• Published 12th Apr 2016
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STAR WARS / FiM: Realms of the Heavens - Tathem_Relag



An Imperial expeditionary group exploring the Unknown Regions of the Galaxy encounters a planet far more bizarre - and, potentially, dangerous - than anything they could have possibly predicted.

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Chapter Ten: The Fires of Industry

Fluttershy’s Cottage
12/12/3
7:14 A.M.

“No… no, I can’t believe it. How could they? How could anypony do that?”

The squirrel was insistent. Fluttershy had already suffered the worst at the hands of the Imperials – if the Elements of Harmony hadn’t healed her, she’d still be in the hospital – but she hadn’t thought that even they would do something so pointlessly cruel. She had to see this for herself. As she entered the Everfree Forest, she tried desperately to come up with an explanation. Maybe he saw it wrong. Maybe something happened to them, and they’re just defending themselves. Surely nopony could do that without a good reason. But Tirek had, seemingly out of pure spite, and the humans had already proven themselves to be even more willing to do damage than him. Ahead, she heard wood cracking and strange groans and hisses. She pushed forward…

…and emerged into a scene from a nightmare. Where there had once been dense forest, there was now a massive clearing. All around her, huge metal creatures tore up trees and placed them in devices that seemed to do nothing but belch out smoke and ash. In the center of the clearing, a vast patch of the soil had been stripped down to the bedrock in a roughly hexagonal shape. The pit had a metal framework within it, which was being filled with concrete. There could be no justifying such devastation.

“Hey! What are you doing here?!” A human in a white uniform and a black cap ran over to her. “This is a restricted area. You aren’t authorized to be here.”

“Wha-what? Restricted? Not authorized?” Fluttershy’s fury overcame her fear. “Nopony owns the forest! This used to be a home for hundreds of animals! What are you doing here?!”

The human crossed his arms over his chest. “As a matter of fact, we do own this forest, or at least this part of it. Princess Celestia gave us one week to decide on the location for our base, and we’ve decided on here. We have to clear this area to make room for the garrison. Now, get lost. This is our land now, and you’re not allowed on it without a prior invitation.”

“I don’t believe that Celestia would allow you to do something so horrible!”

“Well, she didn’t say we couldn’t,” he replied with a lopsided grin. “This isn’t a protected historical site, and as you said, it wasn’t previously owned, so our agreement lets us build here. If she didn’t want us clearing the forest, she should’ve said so. Now are you going to leave on your own, or am I going to have to call over some CompForce psychos to throw you out?”

Fluttershy didn’t know what “CompForce” was, but the way he said it made it sound very unpleasant. Still, she couldn’t just give up and let this travesty continue without at least trying to stop it. She ran over to one of the metal giants as it wrapped its claws around another tree. “Please, stop. Can’t you see what you’re doing is wrong? If… if you don’t stop this right now, I… I’ll have to use the Stare to make you stop, and… and I don’t want to –”

She stopped as the creature ripped the tree out of the ground and dumped it in one of the smoking machines, seeming to not even notice her pleas. The human laughed. “It’s really no use arguing with a droid, at least not those cheap labor models. They’ll only realize you’re there if you’re physically stopping them from carrying out their programming – and maybe not even then. There’s an old story about a binary loadlifter programmed to stack crates in a multistory warehouse. Unfortunately, the floor under the pile wasn’t properly designed, and gave out under the weight. The droid just kept trying to stack the crates, dropping box after box down the hole.”

“Droid? Programming? Binary loadlifter? I… I don’t understand…”

The human made a noise that was somewhere between a groan and a sigh. “Primitives. Why do we even bother with you creatures? Look, droids – these things –” he banged on the giant’s leg, “they aren’t actually alive. They’re just machines, designed to do things that we can’t do, or don’t want to do, ourselves. And if you’re not on the list of people it’s been told it can take orders from, it won’t pay any attention to you. ’Cause it’s not smart enough to, get it?” His expression turned very dark. “And this is the third time I’ve told you to get lost. I recognize you – we already shot you once before, didn’t we? You really want to get a reminder of what that feels like? ’Cause I can arrange that. This is our land, and here, our rules apply. SO BEAT IT!

With a soft shriek of fear, Fluttershy fled the horrific scene. As the sounds of the destruction faded behind her, tears began rolling down her face.


Fluttershy’s Cottage
7:52 A.M.

Fluttershy was inconsolable. Angel Bunny and all her other animal friends were crowded around her and doing their very best to cheer her up, but this was far worse than her fear of being in the public eye. All those innocent animals with their homes destroyed… it was more than she could bear.

She heard a knock on her door. “Go away,” she whimpered. “I… I can’t… It’s too horrible!”

“Miss Fluttershy?” It was a male voice, one she didn’t recognize. “I came to give you an apology.”

“An… an apology?” She wracked her memory. The only apology she could imagine being owed was… “You – you’re one of those awful humans!”

The voice sighed. “Yes, I’m a human. But we aren’t all ‘awful.’ Please, would you give me a chance to try to explain our actions?”

“How could there be any explanation? You’re all so… so mean. You destroyed all those animals’ homes, and then you… then you…”

“Yes. Agent Tanis threatened you. And he’ll be properly disciplined. Those Security Bureau people have barely more tact than Army goons. Look, may I please come in? It’s a bit awkward holding a conversation through a door.”

“You… you aren’t going to hurt me, are you?”

The voice laughed. “No, of course not. Besides, even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t be stupid enough to anger Discord by doing so.”

That wasn’t exactly comforting, but she was always willing to think the best of everypony. She opened the door. Before her was a human in a brown uniform. His face was hidden by a large box he held in his hands. “Ah, thank you. This was getting rather heavy.” He placed the box on her table. “I know this isn’t anywhere near adequate compensation for everything you’ve been put through, but it’s the best I could do with only a few days’ notice.” He started pulling items out. “I’ve heard that you like tea, so I got you a Shalui teapot and a set of matching cups. I also got you some tarine tea and sweet-sand cookies. I hope you enjoy them – I don’t really know how the pony sense of taste differs from the human one.”

“Oh, well, that’s very nice, Mister…”

He turned around, slapping a hand to his forehead. “Of course! How discourteous of me. Captain Zem Orramas.” He dropped his hand from his face and extended it to her. “But you can just call me Zem – that’s what my friends do. Or Captain Orramas – I’d hardly expect you to be at the point where you can call me a ‘friend.’”

Cautiously, Fluttershy reached out a hoof and shook his hand. “Well, Captain Orramas, I appreciate all this, but…”

“The animals? I’ve already arranged for a nature reserve to be established on the edge of the forest. We’ll plant the area, and do what we can to move the displaced animals there. It’s not a perfect solution, I know, but I’m doing everything I can to reduce the effects of this tragedy.”

“But why build there at all?! There are open fields everywhere, but you go to the Everfree instead? Why?”

Orramas sighed again. “It’s one of those fundamental differences between ponies and humans. For you, a totally managed and safe environment is normal, and the uncontrolled danger of the Everfree is… unnatural, disturbing. For humans, it’s exactly the opposite. Most of the galaxy isn’t controlled like that. To us, a nature that’s under sapient control just… isn’t nature. We feel more at home with the chaos and monsters of the Everfree than the safety of Ponyville. That’s probably why most of us seem so mean to you. We have to be harsh, violent. In much of the galaxy, being nice gets you dead. It’s awful, if you think about, but things have been like that for so long, it’s just part of who we are now. I realize that probably makes you dislike us even more, but I wanted to let you know, to give you an idea of why we’re the way we are. I felt like it’s the least you deserve, after everything we’ve put you through.”

Fluttershy gave a tentative smile. “I… I understand. You’ve had a hard past. You just need friends to help you understand that there’s a better way.”

Orramas smiled back. “I hope you can help us do just that. So… do you think we can be the first of those friends?”

“Friends… Zem.”

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