02 -- Sunset
Sunset, Twilight’s Study, Canterlot
Alone in the Dark
A Cultural Primer On Humanity For The Average Equestrian
Foreword Written by Princess Twilight SparkleHello everypony!
By the time you’re reading this, the official announcement will have been made about our new friends, the humans! I’m sure you’re very curious as to who they are and what they’re like, and you should be!
A bit of caution is needed though, as is a warning. The humans have a culture unlike anything on Equestria because for the length of their history they have been alone. No other sapient race exists on their world, and until recently they thought they were the only sapient race in existence. As much as I would like to say that they first made friends with Equestrians, I am afraid this isn’t so.
Monsters from outside their world are trying to destroy everything that they are. The humans had been fighting this menace before we became aware of each other, and with our help they’re winning. They are grateful for the help, but don’t be offended if you meet one and they are suspicious. Humanity’s first experience with another sapient race was one of terrible loss and bloodshed, which makes them suspicious of everyone.
I know this because I was the first pony from our world to meet them and it wasn’t under ideal or diplomatic circumstances. It took time, and there were some scary moments, but we were able to be friends and they helped me find my way home despite everything they were dealing with. I think that makes them friends worth having.
I don’t want to give the impression that they are perfect friends for Equestria. The culture shock alone will take some time to adjust to for everypony, but in the end we all have virtues that we all share and believe in. The humans place great value on courage, be it heroism of a soldier facing defeat or a friend admitting they’ve made mistakes. Determination bordering on stubbornness is also held in high esteem. Above all else the humans are exemplars of ingenuity. Sciences and inventions that have been shelved for decades or centuries by Equestrians as ‘impractical’ have been perfected by the humans to such a degree that it sometimes borders on magic!
That is one thing the humans lack. They’ve developed in complete ignorance of magic, to the point where it’s considered a myth. The fact that they have myths about it shows that they might have seen it or even practiced it sometime in their past but for now only the slightest hooffull of humans have an awareness of it and how to properly use it. Despite that ignorance, the humans eagerly pursued every bit of information I could give them on magic.
I could go on for ages but that’s what the book is for! I hope it answers all of your questions and if you have more than hopefully you can ask a human for the answers!
Twilight Sparkle set her ballpoint pen down and glanced over the fourth revision of what she had written before letting out a sigh. ‘Too biased,’ they said, she fumed silently, ‘Your personal experiences are clouding your judgement,’ they said. Ugh, I suppose I should be thankful they at least let me write the foreword. Twilight let out another sigh as she pushed away from her desk and trotted over to the window.
The western sky was awash in red and orange as the sun slowly fell below the horizon. Far below her balcony the street lights of Canterlot began to flicker one by one. The sights did wonders to alleviate her aggravation. “I suppose they’re right,” Twilight admitted aloud as she turned back to her study. I just don’t want everypony to think the humans are bad. They just have… bad things happen to them, she thought to herself.
The knowledge of the humans and the threats they faced were a closely guarded secret that few ponies knew, and the significant majority of those that shared the secret were on Earth to help them. However, with those ponies’ tour of duty almost complete, the decision had been made to finally announce to all of Equestria about their new friends.
And enemies, Twilight thought as her gaze drifted to the two black books that sat on the edge of her desk.
The first book was written after she had tried to share with her friends just what had happened to her during her time with the humans. Despite all the love and understanding her friends gave her, Twilight just couldn’t force the words to come out of her mouth, so she had taken to writing them instead. Authoring the book had been cathartic for Twilight, and it had been passed to each of the Element Bearers in turn.
Rainbow Dash had returned it in the middle of the night with a note sharing that she couldn’t give it back to Twilight personally without crying (while simultaneously promising denial of said admission should it become public). Applejack had returned it with a bottle of her cherished sweet apple cider and offered to talk to Twilight about it any time she needed to, day or night. Rarity had passed the book to Fluttershy and both came to visit together. They had spent the evening playing a card game with Twilight and simply enjoyed each other’s company before they had retired for the evening. When Pinkie Pie’s turn with the book finally came, she refused and said sadly, “I already know.”
And after that, no mention of the book was ever made again and Twilight’s friends treated her no differently despite what she had done on Earth. It was the best thing Twilight could have wished for.
The second book was of the dreams she had experienced since her return. Nopony other than Luna knew what was in that book, and Twilight intended to keep it that way.
Twilight let out a huff as she hopped back into the chair by her desk. A small telekinetic tug pulled a curiously shaped rag doll onto her lap while a second lifted the fountain pen before her eyes. Such a simple design, I can’t believe we didn’t think of this sooner, she scoffed before looking back to the work she had completed so far. I should probably emphasize the whole clothes thing… the girls have been wondering why I refuse to go outside without wearing something these days.
She had made good progress before shouts and the clatter of hooves broke her concentration. When the noise only increased in intensity, Twilight hopped down from her chair to see just what was going—
Apex…
“NO!” Twilight screamed as she fell to the floor and squeezed her eyes shut. A split second was all that she needed to raise her mental defenses and reinforce them. Twilight opened her eyes and galloped through the doors and into the hallway beyond.
“Princess!” One of her guards, a pegasus with a tan coat and blue mane, rushed beside her. “You should return to your quarters! Princess Luna has mustered the guard and she wants to ensure that you’re safe!” The pair burst through a second set of doors and into one of the castle courtyards before the guard pulled ahead and planted himself in front of the princess. “Princess, you must go inside!”
Twilight ignored the order as she scanned the evening skies before finally spotting what she knew was coming. “Guard!” She snapped with a glare and the pegasi’s attempts to herd her back indoors stopped. “Where is Princess Luna now?”
“Princess Luna has departed with her Sentinels,” the guard replied, and Twilight felt a small pang of guilt when she realized she didn’t know his name. “She did not say where. Her orders were for alert status until she returned and she gave us specific orders to ensure your safety.” The guard started to try and steer Twilight back inside when he looked to the evening sky and caught sight of what Twilight was staring at.
“The castle isn’t safe anymore,” Twilight stated before turning to the guard and mulling over just how to phrase her orders. “The enemy is advancing in airships. Tell the Pegasi to not engage or approach them. Organize any unicorns you can find into teams to concentrate their magic on those ships. Everypony else should concentrate on containing their troops where they land.”
“Princess? What enemy? Who would attack us?”
“Carry out your orders, guard,” Twilight snapped with as much authority as she could muster, which caused the guard to fire off a quick salute before taking flight. The moment she was reasonably certain she was alone she sank to the floor and took a deep breath to try and calm her hammering heart.
Metal airships hovered overhead, spitting green flames at those who fought back.
Hulking bipeds in thick armor charging forward and screaming for blood.
A slender figure clad in a red robe and helmet carving its way into her mind even as it reached for her with four frail arms.
“No!” Twilight shouted as she regained control of herself. I can do this, I have to do this! I’m not that helpless mare anymore! I’m an alicorn, I can… I must protect everypony! She clenched her jaw and made a running leap into the evening sky. Her wings spread and she banked to the side to get a better glimpse of the approaching enemies.
Three disc-shaped ships descended upon the capital and over the castle itself. Scattered arcane volleys lanced upwards from the courtyard and gardens but any unicorn formation was quickly scattered or vaporized by bolts of green plasma from the ships. Several flashes of blue light heralded the appearance of enemy troops teleporting into the gardens but it was a hoofful of moments before she caught sight of her target.
The majority of the enemies were hulking bipedal brutes clad from head to toe in red armor and carrying the same weapons she remembered from her time on earth. Volleys of plasma spat out from the weapons to suppress the guards close to the landing site, or simply vaporize any poor pony caught out of cover. Despite the pain and deaths they caused, Twilight knew the brutes—Mutons—weren’t the real threat.
It was a stark contrast to the Mutons when it appeared. It was rail thin and hovered serenely behind the monsters as they tried to batter and blast their way further into the castle. A white robe hid the majority of its body while a series of armor plates covered its shoulders and chest. An angular helmet hid any facial features from view but it immediately turned towards Twilight as she moved to intercept.
Ethereal, Twilight dredged up the name the humans had given this particular monster as her hooves touched down in the gardens. The robes and helmet are different, and the one I faced didn’t wear armor. Why—
Unknown to her, Twilight’s biggest mistake was taking a moment to compare it to the Ethereal that she had faced rather than attacking instantly. While extremely powerful, the first Ethereal had been little more than a coordinator for the alien forces attacking the humans, and had managed to overpower her not with an attack but the telepathic equivalent of a fog horn.
The Ethereal that now stood before her was a forward commander, born and bred for battle and with centuries if not millennia of experience in the subjugation of lesser species.
Before Twilight had finished her thought, four frail arms pointed at her and four separate bolts of purple energy lanced out. All four were stopped inches away from Twilight but even as she readied her own spell to retaliate four more bolts had launched from the Ethereal. Two arched upwards while the others curved around to strike at her flanks. The energy she had gathered was quickly diverted into her shields which barely survived the volley.
To her credit, Twilight was able to block the next three bolts before the last struck home and the world around her dissolved into fire and blood and pain, and all she could do was scream.
------
Sunset, Luna’s Tower, Canterlot
There once was a time not too long ago that Luna would have taken to her balcony to watch Celestia’s sun fall dramatically below the horizon while she brought the moon into the sky. Sadly, such little joys were becoming few and far between as the princess of the night spent her free time going over the mountains of information provided by the troops on loan to Earth.
The vast majority were after action reports, organized by the squad captains and arranged by the date of each operation. This was followed by the honest and unfiltered impressions of the humans and the enemies they encountered from each of the ponies that had volunteered. Finally, there was the information the humans themselves had shared.
Once Equestria had proven its worth as an ally, they had been more than willing to share their information about the enemies. In the interest of cooperation, they also shared a bit of the capabilities and tactics they employed. Within a week it was unanimously agreed amongst the squad captains that a paradigm shift would occur in Equestrian tactics at the infantry level after their time with the humans.
The most frustrating gap in their information was on the organization that Luna and the Equestrians were dealing with directly, and Luna did not look forward to the diplomatic quagmire that Earth would present. Equestria’s diplomacy was divided amongst its races where the Princesses ruled the ponies, the Emperor oversaw the Gryphons, the secretive Conclave directed the Zebra Union and the Minotaurs answered to their current elected representative. That was simply how things were.
On Earth, there was no unifying government that all humans answered to. A mind-boggling network of alliances and agreements could be found in just the most recent histories provided by the humans, and that didn’t even take into account the numerous cultural, regional and racial divisions for the species. It had been a shock for everypony when they learned just how much conflict the humans had caused amongst themselves because of such things.
This diplomatic nightmare made Equestria’s human allies all the more confusing. On paper, the ‘XCOM’ organization simply shouldn’t work. Comprised of humans from virtually every nation on the planet and operating outside the oversight of any official government, XCOM executed operations around the globe on a weekly if not daily basis. Wars had been started on Earth for less.
Only two explanations made sense to Luna as she researched what she could. The first was proposed by Captain Song, the first squad captain to see combat on Earth. He observed that the one constant that allowed humans to work together was a perceived threat against them all, and Luna couldn’t help but agree.
The second explanation involved the mysterious backers of the XCOM project: the mysterious ‘Council’. The thought of anonymous individuals controlling such an organization ruffled Luna more than she would like, especially given their steadfast refusal to meet with her. Only the calm confidence of David Bradford—the operational commander of XCOM—and the continued reports from Shining Armor put to rest the uncomfortable idea that the humans would waste her ponies’ lives as cannon fodder to save human lives.
That train of thought led to the mercifully small stack of casualty reports from the field. By all accounts that Luna had received, the Equestrians had acquitted themselves well in every fight they found themselves in. Despite that, every casualty felt like a tragic waste; a waste because a genocidal army from the depths of the void wanted to destroy the humans. She would never again walk the dreams of those ponies, and the night was made darker because of it.
Luna’s anger at the deaths wasn’t for a moment directed at the humans. They had helped Twilight when they could have just as easily chosen not to, or they could have killed her in the confusion of her arrival on Earth. For all their faults and terrifying capacity for war, the humans had helped Twilight survive against monsters that wanted her dead, and they helped her return home. For that, Luna owed the humans a debt that she would happily pay with the blood of the invaders… as soon as she escaped all these silly reports.
One more hour of these reports, then I think I shall check on Twilight. Her dreams have improved as of late, but they still trouble her greatly, Luna thought as she looked to the clock on her wall. If only I could move the moon just a bit more quickly to make ponies think time goes faster. I know Tia used to do that whenever she got bored.
With a sigh, Luna pushed away from her desk and stretched before closing her eyes. Her mind left her body and began to hop amongst the dreams of the ponies that had turned in early. An Earth Pony dreamed of raking leaves from his yard, a not uncommon theme with fall approaching. Luna quickly backpedaled out of the dreams of a unicorn about his ‘roll in the hay’ or whatever euphemism the foals used these days. The next were the dreams of a pegasus mare, clearly part of the weather teams in Cloudsdale as she—
If Luna’s mental form in the intangible space between dreams had eyes or eyelids, she would have blinked in disbelief as the pegasus’s dream ended abruptly. She didn’t think much of it until she had jumped to several other dreams and wasn’t able to locate more than a half dozen pegasi. Her dream form slipped back into her body and she trotted out onto the balcony to get a better view of the night sky.
The distant ripple of thunder reached Luna’s ears and the turned to the northeast In the night sky, the massive cloud bank that made up Cloudsdale was barely visible but for the rapid flashes of lightning near the floating city. Ah, it seems the weather teams are perhaps a bit too enthusiastic for the late hour, Luna thought with a chuckle and turned to leave before freezing in place. For the briefest of moments she had caught sight of a flash of green among the blue-white tendrils of lightning in the clouds, and several more appeared as she turned and stared in wide-eyed horror. Oh Luna, you foal! FOAL! She berated herself as she teleported directly into the Night Guard’s barracks.
“Sentinels, rally to me!” Luna boomed as she spread her wings and called her armor to her. The armor plates conjured themselves out of thin air and converged on the princess like a tornado of enchanted metal. Pitch black plates clamped themselves around her legs and barrel while segmented and overlapping sections embraced her neck and wings. A small stab of regret over the last time she had so armored herself surfaced only to be buried again as her crown was removed and a plate helm replaced it atop her head. Six telekinetic blades, each appearing as two feet of sword blade minus any of the parts necessary to physically handle them, slid into the sheaths on her flanks.
“Princess, your Sentinels stand ready,” Captain Star Shot reported, and sure enough four rows of six pegasi and bat ponies stood at attention. All wore their lighter flight armor and were armed with a variety of hoof claws, gauntlets and reinforced shoes. All were grim-faced but Luna could see the smallest undercurrent of fear in each of them.
They will have to suffice, Luna thought before taking her place at the center of the formation. “Star Shot, rally the Solar Guard and muster the defenses here. You have my authority to do what is necessary to protect this city and its ponies.” The pegasi captain saluted and galloped off as Luna turned to the others. “Prepare for teleportation. Our destination is mid-air to the south of Cloudsdale. Expect contact with enemies immediately upon arrival.” The briefing was short and nopony asked for clarification. The nature of Luna’s arrival emphasized more than anything that time was of the essence.
A flash of magic and the barracks was replaced by the howling winds around Cloudsdale. The terrified screams of thousands of pegasi were broken up by the booms of the thunderheads and the bass hum of the aliens’ ships and their weapons. Four disc shaped ships flew in formation along with flocks of mutilated horrors and soulless machines, but all paled in comparison to the flagship of the formation. A massive fifth ship that had all the apparent aerodynamics and aesthetic appeal of a flying brick plowed forward despite the numerous lightning strikes against it and brought its bow to point at the heart of the city. Dozens of bright green lights on the fifth ship spat fiery plasma into Cloudsdale, leaving a trail of dispersed clouds and burning wreckage that plummeted to the ground.
A trio of pegasi in Wonderbolts uniforms barked orders, and the scattered weather teams came together with startling degree of speed. A massive thunderhead formed in seconds and the most massive lightning bolt Luna had ever seen descended from it. Dozens of the smaller aliens died instantly but the shot was stopped dead as one of the escorts blocked with its own hull and exploded brilliantly. The surviving escorts fired volleys of plasma into the thunderhead before the pegasi could scatter, and the cloud broke up almost instantly. A few of the ponies vanished as the plasma washed over them, while others managed to narrowly dodge only to catch fire from the near misses and fell from the sky.
It was then that Luna realized the full horror of what she was seeing. The hundreds of flickering flames that were falling from Cloudsdale wasn’t wreckage from structures destroyed in the volley like she would expect on the ground. They were the ponies caught in the attack.
The night guard fell upon the flocks of fliers around the alien ships with cold and silent fury. No shouts preceded their dive, they merely descended and the first two dozen targets died before they knew they were under attack. Luna, however, would not exercise such subtlety.
“You… FIENDS!” The princess screamed and she hurled her rage at the flagship of the formation. A beam of pure magic lanced out and slashed it from forward to aft, then a second from port to starboard across the middle, then a third diagonally. Five total beams lashed the flagship in less than a second and it began to fall from the sky in pieces before exploding spectacularly.
The reaction from the aliens was immediate as every enemy in the airspace turned and opened fire on Luna’s position. Before the first bolt of plasma was fired, she was already on the offensive. A quick teleport brought her out of the line of fire and into the largest concentration of the monsters, and her telekinetic blades went to work. Each blade leapt out of its holster and punched clean through the mutilated flesh and metal bodies of the closest six enemies the humans referred to as Floaters. Six more fell shortly afterward as the blades seemed to seek targets of their own accord.
A pair of the soulless machines, Cyberdisks, swooped down but froze in place as Luna’s wrathful gaze fell upon them. Their weapons were torn off instantly with a short scream of twisting metal, followed by their segmented tails, then their maneuvering fins. The dismantling would have gone on further but incoming fire from the escort ships demanded her attention. The first volley of plasma from the ships was blocked by what remained of the Cyberdisks while the second volley hit nothing but empty air as Luna teleported again.
The rational part of Luna’s mind had already deduced the fastest way to eliminate the three escort ships with the blunt application of magic. It would have been clean and quick, just as every battle magi in the guard was taught during their training. The emotional part of Luna’s mind would have none of it. The humans said the aliens were telepathic with some form of hive mind, so she was going to send them a message.
Her armored hooves touched down on the hull of the first of the alien escorts but only for a moment as she tore a section of the hull off and entered with her blades in tow. The crew of the ship was comprised of short gray creatures with black pits for eyes and each died with a blade to their oversized skulls the moment she spotted them. The ship’s captain was nearly as tall as Luna and it charged her fearlessly before she simply teleported it out of the ship to fall to its death. Once her blades extracted themselves, Luna telekinetically pushed outward and the alien ship flew apart at the seams. Even as the debris was falling away, a glowing green pylon that looked especially volatile caught Luna’s eye. It was all too easy to pluck it from the shattered remains of the ship and hurl it at the second ship, which exploded after connecting with the improvised weapon.
Luna scanned for the final ship only to see it leaving the area at what she imagined was full speed, leaving dozens of aliens to the mercies of the princess and her Sentinels. Luna had just sent her flight of blades for new targets when she felt the warmth of the sun on her flank. Despite the danger of doing so, Luna looked over her shoulder at the source of the phenomena.
Canterlot shone like the sun in the darkness, but before Luna could question why it was gone, and a massive spike of pain drove itself into her skull as the weight of something truly massive was forced upon her. This pain! What is this… Luna asked herself as she tried to keep herself in the air. When the pieces came together in her mind she turned and flew as fast as her wings would carry her back to Canterlot as she doubted her capacity to teleport. Tia…no no no. Don’t do this to me. TIA!
The weight on her mind was the sun.
------
Sunset, Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, Canterlot
What would I have said, if somepony had told me that I would find such pleasure in so simple a thing? Celestia mused to herself as she lowered the sun beneath the horizon. It was ordinary for her, something that most ponies knew she did every day when the time was right, and smart ponies realized she did every second of every day to keep the sun in an even orbit around their world.
To the colts and fillies that gathered around her hooves, it was nothing short of miraculous. Celestia favored the foals with a gentle smile as they were struck speechless by the feat. “Come now, it’s time to go inside,” she said as she extended her wings to herd them inside. They almost instantly began to chatter about it and the princess nodded as she tried to follow along. Once they were all inside Celestia took her seat and gave a nod to the haggard-looking teacher sitting behind her desk.
“Lookit! Lookit!” several of the foals chanted as one of their numbers began to levitate four things simultaneously with a proud (if somewhat strained) smile on her face.
“That’s amazing! You’re certainly showing a lot of progress,” Celestia praised sincerely, and when the objects wavered, then fell to the floor, she lifted the objects with her own magic. “I’m certain you’ll become quite skilled if you keep studying and practicing.”
“Like Princess Twilight?” A filly asked, and Celestia did well to hide how the unexpected remark affected her.
“Twilight Sparkle did lots of practicing and studying when she was your age,” Celestia deftly evaded the question and the foals took the answer the way they wanted which gave the princess a moment to collect her thoughts.
Princess Twilight Sparkle… Celestia repeated the name to herself and allowed herself a brief moment of weakness to feel pride, love and fear for her most cherished student. I wonder if this is how mothers feel. Pride in what she has accomplished, love for the depth of her character and… fear of what might happen to her. What HAS happened to her.
Celestia had the opportunity to tutor many students over her many years. Some buckled under the weight of such high expectations and were never remembered in the annals of history. Others had tried to abuse this privilege and were also forgotten, by force if necessary. Few had been as successful as Twilight Sparkle, and none had ever become so close to the millennia old alicorn.
Even Celestia had been surprised to learn just how deep those bonds were when she heard the news of Twilight’s disappearance all those months ago. Celestia had been, to put things simply, terrified. The prospect of no longer receiving her letters on friendship, or seeing the unicorn’s face light up when they managed to find time to sit and talk, had hurt more than any physical wound she had ever suffered. And it had all been because of Discord.
That train of thought led into a twisted quagmire that Celestia wasn’t certain she would ever be ready to navigate. While she put on a calm front, which was expected of the benevolent leader her little ponies saw her as, Celestia had wanted Discord erased from existence for his crimes against her in the past and his crimes against Twilight in the present. But on the flipside of that particular coin, they had been something close to friends all those thousands of years ago.
No, not friends, Celestia corrected herself, more like colleagues. We were scientists performing social experiments on the global scale. They had bickered, they had debated, and they had done wondrous things together. But eventually, the working relationship ended with Discord encased in stone while quite literally having the last laugh at the princess’s situation.
And I suppose he would insist that I should thank him for my relationship with Twilight since he ‘helped’ in his own convoluted way. Celestia tried not to wince as the twisty logic of that thought struck home. And… he would be right. Would I have found the time or even cared enough to start schools or tutor foals before I had met Discord? Celestia asked herself, and she found that she did not like the answer.
“Princess?” a colt asked with a hint of worry in his voice. “What’s wrong? You look sad.”
“Our time is almost up for tonight, my little ponies. That would make anypony sad,” Celestia looked at the assembled class and she was instantly buried in a giant hug from the entire class. “I look forward to next week and hearing from all of you,” she said as she favored them all with a warm smile. They reluctantly disengaged from the princess before heading off to their own work areas.
Celestia had just risen from her seat when a unicorn guard burst into the classroom and skidded to a halt once he saw the foals in the room. The foals looked confused but the teacher’s eyes widened with the significance of the guard’s arrival, so she hurried her students off to the far side of the room without a moment’s hesitation.
“Captain, I assume this is an emergency?”Celestia asked in a hushed tone as she stepped out of the classroom.
“Your Highness, I apologize for interrupting your class--” the guard captain started before he caught sight of Celestia’s impatient look. “Princess Luna has scrambled the guard and departed with her Sentinels…” Anything else the captain might have said was lost to Celestia as she felt Twilight’s scream in her mind.
Without a single conscious thought Celestia teleported, and she found herself and the captain in the middle of a warzone. Her hedge garden burned from plasma bolts, but Celestia didn’t care. Armored boots of the aliens trampled the landscaping, but Celestia didn’t care. The aliens even fired ineffectually at Celestia, but she didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was Twilight and her tortured screams as she tried to back her way through a stone wall to escape some terror that only she could see.
“Twilight, it is okay. You’re safe now,” Celestia said gently as she offered a hoof toward her student which caused her to recoil and scream again. The elder princess rose and closed her eyes before casting a simple spell on Twilight. Instantly the screaming stopped and Twilight slumped to the ground like a rag doll. “Captain, you will return Twilight to her quarters then you will guard her with your life,” Celestia ordered without taking her eyes off of Twilight.
The sight of Twilight lying unconscious after suffering so much inspired an emotion that Celestia had honestly not felt in millennia. It was not anger, or hatred, or outrage. It was as cold as the wind from the frozen north. It was certainty. Their heads would rest on pikes at the gates, their hides would be strung as banners from the towers, their flesh flensed from their bones inch by inch, their hearts sent to the four points of the compass, their very souls would be imprisoned for all eternity for Celestia to torment.
She would see this all done for what Twilight suffered, no matter the cost.
“Princess, you’re in danger! I can’t--”
“OBEY YOUR ORDERS, CAPTAIN!” Celestia roared, and both the captain and Twilight disappeared in a burst of magic. With Twilight’s relative safety assured, Celestia turned to face her ‘guests.’
CRACK!
The temperature in the gardens went from a comfortable early fall warm to far below zero in less than a second. All of the fires that were consuming the garden instantly snuffed out and the plants themselves became brittle as ice sculptures. Frost instantly coated the aliens from head to toe and the rain of plasma fire hurling at Celestia all but died as the weapons locked up from the cold. Despite her success in proverbially pulling the teeth from the enemy, Celestia was far from pleased with the results.
They should be DEAD! she screamed mentally, but not an iota of her frustration made it past her dispassionate mask. The spell that she had cast was one she hadn’t used in thousands of years, but it was one she had known like her own hooves. Any further internal frustration as to the failure of her spell was pushed aside as several of the armored brutes discarded their now useless weapons and drew blades. Several of the guards shouted warnings or tried to intervene but Celestia teleported them all away from the conflict. She alone would have the privilege of dealing with these interlopers.
“It is proper to bow to royalty!” the princess snapped, and all of the armored brutes fell face first to the ground. Many roared in protest and all struggled against the telekinetic press holding them in place. The closest one to Celestia managed to get an arm in a position to slowly rise but the princess planted one hoof squarely in its back and walked over it.
The white robed Ethereal had been spared forced subjugation by the princesss and it took the opportunity to launch its own attack. Four bolts of pink energy lashed out from its limbs, and Celestia did nothing to block them. Oh… Twilight, I am so sorry, Celestia thought as the enemy’s attacks struck at her mind ineffectually before her willpower crushed and discarded them.
“You have done your research, interloper,” Celestia addressed the Ethereal, but in all honesty she didn’t know if it understood her. In all honesty, she didn’t care either as she tried to telekinetically pull the creature apart only for the spell to completely fail to execute. The energy of the spell burned within her, begging to be released, so she tried to teleport it into orbit. No result. “However I would be remiss in not educating you in the shortcomings of your plan. I have been many things over the many years of my life, and ‘teacher’ is the title I wear most proudly.”
The alien ships opened fire on Celestia as she advanced but the plasma blasts simply vanished the moment they approached the alicorn. She turned her glare skyward and said, “Interruptions will not be tolerated.” The three ships vanished as Celestia used her built up energy to teleport them away. I can teleport the ships but not… no no NO! Despite her internal turmoil not a hint of it made it to her face.
“As I was saying, you are very clever to assault the minds of my little ponies with visions of death and horror because the world they live in is a peaceful one,” Celestia continued her lesson even as her attempts to kill the Ethereal increased in creativity. Freeze blood… failed. Petrification… failed. “However, you are clearly not familiar with who and what I am if you expected such an attack to succeed against me. In my thousands of years in ruling I have witnessed much bloodshed. I orchestrated most of it.”
Teleport into the mountain… failed. Telekinetic crush of vital organs… failed. With each failure the energy of the spells continued to build. Her mind was positively on fire as the energy coursed through her horn. A wave of cold followed each attempt as she tried again and again to annihilate the enemy standing in front of her.
“When the Gryphon Empire first encountered my little ponies, they thought they could treat them as livestock to be preyed upon. Fifty thousand gryphon warriors took flight to try and enslave them, so I froze the sky and I shattered them. I walked through miles of broken corpses and blood to accept the unconditional surrender of the Emperor.” Three more attempts to kill the Ethereal, three more failures.
“When the dragons sought to pillage Equestria of its every treasure, I challenged their patriarch to a duel and won. When his brood resisted my commands I hurled the patriarch’s corpse at them. Piece. By. Piece.” Two more attempts, two more failures.
“When my little ponies warred against each other, I plucked the sun from the sky and I let famine and the winter beat them into submission. Only when they surrendered to my rule did I return the fires of my friendship to them.” One more attempt, and another failure. Celestia’s body screamed in protest at the amount of energy built up in her body, demanding release. If it wasn’t used soon it would escape of its own free will… violently.
It was then that she saw, or rather felt the next best alternative to death of her enemy: fear. Throughout the entirety of her ‘lesson’ it had bombarded her with telepathic visions of horror and death and she had simply ignored all of them. Celestia had closed within two body lengths of the Ethereal, and it was now beginning to hover backwards while frantically increasing the number of attacks against her.
Celestia had a hooffull of seconds before her body broke down from the strain of the built up energy so she made her decision. “You have come to my castle uninvited and attacked me, my guards and my student. By my authority as ruler of this nation, you are hereby expelled!” She ended her declaration with a yell and a bright burst of light erupted from her. For a few brief seconds Canterlot was as bright as a noon-time day. When the light dissipated, the aliens had vanished and only Celestia remained. She tried to turn back to the castle but found that her legs would not obey her and the ground seemed all too eager to meet her. Before the darkness claimed her, she cursed the day she first laid eyes on Discord.
------
Sunset, London, England
Discord whistled a little ditty as he flitted about the frozen battlefield, making minor adjustments where he saw fit. A muton wielding nothing but bladed gauntlets charged through the flimsy dry wall of a pub to get at a pair of humans trying to escape out the back, so Discord knocked over one of the bar stools directly in front the brute. Further down the street two humans attempted to dive out of the way of a teardrop shaped grenade tossed by the aliens. Discord turned the grenade slightly and made alterations to the concrete so the explosive would bounce in precisely the wrong way and down a gutter drain to entertain the demonic spiders that were below the streets. Still further down the road another muton hefted a weapon the humans called ‘blaster launchers’ and the glowing green guided projectile hung approximately a meter from the stove-pipe launcher on the Muton’s shoulder. Discord extended one finger and adjusted the targeting for the projectile to someplace far more interesting.
Dozens of little changes were made before the avatar of chaos was satisfied. Once he felt his masterwork was complete, he disappeared from sight and snapped his fingers. A wide grin graced his face as he watched aliens trip, shoot each other, and commit fratricide in the most spectacular and embarrasing way possible.
It was well within Discord’s power to simply end the aliens with a snap of his fingers. Send them all into space without their precious ships to protect them from the cold and lack of air, or turn them all into potted plants, or for added irony, turn them all into humans. He could do all that and more, but that would be too easy. Some people (and some ponies) simply didn’t appreciate how boring absolute power could get. Sure, it had backfired on him a few times but Discord needed challenges to keep things interesting, plus his other reasons…
Even as Discord steepled his digits and watched the mayhem unfold beneath him, he began to sense that something was wrong. The slightest draw on his power was the only warning Discord had before a substantial portion of it was consumed. The draconequus cried out in pain as more and more of his power, his very essence was torn from him. The magic he used to suspend himself in the air failed as did his invisibility, and he tumbled from the sky to collapse in an alleyway. It didn’t take more than a second for Discord to identify the cause for his loss of power.
Celestia? She’s trying to overpower the curse! Why would… no! It’s too soon! They shouldn't have found Equestria yet! Discord ground his teeth and brought a clenched paw down onto the cement, which blossomed with spiderweb cracks from the impact. Don’t do it, Tia! It’ll ruin everything! The draconequus pleaded silently as even more of his power was consumed. Despite his pleading and wishes, more and more of his magic was consumed by whatever Celestia was attempting to do… before it stopped, and the power began to slowly trickle back to him.
“Tia?” Discord whispered and only silence answered him. For the first time in a very long time, he was stung by the unfamiliar emotions the humans called regret and doubt… and fear.
Any further thoughts were interrupted as the Muton berserker barreled into the alley with a mangled barstool in one massive fist. It caught sight of Discord and swung the twisted furniture at him before charging.
“I do not have the time to deal with you properly, mongrel.” Discord spat as he moved to deal with the unwanted distraction in the fastest and least energy-intensive way possible. His mouth opened wide and stretched to fill the alleyway. Rows and rows of serrated teeth appeared and before the Muton could do anything to check its forward momentum the jaws snapped shut with a crunch. A long moment passed as Discord picked something out of his teeth and tossed it over his shoulder before he vanished from sight.
------
17:49, 10/24/2015, London, England
Headwind caught sight of the Berzerker as it charged the far wall of the pub and broke through, and before he could make his shot the alien had disappeared into the alleyway beyond. “Harris, Headwind! Berzerker’s moved into the alley north of my position and I’m in pursuit!” The pegasus shouted into his radio and suited action to words. Rather than follow directly through the pub or even try to cut it off at the other end of the alley, he flew to the roof of the pub and readied the plasma pistol attached to his foreleg.
After taking a deep breath he vaulted over the edge of the roof and brought his weapon to bear… on an empty alleyway. The only sign the berserker had even in the alley was what appeared to be a muton’s boot and leg armor, complete with severed limb inside.
“You do that?”
Headwind whipped around at the unexpected voice to find a human in matte black armor from head to toe. “Sun above, Jenkins, I nearly shot you,” Headwind grumbled before he looked back to the severed limb. “I didn’t do it, it was already here.”
“Hmm,” Jenkins muttered as she gave the severed foot a tap with her boot. “Harris, Jenkins. I’m linked up with Headwind. No sign of the berserker but I don’t think it’ll be much of a problem; we’ve got a leg up on him.”
Headwind tried not to groan or cover his face with a hoof.
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Here it is, the one you've been waiting for, the chapter with actual meat on its bones. A few things to cover:
Celestia and Discord -- Folks that have been following intently have likely suspected this development in some form so you can likely take this as confirmation of a lot of that speculation. That being said, their little story still isn't done, I have plans for a Meanwhile-style chapter that explores what exactly happened between the two.
I will also accept that there are some folks who will not like this development. I understand and accept that you have a right to your opinion, heaven knows I can't be critical for folks having preferences. All I can say at this point is that the story told so far isn't the complete story and I invite everyone to stay until it's conclusion.
The Ethereal Commander -- Much like what I did with the Mutons late in Stardust, I felt it made sense for the Ethereals to specialize a bit for specific roles. The Overseer was an air traffic controller/AWACs operator. This is a forward commander as the chapter above mentions. The art used for said Ethereal was drawn and used with permission by the artist Anjian which can be found here.
Last but not least.
Jenkins: "I don't think the Berzerker will be a problem..."
*puts on sunglasses*
Jenkins: "We've got a leg up on him."
Leave a comment and let me know what you think!
Awesome, we are into the actual story! I loved the Discord*, Celestia, and Luna battle segments! Poor Twilight, though. Looks like the aliens moving to Equestria sooner than expected may have thrown a wrench, or some more alien implement, into Discord's plans (uh oh) *(That Discord eating a Berserker segment was chilling at showcasing his pseudo-Eldritch Abomination status in this universe.) Great job, looking forward to the next chapter!
Do the XCOM suits have visors on their helmets? You totally missed a chance for Jenkins to actually do the glasses thing.
Also, what do you have against Twilight? That's like grinding a cigar into her psychological wounds, with a big heaping portion of "and I failed to save anypony" guilt.
Also your comment should probably just be the author's note for the chapter.
What exactly is this curse that Discord was talking about?
Whoa, Celestia making a freaking Ethereal suffer a panic attack.
I'm more worried about what Discord said, Equestria has enough problems without a mad alicorn added to the mix.
P.S: Demonic spiders? Looks like someone has read TvTropes.
I'm fine with this Luna and Celestia! Kicked a lot of ass. What happened to Cloudsdale was pretty brutal though, among the mane 6 I anticipate that Dash in particular is going to be really furious.
4391202
Some curse he cursed her with.
lol
Yeah, Celestia's pissed. And why wouldn't she? The Ethereals showed up and think they can just walk all over her subjects? BUCK NO!
I think the Ethereals are about to get a painful lesson in why you should Beware the Nice Ones.
Absoluetly fantastic work as always, but this does beg a question- have you given this a read? The attack on cloudsdale brought it to mind for me.
also-
That gave chills, man...
4391275
I have actually read that but it was a long time ago TBH. : /
4391175
Yeah... you're right. I'll tweak that.
4391166
XCOM currently has titan-equivalent armor with fully enclosed helmets. no sunglasses. :(
Also, I hate being mean to Twilight but it must be done for the plot. I won't spoil what happens but she does recover... eventually.
It has begun.
The Ethereals feel WAY more powerful then they ever were in the game, even on the hardest settings I feared engaging two groups of muton elites more then the final battle with the Ethereals. If it were not for their ability to randomly decide "nah, I dont think your seven attacks launched at me this turn will hit me." they would be pushovers, but here one who wasn't even trained for combat was able to bring someone who had crushed hundereds of Mutons, dozens of mechtoids, and at least three Sectopods without even breaking a sweat to a dead stop with ease.
4391319
...... But this one was trained for combat. See:
As for them being more overpowered than they were in the game, I wouldn't know, but it could just be that Arad's trying to make things more interesting. That, or you can take into account that the perspective of the game, which was completely squad tactics, if I understand it correctly, is different from the story, which tries to emulate a squad-tactics narrative by jumping from person to person, or pony to pony, giving their view on events. Don't quote me on that though. I'm just along for the ride.
XCOM-esque cover picture...
static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/11115/111150904/3803111-4527376317-full..gif
i.wp.pl/a/f/jpeg/30457/mem-bit-please-660x494.jpeg
Sleep is for those who do not have internet
Just something weird I saw.
Interesting, seems like it'll be good. Only problem I have is the stupidly overpowered characters make things boring fast. WTF is the point of having humans fight if Celestia, Luna and Discord are near omnipotent anyway? The aliens don't feel like a threat if you can kill them so trivially.
neck, I think you meant.
...a leg up on him...
Beautiful... simply beautiful...
4391227 Not funny.
Oh Lana we love your witty humor
4391434
I would be inclined to agree with you, so I would invite you to consider the state of Luna, Celestia and Discord at the end of this chapter. :) Trust me, I have -plans-.
4391547
Oh no, please don't call the comedy police on me. I already have two strikes! They'll put me away for good this time. I won't last a minute in the pungeon!
I don't remember if Stardust mentioned the curse directly in the final "Meanwhile" chapter, but other than that the only info about it is in this chapter; you'll have to infer the details. It's this thing where authors force readers to guess as what's really going on. They feed on speculation and that feeling you get when you hit a cliffhanger.
4391349
I was not referring to this ethereal, but the one on earth who "had managed to overpower her not with an attack but the telepathic equivalent of a fog horn". These guys are more powerful then they were in the games to a terrifying degree, but they need to combat the ponys who are far more powerful then the humans were in the games anyway, but with just how much they have been scaled up I doubt that ANY number of human combatants would be able to harm them without the element of surprise, the magicly gifted soldiers we have seen so far, are simply not powerful enough to even slow these guys down.
4391680
I see what you mean now, and you're right. I have upscaled the danger level on a lot of the aliens since they generally didn't feel all that threatening in the game after the first encounter. (Except for Sectopods. Those guys can die.) Rather, it felt more like a chore to deal with an Ethereal or Mechtoid rather than what it should have been: Brown-note material.
Of course... in the game we are seeing it from the commander's perspective and given soldiers capacity for panic they just might have that effect in the game. >_>
Pistol strapped to the foreleg? Why do so many fanfics do this? They're quadrupeds! Why not mounted weapons, like Fallout Equestria, or the Elcor from Mass Effect?
Wait, what did Celestia do to Luna with the sun? I don't get it.
Daaamn Tia, you scary. I like how you had her glaciate the battlefield; shows she's got a lot more tricks up her crown than 'fire everywhere'. I like how powerfully you write the alicorn sisters; powerful alicorns are best alicorns, after all.
At some point in the story, Discord must do this.
Huh, so Celestia somehow drained the power out of Luna and Discord for her own? Curious, as is her backstory with Discord.
… also, I will now have a nightmare with Discord eating a muton whole. Holy shit.
4391719
Sectoids from XCOM gave me the idea actually. They fire their pistols in the same manner.
4391739
The next few chapters will prove illuminating as to just what happened. :D
4391739
I think she only drained the power from Discord; Luna seemed to be more affected by the pressure of the magic Celestia was using, or a telepathic link to her, or something. She didn't do anything to Luna with the sun; "the weight of the sun" sounds like a metaphor, the pressure of Celestia's mind or magic weighing on Luna.
4391710 "God's in his heaven because he's afraid of our superior firepower." - Nobody Dies
This is an interesting concept. Ethereals are late-game enemies, and if you play your cards right you can build up your troops to be incredibly durable and have absolutely face-melting offensive capabilities by the time you encounter them, taking off a huge portion of their perceived threat. With that said, an Ethereal would be a nightmare to take down with nothing but starting game tech, even on the easier difficulty levels. Twilight technology has given X-COM a huge boost in the story, but they're still breathing characters that can bleed, not twinked out Colonels with game breaking stats and abilities to back up all that face-melting gear. Late-game X-COM:EU really was about countering game-breaking enemies with even more powerful game-breakers of your own and X-COM:EW ratcheted up your own game-breaking potential.
4391710 Honestly, after finally achieving my first impossible ironman victory in Enemy Within (after dozens, if not hundreds, of failed attempts, CURSE YOU OPERATION GANGPLANK!) I can honestly say that my threat ladder (per pack encountered, not individually unless the are encountered alone) goes sectopod> mechtoid> elite muton> heavy floaters> Ethereal > bezerkers> cyberdisk > sectoid comanders> seekers > mutons > chryssalids> thin men> outsiders> sectoids (thin men beat out the outsiders due to not being encountered alone most of the time.) with positioning obviously making some far more dangerous then they appear, or others less so, of course. I cant help but feel that Ethereals were meant to be more threatening then that, so I cant wait to see what other surprises they might have in store.
Welp, that escalated quickly!
Twilight down in chapter 2... ouch... why didn't you learn your lesson with the last Ethereal? Just stone him first and analyze later.
I'm curious what the power difference is between the 4 alicorns? Luna being unable to withstand the widespread panic of the Ethereal psychic while Celly shrugs it off makes me wonder.
I'll assume whatever curse Discord maintains on Celestia wraps up a considerable amount of his power. Can't wait for the mentioned meanwhile chapter explaining this more.
4391434 Well for starters - Celestia, Luna, and Discord can't be everywhere.
Secondly, that Ethereal Forward Commander did a pretty good job of stalling Celestia even if it couldn't hurt her. What if it had couple of friends?
All I can say is that we better have some development with Twilight and her boy-toy Harris in this story. After all the tension between the two of them in the last one, all the time they spent literally dreaming about one another, and all the time they spent thinking about each other when they were apart, if one of them doesn't grow some balls and go for it I might have to jump through the internet and smack them both around a bit.
On a more relevant note to this chapter, Well done with the combat scenes. I'm looking forward to seeing what will happen from here on out. Apparently Luna's Sentinels are super effective, while the Solar Guard is....mediocre. That's gonna make the rest of the battles interesting.
And now things get interesting...
Great introduction chapter! Celestia giving the smackdown of the century on the aliens was just awesome!
I hope we get to see some badass Twilight in this story. Alicorn!Twilight vs the Aliens should prove VERY interesting.
4391680
) That might just give them the edge that they need. It could also be argued that Twilight was not prepared for an ethereal of any type, when she was first attacked. Neither were the humans. That was their first encounter with one.
You're forgetting that the soldiers have different weaponry thanks to a certain purple pony (
Upon reconsidering, I have determined that Tommy's mom's description of Lana as a saint was a literal definition. I hope not, but I'm not so sure anymore.
Luna and Celestia's portrayals are pretty awesome. That pun makes me want to cry.
I wonder if Celestia's coat has changed in color?
4391719
To be fair, Fo:E also has ponies shooting guns with their tongues. I'd take pistol strapped to foreleg over that any day.
4391837 '
Sure, they can't be everywhere, but everywhere they are is boring.
As for the ethereal commander, what's the point? whenever they or the good near-omnipotents fight the first thing you can do in ignore EVERYONE ELSE as they will not contribute meaningfully to either side. This is boring, especially as humanity is apparently screwed without out near-perfect-good, near-omnipotent-pony friends. So really the most that humanity does is provide fodder until the Equestrians can fix things. (on that note, really? ponies with no experience in modern combat, many using melee weapons, who's country apparently hasn't been at war at any time in living memory are just as good as X-COM?!)
4391882 Yes, new weapons are all well and good, but a sectoid commander was able to effectively neutralize an elite X-COM soldier who had magic on its own, and take information from his mind and send it to his bosses, an Ethereal could just mentally break an entire squad before they get a chance to pull the trigger if what we have seen so far is any indication.
You know what I want to see? An ethereal make the mistake of attacking ponyville, and harming one of the mane 6, then facing the stare, just to see their willpower pushed to the absolute breaking point.
4391924
Interesting question: Does the stare work on targets who have their eyes covered? (Ethereal helmets don't even have eye slits)
4391924
You're a great writer as it is)).
That would be..... innnnnnnnteresting. With the stare I mean. Really. I don't know if that sounds sarcastic or not. It isn't. Seriously. Arad! Make it happen (and I know you read these (but um, y'know, whatever you wanna do is fine.
But you've also got to realize that the ethereals are the big-bads of this story, if they were mere push-overs, it would be boring. While, the more challenge something presents the better the conflict, journey, and reward at the end. You know, effort justification. Also, if I know anything about X-COM is that the slightest mistake in the game can sometimes have the unfortunate repercussions of destroying the whole squad, if the situation isn't quickly taken control of.
While I think most of the chapter was good, the transition between scene where twilight was just reminiscing to the attack was extremely abrupt. There was no foreshadowing or indication of any kind, and I suffered something akin to mood whiplash. I don't know if that was what you intended, but your transition just seemed...unnecessarily short. Maybe spend more time going over the assault on the castle? I dunno. Other than that, my only other reservations are the strength of Luna and Celestia. But seeing as we are only on chapter 2, I would rather seee what you plan on doing with them before I make any kind of judgement.
4391558
Well I loved the chapter, but my headcanon is scratching itself. If anything I thought Celestia was somewhat underpowered here... If the humans could kill ethereals with plasma weapons etc., then shouldn't a god-like being who controls the sun (literally a gigantic fusion reactor) be literally able to wipe the planet of the Forward Ethereal commander in a blink of an eye?
I mean if it were multiple ethereal commanders that stopped Celestia then that'd make sense and she can't be too overpowered, but she was stalled on ONE ethereal commander?
Well... The Return of Solaria? At exactly the right time!
Poor Discord.
omyglob
4391945 I would guess that if they can perceive it, it could work, or it could have sustained damage to its helmet in the confrontation with the rest of the main six, (supersonic dive kick to the face would do the trick)to expose its eyes.
This is not somthing I expect to happen, but would be a nice nod to the non canon extra chapter in the last story
4391971 I checked my save data for Enemy Within, and I have 102 failed attempts at Impossible Ironman, I have learned very well that one mistake can result in you watching your squad die, you cities burn, chryssalids eating babies, and berserkers kicking your dog. But that is part of the charm of X-COM, and I wouldent have it any other way.