A Search in the Darkness

Chapter 3: 4000 Years of history

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“VRR stands for the Virtual Reality Room,” the AI proclaimed. The colors on the wall changed again. A magnifying glass with a white box next to it materialized in front of Twilight and her friends. The box had the word ‘Search’ inside of it and the ponies had to hold back the urge to reach out and touch it.

         “4000 years have gone by since you were gone so we have a lot to cover. This room will allow us to go through over the more important and influential events in Equis’s history. I’ll set it up so that we begin with the creation of the,” Harmony said.

         The Search box changed as Harmony typed in Equestria. Millions of results showed up that displayed information on the ancient nation. Harmony kept scrolling down until she found an item called ‘The Space Race.’ As she clicked it the entire became dark again. As the 3 ponies waited trumpets began before it became a full blown song. All of a sudden the 3 ponies were in a gigantic flat field that seemed to stretch for miles with the blue sky above them. Directly to their 12 O’clock was one of the tallest structures they’d ever seen sans the futuristic Canterlot that they’d seen. It was pointed towards the sky and connected to strange red structure. Without warning the red structures severed its connections as the first building began firing off a large amount of fire and smoke from its bottom. At first Twilight thought that something had gone wrong, but then the building started to lift off the ground without the aid of any visible wings. Just as the smoke cloud was going to reach the trio the scenery changed once again. The Elements were standing on a dull white landscape. The world turned for them until they saw a pony in a large white suit. He wore a helmet with an orange visor. Behind him was a strange building with a funnel sticking out at the bottom. In the star filled hung a blue object Twilight realized was the planet Equis. The world morphed a plethora of colors. They were now in a hospital with two doctors and their patient. The patient had a metal hoof and he used it throw a hoofball while one of the doctors took down notes on a notepad. The other doctor held up an x-ray of the patient’s head and the world seemed to zoom into the x-ray. The world morphed and the x-ray became a real brain that shot out waves of electricity. One surge went to eyes which reflected a red cursor. The world zoomed out of the eyes of a pony who was wearing dull green camo. The stallion was in a muddy trench with a few other similarly dressed ponies beside him. Large explosions kicked up dirt around the group as one pony quickly loaded something into a large tube. Bringing the tube up to point horizontally, he pulled a trigger causing an object to be ejected moving at speeds that could keep up with Rainbow Dash even on a good day. The smoke consumed their surroundings, but faded to show a different landscape with a strange tower in front of them. It looked like someone had begun the frame of a building and given up. Off the top came shockwaves energy and the world moved to follow these shockwaves. They quickly gained altitude looking down as they saw the shockwave spread further and further across Equestria. Everywhere it spread lights came on lighting up the night. Soon they were above Equestria’s atmosphere looking down at the night side of Equis. A giant grid of lights spread out below them as Giant Letters appeared. They were ‘Origins of the Celestial Empire: The Space Race.’ Then everything around the ponies faded to dark again.

         “It was a cold October in 2016 A.N. when a new object entered the sky. An object that wasn’t controlled by an Alicorn. It was Zebra-1, the first ever artificial satellite that was launched successfully into Space,” the voice of a mare rang around them. The three ponies found themselves watching an object ejecting a large amount of smoke as reached further into the sky. “Zebra-1 was created by the United Tribes of Zebrica. In the last few decades the Zebricans had made advancement after advancement in their technology. It sent shockwaves throughout the world as the world power made its debut not as an underdeveloped country, but the most technologically advanced nation in the world.” The view changed to show a futuristic city. There were roads paved with a strange black substance. Buildings similar, but smaller than that of the metropolis outside. “This caused many of the other nations to hyperdrive their own space programs, but it would still take 1, 2, 3, and 5 more years for the Dragon Nation, Griffin United Kingdoms, Minotaur Republic, and Equestria to accomplish the same goal respectively. Using new inventions like the radio and the computer they pushed almost every frontier of science. Most famously the science of space. In the midst of these technological revolutions, Equestria found itself left behind where it once had been a leader. It was then that a massive reconstruction of the country's government began.” Twilight saw a room full of ponies of all shapes and sizes inhabiting a circular room with the 3 princess city in the middle. A closer look showed that the ponies around the room were different delegations from different parts of Equestria. The Manehattan delegation sat near the front looking more like businessmen rather than, the Crystal Pony delegation all had their traditional headdresses done, among many others. “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna dissolved the old Equestria and created the Celestial Empire. There was also massive reworking in the fields of education, technology, and military. It would take many years, but the nation would be reborn,” the narrator said as the red flag of the Celestial Empire became the forefront of their vision. The flag had a red background with a sun taking much of the center. Inside the sun from left to write were a horn, an apple tree, and a pair of wings. “Thus began the Space Race. The nations of Equis used their brightest minds to send their ponies further and farther than anypony had ever gone before. Hundreds of satellites took residence in orbit around Equis. The Zebricans were the first to send a satellite out of Equis’s orbit in 2032, the Griffins established the first long term space station in 2047, the Minotaurs sent dozens of probes with magical scanners to the colossal gas giants at the edge of our system in the 2050s, the Dragon nation created an array of telescopes that allowed them to see further and clearer without the distortion effects of our atmosphere in 2055, and the ponies sent the first pony to the moon in 2063.” A map of their star system appeared with markings that showed the locations and paths of Equis’s earliest space borne vessels. “However these achievements would pale in comparison to what Zebrican scientists would develop in the 22nd century. In the late summer of 2167, Zebrica tested out the first functional hyperdrive from their base in the rings of Serin. A magical version was finished only weeks later by the Celestial Empire.” Applejack stared intently at a strange vessel made entirely of metal. Behind them was one of the Equis system’s gas giants, its rings much more clear and visible than with a telescope back on Equis. A strange rift in space opened up in front of the vessel. “At first, hyper drives were unpredictable and volatile. Pieces of ships would be left behind and the question of their final destinations was purely guesses. It would take many years for the proper sensors and shields allowed manned vessels to brave the dangers of Hyperspace.” The video changed to show paths that the various empires would take on their conquests out of their home system. “The Celestial Empire was the first nation to establish an out of system colony in the Archaes star system. Terraforming methods used on Serin’s moons were applied greatly and the territory of the nations grew exponentially. The species of Equis had left their mark on hundreds of planets light years apart.” The room darkened to a pitch black again and stayed like that for a few moments. Just when they thought their lesson had ended the virtual reality room came back to life. It showed a thriving colony at the edge of the Celestial Empire. Elione V according to the label it had been given. “In the year 2870, an event that would change the way everypony thought occurred over the prosperous colony of Elione V. First Contact. It began when 23 Toel ships entered the edge system. Already having discovered the ponies, the Toel waited behind the Class 1 gas giant in the Elione star system. The 31st Fleet met the Toel ships and caused a 37 hour long tense standoff. They contacted Imperial High Command and 3 three more fleets were sent to hold off the possibly hostile threat. Keeping it a secret turned out to be impossible for the government when it was posted on PonyNet. Billions of ponies came online, pushing the servers to the very edge.” It showed ponies interacting with displays, rioting on the streets, and several ponies that held up cardboard signs that said, ‘The end was coming.’ “The other nations demanded info and access to the aliens themselves. In the end, when the Toel opened communications it was to the conjoined fleets of all of Equis’s races.” The ponies watched from the Toel ship’s view that beheld a giant armada of ships in front of them. “The Toel had come to make an alliance and also to open up trade between all of our nations. They offered many things to the races of Equis, but what would end up being the most important would be their knowledge on the different races they had encountered. Knowledge of the Nar’tik that enslaved less advanced races, the Frane that made a hobby out of infiltrating and destroying their neighbors from within, and the Vallions that terraform planets inhabited by sapient species in the outer arm of our galaxy amongst many other races that would to see the destruction of Equis’s races.” The three elements watched a short video displaying what heinous acts each of these alien empires committed. “This knowledge would prove to be crucial when we would come into contact with the various races. It allowed us to destroy the Nar’tik and dismantle the Frane. During the war against the Frane, an offensive at Equis itself was launched.” The camera that had captured the footage panned over a ruined city. Barely half of its buildings left standing. “The resulting battle caused civilian casualties to rise up to the billions and it left very few cities on Equis standing. Later investigation would prove that the reason the attack was so effective was because the lack of coordination between our various nations preventing a timely and effective response. Our division left our individual nations vulnerable. A disadvantage at a time when we battled empires which had thousands of years on us. Empress Celestia proposed to combine our governments. However it was not received as well we had thought it would. Only the Minotaur Republic which had been suffering a crippling economic depression agreed to join. Realizing there wouldn’t be another, the Celestial Empire declared war on all the other nations. The Dragon nation was the first to go. It won almost every ground battle, but their sheer size and power could not prevent their ships from getting blasted out of space by magical cannons. The Zebricans would turn out to be much more powerful foe. They had never lost their touch with technology and it showed in many parts of their life. Their ships were faster, stronger, and more defended than ours. It was only the help of Princess Luna who deployed thousands of brilliants tactics and showed that technology. The Griffins finding themselves alone and surrounded quickly surrendered and agreed to become a part of the Celestial Empire. Now with the Celestial Empire controlling the combined territories of 5 separate nations, Equis was finally united. The knowledge gained from the space battles that occurred allowed the Celestial Empire to fight toe to toe with older more experienced races. Applying the tactics used during this war achieved us numerous victories over the Natrik and Frane. It was only in the face of the endless navy of the Vallions did our fleets begin to fail. The war with the Vallions was difficult on the Celestial Empire. We attacked them, trying to end the war quickly with a preemptive strike. However our forces were beaten back with ease. Very soon it was we who were on the defensive. They launched hit and run attacks. Our outer colonies taking massive hits before the proper forces could arrive to drive them out. After many years our navy was tired and many of our worlds were nothing but rubble. But just when we thought our lines would break the attacks stopped. There wasn’t a single attack for months. It gave us the time to recuperate. Rebuild the broken cities we’d lost. The Toel soon got information that something was destroying the Vallions from the inside. Our generals came up with an offensive to strike the Vallion Empire’s most crucial points. With the Toel, we managed to raise a fleet that was able to be assembled quickly and also take on the Vallions on their own territory.” The screen depicted a fleet larger than they’d seen and the routes they would take through Vallion space which was in dark grey. “We began our push, taking back the land we’d lost with almost no resistance. We ran through what was supposed to be the most powerful empire in explored space like it was nothing. There were only colonies with broken people and broken ships in the skies over them. Within a month we were on their capital’s doorstep. While we saw a larger amount of security, there had been only incident where they posed us any problems. Finally, we came to their capital. Our fleet came prepared for the largest battle in this entire war. We came to find it almost over.” The screen showed a strange force the ponies hadn’t seen before. It was neither pony, Toel, nor Vallion. It was the Celestial Empire’s first meeting with a race originating outside our arm of the galaxy. The sight was a fearsome one. These unidentified ships ripped through Vallion dreadnoughts with ease. Bringing down the ships that months before had caused dread to come to our troops in the outer edges of our empire. Within minutes, the Vallion homefleet had fallen. They couldn’t even escape as strange devices on the newcomer’s ships prevented them from entering hyperspace.” Twilight watched from the cabin of one of the Equestrian ships as the Vallions were ripped apart. The Vallions had been evil, they abused the power they were given. However nopony should have to be destroyed completely as this strange new force had done. “When they were done, their entire navy turned to us. Panicking many of our captains attempted to retreat into hyperspace, but the devices which prevented the Vallions from leaving also prevented us. Admiral Luna ordered the lines to hold as the possible threat approached. She hoped they could open up contact with them. Later reports showed that the other force had been hoping to do the same. However what happened next would be considered one of ponykind’s biggest mistakes. A captain by the name Stellar Wind was commanding an assault battleship on the left flank. He was part of the roughly half of the captains that had begun panicking. However, instead of attempting to retreat into hyperspace, he deployed one of the Celestial Empire's most powerful weapons that are only held in ships of his kind. The MR-14 warhead or the ‘planet buster’ as it is better known. It exploded as soon as the alien fleet came within range. The aliens were caught in a fiery explosion which seemed to also break the device’s hold on the hyper drives. They escaped into a nearby system to avoid the explosion and made a beeline for pony and Toel controlled space. We brought our security systems to full alert in every star system we owned. It was hard controlling the panicky populace we had. They believed a large Vallion attack approached. It was difficult to tell them that it was something much worse. And when the aliens came it was much more terrifying than anyone could have imagined. The day they appeared over the skies of Equis. Home fleet pointed every gun they had at them. But this turned out to be a pointless gesture as the aliens were able to disable every weapon and ship in the system without firing a shot. Home fleet had to watch as the alien fleet swiftly flew past them undeterred. However the Celestial Empire’s nightmare did not come true that day. Equis was not burned to a crisp. Nopony was enslaved nor was a single shot fired. They contacted Princess Luna and Empress Celestia in the castle sent a diplomatic envoy. What we learned that day changed once again changed what we knew of the universe. We learned that for a thousand years a war much larger than the one against the Vallions had been fought and was still continuing to be fought. Against an enemy much more horrifying. That was the day we learned of the Titan War.”