//------------------------------//
// Chapter LIX: Communication (unedited) 
// Story: Astral Aegis 
// by Silvak 
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	Nine months after Magus was colonized, the colony went as expected. That is if you were a pessimistic pony that often accepts the possibility of worse case scenarios occurring, which in this case was the population starting to clump together with their own species. Oh wait, I was the one that thought about that possibility. Moving on, while some of the ambassadors and the princesses were hopeful about a diverse colony, cultural and species-related differences eventually took their toll. The princesses were disappointed, but overall odds were that Magus would developed into a colony with species-related regions, with a few cities where members of all species that could truly get along would live in. I also think that Equestria's use of 'somepony' and like words didn't help either in the long run in regards to their own colonists.

Regardless, this led to another issue that came up when the princesses met up with the ambassadors, which was them demanding worlds that their nations could have to themselves. This led to some debates between the princesses and the ambassadors, until they called me in to see if I had anything to contribute since I was the only interdimensional expert that had on hoof. When I arrived, I promptly informed them that if they had their own private colonies, it may be harder to get other nations to reinforced them should an alien invasion occur. However, with Magus not showing a bright picture, the ambassadors was less incline to continue with more diverse colonies, so I actually offered them an alternative: they get their own colonies but the entire Aegis Guard has to forsworn all ties to any nations until they are discharged from the guard.

Reactions weren't pretty, with half the ambassadors showing outrage while the princesses were shocked by my suggestion. That came to an end when I lifted a chair and threaten to smash the next person that whines about my offer. That brought about silence in the room, which told me that they heard about my violent tendencies at some point. After shutting up the entire group, I told them by having the Aegis Guard as a military force that holds no allegiance to any nation, it would serve to help keep them separate from any possible wars between any two species' nations. This would allow the Aegis Guard to fully devote their efforts to protecting all species of Equus from alien threats, since even if all nations were to have their armies weakened, the Aegis Guard would still be at top condition to fight a war till the other nations' military can recover. One of them questioned about if I could remain impartial while I was overseeing the force, which I simply responded by asking if they want to see me smash a chair over Celestia's head. The sheer audacity of my offer seemed to convinced the fellow, as no one else questioned my commitment to my idea.

After that, the meeting ended with everyone making the decision at a later time, while the princesses berated me for my behavior. I simply responded that they should have expected me to be brunt and crass in my interactions with the politicians. They then question my stance on not having all the colonies be devoted to Equus as a whole, to which I answered that there would be too many cultural and physical differences for everyone to get along. Odds were that we would only have a few diverse colonies, with the rest owing allegiances with one nation. It's better just to make sure that all worlds are at least united against alien threats, which would be partially accomplished if the neutrality of the Aegis Guard was secured. This left the princesses uncertain about my reaction, though they excluded me from the next meeting, which was fine by me since I'm not a fan of politics in the first place.

Training with the new batch was an easier process than the first batch, partly due to the help of Dusty Skies and Dusk Cloud. I also received reports that the other drill instructors were following as close as they can to my original style of training, though they toss in some of their own ideas in order to make things harder for their own recruits. It fills me with joy that they get the message that untold suffering now will help cut back on future suffering for the volunteers.

Some of the Elements were making progress with their romantic lives, for instance Pinkie was actually seeing some stallion. I personally didn't care who they were as long as they treated her right, since I had a job and was pretty independent for a thirty-one year old filly. My own romantic pursuits consisted of a flat zero, since I was still uninterested in finding love. It helped that my aggressive attitude help to put off any colts that may display interest, with the exception of the two idiots, Snips and Snails. Thankfully, they were easily distracted by any pretty face, though I wonder why they would be attracted to me in the first place since I put no effort whatsoever to my own appearance.

Since Pinkie was out dating and the fact that I actually have more free time regardless of my officer studies, I ended up babysitting with the Cake twins. Though even after spending a few years in the same household with them, I was still cautious with young foals in general, so I made sure to have at least two recruits with me to help with babysitting duties. That move benefited me in the long run, since I just ran supervision while the recruits dealt with the twins. Though before any recruit helped me with babysitting duties, I made certain to inform them that they better keep the twins safe and happy or I was going to tie them to one of the targets at the shooting range.

After the colony talks, things settled down for the next three months, with only the news that the princesses and ambassadors settled down on some variation of my idea. While the princesses accepted the fact that the other nations should have their own colonies, they were to allow any other species to settle down due to the fact that they may be interested by the colony's environment. They cited that some of the immigrants to Magus came due to the fact that the world had a white sun that wasn't controlled by magic, instead the world was rotating while circling the star itself. I was thankful that the scientists came to that understanding on their own instead of having to try to explain that thing to them. Though, no other habitable worlds were found, hence Selene received more military develop while Magus ended up with a small amount of immigration. Still, it was progress in the end.





"Why exactly do I need to learn a voice amplification spell?"

"Are you serious? Wouldn't that help you address your recruits more easily?"

"Twilight, I'm a short-tempered filly that yells a lot. If my throat couldn't handle me hollering at my recruits, I would have lost my voice a long time ago."

"Well, wouldn't it be useful on the battlefield?"

"Yeah, I want to be yelling all my orders loud enough so that the enemy can hear it too... that reminds me. I need to give the scientists another research project now," I replied, ripping out a piece of paper from my notepad so I can write a letter to the researchers. Due to my training duties and later my officer studies, my magic lessons with Twilight was cut down a lot to just a couple lessons a week. This also cut back on Twilight's studies on my first language and all the knowledge I possessed about interdimensional nations and societies that I encountered. It also didn't help that it took me ten months to get a handle on teleporting myself, and another five months before I mastered teleporting other objects safely. Though, even after a couple years, I'm still hesitant about teleporting ponies other than myself. 

"But wouldn't the aliens be unable to understand you?" Twilight asked.

"At first they wouldn't, but I don't think it will take them long to get Equestrian translated since they're currently far more advance than we are," I answered while I continued to write my letter.

"Then how will you be able to communicate to your troops on a battlefield if they're not close?"

"By getting the scientists to create a device that can transmit messages through a method that will keep the enemy from hearing. I don't know if you have a technology that is similar, but think of it as like sending messages via dragonfire. Except this case, it would be sent on a... kind of wave that is invisible to sight, and can be worn on one's head. That way an officer doesn't have to be yelling, yet all soldiers under their command can still hear the officer's orders."

"That's... amazing!" Twilight exclaimed as her eyes widen at the thought of such a device. "A device like that could have so much potential too! Can it be used for long-ranged communications?"

"Umm... yes it could with the right equipment," I answered as I braced myself as Twilight hit another maniac episode.

"Oh sweet Celestia! That technology could revolutionized all of Equestria! Just imagine if anypony can communicate with another pony in a different city! It would save so much time! Ponies like Applejack could keep in touch with their entire families no matter how large they are! Not to me—" Twilight said before I finally tuned her out to work on something else. 

However, before I could, Spike just came over to me and asked, "Wouldn't this device make dragonfire obsolete?" As the years went by, Spike grew a bit as well, though since dragons live far longer than ponies, his growth was just a tad bit slower than my own. Though his crush on Rarity hasn't ended yet, even if she was out dating other stallions. Anyways, it seemed he was nearby and that he overheard our conversation, so odds are he might be afraid that this device could threaten an important aspect of his job.

"Depends on how developed it is. I think it would be vocal at first, so for written messages dragonfire will still have the same importance as before. Odds are dragonfire will still be around for some years or decades, depending on how developed technology becomes in the future," I replied before I looked at Twilight to see that she had become oblivious to the two of us. "I really hope she doesn't decide to teleport to the research base."

"What's wrong with her going teleporting to the research base?"

"Well, besides the fact that I had a rule made that no teleportation of any kind was allowed within three hundred feet of the base, Twilight could end up appearing in the middle of an experiment, which could cause an accident that might result in the entire base blowing up," I answered, causing Spike to look at me in horror before turning his view towards Twilight, who was scribbling something on a chalkboard. Seeing that she was still in rant-mode, I asked, "Hey, how's Twilight's love life going?"

"As well as you can expect for her," Spike simply responded, before we turn our attention to Twilight to see that she's still not paying attention to her surroundings.

"Let me guess, no one wants to approach her since she's a princess except for the nobility who are specist snobs? Which causes her to be clingy to her friends and books, while gorging on ice cream since her alicorn metabolism helps prevents her from getting fat, all due to not finding anyone, or anything, remotely close to her ideal mate?"

Before Spike could answer, Twilight snapped out of her trance as she said, "Hey! I'm right here you know!" while glaring at us as the coat on her face turned red.

As we both turn towards Twilight, I replied, "Yes, we noticed. But thank you for finally noticing that we're here too," to which Twilight realized what she was doing, causing her to blush in embarrassment. Spike simply chuckled at her while I just gave her a wide grin. Sometimes it's just way too easy to fluster that mare.