> Broken World > by Arceaion > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eris yawned as her friend pulled up to the AnimeFest convention center. "You sure you don't need pick up?" She asked concerned. Eris nodded. "Yes, I have another friend picking me up." She replied with a smile. The friend eyed her for a moment before sighing. "Eris, I know it's been hard lately but please don't do anything rash." She said as she hugged her. Eris tensed for a moment before returning the hug. "Don't worry I'll be fine." She said as she let go and got out of the car and she put on a sad smile. "You were the only one to ever truly care about me Sara." Eris said quietly as she walked into the convention center. Eris quickly flashed her ticket and headed to the restrooms before taking off her pack and pulling her costume out and getting dressed. With a sigh she looked in the mirror and made sure her costume was ready before turning and leaving; Eris had dresses as the Nasod Queen Eve from the series Elsworld however instead of the Empress Version from the Anime she had instead gone as the Sariel version from the game. After some time of looked around the convention Eris sighed sadly, while she was enjoying the photos and other people complimenting her costume she wasn’t actually here for the convention. Instead she was searching for a very specific person, a certain merchant but after searching and looking at the wears she was growing more disappointed; from what she knew the best way to find the merchant was the quality of the props and while she had found some good quality props she hadn't found anything that was truly good quality. It had been almost an hour and she was beginning to give up and with another sigh she began to leave the market area till something caught her eye. At the far end of the market area almost the very back was a small hidden away stand that was hidden just so that it would be overlooked; Eris looked at the stand curiously before sighing and walking over to see a man in a resident evil costume. As Eris approached the Man looked up and smiled. "What can I get you stranger?" He asked with a smile in his eyes. "Just looking merchant." She said as she examined his wears and smiled; the wears were of an extremely high quality almost appearing real and sitting on one of the shelves was the item she needed for her costume, the head piece for the Code: Sariel series. The item looked as if it were made from glowing crystal and she smiled as she turned to the Merchant. "I'd like to buy the Head piece for the Code: Sariel." She said. The Merchant smiled. "Well now that beauty isn’t exactly cheap." He said cockily. "I doubt you have enough." He said cockily only for Eris to smile. "I know who you are merchant." She said as she pulled off the backpack she was wearing and opened it showing it was full of money. "This is every cent I have, I sold ever possession I owned, even my house and car to get this so that I could find you and start over." She said stunning the merchant. The Merchant stared at her for a moment before shaking his head. "I-what?" He asked in confusion. Eris sighed. "I lost everything merchant, this world has taken everything from me but I'm not going to just hang myself and be done with it." She said in a growl. "My family ruined me and took all they could so that when I die they can have everything I worked so hard for." The Merchant chuckled. "And you won't let them win. They took your happiness away so they could make a quick buck but you won't let them win." Eris nodded. "I want to start over merchant and I'm willing to give you everything, even my memories, to have it." She said as she zipped the bag back up. "If they think that by me dying or disappearing will make them rich then they can shove it." She said her eyes hardening coldly. The Merchant smiled. "Interesting, unfortunately I can't exactly take everything from someone like you have offered for one item, it's not only considered bad business but is an unfair exchange." He said as he rubbed his chin. "Also we don’t really remove memories. Yes, we're accused of this but in actuality it's the void that does this. We can prevent one from losing their memories just fine but we can’t make you forget." He said explained as he sat I thought before snapping his fingers. "I have it!" He said as he rose and gestured for her to follow. "Come with me to the back room and I'll see if we can find anything to your liking." He said with a smile he entered through a door in the back of the stall. Eris hesitated before following him only to gasp at what she saw. The Room was an armory filled with items, weapons and armor from every franchise. The Merchant smiled. "Everything is here." He said with pride. "If it's fantasy then it's here in some form or fashion." He said with pride. Eris nodded. "I don't even know what to say!" She exclaimed in surprise. The Merchant chuckled. "Feel free to look around and pick something." He said with a wave of his hand. Eris looked around only to shake her head. "I don't even know what to look for." She said as she looked around however after a moment she turned to the Merchant. "I don't even know what would go with my character, could you help me?" She asked. The Merchant seemed surprised however he nodded. "I suppose it is a bit much." He said with a nod as he walked over to the armor section. "Let's see what we can get you set up with." He said with a smile. "Your character is robotic correct?" He asked receiving a nod. "Then let's work off that, Eve is a robot or as they're better known a Nasod." He said as he began to rummage through the items he had. "I doubt you'll need weapons so let's get you some armor and- oh this'll work!" He exclaimed as he pulled out several items and brought them over. "These are Special Drives; they'll be able to upgrade you with certain abilities." He explained. Eris nodded. "You said they'll be able to, I'm guess that I'll need to find them?" The Merchant nodded. "Can't just give them to you." he said with a shrug. "You’ll have to explore your new world to find them." He said with a shrug. Eris sighed. "Thank you merchant, I know you didn't need to do this." She said. The Merchant smiled as he held out the head piece to her armor. "Good luck with your new life and don't worry, the money will go to a good cause." He said with a smile as Eris placed the item on her head and began to glow before with a flash she vanished. > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestia stood looking over the remains of an ancient facility, at her side stood a mare with tan coat and black mane and tail. "So any idea what exactly this is?" The Mare asked as he looked to the Princess. Celestia shook her head. "Despite my age this world still holds many secrets Ms. Do." She said as she and the Daring Do approached the ruins. "If I had to guess I'd say you found one of the ruins of our predecessors." She explained. Daring frowned. "So what, there was some super advanced society before ponies or something?" She asked sarcastically however when Celestia didn’t respond she looked at the princess in shock. "You're kidding?" She asked. Celestia sighed. "We don’t know what happened to them but the evidence is undeniable." She said calmly. "From what we understand they had no magic or physical attributes that gave them an advantage, as such the used their minds to invent technology to advance their society." She explained before sighing. "Sadly there are few surviving records of them left; this race was near extinction when my mother was young, if that gives any clues to how ancient we're speaking." She continued as they reached the ruins and entered it. As they walked they saw what appeared to be golems of metal however as Daring poked one it fell to dust. "Damn, looks like whatever’s left is too old or damaged to use." She said with a sigh. Celestia nodded. "Most of what they built is like that but there may be areas underground. If there are then we might get something worthwhile." She said calmly as they began to explore the area till Celestia noticed a stairway almost hidden by a section of collapsed roof. "I found the entrance!" she called over to the adventurer. As Daring joined the Princess she watched in amazement as the princess used her magic to lift the collapsed roof easily. Daring whistled. "Damn, wish I could use magic. It would make my adventures way easier." She muttered. Celestia smiled as she raised her hand and an orb of solar magic appeared. "Let's go." She said as the two made their way down. As they reached the bottom they stood in what would most likely have been a massive chamber with hundreds of clear glass tubes however now all the tubes appears broken or smashed open. Daring approached one of the shattered tubes to see the body of a machine like creature in it. "Princess... what is this?" She asked as she turned to Celestia. Celestia frowned as he walked over and knelt down the light in her hand illuminating the decay on the robot. "It seems that this was done recently." She muttered. "They couldn’t have died more than a few centuries ago at best." Daring frowned. "I'd of said sooner given they're still decaying." Celestia shook her head. "No, they decay slowly." She said as she rose. "But this doesn't make sense, the way these tubes are smashed shows it was done by an outside force." She muttered as she looked around. "Somethings wrong here, some oner destroyed these containers willingly and who ever did it used magic, it's fain't but there's definitely a magic signature." She said as she rose and increased the light. "Stay close to me Ms. Do, what ever did this may have left traps." She said as she began to walk deeper into the chamber. As they walked deeper something began to watch them, an ancient conciseness that had long grown warped felt them draw near to its charge. As they reached the end of the corridor and found what was protected it deemed them a threat to its protocol however no bodies were available. As the two organics approached the doors to their salvation he deemed it time to awaken. Celestia froze as she sensed a massive magic surge. "Princess, what's wrong?" Daring asked. Celestia narrowed her eyes as the walls around them suddenly began to glow and a massive robotic hand thrust upward breaking through the floor and pulling the body of a massive golem that was heavily damaged out of the floor. Daring looked shocked as the massive mechanic monstrosity seemed to glare at them angrily. "More of you pony intruders!? Thou dare walk these hollow halls after the transgressions of thy committed upon us last time?" It growled. "thou shall not slay our Queen for as the King of the Nasod we shall stop thee our self!" He roared as he charged his weapons. The light in Celestias hand transformed and grew till she held a glowing Hallberg in her hand as the King unleashed a blast from his weapons. Celestia blocked the attack with her magic by summoning a shield and charged the massive golem who blocked the strike with his arm. As the King blocked the attack his other fist charged a glowing red energy and as she leapt away he thrust it forward slamming it into the ground leaving a crater in its wake. "You continue to persist, thou have slain all those who protected here, we did nothing to you or your kind and you kill us!" The Mechanical being roared in anger as Celestia ran forward leaping onto it's mechanical arm and running up it her spear charging as she moved leaping as she reached the end of the limb and thrusting her spear forward into the robots head. The robot screamed in what seemed to be pain as he fell back clutching his face. For a moment he tried to raise once more however Celestia forced the robot the cease its attempts as she threw the spear into the core of the Nasod Kings chest. The King froze for a moment before is seemed to fall back and slump against a wall it's light flickering as he looked at the two intruders, it's demeanor shifting from aggression to what appeared to be fear. "F-or-give m-e Master Adrian, I c-ould no-t p-p-ro-te-ct our Little Queen." It said as the light left it and it fell silent. Celestia sighed as she swayed for a moment breathing heavy, as she tried to regain her breath Daring Do came out of her hiding place. "Are you alright Princess?" She asked in concern. Celestia sighed. "Aside from my pride I'm fine." She said out of breath. "I was just forced to realize how out of shape I've become from ruling, something I'll have to remedy in the coming few years." She said with a sigh. Daring frowned as they looked at the King. "Not so out of shape if you can do that." She said as she walked over and examined the Nasod King. "Still what he said was odd." She stated as she turned to the massive door before them. "But it looks like we got a name for their race, Nasod." She said as she turned to Celestia. "You think that Adrian person he mentioned was their creator or something?" She asked. Celestia frowned. "It's possible." She said unsure. "Like I said earlier, we know very little about this race as it was almost dead when my mother was young." I do believe she mentioned a King of the race once or twice however I imagine that if that was him he's been here for at least a little less than a hundred thousand years. If that the case then who we just faced is nothing more than a fragmented remain." Daring frowned. "So he was crazy from living here so long and maybe not even at full power?" She asked receiving a nod from Celestia. Daring groaned. "Great, just what we need; an overpowered and craze golem race that is alive too." She said sarcastically. Celestia frowned. "What do you think He meant by us coming to slay their Queen?" She asked causing Darring to shrug. "I don't know." She said as she looked over the door. "But I do know this door has power and it can be opened." She said as she pressed a button and the door activated with a hiss and began to lower. As the door slowly lowered a wave of stale air rushed out and the two ponies saw a new chamber. The chamber was circular and despite its size there was only one thing inside, a glass cylinder containing a floating creature similar to them. Celestia approached and examined the being before her eyes widened. "He was protecting her." She whispered causing Daring to loom confused. "The King thought we were here to kill the Queen, he was protecting this chamber which means..." Celestia trailed off and Daring picked up in a shocked tone. "Which means that this is their Queen." She finished. The world was dark, where was she? Why was she here? She remembered something, Eve... Is that her name?" She couldn't remember. Suddenly she felt the darkness began to fade away and words appeared before her >Reboot in Progress_ Reboot? What was rebooting? She thought as she began to wake. More code flashed before her eyes and she felt her systems coming on line more. >Running Systems Check_ >0%_ >Primary Mainframe: Operational_ >Human emotion circuits: Operational_ >Growth AI Protocols: Operational_ >25%_ >Nasod Code Backup Bank: Operational_ >50%_ >Artificial Intelligence Core: Operational_ >75%_ >Core Release System: Operational_ >90%_ >Error_ >Scanning systems for cause of Error_ >10%_ >50%_ >95%_ >100%_ >Memory Banks: 53% damaged_ >Initiating Data Recovery_ >>All Data recoverable from Nasod Code Backup Bank_ >>Beginning recovering_ >Time Elapsed: 00:02:00_ >Perpetual Gear: Offline_ >Status: Drive Data Missing_ >Imaginary Gear: Offline_ >Status: Drive Data Missing_ >Gravitational Gear: Offline_ >Status: Drive Data Missing_ >Quantum Gear: Offline_ >Status: Drive Data Missing_ >Shadow Gear: Offline_ >Status: Drive Data Missing_ >Nemesis' Blade: Offline_ >Damage to Electra Data_ >Restore Electra Data to reactivate >Elrian Clock Detected: Offline_ >Elrian Clock Locked_ >Restore Sariel Key Code to reactivate >Code: Electra Data: Offline_ >Status: Damaged_ >Initiating Repair_ >Time Elapsed: 48:00:00_ >Code: Battle Seraph Circuit Chip: Offline_ >Status: Damaged_ >Initiating Repair_ >Repair to Electra Data required before repair permitted_ >Transcendence: Offline_ >Status: Locked_ >Initiating Unlocking Sequence >Repair to Battle Seraph Circuit Chip required before unlock permitted_ >Code: Sariel Key Code: Offline_ >Status: Damaged >Initiating Repair >Reactivation of Transcendence required before repair permitted_ 'So much damage... why am I so damaged?' She thought. 'Was I engaged in combat? If so who was I fighting?' The sound of an explosion shook the darkness she was in drawing her further into the light. "What's going on?!" She yelled into the darkness however as she did memories flashed through her mind. They hurt, she hurt, and then she remembered; she remembered her race, the Nasod, she remembered her creator, Adrian, a simple scientist who loved her and tried to give her a wonderful life. She remembered who she was; she was the Queen of the Nasod, Eve. >Memory Restoration completed_ > Chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sound of the preservation pod clicking open drew concerned looks from both Celestia and Daring as the girl inside slowly opened her eyes. "What is happening?" The girl asked as she looked around. "Adam, are you there?" She asked as she looked around confused till she saw the two ponies. The moment she saw them her eyes widened and she leapt backward out of the pod, two small drones shooting out from somewhere and heading toward her quickly placing themselves between her and the Ponies. "Why are you here?" She asked in a cold voice as she narrowed her eyes. The two organics stared at her with confusion. "My apologies, but we were simply exploring these ruins." The one with tan fur said as she raised her hands in a calming gesture. "Are here to terminate me?" Eve asked her stance still defensive as if she were expecting to be attacked. "We're not going to harm you." The tall white one said as she slowly approached however stopped when the two drones moved to protect their master. "Please calm down and we will explain." Eve eyed Celestia wearily before sighing and looking at the two drones. "Moby, Remy, stand down but be on guard." She ordered causing the two drones to seem to relax and slowly float over to their mistresses’ shoulders and hover there protectively. Celestia nodded and slowly approached the young Queen. "Thank you, allow me to introduce myself." She said with a bow. "I am Princess Celestia, diarchy of Equestria." She said in a kind tone. Eve eyes narrowed. "Why are you here?" She asked. "As the mare beside me explained we were exploring this place, the facility here is nothing but ruins." Celestia said with frowned but kept her voice kind. Eve frowned. "How long have I been asleep, where is Adam and our creator, Dr. Adrian?" She asked. Celestia sighed. "Who is Adam?" She asked earning a raised eyebrow from Eve. "As I am the Nasod 'Queen' you could say he was the 'King'. He was created by Dr. Adrian Nasod during the dawn of the advanced Nasod Age under the codename "Adam" and was designed to assist our creator in the mass production of Nasods units for the Elrian Kingdom, Adam assisted in the coding of all Nasod excluding certain individuals such as myself. Adam is identified as Second Generation Nasod; though it would be better to call him my brother in a sense." Celestia took a shaky breath as she turned back to the entrance. "Nasod Queen, it's been over ten thousand years since any of your kind have actually been seen, most of them are lost due to the wear of time but the ones that do still remain are... mad." Eves' shoulders slumped. "Did he..." She seemed shocked for a moment before running past Celestia and Daring to see the slumped over body of the Nasod King. "Adam!" She yelled in panic as she ran to him and embraced him. "No..." She whispered as tears began to fall from her eyes. Celestia and Daring watched as the Queen hugged the body of the massive machine, tears slowly falling form her eyes. "If I didn't know better I'd say she's a living being but that's crazy." Daring said. Celestia frowned. "She is a living being in all but body, she feels emotion, pain and loss." She said as she looked at Daring. "Perhaps these Nasod are more than just machines, it's entirely possible that this Dr. Adrian was able to make them... feel." She muttered. As the two talked Eve wiped her tears and turned to the two organic beings. "Where is our creator, where is Adrian Nasod?" She asked calmly. Celestia shook her head. "We don't know, as I said your kind has not been seen in over ten thousand years, if there was a race prior to yours then we have no surviving records at all of them. Eve nodded her head sadly. "Then he has most likely passed." She said before rising. "I apologies for such a delayed introduction but this has all been moving too fast." She said as he bowed. "I am Eve, Queen of the Nasod. I was designed Dr. Adrian Nasod with the capability to understanding emotions as a means to balance out Adam logic." She said with a bow. Celestia frowned. "So the other Nasod were not like you?" She asked. Eve tilted her head as she frowned in thought. "I suppose you could say that in a sense you are correct. The first generation Nasod created solely by Adam were not designed as I and next generation Nasod were. After I was created Nasod began to develop emotions and were marked as the second generation." Celestia nodded. "So you were the first to be created with emotions." She said causing Eve to nod. "Not that this isn’t fascinating but now that your awake what do you plan to do?" Daring asked. Eve stood silent for a moment before sitting down and looking crestfallen. "As the Queen of the Nasod it was my duty to protect them and insure their survival, from your information it seems that the Elrian Kingdom has fallen and my Nasod are nothing but dust." She said in a sad tone. "My duty however remains the same, I must find a way to revive the Nasod Race and resume my duties." Celestia frowned. "Can that even be done?" She asked. "From what we understand such knowledge has been lost. All that remains of your time are scattered ruins and fragments of what once existed." Eve sighed. "All knowledge is stored with in me however if what you say is true then it will complicate things." She said sadly. Celestia bit her lip as she looked at the sad little queen sitting on the arm of the dead robot. "You could come with us." She said hesitantly causing the Nasod to look up surprised. "I mean, until you are able to either find where other Nasod are or a way to create new ones you could stay with me at the palace and given you've been asleep for so long I could help you reintegrate into this current time and..." Celestia looked away as she fidgeted however Eve slowly rose and hugged her surprising the two ponies. "Thank you for your kindness, I would be happy to stay with you for a time." She said quietly. Celestia nodded slowly as she smiled. "Do you need to bring anything?" She asked. Eve nodded and released the taller princess before turning to Adam and walking up to the massive robots head. As she reached the head she popped open a hatch and removed a small chip, as she pulled the chip the robot body seem to dull and she examined it for a moment before nodding and putting it away. Once she was done she hopped off the robots body and returned to the two ponies. "I am ready to go now." She said with a smile. "What did you do?" Daring asked. Eve looked at the two pones with a thoughtful look before opening her mouth and closing it before looking confused; it was almost as if she couldn't come up with the right words. "Nasod have several primary systems; there is the Primary Mainframe, the AI Protocols and finally the Artificial Intelligence Core." She explained. "All these functions are controlled by certain circuits and computer chips, as long as these chips are not damaged severely the Nasod can be brought back online in a new body." She explained. Daring stared at the Queen. "You want to bring back that crazy robot!" She growled angrily. "That thing tried to kill us!" Eve sighed. "I will have to repair his AI Protocol before I bring him back online but as long as I have his chips and the database it can be done." She said calmly. Daring moved to argue but Celestia paced an arm between the two. "Daring, I don't think Eve would bring him back if she intended to leave him as he was." She said calmly as she looked at the Queen who nodded. "While Adam may have attacked I don't think he really was interesting in killing you simply making you leave." She said calmly. "Adam can’t harm living organics but he will fi needed to protect or if he is given orders that require him to. After all he is first and for most a builder; destruction is just not in his nature." Daring was still frowning but sighed. "Fine, just keep him away from me when you do build him again." she said with a frown as he turned to walk away. "Where are you going?" Eve asked. "I'm going to leave." She said. "I thought we were going to the princesses’ palace." Eve replied confused. "Well we have to get out of here first." Daring said slowly as if she was talking to a little child. "We could take a dimension corridor to the palace instead." Eve offered causing the ponies to look at her confused. "Do you not have dimensional teleportation?" She asked getting further confused looks from the two ponies. "Can you please explain Eve?" Celestia asked receiving a nod from the Queen. "Some Nasod Like I have access to many skills and abilities, at present most of my features are locked as most of my internal components have sustained heavy damage." She explained calmly. "Because of this damage I am limited to my base form and base abilities however one the abilities I possess is called Dimension Link. This ability permits me to open a dimensional door allowing transportation to any location I desire as long as I have coordinates." Celestia and Daring looked at her surprised. "Wait so this isn't your real form?" Daring asked. Eve shook her head. "Not exactly, this is my base form however I have others. At present my base form is the only one I can use as the programs and circuits that permit me access to these forms has been corrupted or damaged. Internal repairs will take time but as long as nothing too strenuous occurs to my body I should be able to access my Code: Electra form in forty-seven hours, thirty-eight minutes and twelve seconds." "What other form do you have?" Daring asked intrigued. "At present only this one however the other forms I have access to but are locked is Code: Electra, Code: Battle Seraph, Transcendence, and Code: Sariel." What's with the Code part of the name?" Daring asked. "It is referring to the code required to run the programs that control the abilities of the form. Each form has special programs and codes controlled by a central program, my personality, form and abilities alter depending on what form I take however I can assure you that the more that are unlocked the more mature and capable I become." "Were there others like you, with this ability I mean?" Celestia asked. Eve nodded. "Indeed, they are my sister units and the prototypes for me. The earliest prototype Q-PROTO_00 was given access to the Code: Exotic series of upgrades. She was deemed a failure when she failed to develop senses and emotions, instead she became one of the strongest Nasod combat troopers that ever existed in Elrios and was known as one of the most powerful Nasod Prototypes. Unfortunately she went rogue and was destroyed." "What forms did she have access to?" Celestia asked. Eve thought for a moment before replying. "If I recall she was heavy combat oriented and as such she was given access to the combat form of my code. The forms she had access to were Code: Exotic, Code: Nemesis, Transcendence, and Code: Ultimate." Celestia frowned. "You said sister units, plural, who was the second?" Eve smiled as her eyes seemed to unfocused. "The second prototype and my little sister, Nasod Princess Apple; Apple was very gentle and intelligent, she cared greatly for organic beings but she was not capable of handling her emotions so she was deemed a failure. While Q-PROTO_00 was deemed a failure because she failed to develop senses and emotions, Apple was a failure for the opposite reasons." She explained sadly. Celestia looked at the Queen with a look of sadness. "Do you miss her?" She asked. Eve nodded. "More than you can imagine but I know she's still out there somewhere, she and I were both placed in preservation pods and set in secure locations so she must be. Apple was not built for battle, however her skill in controlled Nasod units was beyond mine, because of this Apple was given a program that focused on her benevolence and imagination, the Code: Architecture. She was also given access to the Code: Empress, Transcendent and Code: Esencia." "So you each had a separate set of codes and forms." Was it hard to work together with such differences?" Celestia asked. Eve shrugged. "The only trouble we ever had was with Q-PROTO_00, Apple and I never really fought or had any trouble." Eve said before frowning. "Though, I think that if I had been a better sister things with Q-PROTO_00 might have been different. Apple was the compassionate one, so full of life and joy but I was always distant. I had to rule the Nasod and help Adam so I didn’t get to see them often and I think it hurt them in a way that I was always so distant." She said sadly. "Perhaps one day you can make it up to them." Celestia offered. Eve nodded slowly as she stood from Adams destroyed body and turned to the two. "I need coordinates to open use the Dimension Link or at least a good image of where to go." "Well we're not far." Celestia said in thought. "If we go to the surface you can see it from there." Eve sighed. "Very well, we can go to the surface. I'll open a gate from there." She said as she began to walk to the entrance. As the group climbed the stairs they exited to only to see that the sun had begun to set the sky having changed from blue to deep orange and purple as the ball of fire set. Eve stood transfixed and as she looked at the sky a memory flashing through her mind. "This sunset... I've seen this dusk... before." She said as she slowly walked forward causing Celestia and Daring to look confused. "I saw it before... before I knew only the darkness of sleep... this was the sight that greeted me... before he..." Eve’s eyes widened. "The Gears..." She muttered before shaking her head. "Sorry... I was lost in a memory though it's faint." She said with a frown as she rubbed her head. "Perhaps the memory restoration was incomplete?" Eve asked causing Celestia and Daring to look confused. Eve shook her head and sighed. "Doesn't matter now." She said as she turned to them. "Where is the castle you mentioned?" She asked. Celestia pointed to a mountain in the far distance. "That mountain has a city on it, my castle is there." She said. Eve’s eyes glowed as she looked at the mountain. "Estimating range of Gate placement, calculating to best of one one-hundredth of location, Calculations completed." She said as she raised her hand from which a complex runic circle appeared as her eyes glowed. "Opening Dimension Link." She said as a massive vortex of blue energy opened as Eve stepped aside. "I would advise we go through quickly, in my current state I can only keep a gate open for a minute at most." She said snapping Celestia and Daring out of their shock and they quickly stepped forward. Celestia stepped through and disappeared however Daring hesitated. "It's safe right?" She asked. "As long as we're not on a moving target it should be fine." She said with a nod. "If we were traveling to a confined space or moving target then we would run the risk of mass displacement trauma, twisted limbs or even metal burn." She said in a factual tone however as she turned looking the Pegasus up and down while Daring had a look of horror on her face and frowned. "Well... maybe not that last one since your flesh." She said with a shrug before pushing the Pegasus through and then jumping in herself. > Chapter 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestia sighed as she sat tiredly listening to the nobles continue to rant about how her sudden appearance in the middle of Canterlot was unbefitting her royal status. "Furthermore as the highest raked nobles I demand you explain where you were now!" The Speaker roared in anger his face almost bright red in anger. Celestia sighed, this had been going on all week apparently the appearance of a portal opening over Canterlot and the subsequent fall of a princess and random Pegasus out of said portal was not something that is easily covered up and the nobles had been in an uproar ever since her return. As she sat listening to the nobles whine about her sudden disappearance and confusing return she began to contemplate why she was still allowed the nobility to continue as they did. Sure not all of them were corrupt but most of the noble houses had long since fallen to corruption and abused their power. 'maybe I should start making plans to get rid of the nobles, I think Luna might enjoy a council or parliament style government... hmm have to think on how to do it though.' she thought as she watched the doors to the throne room open and permit a guard to enter. The Guard quickly made his way to the throne and bowed. "Forgive the interruption princess, I've come to inform you that she has made some progress and would like to see you." He said in a rather concerned tone. Celestia nodded and rose from her throne. "Day Court in officially adjourned, any complaints or problems will be addressed during this evenings Night Court if they are of any significant, don't come to me I'll call for you." She said as she left the throne room with the guard following being, the room bursting into a shouting match behind them causing Celestia to smile. As the doors to the throne room closed she turned to the guard. "So what has she discovered?" She asked however when she didn’t receive a reply she turned to see the guards concern. "Your highness, I'm not sure what she found but whatever it was enough for her to be very... angry." He replied receiving a frown from Celestia who opened her mouth to reply only for the castle to shake from an explosion and an enraged roar to come from its depths. Celestia paled and ran in the direction of the explosion while the guard seemed to shudder in fear before fallowing. When Celestia reached the area where Eve had been working she saw parts of the wall blackened and cracked. After hesitating for a moment she stepped into the room to see Eve standing in the center of the rooms remains her eyes flowing with golden light. Eves form had changed significantly since Celestia had last seen her. Her clothing had changed to a more shin tight covering with leggings and arm warmers becoming mostly white with black and red highlights, She had grown by at least a foot and around her waist was armored plates. Eves' her hair was much longer reaching below her waist and a head band with a flower design was added to keep it held back. As Celestia entered Eve turned to her and grit her teeth before shooting forward and grabbing the mare by the throat. "Did you know about this!?" Eve roared in anger her eyes glowing brightly as she began to choke the princess. "W-hat ar-e y-you talking about?" Celestia gasped out her eyes wide in fear. "You're ponies killed my Nasod!" Eve roared as she threw Celestia against the wall causing her to gasp out in pain before coughing at the sudden intake of air she was allowed. "How could that be possible?" She asked as she tried to get air back onto her body. Eve growled walked toward the princess, her steps cracking the marble floor under her. "I looked into Adam’s Memory banks Princess Celestia." She said coldly as she looked down as the gasping mare. "Eight hundred years he fought, for eight hundred years Adam fought to protected me from ponies who at every chance they got come to the where I slept and destroyed more of my people." She said Yelled as tears began to fall from her eyes. "T-that's not poss-" Celestia froze as she remembered what she had seen in the facility. "The magic!" She said her eyes widening. "But that would mean...oh no." Celestia seemed to freeze as she realized the implications of what had happen and seemed to deflate. "I'm so sorry Eve, I didn't know." She said as she looked at the crying queen. Slowly Celestia sat up and wrapped the teen size queen in a hug, Eve simply stood there crying. "I didn't know Eve but I promise I'll make this right. Can you show me what you saw?" She asked receiving a small nod from the crying queen. Eve turned and walked over to a small projector she had cobbled together and activated it. "I'll be playing the most recent records Adam has on the raids, there won't be any sound but you should be able to see the ponies." Eve said as she finished connecting several wires to one of the chips she pulled from Adam. As the projector lit up Celestia watched as several lines of code filled the screen and a file was selected before a video began to play. Celestia watched as what appeared to be a boot up screen was show before what she assumed to be a camera activated showing several pony like figures moving around. The room was dark but one of them lit their horn showing them to be a unicorn and Celestias eyes widened in shock as she watched them raised weapons and begin to smash the cylinders containing the Nasod. Several of the Cylinders seemed to activate but as soon as the Nasod exited the tubes another of the ponies raised a strange device that looked like a gun and fired launching a beam of magic at then and killing them. Once the Nasod were dead the ponies began to go over the bodies ripping components out before rising and coming closer to the camera. As Celestia watched in shock she caught a view of their faces and gasped. "No..." She muttered before turning to Eve. "Pause the video and rewind to that part where there faces were visible." She said quickly. Eve looked at the princess before pausing and rewinding the footage as Celestia rose and moved closer to the image fora better look. "I had hoped I was wrong but..." Celestia trialed off with a sigh as she looked down in shame. "You know these Ponies I assume?" Eve said coldly receiving a nod from the princess. "The Unicorn in the front is one of my great nephews Amadeus Blueblood; he is one of the more influential nobles. The Earth Pony with them is Smooth Style; he is a influential stallion as well and spends most of his time away from Canterlot working with 'private inventors'. The Pegasus mare is Scarlet Smirk; she works in the Technological development section of the Canterlot Research Center. Finally the Unicorn mare with them is Violet Jewel, she is a up and coming inventor who specializes in devices that require crystal alignment; in fact she's pioneered the entire branch almost single handedly." Celestia Explained as she turned to Eve sadly. "All four of them are heavily involved in the development new technologies and the Bluebloods' have been spear heading technological development since the founding of Equestria." Eve grit her teeth and closed her eyes as she took a deep breaths before breathing out and looking at Celestia. "Thieves and con-artist, that's all these fools are." She said coldly. "They have killed my people and stolen our secrets." She said coldly. "While I cannot pass blame to you as you were unaware the crimes they have committed are no doubt severe." She said calmly. Celestia nodded. "Yes, they’ve been effectively committing Genocide and stealing from your race." Celestia sighed as she leaned against the wall behind her and slowly slid down it. "I don’t even think there exists a sentence severe enough to punish them." She said as she rubbed her eyes. "I can think of one, Death" Eve said coldly. Celestia shook her head. "Death is instant release however perhaps there is something to be done." She said as she stood. "While the Death penalty has been outlawed there is still a form of punishment not outlawed that could benefit us, petrification." Eve looked at Celestia for a moment before smiling. "Very well but as Death is not an option and I would like at least some form of compensation." She said with a smile. "I would ask two things be done, first that their trial be public and their crimes be brought before the public." Celestia nodded. "That can be done." She said as Eve walked to a window in the room and looked out over it. "Second I would like to be present." She said as she turned to look at the solar Alicorn. "This means you will have to announce my presence and formally recognize my people and authority as Queen." Celestia frowned. "What good with doing such a thing do?" She asked in confutation. Eve smiled. "By announcing my presence and formally recognize my people you will be setting in to place that we, the Nasod, are entities not governed by you or your ponies." She said calmly. "Furthermore by recognizing my authority as Queen I will have legitimate support if I am challenged by other rulers of this new world." She said calmly. "My race has been gone from this world for far too long and we are few in number." She said as she turned and looked at Celestia. "If I and my people are to survive then I must have allies and since you offered to assist me in the restoration of my people then I will need your support to be publicized." She said calmly. Celestia sighed and looked back at the frozen image of her ponies. "Very well, I shall grant your request." She said as she looked at Eve. "The one responsible shall be arrested tomorrow and I can get a public hearing set up by the end of the week. I assume that by then you will be taking your full form?" She asked. Eve shook her head. "At the current rate of repairs my Battle Seraph Circuit Chip shall be functional within two days." She said calmly. "However Transcendence as well as the Sariel Key will not be active for the trial, the stress that activating such forms so soon to their restoration would only result in more damage being done." Eve said. Celestia nodded. "I see, so since I have you at the moment we need to talk about your education as well as school." Celestia smiled as Eve’s deadpanned face became even more so. > Announcement > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey Everyone, I'm putting this story on hiatus till I can figure out where to go with it, I apologize for the inconvenience. Sincerely, Walter D. Arceaion