Times Long Past

Chapters

1: The End...
2: Power Surge
3: Discovery

1: The End...

12000 years before Nightmare Moons return

The world before me was a wasteland, heavy clouds hung above as I stared out over the land that once flourished with life and a place that could be called home, now all that was left was dust and destruction. It had been sixteen years since the war began, outer colonies fell to brutal bombardment, as the alien invaders attacked planet after planet without discretion. After Astaria fell we responded in kind taking out one of the alien cruisers, the victory was a moral boost for us all and showed that we could take them. But this was short lived as it only fueled the fire that was attacking us, we were hoplessly outmatched, outgunned and outclassed.
It was almost a joke.
After 5 years of fighting we made a breakthrough that gave us a fighting chance against the invaders, energy weapons were made by the thousands, guass and new missile systems were attached to the frigates. The greatest discoveries of all was the ability to travel faster than light allowing us to get to the action faster and give us a better chance to beat the onslaught. Again though, the alien war machine would continue to churn its way through us, planet after planet until it got here.
Where is here your thinking, well here is Earth, our home.
Four years of fighting on this planet has forced into hiding and a further one saw what few us remain to seek out shelter in outposts built to outlast the darkest of days... or so we thought.

Then it began, the sirens going off like crazy again, I knew we couldn't survive this but we were doing our best at taking them out. After all we will haunt their dreams for eternity because if we burn, so will they.

'Incoming fighters, all hands to battle stations, all non-essential personnel to the blast shelter, I repeat all hands to battle stations, this is not a drill' the emergrency tanoi sounds as the aliens final assult begins.

Here we go I think to myself as I make my way from the bulkhead doors, the audible clanking noise of them closing behind me. The doorway has two mk.2 guass canons facing it, if anything gets through their not getting far.
The cave we now call home is carved out and looks like a massive underground city, it was a highly advanced military facility before being converted into a massive bunker which would eventually house whats left of us.
There were other bunkers like this around the world, four to be precise, the last of these to fall was Echo base in the Scottish highlands which housed one milion people and fivehundred thousand military personnel, being one of the biggest military sites it took nine days to fall, after that we were the only ones left. We stood at the gates of hell and yet here we were ready to decimate our enemy with a prototype weapon which will kill all life on and around earth... well thats the thought anyway.

"Sir, you are needed in the war room" called lt. peters, one of the higher ranking officers on the base. Loyal to the end.

"Very well lieutenant, carry on" I responded.

Giving me a quick salute he hurried off to his station with me following behind, it was a fairly short walk to the metro car which was taking us from the entrance to the military area almost 3km away.

As I stepped on to the car all the men stood up to give a quick salute, I merely stopped them before anyone could move.

"Stay as you are men" I began, "we're all in this together, no need for formalites."

They went back as they were with a few 'yes commander's' thrown around. I wasn't to keen on the whole formal stuff, but as the highest ranking person around I might as well have been king for all the people cared.

As the car went along a shockwave rippled through the cave as the alien bombardment began, lights flickered and paniced screams were heard from the city, then another much louder and far more earth shattering rumble sounded through the cave. The men in the car losing balance as they gripped onto nearby poles for support. I just stood there, unflinching as the bombardment continued.
Another loud crack sounded as the explosions grew closer and closer together, then there it was... a massive chunk of the roof rock caved away dropping down towards the ground, as it hit the ground it landed on nearby buildings, ripping them apart as if paper.

"We can't take much more of this" one of the men called out.

"We can do this" I lied, "we can make it through this and come out stronger than ever" I told them, I knew we wouldn't make it but it seemed to make some of them a little less jumpy.

As we passed through to the military zone and pulled up, it was a flurry of activity as men were carried off due to injury from falling debris and collapsing tunnels. The doors opened up and we poured out as fast as possible, my pace picking up into a fast jog as I made my way to the war room. On the way I passed the hangar which was an enormous three football pitches long and two wide, it now only held one ship. My ship. It was in complete disrepair after the fight for New York, It'salways New York first isn't it I chuckled lightly to myself at the thought. However as I stared at the lonely ship my thoughts caught up to me as my mood quickly took a turn downhill at the memories of losing countless friends and comrades.
Getting myself together again I hastily continued on my way.

As I did so I stopped off at the armoury to pick up the suit of armour I wore, a highly advanced piece of hardware designed to keep you alive for as long as possible in all kinds off situations, among that it boosted speed, strength and agility.

A bit more snug than I remember

The armour was a mix of white and silver steel with onyx plating and gold trimmings, the war had taken its toll on it since it was scratched and had numerous burn marks on it, on the right shoulder and back had the flag of my battalion which was now torn and was a relic of what once was. I still wore it though even if it was ruined, it reminded me of the friends I had lost and those I must fight in rememberance for.

I made my way through the corridors and winding tunnels as the earth shook with the force of multiple bombs that would eventually smash the cave to pieces, the doomsday weapon sat in the centre of reactor room since it needed so much power, the war room just beyond it, fortified to outlive everything. Stepping through the doors to the war room had all activity stop as the occupants stared at me wide eyed since I was in my armour ready for battle. A quick throat clear from me saw activity resume.

"Whats the situation Jason?" I asked the nearby Captain as he went through the simulations and watched the battle above on the holographic table.

"Not good sir, the residential section has pretty much collapsed in on itself, while the blast door is taking serious damage" he replied in a sombre tone, "Sir-" he began, "I d-don't think we can make it through this", his voice beginning to crack as the emotions began to overcome him, his eyes nearly on the verge of tears.
It was heart wrenching to see one of the strongest men I know almost break down in front of me, despite what has happened in recent events.
"I-I'd like to spend some time... with my family sir."

Looking back at him I eyed him as he nervously twitched in place looking at me with determination that screamed 'I will see them one way or another', looking around the room all activity had stopped as an earth shattering shake caused a large crack in the roof of the room.
All eyes in the room were on us as we spoke, one of the women on the radar was having a hard time supressing sobs.
"..." I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out, swallowing down the lump in my throat I let out a shaky breath and tried again, "Go and spend what time you have with your family Captain" I finally spoke, "all of you, go and spend time with your loved ones" I told the room.

"T-thank you... sir" he spoke quietly as he gave me a salute, "It was an honour." The room stood at attention as they all saluted me, before quickly leaving the room followed by the other command personnel as they took their leave for the last time. I returned the show of honour in full by saluting back as they fled the room

I looked around the now empty room as a single tear rolled down my cheek, wiping it away I headed over to the comms terminal.
Standing over the terminal for a few seconds to compose myself I pick up the headset, "Door defense whats the situation", I asked even as my voice shook slightly through the mic.

"The bulkheads not gonna take much more, we need to more-", A loud explosion was heard through the headset as I ripped it off of my head due to the noise, even with my ear still ringing I could hear the voices coming through; "BREACH, BREACH, THEIR IN THE BUNKER", I stared at the headset in my hand knowing it was only a matter of time before the end, there was nothing that could be done, all resources had been exhausted even as a thought crossed my mind.

We sure put up one hell of a fight

As I slowly make my way back to the terminal, I reflect at the time spent over the years fighting the onslaught.
Placing the headset back on the desk I made my way to the locked the weapon terminal, quickly entering codes and using scanners to confirm its use as It began to flash green with a 'ready to use' command on screen. Reaching my hand down to to the key I can't help the shakiness in my arm, as I was about to turn the key a new massive explosion ripped its way through the cave followed by thousands of screams of the civillian population in the inner bunker.
As the cracking off rock resounded through the cave, families being crushed by falling rock as the cieling give way under the immense blast, a quick look to the CCTV terminal confirmed the worse as the aliens stood in the doorway as shots of energy weapons go flying through the air meant anyone in there had no chance.
Getting back up everything was spinning from the concussion caused by the shockwave through the tunnels, steadying myself on the nearby chair I shook my head a few times to clear it.
Clear enough to think again I turned the key as the sounds of screams haunted my thoughts and fallen comrades and friends filled my rage against the invaders as I knew what to do, what must. be. done.

Picking up the headset and setting the tanoi to all so everyone, alien or human would hear the message.
"To all who hear this, I am Commander General Aaron Gamble, Hero of the assult on Gallileo 1 and saviour of Alpha 9 Station, Commander of the 137th Royal Space Fleet and team leader to the infamous Black Squad, I am your worst nightmare and I will see that you burn with us this day, and if your listening to this, remember this..." the doors to the war room burst open as two of the aliens stare at the lone human, "...go to hell!"

Bringing my hand down on the activation button, warning lights and sirens sound throughout the entire cave as the doomsday weapon begins to spool up, the aliens that were at the door had already turned tail and fled at speeds thought normally impossible.
The static field continued to grow larger and more potent as the weapon expanded its field of attack far beyond its confines.
When the field finally washed through the war room I had already taken a seat at the terminal now just waiting for what was to come and the hoplessness of using such a weapon dawning on him. The hazy commander took a steady breath to calm himself as his eyes began to close and the facility began to crumble around him, a lone tear rolling out as a last thought came to mind.

I'm sorry

A bright light, noise that could rival a sonic boom later, and all went black.

2000 years before Nightmare moons return

"...and that my little princesses is the tale of the lost empire"

'AWWWWW' was the chorus of the two sisters as their mother concluded the story, the older sister having heard the story before just sat their attempting to pout out another story, meanwhile the younger sister just bounded out of her bed in ecstatic joy as she went to sit on her mothers lap.

"One day" she began, "I'll have an empire just as big and powerfuw" she stated in an over enthusiastic way as always.

"No... I'LL Have the bestest empire" the older sister beamed with usual joy.

"Celly" the younger sister moaned, "Mine would be so much better" she finished with a cocky smile.

"Luna", Celestia began, "Mine would be awsome like the great gryphon kngdoms..." she paused for effect, "but even BETTER!" she exclaimed jumping to her mother in an over the top way.

Her mother just giggled and laid her hoof on the fillies back as they began to settle in her embrace.
"Just remember this is just a story girls, the lost empire is nthing more than myth and creative story telling over the years", Queen Gaia spoke as the fillies just snuggled into her embrace, the smile ever present on her face.
"Now, I do believe it is time a couple of certain princesses got some beauty sleep."

"Awww, but we're really-" getting cut off by a yawn celesta continued, "-getting... into..." as she drifted off into a gentle slumber in her mother embrace.
Gaia looked down to Luna who had already drifted off to sleep with a contented smile on her face, she felt a couldn't do anything but let her heart soar as the two fillies snuggled into her.

Unfortunately Queen Gaia had to leave and began her way to the beds as she placed the two sleeping fillies gently and tucked them in before speaking softly to them, "You'll both have amazing kingdoms and I can't wait to see the day that happens" she felt her eyes water at the thought of them growing up and becoming the beautiful young mares to be.

As she made her way out closing the door to their room she pondered on the story she had just told as she looked at the book in her hooves, 'Tales of a time long past' before shaking the thought of it being real from her head.

Meanwhile many miles away from the castle, deep in a cave of crystal surrounded by darkness stood a lone door, long ripped open and a gentle blue light beginning to glow deep within the confines of this crystal cave. Waiting to be found...

Author's Note

So this is the beginning of a story I honestly never thought I would get started, and I hope will continue to improve. As for updates, I will try to get out as much content as I can over the course of time and space (couldn't resist) but chapter 2 will be out before next weekend, tis a promise.

As always if you like it don't forget to thumbs it up, and if there are any problems with the writing feel free to comment, after all I'm not that great at writing and it's more of a hobby.

Hope you all enjoy this and as always, have a great day. :raritywink:
(I'm not used to writing in the Authors note bit, you might be able to tell, lots of stuff about more stuff and what not is what I get from it)

2: Power Surge

1200 years before Nightmare Moons return

The cool night wrapped around Princess Luna as she looked out over the Everfree forest from the balcony of the castle, the stars almost dancing in the sky as she exhaled the cool air from her lungs.
She looked over the homes in front of her while her subjects slept through the night, a wave of sadness gripped her as it seemed to her that no one cared for the night and that what she did was not wanted, but she would not let these thoughts out and continued to stare over the forest as if on guard.

The gentle clop of hooves on the marble floor behind her broke her line of thought, quickly composing herself, taking a quick breath she turned to greet the visitor only to find it was a guard she was quickly disapointed but made sure not to show it.

I really wouldn't mind some decent company just now

Even though the guard was loyal they would never break protocol to have a chat, then again it was their job and they were usually just guarding doors or out patrolling the castle grounds.

"Princess Luna" the guard began giving a curtious bow, "Princess Celestia has returned from the Gryphon negotiations and would like to meet with you."

"Thank you Iron Hoof" she responded, after all the guard was only a couple of hundred ponies since there had been a time of peace and prosperity across the kingdoms since Discords defeat, so she knew all her guards by name.

Iron Hoof gave a quick bow before heading back to his duties. Watching the night guard leave gave Luna a little happiness that some her ponies wanted to be apart of the night.
After a quick breath she made her way to the sitting room to meet her sister, hopefully she'll have some good news. As she went through the castle the guards would bow slightly as she passed, in return she would dip her head in recognition.

Reaching the large iron doors she pushed it open with her hoof as the door creaked under its own weight.

"Ah" Celestias spoke, "Luna your here" placing the cake and tea on the table she made her way to greet her sister, sharing a quick hug Luna nuzzeled into the side of her sisters head, Celestia dong the same.

"Pray tell sister, how did the negotiations go?"

"They were..." Celestia began a small frown on her face, "Difficult."

"Oh" now Luna was interested since her sister usually got everything done with ease and trouble free, "Dosen't sound like you Tia." she replied with a small smirk.

Celestia quickly picking up on her sisters tone just caused her to deadpan Luna.

"Anyway Tia, what happened?"

"Well you remember king Talos?" Tia began, Luna nodded in understanding of where this was going, "Well..." she continued, "he has pride that could rival a dragons and unfortunately he seemed to notice when I made a remark on how old and nice his city looked, he took it a different way and began to accuse me of being an old hag who knew nothing of modern architecture" Celestia took another bite out of the cake, "turns out the City had been redone only two years prior and I somehow insulted their way of life, anyway after his little outburst we continued with the negotiations with difficulty since everytime I went to speak he just glared at me..." she spoke in mock pain, "little old me Luna, well after I said my peice and offered a mutual agreement between our kingdoms, he seemed to like the prospect of getting some of our delicacies, after all we have things they do not and in return there will be a trading pact between us, however the most interesting part is as I was leaving"

"Don't tell me sister" Luna showed that cocky smile again, "you didnt spill tea on him like you did the Mintoar king"

Celestia quickly shot a glare at Luna, "we said we would never speak of that again Lulu," Luna just laughed at her sisters antics and how easy it was to get under her skin.

"Nay Tia, we dost not know what thou mean, anyway what did you do?"

"Well..." Celestia began sheepishly, "I might have called him a bird brain"

"Sorry Tia, didn't quite catch that."

"I... err, might have called him a bird brain"

"Tia, please, I can barely hear you here"

Celestia quickly stood up throwing the cake to floor and breaking the dish it was on, "I called him a bird brain"

Celestia stood there breathing hard for a moment before going in to rant mode, "I had just finished the meetings with king Talos when as I got back to my ship, he made a fleeting comment about ponies and how naieve we were so I quietly said under my breath that he was being a complete bird brain and that he needed to get some manners" Celestia took in a great gulp of air to continue, "then he decided to challenge me to a duel but nooo he didn't want to do it just for himself Lulu, no, he said if I beat him the negotiations hold but if he beats me then it's all off..." Luna just sat there watching Tia pace back and forth, "...so I accepted his challenge, and I beat him fair and square, but apparently I cheated" she paused, "ME Lulu, ME... a cheat, well I showed him whos boss, lets just say we won't have any griffon troubles for a long time," she finished with a smile.

Using her magic to pick up the plate and bringing it back over to her, a flash later and it was fixed again, then she looked over to the cake lying on the floor she let out a sigh.

Well it was nice while it lasted Tia thought.

"So" Luna began, "alls good then" she finished with a chirpy smile.

"Yes Lulu, everythings good," looking at the empty plate again she contemplated getting another slice of cake, Luna quickly picked up on this.

"Sister, I understand your sweet tooth needs nourishment" Luna deadpanned, "your flanks are getting a bit more plump after all you've had" as she motioned towards celestias rear.

Celestia in turn quickly blushed at the comment as she craned her neck round to look at it, her face grimacing at the fact she did look a litlle on the plump side, "It is simply... errr... old age, yes old age"

"Tia, I'm three years younger than you, and I still seem to be fine" Luna deadpanned.

'sigh, "I suppose I have let myself go a little bit," but it tastes so good she thought as her mouth began to drool uncontrolably.

Luna just chuckled to her self at ther sisters silly antics before the a knock was heard at the door.

Celestia quickly composing herself again spoke up, "Come in."

In walked one of the guards as he gave a quick bow to them, "your majesties, Lord Aurora wishes to see you both"

Giving a curtious nod to the guard in understanding he bowed before exiting the room. Looking at each other the two sister were both asking themselves the same unspoken question, 'what is so important at the late hour of now.'
As they made their way to the mages college on the edge of the castle grounds, the place was almost eerily quiet, with only the occasional sounds of wind rushing through the castle and the clop of hooves.
Crossing to the mages college had them go through the royal gardens where the night blossoms had come full bloom and bathed the gardens in a series of dark blues and rich purples giving the gardens a tranquil feel to whoever was in them.

"What do you think this is about Tia?" Luna spoke with curiosity in her voice.

"I do not know Lulu, but if it requirs at this time, then it must be something important," Celestia spoke calmly, "however, I really hope this dosen't take too long because I am very tired after the Gryphon trip," Tias voice now soaked in annoyance at being prolonghed from her slumber.

"Fear not Tia, i'm sure your bed can wait a little longer for your return" Luna finished with a cocky smile.

As they aproached the door, the muffled sounds of items being thrown around and the irritated voice of non other Lord Aurora as he continued to mutter and complain about some unknown problem.
Celestia and Luna having just stopped outside the door looked at each other with uneasy faces at their master mages strange burst of annoyance, following this uneasy look Luna knocked on the door and waited for an awnser.

"Coming~" the rough voice of Aurora seemed to sing. As the door opened to reveal a gray coated stallion with a two tone mane of gold and black and a heavy brown coat covering most his body, "Ahh, your majesties" he bowed, "I'm so sorry for this late night call but I have a matter of grave importance that has been troubling me now for some time now."

As the princesses entered the glum looking room they browsed around to find it lit only by a few candles, but stacked high with books and tomes, some having been thrown around in what looks to be an exasperated attempt at finding something, "Dawn Aurora, what is it you wish to speak with us about?" Celestia asked.

"Ah, yes, please take a seat and we shall begin right away," Aurora said as he scurried in to the back room to go and collect something.

Tia and Luna took seats by the fireplace, although already quite warm the wind was quite cold this dark evening, Aurora reappeared with several books in tow with his magic and placed the small pile in front of the princesses. What is he doing... Celestia cocked her head at him.

"Now," he began, "there was a recent surge of magic not to far from here that has caught my attention," the princesses noddded for him to continue, "I first caught a scent of the power a couple of weeks back, but I dismissed it as a dragon or just a one of thing" he looked to the books and began flicking through the pages, "however in the past week I have detected it again multiple times and it seems to be increasing in power with everytime I feel it."

"I felt something this evening" Luna began, "it couldn't be the same thing could it?"

"Maybe princess, but I believe we should investigate this unknown magic as it could be dangerous and may potentially spread causing panic amongst the ponies." Aurora stopped at a page and turned it to the princesses. "I've have searched every book on what it could be and this is the script I could find on anything that could help us in what it is."

Celestia looked at the book, reading the story it told of the great cave and the last of the epic empire, Celestia cocked her head at Aurora before speaking, "Dawn, I understand your concern over this but this is nothing but a childrens story, myth and legend."

Luna looked at the front cover, 'Tales of a time long past', before the memory struck her, "Lord Aurora this is a story our mother used to tell us when we were younger, I don't believe in such fairytales" she finished by giving the mage a scowl for wasting her time.

Quickly panicing that he might be punished, Aurora backpedalled quickly to explain, "princesses I would not have brought this up if I had not thought about it myself first, I understand that it is a story for fillies and colts but there are multiple books recording very similar things by different ponies who have never even met each other, it's location leads me to think not all myths are false."

"Ah yes, where is this source of power then?" Luna asked with noticable irritation in her voice.

"It's in a cave deep inside Mt. Canterlot, nothing more than a short flight or quick teleport away" taking a breath he continued, "I would've taken a look myself but if I did find something and didn't return it may have become more powerful and threatened everything we know."

Celestia watched as the young stallion regained his breath before continuing, "Very well Aurora, I understand your concerns" she began with a motherly tone, "me and my sister shall take a small group of guards to the caveand take a look ourselves."

"We will?!?" Luna asked in surprise.

"Yes Lulu, if it's enough to get the good mage worked up it may be worth looking into."

'sigh', "Very well Tia, we shall go and take a look."

Aurora sat there watching the discussion taking place with great interest as he never expected either of them to take a look into what's been causing the issues, "Thank you princesses" giving a curtious bow before the rwo sisters began their way to the door.

"We will let you know if there is anything Dawn" Celestia spoke before exiting. Aurora simply nodding to their understanding.

After getting a group of six guards and meeting them at Discords statue in the courtyard Celestia gave them a quick run down of what was going to happen when they reached their destination. They all understood that this could be a threat to equestria so were on high alert at all times for this mission. As the princesses boarded the chariot to thier destination Luna was still not sold on what could be so intrusive in the field of magic to cause great concern. Picking up on this quickly Celestia made sure to put her sisters troubles at ease on the journey over to the cave.
A short half an hour flight later and they landed at the base of the mountain, up the side was a narrow path with sheer cliff edges on the side of it, butwas the only way to the cave entrance.

"Two of you stay with the chariot, the rest come with us and stand guard at the cave entrance" Celestia instructed the guards, the gurads compling without fuss.

"Sister," Luna began, "do you feel that?"

"Yes Lulu, I do believe the good mages concerns were well placed."

As they began their way up the side of mountain the pulses of magic were continuous and getting stronger with each passing hour sometimes making the walk up more difficult, but after an hour of walking they neared the top before eventually they reached the cave entrance where the gaurds took positions on either sides of the cave entrance. As the two sisters looked into the darkness all that was visible were the pristine crystals reaching out from the cave walls with shimmering beauty.
Celestia and Luna lit thier horns before heading into the darkness, deep within the cave however was a tiny blue glow almost unnoticable to the naked eye, which forced the princesses to squint thier eyes in order to see it properly.

"What is that?" Luna asked, getting ready for a potential fight.

"I do not know sister" Celestia replied sternly, "but we will find out soon enough."

As they continued deep into the cave, the passages narrowed and become more numerous, yet only one had thier attention as the cold blue light grew in intensity until they found the source of the glow. Turning one last corner had them face to face with a large hole in the cave with a strange blue light hanging off the wall and a placard now deemed unreadable from the ages. Massive metal doors stood having long been ripped open by an immense force, so old that the metal was being worn away.

Luna looked at the doors with suspicion as she recalled the story she was shown earlier by Aurora, quickly putting rwo and two together she went wide eyed in realization, "thats impossible."

Celestia who was now just as suprised that the story they loved as fillies was now reality and proof stood right in front of them tried to compose herself before speaking, "shall we find out if the legends are true... sister?"

Luna only nodded in response, gulped down a lump she didn't even realise she had and followed her sister into the darkness of the cave.

12000 years before Nightmare Moons return

The light beeping sound and the sound of crumbling rock was heard as I slowly woke to a world I thought I was no longer part of. Trying to blink my eyes to clear the hazy fuzz which had collected in my time unconcious had also left me with a severe headache and a want to just close my eyes and sleep.
The sparking of the wires and broken terminals caused me to open my eyes in sudden realization that I was still alive, the pain in my side almost unbearable as I tried to move to stand forcing me back into the chair.
After the quick realization that the doomsday device had worked and I was still here forced a flurry of questions into my head, how am I still alive, did the device work, am I alone, are the invaders dead.

These questions forced me out of the chair to go and investigate the cave city, taking it slowly towards the door which had half caved in forcing me underneath whilst I held my arm against my side to prevent anymore pain, gritting my teeth I continued on through the network of passages which were now littered with bodies of aliens and fallen comrades, staring at the site in front of me caused emotions to swell in me, anger, sorrow and sadness. Tears which had built up in my eyes as I began stomping on the alien as if doing that would bring back my friends and family.
Having taken all my rage out on the motionless corpse, I continued on my way through the collapsed passages, passing the reactor chamber where the doomsday device had done it's job so well it had caused the device to become a melted mass of metals and rock.
The hangar bay had been hit hard and the ship that previously been sat there had now been shoved into the side as a huge wall of rock had forced its way through into the hangar, the ship though seemed to be in good condition and it had been mostly serviced before the attack so should be operational.

Continuing through the bunker, passing countless numbers of fallen humans filled my nose with the stench of death causing me to gag on the air around. Having no choice of either suffocating on death or continuing and just throwing up everywhere I decided to put my helmet on blocking out the smell and helping illuminate the surrounding area. Continuing on my way to the civillian shelter as the lights flickered on and off and rock crumbling down around me ahd me on high alert as I proceded onwards, finally reaching my destination I break into a pained jog to the ripped open bunker door only to stop in my tracks at the site infront of me.
Resting before are thousands upon thousands of dead bodies, men, women and children all huddled together for the end only to be crushed by rock or burned by laser fire.

I could no longer contain it anymore as I collapsed to my knees and weeped where I was, there was nothing left, just me, sole survivor.
As this thought went through my head all I could do was cry out loud to motonless corpses in front of me, the pain long forgotten it my arm as the pain of loss ripped its way through me.
Memories flashed as I would never see anyone again, never love again, never have anyone to speak to again, I am... alone.

After what felt like hours I puled myself from my sorrowful spot as my cries had become nothing more than chocked sobs. Not knowing what else to do I made my way to my ship back in the hangar, thankful to see it only collected minor damage.
As I boarded the ship everything was functional, lights, power, the lot. Using this to my advantage I spent the next few hours sitting on my bunk just looking at the cieling letting everything sink in.

We beat them

This thought alone helped me realise that we at least stopped the alien war machine from doing this to any other species unfortuanate enough to get in thier way. Turning my head to the side had me stare at the hollow white tube in front of me, the prize of my ship. The hypersleep pod, contemplating that I had no other option other than live alone for the rest of my life or sleep until I'm either found or just sleep forever. With nothing left to lose I climbed into the pod, not even bothering to remove the armour, recorded one simple message.

"To whomever finds this ship, know that I am ally unless attacked first, if you wish to revive me the code to do so is X598P4, this is Commander General Gamble, signing off for maybe the last time."

As the pod begins to close I let out one last shaky breath to steady my nerves before I close my eyes and everything goes black.

Author's Note

Here ye, here ye, updates will be every weekend with either one or two chapters depending on how much work I have on during the week.
Blah, blah, author stuff, (I have no idea what to write...)

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3: Discovery

As Celestia and Luna decended into the darkness the cave around them quickly changed from jagged rock walls into smoother metallic walls long rusted and almost unidentifable from the rock other than its flatness, the wall was only disrupted by the sharp rocks and crystals that had punched their way through the ruined metal causing it to stick it in unusual angles as if a trap ready to catch its unexpecting foe.
As they continued down the corridor being lit only by the faint glow given off by their horns, they reached a cross section. One way only traveled about twenty meters before being cut off by massive piles of rock, Celestia and Luna looked wary at the structural integrity of the surrounding supports which were now showing clear buckling under weight and age.

"Tia" Luna began with a note of caution in her voice, "this place does not seem quite so-" unable to finish her sentance, the sound of falling rock echoed around the cave causing Luna's wings to snap out in suprise.

Celestias gaze narrowed as if to see what was down the second, unblocked passage, "I do believe this place may crumble around us at any moment Luna" she began sternly before softening, "but I also believe that this place has been on the edge of collapse for along time and will most likely be fine while we are here."

Luna looked at her sister warily as there was still that chance it may collapse, sometimes your as stubborn as a mule Tia she thought to herself before following it with a scowl at her sisters defiance to continue.

Celestia glanced back briefly to look her sister in the eye so her point was made, however when she looked back Luna was wearing the ultimate glare that had Celestia pull her head back a little from the sudden sight, "Lulu... are you okay?" she asked with uncertainty in her voice.

Luna narrowed her eyes at the question, lifted her hoof, pointed it in her eyes and then back to her sister before very casually returning her hoof to the ground, okay then Tia thought, that was ummm... she cut off mid thought when the energy from the cave returned this time bathing them in raw energy causing both sisters to wince as they went light headed from the exposure.

"It appears this power has its own agenda sister" Luna stated coldly as she recovered from the besieging.

Celestia returned her gaze to the path, "it appears it does Luna" she stated coldly, voice devoid of emotion. They began their way down the dark tunnel but realized something about the ground was amiss, they had dropped about a foot and were now stood on some form of transit system, the dull silver marks in the ground clearly showing signs of trains or some other transport utilized this long ago.
Quickly returning to the task at hand they made their way down the tracks but before long the short tunnel appeared to exit out into... nothingness. Pressing on in spite of what appeared to be a cliff edge they trotted to the edge,both finding it now very hard to see due to the loss of the cave walls and the floor having seemingly disappeared beneath them.

"I can't see anything sister" Luna stated as she narrowed her eyes and increased the magic to her horn illuminating more of the darkness, alas it still did not reveal anything more to be seen.

"I believe something stronger is in order Lulu."

Celestia began to charge her horn for a moment before a burst of light fired out into the darkness, for a moment it just seemed to keep going but the small ball of light had other plans. After it had travelled around three hundred feet it seemed to explode in a shower of bright white light bathing the surrounding area in a glow long lost on the cave. The small balls of light hung in the air as if a thousand candles had just been lit each with the intensity of a mini sun.
Now with both sisters finally being able to see into the cave both gasped as they marveled in what they stood in, towers stood on either side of a large expanse of space in the middle, the underground skyscrapers, even though coated in grime and rust still held a certain elegance to their design, with the smooth curves and the jagged balconies.
The centre was a large expanse of walkways and metal with patches of dirt and long dead trees whilst the roof held what seemed to be a strange black that seemed to shimmer with the light.
Celestia stared at the roof for amoment thinking of how the light seemed to reflect off it in such a strange way, her thought was abruptly cut off as a burst of sparks decended from points in the roof while a very glitchy sign seemed to flicker across the roof.
Luna was looking around the expanse in front of her, the main floor fifty feet below her, what originally looked like a drop to oblivion was soon discovered as transport down as the rails they had been following descended down the cliff.

"What is this place?" asked Luna in amazement as she cast her gaze around the cave, massive sections had obviously peeled away and were now overhanging the main area while larger rocks and boulders and pieces of metal lay scattered on the ground due to the collapsing nature of the ancient cave.

Celestia cast her gaze from the roofto view the rest of the expanse, hestiantly she began "I believe..." she looked at her sister, "...this may be the remnants of a very old, very powerful civilisation."

"Well, for being so powerful..." Luna looked straight at Tia, "... =they seem pretty errr... dead" finishing by motioning her hoof over the ruins.

Slowly they made their way to the floor where they were met with the rails from before only this time they could see exactly where it led too, gently gliding down Luna looked straight ahead through the oncoming darkness to make it out dull lights at the entrance to what seemed another section of the cave.

"I believe we have a heading Tia" Luna stated as she pointed towards the entrance way in the distance, "Tia?" Luna turned to see Celestia staring off into the darkness, slowly she walked over to Celestia's side to also stare inside the darkened cave.

Celestia didn't awnser her sister as she stared into the smaller cave which seemed much the same as an underground shelter, why would you need an underground shelter when your underground Tia thought to herself, there wasn't much to look at though since the roof had caved in and all that was visible was dust and debris.

"Sorry Luna, thought I saw something" Celestia turned towards her sister and at her nod they continued down the rail, taking one quick glance back at the bunker they made their way towards the new cave section.

Reaching the mouth to what seemed like a more secure section of the underground city the two alicorns gazed around at the area they stood, the entrance way had half collapsed and the rail they had been following had just... stopped.
To the left of where they entered was a maze of tunnels but only one was lit in anyway while some of the others had been blocked. Celestia started making her way down the lit one while Luna followed cautiously, horns now relit since the light in the larger cave had now died out leaving a much shorter range of vision. As they continued down the tunnel they reached a set of double doors with two lights around the top, one red, one green and flickering.

Luna looked to Celestia who gave a nod of reasurrance and they pushed the door open with a little extra force to help move debris from behind out the way. Once inside the surrounding noise grew into a low thum until they reached the large metal device, seemingly half melted on top, "Tia, do you feel that?" Luna looked to Celestia as her confusion grew on what was giving off so much power.

"Yes Luna, there appears to be a massive magical surge coming from behind this device as well as off it" as she looked at the device with slight confusion. They both jumped when the device decided to power up briefly before dying down again to nothing, Luna looked at the device carefully, her brain telling her to turn tail and get out of their while Celestia recovered and began making her way over the debris and around the back of the device, deciding it best be with Celestia Luna made quick to follow after her while scanning the area for anything that may jump out at them.

Stopping behind the device Celestia came across another set of much larger doors and a sign above the door that wasn't completely unreadable, con- control rom- room, well that wasn't the easiest to read Celestia thought to herself before walking up to the door.
Luna watched as her sister began to push on the door, with a hiss and and a heavy click the door finally budged only for stale air to pour out of the room they had just opened, the princesses gagged on the air as they tried to recomposed themselves.

Walking through the doors they were bombarded with sparks flying all over the place and an overpowering aura around them almost as if the walls were pushing in on them, screens not used in melenia flickered into life while light fittings hung down from the cieling lighting what little they could. Luna having now recovered from the spike in energy looked to the lit screen and stared at it for a while, "Tia... I think i've found something" she finished in a quieter tone.

Celestia looked around to see Luna reach her hoof out and tap the screen, "LULU, DON'T" but she was too late as Luna's hoof connected to the screen causing a miriad of clunking and whirring noises to begin sounding throughout the cave complex, each noise reverberating through the tunnels before all fell silent, the two sisters looked at each other in silent conversation both with semi panicked faces.

"h-h-hello" the new voice startled the princesses as they spun around horns lit ready for combat only to be face to face with a small glowing bipedal creature in front of them, "I am-am-am....BZZZ...'system error'... AL and I am this establishments AI" it finished in a distorted cheery tone. The princesses looked at the glowing figure speaking before them with confusion, Luna got up making her way around the side of the little thing, noticing it didn't notice her she lifted her hoof to poke it but paniced when it went straight through. "I am a hologram, there is-is-is... 'voice function error' bzzz.... no solidity to my form and am completly comprised of light, this is why you cannot thouch me" Al finished never looking at Luna once, a bit startled by this Luna moved back towards her sister and sat down next to her.

"How... how did you see me?" Luna asked hesitantly.

"I see all in this establishment, it is my function to protect the citizens that dwell here except my-my-my... bzzz... function has been useless up till now for a long time" Al finished in a more downturned voice.

"So..." Celestia began, "you are not... real?" Luna looked a little shocked at the bluntness of her sisters question but she would be lying if the thought had not crossed her mind too.

"I can assure you, I am very real" Al began sternly, "the difference is where you are made up of flesh and bone, I am made up of circuits and wires" the confusion on the princesses faces grew, 'sigh', "I am an artificial Intelligence, man made to help protect this establishment from all known threats."

Did it just... sigh Luna thought to herself, more than a little confused at this she just shook it out of her head and continued on the conversation, "So... what happened here exactly?" Luna motioned to the room around her which in its moment decided to spark a little more causing her to jump a little and Al to shimmer a bit before returning to a more solid form.

Now looking at the table Al began "A long time ago, ten thousand five hundred and sixty five years to be exact lived a species called humans, they had already for thousands of years before I existed, anyway when I was made the surrounding worlds to Earth-" Al was interupted.

"you mean Equis" Celestia corrected.

"-back then it was called Earth, anyway there had been attacks from an unknown alien race called the Krell, ugly things, green and scaly, nothing but bone and armour, but they were very technologically advanced and swept our colony planets aside as if a fly in the wind-" again Al was interupted.

"Wait, colony WORLDS??!" Luna exclaimed with suprise causing Tia to wince a little at her sisters tone.

"Yes, we inhabited several planets in the galaxy, however they were all decimated by the Krell, anyway back to this place, this place is called installation X, due to it's experimental weapons projects and advanced design in defence and weaponry, we even had a backup plan for if the place fell since this was a last bastion for humanity if worst came to worst" al looked a little sad now, "the worst did come to pass however there were defences in place to counter the devestation caused by the experimental weapon rightly nicknamed as 'the doomsday device', the weapon was designed to wipe out all life on and around the planet to prevent any threats from escaping, specifically the Krell, however" Al began cheerier again, "the defences in place to counteract this devastation is specially designed power conduits and flux capacitors designed to catch the energy and transfer it in to power for the reactor to reuse, this room you stand in is one safe haven while the other one is the civillian bunker at the entrance to this establishment."

"Then where are these 'humans' you speak of if they had these defences?" Luna asked cocking an eybrow at Al.

"when this place was attacked it was part of a network of four massive underground shelters, when the weapon was detonated it would communicate with the other establishments and would warn of the oncoming destruction, but they were all attacked and destroyed before the weapon was used leaving only Installation X as the sole bunker for humanity" again Al's tone began to sadden again, "when this establishment was breached the Krell were ruthless, they used all at their disposal to rid us for good, they broke into the civillian shelter-" the power surged again causing a flurry of machines to turn on and Al to shimmer and glitch as the power went haywire from extended use and lack of fuel, both Luna and Celestia looked around in panic as sparks flew around the room before everything went peaceful again, "- 'system rebooting'...'speech control...online'... -these power surges are so annoying" Al mumbled to himself.

Celestia spoke up after listening contently, "I am sorry for the loss of your people, but there is on question on my mind."

"Okay" Al responded, "shoot."

"Are there any survivors in all of this, or is this all that remains of the pon- people that you speak of?" Celestia asked with a neutral tone practiced over hundreds of years.

Al turned to the machines on the other side of the room as they began flickering to life while information scrolled down them at speeds unreadable to the naked eye, "accesing databanks... 'data corrupted'.... running cleanup process... 'cleanup failed'... running through emergrency protocol nine-six... 'protocol...accepted'... right we are good on the data" Al spoke to himself while Luna and Celestia watched in amazement as screens flashed and sparked while masses of information flowed across them, "okay video footage is showing one survivor in the aftermath of the destruction... you might want to step back" Luna and Celestia took a step back and Al turned to the monitor again and flashed its hand accross, "...'beginning simulation'..." Al flickered out of existance as a new white, much taller version of Al appeared on a chair, the princesses watched in awe as it made its way up clumsily and collapsed again to the floor, Celestias natural reaction took over as she rushed to help it but just fell through the new hologram, what the... Celestia thought to herself, "this is just a replay of the events ten and a half thousand years ago, a hologram like me" Al's voice broke the silence startling the princesses who then shrugged it off to watch the hologram continue.

As they followed the hologram it became apparent by the way it was walking it had badly injured one of it's legs, as it stumbled around the complex before heading back out into the larger cave, Luna and Celestia were now looking around in awe as what was previously unlit had now lit up the cave interior revealing it's city like nature and the roof, which was flickering earlier was now half lit like a sky scrolling across the roof while the rest of the roof continued to spark, "you inadvertanly turned basic life support back on when you activated me" Al explained from what was like the void as his voice echoed throughout the cave.

Returning to the hologram it made it's way back to where Celestia had been staring into earlier and collapsed to it's knees before collapsing completely, "What's it doing?" Luna asked the air around her.

"This was the civillian bunker... everyone in it was killed by the Krell and whoever did survive was finished off by the weapon due to the doors being ripped open breaking the seal that woul have saved them." Al finished matter of factly.

Celestia stared into the room, mouth agape as a single tear rolled down her cheek as she imagined what pain the lone human must have had to endure, what monster could've destroyed an entire species. Luna moved up to her sister seeing that she had gone tense, despite her thoughts being on vengeance against these 'Krell', "were they all killed?" Luna asked in a firm tone.

Al caught a little off guard quickly responded, "unsure, they were a interstellar species so it is most likely they had survived our efforts to destroy them, however we are certain the attacking forces in our system were eradicated."

Luna let a snort out at the invaders and how they should be punished for their crimes for such an act, If I had been there, they would have perished more so, Luna thought as her brow knitted in anger.

"Who was he?" Celestia asked abruptly, whilst regaining her posture and staring at what was obviously the weeping human.

"His name is Aaron Gamble" Al shifted into a much more stoic tone, "he was our leader and in our time of need he was there, he was a hero to humanity and the only surviving member of the notorious Black squad and Commander to the 137th royal space fleet, he personally saved two thousand lives on the space station Alpha 9" Al paused for effect, "he IS humanities leader."

Celestia looked back at the hologram who slowly got up and began making it's way towards the entrance, after a short walk they found the hologram at the entrance looking into the darkness of the crystal caves before turning back into the complex and making his way back the way he came. Luna, now lost in confusion over Al's speech, "you said IS instead of was, why?", Celestia not picking up on the error sooner allowed a small smile to form at her sister's observation.

"You will see" Al finished very cryptically.

Surely he couldn't mean, Celestia and Luna looked at each other now thinking pretty much the same thing, but it's been thousands of years, theres no way he could still be alive. With hurried paces they made after the hologram as he disappeared into the smaller complex again, now following him down one of the unlit passages they found themselves at a small opening where a grime filled glass panel rested in front of them. Approaching the glass cautiously Luna and celestia tried to peer through the muck but couldn't see anything through it.

"Watch this" Al stated cheerfully again, suddenly a bar passed over the glass clearing away most of the grime, before passing a couple more times to clean the glass sufficently to see through. "Inside that metal container called a 'spaceship' is the final resting place for Commander General Gamble."

The two princesses looked at the ship which now had a mix of lights on it, the ship sat in a small opening just big enough and with the fallen rocks just missing it but trapping it in place. The princesses saw the ship and gasped in awe as it was revealed in it's slender curves and massive frame with one thought, the legends are true.

Author's Note

Sorry it's taken so long to get a new chapter out, but work must be done.
Anyway hope you enjoy it, it's taken a while to get written and make the sure everything is consistent but it's getting there.

Things are finally getting started though and everything should just keep getting better from here on.
Don't forget if you like the story leave a big thumbs up and add to your library for more :raritywink:
(no self advertising at all)
The Flux Capacitor thing seemed like a fun thing to throw in there and more writing stuff that my brain can figure out... yadda yadda yadda, enjoy :pinkiehappy:

P.S: Wow just read through this... my spelling is just uurgh insome places, fixed the worst now though