Chapter Five - Translation Pending
Starbrought
Shamon was having a horrible day.
It at first seemed like such a simple endeavour: load up the delegates, prepare the wagon, and journey to the Pony Capital bearing gifts as a returning sign of good fate; all so very simple. In a matter of moments though, all that simplicity went skyward.
He gritted his teeth in anger as he swung his staff true, striking the flexible bamboo rod against the skull of a vicious Diamond Dog. The beast tumbled from the blow, before crashing snout-first into the unforgiving sand. In that brief moment, Shamon looked to his jamaa katika silaha, and froze in horror.
The other dogs had herded his kinship into a circle that was ever-so-slowly shrinking, one that he himself was quickly being led into. As the lower-ranked mutts sent him back, their leader stood off to the side smugly with paws crossed. That one had many names, but Shamon and his people had a specific one.
Mwanaharamu.
“Achilia sisi kwenda, mwanaharamu!” one of the Zebras shouted at the pack. The grin that had resided on the Alpha’s muzzle was sickening, and with it held enough ferocity for the grim truth to sink in.
He planned to kill them.
As Shamon was finally situated into the mass of his kin, Mwanaharamu raised one of its grotesque claws to its throat, and slowly dragged it across. The mutts nodded, and poised their spears to end his existence.
Before such a command could be issued however, a large shape rushed past their visions. Confused, they watched the crimson blur that seemed to shimmer in the sun’s light as it collided with one of the Diamond Dogs. Without pausing the two crumpled into the burning sand, before the interloper stood.
And as it stood, the others (both Zebra and Dog) backpedaled in fear. A heavy but slender blade was impaled through the soldier, and in one quick motion the bipedal being seized it in its grasp and readied it. A terse silence fell then as both sides examined the other.
Shamon was surprised at this interfering beast. It stood taller than the other Dogs, being as tall (if not taller) as Mwanaharamu. Alongside that, it bored a full set of armour. Its metallic shell glimmered, and the blood that slowly trickled down the sword in its possession sent shivers up his spine.
Nani huyo? Inaonekana kama bati kubwa unaweza, Shamon thought as he saw the... being raise its free claw to its neck. In one swift motion, it brought it slowly across its throat as it echoed out a slicing sound. With a hint of finality it pointed that claw back towards the Alpha, before it lowered itself in a stance that oozed combat experience.
Nothing moved then. As if time had been halted, not even the gales sought to traverse the forsaken landscape Shamon and his people called nyumbani. What they called their civilization, and their home.
And in an instant, it changed.
A hellish howl left Mwanaharamu as he charged the Interloper. Not a hint of hesitation graced the armoured warriors’ movement as it turned smoothly to the side. The blade swung around overhead, and made impact with the Dog’s shoulder. The Alpha tripped over itself in shock, which unleashed the entire pack upon him.
The kuingilia that the Interloper was providing amazed and befuddled Shamon as he and his jamaa katika silaha stood in their circle still. They watched in frozen astonishment as the battle continued with the beast taking their place in it. Quietly, one spoke to Shamon. “Je, sisi kusaidia?”
An amused smirk appeared on his face as he readied his staff once more. “Tunaweza.” His kinship nodded ecstatically in response as they poised themselves on the edge of the brawl. Diamond Dogs were being thrown and slashed about brutally, providing a cover for the Zebras to position themselves.
They struck swiftly.
Shamon swung his pole low, knocking out the knees of one of the armed Dogs. It crumpled unceremoniously on its back. Aggressively, it attempted to stab him from its inverted position. Several thrusts were sent his way, but none made impact. Shamon readied his staff to bring it down upon the beast’s head, before the Interloper appeared in a mesmerizing vortex of the biped swinging its swords and stabbed the Dog in its chest. It seized moving immediately.
Shamon froze in confusion. Indeed, the Interloper had two slim swords now. Both bearing the same kisanaa design. He could’ve sworn that the bipedal being had only one blade to begin with, though...
Another shiver passed down his spine as the Interloper looked down at him. Shamon watched unmoving as the towering beast sheathed a sword and pulled something from his side. It held a similar shape to a boomerang, but shorter and narrower on both ends. Before Shamon could even consider questioning what it was doing, the Interloper aimed the item to its side and flexed one of its digits.
A blast of magical fire spewed forth, and impacted a Dog that was charging him. It tripped, rolled, and slid past the metal creature and towards his own hooves. Looking down, Shamon only saw a smouldering hole of blackened flesh where the impact was made. The Interloper gave a nod, and Shamon considered if there had been a smile behind its faceless helm as he charged again at Mwanaharamu.
By this point, all the Dogs had been slain thanks to the Interloper. Shamon’s kin achieved no kills, as their passive nature dictated. All that remained, was their bloodied and frenzied Alpha. The one who had saini ya wazimu; the heavy breaths that proved the crazed look in his eyes.
Mwanaharamu attempted to dodge the Interloper’s run, but was unable to. With a sonorous crash, the two bodies left the Earth for but a moment before slamming against a sand dune. During the combat, the parties gravitated away from the convoy and found themselves against a behemoth of a sand dune. Relentlessly, the Interloper landed blow after blow against the Alpha. Shamon noted that a single blade again was attached to his back as he stood over the Diamond Dog, its forearms bashing Mwanaharamu’s face again and again.
Finally, the Interloper drew his bent device again and aimed at the Alpha. Mwanaharamu responded with pulling the being’s legs out from under him, forcing his magical fire to miss its mark. The tables had turned; now the Interloper fought to get out from under one who had now past the point of no-return. The Diamond Dog had become a mad-claw; a wazimu makucha.
The Interloper fired his tool again at the chest of the Dog. This time, it had hit its intended target. The Alpha was launched off and backwards from the downed warrior. Crashing into the dune, Mwanaharamu died as slowly as he had slid back down.
Silence once more hung in the air. Adrenaline slowed its course through Shamon’s body, and his muscles began to lax. What replaced the frantic energy however, was a pregnant—and awkward—quiet. Zebras looked to one another in hesitance, unsure of how to approach their saviour.
With a sudden grunt, the answer was made for them.
The Interloper stood again, vaguely uneasy as the marks of battle settled upon it. With another grunt, the Interloper stalked over towards Mwanaharamu’s eyes, and with a surprisingly gentleness closed them. And finishing with a great heaving sigh of contentment, the Interloper faced Shamon and his jamaa katika silaha, killing tool still in his grasp.
Starbrought
Gryphon, the capital city of the Altai Dominion, the land that the Griffin Race made its home. It was a pretty amazing city, rivaling Canterlot in terms of beauty. But unlike Canterlot, which was one of most visited cities in the world by tourists, Altai was rarely visited by outsiders due to its frigid temperatures, which was cold for most races even on a good day.
The Altai Dominion was ruled by King Leo, who came from a long line of royalty. The people never really met the king. And that is probably why when sixty-year-old Griffin scientist Glass Wing heard a knock on the door to his lab and opened it up to see King Leo staring right at him, he decided that the floor was suddenly an appropriate place to faint.
“Why do they always do this? I mean, it’s not like I have a flaming sword pointed at their face when I politely knock on their door.” King Leo groaned as his guards picked up the unconscious Griffin and put him in a chair, trying to wake him. The guards tried shaking the old bird lightly, but to no use. Then they tried poking him, which failed again, before one of them finally lost their temper and slapped him across the beak.
“What in the name of Tartarus- King Leo! Wha- What do I owe this pleasure to? Did I do something wrong?” Glass stuttered out, his pupils dilated in shock. The guards moved away, before quietly high fiving each other in the background.
“Relax Doctor Wing, we’re not here to kill you with a flaming sword. Quite the contrary, really...” Leo said with a slight laugh, having heard some of the rumors which nearly all involved him and a flaming sword.
“Oh...Good, then. What can I help you with, your Majesty?” Glass said, a little bit less nervous. Leo got up and walked over to the window, opening the shades expecting to see a beautiful view of Altai. But instead he found himself looking at a rather lovely view of the neighbors wall. He shut the blinds before returning to his seat, the movie-like moment he had been planning gone.
“My advisors have told me that you are a specialist in the field of odd creatures?” Leo asked, looking at Wing with a deadpan expression.
“It is more of a hobby really, your Majesty!” He said nervously, forgetting the room they were in was covered in various pictures of mythical creatures, and research notes scattered about.
“A hobby? Well, since my advisors have told me that you are the best in the field, I need you to come with me at once.” Leo said in a stern, royal voice.
“Uh...I’m sorry, you need me?” He said, very confused at what he had just heard. ‘The king wants me? What the hell did I ever do?’
“Yes, I need you to collect whatever instruments or tools you wish and come with me right away. This is a matter of National Security, and I need you.” Leo said sternly, standing up and walking towards the scared looking Glass. The guards had returned from the kitchen, and were now standing behind Glass, trying but failing to look intimidating with a thing of bread and lettuce on each of their beaks.
“Can you at least tell me what I am doing before you take me?” Glass said, slowly getting out of the chair and walking towards his notes, the guards and the king close in tow.
“I’ll explain more when we get there, but not now. The walls have ears and all. Now, I am going to ask you again to please gather your supplies and prepare to leave.” And with that, Leo turned around and walked out the door, where the two guards by the doors escorting him outside. Glass and the two other guards looked at each other awkwardly, not sure where to go from there.
“Could you two possibly help me carry some of the tools?” Glass said, having mentally given up as he began to think of what the the hell he could possibly need for whatever he had just been forced to agree too. The two guards looked at each other, before deciding to be nice to Griffin.
“Yeah, we’ll help you. But hurry it up; we don’t have all day!”
Glass grumbled a bit, before beginning to think of what he could possibly need.
A short time later...
“Careful there boys. More to the right... Little bit more to the left... And, drop it!” Glass said, guiding the two guards on where to put the last box of tools into the chariot Leo had brought. Glass had no idea what to bring, so he naturally did what anyone would do in this situation.
He brought everything and anything that could be carried or put on wheels. And the guards were not too happy about it.
“Are you finally done?” One of them said, sweat on his face.
“For now, sorry for taking up your time Your Majesty.” Glass apologized climbing up into the back of the chariot where his tools were, making mentally sure he had not forgotten something. Leo, who had fallen asleep in boredom, woke back up and wiped his eyes while yawning.
“No problem, I think. Now come on, we don’t have all day here.” Leo said, stretching his wings. The Griffins tasked with pulling the Chariot looked helplessly at the massive pile of stuff, before sighing and preparing themselves for the pain that was going to happen. They gulped, before slowly beginning to hover up, struggling to gain any altitude.
“Oh come on guys, it ain’t that heavy! Move move move!” Leo said in a loud voice, drawing some grunts by Griffins trying to pull the behemoth cart. They finally got the cart moving, a bit slower than a slug, but still moving all in all.
Now to see if they could keep it up without crashing into too many things...
Starbrought
Only the wild howling of the wind made an audible impression on the desolate expanse of swirling sand which constructed the confines that was the Zebrican Desert. Standing in one of the forlorn valleys were three varying factors that defined it from the rest of the dunes; a caravan of Zebras, an utter massacre of Diamond Dog corpses, and a metal-clad biped with two very intimidating blades.
And that metal-clad biped, was Slayer.
His eyes slowly examined the faces of the Zebra caravan under his mask, moving his body as little as possible to reduce the risk of a stampede. He had gotten through the simple, easy part. Now he had to go through the hard part; negotiations.
Slayer’s mouth widened slightly, before his lips shut themselves. ‘Can they even understand Galactic Standard?’ he wondered. ‘Their words shared amongst one another were foreign. Obviously. Then again, the potential of that being the native language for them exclusively is a possibility...’
As his thoughts quickly attempted to process an appropriate course of action, the caravan dispersed some of its rear members to attend to the wounded. The leader (if the tribal staff was anything to go by) remained front-and-center, standing between the ‘Cerebral Assassin’ and its kin.
Some unsure and tense moments passed before the lead Zebra raised a hoof tentatively. “Jinsi gani unaweza kufanya, chuma kiumbe?”
Raising a hand in return, Slayer waved a greeting in the following silence. “Do you, by chance, happen to understand me?” Several moments passed in quiet, as the Zebras stared on blankly. With a suppressed groan, he rolled his eyes. ‘Great. I get the species that doesn’t speak Galactic Standard. Of course it just had to happen while the Suit’s drained, so the translation software can’t be activated...’
The head Zebra looked about in surprise to his fellow herd, before returning his attention to Slayer. One of its members whispered words into its ear, in which it nodded and offered a bow. “Tunashukuru kwa msaada wako. Tafadhali, kuchukua chakula kama shukrani.”
Slayer, a man who rarely was flummoxed by things, could only tilt his head in utter confusion. From what he could gather from body movement, the Zebra was thanking him. An obvious reaction given the thrashing Slayer hand-delivered to the bipedal hounds, but still one he hadn’t expected in this particular situation.
“Er, no problem,” the hunter retorted with a nod. Slayer watched guardedly as the leader motioned to his compatriots with a command, before they made their way to the covered wagon itself. His eyes widened in alarm; he had nearly forgotten why he interfered in the first place.
A careful watch was made by the hitman during the duration of their walk. Though instead of bringing about any form of humanoid, the duo of Zebras instead brought a bundle. Very carefully they offered the tightly-wrapped item to Slayer, which he took courteously.
Slayer unwrapped slowly. One reason so to not disrespect them (last thing he needed was making another native species hate him), and the other was that he had no clue that he could possibly be unveiling a trap.
Luckily for him, it was just food.
At least, it looked like food.
‘I don’t think eating unfamiliar berries is a good idea,’ Slayer considered to himself as he gave a nod of thanks. Unfortunately, the thought of food combined with the thought of lack of food. The result was a rather loud gurgling noise from his stomach, which had the Zebras staring blankly in fear. The assassin could only blanch under his helm. ‘...Goddamnit.’’
Diligently, he plucked one of the bright-red diamond-shaped fruits and unlatched his mouth-guard. With little fanfare it slid away, allowing Slayer to carefully take a bite. He really hoped it wasn’t laced with sedatives. That would just suck.
...
‘...Huh. Kinda tastes like a strawberry. Hmm.’ He allowed himself a moment to savour the flavour in the silence. ‘Plus, I don’t appear to be dead or fading into unconsciousness. Good signs...’
“I thank you for the gift,” Slayer said sincerely. Despite the language-barrier, the sentiment was not lost to the Zebras as they nodded happily with smiles adorning their striped muzzles.
Once more, the Zebras conversed with one another in muffled whispers. Slayer could care slightly less about that, seeing as how he had a gift to eat. While his thoughts were preoccupied on a variant of a kumquat, Shamon was thinking rapidly.
‘Tufanye nini na mnyama chuma hii? Kuondoka katika mchanga? Ni ametuokoa. Pengine tunapaswa kusherehekea,’ he thought. He whispered his idea to his kin, to see what they had to say about the matter.
Most had seemed more than willing to allow him into their kao, but some seemed hesitant. Despite the aid the Interloper had brought, they could not verbally communicate with it. The metallic being could speak though, if its pitched sounds were anything to go by.
Shamon deliberated further within the sanctum of his thoughts. ‘Pengine ni anaongea lugha ya farasi. Tunahitaji kuleta Zecora. Pengine anaweza kuzungumza lugha ya farasi.’ His eyes trailed to the Interloper gladly accepting his offering with vigor. ‘Kama itakuwa kusikiliza...’
The Zebra then considered something. For many generations, the almasi mbwa had been a blight upon Shamon’s kin. Their barbaric natures and gruesome appearances only amplified the disdain he felt when thinking of individuals like Mwanaharamu.
Obviously, the Interloper had no fond feelings nor love for the Dogs. Perhaps through communications, Shamon could enlist the aid of both the armoured being and its allies... if it had any.
The Chieftain of the Zebrican Tribes froze.
Just what exactly was the Interloper? Shamon’s mind sprung towards the notion of the biped being one of the Minotaur. They shared similar stature and brutish ways of combat. Yet somehow he quickly rejected the concept. The Interloper did not seem like anything Shamon had ever encountered before in his entire span of life.
One way or another, he would find out in time.
Without hesitation, Shamon motioned over one of his jamaa and whispered into their ear. “Sisi lazima kuleta Interloper yetu Equestria. Labda wao itabidi kujua nini cha kufanya.” In response, Shamon was given a nod of approval.
“Tunapaswa kuweka yeye katika gari,” one of his Zebrican sisters muttered. Their attention went back towards the Interloper, nearly forgetting he (for in hindsight, there was little doubt it was a female) was still standing amongst them.
Thankfully, the Interloper had not disappeared nor gone into a bloodlust. In fact, it seemed quite content to continue consuming the gift Shamon had bequeathed to him. If it hadn’t been obvious already that the biped was starving, it was at that point.
Speaking of the biped, Slayer was very close to finishing his brunch he had missed out on. With nothing comprehensible leaving the lips of the natives, the only thing he really had to focus on was the food.
It was very good to him at that moment, by the way.
‘Not killing the Zebras was totally worth it,’ he thought to himself. Slayer paused, and looked up. Like his senses were telling him, he was being watched. By the entire caravan, no less. He swallowed the rest of his gift, and gave a deep nod of his head. “The food was delicious, and appreciated.”
Despite the current language barrier, the message was still able to get through. Off-handedly Slayer began noticing with some minor unease that they were eyeing his katanas and Sabres with particular intrigue. He only saw that kind of look in two situations: either the Zebras were planning to mug him, or they wanted him to use his weapons again to help them.
He didn’t know which option was worse.
Once more, the Zebras huddled around one another to discuss topics that were certainly about him. Slayer was quite frankly annoyed. There was very useful information that was no doubt being lost because of his exhaustion.
Remembering that issue, Slayer discreetly brought up the energy supply for him to examine.
>Solaris Suit is at: 15%.
“Tunataka kusherehekea katika kambi yetu,” Slayer’s focus locked onto the head of the caravan motioning towards the wagon. Somehow in the span of five seconds that it took him to check his power level, the Zebras had hooked themselves back to the cart and brought it around to Slayer.
Now he was really starting to feel uneasy. “Kuja,” the Zebra said again calmly, using slight and slow movements. Slayer knew the ball was really in his court. If they attempted to place him into the cart by force, he could easily eliminate them.
Thoughts ran rampantly through Slayer’s mind. ‘If I join these Zebra, it would mean potentially being led off the trail of Drake. And if I lose the direction, then I doubt I’d be able to find him ever again...’
‘Then again, this could be very advantageous,’ Slayer thought as he carefully approached the end of the wooden construct. ‘I could potentially be led instead to their settlement. Get supplies, directions, and maybe even information on rogue Zebras in case they took Drake. If not, then there’s always the hope that they have Drake.’
A decisive nod was given to himself as Slayer climbed in and watched as the rear door closed. ‘One way or another, these Zebra will led me to Drake. Whether they’d like to, or know it is irrelevant.’ As the caravan began moving once more, a single thought found its way into Slayer’s mind. And it remained there for the duration of the trip in the silence.
‘Don’t you worry, Drake. Slayer’s coming to save your ass... again.’
Starbrought
Shining Armor had seen some very strange things in his time as a guard. The most notable of which involved an ‘evil’ scientist who created a deadly virus that, instead of being deadly, cured three different diseases. But the scene unfolding in front of him easily took the cake.
When one of the other guards had come running up to him, informing him that shouting could be heard coming from Cadance’s chambers, Shining Armor had immediately rushed to her aid (which led to him now had a nagging suspicion that he had broken several land speed records amongst the guard).
What he hadn’t expected, was to find Cadance pacing back and forth in her room while in a heated argument with the alien. An argument about what the language they were speaking was called, of all things.
“For the last time, it’s not ‘Equestrian’! It’s ‘Galactic Basic’!”
“It’s ‘Equestrian’ here, buster! We’re not part of your galactic empire!”
“I’m not even part of the Empire! And the Empire only makes up about a third of our civilization!”
“Well good for you! But as long as you’re here, you should show some respect! You’re a guest on our planet, so act like one!”
“I’m not a guest! I’m shipwrecked! There’s a difference!”
“You are not shipwrecked! If you were shipwrecked, you would be marooned in an uninhabited area. Clearly, that is not the case here!”
“My ship crashed into your planet! It probably can’t even break atmosphere right now! I’d call that ‘shipwrecked’!”
“Okay, fine! You’re ‘shipwrecked’! But since you’re stranded here until your ship is repaired, that makes you a guest, buster!”
“Then I guess we’re both right!”
“Yes, we are!” Cadance grinned triumphantly and finally stopped her pacing. “Now that that’s settled, may I offer you something to drink?”
“Thank you, my throat was getting parched from all of that shouting.” The alien’s aggressive posture relaxed as he dropped himself onto one of the sofas in the center of Cadance’s chambers. “What sorts of drinks do you have?”
Shining Armor was surprised that the sound of his brain breaking couldn’t be heard by the others. It wasn’t that hard to understand either. For starters, Cadance, one of the nicest and most polite ponies he had ever met in his entire life, had just been engaged in a shouting match with somepony. She never even raised her voice when situations had called for it before.
Secondly, she had been arguing with an alien. A being from space that crash landed on their planet. It was like the plot to a bad science fiction novel. They had no idea if the alien meant them harm, or why he was here, or even what the circumstances surrounding his crash had been. For all they knew, he was a vanguard of their destruction. And yet, there he was, casually accepting an offer of a drink.
And, as if that wasn’t enough, both of them were so absorbed in their interactions with one another, that neither had even noticed him yet.
“We have many things to drink here, hopefully something you can have,” Cadance placed a hoof thoughtfully to her chin as she considered the options. “Water, perhaps?”
“I couldn’t survive without it,” the alien replied with a smile. “Do you have tea?”
“Of course. Tea is a staple beverage here in Canterlot.” Cadance gestured toward a tea set resting on a short cabinet in the room’s corner for emphasis. “Can you have milk?”
“Depends on what kind of milk we’re talking about here.”
“The kind that comes from cows.”
Shining’s left eyelid twitched.
“And, just to make sure my translator isn’t glitching on me, you mean the cows that go ‘moo’, right?”
“What other kinds of cows would there be?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“Okay, that’s enough!” Shining Armor slammed his left forehoof as hard as he could against the marble flooring, causing the others to jump in surprise.
The alien shot Cadance a confused look and pointed questioningly at Shining Armor. “Has he been here the whole time?”
“What is going here?” the guardspony demanded. “Cadance, he’s dangerous!”
“Because he’s yelling at me?” The princess replied with a sigh. “Anypony can yell, Shining. It doesn’t mean they’re dangerous.”
“He attacked several members of the guard and the doctor! We need to detain him!”
“That’s a little rude, don’t you think?” The alien pointed out. “How would you react if you woke up in an unfamiliar place, under an armed guard and surrounded by medical equipment? Can you really blame me?”
“You attacked the royal guard and now I find you in the princess’ chambers!” Shining growled. “So yes, I can blame you. There isn’t exactly a policy on how to deal with extraterrestrials.”
“Then don’t do anything,” the alien said with a shrug. Shining was taken aback.
“Huh?”
“Don’t do anything.” The alien kept his eyes firmly locked on the guardspony. “You said that your government doesn’t have any real rules to handle otherworlders. So don’t do anything.”
“You attacked the royal guard,” Shining repeated. “That’s a criminal offense.”
“In your culture. How do you know that it isn’t my cultures’ way of saying ‘hello’? Would you really risk a diplomatic or even an intergalactic incident over a misunderstanding?”
“Is that how you say ‘hello’?”
“That’s not really the point, you know.”
Starbrought
The entire platoon froze in shock. There was a creature, staring at them, who had just talked in another language.
“Let’s not panic, let’s not panic.” Night Skies said, a slight bit of panic in his voice.
This was not in the job description. Which is why one of them panicked, got out his sword, and slammed the flat part of the blade onto its head, knocking it out.
“Or you can panic.” Night Skies said as the creature fell unconscious, a very confused Grif holding it up. The platoon looked at the Griffin who had just knocked it out, who feeling really awkward as he slowly flew back over to the group and sat down. Silence fell on the group, before Night Skies spoke.
“What, in the name of Leo, was that?” He said, disbelief in his voice. The Griffin who committed the crime just looked around, not sure how to respond.
“I believe he panicked, Captain.” Grif said smugly, momentarily forgetting the now knocked out creature on his back.
“You don’t say? Well... At least he made the job of bringing that thing back with us a bit easier. So, good job Black Beak!” Night Skies said, patting the very confused Griffin on his back.
“You're kidding me right? I carry this damn thing here, only try to take a light nap and nearly get killed. He knocks the thing out, and might get a freakin promotion.” Griff thought to himself, seriously planning on where he could hide a body. His thoughts of lovely murder were broken up by Night Skies yelling.
“Private Griff! Snap out of La La Land and get moving. You’re already behind the pack.” Night Skies pointed his wing at the rest of the platoon, who had stopped their break and were now flying off towards Altai. Griff moaned a bit, before slowly taking off, trying to make sure that the thing on his back didn’t fall off.
This was going to be a long flight...
Starbrought
Drake had been in some very strange situations during the years he’d been living as a pirate. One of the most interesting of which was a night he spent with the Duchess of Miranda, one of the wealthiest and happiest planets in the Scutum–Centaurus Arm of the galaxy. In the course of one night, he robbed her of several prized artifacts, wiped clean her family accounts, poisoned her husband with a unique hallucinogen that led him to believe he was a turnip doomed to be in a side salad, crashed his transport during his getaway, crashed a second transport during his getaway, and ultimately rode away on her prized Sharna (a native bird to Miranda that were often valued as prized steeds during the planet’s settlements).
But having tea with a pony princess and one of her royal guards? In the Captain’s book, that took the cake.
An awkward silence filled the room as the three of them sipped their tea. Drake and the guard pony were seated on a two-seat sofa opposite of the Princess, who kept a close eye on the two males.
“So, what do we call you?” Drake looked up from his cup as the Princess spoke. “We can’t keep calling you ‘you’ or ‘mister’.”
“I’ve got a few names I’d like to call him,” the guard pony next to him grumbled into his tea. Drake smirked.
“I like this guy!” He said with a laugh. Shining nearly choked on his tea as Drake draped an arm across the back of his neck. “He’s not afraid to speak his mind about me. I’d like him more if he didn’t want to clap me in irons and lock me in the dungeon, though.” The Captain took another sip of his tea. “The name’s Shields. Captain Drake Shields.”
“It’s very nice to meet you, Captain,” the princess said with a smile. “I am Princess Cadenza, but I’d prefer it if you call me Cadance.”
“Your Highness. I’ve met a couple of princesses in my time, you know. But never one who knew how to brew a cup of fine tea, let alone one who willingly did so herself.” Drake raised his cup in a silent toast to Cadance before turning to the guard sitting beside him. “And what do I call this stiff fellow?”
“Sergeant Shining Armor. Equestrian Royal Guard.” Shining set his tea down, the aura that had been surrounding the cup and saucer vanishing at the same time as the aura around his horn. “So show some respect.”
“I’ll show respect to those who show the same to me.” Drake smirked at the Sergeant and downed the rest of his tea.
“You said you were a Captain?” Cadance asked, breaking the two males’ attention from their rapidly growing dislike of one another. “Were you in a military?”
“Not a chance,” Drake laughed. “I’m a ship captain. Nothing even remotely close to military.”
“Yet you carry weapons,” Shining Armor noted. “You’ve got what looks like a saber strapped to your side, and you used some sort of explosive earlier when you were making your escape.”
“Observant.” Drake set his cup down. “Space isn’t very nice. There’s all sorts of mercenaries, pirates, thieves, slavers and corrupt government vessels that just can’t wait to ruin someone’s day. And my ship is a vessel designed for fast travel and decent maneuverability, perfect for transporting expensive cargo across worlds. I’ve gotta keep my cargo safe from those who’d take it from me before I get paid. Folks are willing to do just about anything outside the law to make some extra spending money.”
“That sounds awful,” Cadance noted. “Just what kind of society do you live in?”
“Calling it awful’s a little much, don’t you think?” Drake replied. “It’s not perfect life, but if you keep a calm head, it’s nothing worth worrying about. A perfect life for a man like me.”
“And what kind of man are you?” Shining asked.
Drake fixed him with a serious stare, no sparkle in his eye as he spoke, no hint of amusement he had been displaying throughout the evening.“I’m a man that values my freedom above almost anything else. By making my living sailing the sea that space truly is, I’m living my life on my terms. Nothing beats that.”
Shining Armor was momentarily stunned by the seriousness of Drake’s response. He tried and failed to come up with an appropriate response for a few moments before giving up. Instead, he settled for nodding stiffly at the Captain.
“Can I offer you another cup of tea?” Cadance gestured at Drake’s empty cup. He turned away from Shining, smug smile returning to his face as he did so.
“Thank you. I’d love another.” He watched with mild interest as a pale blue aura surrounded both the princess’ horn and the cup just as the cup was lifted into the air and over to the tea kettle near Cadance.
“So, can all ponies control a low level zero-point energy field?” Drake asked.
“I’m sorry?” Cadance gave the Captain a confused glance. “What do you mean by zero-point energy?” Drake pointed from the floating tea cup to Cadance’s horn.
“That glow. It’s a zero-point energy field, right? Allows you to move objects without touching them?”
“You mean telekinesis?” Shining Armor asked. “Only unicorns like me or an alicorn like Cadance can use it. It’s part of our natural magic?”
“Magic?” Drake repeated thoughtfully. “How curious.”
“How so?” Cadance asked, floating the now full cup back to Drake’s hands. “Don’t you have some sort of natural magic?”
“Not as far as I know. Some scientists in the Alliance might disagree with that, but they blame that on the fact that my species still doesn’t actively use their full brain power.” Drake paused to breathe on his tea, cooling it down slightly. “But I highly doubt they’re right. Still though, the fact that you use barely any energy to generate a zero-point field, and with such precise control is very interesting. I’ve seen some of the zero-point machines used in shipping ports to move large cargo crates. Those things use up almost as much energy as a small colony can in a week.”
“So, you come from this Alliance place, yes?” The princess asked. “What’s it like?”
“I’m not from the Alliance, and it isn’t a place. It’s kind of like a government that has jurisdiction over about a third or so of the galaxy,” Drake explained. “The other two thirds are controlled by the Empire and the Syndicate. Right now, all three groups are fighting over which one of them has the right to rule the galaxy.”
“Civil war.” Shining Armor shook his head. “That’s brutal. The minotaur had a civil war a few decades back. Ruined all of their farmlands and reduced their culture to little more than nomadic clans. Nobody wins in a civil war.”
“Nothing ‘civil’ about it either.” Drake stared into his cup. “I’ve seen entire planets burned and glassed in nuclear fire just because one side wouldn’t concede to the other.”
“What started the war?” Shining asked. “Who threw the first punch?”
“Nobody knows for sure,” Drake said with a shrug. “The Empire started aiming for a complete union of all planets under one regime: theirs. This didn’t sit well with many people far outside of the Empire’s territory. And as they started to grow in power, so did their military and their influence. Their laws were beginning to be adopted as galactic laws as several planets saw benefit to joining them.
“The planets and systems that wanted to remain free from Imperial control joined together and formed the Alliance. Then war broke out between the two sides. Minor stuff at first. The Alliance would send a small fleet of drone ships in to attack an Imperial patrol and capture their ships. The Empire would retaliate by seizing cities and planets. Back and forth. Back and forth.
“The Syndicate formed about four or five years after the Alliance started expanding its borders. Mostly based out of the more unruly and backwater planets, where thugs and thieves and bounty hunters thrive. They saw a chance to take the galaxy for themselves and shape it to fit their desires, so they openly opposed the Empire and the Alliance once they had a decent sized force of people backing them.
“It’s been a three way tie ever since. The Empire has the largest population, the Syndicate has the greatest military strength, and the Alliance has the best technology. That about sums up society where I come from.” Drake raised his cup of tea to his lips once more and allowed the alien company he was in to soak up the information he had given them.
“You seem awfully willing to just tell us about your society,” the guardspony beside him noted. “If I was in your position, I wouldn’t be telling the aliens I was around about my society. How do you know you can trust us?”
“I don’t,” Drake replied simply. “But I simply don’t care.”
“Huh?” Both ponies looked mildly surprised at Drake’s indifference.
“I don’t care,” the Captain repeated. “Do what you will with this information. Use it to create a database detailing information on the galaxy. Use it to plan a war against my species. Use it to plan the best places to establish trade routes. Ultimately, I don’t care.”
“That’s a rather strange attitude to have about your own people,” Cadance said. “Don’t you care about them?”
“I only care about anyone who’s either neutral in the civil war or being forced to serve one of the three governments. Anyone who’s willingly on one side or another doesn’t matter to me.” Drake’s tone was harsher than it had been. “I’ve no love lost for the Empire or the Syndicate. And I’ll cry for joy on the day when the Alliance burns in the deepest circle of hell while I dance on their graves.”
Cadance looked at the Captain sadly. “The Alliance did something to you, didn’t they?” It wasn’t a question, but an observation.
“Not just me.” Drake’s hands were beginning to shake, forcing him to set his cup down for fear of spilling his tea on Cadance’s pristine floor. “The Alliance is made up of mostly technology research planets. They have the smallest population out of all three sides of the war, but they make up for it with their ‘toys’. Early on when they first started rebelling against the Empire, the Alliance began offering neutral planets the chance to join their side. Any planet that refused was forced to anyway, only their populations were enslaved and forced to help with the production of the automatons the Alliance uses as their main fighting force.
“My homeworld of Adrestia was enslaved about twenty years ago, right around the time when I reached adulthood. I’ve watched people I’ve grown up with be punished and executed for openly defying the Alliance.” Drake clenched his fists tightly. “I escaped about four years ago. Stole a prototype stealth ship they had been developing near the planet’s capital and fled to the sky, because that’s the only place they couldn’t control me. “They take and take from us until we have nothing left. But they could never take the sky.””
Silence filled the room again as Drake leaned back against the sofa. Cadance and Shining Armor looked on with looks mixed with pity and sadness at the Captain’s story. Drake paid their expressions no heed, instead reaching under his shirt and pulling out a silver-chained necklace he had kept concealed underneath. Dangling off of the chain was a four-leaf clover, perfectly preserved within a piece of clear cut crystal. To the left of the crystal dangled a pair of golden rings, one with a diamond set into it, one without. To the right dangled another ring. One of bronze and with two rubies flanking a sapphire set into the band.
Shining’s eyes went wide for a fraction of a second as he caught sight of the third ring. Then he fixed the Captain with a rather pointed glare, an action that did not go unnoticed by Cadance.
“Shining? What’s wrong?” She asked.
“That ring on his necklace, the bronze one, I’ve seen it before.” That caught Drake’s attention. Shining Armor pointed a hoof at the ring in question. “That’s the Platinum Heirloom. It’s one of the few things Princess Platinum brought with her from the old kingdom when Equestria was founded. It’s supposed to be on display down on the second floor outside of the throne room. So why is it dangling from your neck?”
Drake looked down at the necklace for a moment or so, before he gave the sergeant the cheekiest grin he could manage. “Would you believe me if I said that it was there when I got my stuff back from you guards?” Shining’s answer came in the form of a deadpan stare. “Eh. It was worth a shot.”
“So, you’re just a thief then?” Shining Armor was on his hooves, his horn alight with a magenta aura. “I’ve never met any cargo shippers that steal from others.”
“Clearly you haven’t met many cargo shippers,” Drake quipped, tucking his necklace back inside his shirt as he rose to his feet. “Not that I’d call myself a traditional cargo shipper, mind you. I prefer to think of myself as a man on the account.”
“So you’re actually just a pirate?” Cadance said calmly. “Isn’t ‘on the account’ a fancy way of saying ‘I’m a pirate’, Captain?”
Drake shot her a satisfied smirk. “Nice catch. And even more proof that you ponies have more in common with humans like me than what I’ve observed so far.” Shining Armor lowered his horn and aimed it at the center of Drake’s chest. “And while I’d love to stay and chat with you more about it, it’s clear I’ve overstayed my welcome.”
“That’s an understatement,” Shining Armor said. “Drake Shields, by the rights given to me as a royal guard, I hereby place you under arrest for the crimes of assault, resisting capture, assaulting a royal guard, breaking and entering, and theft. You have the right to remain silent and I pray to the gods you exercise it.”
Drake let out a long winded sigh. “Sorry to disappoint you, but that’s not going to happen. I’ve spent enough time locked up in various prisons. I have no intention of letting you drag me into one.” In one swift movement, Drake brought his leg up and sent the coffee table between the two sofas crashing onto its side. Cups of still warm tea were flung across the room. A magenta shaded shield of pure energy erected itself in front of Shining Armor, protecting him from the projectile tea cups.
While the sergeant was distracted, Drake drew his energy saber and activated it. The snap-hiss of the blade coming to life filled the room and bathed the pirate in a pale blue light. In his free hand, Drake produced his pistol, which he aimed in Cadance’s direction. “Sorry, your Highness, but I can’t be too careful. Your loyal guard here needs incentive to not follow me out of this room.”
The Captain backed slowly away from the two ponies and toward the double doors leading out of Cadance’s room and back into the castle. The two ponies watched his every move carefully, much like a pair of hawks. “The doors, Mister Armor, if you please.” Drake smiled warmly at Shining, who glared in response but complied with his orders.
Drake’s grin grew wider as he heard the sound of a lock being magically undone, followed by the creak of the doors as they swung open behind him. “That’s my cue. Thanks for the tea, your Highness. It did wonders for my thirst. Sarge, have fun explaining this one to your superiors.”
Laughing, Drake spun on his heel and immediately found himself face to face with the occupants of the hallway beyond Cadance’s door.
Twenty or so unicorn guards were lined up at regular intervals, their horns all ablaze with a uniform green light. At least a dozen pegasi guards hovered in the air above their horned counterparts, each armed with what appeared to be weighted nets.
The guards all fired their magic at Drake as soon as he was in sight, barely giving the pirate time to groan in annoyance.
Starbrought
“Good Private! Now lower that one into that corner, and make sure not to drop it that hard.” Glass Wing stated, watching in amusement as he directed three Imperial Guard privates on where to put some of his objects that he had brought to this...place.
When he had left his lab to go investigate whatever King Leo wanted him to do, he had thought that they were going to go to the palace. But when the chariot turned a hard right and went into the main military base that protected the Capital, Wing was very confused.
“Your Majesty, if I may ask, why are we going into this place?” Wing asked, looking at the checkpoint approaching them. Leo laughed a bit, before turning towards him.
“Because for what you are going to be working on Doctor Wing, we thought this would be more... appropriate.” He said, pausing as he considered the proper term. Wing, even more confused, decided not to ask any questions as the they reached the checkpoint, before being cleared and allowed into the base.
The chariot landed outside of a large, unmarked structure. Leo motioned him to step out, as the guards designated to carry the mass of supplies finally got a breather, and it took quite a lot of willpower not to go and fall over in exhaustion.
“If you would follow me inside, Doctor. Your... tools will be brought down in a moment.” Leo said, chuckling a bit as one of the guards collapsed in exhaustion, the other one nearing it. He turned his attention back to the door that led to the inside of the building, where two of his personal guard flew over and opened it.
Doctor Wing was expecting to see some small, little cubicles with small labs inside of them, but instead it was just a long hallway with lights built into the top of it. He did not see any more windows, just a long hallway stretching deep into a mountain.
“If you would follow me please Doctor, the lights will still be here.” Leo said, walking down the tunnel with his two guards behind him. Doctor Wing joined him, and after walking for what felt like a mile they reached another, bigger door. Unlike the other door, this one had no handles, but only a small pad on the side of it.
“If you would please move away for a second, Doctor,” Leo explained, taking his paw and putting it onto a the pad. After a brief second, a small ding was heard and the massive door slowly opened up, revealing a brightly lit room. Leo motioned for him to go through the door, which he did rather hesitantly.
The room he had been brought into was in sharp contrast to the old, dirty hallway he had come from. This room was well lit, clean as a whistle, and new looking. There were other vaulted doors on one side of the room, with what looked like an unoccupied security checkpoint on the other side. It was very impressive, but also very cryptic for the Doctor.
“And this is where you will be working. The chariot should be arriving any moment from the back deck, which is that way.” The King pointed his claw to a hallway with a much bigger door, enough for objects of considerable size to pass through. A few seconds later, a bunch of Griffins pushed in Wing’s tools, off of the chariot and onto several massive carts.
“Now, I have an important meeting to go to. Something about Minotaurs and other stuff like that. Doctor Feather will introduce herself in a moment. Good day, and good luck Doctor Wing.” Leo said, walking out of the door, his two guards in tow. The door shut, leaving him to his thoughts on where the hell he was. He was stopped by him noticing another Griffin was coming this way, but this one was dressed differently than the guards. She had on a white lab coat, and had a clipboard in her right talon.
“You must be Doctor Wing.” She said, offering her talon to shake, which Wing hesitantly accepted. “I’ve heard a lot about you, hopefully you will live up to my expectation.” She said rather coldly, before looking back at the behemoth of stuff the guards (even on the carts) were having a hard time pushing.
“And you are?” Wing said, feeling rather annoyed at the Griffin already. She turned back around, before clearing her throat and answering.
“My name is Doctor Gilded Feather, and I will be working with you on this... project, whatever it is.” She said, sounding rather annoyed at not knowing what the project was.
“You don’t know what we’re doing either?” Wing said, sounding rather surprised and glad that someone else was in the same boat as he was.
“No, his Majesty likes to... surprise me, and apparently now you. This would explain the massive amount of equipment you brought.” She stated, looking at her clipboard again.
“Yeah... I really didn't know what I was going to—” Wing said rather awkwardly, before getting interrupted by Feather.
“I can assure you, from looking over your equipment, I—er, we will only be needing some of it. The rest will be put back into storage until our assignment—whatever it may be—is over. Now if you'll excuse me Doctor Wing, I have to go make sure that the correct equipment is sorted. Good day, and nice to meet you.” She said, walking over to the lead guard and began asking him some questions, leaving a very confused Wing in his wake, with even more questions than when he entered the place.
He walked over to one of the doors, trying to see if there was any form of identification to try to figure out where he was, but to no avail. He felt the sensation of someone tapping him on the the back. He turned around to see three guards bearing the Imperial seal, a cartload of his stuff behind them.
“Doctor Wing instructed us to set these up in here, with you commanding us on where to put them.” The middle on said, point to the door behind him.
“...Alright. I will gladly tell you where to put them, but could you open the door first?” He asked, feeling rather stupid for an odd reason.
“That is what we were planning on doing. Could you please move out of the way so that we can open it for you?” The middle on asked again, in the same tone. Wing gladly moved aside, as the one of the guards grabbed a set of keys, and inserted it into a keyhole that Wing had failed to notice. He turned it with a sharp click, and pushed the door quickly open, before moving aside to let Wing inside.
The lights were already on, casting some shadows on the pieces of furniture inside the room. The room was about twenty four feet by twenty four feet, with several rows of tables and other lab equipment already inside. Plastic covers covered the instruments and tools, and the floor was remarkably clean.
The guards wheeled in the cart of tools, before asking Wing where he would like them to go. He took a quick survey on what they had, before realising they were all the notes he had on strange creatures he had seen and studied over the years.
“Just stack them on the tables please.” He said, his mind deep in thought of why his notes were the only things of his that had been brought in, before remembering that the rest of his tools were just tools, and fairly outdated ones at that.
This place was just getting more and more confusing by the minute, and he was beginning to regret coming with the King, even though he had no choice.
And this was only the start of the chaos that was going to occur.
Starbrought
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I wondered where this story went. Glad to know it still lives ^_^.
Wow I completely forgot about this story. Glad it came back.
Yet another excellent chapter! I applaud you for your fine work. My guess on what will happen is that Drake's going to get captured, and then Slayer will barge in killing everything and rescue him.
I like to think of Drank Shields as Gene Starwind from Outlaw Star. I can clearly imagine him with Gene's voice. =3
2795012
That totally fits. On that note that makes me think of it like this.
Drake - Gene Starwind
Yuri - Jim Hawking
Slayer - A mixture of Twilight Suzuka and the McDougal brothers.
2794848 I would like to politely point out that you had only reached Chapter Two, which technically is the real Chapter One of Starbrought. The entire point of the chapter is to introduce our human protagonists, and to explain how they entered Equestria.
Your complaint states that 'I just.. don't care about all these new characters, technology, conflicts, organizations, etc. I haven't been given time to care about them.'
Considering how this complaint is located on the chapter in which all of that is introduced, the notion that you don't care because you haven't been given time to care about them is rather silly, to be honest.
-Dumb
This is AWESOME! :D I never expected from the description to have an epic crossover story in a totally original sci-fi universe, and have Zebras and Griffins too. It's been a while since a story sucked me in like this...but now I have to wait for the next chapter! D:
Great job! /)
2795352
Actually:
Drank Shields: Robert Wicks (Gene Starwind), or Kyle Hebert (Kamina from "Gurren Lagann")
Yuri: Steve Cannon (Harry MacDougall), or Ezra Weisz (Fred Luo), or Kirk Thornton (Bart Gursus from "Vandread"), or Yuri Lowenthal (older Simon from "Gurren Lagann")
Slayer: John Snyder (Ron MacDougall), or Jamieson Price (Rabat from "Vandread"), or Steven Blum (Spike Spiegel from "Cowboy Bebop")
Voices just seem to fit.
2795012>>2795352 This is an intresting point has anyone even done an Outlaw Star/MLP crossover
2799082
Not that I know of, but it would cool if the Outlaw Six (Gene, Jim, Aisha, Suzuka, Melfina, and Gillium) would land (or crash land) in Equestria and meet the ponies!
I bet Rainbow Dash & Aisha would get along nicely.
2797123
I was talking about personality similarities but yea I can see that too... Actually Steve Blum as Slayer would totally fit. I also can see Nathan Fillion (Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly) voicing Drake
2799303 2799082
That would be awesome!
2799082 I don't think any of us have ever seen one.
-Soviet
Moar!!!!
~ Sincerly the source of all evil Cthulu- I mean Dubious.
Holy shit this is amazing.
Gaah, this story is just SO AWESOME
.
.
Just the fact that they don't land in/near the everfree/ponyville, and that the first people they meet isn't the mane six/CMC is good, but then there's Griffons and Zebras and presumably Minotaurs and... Aahh, just so guud!
Anyways, sorry about that little outburst of happy
, but this story really is damn good 
.
Keep it up, can't wait for more! Fav'd and liked.
A very good story, but could you update a bit faster? It has the potential to beat my #1 favorite story, well this is new, so i would like to see it update.
3551763 To be honest with you, I can't give you a real answer when we will update do to myself and the group not knowing when we will. We may love Starbrought, but all four of us do have other priority's that are more important to us than Starbrought. Another reason that the chapters take so long to come out is that we spend a lot of time editing them to make sure they're up to par, which may explain why people like it. I hope that answers your question, and if not you could PM us.
-Soviet
"my species still doesn’t actively use their full brain power.” completely and utterly false. We use 100% of our brain power.
4095322 ...
We use everything from 15-35% of our brain power in the current day.
6# lol
