Chapter The First: Exploration
Xenolestia grinned victoriously. Another planet converted, another world bound to her will. Her power was at an all-time peak. With nary a thought, she ripped another portal into existence.
“You know the drill, my little ponies. There are many Earths still to be enlightened. Go forth,” she spoke with faux-kindness in her voice. “Go forth. Establish contact. Make me proud.”
Her eternally-loyal Newfoals marched though the newly-established portal, ready to establish First Contact. Xenolestia smiled. This world would be an easy one to convert, she could tell. It’s what her instincts told her.
The aforementioned instincts were abruptly turned on their heads as she recieved a distress signal from the recently-departed Newfoals. She frowned in consternation. What in her name was the matter? Did the latest batch have too much panic added?
She strode confidently through the portal and immediately, the distress was clear.
Draconequi.
Patchwork creatures of all sizes, shapes, and limbs; some had multiple heads; others lacked even those. And all were staring at her in undisguised curiousity. Xenolestia steeled herself in preparation.
“Greetings. My name is Queen Celestia of New Equestrian Empire. I come in peace. Could I perhaps request a meeting with your leader?”
The draconequi exchanged glances. One of them, resembling a spidery snake, spoke up hesitantly. “We’re sorry, erm, your Highness. But we don’t have the authority to contact the Council of Harmony. But perhaps, er...” It seemed to realize something, and trailed off. Xenolestia frowned. She had not expected this.
“I see. Then perhaps I should elaborate on us. We are peaceful explorers, occasionally missionaries. I am certain that between any of us, we can figure something out.” Internally, the mare was seething. Discord, the only draconequus she knew, was an inherently magical creature. There was no way her usual approach would work on these Earth draconeq- ‘Wait a second. I did open a portal to Earth, didn’t I? So where are all the humans?’
She addressed the patchwork creatures once more. “I must say I find myself curious. I could have sworn our researh team opened the portal to a human world, yet you are certainly not them. Where would they live?”
This time, all the creatures visibly flinched. “We are not allowed to speak to any aliens about it. But we think you should really find a way to contact the Council.” With a flash of light, the surrounding area was empty. Xenolestia pursed her lips.
“Set up camp, my little ponies. We will get to the bottom of this matter.”
-----
The draconequi did not appear the next day, nor the one after that. Xenolestia and her cadre of Newfoals kept getting more and more antsy by the hour. As the third day drew to a close, Newfoal Swift Lance finally summed the wait up in a few simple words: “Your Highness, this is stupid.”
That also happened to be what shook Xenolestia out of her stupor. “I beg your pardon, Lieutenant?”
Swift Lance huffed. “Ya heard me, Your Highness. It’s stupid. There is no point in sitting here and waiting for somepony who’ll never show up. Let’s just call the Elements and let’s go find whoever is in charge. They ain’t coming to us, are they?”
Xenolestia felt a smile ghost across her face. That was exactly the reason she’d left the Newfoals an ability to snark at her; she really needed it.
Well, that, and her first attempt at Newfoals, with their constant smiling, had unnerved even her, but who was counting?
“Well thought, Lieutenant. Private Nimble Arrow? Please inscribe a message. I’ll set up a Barrier.”
As she lit her horn, the Newfoals saluted. Nimble Arrow produced a scroll. “Ready, Your Highness.”
Xenolestia cleared her throat.
“My dearest Twilight Sparkle.
As you are no doubt aware, I have established contact with a new world once again, and am currently on the planet.
However, a problem has arisen.
Please gather the Elements, and meet me in Base Camp. We have much to discuss.
Your teacher,
Her Royal Highness Queen Celestia.
P.S. Bring Discord.”
Nimble Arrow furrowed his brows. “Discord, your Highness? Aren’t you afraid--”
“That he will defect?” finished Xenolestia with a smile. “Worry not, Private. I’m counting on it.” The Private shied away from her devious grin.
-----
In a volcanic lair hidden in a group of islands formerly known as Hawaii, a shadowy group converged.
“We have visitors.”
“Ha! Not just any visitors. Pony visitors.”
“....”
“Right you are, my silent pal! We haven’t seen ponies since wayyy before the Great Change!”
“Indeed.”
“Oh cheer up, my good fellow! There’s finally ponies here, and-”
“Enough.”
A feminine shape slithered from the shadows. “This is not in fact a spot of celebration. It could have otherworldly consequences.” She surveyed the sufficiently cowed group, before speaking up again.
“We shall send the Founder.” A glare quelled any potential protests. “Perhaps he would be able to show them what we are trying to accomplish here.”
“....”
“Oh. I see. You think they might start to suspect? Good. Let them. We don’t want any... surprises, shall we say, when they do find out, now do we?”
-----
Twilight Sparkle stepped through the portal and looked around. The Newfoals had put up a warehouse in an impressive amount of time. HRH Celestia’s corner of the building was clearly marked with a simple, makeshift throne.
The aforementioned throne was precisely where she found her eternal ruler, draped over her royal seat, seemingly in deep thought. Or at least Twilight hoped it was deep thought. The snores weren’t particularly encouraging.
Twilight cleared her throat. “Your Highness.”
The alicorn startled awake. “I wasn’t asleep!”
“Of course not, Your Highness,” droned Twilight with a roll of her eye. Her teacher might have been a fanatic power-hungry xenophobe, but at least she could always maintain her image in public.
Twilight Sparkle just happened to be very good at narrative mind-snarking.
Seeing as her answer warranted no response, Twilight turned her gaze back toward her Queen. Predictably enough, she was asleep again. She glanced back towards the portal, where the Elements were manouvering Discord’s statue through the fissure in space-time. She sighed.
“Your Highness,” -she ignored HRH’s weakened protests about not being asleep- “We are all here, and we brought Discord. Why did you call for us?”
Xenolestia glanced right. She glanced left. She looked straight into Twilight’s unamused expression, before encasing both into a sound bubble.
“Twilight?”
“Yes, Rarity?”
Xenolestia mock-glared. “If you could concentrate. This world? I think we’re not the first ones here.”
Twilight blinked. “That’s not the first time we have stumbled into the middle of an invasion, Your Highness. And the last time, it wasn't nearly as bad as to require Discord. What exactly is going on, my Lady?”
The Solar Queen sighed. “Frankly, we may be in over our heads here. The planet is full of Draconequi.”
For her credit, Twilight didn’t bat an eyelid. “And the forest is full of Alicorns, Your Highness.” She maintained her cool expression, even as her mind was working furiously. “A planetful of Draconequi just don't appear out of nowhere, Your Highness. There need to be traces, magical scars, ruptured leylines, anything! It is precisely the reason we don’t drop Equestria in the middle of a planet without any thought to potential consequences, and it's why we maintain the portal networks between conquered planets. Have the field mages done any scans at all?”
Xenolestia shook her head. “We haven’t been able to get any of our matrixes to work, Twilight. The current Newfoals are too inept to-”
“Which is exactly why you need to expand on schools and proper magical education before going on to conquer the next planet along the line, Your Highness.” Twilight Sparkle adjusted her spectacles. “However you managed to survive before I came along is a mystery for the ages.”
The Solar Queen frowned. “Back then, I only had the one planet to rule. And if I recall correctly, it was you who established first contact.”
The unicorn gave a sharp nod. “That is correct, your Highness. But I believe we are going off on a tangent. What is your standard contingency plan for a planetful of Discord’s species?”
“...mrhhhvnn...”
“Pardon, Your Highness?”
The Alicorn looked away. “I have none. I never imagined...”
Twilight could only facehoof. “Infinite Multiverse, Your Highness. Infinite possibilities. Honestly, am I the only one around here with a doctorate in Multiversal Theory?”
The Alicorn merely hung her head.
-----
A dark shape was in flight.
Effortlessly, it glided over lakes and soared over mountains. It had been given a mission. A diplomatic one.
With a banking of his wings, the creature avoided a collision with an airship, giving a small wave to the passengers.
It swooped into an ice cream factory on the way, grabbing itself a chocolate popsicle. And still it flew.
The creature had a single goal in mind. A newly-erected warehouse in former Lithuania. It grinned to itself.
At long last, there were ponies again.
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The grammar's good and the dialog flows smoothly.
I especially like how the Newfoals are modified to be more "normal" because Xenocidestia was creeped out by their constant smiling.
I potentially see this Xenocidestia being extremely dangerous. She's a conqueror but she is logical, cool and pragmatic.
liked and tracked
A promising start. I believe the proper end to any sentence starting "Contingency plan for a planet of Discords" is either "... run far, far away." or "open a portal to the Q Continuum for general hijinks."
I think this is a bit too fast paced, I think you should slow down. I am interested to see what happens, but I have a lot of questions. Like why does Xenolestia seem to only want to conquer human world's when it's very likely there are other races she might hate just as much? how many new foals does celestia now have if she has conquered multiple Earths already then she must have a massive army of newfoals? Can Celestia's massive army even be stopped by a singular world? And why does Xenolestia plan to conquer an infinite universe when she should know that not only will her goal never end, but she'll also eventually meet defeat when she comes across a universe that was set up to defeat her.
I do want to see where the story goes and I hope you do a good job.
6575873
As I have already alluded to, with each victory, her power grows only stronger.
As for the rest, you'll have to wait and see.
6574344
That, or "Let Twilight handle it."
6574242
Thank you.
6574086
I'm sure it will be full of surprises. :::;)
6574045
I did indulge in a bout of evil, evil laughter upon reading that comment.
I so love it when my readers inspire me. ::::)
Why can't this universe die already!?
6578341
Oh, it will.
But these things take time.