The Crystal Heart Chamber, Crystal Empire, ancient times...
This Majesty the King exhaled sharply as the magic abruptly shut off on his horn. His breaths came out as ragged gasps, and only his pride kept him standing. The spell was a massive undertaking, both in terms of sheer power required and the calculations involved, but it was done. Sombra grinned darkly at the small, near indistinguishable green pulse now throbbing in the center of the Crystal Heart. With this, he had truly planned for every contingency.
It took a minute or two for his strength to return, during which time, the little kernel of magic he planted became well and truly untraceable and invisible. "There," he said to his friend, perched on a small column not far from the Heart. "It is done. All that remains is to eliminate those two, the only ponies in existence who could possibly pose a threat."
"You do not have long to wait," the friend's voice rumbled from within the little globe of snow. "They are already here, and... odd." Sombra raised an eyebrow and flicked his tail in curiosity. The friend continued. "There seems to be another with them."
"What?" That bit of news took Sombra by surprise. He didn't like being taken by surprise. "Who would they have...?" he muttered to himself as he closed his eyes and searched them out with his own magical senses. It didn't take long; he could easily see them, just barely entering into his territory, from the East. They were truly magnificent specimens of magical power, no wonder they were as revered as they were. One burned with the intensity of the sun itself, bright, passionate, playful, but dutiful. The other radiated almost as much power, but hers was dark, cool, mysterious. And the third... where was the third?
It took him a moment to notice him, between the two sisters, and what he saw confused him. His magical power... it was almost impossibly small. Even earth ponies had an aura that glowed like a well-maintained firefly lantern when observed. This pony... his was more like a dying ember. Sombra didn't like this. He knew the princesses. Studied them. They did not do things without good reason. So what could they possibly have been thinking bringing this one along to, frankly, a future warzone?
Then, Sombra was surprised yet again, when this new pony actually turned its attention on him. And suddenly, Sombra wasn't just looking at magical aura. He was looking into a soul. It was deep, unknowable, with a breadth of experience that made him, King Sombra of the Crystal Empire, feel small in comparison. The soul was an old one, ancient even. Possibly on even keel with the princesses. There was knowledge, there, more knowledge than could be contained in the whole of Equestria. Wisdom, too, tempered by a foallike impulsiveness. And, buried under a relatively thin veneer of bravado and humor, a deep sadness, spurred on by loneliness, that would have made lesser ponies weep openly. But behind all that?
Power.
He had a greater force of will and... and was more regal the Princess Celestia herself. He knew power, he handled power, and he gave up power, multiple times. If Sombra was entirely honest with himself (which he wasn't, but, y'know...) he was scared of this little earth pony with the ridiculously small magical power. This earth pony who was sending him the message that he really didn't care to be observed anymore. Sombra obliged, and returned to reality at the Crystal Heart chamber so suddenly that he stumbled backward.
"So, what did you discover?" his friend in the orb asked.
Sombra narrowed his eyes as the now familiar green fiery aura emanated from them. "He is likely the most dangerous of the three. We must strike him down."
~DrW~
Satellite 5, formerly known as the Game Station, the far future...
Nuts sighed as he looked at the mess of wires and electronics before him. The satellite was slowly but surely getting back up to a workable status, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Jack Harness, who, after his role in driving the Daleks out of the station last year, stuck around to help in the rebuilding. Still, the Daleks absolutely wrecked the place, and the station was far from "fully functioning." Nuts crawled out of the access panel and turned to his partner, Bolts. "This'll be a week's job at least. And that's assuming we actually have all the parts on hoof this time."
Bolts sighed. "Which probably means it'll be closer to a three weeker."
Nuts nodded with a slight roll of his eyes, when he he saw something that caught his attention. "Oh, hello there, Harness. What brings you to this neck of the woods?"
Jack shrugged easily as he gestured the group of ponies that was following him. "Not much, Nutsy, just showing some friends around the station. They kinda showed up for a... let's say a surprise visit."
Nuts shrugged. That was a cryptic answer to be sure, but not so much that he decided to worry about it. Above his pay grade. "Nice to meet you." They all responded in different manners. The gray one with the odd eyes took his hoof and shook it enthusiastically, the couple consisting of the beautiful redhead and the tall skinny colt were polite but not as overly friendly, and the last two stallions were vaguely dismissive. Still, the group was an interesting one, and Nuts couldn't help but pay closer attention to them, especially last two.
First of all, they were wearing clothes, like Jack. One of of the two was even dressed in a similar manner, though his coat was brown rather than black. The other was a bit more odd, with an outfit that looked to be one an old college professor might wear. Certainly out of place on a pony as young as him. He did catch a casual glance at that one's cutie mark... an hourglass, huh...
And while the pony that had once been known as Nuts continued its inane small talk with the interloper designated "Jack Harness," sleeper unit 167B awoke from deep within the once and former pony's subconscious and began taking much closer stock of the odd group. Not one of them were registered members of Satellite 5's crew, and furthermore, they weren't on any visitor's manifests either. 167B took a microsecond to check the records and logs to be sure. The one with the Unknown Mark and the brown pony with him had surprisingly low magic stores, and were both anatomically distinct compared to the rest of the group, even beyond the obvious oddity of both having two hearts each.
As Jack Harness excused himself and his group, Nuts turned back to the repair work he was supposedly doing, but 167B trained its listening sensors on the group as they went further along the hallway. The gray one, designate Derpy Hooves, was discussing with designate Jack Harness about improvements made since a previous trip to the satellite and questioning why designates Celestia and Luna allowed the crisis to reach such a boiling point. Odd questions to ask. It was common knowledge that the princesses were currently off planet and had been for a near century. The mating pair designate Ripple Pond and Blue Shield were making comments on the station being rather unimpressive after having witnessed "dinosaurs on a spaceship." Both conversations were being recorded and transmitted, though it was the two oddities, no designation known, who drew the drone's true attention.
"So, care to tell me what you were doing?" the chestnut one asked, his voice low to prevent from being heard by the others.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," the other said in reply.
"Don't give me that. You stayed behind in the TARDIS for a good two minutes after we left it.. We never do that, unless it's important and we want to keep the details secret. So, tell me, what did you do?"
"I placed a phone call. Don't give me that 'I don't understand what you just said' look. It doesn't suit you. You felt the disturbance on the way here, I know you did. I think. I'm pretty sure you did. Anyway, there was another disturbance in our past. Or there nearly was one in any event. Our very history is getting attacked and we are, in truth, no closer to the perpetrators than when we started. So I called in a favor to make sure our history is properly protected while we're out solving this thing."
"But who would you... Oooooh, no. No. No no no nonononono. You called her? You know how things get when she and Derpy are within a decade of each other. I'd like to not get shot again, thank you very much."
167B's conscious listening of the conversation came to an end when orders were transmitted from command. It looked at 245D, formerly pony designate Bolts to confirm that it, too received the command. 245D nodded, a useless gesture held over from the host's memories, but it confirmed that it was in accord. The one with the Unknown Mark and his compatriot were to be captured and brought back to command.
The rest were to be exterminated.
~DrW~
In front of Foal Hill School, Trottingham Equestria, 963 C.R...
It had spent days now, sitting in the same spot, cloaked from view, watching the old building which seemed designed to hold the young ponies for the day. Very little of note had happened during the days it sat there, despite the clandestine but obvious military cart parked not far away, but it knew patience. If it were ordered to sit there for an eternity, it would if it would further the superiority of its kind.
Today, that changed.
Today, the Predator had arrived. Deep within the bowls of its casing, the small piece of organic matter shuddered. The Predator had arrived, and in one of its most reviled forms, rivaled only by the Warrior which supplanted him and the curly maned one three forms its predecessor. This one, on first impressions, seemed the weakest of his forms, even when compared to the fifth. The most likely to seek a peaceful solution to any given conflict and least likely to get out of said conflict alive. Yet the facade hid a fierceness that was frequently vented on the Empire. The Predator was joined by another. It registered the identity of the female as well, though it was odd that she would show up here, with this form of the Predator.
"You mean to tell me that all this time you were the one who had the..."
"Not here, or now," the Predator said quickly, silencing the female. "You never know who might be listening." The Predator gestured to the military vehicle. The Predator made a sound, one that the waiting scout recognized as laughter. "A horse drawn carriage carrying sophisticated radar and listening equipment. I do so enjoy Equestria's endearing dichotomy of technological advancement."
"Doctor..."
"Come now, I returned it. Eventually." The Predator said, sweeping the area with its sonic tool. The creature felt a twinge of... well, it didn't know what it was, it was bred to not feel anything but superiority and hatred, but if it had any inkling of knowledge of emotions, it would have recognized it as fear. The moment passed as the Predator, seemingly satisfied with the results of his sensor sweep nodded. "Excellent, everything seems in order. Nothing changed. We are a bit early, though. Best hope it stays that way. Come along, Romana. Next stop on this little romp down memory lane is a nearby junk yard."
The scout watched as the Predator and the female started trotting down the road. Based off of the Predator's comment and the direction they were headed, their destination was the site of one of the traitors. The scout silently turned to follow the two ponies, something akin to excitement in its cold circulatory pump. Like the traitor they were moving to see, they were about to be exterminated.