Chapters Monarch
If Strahlen had to use one word to describe the inside of the facility, that word would be ‘big’. He and his fellow ‘recruits’ were herded single file through a standard boring foyer, complete with standard attractive secretary, who didn’t seem to appreciate the looks she was being given. From there, it was straight to the main lobby. That was where the spaceship was.
“Woah.” A multitude of other voices seconded that opinion as they first laid eyes on what was visible of the ship that would one day take them offworld. Strahlen tilted his head sideways to read the word written vertically along the metallic body of the ship.
‘A-S-C-E-N-S-I-O-N’
The room was massive, and had a completely different style of architecture from the foyer. A confused glance back at the entrance provided Strahlen the answers he seeked, as the remaining recruits entered, adding their own exclamations to the steadily growing din of voices. Just as the last of the six stepped through the door, he saw a ring of runes on the ground on the other side, which was now a small room the size of a broom closet.
He nudged his pegasus companion. “Hey Red,” he whispered, nodding to the doors, “we just went through a seamless teleport pad jump. Do you think the princess knows what she’s getting us all into?”
‘Red’ eyed the doors for a moment before looking back at the ship. “Yup. I’m sure she deals with crazier horseapples on a regular basis.”
Strahlen didn’t respond as he found himself worrying over what Princess Sparkle had said about ‘starting a fight’...
Her Royal Highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle was not a happy mare. Mostly because the guards at the castle seemed to have forgotten the ‘Her Royal Highness’ part. Though the majority of the city had grown both upwards and outwards, the castle remained in its own little walled off paradise, free of pollution and surrounded by flora of all kinds. The warded walls surrounding the ancient building were obscured by tall bushes on both sides, with trees and colorful flowers interspersed between.
The walls — combined with a small army’s worth of air defenses — made the castle one of the most secure locations in the world, the only weak spot being a heavily guarded golden gate at the front entrance, an entrance no visitors had been allowed through for a number of years. Apparently, Princess Sparkle was counted as a visitor.
“This is ridiculous. As a Princess of Equestria, that castle is as much mine as it is Celestia’s!” Twilight finished with a stomp of her hoof, prompting a few of the golden clad unicorn guards to raise their firearms.
“Princess Celestia,” one of them corrected her.
Twilight growled and field-stripped all of their rifles with a thought. “You are testing my patience. Either you allow me access to my castle, or I will be forced to take drastic measures.” Ignoring her, the guards drew their ceremonial swords with practiced ease and dropped to the ground, spasming. Twilight slowly brought a hoof to her face. “Did I give the signal? Because for some reason I don’t think I gave the signal.”
Two unicorns appeared with a shimmer of magic on either side of her. “Apologies, ma’am,” the one on the left said.
“We thought you might’ve been in danger,” the one on the right continued.
Returning her hoof to the pavement, Twilight just shook her head and casually walked through the gate, the gold coated steel melting around her. Her two personal guards shot each other a worried glance, following shortly thereafter, carefully avoiding the molten metal. The two uniformly black unicorns quickly caught up to their princess, who was continuing at her moderate pace and innocently admiring the flowers as more castle guards rushed her with yet more automatic rifles.
Upon seeing the two black unicorns, they quickly reconsidered their priorities. “Librarians!” The ‘librarians’ rolled their eyes at the increasingly popular slang term before giving each other a synchronized nod and grinning as they continued to run. The royal guards opened fire, and the librarians began teleport forward in an erratic pattern, throwing off their aim. The staccato of gunfire was occasionally interrupted by a loud ping as a hastily raised shield would deflect a round. Flashes of purple filled the field beside the road as they methodically made their way closer, eventually joined by hues of blue as stun spells were fired with extreme precision. The number of conscious royal guards slowly dropped until the remainder began to panic. Now holding the advantage, the librarians closed in.
While the traditional gold armor of the Royal Guard looked nice, it just didn’t provide the same maneuverability as a kevlar vest. These guards quickly found this out the hard way. The Royal Guard was one of the most prestigious and well trained branches of Equestria’s military, but that didn’t help very much when they had a hundred or so pounds of armor weighing them down.
The librarians converted their stun spells into close range weapons by trapping them in sustained mana fields. The ‘stun batons’ left trails of blue afterimages, which the librarians exploited to blind their opponents before closing in and knocking them out with well placed strikes to the gaps in their armor. The rather one-sided fight came to a close as the last royal guard tripped all on his own, landing directly in front of the two librarians. The one on the right dismantled the guard’s rifle just as their princess had done before, then turned to leave.
A loud band and a ping sounded behind the two stallions, prompting them both to flinch and spin around, once again dropping into a battle stance. They found a purple shield between them and the guard they’d left conscious, who was pointing a small sidearm in their direction with his magic, a fading trail of smoke drifting up from the pistol’s muzzle. The two librarians looked to their princess, who had literally stopped to smell the flowers. She picked a daisy, then trotted over to the three stallions. The guard dropped his pistol as Twilight approached them and dispelled her shield, his magic failing as a result of his absolute terror.
Twilight lightly batted the top of the guard’s helmet like he was a misbehaving dog. “Bad.” She then placed the daisy in the space where his left ear met his helmet and trotted back to the path. The librarian on the right followed her. The one on the left began to do the same, before pausing mid-step as a thought came to him.
Princess Twilight Sparkle walked calmly along the road leading to the castle entrance, her two personal guards following slightly behind and on either side of her. The one on the right gave the one on the left a questioning glance. The one on the left merely shrugged in response and adjusted the daisy sitting neatly in his mane.
Icarus
Strahlen flew through the void on wings of stardust, anywhere and everywhere his to explore. Specks of light were scattered about in all directions, glittering in the dark. Majestic clouds of gases formed multicolored nebulae, stretching millions of miles across space. A ball of light appeared before the stallion, unrivaled by any other. It spoke to him of all the wonders of time and space before going dark. The light returned, a dim red glow, and it looked inside his soul.
“I see you, colt. Colt! Colt, get up, we haven’t got all day!” The young earth pony bolted to a sitting position, blinking in the sudden light. The blurry outline of a face gradually resolved itself in front of him. It didn’t look very pleased. “Have a nice nap?”
Strahlen sleepily shoved away the hoof that was shaking his shoulder. “Could’ve been longer...”
The stallion that had woken him, a typical gruff-looking guard, rolled his eyes. “Better get used to it,” he responded unsympathetically, “You’ll be spending quite a few nights working overtime.”
“‘Overtime’? I don’t even get paid ‘time’.”
The guard wrapped a foreleg around Strahlen’s shoulders and gave him a mocking smile. “Now you’re getting it.” He then proceeded to shove him forward, knocking him onto his face.
Did I say volunteered? My bad.
Strahlen didn’t have any earthly clue how he managed to get himself into half the situations he did, but he most definitely did manage. The young grey earth pony blearily squinted at the scene before him, still not quite awake, and a single thought ran through his head. ‘What’s going on again?’ He brushed a strand of dark blue mane out of his eyes before giving them a good rub.
“Conscript! Are you even listening!?”
Strahlen jerked to attention. “Yes, sir! Just tired, sir!”
He was currently sitting in a half-circle with a number of other ponies in a small courtyard surrounded by various bushes and trees, being addressed by their new commanding officer. “What the buck happened to your face!?” Yeah, that guy.
“I—” He glanced at the guard who had woken him. “I... tripped, sir.”
“Well next time, why don’t you trip your flank into the ship’s flasher and save us all the trouble! Keep in mind — and this applies to all of you — that this is a suicide mission! All of you are here because nopony’s even going to notice you’re gone!”
A new voice cut off anything else he might’ve been intending to say. “That’s not entirely true, general.”
The general stiffened, then slowly turned around to see one Princess Twilight Sparkle standing behind him, accompanied by numerous other guards clad in black composite body armor, all of whom somehow got there without using the entrance on the other side of the courtyard entirely. “Your Majesty,” he squeaked out.
“A request for this many prisoner transfers, all from within Winsome County Prison is, in fact, actually fairly noticeable. Not to mention being the sort of thing that requires the approval of the crown.”
“But... the transfers went through!”
“I admit it, I was curious. I approved the transfers, and then personally oversaw their transportation. Imagine my surprise when I found out what was going on.” The princess’ innocent tone contrasted her intelligent gaze, which swept across the courtyard they were currently occupying before finally returning to the general. She sighed.
“You... disapprove?”
The princess raised an eyebrow. “Disapprove? ‘Disapprove’ doesn’t even begin to cover it.” That innocent tone was gone. “What you’re doing here is highly illegal, and you are most likely going to be facing quite a hefty sentence.” She paused a moment before carefully continuing, “That said... you have thus far managed to accomplish something that we ourselves were unable to gather funding for. Therefore, I am now taking over this operation, and I present your ‘conscripts’” — she spat the word — “a choice.”
Now facing the entire group, she continued, “From what I have heard, this mission holds a very small chance of returning you safely. Should you choose to partake despite this, I may be willing to consider your current sentences completed. This includes you, ‘general’. If any of you wish to continue, my captain is waiting at the entrance. Otherwise, you may wait here until secure transport is procured to return you to Winsome County.”
“What kind of sentence might I be avoiding, exactly?” Asked the former general.
“You enjoy gambling, correct?” The princess then gave an uncharacteristically ominous chuckle before walking away. She passed Strahlen midway to the entrance and paused. “You look just like your grandfather.”
That’s when the whispering started.
“Next!” Strahlen stepped forward, finding himself before Princess Sparkle’s captain, who was sitting at a small collapsible desk. The stallion didn’t immediately look up, instead focusing on the small stack of paperwork before him. When he did finally acknowledge Strahlen’s presence, his response was less than expected. “Oh Sparkle, it just had to be you, didn’t it?”
Strahlen cocked his head to one side, uncertain how to answer that. “Sorry?”
The captain just shook his head and sighed. “Alright, let’s just see how far we get before I have an aneurism or something.” He shuffled through the stack of papers before him until he arrived at one particular sheet with an image of a white octagram on a black circle — one that matched the image on Strahlen’s flank. The captain raised an eyebrow. Numbers and stars always had special meanings in Equestrian culture for as long as anypony could remember, and because of that, and octagram could mean either an extreme talent for magic, or a penchant for chaos. Given the fact that Strahlen was an earth pony, the captain decided to guess the latter.
“Something wrong?”
Another sigh. “No... nothing at all...” The captain seemed to sink further into his chair as he said those words before suddenly straightening up again. “So. Straylen is it?”
“Strahlen, actually. You see, my dad used to live in the Altaran Union, and he—”
“Did I ask for your life’s story?”
“Straylen is fine.”
“Great. So it says here that you’ve only got a few more months left to serve. Maybe you should consider just waiting it out? I mean, there’s a pretty good chance you’re just gonna end up dead if you go through with this, so...”
For some unknown reason, this made Strahlen very angry. “So what? Even once I get out, what am I going to do?” he asked indignantly. “I have nothing and no one, and that probably isn’t going to suddenly change itself just because I’m not in jail!” he continued, his voice getting progressively louder as he spoke. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down before he noticed that the other two nearby guards had their horns lit with prepped shock spells. “Uh...” He also noticed that at some point his front legs had made their way on top of the desk, a fact that he quickly remedied. “Sorry.”
The captain quickly waved a hoof at the two guards, signaling them to stand down. “Keep in mind that I didn’t have time to read all of this, so you might’ve had family waiting for you for all I knew. I apologize for my oversight.”
“No, that was my fault. Sorry again.”
A moment passed before the captain began again. “I’m going to be honest with you. Her Majesty has given me direct orders to convince you specifically not to go on this little adventure.”
Strahlen blinked. “What?”
“Yeah. ‘What’. Exactly. But orders are orders. Now, it’s not within my jurisdiction to force you not to go, but... Well think about it; the princess obviously has some plans for you. This could be your big break, kid.”
Strahlen’s brow furrowed. “I don’t like plans. Sign me up.”
“I would very much like to go home after what I’ve had to deal with today, so I’m not going to keep arguing.” He stamped an ‘approved’ seal on the paper. “Congratulations, you just got yourself killed.”
Erebus
”What’s happening!?”
“Wind pressure is spiking! What’s causing this!?”
“Are we getting a response from Erebus!?”
“They’re not answering!”
“Retract the sails and raise the tachyon field; we’re jumping now!”
“MHD Generators are failing! We’ll be fried!”
“Three second burst on the port PLTs!”
“Spooling the drive command now.”
“Warp field is ready on your mark!”
“Mark!”
The stars outside the main viewport seemed to briefly move further away, reality seeming to stretch until both the Sun and Equus were visible on the fringes of the viewport. Then they receded once again and the stars ahead began to rapidly close in on them.
“MHD field down! We’re getting radiation!”
“Warp ring’s destabilizing!”
“Bring us out!”
The release of the warp ring’s particles caused a detonation of light and heat, shaking the ship off course and into a perpetual drift. It also had an unwanted side-effect of atomizing a nearby satellite.
For all intents and purposes, it appeared as though they had somehow returned to their destination. Before them was a planet, covered in greens and blues, slowly moving towards the starboard side of the viewport as they drifted.
Suddenly, a beam of light cut through the dust that was formerly a satellite, the light intensifying as the source got closer. Something moved in front of the ship, but the light was too bright to see what it was. The world got brighter and brighter until everything was white, and then
“Yo.”
“Whaa!” Strahlen dove from his seat and onto the floor of the bus, covering his head and earning no small number of strange looks.
“Uh... I was just gonna ask if this seat was taken.”
“So... Bad dream?”
“Yeah.” Strahlen avoided looking at the tuscan red pegasus stallion seated beside him.
“You can, um... go back to sleep if you’re still tired. I heard what happened this morning.”
Strahlen’s ears perked up in interest, then laid flat in distaste. “Who told you about that? You making friends with the guards?”
The pegasus waved his front hooves in panic. “No no no,” he sputtered, “the guy was just wandering around bragging about it earlier!” Embarrassed beyond belief, Strahlen mashed his face into the back of the seat in front of him. “Well hey, at least you won’t have to worry about seeing him again.”
“I hate optimists.”
“Sorry?”
“I said that out loud, didn’t I? No, I’m the one who’s sorry. I haven’t exactly been having a great time lately. I am on this bus, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“I’m here too, aren’t I?”
Strahlen gave the pegasus a slight smile before turning away to look at the passing ‘scenery’. “That you are.” Ponies on the sidewalk looked up in curiosity at the grey prison bus as it passed, such a sight uncommon in downtown Canterlot. A lot more common was the dirt and garbage littering the streets, and the numerous equally dirty ponies begging on them. Small, run down businesses were few and far between amidst the massive corporate skyscrapers. Such was the modern world, and only one of the princesses was even bothering to try and fix it.
“Thank Sparkle I’m not out there,” the red pegasus mumbled, noticing what his companion was looking at, “literally, I guess.”
Not taking his eyes off the window, Strahlen responded, “That’s one bit of optimism I can actually get behind. We might die soon, but at least we’ll be fed until then. That’s more than can be said of them . Better fast and comfortable than slow and starving.” The rest of the trip was made in silence, the two ponies perhaps wondering what might have been. The tall buildings became steadily smaller as they entered the industrial district, leveling out into sprawling complexes and the occasional smokestack. Not long after, their destination was in sight. “The nuclear power facility?”
“It makes sense.” Strahlen jumped slightly, having forgotten that the other pony was there. “With all the stuff they’re supposedly testing, there’s nowhere better than right beside the largest power source in the entire county.” It was only a few more minutes before they arrived. Though their new home was within the same walled off section as the power plant, there was a separate secondary facility nearby. As the bus pulled up before it, a commotion could be spotted at the doors. The problem became clearer as the prisoners-slash-recruits were shepherded out of the transport. “I'm surprised that the scientists and librarians aren’t getting along better.” This drew a chuckle from a number of the convicts, and some glares from their guards. Even Strahlen smiled a little.
The captain from before — having flown directly to the site, and therefore arrived first — was facing off against an aging unicorn stallion in a labcoat, locked in an intense battle of... wooords . What initially seemed exciting quickly began to drag as the group was forced to wait in place. Things were looking very dark indeed when one of them suggested that they be allowed to return to their seats on the bus, an idea that was quickly shot down. Just when all hope seemed lost, a black car pulled up alongside the bus. While the environmentally friendly buzz of an electric engine gave hints at the occupant, the purple highlights left little doubt. Who ever said that a princess couldn’t travel in style?
Sure enough, the princess herself stepped out of the vehicle and raised an eyebrow at the scene before her. Neither of the two conflicting parties noticed her arrival, with one having his back turned, and the other unable to see around the first. “I was given complete command of this facility by a general of the Equestrian Military!” the scientist was arguing, “You have no authority here, Captain .”
“And what about a princess?” Twilight asked asked she neared them.
The captain immediately faced her and fell into a bow with an embarrassed mumble of, “Your Majesty...”
The scientist also bowed before rising again, earning a harsh glare from the captain. “Princess. I was promised full autonomy as long as I provide weekly reports on my progress. This incursion is in direct violation of—”
Twilight raised a wing, instantly silencing the stallion. “Former General Starfall is on his way now on a separate transport. Unfortunately, we had to keep him separated from the other recruits due to safety issues.” The scientist’s eyes grew steadily wider. “I may be convinced to restore your partial autonomy under the condition that the recruits are treated with respect befitting their position, and are provided any necessities they may require.”
"Uh." Not quite the intelligent response once might expect from a scientist.
Twilight cocked her head to one side in a manner that could only be described as 'adorkable'. Not that any of the ponies present would openly say as much. "Did I stutter?" The normally antagonizing line was presented with a tone indicative of genuine innocent curiosity, as though she actually wondered if she had stuttered.
"N— No, Your Majesty," the stallion stuttered, "I understand completely."
"Wonderful." She turned to leave, looking back only to add, "Give the recruits a tour while my guards are getting settled, will you?" She paused as she was stepping back into her car. "And Captain Stormrunner, I'm leaving you in charge for the foreseeable future. I have a Sun Goddess to deal with, and it may take some time."
Stormrunner looked worried. "Are you expecting a fight?"
"No." Twilight stepped fully into the car. "I intend to start one." The door closed and the vehicle departed with its signature buzz.
"Then may the stars lend you strength."
