//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Into the Black // by CORACK //------------------------------// Lieutenant Cikrak had served as the science officer aboard the Jassarie for the last 6 years. Before that he spent 10 years working in a more junior position aboard various ships. He had a great deal of experience and had seen a great many strange things, but he had never seen anything like this. Cikrak had been gathering data to compile a system map since almost the moment the Jassarie exited the gate. The Jassarie's computers however, kept throwing errors at him. There was an automated system that was supposed to generate the system map. It scanned for planets, predict the orbit based on distance from the local star, and the planets detected mass, then measured any deviation from that orbit. Deviation was caused by other gravitational sources. This could be anything, other planets in the system, a secondary star, an undetected black hole. The computer would then use that info to find the source of the deviation. The problem was the computer was throwing out of bounds errors when measuring the detected deviation. None of the planets were where they should be. The ring itself had similar issues when trying to compile a system map, which is why it wasn't included in the reports. He connected to the ring's computer and downloaded the raw data it had gathered. That gave him positional information for every detected body in the system for the last week. Cikrak then got to work, using the data from the ring to get raw orbit data. With that he was able to build a map. The results made no sense at all. According to his data, everything in the system was orbiting the planet they now circled. Even the local star was orbiting this planet, and it was doing so at impossible speeds. The star's orbit around this planet had a circumference of approximately 1 billion kilometers. The star was completing that orbit every 24 hours. For it to do that meant it was moving at almost 4% of the speed of light. "Captain Thrux, there is something seriously wrong with this system sir," Cikrak said. Before the science officer could continue, the comm officer interrupted. "Captain Thrux, there's something wrong with the comm probes sir." "I'll get back to you in a minute Cikrak," Thrux said. Thrux walked over to the comm officer. "What is it?" he said. "We've lost contact with them." It wasn't unusual for a small number of the comm probes to fail prematurely, so Thrux wondered why he was being bothered over minor details. "How many have failed?" "All of them sir." "Every probe has failed?" Thrux said, stunned. "Well, that's the thing sir, they're all still in orbit, we can detect them, but they aren't transmitting anymore." "Get me a visual on the nearest probe," Thrux said. The image on the view screen shifted from the burning city below to one of the comm probes. A faint web of glowing yellow energy surrounded the probe. "What is that?" "I don't know sir, I didn't even know it was there before we switched to visual sensors. I'm not getting any readings on it at all." "Well, find out! And start deploying some new probes, but cut the broadcast. Those beings down there should be able to transmit back, I want to get in communication with any remaining government they have. " The ship shuddered violently as alarms started going off. "Sir, the ship, it's being pulled off course!" "WHAT?" "I don't know, the ship is moving, but it's not us, I've got the engines at full, trying to compensate, but there's no effect." "Look!" someone shouted. The entire image on the view screen was glowing blue. "Get me an external view of the ship." The Jassarie was moving, but not under her own power. The entire ship was wrapped in a pale blue aurora. Thrux could see the visual distortion caused by the engines, as they strained to bring the ship back on course. The whole ship started shaking as the conn officer brought the engines to 110%. "Captain, that effect is on visual sensors only, it isn't registering on any other sensors," Cikrak said, checking some readings at his station. "I need more information than that Cikrak, something is moving my ship, I want to know what. Send a comm probe back through the gate, include all information you have discovered and our current status," Thrux said. "And then, GET ME BACK CONTROL OF MY SHIP!" ##### Celestia arrived at the throne room to find the room filled with officers of the Canterlot Guard already assembled. She marched to the front of the room and began to explain the situation to the guard. She had just finished telling them about the ship exiting the ring when Luna arrived. She walked to the front of the room to address Celestia. " I have moved the ship into position above Canterlot" Luna said. "Have we received any new communications? Celestia asked. "None that I am aware of. The emergency broadcast system is active. The message gives a quick explanation of what is going on and I've requested all local governments to check in with guard. When I left we had heard back from every major city save Manehattan. Most of the smaller towns hadn't yet responded." A member of the Night Guard flew into the throne room at high speed. He landed directly in front of Princess Luna. "Princess, we just received word from Lieutenant Swift Wing. Manehattan has been attacked. He was on a train about 10 miles out of the city. It was destroyed in the attack. Only he and Crystal Star survived. He doesn't know what attacked them, but whatever it was, it was big. The city appeared to be burning, but he couldn't get a clear line of sight." Twilight gasped, most of the guard looked as shocked as she was. The last time there had been an attack on a major Equestrian city was when Nightmare Moon had battled Celestia just over a millennium ago. "Shining and Cadance, I'm putting you two in command of the guard, mobilize the entire Canterlot division. Have them ready for combat and be prepared to receive civilian casualties," Luna ordered. "I'll have them ready shortly," Shining Armor said. Cadance and Shining galloped away, with the rest of the officers following. "What should we do?" Rainbow asked. The rest of the Elements were standing beside her ready to assist. "We do not yet know the details of the attack, but there are likely many wounded. We shall teleport the entire Canterlot garrison directly to Manehattan. The priority should be getting the civilians out of harm's way, you may assist with that," Luna said. "We don't yet know how these beings operate, I will teleport to Manehattan first. Take Twilight and her friends to get the Elements of Harmony, we may need them. Then teleport the guard and the Elements to me," Celestia said. She motioned to Luna to come closer. "Luna, right before we received the first transmission, I was overcome with a feeling of wrongness that I cannot explain. It disappeared almost immediately, but now I have a feeling it is tied to the attack on Manehattan. Let me go first, I don't want to put any of my ponies in the way of unnecessary harm." "Tia, it may be dangerous, we don't know what these Chk'rain are capable of," Luna said worryingly. "I will be fine Luna." Luna nodded her head in agreement. She rounded up Twilight and the rest of the girls headed off to retrieve the Elements of Harmony. "What about me?" Spike asked. Celestia looked down at the baby dragon. She reached down with one of her wings and gave him a hug. "Spike, you are too young to go off into a battle, you must remain here." "But I want to help." "I know Spike, I know." Celestia's horn glowed brightly and she vanished in a brilliant yellow flash. ##### Long range teleports could leave the caster disoriented and woozy. Celestia though, had thousands of years of practice. She wasn't phased in the slightest by the spell, however, she was immediately assaulted by a new feeling. She hadn't even opened her eyes and yet she knew what had happened. Everypony knew that Celestia and Luna had been around a long time. What nopony apart from the two Princesses themselves knew was how long. Luna and Celestia were there at the beginning. It was then, nearly a million years ago that magic forced its way into the physical universe, transforming the desolate harsh world of Equus into a lush paradise teaming with life. The magical field permeated every living thing on the planet, uplifting the species that were most in tune with its energy. It was on that day, the race of ponies began and it was on that day that Celestia and Luna received their cutie marks. Celestia had been studying the sun ever since. For a time, everything was peaceful, but raw magic reacted unpredictably with the physical universe. Entropy and magic combined and from it, chaos magic was born. A being of pure chaos energy came into existence and with his great power he ruled over Equus. It wasn't until thousands of years later, through the effort of the first two alicorns, that the magic of harmony was born. It was with this power they were able to fight Chaos itself and win. As Celestia's magic grew in strength, she learned about the physical universe, how it worked, what it's rules where and how magic could break those rules. She spent centuries studying the sun. She could reach out and touch it with her magic, feel it, sense how it worked. Celestia knew fusion better than Twilight knew books. She knew it's power, and its capabilities, and she knew that these Chk'rain monsters had turned it into a weapon. She opened her eyes. Before her lay what was left of the great city of Manhattan. The 100 megaton blast had gutted everything. The skyscrapers were gone, not even their massive steel structures remained standing. Great fires raged from thermal effects of the blast. Even the suburbs, miles from the city's center were nothing but wreckage and rubble. Celestia let out a primal scream as her coat ignited in a blaze of fire. ##### Luna had just retrieved the Elements of Harmony. She and the girls were rushing back to meet up with Shining Armor and the Canterlot Garrison. A massive wave of power hit Luna and she skidded to a halt. Luna felt it, she felt the pain and she felt the rage the instant Celestia had opened her eyes. "What is it Luna?" Twilight asked. "Something is wrong with Celestia. We need to go, NOW!" she shouted, the full effects of the Royal Canterlot Voice overpowering the rest of the group. Before anypony could speak up, Luna was already casting the teleport spell. ##### Twilight grimaced, the rest of her friends doubled over in pain. She had some experience with long range teleports, but nothing like this. Applejack stood up, the contents of her stomach lay on the ground next to her. "What in the hay?" The group of ponies were standing on a massive pile of rubble. The smell of smoke was in the air. Up above an intense light shined down upon them and they heard Luna shout out. "Tia, you must stop this. I've been down this path before, it will only lead to ruin!" Luna said "LOOK AROUND SISTER, SEE WHAT THEY HAVE DONE." Twilight hardly recognized the voice. It sounded like Celestia but it was so full of hate and raw power that she almost didn't notice. "I see it Tia, and they will answer for their crimes, but not like this." Twilight looked around, as far as she could see was nothing but twisted steel, chunks of concrete and broke glass. Where could they... she gasped and she nearly threw up as a sick feeling overcame her. Manehattan, they were in Manehattan. Or what was left of it. "THEY... WILL... BURN!!!!" The intense light grew brighter still. Twilight could feel the heat in the air. Her friends stood behind her, watching the sky. Luna knew that simple words were not going to cut it. She had but one chance before having to resort to the Elements. She teleported above Celestia and accelerated into her sister at a speed that would impress Rainbow Dash. Celestia was forced downward by the blow and landed next to the group of ponies. Twilight almost couldn't even look at Celestia she was glowing so bright it hurt her eyes. What she could see terrified her. Where Nightmare Moon was a creature of darkness, this twisted version of Celestia shined brighter than the sun. Her flowing mane was gone, her head wreathed in flames shooting off in all directions, with a great fiery tale to match. Her eyes were pure white and glowed brightly, the pupils not visible in the light. Celestia stood up. With every step she took towards the ponies, the intense heat grew. Metal girders bubbled and dripped, concrete cracked and wood ignited. "YOU DARE ATTACK ME?" "Tia please, listen. Don't make the same mistakes I have made. Calm yourself, for your sake, for my sake, for the sake of Twilight and her friends," Luna said, pointing towards the group of ponies that watching the arguing titans. There was a noticeable drop in the heat pouring out of Celestia when she heard Twilight's name. Luna took this opportunity and rushed to her sister. She wrapped a wing around Celestia and nuzzled her. "She is here Tia." Luna motioned to Twilight. Twilight hesitantly took a few steps forward, then ran to Celestia. Though diminished, the heat was still almost unbearable, but Twilight persisted. She reached the great alicorn and joined in on Luna's embrace. One by one the rest of the Elements ran forward as well. Slowly the heat died down, the brilliant light reduced to a flickering glow. Celestia's fiery mane slowly faded away until her normal prismatic mane returned flowing in a wind nopony else could feel. The angry expression on Celestia's face flickered and broke as she started sobbing. "You were too late," she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. "Too late." ##### Up above the planet twisted chunks of metal collided into each other as they flew off into the deep dark of space. The field of debris slowly spread out above the planet, some bits fell into the atmosphere burning up on re-entry. A small escape pod's engines flared up as it limped towards the gate. ##### It had been a month since the destruction of Manehattan. Every single pony in the guard was working day and night, combing the wreckage for survivors. It wasn't enough. Aid came from the griffon empire, the zebra nation and even the dragons. Thousands of pegasus ponies, both guard and civilian, took to the skies, bringing in clouds from all directions. A great storm was prepared, the fires were put out one by one. The number of surviving ponies found in the rubble dropped to almost nothing the closer and closer workforces got to the center of the city. Even a few miles away from the center of the city, the casualty rate was nearly 100%. The death toll was in the millions. More lives had been lost in that one attack than every war in the recorded history of Equestria combined. A national holiday was declared in remembrance of the city, and the ponies that lost their lives in the attack. It took longer than usual, but the ponies did what ponies always do, they began to rebuild. Luna and Celestia pulled the wreckage of the Jassarie from orbit. When Celestia has first seen the fate of Manehattan, rage and anger overtook her, detecting the position of the ship by finding Luna's magic that was holding it in place, she shot a massive beam of heat upwards at the spaceship. Thrux had raised the shields when the Jassarie was first pulled off course. The beam impacted on those shields, they held just long enough to absorb the majority of the beam, before they failed entirely. Normally transparent, the massive amount of fire caused the shields turn black as they started to crack. The armor under the point of impact heated up till it was glowing cherry red. The shields collapsed entirely and the remnants of the beam turned the armored skin of the ship into slag. The lights on the bridge flicked in an out, alarm bells rang and loud whirring was heard as the fans in the ventilation system spun up to maximum speed, struggling to clear the air of smoke. There was at least one major hull breach and dozens of microfractures. Atmosphere was leaking into space. "Sir that came from the planet!" His ship, still trapped in place, Thrux did the only thing he could think of. "This is the Captain speaking, all crew abandon ship, I repeat all crew abandon ship!" Of the hundreds of escape pods, only one made it off the ship, before Celestia, annoyed that her first attack had left the ship in once piece, wrenched it out from Luna's grasp and started to squeeze. Encased in a bright yellow glow, the hull of the ship, started to creak and groan. On the planet below, a magical demi-god, driven by immense hatred and loss, reached out with but a small fraction of the energy she used to move the sun. Already weakened by the initial assault, the hull of the Jassarie cracked like an egg, seconds later it shattered into pieces. Luna's quick response to Celestia's rage was enough of a distraction, that Celestia didn't notice the one escape pod that had made it off the ship. It drifted over to the gate on minimal power and then exited the system. Most of what they pulled down was twisted and ruined, but some small parts were intact. Some sections, still being run by the emergency batteries that kicked over when main power went out, still flickered with the spark of electronic life. Nothing biological however, had survived. The Chk'rain were no more immune to hard vacuum than any other species in the galaxy. Lead by Celestia, with Twilight at her side, the ponies gathered their most intelligent of their number and began to study the technology that powered the ship. The ponies were years, maybe decades away from being able to understand even the most simple of systems, but they had to start somewhere. Not knowing what to do with the gate, Luna and Celestia had left it in place. They devised a spell, which would alert them to any movement or detectable change in the gate. That way if anything else came through, they would have warning. A variation of this spell was cast around the entire planet of Equus. It would warn Celestia, Luna and Twilight of any further attack on the planet. The spell would highlight any inbound object and hopefully give them time to deflect it into space.