Aristocrats, Bureaucrats and Other Criminals

by Phosphor

Broken world

Twilight, Spike and Rarity headed to a nearby Alicorn lander, named as the wings had been made to look like a blocky version of an alicorn’s wings. Occasionally they would be dedicated to a specific alicorn as a sign of devotion to a particular saint. This one, however, had no such markings and looked relatively new from what Twilight could tell. She ducked her head as she entered. The interior was a little cramped, but could still comfortably seat six or so ponies. Rarity said something to the pilot, then the lander took off.

Outside Twilight watched as they approached the brilliant white ship she had seen earlier. Now she was closer she realised it looked like a giant piece of marble, trimmed in gold. The flanks of the ship were covered in ornate statues and tall stained-glass windows. Much like the soldiers’ armour, Twilight didn’t think it was genuine. If a rogue trader could afford genuine material he certainly wouldn’t be working with her family.

At eight kilometres from prow to keel and nearly one kilometre abeam it was still dwarfed by the size of The Capitol.

“Too large to be a cruiser, smaller than a battleship, but the configuration is all wrong for a battlecruiser,” Twilight mused to herself.

“It is my honour to introduce you to the Golden Gryphon, one of the few grand cruiser class ships in service in the whole Imperium.” Rarity declared proudly. A slight edge of smugness crept in when she noticed Twilight’s surprise. “Impressive, isn’t it? I was absolutely stunned when I first saw it.”

“But most of the technology needed to make them was lost before the fall of the Old Galaxy. Only a few docks in the whole Imperium can still build them!”

“Well yes, few have been built recently. This one, however, was restored from an old space hulk. Built before the fall of Old Galaxy, if you believe the rumours.”

“Before the fall?” Twilight went wide eyed. “There might be actual documents from the Old Galaxy, we might be able to learn about what happened!”

“I wouldn’t know, I only arrived on its decks recently. If I was to guess it would have already been taken while it was being refurbished. If you must, you can try asking my husband when you meet him.”

“Oh…”

“Regardless of some stuffy history, even if it only has a fraction of its former grandeur, it is still magnitudes better than any planet I have ever seen.”

Twilight thought for a second, “You’re a Voidborn?

“I suppose I am.” Rarity seemed caught off guard by the question. “Given you are from The Capitol I guess you are too? Something we have in common, at least,” her tone lost some of its hostility. She looked out to the molten surface of Old Equestria, “Personally I find it hard to believe the Empress intended for us to roam anything like those balls of filth and disease. What world could be more suited to us than one created by ourselves, after all?”

“I remember meeting a Magos Biologis who theorised that our natural habitat used to be open fields, like in those old legends,” Twilight explained.

“Did they now?” Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Did we spend our time frolicking in fields eating nothing but grass too?” she flicked her tail in annoyance. “Honestly, sometimes it feels like they think we are nothing more than over-intelligent animals. Unless they want to start treating us like normal ponies, I wouldn’t put much weight into anything they say.”

“I thought it was an interesting theory…”

“I suppose it is. Not that it makes any difference now, though.”

The amount of starting and stopping was beginning to annoy Twilight. By the time she had got comfortable it was time to move again. Rarity led the pair from the landing bay, through a series of lifts and winding corridors. A final lift ride led them into a grand atrium. To Twilight’s surprise she saw an ornate, landscaped garden.

It was lush and well maintained, filled with an impressive variety of flora, with a small stream winding its way through the artificial landscape. Although Twilight noted it only contained species native to Terra, which gave it a familiar, if unexciting quality. Various ponies were milling about, from gardeners tending the plants, to priests and naval officers.

Rarity noticed Twilight’s attention wonder, “Our gardens are simply beautiful, aren’t they? As you are our guest on our humble little ship, please do feel free to visit whilst we travel,” she said almost too sincerely, pointing to a copse of oak trees. “It certainly takes the edge off the endless metal corridors.”

It was impressively spacious for the interior of a ship, with tall, vaulted ceilings. Twilight suspected that the grandeur of the garden was intended to distract ponies from the distinct lack of any other authentic decoration anywhere else. It seemed nopony had had much of an opportunity to redecorate since the ship had been cleansed.

Twilight had just enough time to contemplate how much of a hassle it must be to travel from one end of the ship to the other before they arrived at a pair of guards flanking a large metal door. Unlike the other guards she had seen, these ponies wore thick carapace armour. The trim of their armour was also far more detailed, with elaborate floral patterns rather than the simple gold trim. Both held powerful hot-shot lasguns, easily capable of penetrating space mareine power armour. Personal protection was not something to be stringent with after all. One briefly glanced at Rarity through their helmet as she approached, then gestured them inside with a wing.

Like the rest of the ship the bridge was mostly sparse. The only decorations were some old weapon racks and a few sun-bleached tapestries. A large angular window at the opposite end of the room provided a panoramic view into the void. Cogitators and pict-screens lined the remaining walls, displaying a wealth of information Twilight couldn’t understand.

“Where is everypony?”

“While we’re in friendly territory the captain prefers to work alone, says it’s ‘more authentic’.” Rarity pulled a small vox set from the side of one of the cogitators, “Plus the rest of the crew are a vox call away, so it’s not like it makes much of a difference.”

Rarity turned towards a small corner of the bridge to an area separated by some thin sheets of metal. It had clearly been added as an afterthought, as it cut into what would have been a symmetrical room. They passed through a set of heavy curtains into what appeared to be a makeshift lounge. Most of the metal floor had been covered with fine carpets. Similarly, the walls had been decorated by tapestries similar to the ones on the main bridge. A set of fine sofas with matching tables were positioned in the centre, giving the room a homely feel.

There was a shelf of trinkets and other oddities in the corner, though none seemed to have much value beyond their sentimentality, all from some planet Twilight didn’t recognise. A shoulder pad from the Crystal Angels space Mareine chapter stuck out from the collection. Twilight thought she recognised something about the armour but couldn’t quite place her hoof on it.

“Don’t you have a separate room? This ship looks big enough,” Twilight said.

“Quieter too,” Spike added.

“It was already here when the captain first acquired it, one of this ship’s many quirks, as it turns out. We simply haven’t got around to moving anything yet, although I did take the liberty of doing some redecoration myself. It’s quite the improvement don’t you think? Plus, we have a set of stummers to dampen the sound when we sleep.”

Rarity led them through a second curtained archway into a combination of a bedroom and a study, equally lavish as the previous room. A unicorn stallion with a coat just as white as Rarity’s and a golden blond mane lay asleep on a drawing table, surrounded by various pieces of paper and data-slates. A servo skull hovered nearby, printing out a stream of paper that was slowly burying him in a stream of unread information.

Rarity rolled her eyes and coughed loudly. The stallion made an undignified sound and bolted upright.

“Ah, good, you’re back. I had just had a quick break,” he looked over to Twilight, “And you have found an Astropath, excellent. Perhaps we can finally get going after all,” The unicorn untangled himself from the mess of paper, then held out an augmented forehoof. “I am Prince-Lord-Captain Prince Blueblood. Yes, my name is Prince, it is a family tradition, you see. I am the sixth of my name. It just so happened I was able to gain a title to match!” He grinned widely as he bowed his head. “Rogue trader and professional explorer! It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“I’m afraid she is only coming with us to Everfree,” Rarity called from the bedside. “Part of some arrangement you have with the Stars I’m told.”

Blueblood face dropped at the name. “Ah… the Stars, of course, how could I forget? You always know the best times to arrive.” He hurriedly searched through the pile of paper and eventually pulled out an ornate data-slate, evidently his personal device, if the ostentatious B on the back was any indication. He quickly skimmed through, “Ah, so you are Lady Twilight. Now let’s see… Transportation and protection… Important archaeological work… on pain of what? Well that’s awfully descriptive,” he muttered to himself. “Your family can certainly make a convincing argument. You shan’t find yourself wanting on my ship, I assure you.”

“Thank you, I shouldn’t take much of your time.” Twilight gave a small curtsy.

“Now I wonder what type of artefact would get one of the Stars so exited?” Blueblood mused.

“Oh, it’s nothing much really, just rumours of some old archives. A little personal project of mine.”

“Ah well, that is a shame, I was hoping for a fun little escapade,” he lent in closer. “Particularly if your family happened to be funding it. It seems nopony quite shares my sense of adventure,” Blueblood lamented. “Why, I would have thought anypony would be chomping at the bit to explore the great beyond.”

“Well I imagine if the world was full of fillies with dreams of adventure and bourgeoisie romance you would have an entire company of space Mareines at your command. As it stands, you’ll just have me,” Rarity sighed.

“Perhaps we could get you some Mareine armour then we would have the best of both worlds?” he gave her a playful nip on the ear. “But enough of this, were you able to secure any Astropaths?”

“For some unknown reason, one of the few groups of nobles with ties to the Telipathica seems to dislike us a great deal,” Rarity said in a knowing voice. “They are doing everything in their power to hinder our requests.”

“Are they still? I would have thought they would have found some new target by now, it has been long enough,” Blueblood grumbled.

“It was only eight months ago.”

“I could have sworn it were longer.”

“Wait… are you talking about the gala where that guy-”

“Spike!” Twilight quickly interrupted. “He can be a bit over curious sometimes. Rest assured, our family understands that what happened at the gala was a terrible misunderstanding.”

“I assure you I understood the nature of that situation quite well enough.” Blueblood forcefully stamped his hoof.

Rarity shot Blueblood a pointed glare before turning back to Spike, “You certainly are a strange creature.”

Twilight pulled Spike closer. “He has been approved by the local Magi, any accusation of tech-heresy must be sent to the family representative before they are assessed.”

“Darling, I am merely observing your rather unique… assistant would it be? I have seen many strange pieces of technology over my travels, though rarely anything that is so talkative.”

“Oh, were you a trader before you came here?”

“Of sorts,” Rarity smiled innocently.

“Nonetheless, we have more pressing issues for now.” Blueblood exited the makeshift bedroom, holding the curtain open for Twilight. “For the time being, please make yourself comfortable in our lounge. I will have one of the adjacent rooms cleared for you to stay in before we enter warpspace.”

The bridge was left in relative silence as the ship began to undock from the station. Only the beeping from the cogitator, and the faint sound of machinery, could be heard over the background humming of electronics.

Twilight found a seat near a large window, giving her a good view of her home station. The Great Docklands could be seen in the distance. Hundreds of ships, both military and merchant, were docked on piers that could have been cities in their own right if they had not been part of The Capitol already. Almost everything went through the Docklands. Only those with the right knowledge and connections could use the auxiliary ports.

In stark contrast below was the barren surface of Old Equestria, covered in a mix of grey ash and snow. The dim light of their home star did little to warm its surface. In recent years the planets crust had become increasingly unstable, creating large cracks filled with glowing lava that criss-crossed the surface.

Spike put his metal claw to the glass. “Why don’t we look for you know who on Old Equestria? If that’s where she and the Empress first rediscovered the surviving ponies, surely there’s got to be something there.”

“I doubt it, anything significant was evacuated long before the planet became unstable. The only thing left there is some old ruins from the various civilisations that existed before the Empress. Besides they use the minerals from the unstable tectonics to fuel the forge-temples in The Capitol, so at least it has some use!”