Erika was dreaming, she had enough mind magic training to know that. She could see herself as a very young child sitting in a garden in the Gefallen Compound, her teddy bear Mogwai was sitting beside her and she watched in happy curiosity as Conrad started making structures out of the dirt with his own developing magic. One structure that struck a chord within her was of a castle hanging off the side of a mountain.
‘I remember what it was like to be that young.’ Erika thought. ‘It was so peaceful happy and carefree, death wasn’t something that even existed, the idea of people not being as safe, as happy and as cared for as us was an alien thought, a dark fantastical thing in fairy tales of heroes, princesses and grand destinies and true love.’
The scene changed, now Erika was a bit older, a bit bigger and bit wiser. She was in the gardens again; her teddy bear was with her sitting upon her back and her father Ezekiel was there in his usual cloaked attire. He was teaching her how to use her magic. Her younger self tried to do as she was instructed and her horn became alit with a pink aura. Ezekiel shook his head and reached down with his hand and covered her horn completely with it. He motioned for her to try again and with a pout she did. For the longest moment the younger Erika had a look of intense concentration and strain upon her face until finally there was a result. Her form was suddenly blanketed in a violet aura of magic for several seconds before it faded away. She panted in exertion but smiled giddily at Ezekiel.
‘Getting older is like a doubled edged sword.’ Erika thought contemplatively. ‘The world becomes less… magical and fantastic, truths are revealed and the way you thought the world worked is dashed and remade almost every day, youthful innocence chipped away slowly but persistently… but at the same time you are stronger for knowing this truth, the darker ways of the world, the cold ways, the pragmatic ways, whereas before these truths would have severely depressed a young child or just confused them you begin to become old enough to maybe not take it in your stride but at least tolerate it until you can. Getting started on learning intensive magic from my father was like this, no longer was death some distant fictional thing but something that can strike close to home and being a Warmage meant protecting the people of Atlantis from those from threats of death both within and without. Death wasn’t the worst thing that can happen to you though but at this point there was nothing more terrible than death in my young mind.’
Erika’s dream world shifted and a new venue was seen along with Erika being yet older. She was taller and bigger but she wasn’t as big as she was now but she was definitely older, a young teen in fact and only a year away from being old enough to be enrolled in the Warmage Academy at the tender age of thirteen. Even at this point and despite knowing that most people only passed the Academy after two decades of training she was both excited and eager. But currently her excitement and eagerness was completely absent instead her face was a mask of utter shock and disbelief as she sat in her father’s study and listening to him talk, regaling her with tales of what he had seen, heard and done.
‘Discovering your parents did not suit the marble pedestal you had placed them was something everyone goes through… I always thought my parents deserved theirs though, so very much…’ Erika thought with some sadness. ‘Discovering my Father, Ezekiel Gefallen Gott Morder, was just the same in that regard was a harsh blow to what remained of my innocence. In this regard I suppose everyone else has an easier time don’t they? After all what is the worst you have heard your parents doing? Starting a drunken brawl at your sport’s game? Perhaps you’ve saw them sneak a few hotel towels into their bags just before checking out? For me it was finding out from the source himself what he had done to get to where he is today. Its one thing to read about how the rise of the Atlantean Empire over its decadent Republic lead to the destruction of the nobility in its entirety, it’s a different story to hear your father talk about his blind rage causing him to have each noble man, woman and child butchered, or how he had nearly driven he elves into extinction for their crimes and turned the entirety of their race barely a step above that of a slave, and only in the past thousand years had their condition been reversed to something resembling beings that didn’t live to serve. But despite that I love my father, it may have been surprisingly hard to come to terms with but my father has his flaws and is just a person in the end despite the incredible responsibilities he has had to bear. If there was anything this had taught me though was to always be realistic with your expectations of people, no one is a paragon of virtues no matter what their reputation may say of them.’
And the scene changed yet again, this time Erika was now inside a drop ship and the interior seemed to be shaking mightily. Instead of her silvery armor she would be gifted with upon her promotion to the rank of captain Erika was wearing the common black armor of a frontline Warmage. It was her first deployment and it would be an eventful one in her young opinion, though for the vets and elders in her squad it was just another bumpy drop into hostile territory.
‘And so it comes to my time of my first deployment as an actual Warmage, armed with my magic, my training, and all the knowledge I had gained while growing up.’ Erika thought. ‘I was aware of all the evils any sentient could commit. Murder, torture, rape, lynching minorities, open hatred, assault with unsaid government sanction, some of the few things I would see in missions to the neighbouring solar nations and I would ready to face all of it down with all of my strength. Needless to say I was now without even the minor scrap of innocence I had possessed from my childhood. Seventeen years old and already an adult in both mind and soul… sometimes I wonder if I should have waited, if I should have gone for training when I turned twenty one instead of as soon as I was allowed? But in the end what’s done is done, I am in my late forties now and First Generation willing I will have hundreds more ahead of me. The past is the past but the future is always changing, always interesting… but there is one thing about the past I am interested in knowing about though, the origins of my birth and race.’
“Ma’am?” Erika heard a muffled voice call out from a great distance followed by rhythmic booming. “Captain Sparkly are you up ma’am?”
‘Well it’s time to wake up.’ Erika thought and with a swirl of darkness found herself opening her eyes in her tiny quarters with her computer still playing her music softly.
“One moment, I’ll be right there!” Erika called out as the knocking continued. She got up from her bed rubbing at her eyes and yawning. Walking towards her door she absently floated her cuirass to her and magically strapped it on before opening the door.
“Yes what is it?” Erika asked the female elven Naval Mage standing at attention before her.
“Ma’am the Melody has been repaired and rearmed and is now on the way to the capital.” She told her. “Along with that I am to inform you that Captain Alexandria wishes to speak with you at your first convenience at the bridge.”
“Thank you, dismissed.” Erika said with a nod.
With a sharp salute the Mage went on her way and Erika exited her room closing the door behind her. Deciding to take a short relaxing shower before meeting with the Captain Erika began moving down towards the showers in her section of the ship.
Since they were now in Atlantean territory and thus didn’t expect to be attacked the halls were filled with Warmages walking and talking casually to each other, all wearing a gray jumpsuit along with a black cuirass.
Soon Erika arrived to the showers and entered into the locker room to hang up her armour and her coat before walking into the showers. The showering area was filled with dozens of little cubicles with chest high walls. The sound of rushing water met her ears and thick mist met her eyes, the showers were in use.
There were about seven people in cubicles and talking casually. Two of them were men and the five were women, three of those women were Dryads. The seven showering mages paused their conversation and looked towards her at the sounds of her hooves on the linoleum floor.
“Hay Cap’!” One of the Dryads waved energetically and smiled happily. “The water is hot enough to cook with! It’s wonderful~”
“It certainly sounds so.” Erika smiled lightly at the giddy Dryad before entering one of the cubicles to use herself. Being as short as she was the walls ended up obscuring her from sight, not that Erika minded that so much.
The mages returned to their conversation as Erika magically manipulated her surroundings with her magic, turning on her shower and squeezing out a few globules of soap from the bottle attached to the wall.
“So what do you think of our passengers Cap’?” Erika heard someone call out. “Honestly I had thought you were one and only when it comes to species.”
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to them in depth just yet.” Erika answered as she stood under the relaxing stream of hot water pouring down on her from the ceiling above. “I most certainly am glad that I am not the only member of my species though, while I don’t doubt I wouldn’t have been able to birth enough children to restart a species I’d rather leave having tons of children to my parents.”
“Oh~ I heard about the new generation they had!” The Dryad from before said. “The pictures I found of them were so cute! Did you meet them yet?”
“Unfortunately I’ve only had the chance to meet the newest members of my family once.” Erika answered candidly as she lathered soap upon herself. She really didn’t mind that fact, after all she didn’t really know the previous generations her parents had birthed all that much and imagined it would be the same for the newest one.
“I… I hope my sister is okay…” A new voice said.
Immediately after that statement Erika could feel the cheerful atmosphere melt away and replaced with gloom.
“Yeah she is showing the signs isn’t she.” Questioned one mage.
“Starting to favour melee, sadism towards wounded enemies, breaking off from the squad and not remembering it…” The new voice said quietly. “She is going to just blackout as soon as she enters a fight one of these days and find herself waking up to corpses all around her…”
“A Berserker huh? I’m sorry Delvin.” The Dryad from before said quietly.
At this point Erika had decided to finish up and rinsed the soap off her before leaving her cubicle. Before she entered the locker room Erika stopped before a large wall mirror and took in her wet form. Suddenly violet sparks began running down her wet mane and coat with dangerous a sounding crackle of electricity. Once the sparks were gone it was as if she had finished drying herself off and brushing herself. Nodding in satisfaction at being presentable Erika went to the locker she put her coat and cuirass in before walking out the doors, her destination being the bridge where Captain Alexandria was waiting.
Λ
“And how is your coffee this time?” Turbo asked, his voice seeming to originate from everywhere in the room. “I do hope I had managed to make it mild enough this time.”
“It’s wonderful now, thank you Turbo.” Celestia thanked the AI.
So far the ponies had spent a whole day on the spaceship called the ‘Sadistic Melody’. Questionable name themes aside it was a rather pleasant and exciting experience for it seemed like new discoveries were around every corner for the ponies. Take Turbo the ‘AI’ for instance. Back in Equestria computers were still in its beginning stages, homes computers were still relatively new and only people who had taken classes were able to make much use of the devices. Here though computers were so advanced and intelligent they had become people of their very own, artificial intelligences was what these souls in the machine were called. Turbo had rather liked the term when she called him that in fact.
“Ah, that’s very good I’m rather sorry about the coffee before.” Turbo said apologetically. “I am rather used to the way Warmages prefer their coffee, that is to say immensely potent. I am actually glad you spat it up when you did, no telling what effects such a potent brew would have had on you had you drank it anyway.”
“Well it’s fortunate we won’t have to find out then.” Celestia commented as she took another sip of her drink, content to chat with the ‘Soul of the ship’.
It was then that several of those machines called ‘golems’ floated out of the bathroom. Each was about the size of a cat and many little devices floating about them as well as a few arms sticking out of their bulbous shapes.
“And the bathroom adjustments are finished!” Turbo proclaimed. “It had completely slipped my mind at the time when I was remodeling this room for you to adjust the size of the shower, micromanaging the battle around the ship had just taken nearly all of my attention.”
“No need to apologise Turbo, like I had mentioned I and everypony else were just glad to be out of that warzone, having to deal with some discomfort in the form of a miss sized shower is completely trivial.” Celestia assured her electronic caretaker. “I am incredibly grateful in fact that you had taken any time at all to make our stay aboard the Melody as comfortable as possible despite needing to watch the battle as well.”
“It wasn’t much effort honestly.” Turbo replied. “To you it would have been like… stirring your tea and blowing on it before sipping it while you were doing important paper work, though I had forgotten to ‘blow’ on the tea as it were. Ah! It appears those the girls have decided to come back now.”
Sure enough Celestia could hear the familiar sounds of the mares’ voices through the door as they approached. The door opened and in walked in five excitedly talking ponies.
“Hello my little ponies how was your little adventure around the Melody?” Celestia asked curiously.
“It’s been quite the experience your highness.” Rarity answered. “We went looking for something to eat and found the local cafeteria. Since this is a military ship I was rather expecting it to be a bland affair. Consider my surprise when they had so many different varieties available! Although the sure number of… meat present was a bit of a damper, it can’t really be helped however as one can’t help the things they have to eat.”
“Warmages are fully capable of going without sustenance of any form Miss Rarity.” Turbo answered. “So food is purely a luxury, as a luxury then it should be good and in great variety. Helping this is the fabricator allowing us to make any sort of foodstuff imaginable.”
“You fabricate food?” Rarity questioned with a raised brow. “How does that work?”
“The foodstuffs are made from a nutrient paste.” Turbo answered. “They are then molded, textured and chemically flavoured to fit the foodstuff they are mimicking, an added benefit of this means that it is rather difficult to overeat.”
“Ah…” Rarity said, not knowing how to take that piece of information.
“Well ah and Rainbow went looking around after eating.” Applejack said. “We both found this workout place with a bunch of those mage people in there. I saw this one fella lift this bar that was being pushed down by these machine things.”
“Those were piston weights Miss Jack.” Turbo said. “The Mage using them had them pushing down at three metric tons.”
“Woo doggy! Now that’s heavy!” Applejack replied. “And my family name is Apple mister, not Jack.”
“Apologies.”
“I saw this one guy running a track.” Dash said. “He was doing pretty meh at first but then he got faster and faster until he was beginning to blur on the track! He looked like he was only jogging too, wonder how fast he would go if he went all out?”
“Um Pinkie Pie took me to go see what the Warmages do for fun.” Fluttershy said softly. “We managed to find the ‘Rec Room’ and Pinkie went to go see what some of the people were doing. I took a seat and… well I ended up looking at these half tree looking people a lot. They were just so… different and unique with their plant mane and tree bark skin.”
“The beings you are fascinated by are called Dryads.” Turbo explained. “They are ladies of nature, born of seed and tree.”
“I got to find out about all these fun little party games the mages like to play!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed excitedly. “I don’t normally play video games all that much but these were so cool and fun looking! I just had to play! So they let me play and I lost a lot but it was fun! They even gave me this thingy right here!”
Pinkie then pulled out a handheld console from… somewhere, and likely held thousands of video games for Pinkie to try.
“Fascinating.” Turbo commented upon seeing what Pinkie did.
“I know right!” Pinkie said, waving her gamepad around excitedly. “This baby has over twelve thousand video games collected from all over the Empire! And it’s up to date! Ohhhh I wonder what kind of fun stuff is on here!”
“So what interesting thing about the locals did you discover Princess?” Rarity asked.
“Well… I did discover this most invigorating brew.” Celestia replied, levitating her cup of coffee for emphases.
Everyone looked rather put off by that ‘interesting’ discovery. Rainbow Dash even looked on the verge of outright booing. After a moment of silence Rarity cleared her throat.
“Well Princess that is certainly a discovery.” She said lightly.
“Well I heard we’re heading to their capital now.” Rainbow Dash said as Celestia coughed lightly in some embarrassment. “And going faster than the speed of light to get there! IT’S AWESOME!”
“Well that certainly is exciting sounding.” Celestia smiled at Dash’s excitement at going so fast before frowning. “It’s rather unfortunate I am not properly dressed to meet a fellow head of state, I’m afraid it may be a bit of a poor first impression.”
“Not to worry!” Turbo broke in. “Emperor Ezekiel is fine with forgoing pomp and formalities for a more casual meeting, in fact he favours such meetings.”
“Oh!” Celestia looked rather delighted by this bit of information. “I had not thought he would be such a person. Well this certainly takes off some of the stress.”
While outwardly Celestia looked happy and even a little eager to meet Ezekiel inwardly she was wary and guarded. She remembered she had seen of humanity before and the experience they had just been though. Thus she wasn’t going to let her guard down in any discussion with the Human Emperor, no matter how casual the meeting was going to be, her mind filled with memories of the carnage she had survived though the day before.
Λ
Erika walked through a large opening into the bridge of the Sadistic Melody. With the technology the Empire possessed it was a simple matter to steam images of the surrounding environment to any screen on the ship, thus it made more sense to have the ‘brain’ of the ship in the very center where layers upon layers of armor made it nearly impossible to get a critical shot on it. The Bridge was the size of a fairly good sized gym and shaped in a half sphere. Holo screens covered every inch of the curving walls, most displayed the surrounding environment which was a blur of star streaks from going faster than light, the rest had scrolling lines of data that Erika could probably understand if she strained. Several rings of consoles with operators at them surrounded a slightly raised up podium that had a fairly comfortable looking rotating chair which had its own array of holo screens orbiting it.
Alexandria was standing on the edge of the captain’s podium and staring up at various holo screens while sipping a cup of powerful coffee. The moment Erika had stepping into the bridge Alexandria had spotted her and immediately made for her.
“Come with me.” Alexandria said as she walked past Erika and out of the bridge.
Erika did as told and followed after the Ship Captain. They walked down a hallway and Alexandria walked through a nearby doorway. Erika walked in soon after and found they were in a small break room and the Captain was off in the corner getting a pot of fresh coffee brewed up.
“Once we arrive at the capitol everyone will be put on extended leave.” Alexandria stated, placing her most likely empty coffee mug beside the filling pot. “That includes all units attached to the Sadistic Melody so you can go home and enjoy getting to know your found people as well.”
“Thank you captain but certainly that can’t be the reason you wanted to talk with me?” Erika said.
“I know it’s none of my business of how you conduct yourself with others.” Alexandria said as she refilled her mug. “As long as you aren’t a total ass and can keep personal grudges separate from duty then it isn’t my concern. However I do know of your history concern nobility and would like to warn you ahead of time, one of the ponies you rescued, the tall white one with the blue, green and pink mane?”
“She is a noble isn’t she?” Erika said with a sigh and got a nod from the Captain as she sipped her coffee. “Well… I had my suspicions on her status, despite the dust I could still make out the jewelry she was wearing. I had hoped she was just the atypical politician and dressed expensively as they tend to do but it’s obviously not the case now.”
“Is it going to be a problem?” Alexandria asked with a level stare.
“No… hopefully.” Erika answered with a thoughtful frown. “It’s been nearly two decades since the day, I’ve had plenty of time to cool off.”
“Even so, things like that stay with you Erika.” The Captain commented.
“They do… I’m going to try not to let it get in the way of reconnecting with my people.” Erika said firmly with conviction. “I and many people in Atlantis may not like the idea of nobility but I recognise it is still a valid form of government.”
“It’s good to see people talking Ezekiel’s words about nobility to heart.” Alexandria said with a nod. “Especially one of his children, that always adds weight to it. Dismissed Erika, we’ll be arriving at the capitol in three hours.”
“Captain.” The Unicorn Warmage said with a sharp salute before walking out the door of the break room.
Λ
Celestia lead her ponies into the massive hangar of the Sadistic Melody. The place of their arrival onto the ship was far calmer than before, understandable considering they were in combat before. Rather than the chaotic rush of golem fighters flying into battle and coming back for repair and rearmament it… actually it was still a bit on the chaotic side, since they were about to have tons of people getting sent off the ship for shore leave and thus preparations and deck clearing were underway.
Celestia and the mares made their way through the rushing Naval Mages as they moved large crates and, helped move ships on the decks about and lead Warmages to their transports.
“Did they actually tell us which ship was ours?” Dash asked.
“They said that the ship was still on the way Dash darling.” Rarity replied. “And that Erika would be our guide to help us reach our intended destination.”
“Oh my I do hope she can find us.” Fluttershy said and turned when she heard some shouting and crashing noises off to the side. “What is- EEK!”
Leaping through a baggage train came a dinosaur like creature. It was about the size of a rhino, had four legs that ended in paws with stubby claws, a fairly short but thick tail and a head very much like that of a T-rex. Its body was thick with slabs of muscle was wearing black armour around its chest and stomach.
Everyone started screaming and shouting when it tackled Fluttershy to the ground and Celestia was mere moments from unleashing her magic on the creature when the unlikeliest of noises met her ears, Fluttershy giggling.
“No, ahh! Stop please! Hehehe, ah!” Fluttershy shouted as she squirmed about, the large creature over her licking her and slobbering all over her like an over eager dog, it’s tail wagging only adding to the effect.
“Beethoven!” Someone shouted.
Over the pile of spilled bags came a Warmage looking rather confused as he quickly jogged over to the large creature still mercilessly licking Fluttershy. He then quickly took to the creature’s side and quickly patted it’s side, getting its attention.
“Sorry about that, Beethoven usually doesn’t bound off away from me like that unless I tell him to.” The mage said as Beethoven backed off Fluttershy and sat down his large mass beside his mage. “He must have seen something he really liked about you for him to just break away from me like that.”
“Ha yeah Fluttershy has a way with animals, pretty sure he would have made your… dog back off eventually.” Rainbow Dash said confidently as she subtly increased the space between her and the creature the mage had. Main while Fluttershy picked herself up off the floor and dejectedly started wiping drool off of herself, she still smiled at the obviously friendly creature panting like a big dog before her though.
“Sorry about that, here let me clean you up.” The Mage said and waved a hand towards Fluttershy, immediately sand appeared from his arm and briefly shrouded Fluttershy from view who squeaked in fright. An instant later the sand disappeared back into the mage’s form and Fluttershy was completely clean of drool.
“You really must have a deep empathy with animals to make a Gorg act like that.” The mage commented with an interested look. “We train these guys heavily and it takes a lot to get them to break out of that conditioning when they aren’t supposed to. Anyway you guys probably have somewhere else to be, come on Beethoven say goodbye to the nice lady you decided to maul with friendliness and let’s get on our way.”
Beethovan gave a sort of cheerful barking roar at Fluttershy before thumping off after his handler, shooting Fluttershy looks over its shoulder every few moments.
“What a friendly and fascinating creature!” Fluttershy exclaimed, waving her hoof in the air after Beethovan the Gorg. “I wonder if they are the local equivalent to dogs?”
“We have dogs.” Erika said, having somehow snuck into the ponies’ midst to their sudden and very vocal shock. “We created the Gorgonopsids, or gorgs for short, for Warmage use as war dogs.”
“They… they live only to fight in w-war?” Fluttershy said looking rather depressed at the idea.
“The same can be said of us.” Erika said with a frown. “It’s nice to have an animal companion, especially one you don’t have to worry about dying from a lucky shot.”
“Oh well that’s much better then.” Fluttershy said honestly though she still looked rather sad.
“Ahem… well you all likely know my name by now.” Erika said, looking over everyone and paused noticeably at Celestia. “I think it’s time I find out your names as well.”
“Well sugercube we… used to know each other…” Applejack said a bit sadly before perking herself back up. “Hopefully we can get ya memories of us back quick as a jackrabbit. I’m Applejack!”
“I second Applejack’s sentiment.” Rarity agreed and seemed to curtsy at Erika briefly. “I am Rarity, I too am a friend you used to know.”
“I’m Fluttershy and I hope we can still be friends…” The pegasus introduced herself softly.
“And I’m Rainbow Dash, your personal hero!” Dash said dramatically with total confidence, even adopting a heroic pose.
“Really…” Erika said with deadpan look and raised brow.
“Nah!” Dash said with a laugh. “Just pulling your leg, I’m a good friend though and you can count on it.”
It was only Erika’s personal restraint that kept her combat instincts in check when Pinkie Pie suddenly rushed her and wrapped her up in a tight hug.
“I’m Pinkie Pie and it’s super awesome to meet you Erika!” Pinkie said happily and suddenly gasped as she realised something. “Oh wow technically this is our second first meeting! This is a totally special event that needs a party to properly celebrate! Hmm… don’t got any bits or know any of the local shops to ask for favours… oh well! I like a challenge! Now I just need to macgyver a few things…”
Erika stared after Pinkie as she wandered off muttering plans under her breath; writing down notes on a gamepad she had pulled out from… somewhere. Erika then shook her head and focused her attention on the last pony to be introduced to her, Princess Celestia.
“I am Princess Celestia.” The alicorn introduced herself with a bow of her head. “I once was your mentor throughout most of your life… I am hoping we can return to something resembling such a relationship one day.”
“Princess…” Erika said softly, her mouth almost curling into a small frown as she stared up at the alicorn. “It is… a pleasure to meet you… are you a leader of my people?”
“The Kingdom of Equestria is a Diarchy, ruled by I and my sister Princess Luna.” Celestia explained and could not help the frown on her face as she noticed Erika’s attitude take a downturn when she spoke to her. “Erika, have I insulted or wronged you in some way?”
“No… no you have not.” Erika answered and took a calming breath. “I am glad to meet you and thankful for your assistance the day before during the battle, though truth be told I was not in too much great danger and had honestly been through worse not that I am belittling your help since it was very timely and made things much less painful for me and…” Erika paused as she stopped her rambling; Celestia looking down at her with a nostalgic smile. “What I am trying to say is I do not mean to dislike you for no good reason and do wish to get to know you.”
“It is alright Erika, I do not mind and wish to get to know you better as well.” Celestia smiled at the smaller pony.
“So… when is our ride going to arrive?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Well…” Erika began, turning towards the mouth of the hanger. “I checked on its progress before coming here and it should be arriving about now.”
The unicorn Warmage then pointed out a long ship about the size of the transport they had ridden to get on the Sadistic Melody flying into the hanger. It was white and had blacked out windows all around it; it had four winglets that had an intense blue glow coming from under each wing. It lowered itself until it was half a foot off the ground and the side opened up.
“Come on.” Erika said as she stepped inside the shuttle. “Let’s get on our way.”
The inside of the shuttle was very much like a limo only with much more amenities. At each of the corners were coolers that no doubt contained the very best and expensive of drinks. The seats were covered with synthetic leather that was much more comfortable than the real thing, a plus considering what some people rented these high class shuttles for. The windows may have been impossible to see through from the outside but everyone had a clear view from the inside of the shuttle of the world outside. It may not have been apparent at first but the shuttle also had a constant Holonet connection and holo screens could be called on command for either TV or surfing the net. An added feature of the seats was the massage function that worked no matter where you on sat on them or how you sat on them.
“Oh my! Look at all this!” Rarity gasped in delight at the shuttle’s interior. “Donc luxueux!”
“Yay bouncy!” Pinkie shouted as she started jumping on the seats before flipping over and dropping onto her back and pulled out her gamepad. “Gaming time!”
“Well this is quite delightful.” Fluttershy commented as she settled on the soft seats. “Don’t you think so Princess?”
“Certainly my dear Fluttershy.” Celestia replied as she poked around a cooler. “Now just what are these? Hmm…”
“Here let me help you with those.” Erika said as she walked over, last thing that needed to happen was Celestia meeting with her father either dead drunk or slightly tipsy.
“Sweet!” Rainbow Dash commented, having somehow figured out there were holoscreens and was in the middle of watching an action movie right in the middle of the explosion heavy scenes.
“Oh my~” Rarity sighed as she thoroughly enjoyed the massage function of the seats.
“Well ain’t this just the high life?” Applejack commented as she looked out the window and watched the scenery go by as the ship lifted off and flew forward.
A few minutes later Erika had helped Celestia picked out a non-alcoholic drink the alicorn thoroughly enjoyed and everyone was fairly settled in. Fluttershy was simply sitting on her seat and enjoying the peace, Rainbow Dash was cheering on the hero in her cheesy action movie, Applejack amused herself with the space passing by, Pinkie Pie was breaking her high score and Rarity was still being turned into cooing putty by the massage feature.
“Whoa! That Atlantis over there?” Applejack asked Erika.
The unicorn walked over from Celestia and saw what Applejack was pointing at. A blue and green jewel of a planet, orbit swarming with ships and space stations, its visible night side twinkling like an over decorated Christmas tree. And over to one side of the planet, hanging like a second moon was a small sphere of white clouds, their intended destination.
“Yeah that’s home alright.” Erika said.
“Now that’s a sight to see.” Applejack comment as the shuttle neared it.
“You know you all are rather blasé about being in space for the first time.” Erika commented, looking back at everyone.
“What’s there to be excited about sugercube?” Applejack asked waving her hoof to the expanse of nothingness. “The view can be pretty no doubt there but otherwise it’s jus’ a whole lot of nothing. Everypony else has found their own little things that caught their attention like a flower to a bee, a whole lot of nothing ain’t so interesting to that.”
“True enough I guess.” Erika said as she looked back at the others. “I guess I’m just too used to people who haven’t been in space before getting all excited. Anyway, you see that ball of clouds next to Atlantis? The planet I mean.”
“Uhhh…” Applejack narrowed her eyes at the small sphere in the distance. “Ah think so… why? What is it?”
“It’s our destination.” Erika answered. “In that cloud is the Gefallen Family Compound, home of my family and where my father is waiting to meet Princess Celestia.”
“So a floating palace?” Applejack asked in rising excitement. “That there is a sight I want to see!”
“Well… I wouldn’t call it a palace…” Erika said with a frown. “It’s more of a flying fortress.”
“Well what’s the difference partner?” The cowpony asked.
“One is mostly decorative and the other is practical.” Erika explained.
“Well that sounds good to me sugercube.” Applejack replied. “Let’s see what yer home looks like.”
About twenty minute later and the shuttle was flying through the cloud sphere of the Gefallen Compound and revealed the definite superstructure within. The sure mass of the Gefallen Family compound floated in the air before the audibly impressed ponies. While the inner gardens and vegetation growing on the inside walls compound showed there were creature comforts here it was also clear what Erika said about the compound being a fortress was true, as guns of all sizes bristled the walls of the compound.
“Wow… that’s a fortress all right.” Applejack said softly.
“Father cares for his family.” Erika said with a warm smile. “Along with the Compound’s own defenses any enemy that manages to breach this far into our territory will have him to deal with.”
The rest of the trip was silent as the ponies watched the compound get closer and thus seem so much bigger with every moment. Finally the shuttle came in for a landing in one of the large courtyards of the compound that looked to be a docking area.
As the door opened the ponies exited the shuttle and stared about their surroundings, taking in the massive walls towering far above them. It quickly became apparent that someone had been sent to meet them as a woman walked towards them.
On her feet were a pair of sandals, she wore a pair of tight green jeans and an open brown vest that revealed a green tube top that bared her midriff. She also wore a pair of rose tinted half-moon glasses with a beaked baggy green and brown beanie atop her head. Her skin was fair and her hair was blond and made into long dreadlocks, some of which went all the way to the small of her back, and her eyes were a bright twinkling blue.
“Hey~!” The woman greeted cheerfully and started skipping as she neared them. “How are you guys? Did ya like your trip?”
“It was a fair trip Blood Beam ma’am.” Erika saluted the woman, causing the ponies to widen their eyes in surprise and wonder how the woman got such a name.
“Oh Erika you and your formalness!” ‘Blood Beam’ Said with half-hearted wave of her hand before turning her attention to the Princess. “And you must be Celestia! Nice to meet you~”
“I like this lady.” Celestia heard Pinkie say happily.
“I am indeed, I take it you are here to lead me to Emperor Ezekiel?” Celestia said.
“Oh ho ho, straight to business huh? Groovy…” Blood Beam said before she was gone in an intense flash of green and was suddenly off in the distance beside an open door, glowing green after images of her marking the seemingly zigzagged path she had taken to the door despite there being no obstacles.
“Just follow me!” The strange woman shouted. “Erika can entertain the rest of you till Ezekiel’s done talking with your boss lady!”
“Right… I’ll be seeing all of you soon.” Celestia said and began trotting after Blood Beam.
“Don’t worry Princess, whatever my father wants to talk about with you it can’t be something… threatening.” Erika called after her. “He isn’t the sort of person to do something like that.”
Celestia took Erika’s assurance at face value despite knowing the unicorn might have only known the political good side of her adoptive father all her life, it was better to hope for the vest best in this situation as otherwise she just didn’t really know what to do.
“Right this way, just follow the glow and watch out for cancer!” Blood Beam exclaimed and darted down a carpeted hallway, green after images in her wake.
Celestia paused at the threshold of the doorway for several moments. Her mind was suddenly filled with countless results of what her future meeting may bring to her and her ponies, unfortunately for her own peace of mind she seemed to be thinking of some rather bleak ones.
“You coming?” Blood Bleam said as she poked her head out from around the corner.
“I’ll be right along, just lead the way.” Celestia answered.
And she crossed the threshold.
-TBC-