Chief Engineer’s Log: August 17th 1045
Phoenix had done a real number on the Sagan. It barely counted as the original RV at this point. It took her a full twenty minutes to explain the new systems she had added. Mostly because with Ad’ika on board we had to pretend everything was Federation technology and thus, all of the new stuff was on paper as ‘stuff she Pheonix fixed’.
She had added honest to god inertial dampeners. I honestly wanted to know how the physics of that worked, but for now knowing that the ride would be completely smooth regardless of terrain was pretty nice. Another great system which would let us speed to our destination was a low level structural integrity field that would keep everything together under normal conditions. Basically, her upgrades would let us speed over any terrain at top speed and not die if we hit a ditch or something.
That was just the new ‘hull system’, there was also a full comms system, a navigation and sensor system, and a combat system. The Sagan’s combat system was a low level force shield generator… and that was basically it for the combat systems. Apparently Phoenix would have had an easier time making a vehicle from scratch then fitting a weapons system into the old girl.
It was a power problem. Phoenix had fixed the solar panels and their batteries but those were now an emergency power system. The main power plant, which was required to run all of the new gadgets was a completely terrifying to have under your feet. It was basically a real life physics glitch.
“Ok, go over it one more time. It’s a what?” I asked.
“It’s an energy siphon membrane device. An ESMD.” Phoenix repeated.
“How exactly does that work?” I demanded. Absolutely nothing in my extensive knowledge of physics gave me absolutely any indication of how that might work.
“We don’t have time for me to explain applied string theory in detail… Basically the... It just works, ok? It’s safe, yes it violates thermodynamics, and no you can’t explain it with the standard model.”
Ed turned around to look at the monitor on the dash Phoenix was projecting her avatar onto, “Wait, what? How?”
“I second that.” Tess added.
“That’s the easy part,” I answered, “Thermodynamic laws only apply to thermodynamic systems. That is, systems which can be described by thermodynamic variables such as temperature, entropy, internal energy and pressure. If you cannot describe it like that, it isn’t a thermodynamic system and the laws of thermodynamics do not apply… But how the hell would you use a non-thermodynamic system to generate energy? If you somehow brought more energy into a thermodynamic system that violates thermodynamics.”
Phoenix groaned, “Applied String Theory is one of the most complicated degrees in human history. On Equis, it’s called magic. Humans called it science, and were on the verge of figuring it out via completely technological means. Look, aside from what you use the energy generated returns from where it came. It’s basically like running an extension cord to another room, only the other room is in another dimension.”
“So, it’s technology that uses magic, to borrow power from outside the universe? Why the fuck are we going to get the goddamn osmium if you can build these?” Ed demanded angrily.
Phoenix groaned again. I felt bad, it was like seeing a parent explaining to their child why the sky is blue. “Because they are weird. They produce just barely enough power to run the Sagan’s systems, which is not even one millionth of my power requirements. ESMDs can’t be made bigger or they won't work, they can’t be made smaller or they won't work, you can’t have them within a kilometer of each other or they stop working, and you quite literally can't let anything look at it while it’s running or it stops… But they do really work. I mean you are using it right now.”
“That’s incredibly absurd…” I noted out loud.
“I know, and frankly, compared to the spells unicorns have created here, it sucks. It’s the only thing I can supply you with that fits your vessel, provides enough power… Well… It almost provides enough power. Don't microwave anything while you have the shields up, ok? Oh, and don’t think about the ESMD too hard. Seriously, if you do it may stop working until you forget about it again. Just focus on the mission. Opening the cargo bay doors.” There was a loud metallic groaning sound as sunlight slowly flooded the cargo bay.
Ed turned the key and started to drive towards the doors. It was incredible! We were actually moving a vehicle inside of a universe using electrical power created by draining energy from a higher dimension, or possibly somewhere outside our universe entirely! The ESMD was a device which was not only amazing but was a working proof of multiverse theory!
If you could use a device to transfer energy from one universe to another, it stood to reason you could also send information. An ESMD could be modified into an inter-universe telephone! This single invention was literally the single most amazing-
A loud sound only describable as a ‘thurip’ echoed through the cargo bay. The Sagan stopped dead, halfway out of the cargo bay doors.
Ed turned to me slowly, narrowed her eyes and growled, “Kaily...”
“Sorry.” I squeaked sheepishly.
“Stop thinking what you are thinking so we can drive.” She slowly turned back to stare out the windshield.
A few seconds later the power came back with a loud ‘piff’ sound and Ed resumed driving.
“Assholes should have called it Schrodinger's Reactor…” I muttered turning to look out the window.
“Setting a course for the Ponyville mine. We should reach it by fourteen hundred tomorrow if we sleep for six hours.” Ed announced, “No more thinking or speaking about the power thingie. That’s an order.”
Fifty yards later the Sagan died again.
“Sorry!” Tess moaned, “I couldn’t help it… It’s just such a stupid generator!”
Ed grit her teeth, held up one hand to silence her and waited for the power to come back. After a few minutes of quietly concentrating on how nice a cloud looked the engines piffed back to life and we started moving.
Then lurched to a stop as the power cut out again.
“Oops… I was happy the power came back…” Ad’ika squeaked. I could see her grinning sheepishly in the rear view mirror.
Ed balled her hands into fists, and screamed to the heavens, “Fuck! Even in the future nothing works!”
I slammed a fist against the dashboard, “God damn it! Everyone occupy yourself somehow!”
Doing my best to ignore everything else I turned to stare out the passenger window. The world outside technically was Earth, but there was that old saying ‘time changes all’. The blue skies, red rocks, and flowing sands looked like Earth’s, but they weren't anymore. The world had completely changed, in a way the Earth was dead.
That would be a morbid thought in most people, but not for me. I had lived in many places all across Earth, nine countries, almost every single state in the US, spoke two languages, and had read about every place on the planet the internet said was worth seeing. I even had examined the world from space via satellite scans, searching for interesting features people might have missed back when National Geographic offered bounties for discovering new rainforests. I had as thoroughly explored the Earth as anyone could.
Most people would have formed an emotional attachment. I didn’t. Everywhere I had gone people were the same, there were only really a dozen different ways placed tended to look, in a phrase, the Earth bored me.
The same planet was laid out before me now, but how many years had passed? The maps Phoenix had showed me said we were way more than just a thousand years into Earth’s future. Judging by continental drift alone millions of years had passed. The Earth boasted a Supercontinent once more, and species had evolved so much that the planet was now filled with sentients.
Earth had been refreshed, and like a clever piece of art disguised as a web page randomized into something new and interesting. A whole new world to discover, one filled with creatures capable of producing culture, art, and science who were not just another batch of slightly different bipedal apes. It was wonderful!
Even the rocks outside my window were captivating. I had seen thousands like them before in the Mojave but these were not just Earth rocks. These were Equis rocks, the rocks of a world alien to me and yet possibly continuing the past future history of my species.
Nothing I can think of can compare to the satisfaction of knowing no other human has ever been anywhere in this new world. Well, no humans worth calling human at any rate. This world held countless new wonders, and I would be the first real human to see them.
Once we had helped out Phoenix and her changelings I knew exactly what I was going to do. Pick the second star to the right and fly through the night until morning.
From the Journal of Princess Twilight Sparkle:
Everypony gathered in the castle map room a mere half hour after I sent messengers for them. A few years ago it would have taken them ten minutes to arrive with their mission gear and ready to go. I hoped that we could take even longer next time we had to do something. Celestia willing this would be nothing, little more than a false alarm and my friends and I could continue settling back down into a more pleasant life.
Rainbow arrived first. Which was to be expected, she lived here and was the fastest one of us to boot. Fluttershy arrived moments after Rainbow with a soft smile on her lips and a hopeful but sad look in her eyes. Rarity was next, her gear packed in two brand new saddlebags which lacked her usual flair, favoring function over form but unwilling to compromise aesthetics overly much. Then Applejack and Pinkie who arrived together, mentioning a family gathering as their reason for being late.
Spike arrived moments later. He had grown substantially in the last nine years, he almost stood as tall as Celestia now, and his wings had finally grown in. His mind had developed as well, the playful childlike nature I had grown up with for twenty five years now had a few layers of responsibility wrapped over it.
As Spike entered the room his eyes flicked over everypony and their bags. With a grim nod he asked, “Mission?”
I nodded.
“I’m to assume the role of your steward while you are away?” He asked.
I nodded again.
“Mission classified?”
I nodded once more, “Yes Spike. Keep the guard on full alert until I get back. If there is even a hint of trouble have the guard use the shield runes and get everypony to the shelter.”
He nodded, his snout twisting into a frown, “It’s not him is it?”
“No,” I answered, “but it could be just as bad.”
“Understood. I’ll leave you ladies too it.” Spike sighed and turned to leave the room. Just before he closed the door he paused, looked back over his shoulder and wished, “Good luck.”
As the door boomed shut the three crystals above it glowed, activating the espionage countermeasures spells I warded the map chamber with Applejack spoke up. “Wait, has somepony caught sight of an Arc trooper? Cuz from what you said, well…”
Rarity nodded, “You did imply that, Twilight. I’m sure you would have told us to bring our armor if you knew for sure, but if you even suspect that he has-”
“I don’t suspect the Admiral is doing much of anything.” I interrupted. “This is different, it could be much the same if we are not lucky, or, Luna willing, it could be an opportunity for us. I have some papers here for the briefing.”
I grabbed a stack of parchment envelopes with my magic and passed one to each of my friends. “You have fifteen minutes to read through those before I intend to brief you on my plan and get this operation underway. I expect we will only counter light if any resistance so our adventurer’s kits should be everything we need. If after reading the dossier you think you need more you have five minutes to get it and get back here. We need to move as quickly as equinely possible.”
I trotted over to my throne and took a seat. Everypony else followed suit and began to read through their dossiers. Each was a copy of the interview with Rust and Midnight, my personal motes, basic information on the emeralds, maps of the badlands, everything I thought could be important.
Pinkie smiled half way through reading, and bunched up her copy into a small ball. “Got it!” she exclaimed and tossed the stack of parchment over her shoulder, directly into the fireplace.
Rarity nodded as well, “I think I understand too. Is everypony else done? I would like to talk a little first.”
“Yeah pretty much,” Rainbow informed setting her copy down. Rarity and Applejack followed suit quickly enough.
“Are you sure you read enough?” I asked in concern.
They all nodded as Rarity continued, “You are a very good leader Twilight. To be honest, I only had to read your opinion on the situation and your list of evidence. I agree with your belief that these humans may mean us no harm.”
“I agree too.” Fluttershy informed. “We know they like to fight, and the scout did ask for help. Remember when Ms. Twelve said, ‘Helping the underdog is simply instinct?’”
Pinkie shrugged, “Well, most of them are big meanie pants… Well, except for Ms. Thirteen-Minus-One. Oh! We could ask her if she knows anyone who looks like this human does! You know, if you think there is time.”
I put a hoof to my chin in thought, “We could, but she has on many occasions asked to be left alone. It would be rude to-”
“Twi, this could be her kin up to no good again. We should ask her.” Applejack said in her half afraid half calm tone. It always got under my fur when she spoke like that. It was creepy.
Rainbow nodded in agreement. “Scry her up hon. I’m sure she’s ok with being bothered for a minute to make sure the worlds safe.”
“All right, we’ll ask her.” I sighed. I hadn’t wanted to involve Twelve. Even though she had defected to our side at the end of the war, she was still a whole host of bad memories for me thanks to her pack of cyberdogs.
I quickly cast a two way scrying spell, instantly an oval of light winked into existence over the map where everypony could see it.
“Operator Twelve.” I ordered, the white plastic, silvery chrome, and black rubber skeleton-like body of Twelve instantly filled the bubble. Her blue glowing eyes flickered in surprise as the scrying spell blinked into existence in front of her.
With a sound like water hitting a hot stove a beam of red light lanced through the spell, disrupting it for a moment. Twelve gestured with one hand towards the floor, her steel teeth flashing unsettlingly as she berated one of her pets. “Bad dog! It’s just a comm spell. Sit!”
Clearing my throat I asked, “Ms. Twelve, this is very important. Would you be willing to identify a symbol for us? We think it’s human.”
“I see.” She sighed, face contorting to display emotions I still couldn’t read. “Show me.”
I held up my original sketch of the Emerald’s emblem. Twelve squinted at it through the spell, looking at it for far longer than I knew she would need to. “I can’t identify it. Nothing in my memories, nothing on my hard drive, nothing on the server. It does look like something humans would use… but not Terrans. It’s too simple to be one of ours, though it could be one of the rebel colonies logos. Where did you find it?”
“Two soldiers fought a creature they believe to be a human near Appleloosa. This was a badge on her uniform. They also believe she was not… well, she was flesh and blood.” I answered.
“Then she is not affiliated with the Terran Empire. Though that does make her being a part of a rebel colony less likely. They had to use cybernetics to fend us off… I assume you are going to track her down?” Twelve asked.
I nodded.
Twelve sighed and shook her head slowly. “I would help you, but my oath of pacifism stands. If she is a part of my former CO’s crew contact me again and I will help. Until then, do not underestimate her. Before our species turned to cybernetics for perfection we were wild and unpredictable.You implied she is in a uniform. If she is alone, she is likely a highly trained special operative. Consider her armed and dangerous until you can prove otherwise. I have to go now, my regeneration cycle begins in twenty seconds. End communication.”
The spell blinked out of existence, the counter magic field Twelve had projected disrupting it instantly.I flinched, “Ugh… I hate it when they do that!”
“Ok, so we know that if this really is a human, she is not from Terra.” Rainbow summarized, “That didn’t really accomplish much… Since you know, your notes say that her homeworld is called Earth.”
“True,” Fluttershy mused, “but now we can say for sure she is not Terran. I think we should try talking first.”
“You mean after some spy’n?” Applejack asked with a raised eyebrow, “or do you want to just blindside someone who might kick your flank for hugging them?”
Fluttershy’s ears fell, “I-I didn’t mean we should be stupid AJ…”
“Ah know… I’m just real shook up.” AJ sighed, “Forgive me?”
Flutershy nodded. "Of course I forgive you."
“Girls,” I called to get everyone’s attention, “That settles my plan. We are going to use the map to locate the human and teleport a half mile behind her position. We will follow her for as long as we can under the assumption she is a human from an alternate universe and dangerous but not hostile. We will keep up surveillance until we know where she is from, what she is doing here, and if she is a threat. At which point, we will either take her out or try and welcome her as a friend.”
“Welcome her as a friend?” Rarity exclaimed. “Why in Luna’s good name would we do that? Shouldn’t we try and keep her away from…” Rarity trailed off, tapping a hoof to her chin in thought, “No… I think I see your idea now. If we can show everypony there are friendly humans out there we might undo some of the damage they did to us.”
I nodded, smiling as she understood my plan. “Exactly! Consider this an extension of Operation Redemption. Since Earth’s humans have found a way to come here on their own, we have an opportunity to show everypony they have the capacity to be good as well as evil. The reminder of the war may hurt them in the short run but-”
“A new friend will make them smile more in the long run!” Pinkie finished for me. “Let’s do it!” she exclaimed bouncing eagerly.
I nodded, made sure everyone was in their throne so the magic could take effect properly then directed my magic to the map. Focusing my mind I instructed the map to show me where the human was, within seconds the cutiemark symbols on our thrones glowed, lifted off the backs of our seats, drifted to the map, and hovered over a small spot in the badlands near Bossman Hill.
“I wish we could go there.” I said, channeling my magic into the map room’s spellcircuts. The magic raced through the room, folding back on itself amplifying my teleport spell until a sudden flash of rainbow light filled the room. When it cleared the six of us stood on a sandy dune in the badlands.
Nothing but orange rocks, dull sand, and cacti as far as the eye could see. The sun beamed down harshly, the air rippled with heat, it was a hot day even for the badlands. Of all the places in Equestria, I liked this one the least.
“Remember when most of our problems came from the Everfree?” Rainbow asked, fluttering her wings to try and keep cool.
Rarity nodded, “Yes… but it wouldn’t be an adventure if sweat didn’t ruin my coat at some point.”
It was time to get down to business. “All right girls,” I said, “we should fan out and look for-”
“That fast moving definitely human vehicle over there.” Applejack called pointing with one hoof to a silvery rectangular vehicle quickly receding into the distance.
“This is bad! That looks like it could hold a whole squad of soldiers and their gear!” Rainbow exclaimed.
I nodded. “Right, we’re following that. Everyone get ready to run!”
I quickly cast two spells, the first one would shield us from the blazing desert heat, the second one would give us the endurance to gallop at three times the normal speed for as long as the spell held out. The moment the spells were cast everypony took off running. This wasn’t the first time we had to trail a human made vehicle on hoof.
“Rainbow, if we start to lose them we should pull a Fillydelphia.” Fluttershy suggested.
“Why do you two call it a Fillydelphia?” Pinkie asked as we ran after the silver box on the horizon. “You two were in Trottingham right?”
“We thought it was Fillydelphia.” Rainbow answered quickly.
“Those two cities really do look alike. You’d think they would have made Filly look distinct when they rebuilt it.” Rarity quipped.
“Let’s save our breath for running.” AJ said, “If Twilight’s spell fails while that thing’s still moving we’ll need every bit to keep sprinting after it.”
“Good point,” I noted, “Let’s not be sloppy. Besides, that thing could have sonic detection devices…” I narrowed my eyes, focusing on the vehicle. It was weird but I could swear there was a magical signature on it. A really bizarre one.
“Although, Rarity, dose that vehicle have a spell signature?” I asked curiously.
Rarity narrowed her eyes in focus for a few moments before nodding, “I think so… It seems quite primitive, but there is definitely an enchantment on the vehicle.”
“Interesting…” I stealthily reached out with the barest thread of my magic, probing the strange vehicle to see what I could learn about the mysterious spell signature. If the humans had any magical security, one false move and I could blow the operation. On the other hoof, if they had some sort of spell as an ace in the hole I needed to know what it was.
“That’s interesting…” I muttered as I worked out the spell’s nature. “The vehicle seems to run on magical energy, but I can't quite figure out how the spell is powering it.”
“If they could have detected you, they would have by now.” Pinkie pointed out. Suddenly she gasped, “Oh my gosh! Twilight, is the kitty ok?!”
“What cat? Is there a cat there?” I asked in confusion probing the spell matrix deeper. “I’m not seeing any cat… I’m not seeing anything that should be generating power in the entire spell! That’s not scientifically possible! How is that thing even running?”
As if by magic, the silver vehicle lurched to a halt. The six of us dove for cover, laying belly flat against the sand. A faint scream of rage drifted across the badlands. A few seconds later, the vehicle began moving again.
“Um Twilight… Maybe you shouldn’t poke their spell anymore.” Fluttershy whispered.
I nodded. “Yeah… Right girls, let’s get moving before they lose us.”
<<Editor’s Note: These orders were discovered in the mine and are printed exactly as the Dog wrote them. We decided to add them to the log to reference later. - Captain Tylor>>
Recovered Document: Diamond Dog Chief’s Orders
Slave Master Rottcoat,
The vein of arcanacite must be fully harvested by tomorrow morning. Big Boss is sending pony mage to make sure we don’t cheat him on the shipment. While he was pleased I sent him the hides of the three who decided to keep some for themselves, he no longer trusts us as completely as he used to. If we fail or betray him this time we will be thrown into the Styx to be a harpie’s dinner.
I am well aware we do not have enough Dogs to finish mining the ore in time. I want you to go to pony town and take all the slaves you can carry. Don’t worry about Apple’s, ponies weak from last war still, ponies afraid. Take all you can, but leave the old. We will work them to death if needed then feast like kings tomorrow night.
I will give an extra three gems from our payment to any Dog who captures a pony. Fail me and it will be all of our heads. Succeed and I will dispose of my useless lieutenant and give his position to you.
- Chief Stonewater