Bionic Titan: A New Dawn

by KorenCZ11

I believe the world is burning to the ground

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Comet

---

The Meteorite hovered high above the atmosphere, a few thousand feet above SAST’s detection capabilities. I’d warped my guards and I back to the ship into my office, but all the sudden, I had a very bad feeling. I took a seat at my desk, then opened my personal terminal.

“Sleuth Hoof,” I called.

My earth pony guard had removed his headset and stood attention. “Sir?”

“I want everything, and I mean everything you can find about this ‘Blackrow’ company.”

Lowering his brows and using his implant, he took out his secure terminal with magic and began looking through the information we already had. “Deeper parameters, sir?”

“The crew. Histories, records, everything. All of them. Emphasis on our two ponies. Delegate whoever you need to it, but I want it done before the operation.”

“Sir!” And slinking away like the shadow he was, Sleuth left my office.

I didn’t have an immediate task for White Noise, but my feeling told me I needed to make something up and get him out of here fast. “Noise, take some personal time. I need to be alone for a moment.”

Naturally, he was very against the idea. “Is… that a good idea, Sir?”

I chuckled. “No, but it is an order. Go on.”

Reluctantly, Noise saluted, “Sir,” then left my office.

While I waited for the feeling to pass, I decided that I should look into our little ponies myself. He looked so startlingly like her. But there was more to it. There were too many people watching for me to do a check then, but he must be related somehow, isn’t he? And the mare, too. I can’t put my hoof on it, but she also strikes me familiar, but in what way I don’t know.

Before I could start working at my terminal, the bad feeling arrived. A flash of blue so bright it filled the room passed before my eyes, only to leave her in its place.

“Oxford.”

I cringed. Ten years, twenty years, a hundred, two hundred, she will never lose sway over me. Straightening up, I dismissed my terminal and pressed my hooves together. “Mother.”

She scanned the room, probably for the second time, and then approached my desk. “I’ve heard strange rumors.”

Whew, boy, this is going to be a rough interview. “Have you? Perhaps you’d enlighten me.”

She narrowed an eye at me, but then turned her attention to the moon outside my window. “Dusk has been seen on Miyako.”

You jackass! Of all the things you had to not do, that was one of them! Not letting my mask break, I brought a hoof to my mouth. “Has he? What’s he doing there?”

She shrugged, her starry mane waving in an intangible wind. “Generally, so long as he isn’t expanding our population, I do not concern myself with his affairs. However, his appearance coincides with another rumor that has me much more concerned.” Raising her snout with all the dignity her position had to offer, Mother looked down on me. “There is talk that a second has been developed.”

I relaxed. She doesn’t know. She’d kill us both if she knew. “Strange. Have you any leads?”

“Only a spy and a capture of the thing. I would know Celestia’s hoofwork anywhere. What is this new model she’s created? And more importantly, why is it currently in a border facility a week before the Summer Sun Celebration?”

Well, she doesn’t know, but she is making connections and this could end poorly for everyone if she figures it out before the day. “Mother, would Dusk or Twilight not be better candidates to question on this subject? My aunt and I have not been in contact for some moons. Why, Sunday would be the next time I’d see her.”

Sighing, she dropped her haunches and sat in front of my desk. She leaned over, putting an elbow on it, and let go of some of her authority for a moment. “Oxford, my darling, be honest with me. What are you planning? The Forerunner was bad enough, and CLIF is already on the trail of her next project. What are you two planning? I know Celestia’s distaste for the current state of affairs, but I am not ready to endure another world wide shakeup.”

Oh, my heart. Oh mother, how I would tell you all. And yet, in this case you are an obstacle. I cannot bring you into the scheme, for I know you’d oppose it. I took her tender hoof in mine and held it. “We’re nearly to the holiday, please try to relax. Father would hate to have seen you like this.”

“Ah, my son.” She came around the desk and draped her wings around me, pulling me in. “Why must you seek to change things so rapidly? You have all the time the universe has to offer, and yet you push and push and push, and now…” she motioned to the ship. “If I did not know better, I would think sister designed this craft. Not only can it escape the atmosphere whenever it pleases, but this is capable of venturing even to our celestial neighbors, is it not?”

Where did she find that out? The specifications for the Meteorite shouldn’t be available to anyone, let alone Mother. I’ve either underestimated her, or there’s a rat on my ship…

I cleared my throat. “It is merely a prototype vessel. In theory, yes, it can go all the way to Mars and back.”

She took my face and held it in her hooves, trapping me to her gaze. How she likes to imitate my step mother. “And for what purpose? Do you plan to colonize that planet too? Would you try to make a heaven of hell as well?”

If I continue this conversation, she will manipulate me into telling her what she wants. I cannot fight her. Instead, I turned away and pulled up my terminal again. I opened a capture of my meeting earlier and displayed the two ponies I met there.

“Mother, do these children remind you of anyone?”

“Oxford,” she chided.

I waved my hoof. “No, really. Look, please.”

Reluctantly, she turned her eyes to the capture. Then, she craned her neck to get a closer look. “Oh my. I believe I see many familiar faces in these.”

That confirms it. “The cutiemark doesn’t match, but everything else does.”

She raised a brow. “For the boy or the girl? Because I do believe they both match fairly well.”

I frowned. “Both? Not just the boy?”

“Indeed.” She expanded the capture and closed in on their faces in two different windows. “The boy could not be more obviously related to your family, between his colors, his freckles, and his stature, this is true. Seven, possibly eight generations out, but he may even be descendant of your father, if not his father.

“The mare on the other hoof…” she dismissed the boy and got a better view of the mare. Baby blue in coat and a mane that started lavender, faded to pink and then white, with matching tail and wings. She studied her cutiemark as well, a pink heart-shaped balloon with a helium atom on top of it. “Yes, I’m certain of it. You might bring this up with your elder cousin. I know how she likes to keep track of their descendants. If he’s related to you, she’s related to the other set of Twilight’s friends. Though…” she looked at the background of the capture, which I’d carefully limited to just the subjects. “Where was this taken? This style of conference room is common to GII territories.” Then she eyed me. “This is your capture, is it not? Where were you?”

Crap. “Uh, Ah was on business.” Double crap! Control your accent!

“Oxford Apple!”

I clasped my hooves together and bowed. “Mother!”

She ground her teeth for a moment, then huffed and stood. “I do not like it when you hide things from me. You had better not let me find out you are doing something disreputable, my son.”

Oh, thank the Goddess.

Shaking her head, Mother moved to the center of my office. “You had better know what you are doing. We have been at peace for nearly seventy years and I smell unrest in the wind. It comes like clockwork and technology these days is reaching levels I cannot compete with anymore. You, Celestia and Dusk ought not to be the cause of it, you understand me?”

I held my breath. “Yes, Ma’am.”

“This conversation is not over. When I have you all in my clutches Sunday, you all will include me on your plans, otherwise, I will put a stop to it. And if not me, then I will send Twilight after you.”

“I understand.”

She let go of a bit of her wrath, then returned to my side. “I love you. Goodnight, Oxford.” She kissed my head, and then just as she’d come, she disappeared.

I made sweep for any more familiar magic, expecting the worst. The clock ticked down, and after a minute, it felt safe to breathe again. Mother is one thing. If she sets Twilight on us, the game is up entirely.

And yet… given her observations about these two ponies, I’m even more interested in finding out where they came from. The Harbinger is made to function using a low level of magical input from the cockpit, but at best, we’ve never been able to get it running in a way a single solder could use it. It has always taken two, but if these ponies are related to former elements, that may change the equation entirely. Could they, perhaps, achieve resonance?

Still, putting Twilight on their trail might give me some insight. The daughter will find out their heritage, and the mother can run simulations. They always did work better together. It’s such a shame all they can ever seem to do these days is fight.

I stood from my chair and observed the moon from my window. Its face had been greatly altered in the last hundred years. It was little more than a pimple on the surface, but a small blue-green bubble could be seen in the mare’s eye of the moon. She’d never speak to me if I tried to call her. But she couldn’t ignore me if I showed up at her doorstep.

I tapped my terminal and called White Noise.

“Sir?”

“Tell the bridge to set course for Luna city. I have a personal visit I need to pay.”

Noise saluted. “Sir, yes sir.”

A few moments passed and the Meteorite began to rise. On the other side of the world, the sun was beginning to peak out from the horizon. In minutes, we would be in full view of the bright star overhead. Mother, you are absolutely right. Unrest is certainly on the wind, and like clockwork, it will come. But unlike the last great war, we will be prepared this time. And this Sunday, you will see just how prepared we are.

---

The Terra Dome was the one true innovation that made something like Luna City possible. A little like a balloon in structure, it was a plastic film reinforced with magic fiber that had the sole purposes of holding gasses in one spot and deflecting space debris. Originally, it was developed to capture valuable elements found within asteroids during the mining process, but was later repurposed to use as a sort of ‘net’ for the airspace of Luna city.

When she was not so opposed to expanding Equestria’s territory to the stars and beyond, this little invention would’ve been used to start cities on the far off Mars. However, after the cataclysm that unleashed old monsters of Earth’s past in the first great beam technology revolution, she decided that one planet full of dangerous ancient things was enough, and the moon would be barred from doing too much fighting or excavating, in the event something else lurked within her own territory.

Still, in the long hundred fifty years since then, the population has bounced back and more thanks to the advances in technology, which never truly stopped. It has yet to become a problem, but as we stand still within slowly advancing space colony technology and the hoofful of cities on the moon, I fear the world begins to grow restless again.

So long as there was always a new frontier to discover, we’d raced for it without pause, always moving, always growing, always expanding. New discoveries, new territory, new horizons. With the ban and enforcement of local planetary travel, the other conglomerates are gunning for us, and they’re not about to do so in a nice way. For every explorer we halt, turn around, or even engage in the worst case, we gain another new enemy.

We can only hold onto our power so long as we can continue to out gun our opponents, but even then, I feel this is wrong. Or, at least, my aunt convinced me so. And yet, if I was forced to choose who to follow into the future, it would surely be the dawn. I could never leave Mother behind, but Aunt Celestia… I suppose she’d already done so once.

The door to my office opened and Noise stepped in. “We’ve arrived, sir.”

“Very good.” I stood and moved to my chambers. After discarding my uniform, I made sure to comb myself down and assume a few concealment spells. Of the very useful things we’ve taken from the changelings over time, it is their magic that I find most helpful. With enough power, you can go pretty much anywhere without being detected. That is, so long as you care to master it.

“What are your plans, sir?” Noise asked.

I eyed him for a moment, then continued my dress. “Nothing too sinister. I’m afraid Mother may bring our little operation to Twilight’s attention, so I’m going to divert it before she gets a chance. If these ponies are as familiar as she seems to think, I figure she’ll be more than happy to make their acquaintance.”

I could tell there was more on his lips, but he didn’t want to overstep his bounds. Noise was a relatively new admission to the royal guard, and became more than uncomfortable when he was let in on the plan. Finished with my grooming, I turned and said, “Go on.”

Relieved, he stepped forward. “I don’t like this, Sir.” Again, he hesitated.

“Speak your mind, you know I’m not one to punish you for it.”

Noise sighed. “Did Mistress Twilight not move to Luna after a recent loss? This move you’re making, it… I cannot see how this does not either reflect negatively on the royal family, or on Mistress Twilight personally.”

I put a hoof on his shoulder. “Oh, no, there’s very little that would be more negative to her person than continuing on like she is. On the other hoof, ‘recent’ is a relative term for us. The loss you speak of occurred over a century ago.” Though, it was no less a blow for me than it was for her. I sniffed.

“Is something the matter, Sir?”

“No, no.” I straightened up and started to summon my magic. “She lost the last of her childhood friends, who happened to be my step mother and the mother of my siblings. I think, when the war came, it gave her a chance to vent the anger of her losses, but once peace had been reestablished, she was left empty. She escaped here and only leaves every summer to see us on the big holiday.”

“Oh.”

I nodded grimly. “Yes. She buries herself in work for the company, she has a different philosophy in nearly everything from her mother, and though aunt Celestia worries, she tries not to see her too much because they tend to butt heads. Twilight is her weakness, the only pony in the world aunt Celestia will bend to, and nearly two centuries later, she’s still stuck in grief and theory.”

“Theory, sir?”

“Well.” There’s a can of worms. “Twilight was raised on ideas that were popular at the time. Ideas that the war disproved, but ones she will not let go. I won’t go into the details, but you may do research about the turn of the second millennium. She published a paper or two, but under a pen name. I’m sure the archives have them somewhere.”

He stared at me for a long moment. “Her mother is not the only one I suspect argues with her over this.”

“She is not.” I cleared my throat. “And that is the end of this conversation. It may take an hour or so. Have the ship await further orders in low orbit.”

“Are you… going alone, sir?” He asked, anxiously.

Sometimes, royal guards acted like lost puppies. “Yes. Goodbye.”

---

Luna city was a very bright place, or a very dark place, and there was no gradual shift about it either. Every twenty seven days on earth is one ‘day’ on the moon, which leaves the city in total darkness for about thirteen and a half days. To make the place feel a bit more normal, a ‘cloudy day’ system was put in place to make nights during the two weeks of sun, and bright lights all around the crater that houses Luna City shine down on the same cloudy sky during the two weeks of night. Earth can always be seen from the city, and if one ever spends a few months here, the blue planet in the sky becomes a regular sight.

The whole crater has been terraformed into something that more resembles home down below, and there are a few parks here and there with small plots of greenery all around to make the white rock walls of the crater not feel so alien, despite their true nature. Unsurprisingly, changelings have the easiest time adapting to the moon and space generally, but hippogriffs struggle the most. Survivors of the endangered species tend to live in space too, either from scars of the last war, or the general atmosphere of ‘safety first’ that cuts back every day carelessness found in easier places to live.

You could find the rarest creatures here in Luna because it was exclusively controlled by Alicorn Electronics, and we have a little cutout to help those endangered species find new life. The only living community of Diamond Dogs can be found here, and are even thriving. Of the eight million who live in Luna, 0.1% are diamond dogs, which is the largest the population has ever been since the war. After being reduced to a few bloodlines in total, they’ve come back strong.

However I was here for the rarest creature of all: the very first hybrid alicorn, my own dear cousin.

In spite of not wanting to be bothered, she was incredibly easy to find. At seven hundred hours, earth time, she wakes up and takes a lap around the city, using the famous ‘crater skyway’ to circumnavigate the place and keep her wings in shape. This usually takes an hour. From there, she goes to her favorite cafe, a little place owned by one of my father’s descendants called Papillon de Luna. She spends an hour here reading the news and checking up on current events across the web, and if she’s tired with or disappointed in the world at the time, she decides to forgo that for a book. It’s rare to find her looking at the news.

At eight hundred thirty she quits the cafe and goes home to take a shower. At nine hundred hours, she arrives at AE Luna City and begins work. She, like her mother, can’t find it in herself to get away from tinkering with the latest advancements in tech and magic, and this often leads to her own new discovery. A good deal of Twilight’s own devices find their way into Bionic Titans, including a certain development that was just put into use on the Harbinger, which she would find utterly infuriating. She would also know who to blame too, for that matter.

After working on some project for however many hours she can stand, she then heads out for dinner. She has about three places she likes to go to and each one is owned by one branch of the apples or another. No matter the meal or time of day, she always orders an apple fritter and a cider alongside her meal. Generally, she eats alone.

If it is still early, she will go back to AE and continue working until seventeen hundred, and if not, she goes home or to the store—all depending on how much alcohol she has available in her apartment. From eighteen hundred to twenty hundred, she reads or watches TV. Typically, she flips between the two day to day, but sometimes, she doesn’t finish her book and decides to keep going, however, variation is rare. If she took a late lunch, at twenty hundred, she goes to bed. If it was early, she might go out to a bar.

In this case, one of two things happens: she either becomes very sad, or very touchy after a small meal and a great deal of alcohol. It only happens once a year or so, but Twilight will have to be carried home by one of her guards, the names and faces of whom she does not know. She sleeps for the night, almost never home later than twenty three hundred (as she’s quite a light weight), and the routines repeats.

She takes days off to visit her dear friend’s graves on their birthdays, sometimes she will visit the descendants that can’t be found in Luna once a year, and every year, she comes down to see her brother, cousin, mother and aunt on the day of the Summer Sun Celebration which serves as a family reunion for us.

For the last hundred and four years, this has been Twilight’s routine. She’s seen not so much as a house cat in that time, and in my own heart, I believe seeing the rest of us just brings back unhappy memories for her. It was early morning when we arrived in the moon’s air space, and without really trying, one could see a relatively large lavender body moving at a good pace around Luna city’s skyway.

It was a major highway that led to many of the various large AE centers, schools, hospitals, factories, outer tunnels, and mines within Luna. The skyway was the easiest way to travel between moon cities, and a few of the heavy industry sites on the surface. From it, one could see outside the crater and every detail of the city within, so long as it wasn’t overcast out. Today, the sun was shining on Luna city which meant cloud cover would be just now dissipating, bringing in an artificial sunrise to the little metropolis. Usually, I choose my cover as a unicorn or earth pony because my stature is incredibly rare for pegasi, so I decided to wait where I knew she would stop.

After about ten minutes, she came within distance to see me. Her pace slowed dramatically and she frowned all the way to the end of her track. Twilight has been a fixture of Luna city for so long that she doesn’t even bother to hide any aspects of her appearance anymore.

Her mane and tail were mid length, only coming down to about her shoulders and ankles, and her innate magic was beginning to blow that ‘ethereal wind’ in it like our mothers. With that came a few extra colors in her coat, solidifying her position as the magic hour of the sunset sky. Yellow, orange, red, violet, indigo all the way to the top of her head, where the old pink and purple stripes of her youth persisted in her bangs. She still keeps them ruler straight. Twilight was a little smaller than mother, her head coming up to about the two meter mark. She was shapely, toned, and quite attractive all things considered, if only she wasn’t so…

“Why are you here?”

Prickly. “Mornin’ cuz. How’ve ya been?”

She rolled her eyes and ignored me. Instead, she trotted along the sky way, starting down the road to the residential district where Papillon de Luna was located. I followed but didn’t comment. I spotted no less than three royal guards as we walked in silence through the steel city, which meant one was doing his job better than the others. I gave them a signal to back off and kept close behind.

Ponies, Changelings, the odd Griffon here and there, a Hippogriff or two, a pair of Dragons and exactly one Diamond Dog passed us as we went down the road. I only ever visit Luna when I need to see my cousin here, so the latter two creatures were an unusual sight for me. A strong male on his way to the mines, and a couple talking about a hatchling. No matter how time passes, it always pleases me to see new life.

As per usual, she didn’t say a word to me the whole trip.

“Mornin’ Twi!” The young mare said as we walked in. She was the usual sight, and I was the unusual. “And is that uncle Ox? What are y’all doin’ up here?”

Buttercup Blossom was about eight generations out from my sister. Seventeen, working in the cafe before school where she plans to graduate and move to Earth near the orchard back in Equestria proper. The only thing in the world that hasn’t really changed. I became ‘Uncle Ox’ when I was about twenty five, and I’ve been him for more than two centuries now.

“Oh, not much. Ah found somethin’ awful interestin’ back on the blue and thought princess would like ta hear about it. Ain’t had her coffee yet though.”

She gave a sad look to ‘princess’ who huffed and shook her head. “I’ll have the pancakes and a mocha.”

Buttercup sighed, then reached behind her to the counter where that exact order was waiting. “Oh, come now Miss Twi, ya don’t need ta tell me that. Here ya go.”

Twilight sighed in return. “I’m sorry, Buttercup.” she glared at me. “Somepony has been stalking me this morning and I’m a little irritated about it.” Twilight paid her tab and took her food to the same table she always sits at. It’s a wonder her cutiemarks aren’t imprinted in that chair.

Buttercup motioned me close and whispered, “She’s been in a funk the last couple weeks. Seems like it’s more than the usual July haze. Ah hope ya got somethin’ ta get her in a better mood. Ma says Twi’d been fightin’ with her Ma somethin’ fierce last time she was here.”

I nodded. “Don’t be too down, Ah think Ah can get her off the moon early with what Ah’ve found.”

She tilted her head in surprise. “Really? Must be somethin’ special fer that.”

“Ma sure seems ta think they are.” And then, I scratched at my beard. “Y’all uh… don’t happen ta have…”

“Don’t’cha worry uncle Ox, Ah can get it made.”

I let out a breath. It was enough to let my accent free in disguise, if I had to ask for that out loud, I’d be ashamed to show my face back on the ship. “Thanks, sugarcube. Ah’ll bring ya somethin’ special when Ah see ya in October.”

Her little face lit up, she hugged my neck, and then went to put in my order.

When I turned, her eyes were boring through my head like a laser drill. In one part, she was pissed off because, when is she not, and in the other, she was very interested in what I’d just said. Mother’s approval is one of the few things that can awaken positive emotions in Twilight these days. Well, that and Dusk, but Dusk can never have a serious conversation with her. He’s not even a stallion in her eyes, let alone his actual age.

I took a big arm chair that had to have been made back at the orchard, and planted myself in front of her little coffee table by the window. I smiled, she frowned.

“So? What is it?”

“Ah’m doin’ well, thanks cuz, nice ta see ya too.”

She glared at me. “Don’t give me that. You didn’t come here for no reason, and I have other things to do.”

I scoffed. “Ya do not. Ya don’t even have the scraps of an idea for yer next project. You’re in a funk, ya refuse ta make up with yer mother, and you’re dreadin’ next Sunday like death at yer door.”

A less bitter frown took over and she stared into her pancakes. They weren’t the ones she wanted, but they were as close as she could get. Though, she would never admit that. “What, did she send you here? I’ll be there whether I like it or not. I made a promise.”

“Oh, Ah know very well ya did. Perhaps ya forget, but Ah grew up with ya. Ah know who ya are. Or rather, who ya were.”

She bit her lip and held her tongue. Buttercup returned with my special order, and I tipped her generously for it. Twilight looked up at it and in spite of herself, she nearly cracked a smirk. “You are such a mare.”

I picked up my latte and drank in the wonderful aroma. Centuries later, it still smelled like home. “Oh, y’all ain’t any better. Pineapple pancakes from an apple family cafe. Somepony likes ta make those every now and again.”

She picked up a fork full and stared at it for a moment. “And I’m sure she will Sunday, just like she always does.” Twilight took the bite, savored it sadly, then let her face droop. Oh, how it kills me to see her so depressed. “Why are you doing this to me, Ox? Don’t I get enough of this once a year? It’s only a week away anyways.”

I sipped at my caramel apple butterfly mocha, then set it down gingerly on the table. “Ah found somethin’, as Ah’m sure ya overheard.”

Interest brought her snout up. “And what exactly would that be?”

“Ta be honest, Ah’m not too sure.” Tapping my terminal, I pulled up the capture.

Just like Mother, Twilight’s breath was taken away. “W-who…?” She reached out, separated the screen, and checked the two ponies from every angle. “Who are these ponies?”

“Well, that’s why Ah’m here.” I dismissed my capture and showed a map of the Cavalisa Archipelago, with Cavalria island highlighted. “This is where Ah found them.”

Carefully, she studied the map, then expanded outward until she could see it in relation to AE territory. “What were you doing in a SAST border town?”

“Workin’ on a new project.” I dismissed that and returned the capture of the two ponies. “Their names are Zap Flash and Helium Delight. However, I haven’t turned up any records on them at all. No history, no medical records, no blood relatives, either of them.”

She brought the capture closer and scanned their faces. “I suppose that makes sense, with them being in SAST and all, but… My Goddess. This mare could’ve been Pinkie’s daughter.” She tapped her own terminal and pulled up a very old picture of her friend. They didn’t have capture technology back then, so several pictures were composited to get a proper model of Miss Pie, but they were not all taken at the same age, and she went through a few transformations over time. From quite overweight and sickly when young, to thin and more healthy in her teens, to a solid heft after she got married and began having foals. All the same, the face of this Helium Delight and Pinkie Pie lined up almost exactly. A slight difference in muscle texture that said something of unicorn descent, but otherwise, she was a Pie, through and through.

Then, she focused on the boy. She stared at him for a moment, then put his face next to mine. Next, she pulled up a picture of my father to compare, and then both my aunts. She matched each face, until finally, she settled on Aunt Applejack. “This cannot be a coincidence.”

“Ya might think so, but it certainly is. Ah thought Ah knew him when I first saw him. Only, he’s a little bit lighter built than he should be fer my family. He’s got a lot of pegasus blood in him.”

Twilight frowned. Just as Buttercup was about to leave, she caught her by the uniform. “Hey, come here for a minute.”

“Oh! Well, sure Miss Twi. What can Ah do fer ya?”

“Stand still.” Buttercup did as she was bade, and then Twilight matched up the capture of Zap to her. Unsatisfied, she expanded the capture til it was actual size and compared the two ponies. She was a little bigger than him, which said a lot about the pegasus that must’ve been one of his parents. Very small for a male from my family.

“Do Ah know him?” Buttercup asked, “Ah feel like Ah’ve seen him at one of the reunions.”

“You don’t.” She dismissed the capture and sat back down. “Thanks. Can I send you somewhere since I took up your time?”

“Ah’m headed ta school if ya don’t mind.”

Twilight nodded, lit her horn, and in a flash of violet, Buttercup disappeared.

“So?” I asked, “What do ya think?”

“Definitely not your immediately family,” she mused. “He’s too small. There’s been several pegasi in his bloodline, which is generally more than yours or even Applebloom’s. It’s almost like he was the recent introduction of earth pony blood into a pure pegasus line.”

She tapped her lips and reopened the capture. Then she pulled up a picture of Rainbow Dash. Far more than when she lined him up with my family, these faces lined up identically. “How in the world…?” Dispelling the holograms from her airspace, she went into deep thought, completely forgetting about her breakfast. “When would that have happened? Those lines never crossed as far as I know, but this kid…”

When Twilight started to chew on her hoof, I knew she was too far gone. “Ya know, Ah can get ya the location of their apartment.”

She broke out immediately. “You can!?” Then, coming back to herself, she glared at me. “Why? What other reason is motivating you? Did she put you up to this?”

I held my hooves up in defense. “As far as Ah know, she doesn’t have this information. Besides, Twi, this kid is family. Lost family. One way or another, Ah’d planned on reestablishin’ contact. Y’all are just a better source fer this stuff than my network is.”

Again, she bit her hoof in thought. She eyed me a few times, but finally, she relented. She, too, was curious. “Alright, I’ll go find out. You met them, right? What are they like?”

“Hmm.” Opening my mouth will get me in trouble. Instead, I shook my head. “Can’t say. Our interview was brief.”

“Damn.” She looked down, then worked on shoveling her pancakes in. That completed, she downed her coffee. A new fire had been lit in my cousin’s heart. For the first time in many years, she’d obtained a purpose. “You’ve got a ship here, don’t you?”

I smiled. “Would ya like ta see it?”

“I believe I would.”

I downed the last of my latte and stood. “Then y’all are about ta get a tour of the best damn thing Alicorn Electronics has ever built fer movin’ people.”

She scanned the cafe, noting a table of four stallions shooting the breeze over a card game. “Should you be saying that in public?”

“No. But we ain’t in public.” I pointed out the one I didn’t recognize. “You’re with us. Rest of y’all are on standby until further notice.”

They stood and saluted. “Sir!”

A young stallion of unicorn make with an aristocratic appearance strolled up to us. “Name?”

“Crystal Shade, Sir.”

Twilight covered her mouth. “Four? Four of them and I never saw any of them? Where in the world does Mother keep finding these ponies?”

“Well, you never saw them,” I commented. “Ah didn’t see him though, so he’ll be with ya when ya go down. Ain’t home field, so try not ta draw too much attention.” I turned to the stallion. Young, sort of thin for the Royal Guard, but not unlike a fine model in his face and proportions. Sharp eyes, a serious demeanor, dark blue in color with a violet and white striped mane. Suspiciously, I got the sense that I knew his face too. “How long ya been on this detail, son?”

“Two years, sir.”

I whistled. “If that ain’t a record. Good deal. Accompany my cousin here at all times in foreign soil, but don’t make yourself a nuisance.”

“Yes sir.” He turned and offered a hoof to Twilight. “It’s nice to finally meet you, ma’am.”

“Likewise.” She shook the hoof, lingered on his face for a bit, then turned back to me. “Are we ready?”

“We are.” I tapped my terminal. “Noise, Ah’m comin’ back with Twilight and one of her detail. Stand by fer arrival.”

He coughed on the other end. “Accent, sir.”

I bit my cheek. Damn it. “Right. I will see you in a moment.”

“Yes sir.”

Comments

[Bicyclette]

ah, what a reveal! so there is an immortal (or at least, very long-lived) set of ponies keeping track of their descendants to the nth generations, overlapping but not co-inciding with the immortal alicorns we know from canon? i admit i got a bit lost since i kept trying to map the family relations here to the ones we know from canon. Oxford Apple is Twilight’s cousin and has Celestia for an aunt, and a Mother who, as far as i can tell, doesn’t correspond to any canon character? and Twilight’s friends are mortal and long-dead, but their descendants are considered a part of this extended clan? 

i did like the part about Luna City being a refuge for all the species of Equestria. does feel very Equestrian, that.