//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 -- Discovery [E] // Story: Magi Chronicles: Fires of Equestria // by Xeadin //------------------------------// Serenity loomed over a large meadow, overlooking a winding river that gently flowed along the rolling hills between Ponyville and Canterlot. A few birds flew above the trees in a seemingly unusual fashion, but it was otherwise an ordinary night. On one side of the river, the remains of the torn shuttle had scarred the riverbank in its crash landing into the meadows, its fall cushioned by the trees that it had rammed in to. Fortunately, the landscape itself did not look awful. On the other side of the river bank, a lone figure laid in the tall grass and cattails—it was the boy, who had survived the fall from above. He remained motionless, despite the movement of other woodland creatures that began to gather around the seemingly lifeless body. A rabbit focused its attention to the figure and prudently hopped over towards him, keeping its guard up in case anything was to move out of the darkness. The rabbit eventually got close enough to where it touched the hand of the figure. He twitched his hand slightly, but had remained motionless afterward. The sounds of rustling bushes caught the attention of the rabbit, and it noticed a few birds flying overhead-- just feet from the tops of the tall grass. This startled the rabbit, and it dove back into the safety of the thicket. The rustling of bushes and tall grass became louder, and voices could be heard in the moonlit meadow-- growing louder at each passing moment. The birds that had flown above the river had landed on top of the smoldering wreckage and made loud chirping noises. As they looked in every direction they could see, one of them caught a glimpse of the figure partially hidden in the tall grass. The bird projected an ear-piercing shriek and darted straight towards the motionless body, landing right on top of its chest. A yellow equine flashed out from the trees and toward the edge of the river. The figure sported wings and long, loose, wavy strands of pink hair. It turned its head one way and looked the other, catching sight of the bird that was supported by... something. The figure silently gasped and flew over to the bird, where she began to see more of the awkward beige being that was lying down on the grass. Her eyes narrowed as she came within less than a foot of the strange being. She let out another silent gasp and muttered a few words. “Oh, my…” A light blue equine flew above the treetops, a rainbow trail snaking behind it. It barely caught sight of the yellow figure that advanced toward the dark spot that laid flat on the moonlit grass. "Fluttershy!" the light blue figure exclaimed, in a high-pitched raspy voice. She also sported wings, but had a spectral mane flowing down to the bottom of her neck, and her tail was the same way. The rainbow-maned pony dashed quickly to the ground next to Fluttershy. "Oh, Rainbow Dash! Don't startle it..." Fluttershy said softly, raising her hoof above the figure. Rainbow Dash let out a quiet chirp, covering her mouth with her hoof to refrain from bothering the figure. Her eyes narrowed as she made eye contact with the figure's physical appearance. The shape seemed similar to a few different species on Equestria, but something felt out of place with this one. The bird on top of the figure flew onto Fluttershy's shoulder and folded out a wing in the direction of the river. It was attempting to point out the strange metal wreckage that had crowned the top of the riverbank on the other side. "What... is that?" Rainbow Dash cocked her head sideways, utterly confused as to the nature of the strange object. She was equally confused about the figure that lay before her hooves. Several other figures appeared out of the thicket and stopped just shy of the river's edge. One of the taller figures spotted Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy and pointed them out to the others. A purple unicorn was the first to arrive between the two other pegasus ponies, followed suit by a party of five others. Twilight Sparkle, the purple alicorn, looked upon the motionless figure with a steady gaze. Rarity, a white unicorn with a gorgeous purple mane, held a terrified look as she lowered her sight upon the figure. Applejack, an orange pony with a blonde mane tied into a ponytail and who seemed to always wear a cowboy hat, carefully approached the group as she noticed the dark figure partially hidden by the cushioning grass. The princesses, Celestia and Luna, examined the group just before they both caught sight of the figure. Lastly, Pinkie Pie, the pink party pony, hopped along the river bank and stopped in midair as she laid her eyes on the strange figure. How she was able to stop and float in midair was only a nightmare to figure out-- let alone what she may possibly be thinking as she continued to stare at the figure with her mouth agape. Twilight lightly pushed on the figure and took note of its movements as she did so. "Whatever this thing is, it certainly is affected by gravity and motion." She looked around and studied the landscape briefly before she laid eyes on the figure once again. Rarity, shocked by Twilight's push on the unknown figure, held out a hoof. "Twilight, you should know better than pushing the poor thing. We have no idea where it came from, or whether it'd accept your push as a notion of curiosity." Upon hearing Rarity's words, Twilight tapped her hoof on her cheek. "Hmm, it does seem to be in some form of discomfort." She looked up to Celestia. “Do you have any idea what it may be?” Celestia studied the figure for a long moment. She seemed to recall faint memories of a certain group of beings, but could never really figure out what they were or what their intentions were about. She nodded her head. “Ah reckon this thing might be listenin’ to us talking.” Applejack adjusted her hat, keeping it from sliding forth in to her field of vision. Rainbow Dash beat her wings proudly, her hind hooves barely grazing the tips of the grass. “Oh, don’t be silly, Applejack. I’m sure it’s just in a deep slumber. I’d be out like a light bulb if I was out in the middle of the woods by myself. I wouldn’t even notice a herd of buffalo charging by me.” Applejack rolled her eyes. “And ah reckon you’d be considered a laughin’ stock to yer fellow pegasi friend up ‘n Cloudsdale if that happened.” “Hmph! Way to be a buzzkill.” Rainbow Dash growled and flew back down to the ground, crossing her front arms and sitting down on her rump diligently. Applejack knew how to blow out Rainbow’s fire. Rarity raised a hoof, gently tapping the bottom of her chin. “It’s just terrible thinking about this strange creature without any sort of comfort out here.” She gently rubbed the pale arm of the figure. She shivered as she felt the boy’s cold, dry arm. “Come to think of it, it really needs something warm. What kind of a blanket would it prefer?” “I’ve got a few blankets at home, Rarity.” Fluttershy calmly flew up between Rarity and Twilight. “I use them for my animal friends, so some may be a bit small, but they might work.” "Perhaps we should take it to our castle to give it some comfort while it is 'sleeping?'" Luna spoke, bringing comfort to the rest of the group with her calm voice. She glanced towards Celestia, who glinted in appreciation. Twilight drew a blank stare at the notion for a quick moment before nodding in agreement. "I would agree," Celestia said. "My sister and I will escort it to Canterlot. It seems to have been on a long journey from wherever it came from." Her horn enveloped itself with her magic, and similar strands engulfed around the figure on the ground. As she began to lift it up from the ground, the figure let out a quiet sigh. Celestia noticed this and hastened her ability. With the help of Luna's magic, the figure was properly supported by both of their magic. Pinkie Pie gasped at the sudden realization of a thought. "Oooh! Oooh ooh ooh! Maybe when it wakes up, we can throw it a BIG welcoming party-- with fireworks and cake and confetti! It'll be the best welcoming party in all of Equestria!" "Pinkie..." Twilight grumbled softly, with a disgusted look painted on her face. She knew exactly what she didn't want to hear at this point. "There'd be giant balloon statues of me and everypony else outside of the castle, and..." "Pinkie." "...there'd also be events, like Pin the Tail on the Pony, water balloon fights, and..." "PINKIE!" Twilight roared through the meadows, attempting to keep her own sanity from blasting a magical crater around her. Pinkie Pie giggled softly and blinked innocently towards Twilight. She managed a big grin on her face. "Yes, Twilight?" Rarity rubbed one hoof on Twilight's back. "Oh, don't be too hard on her, Twilight. She's just as surprised as we are to the arrival of this... thing," she said, reassuringly. Twilight sighed in relief, thanking Rarity for her kind words. Celestia and Luna were well ahead of them due to Pinkie's earlier distraction. Celestia held a warm smile, carrying the figure alongside her with her sister. It had been a long time since she had done anything cooperatively with her sister, and she realized that it had been an even longer time since she had learned about wherever this being came from. It almost felt as if there was something missing-- something off-key. Twilight, who had been consumed in a brief period of deep thought, quickly cast away her assumptions and sprinted forth, catching up with Celestia and Luna. "Princess Celestia, what should we do? Should we help out as well?" Celestia looked back. "Of course. It will need all the help it can get to regain its strength." She smiled and turned back to face the figure once more. “What happened?” the voice of a humanoid bird broke out within the cockpit of a space shuttle. The avian figure stood tall and wore tight-fitting clothes that almost looked like armor at first glance. From the sound of its voice, it was a male individual, and he sported a beautiful array of feathers with various hues of brown feathers with muddy red accents. His eyes were of a brilliant gold, and his expression seemed less than pleased by what news he had heard. He was amongst a crew of a few others in the cockpit, one of them being another humanoid avian with a pleated tan skirt, a dark gray vest, and a multitude of light brown and gray feathers over the rest of its body. The avian was female, based on the bulge of its upper chest. She had icy blue eyes and was primarily focused on the screen in front of her, which displayed a set of coordinates and pulsating bars. Sounds were emanating from a set of speakers next to the monitor, indicating a communications system between the operator and the rest of the crew to whomever was on the other side of the comm-link. The member in front of the comms operator was a light-haired humanoid figure, with a marine braid in her hair. She sported a dark green heavy vest and camouflaged pants. Her hair reached down to her lower waist, and she had bright green eyes. She was focused at the canopy in front of her, which meant she was one of the two vessel operators. She was constantly checking in with the comms operator behind her, making sure she was heading in the right direction. The other vessel operator was a male humanoid with dark, wrinkly skin. He had short, floppy ears that almost resembled a dog, and he had small, brown eyes. He had no hair on the top of his head, nor on his face, yet he seemed young of age. He had a tight fitting dark vest and pants, and was focused on the canopy window, as well as a screen with a circular green display. The display had a revolving white line that circled around the screen and highlighted several dots that the line passed over. This was assumed to be a radar display, and he kept checking up on it routinely while keeping a steady pace forward. The furious avian figure had a clenched wad of feathers as its fist, and the skin above his nostrils began to blush with a red hue. Despite having a beak, he could speak fluently. Eagorans were exceptionally skillful in communicating with others. The female vessel operator looked up at the reddish-brown figure and spoke with a heavenly sweet voice. “Randan, what’s the matter?” She glanced to the other Eagoran, who held a worried look on her face. Randan sighed, letting go of some of the pent-up anger that was brewing within him. “It’s the commander. He’s not responding to any of our calls.” The other Eagoran figure turned her head and looked up to Randan. Her voice was almost as soothing as the other female, although higher-pitched. “I’m sure he will be fine. It is, indeed, unusual that he wouldn’t be answering. Maybe he’s just beyond our range of communications.” Randan managed to smile a bit. “Thanks for the reassurance, Cassandra.” He took another deep breath in and sighed, flushing out the rest of his frustration and giving him focus once more. “Renae, Otan. How long do we have until we gain another mission update?” Otan, the wrinkly figure, glanced down at a display with shifting symbols and words. He spoke with a fairly raspy, guttural voice. “Based on prior communications with HQ, I’d say about ten minutes, give or take a few.” He looked over to the other operator, Renae, who nodded in agreement. Randan nodded and walked over towards the canopy window, studying the starscape that glistened before them. He took note of a few passing stars, analyzing them and archiving the images to an onboard database, which would soon be transmitted back to their location of origin—their home, the Magi Civilization. He whistled at some of the planetary clusters from his discoveries. “Any one of these places could be a prime resting spot for our commander.” He chuckled, holding his hand to his chin, as he continued to categorize all of the passing star systems. Some of them were, indeed, stellar resting spots, while others were uncomfortably uninhabitable. He made a few grimaces to a few planets—one of them sporting an oozing acidic surface. “Would anybody want to live on a planet full of battery acid?” The other crew members shook their heads and held sour expressions. Randan tossed the holographic screen into the slot of a CPU-like device, which processed the information and prepared it to be inserted to the database. It was almost like clockwork inside the cockpit. Cassandra jumped from her seat when she heard a loud beeping sound emanate from her console speakers. The rest of the crew turned around to face her and see what the fuss was about. Otan was the first to speak. “What in the blazes was th—” Before he could finish his question, a familiar voice could be heard throughout the cockpit. “Ah, it’s HQ.” Renae flipped a few switches, and a shudder closed the canopy, hiding the starscape from view. The cockpit dimmed a bit, but was still bright enough for everyone to see. A holographic screen flickered to life, showing a well-dressed male individual in a corporal’s hat and uniform. The man appeared to be in his post-adult years, as signs of aging were evident on his face, though he still held a tall posture despite his appearance. Renae spoke in a delighted voice. “General Reichert. What a pleasure to hear from you again.” The man spoke. “Well, it’s good to hear from you too, Renae, Otan, Randan, and Cassandra.” He cleared his throat. “I assume the space shuttle Harmony is in working order?” “It’s never treated us any better,” Otan spoke happily. “I assume you have a new update to the mission for us?” Randan inquired. “As a matter of fact, yes I do.” Reichert held a small holographic screen in front of him. He hovered over a few buttons and a screen appeared right in front of each of the crew members. The screen had the coordinates of their present location represented as a triangular chevron, and two other dots—one of them pulsating with a widening green circle. The red pulsing dot was assumed to be an aggressor vessel or group. “We’ve recently picked up a faint signal from the Elzar region not far from where you’re stationed to be. We had only just received this signal a few minutes ago, and have cross-referenced it to be of Precursor origin. We believe it to be a type of distress beacon.” Everyone’s eyes widened and faces stiffened. They looked at each other in motionless horror. Cassandra spoke with a faint, dry voice. “Th… The commander..?” Reichert couldn’t do much but evict the same emotion. “Oh, my…” was all he managed to say. “If you will excuse me for one moment…” He got up and put the link on hold. Randan collapsed on an empty chair and sighed in disbelief. “Dammit…” He shook his head and covered his face with his feathery hands. “Now what?” Renae still looked at the others for what seemed like half an hour, before the screen flickered back to life. Reichert was present once again, but was accompanied by another, younger figure. She was an Eagoran figure, but most of her feathers were covered by a tight-fitting corporal’s uniform. The crew members immediately knew who it was. “Lieutenant Hena,” Cassandra spoke, flashing away her look of horror. “It’s an honor to see you again.” The lieutenant cleared her throat and spoke with a lower-pitched harmonic voice. “It’s an honor to see you again, members of the Harmony vessel.” She assumed a commanding position, standing tall and making eye contact with the crew members. “We were only made aware of the distress beacon, but we did not take into account who was on board the vessel. We can only hope that he is okay.” The others shared concerned looks with each other. “We have notified the Halo and Beta task forces over to your scouting lane, and we are also calling for the Atlas unit to make their way to your present location. We are re-enabling and reassigning you, effective immediately, to combat patrol.” She pointed out the red dot that flashed on the screen. By its updates, the red dot was not far from the Harmony’s current position, but was also closing in to the location of the distress beacon. “We’ve also discovered a large quantity of Rygolith drop ships heading for the location of the signal. We do not believe that they have an exact location of the signal, as they are travelling to and from various systems. Fortunately, we can only assume that the signal can be safely retrieved by us, but it’s only a matter of time before they find its origin.” The aggressors—they knew. “You will be designated as the mission coordinators. Anything that we relay to you before the mission starts will be for you to relay to the rest of the units. We will brief all of you before you embark. We need you, and the combined units, to secure his present location and to keep the enemy Rygolith unit at bay—force their retreat, if possible, without engaging in heavy warfare. This will be a combat patrol mission, and you will be fully armed in case of an emergency. We will also have reinforcements available if things get out of hand quickly.” Reichert stood from his seat. “This mission must be done under complete long-range electronic radio and radar silence. This means no contact from any outside sources, including communications from Headquarters. The aggressors must not know of your arrival, or they will immediately suspect your intent and will attempt to engage you without warning—thwarting the safety of the mission, and of your lives. You will be allowed to use short-wave radio transmissions to coordinate with the other units and to home in on the location of the distress beacon.” Hena spoke. “We are counting on you, crew members of the vessel Harmony, to safely secure the Commander’s location. He is a critical combat asset to the Civilization’s well-being. Losing him would mark the beginning of the civilization’s end.” She saluted with Reichert, and the crew members did the same. “Ate-zuo.” The holographic screen flashed to a blank state and the cockpit brightened. The crew members in the cockpit drew heavy breaths, knowing full well what they were about to be faced. This was a mission of fate. Renae stood up from her seat and made her way to the back of the cockpit, signaling Randan to come with her. “We’ll need to notify and brief the rest of the crew.” He nodded and followed suit. “Cassandra, keep tabs of all communication lines and flag down the Halo, Beta and Atlas units for us. Otan, keep a watchful eye on the radar. If you see anything pop up, notify us immediately.” Otan saluted. “Will do, ma’am!” Cassandra smiled. “Roger!” ~~~~~~ The double doors opened and a larger room came in to view, carrying a few vehicles of varying size. One of them was a small buggy sporting heavy duty wheels and plush suspension that would be able to hold a few people. Another was a large transport rig with several heavy duty composite wheels and a covered bed behind the cabin of the truck, which was for the buggy that was parked next to it. It seemed like it’d also be used to transport a large group of people as well. Hanging above was a fairly small aerial vehicle. It was large, since its wings were folded up, but was small enough to fit inside the vessel. The aircraft had a set of camera lenses on a circular dome—a vision instrument. It was an unmanned aerial drone in storage. It had a three-bladed propeller on the back-end, and it carried sensitive reconnaissance equipment on its wings, as well as a few tactical long-range missiles. All of the vehicles seemed to have a similar power source—a glowing crystal with an orange tinge emanating from the outer edges, deepening towards the center—Power Eco crystals. The crystals were hidden behind vented grates that allowed heat to escape. For now, the crystals were cool to the touch, since the vehicles were not in active operation. There was a work crew of at least twenty others of varying physical differences. Some of them were of Eagoran descent, some of them looked like Rygoliths, while others looked like normal humanoids with subtle differences. The few Rygoliths that were on board had regular engineering outfits and were analyzing the state of the large transport rig. They were quickly racing around the perimeter of the vehicle. The Rygoliths were found together as an untamed, uncontrolled scouting party. They were found by the Magi Civil Defense and were brought to peace by being offered shelter from the aggressors. In essence, varying groups of nomadic Rygoliths fought proudly alongside the Magi, showing further resentment to their originally hated leader. Randan and Renae both clapped their hands, and all of the work crew stopped what they were doing. Randan spoke above the sounds of the mass drive engines that hummed above the workspace. “Everybody, gather around! We have an important announcement to make!” All of the work crew dropped whatever they had carried and obeyed the order, surrounding the two commanding members. One of the Rygolith members smiled. His eyes glittered with a brilliant golden luminescence, and the skull gem on his forehead helped aid in the brilliance. His skin was a deep shade of purple with dark spots on his arms and legs. He slung a wrench over his shoulder as he anticipated the news. “Well, it’s been a while since we’ve been given an update. What’s new this time?” he spoke in a low guttural voice. Renae glanced to the figure that spoke and smiled. “It’s been a while for us as well, Gelar. We have just been reassigned to a new mission by HQ.” All of the crew members held puzzled looks. Some of them gasped in surprised. Another one of the Rygoliths stepped forth and spoke in a high-pitched raspy tone. “A new mission? What have they reassigned us to?” “We have been assigned to combat patrol.” The work crew held a sign of both concern and anticipation. Gelar spoke. “Combat patrol? What’s the occasion this time? A surprise attack on an aggressor settlement?” “No,” Randan held up a hand. “We are doing a combat patrol and defense for an important figure of interest. He is a critical combat asset to the Magi Civil Defense and to the civilization as a whole. You may know who that is. If not, we will brief you about him later.” Everyone knew, and continued to listen carefully to the coordinator’s words. “Good. So you all know who we’re talking about. This will be relatively quick.” He pointed out the small armory on the side of the vessel. “We have plenty of arms for everyone, but we will also be aided by the Halo and Beta units, as well as support from the Atlas command vessel—Atlas I.” A young woman exclaimed in surprise. “The Atlas I? That’s being deployed to combat? Awesome!” Renae extended a hand to the young, giddy female engineer. “It seems we have someone on board who knows about the Atlas.” The girl grinned. “I helped support the mechanical engineering crew for the Atlas project. That is one doozy of an aircraft just to put together. Imagine all of the blueprints…” She gawked, rolling her eyes in disgust. “I’ve never seen the Atlas deployed in combat! This may even be its first deployment!” Randan chuckled. “Good work, Jenna.” He resumed eye contact amongst the others. “As instructed, we are all designated as the mission coordinators, so it will be our job to relay important mission details with the other units. We will be boarding the Atlas I to assume our mission details and we will be briefed by HQ about the circumstances of the mission and the objectives.” He rubbed his hands together. “Right now, let’s focus on setting up!” Renae clapped her hands, and everyone quickly moved about the workspace, packing up their dropped tools. Most of them continued to work on the vehicles, while some set their tools aside and opened up the armory, taking inventory of all stocked equipment and arms at their disposal.