
“Oh…”
“Come! They’ll land on the Central Square in any minute!”
“Sure!”
“Daaaamn!” researchers swore again.
“Affi! Send…” Edez was about to give the telepathist another order.
“Already! I told Max about it!”
“Then run to the Central Square!”
A minute later, they were there, at a round square near the city hall. Max had run there a moment ago. He ran closer to the rest of the team, when two large shadows appeared in the sky. Ponies on the land and in the air applauded. Princesses Luna and Celestia descended gracefully flapping their large wings. They gradually slowed down. They were getting ready to touch the ground. Crowd’s applause was getting louder and louder. Shapes of the alicorns became clearly visible in the morning sunlight. They were only twenty meters above the ground when…
There was sharp and very loud slam, and thatched roof of the house that stood right in front of the city hall exploded. Then everything was like in slow-motion. All the thatch turned into dense dust cloud. The cloud spitted numerous pieces of hard jagged wood in all directions. Pegasi in the air tried to dodge or fly away. They were pretty far from the site, and the explosion was not that powerful, so they managed to save themselves. But princesses… they were the closet to the explosion site. In front of everyone, two huge splints flied right to them. Princesses have no time to react.
With a nasty sound splints pierced into the bodies of alicorns. Into Luna’s stomach and Celestia’s chest. Alicorns twitched in the air and fell down.
No one was able to say everything. All ponies on the Square were shocked and stunned by the explosion. They just couldn’t believe that something like that actually happened. Without any sounds, they watched how their princesses, who seemed to be almighty, fall down injured. Only when they heard the thud of fallen bodies, they screamed in horror.