Edited by: donald trump card
Chapter 1: New Friends?
After the unicorns had discovered there are planets other than Equestria beyond their vision through the use of newer, magically enchanted telescopes it didn’t take the pegasi long to break out of the pull of Equestria. Driven by their own curiosity and promises of untold riches they had managed to reach the outer limits of Equestria years before anyone had predicted.
Joining unicorn magic and science with earth pony intuition and engineering the land bound ponies soon followed the pegasi in ships that as time went on became progressively larger and larger. The largest of the ships, Flying Cities, were able to carry nearly entire populations of cities into space.
However a new planet hadn’t actually been reached until Twilight Sparkle had found a way to amplify teleportation spells through large generators, allowing ships to move over distances that would take years in a matter of seconds. Because very few ponies actually knew teleportation spells, the spell had to be stored for later use. Thus spell batteries were born. Since unicorns weren’t required to cast teleport spells, ships could now be mass produced. Now the ponies of Equestria had solved two problems, breaking from the grip of Equestria, and reaching worlds unfathomable distances away, but one still remained.
The void of space was dangerous to ponies, as the first pegasi to leave Equestria soon learned, the ships would have no use if nopony could step outside them to explore. This is where the earth ponies stepped in. The RIG (Resource Integration Gear) was the gift of the earth ponies to the rest of Equestria. Integrating the spell batteries on a much smaller level the earth ponies were able to tap into their power and use it to make suits almost as intricate as the ships themselves.
Soon colonies began surfacing on the planets with the most abundant amount of resources. Flying cities were soon being repurposed and linked together to form massive stations on planets quickly and efficiently. This provided the ponies with a base of operations while away from Equestria, and to some it became a safe haven, a permanent home.
Knowing almost nothing about what was actually out there ponies started filling in the gaps with stories, some telling of planets made of gemstones, others of other planets filled with ponies just like us. After a research team completely vanished, new ideas of what was out there surfaced. These stories weren’t as nice, the gruesome creatures some ponies came up with made an ursa major seem like your best friend.
Taking every precaution to ensure that no more ponies were lost Celestia ordered the unicorns and earth ponies to add some form of protection to the RIG. Upon further research the earth ponies had done their best to armor the suit, but some parts had to be left unarmored to allow for limbs to bend to their fullest extent. The earth ponies refused to sacrifice mobility for protection, in the field ponies needed to be quick and operate efficiently.
The unicorns came up with something a lot more sinister. They created the first energy weapons. A rather ingenious design again made possible by spell batteries. The weapons themselves were folded up on both sides of a pony, behind the helmet a pony was able to deploy, and fire them with a mechanism that fit easily into the mouth of the pony. To ensure that the shots were accurate the unicorns used the same technology the holographic projectors used on the weapons to produce small beams of light in front of the pony, highlighting the path of the shots. The suit handled reloading the weapons with a rather ingenious design. The suit held a certain number of clips that were loaded into slots easily reachable on the breast of the suit, one slot for each gun, this allowed for ponies to carry two different weapons if they chose, variety is the spice of death after all. The clips in the suit were automatically cycled into the weapons as the empty ones were ejected. The earth ponies even integrated an ammo counter into the helmet’s HUD. Celestia was hesitant for lack of a better word to produce such dangerous weapons. It wasn’t until Luna promised to implement rigorous safety training for the weapons, and to personally oversee them that Celestia agreed.
At least that’s what I remember from school, I wasn’t a clever pony and rarely paid attention to history. I was more interested in the future, I always found myself fascinated by the newest technology. When I got my cutie mark (a computer with what looked like infinite possibilities on the screen) I thought I was destined to be great, an inventor, an engineer, or even entrepreneur.
But no, I was stuck on a planet jokingly named Nightmare-Moon by Celestia. More specifically I was trapped on Eclipse station, the largest space colony in existence, with the glorious task of being the spell battery repair pony. I don’t know why they have an official position for this, these damned things almost never break, and they’re so simple to repair everypony should know how to do it. In my three years here I’ve had to fix maybe two batteries. I would quit but there are virtually no openings anywhere else that fit my skill set. After all the strings my uncle had to pull to get me this job I knew he would be furious if he found out I quit. So for now I was Nova, spell battery repair pony.
I admit, I was never without something to do, my work days were always full, but goddess was it boring. I often found myself working through breaks to make sure every spell battery got checked, in the off chance that one was malfunctioning. Even with the most boring job under Celestia’s sweet sun I refused to allow myself to be blamed for power going out for anypony in my sector.
The worst and most time consuming part of my day was when anypony wanted to go outside the station or come back in I had to be called down to check the spell batteries on their RIGs before they left, and again when they came back. Usually I don’t mind doing this, after all it is for their safety, but when I’m crammed behind a generator with a mouthful of tools I get a little mad when I’m expected to drop everything I’m doing so somepony can go out and explore this goddess forsaken rock.
Today was no different, as I was in the medical bay stuck behind a generator in a space so small my RIG couldn’t even fold out the Industrial Severing Cannon (ISC) I’m supposed to use to open up the latch with a miniature one in my mouth straining to reach the final lock static came from my radio, followed by a familiar but unwanted voice.
“Where’s my spell battery pony?” the voice questioned “I wanna go outside and do my job, unlike somepony.”
“Whatever Orbit” I responded, spitting out my ISC. What I wouldn’t give to be a unicorn. “I’m heading to the airlock now.” I said, trotting towards the tram, if I could get there before it left then I could save at least 10 minutes, if I missed it I’d be hoofing it to the airlock.
Luck wasn’t on my side, as I sprinted to try and beat out the closing doors I skidded to a stop, the tram slowly moving away. With a long sigh I turned towards the airlock and began walking slowly. Why don’t they have a unicorn to check the batteries I thought to myself? It would be ten times easier than me crawling behind every generator. Probably because nopony is as desperate for a job as I am I concluded as I turned the corner to be met by a pony in a dark blue RIG.
“About damn time” Orbit joked.”
“You know, the worse you treat me the slower I’m going to work” I warned, as I slowed my trot down to a crawl.
“Then you can explain to the Director why I’m not out there finding anything.” He retorted, unamused by my antics.
“So tell me have you ever actually found anything out there? Or do you goof off as much out there as you do in here?” I questioned as I opened the slot on Orbit’s flank, examining the glowing battery. Orbit remained silent, staring at the airlock. Clearly he didn’t have a comeback. After Twilight Sparkle herself had discovered an artifact of some sort about a month ago in an area Orbit had already “searched” he never talked about his findings to anypony. “Your battery’s all set, I’ll see you in two hours” I finally said, breaking the awkward silence.
“Actually I upgraded my RIG” Orbit bragged, probably beaming under his helmet. “I’ve almost doubled the amount of oxygen it can store, so I’ll be seeing you in four.”
“Alright four hours then, maybe I’ll actually have some free time today.” I replied, for once I was legitimately impressed with Orbit.
“Not if you stay here talking to me Nova, now be a good little mare and go back to checking batteries.” Orbit chided, stepping into the airlock.
“I’m a year older than you.” I reminded Orbit as the door to the airlock swung shut behind him.
Walking back to the generator I decided to take a detour through the stores. As I walked through food stall after food stall I couldn’t help myself I had to grab something to eat. I looked up and saw advertisements for the two opposing food giants here on Eclipse, the “world famous” Flim Flam brothers and Sweet Apple Acres. I finally decided to pick up some apple fritters from Sweet Apple Acres, their prices were always cheaper (and Applejack was a lot cuter than Flim or Flam). I sat down at one of the tables right out in front of the store, A large cutout of Applejack immediately behind me and began to enjoy my first break in months.
I sat there enjoying the rest, I almost never had time for things like this, my days usually consisted of: work, eat, sleep, repeat. I’ve never had much of a social life, the only pony I ever really talked to past a simple hello was Orbit. As I bent down to pick up the last bite of fritter I heard a gentle voice ask “excuse me ma’am, do ya know where the Celestia quarter is?”
“It’s over by the Director’s building, about a 3 hour wa......” As I looked up I nearly had to pick my jaw up off the table. In front of me was an orange mare with a blonde mane, just starting to grey. Quickly I checked the cutout, comparing it to the mare in front of me. They couldn’t be the same person, but every time I checked behind and in front of me I was met by the same face, I almost lost track of who was real and who was the cutout.
“Yes, sugarcube it’s me, in tha flesh.” Applejack chuckled as I stopped turning my head back and forth. “So where’s this Director’s building ya was talkin’ about?”
“It...It’s back that way” I said pointing a hoof towards the airlock, still trying to get over the fact I was talking to THE Applejack. “Once you get to the past the..... the school hang a left th... then it’s just a straight walk to the Celestia quarter-you can’t miss it..” I could barely form coherent sentences.
“And how far away is tha school?” Applejack questioned.
“About a two hour walk, and another hour till you reach the Celestia quarter once you take the turn.” I said beginning to get slightly more comfortable talking.
Applejack frowned, “Ah didn’t think this place would be so big, they really should have maps somewhere.”
It was clear Applejack was new here, her lack of a RIG was a bigger giveaway than her being lost. “Actually all RIGS have a navigation function built into them, you should really consider picking one up.” I said, feeling proud to have done my good deed for the day.
Almost immediately Applejack snapped back “Ah ain’t givin them Flim Flam wahoos a single bit!” The sudden change in her demeanor caused me to cringe a little. I knew she and Flim Flam were competitors but I didn’t know how strongly she felt about them. “Ah’m sorry, for snappin at ya like that. I shouldn’t ‘ave expected ya to know me an’ Flim Flam ain’t exactly on speakin’ terms.” Applejack said, sensing my unease.
“It’s ok I really shouldn’t for...” I begun to apologize only to be interrupted.
“No no, ah shouldn’t be takin out mah anger on ya, ah truly am sorry sugarcube,” Applejack said, quite apologetically. “Ah’ll make it up to ya somehow. Would ya mind showing me where ah’m goin’, if’n ya have the time that is? Ah was never good with directions.” Applejack added, a smile washing over her face.
I thought about this for a short while. I had to be back in time to get Orbit, and I still had batteries to check, this once in a lifetime opportunity probably wasn’t going to happen. On the other hand it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, how could I possibly pass up such a thing? “Sure, I’m not busy,” I lied, “I have time.”
Applejack had been prepared to a long walk only to be pleasantly surprised when I told her that we could take a tram all the way to the school, cutting a two hour walk down into a 10 minute ride. On the tram we shared the typical things anypony shared when meeting a new friend (I assumed, I wasn’t really sure I’ve never had much practice talking to ponies). The stories of our family, our current lives, our friends (or friend for me), and the story of our cutie marks.
We stepped off the train almost directly in front of the school, I checked the enormous clock hanging directly above the school, it was nearly 3:00. Oh no I thought we have to get out of here, and quick. As the clock was about to strike 3:00 I turned to Applejack and told her “Get ready” with a grin on my face.
“Fer what?” She asked, quite confused.
Here we go I thought as the bell rang and children of all ages rushed out of the school, surrounding me and my newfound companion. Applejack was taken completely by surprise, and nearly fell over when being bumped into continuously by filly after filly. “Woah nelly!” She called out as her legs were swept out from under her.
As quickly as the wave of children had appeared they were gone, off to get their daily dose of fun. Laughing quietly I picked up Applejack’s hat and handed it to her as she dusted herself off. “This is why ah like Ponyville,” she scoffed “Only 15 fillies ah gotta worry about when they git out.”
Still chuckling to myself I told her “you get used to it, c’mon we’re almost there,” I said, looking down the long hallway that eventually led to the Celestia quarter, motioning for Applejack to follow.
As we walked on I slowly began to run out of things to talk about, I had already been over my social life, my family, I had nothing left. I really was a boring pony. Applejack however, seemed to have plenty of stories to make up for my lack thereof. The more we walked, the less I talked and the more I listened to Applejack’s monologue. To be wise, one must think of something stupid, and then not say it
Applejack noticed my retreat from the conversation and she tried her best to pull me back in. She was finally successful when she swallowed her pride and asked about her rivals most popular item: RIGs. “So what’s that doo’hickey on yer back there fer?” She finally asked.
I shot her a puzzled glance, did she actually want to know? Or was she tired of hearing her own voice? I didn’t care, I finally had something to say after 20 minutes of silence. “It’s a display of my general health, it’s on every RIG. It allows everypony around to quickly check how you’re doing.” I told her.
“Ah see, and what about all them fancy lights on your legs there?” She said, pointing to my forehooves.
“Those are hologram projectors, they let you have a video conference with anypony who also has a RIG, it’s the only way you can talk to somepony across the station,” I responded. “Not only that but they also show what’s in my saddlebag, and how much of a charge I have left on my ISC, along with other little things like time, direction, and stuff like that” I added.
“An’ what exactly is an ISC?” Applejack asked, still eyeing the tool.
Checking my surroundings to make sure nopony would notice I folded out the one thing I held nearest and dearest to my heart, Isaac(pulling out a dangerous tool in the middle of the station was frowned upon, I can’t imagine why). Showing it to Applejack I saw her green eyes widened in amazement as she looked over the tool, her eyes then followed the beam of light projected from it. “It stands for Industrial Severing Cannon,” I told her, “it’s the tool to use for cutting and welding. I’ve had him since I was a filly. It can cut through pretty much anything here on Eclipse given enough time.” I couldn’t help but grin. I loved this little cannon. I spent hours every day taking it apart, cleaning it and delicately putting it back together. I took the time to personalize it, I hoof painted my cutie mark onto the side of it, and changed it from a dull grey to a more eye pleasing maroon. I had modified everything on it both internally and externally. I can guarantee I had the most powerful, reliable, and best looking ISC on Eclipse. However after being transferred from construction to spell battery detail, I’ve never had a chance to use Isaac like it should be, and it was nearly killing me inside.
“An just where do ya put the... er, magic in?” The orange mare looked at me quizzically. I slid open the rectangular slot on the front of my RIG and pressed down on one of the small batteries held inside, and popped it out for Applejack to get a closer look. I pressed the clip back into my RIG and closed up the slot with a satisfying click and looked back up at Applejack.
“Ah” was all she said, followed by a quick nod. Before I could say anything she quickly followed up with another question, “What’s that contraption around yer neck?”
I demonstrated how the suit’s helmet was folded up around my neck, and explained that it made life easier for us less magically inclined ponies.
“Anything else you want to know?” I couldn’t help but beam. I felt proud to be able to show off my knowledge.
“One last thing,” she told me. “What’cha mean when ya said a navigation system?”
“Oh that?” I said while lifting a hoof, A blue trail of light appeared on the ground, vanishing in the distance down the hallway. “A simple design, hold your hoof up for a short while to activate it, then it highlights the path to whatever destination you set.” Applejack was speechless, clearly impressed. I was about to ask her if she needed help picking her jaw up off the floor before she finally said, “Ah never thought ah’d be considerin buying somethin Flim or Flam came up with, but ah think ah’m gonna have to make an exception.” I was shocked, if I were her I would never admit to being impressed with my rivals merchandise. I’d sooner lie.
“Well, here we are, the Celestia quarter,” I stated as we pulled up to what resembled a small town, a tribute to Celestia in the shape of her cutie mark adorned the largest building in the center.
I turned back the way we had came, planning to leave Applejack to whatever it was she came to Eclipse to do when I heard “umm, where ya goin? Yer not just gonna leave like that are ya? I still have to introduce ya to Twilight.”
“Oh... I-uh thought that once we got here we’d go our separate ways” I admitted, avoiding Applejacks gaze. I checked the clock again, I had a hour and a half until I needed to let Orbit back in, plenty of time. “Allright,” I told her, “where’s Celestia’s star student?” As soon as I said that I had the sudden urge to facehoof. Applejack didn’t say anything but I could hear her trying her best to not crack up as she turned to head towards the building with the huge tribute to Celestia on it. On the upside my red coat and RIG hid my blushing well. Soon I was face to face with the mare responsible for me being on Eclipse station, (no not my mother) Twilight Sparkle.
“Applejack!” Twilight exclaimed as we stepped into her office, “what.... How did you get here?”
“Well ah’ sure didn’t spread mah wings and fly up here mah’self.” Applejack said jokingly. “And to answer yer first question ah wanted to congratulate ya on yer new job in person.”
I could see Twilight begin to blush, “Applejack you didn’t have to go through all this trouble.”
“To be honest ah had to get away from the farm for a spell, Applebloom and her friends were drivin’ me crazy.” Applejack sure is.... open about her personal life, I could never be that truthful to somepony I thought in quiet contemplation. As Applejack and Twilight continued their conversation I started to pay less and less attention and started thinking more about myself.
I checked the time again, I only had an hour and ten minutes before Orbit would be waiting for me in the airlock. Why did I come here, I’m so far behind in work I’m going to be up all night making up for lost time. Do I even have enough time to get back to Orbit? He’s not going to be very happy waiting in the airlock for me to finish my “date” with Applejack.
My train of thought was derailed when I laid my eyes upon the artifact Twilight had uncovered about a month ago. I couldn’t explain what I was feeling being in its presence, it felt like the artifact was emitting rhythmic pulses every few seconds, but they were ever so faint I hadn’t noticed them until I focused on it. Beyond the physical level I felt like something inside of me wasn’t right, it was almost as if my soul was being twisted, to match the shape of the artifact, turning me into something I didn’t want to be.
“I see you’ve found the Marker” Twilight said, breaking me out of my trance.
“Is that what you’ve decided to call it?” I asked, still feeling uneasy about being in its presence.
“Well, I haven’t found any use for it yet other than a paperweight, and Paperweight isn’t as good of a name as Marker.”
“Makes sense,” I reasoned “have you really gotten nowhere with it?” I said, hoping to take my mind off the pulses I kept feeling.
“Nothing yet, I was just about to start testing how it reacts to spells, but Spike ran off somewhere earlier today and I don’t want to start without him nearby to record the results.” Twilight explained
“Just like im’ ta run off when yer about ta put im’ ta work” Applejack said, almost at the same time as I was about to ask who Spike was. “Might aswell go find im’.”
That was probably the best idea I’ve heard all day, I felt more uncomfortable being near the Marker than I did talking to ponies. I’ve never wanted to get out of a room so badly in my life, I started heading toward the door hoping Applejack and Twilight would follow me while saying, “So where do we start?”
“He’s probably off somewhere eating, we might as well check the food stalls first.” Twilight said with a sigh, “He’s always eating.”
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After searching every food stall, store, outlet, cart, and shop in the Celestia quarter at least twice Spike was nowhere to be seen. “If he’s not eating then where else could he be?” I asked.
“Spike’s always eating.” Twilight said, sounding deeply concerned, “it’s not like him to disappear without telling me where he’s going.” She sounded a bit scared now.
“It’s alright Twi.” Applejack said, comforting Twilight. “We’ve only been searching fer a little over an hour, and there’s still a lota places he could be, we’ll find im’.”
AN HOUR! Oh Luna no, don’t tell me she’s right!. I quickly pulled up the clock on my RIG only to have what Applejack said confirmed. How could I have forgotten about Orbit? He’s going to kill me! Or worse, he’ll tell the Director and I’ll be fired. I’m going to lose my job, my home, my savings, everything. Then he’ll kill me.
“Hate to abandon you guys but I have an emergency I need to tend to!” I yelled over my shoulder as I started sprinting back towards the school. With my legs burning and chest heaving I finally reached the school, and didn’t stop running until I reached the tram platform only to see it begin to pull away from the station. “Oh come on, can’t I catch a break just once!” I yelled out stomping my hoof. Everypony nearby turned their heads, there must have been at least 30 pairs of eyes staring at me. I really wanted to swear, it took all my self restraint to hold it back, I had never been one for swearing, and I hadn’t planned to start now.
Not thinking because of my panic and all the stress I bolted off towards the airlock, the tram would be back in twenty minutes, and the run to the airlock would take me at least an hour. I’ve never ran so fast, or for so long in my life. My lungs felt like they were about to explode and my legs were sure to give out soon. I paid no attention to them though, my thoughts were elsewhere. I even ignored all the strange looks everypony was giving me as I ran by. As I pulled up to the airlock I was on the verge of tears. “I’m so sorry Orbit!” I said between sobs, “please don’t be mad! I’ll make it up to you I promise!”
I had been warned about what would happen if I opened the airlock door when it wasn’t pressurized. It wasn’t my job to do it, that was done inside the airlock, but I was trained to check it every time, it was rule number one for Celestia’s sake. However teary eyed, on the verge of passing out from both a panic attack and exhaustion it slipped my mind. I pressed the button to open the door, and the force I felt was unlike anything I had ever felt before. I was sucked into the airlock and thrown against the back wall, slamming my head against it. The sharp pain in the back of my skull soon became an unbearable pain that engulfed my entire head. Lying on the floor, my vision blurred by a combination of being on the verge of passing out and blood in my eyes I saw the corpse of Orbit. His blue RIG was colored sanguine with his own blood, the floor around him was the same way. If he was that bad what condition was I in? Is this how I die? I tried to look back at Orbit and call out to him, but nothing came out of my mouth and I saw two Orbits begin to dance around my vision. As my vision began to fade I thought I had caught sight of Orbit’s dismembered leg beside me. I had never seen anything so revolting in my life, I felt the sudden need to vomit, but my vision went black and I lost consciousness before I ever had the chance.