The Chaotic Touch of Harmony: The Stars

Chapters

1: The Vote
2: Dinner With your Demi-Goddesses
3: Extended Family Day
4: Self-Discovery
5: Silent Witness
6: Tomb
7: Bell Curve

1: The Vote

Alexia Tune sat in a private balcony overlooking the senate for Sol, the world government named after the old Latin name for the sun. It was a preemptive measure, made all those years ago in expectation that terrans would begin colonizing the rest of the solar system. That foresight had been accurate with long range teleportation making early mining operations on the moon a reality. The terrans were not foolish enough to keep their civilization bottled up on Earth alone anymore, and colony projects to Mars and other space stations were coming along nicely now that space travel within system was a non-issue. However, going beyond that had thus far proved untenable until last month.

Rather than gazing up at the heavens, Alexia’s focus was on the milling statesmen preparing themselves for the morning session to begin. The massive holographic clock above the chairman’s seat declared it was nearly eight o’clock local time January 12th of 2120. There was an electric buzz in the atmosphere, a strange mix of excitement and dread in equal measure.

Normally, Alexia was absent from such sessions since she was not an elected official, and had no authority over the legislative body. Yet authority was not the only way to have power. Presently, she was content to sit back and quietly eat her breakfast. Alexia was wearing a light blue summer dress that complimented her azure mane and silver fur to a lovely degree. Around her neck, the royal necklace made by her three soul mates glittered from the loving maintenance of its bearer. Upon her face was the latest in unobtrusive Magitech that she was personally giving a field test: A smart uplink headset. The wafer thin headset elegantly curved around the contours of her face and the spiral groove of her horn. It was colored silver so it blended seamlessly in with her coat. Thanks to the presence of her horn, all the information the headset gave her could be passed through the ivory spire without the need of an eyepiece.

Reacting to minute flicks with her magic, Alexia marked each politician with a holographic overlay that was visible only to herself. Feras Carlson. He’s admittedly anti-antagonistic. I doubt he’ll vote no, but he’s going to make sure the Navy’ll have political wrinkles in their rules of engagement. She moved on to mark every statesman and matching them to the file she had with each one. By the time the bells chimed to begin the session, she had each member highlighted in her personal Heads Up Display.

Of the ninety one seats in house, thirty seven of them were filled by ponies. The human chairman entered a few commands in his station to alert the news crews across the chamber. Most people paid only cursory attention to Senate, a sentiment Alexia Tune normally shared, but today was history. “Please be seated, ladies and gentlemen.”

He waited a minute for everyone to focus. “We’ll begin the session with resolution 12-49C. The Sol Defense Force has perfected their long-range teleportation system. Ever since the origins of the Mion Meteor were determined in the late 2020’s, it is now possible to begin scouting missions into Koridost space. The DF is requesting permission to proceed with these operations, and if necessary, begin hostile actions in the application of war in defense of our world. The proponent of this action, Senator Filibuster, will now speak.”

Upon the large plain white walls of the senate chamber, real-time polls appeared as a pie graph for the citizens of the seven original surviving nations appeared with an eighth larger graph representing the whole consensus was situated on top. Each of those nations had greatly expanded their territory into the various fallen countries. Even after a hundred years, terrans still hadn’t fully repopulated the world, and with colonizing incentives starting to make headway into the media, it was likely to take a long time indeed to reach pre-war population levels.

By in large, the Earth’s population was already declaring over half were in support of the position, while forty percent remained undecided. I may or may not have slipped I was in favor of this bill passing, Alexia mused with unabashed mirth. I do my best to keep my views personal, but I wasn’t going to remain neutral on this one.

Can’t truly blame those on the fence and the naysayers though, Alexia Tune thought darkly. I’m the only living person who personally remembers the Mion War. Aurora and Violet were much too young to remember any of it except for reconstruction.

Her headset chimed an alert, causing a momentary distraction as text scrolled across the left side of her vision.

Light Dome test scheduled today at 1300 hours local time. Prepare accordingly.

Alexia didn’t get a chance to contemplate the test when a pale blue earth pony garbed in a smart black suit took the speaker’s podium. His face appeared above him along the wall hologram so no one would miss his facial expressions. “Thank you, chairman.”

He sipped some water and cleared his throat away from the mic. “Though known to us all, I feel the effects of the Mion War and subsequent reconstruction need to be restated, no matter how many documentaries we’ve suffered over the years.”

Alexia rolled her eyes. There were at least thirty based on my activities alone during that time.

“Billions dead,” Filibuster stated definitively. Even today, it was hard for people to truly comprehend such a large number of people. “The near collapse of civilization, and our erasure from history was the threat the greatest generation of our time.” Whatever minor small chat had been going on was silenced. The polls slightly shifted to in favor. “The Mions and their Koridost masters wanted nothing less than our complete and total annihilation. The Russell Ferret documentary: The Mind Behind the Red, was one that struck me very hard in my youth. Not only due to the sheer scale of the Mion’s crimes being laid bare for all to see, but that such a large number of pony collaborators either willfully joined the Mions’ efforts, or were brainwashed into doing so.” He paused to wipe a few tears from his eyes, but his voice remained level. “The Mions wanted to destroy all traces of human civilization from the modern day clear back to the earliest cave paintings.”

Filibuster took a moment to survey the senate chamber, focusing more on his political opponents. “This was not some enemy trying to crush us. They were not trying to simply defeat us. No. They tried to remove the fact that the people of Earth ever existed in the first place. They tried to erase us! That was their goal. And just to add salt on the wound, the fact that the Koridost didn’t even have the god damned common courtesy to do it themselves is utterly abhorrent. Any discussion presented here today should be a formality at best. The Mion virus was specifically tailored to attack humanity,” he banged his hoof on the podium. “This wasn’t just some catch-all virus. All the evidence from captured computer data to prisoner accounts all say the same thing. This was a targeted attack.”

The polls leaned towards being dominated for agreement of the bill. “We don’t know when, but in all likelihood the Koridost will eventually come here to collect their prize. Only they will find that we’re still here, standing strong and resilient. I for one will not see our world burn twice. It is our duty as loyal terrans of Sol to green light the budget expansion of the Defense Force. The sooner we start investigating the Koridost, the sooner we learn how to defend ourselves against them. And then, to return the favor our billions dead demand!”

Alexia only half listened to the stallion speak long and passionately about his view of the proposition. He may be relying on the old tactic of fearmongering and spinning patriotic fervor, but underneath it all, he has a point. If nothing else, we need to know our enemy to defeat him, with either words or weapons.

Filibuster ended his speech shortly there after, leaving the polls spiking at 85% for the proposition. Alexia snorted in vast amusement. Wow, that must have been his shortest speech yet. The chairman read from his podium for a moment before looking back up to his fellow statesmen. “Representative Dieter Kauf has the floor.”

A small robotic server robot came out of a wall and took Alexia’s empty plate away. An alert on her HUD popped up with Aurora Sky’s head appearing to the right. Her head was outlined with a faint blue circle surrounding it with ‘Aurora Sky live’ orbiting the edge. Aurora’s long two toned blue mane had the unkempt look of a mad scientist, with stray hairs spilling out of a hastily-tied ponytail.

Alexia accepted the call and Aurora’s slightly human-ish face became a live projection. Alexia reflexively glanced at Aurora’s ears. Thirty years and counting since she got over that human ear phase. Good, they were a miserable look on her. I’m just glad she’s always kept her lovely snow-white color and most of her muzzle every time she fiddles with her form. The multi hued blue-maned alicorn was using a similar headset to her mother, though it didn’t show in her portrait. “Testing live-com. How’s New York treating you, momma?”

There was a minor delay on the senate floor, allowing Alexia to give her daughter more attention. “Quite well actually. My meeting with eastern HQ ironed out the issues we had with Chaplin's proposal to the board. Plus, now that everything’s been cleared up for me stepping back into a silent partner role within the corporation, I’ll be able to join the first group to the Koridost star system without scaring the shareholders.” Alexia glanced over to the large holographic clock. “For now though, I was planning on seeing a Broadway play since they reopened Studio 54 as a historic site.”

“Well you might want to hold off on that,” Aurora added with growing excitement. “I think I found father’s reincarnation!”

Alexia’s heart skipped a beat and her face betrayed her shock. “Are you certain? Have you approached him yet?”

Aurora wavered her head and gave a ‘sorta kinda’ expression while sending a picture over. A rotating 3-D photo of a rich blue unicorn mare with sea foam green wavy mane appeared to the right of Aurora’s face. A cutie mark depicting a kite shield superimposed over a mage’s staff. By Alexia’s assessment, the mare couldn’t be a day over seventeen years old. “She’s a mare, actually.”

The gender didn’t matter to Alexia as she studied the picture carefully, only if it was really one of her soul mates. “Sensei Twilight told me to expect changes in tribe and gender but the reincarnated would bear a strong resemblance to the original. Plus the personality would be pretty close as well, along with a lot of déjà vu around other Soul-Linked. That being said, what makes you think she your father? The only similarity is the shield part of her cutie mark.”

“Hey, even the Equestrians said colors could change, and Celestia only knows of like, four generations of Twilight and her friends, if that? Besides, our Tree isn’t the same as the one they have on Equiis. There’s a lot of factors that could be at work that we don’t know about.”

Alexia gave her daughter a grumbling scowl, but there was no ill-will behind it. “Alright, you have a point. Anything else?”

“Yeah, she came up to me at the Burger Shack back home, and she surprised me by starting a conversation like we were old friends. She spent everything she had to move to Trinity.”

“She didn’t try to kiss your hoof or beg for you to bless her soda first?” Alexia teased with a toothy smirk.

“That was one time!” Aurora flustered with pouting lips and reddened cheeks. Alexia chuckled inwardly. “Anyway, it was great having a new face that didn’t prostrate themselves the moment she came up to me, so we started chatting for what ended up being four hours. She talks just like dad did, it felt like I’ve known her all my life.”

“What’s her name?”

Aurora gave her a perplexed look. “I didn’t post it with the picture?” Alexia shook her head. “Gah, that’s one more bug I’ll need to fix. Her name’s Aquaria.”

“Heh, you sure it’s not Crimson?”

“Positive. I know my father.” Aurora’s stern visage convinced Alexia her daughter had no doubts.

The longer Alexia studied the blue unicorn, the more she felt her heart tug towards her. “We can’t jump the gun here. Granted the mane and coat colors don’t need to be a perfect match, this is suspect. Even if she is Conrad, Aquaria’s her own mare. Twilight and Celestia said she wouldn’t remember anything of her previous life. Of course, they didn’t account for Loki, but she’s always been one to defy the norm.” Alexia couldn’t help but to smirk at the thought of Loki. “It’s also a possibility that my soul-forge works differently than Twilight’s. Either way, we need to take this at her pace, going too fast could end up pushing her away.”

Aurora gave a pleading grin and sad puppy dog eyes. “Can I please at least invite her for dinner tonight? I know you don’t want to get your hopes up, but it’s worth a shot.”

Sighing heavily, Alexia cast a searching gaze at her pleading daughter. “If you’re that sure about it then you have my blessing. We won’t know if she’s Conrad until I meet her in any event.”

“Yea!! Thanks momma, I’ll make sure to pass the news to Violet. See you later!” Aurora’s blissfully beaming face vanished along with Aquaria’s image.

Polite clapping brought Alexia’s attention back to the senate floor. Feras Carlson was patiently waiting for the applause to die down from his perch on the speaker’s platform. The polls had changed little during Aurora’s conversation, with only minor drops in approval from China and Germany.

“My fellow terrans,” Carlson began with charismatic confidence. “I know many of you are fully aware of the scars our world still suffers. The lives lost, the cultures destroyed, and the wounds upon our collective psyche still weep even over a century later,” he jammed a finger on the podium to push his point.

“We have made some progress.” He paused for but a moment to gauge the crowd. “Magitech shield generators cover every city. Emergency services have extended mandatory biohazard training, we’ve spent trillions on the collection of Aegis Space Stations to serve as an early warning system and defense platform. The cost of all this defense spending is exorbitant, made possible only because of off-world mining efforts.

“Now, that is not to say I disapprove. On the contrary, any one of you can see I have historically supported the defense initiative.”

Alexia narrowed her gaze. What’s he playing at?

“I support Resolution 12-49C in every way, except” his gaze hardened, “for how our brave soldiers will enact this legislation. We need to be brutally honest with ourselves.” He glanced up at Alexia’s balcony, meeting her eyes for but a moment. “It has been over a hundred years since the Herald was destroyed. So where are the Koridost?” He made a dramatic shrug. “If they wanted our world for colonization, doesn’t it seem strange that we haven’t even seen so much single ship or second meteor?”

He’s really on his game today, Alexia mused with a slight nod of respect.

Carlson visibly calmed down. “I will admit that our ability to detect any starship is probably woefully inadequate. Even though the subspace transceiver we recovered and reverse engineered has indeed revealed scores of alien communications that we were previously unable to detect. However much of it is encrypted, so unless the Navy managed to crack the code within the past ten minutes, we’re still in the dark.

“All we know for sure, is that someone is out there.” Carlson made sure to look at each camera as he pointed to the sky. “The question I present is; is it worth poking the hornets’ nest?” He made a show of shuffling papers to give people time to consider his words. “Ultimately, for the good of our world, we have to assume someone still remembers us. Bunkering up and keeping our heads down could just as easily spell the end of our civilization as the meteor almost did if the Koridost do remember us.

“I strongly suggest, however, that we take our teleportation-aided investigations with extreme discretion. We must act with the olive branch first, and the sword only as the very last resort.”

Alexia tapped into social media via her headset and saw a virtual explosion of chatter about Carlson’s latest declaration. With a few flicks of her magic, Alexia created a few filters to focus on those denouncing the man. He’s playing it dangerously.

One particular post on a political website caught her eye. “Like he’s trying to make a deal with a Super Hitler.” Well if the Koridost are like we think they probably are, it would be an apt description.

As if mirroring the world’s clamor, the senators were also ill at ease. Nearly all of them had been for military action or for avoiding action against the Koridost entirely. To his credit, Carlson continued undaunted. “The reason why, is that we know absolutely nothing about the Koridost as a people. Was the attack on our world a government sanctioned action, or the efforts of a minor faction?”

He’s using the same stance I’ve been standing on for the past hundred years, Alexia mused respectfully.

“What we need is information,” Carlson pressed adamantly. “I will leave it to the generals and admirals to figure out the critical details, and act in the best interests of Sol. What I do know, is that if we start a war against what could quite possibly be an intergalactic civilization, we stand little to no chance against them.”

Alexia’s social media feed rebounded with thousands of people mirroring Carlson’s demand for discretion. The silver alicorn shook her head in playful exasperation. That’s what people get for instantly jumping on a single phrase before the man could finish. He knows he can’t beat the proposition, so he’s going for plan B. I can live with that.

Fully expecting the bill to pass, Alexia departed the balcony and into the hallway where a pair of human guards in black suits waited for her, a gangly tall one and a short one. “Gentlemen, please pass along my apologies to Studio 54 that I’ll have to miss tonight’s performance.”

The short guard nodded curtly. “As you order.” He got his smart phone out and made the call while Alexia turned to the other guard.

“It looks like I’ll be heading home early. Please inform the Security Center that I wish to use a teleport with a forward spin of 12.598.”

“I had no idea you had hardware that could control the spin down to three decimal places, Princess,” Tall said with genuine amazement.

“It’s a new prototype,” she answered with a gentle smile. “If all goes well, expect it on the market in a few months.”

“Most impressive,” He responded before pressing his earpiece and relayed her request. Must be dangerous being the one testing the bleeding edge.

Alexia’s magical senses felt the anti-magic screen around the building shift a few moments later. As with every government building, anti-magic screen technology had evolved to allow telekinesis and nothing else. A rotational shift like this was used so unicorn security personnel could perform their duties in an emergency.

The headset chimed when the selected rotation was free of interference. Letting her spell form, she could feel the headset react, take hold of her spell, and mold it to the proper frequency. She activated the spell as soon as the second alert dinged.

A moment later, Alexia winked back into existence a few meters from her limousine in the parking garage. The expansive parking area’s silence remained unbroken, her hooves making none of the familiar clip-clopping sound thanks to the soft soled shoes. Snorting in playful disgust, she found her driver was reclined in his seat and snoring away with his butler-esk uniform cap covering his face.

Rolling her eyes with a mirthful grin, Alexia tapped the glass. The man jumped in his seat and gave her a sheepish half-smile while fumbling to roll the window down. “What am I going to do with you, Skippy?”

The weathered old man groaned helplessly. “You know me, Princess. The misses is a howling banshee out for my blood every night.”

“Uh huh. The only woman you’re married to is the bottle.”

He unlocked the passenger door with an oily grin. “You wound me greater than that Bosnian did back in ‘78. You remember that one where we wreaked three whole platoons by ourselves?” Alexia said nothing, but he could see the slight upward twitch of her lips. “It’s a sad day indeed when you don’t wanna reminisce about the good ol’ days.”

Entering the vehicle from the rear driver-side door, Alexia settled in. “I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff over the years, old friend. I wasn’t exactly thinking logically back then.”

“Ha! As if logic ever did anything for me. So where to?”

Glad he still has the sense to drop it. “The airport’s tele-gate terminal, if you please.”

“Glad to see you took my advice in avoiding the theater,” he chuckled heartily as he took the car out of the parking lot. “I don’t care if Cats is a ‘classic’ or not. It’s the work of the Devil I tell you. Cat-people... t’ain’t natural ta wanna lick yourself in areas like that, uh hmm.”

“What would I ever do without your sage advice,” Alexia teased, not that the driver seemed to notice her tone.

“Probably make the same mistake I did getting married a second time. Have I ever told you about the time Jaqueline and I fought for forty days and forty nights?”

“The one where she flooded the basement after revealing herself as a double agent for Viadata?” Alexia was glad the privacy screen hid her chuckling smile at the crotchety old man.

As he started going on and on about his busy life, Alexia tuned the old man out. The New York skyline held her attention more than tall tales. Much of the pre-war infrastructure was badly damaged shortly after the Herald’s destruction. The regional Mions attacked before the Herald’s absence could totally rob them of their intellect.

Ultimately, it gave New Yorkers an excuse to rebuild with a possible space-bound invasion in mind. Situated near Sol headquarters was a small collection of eighty-one story towers that thrummed with massive amounts of stored mana. The interconnected complex took up five city blocks and looked akin any other post-war skyscraper. Alexia, however, knew better. The majority of the interior was dominated by huge mana arrays and crystals.

Light Dome test imminent.

With a flicker of magic, Alexia removed the HUD overlay to see normally as the tower activated. A thick sheen of deep navy blue mana exploded outward a minute later. Her driver grumbled and spit curses as the tidal wave of mana passed over him, causing an oppressive tingling sensation over their bodies. The feeling reminded him too much of the less glamorous parts of his career. Luckily, Alexia was used to it through a lifetime of spellcasting.

The wave of mana spread out with a radius of eight miles. The tower was a glowing beacon of energy that nearly blinded Alexia until she curtailed her magical senses. The tower’s mana saturated every citizen and building within New York to the point that it burned out numerous civilian model anti-magic fields that were carelessly left active.

Tapping into her headset, Alexia was pleasantly surprised the computer already had satellite feed coming in. The live feed from space revealed the city had disappeared completely, leaving nothing but a forest and untouched nature. Even flocks of birds and fauna were present. Her position within Sol’s department of defense allowed her clearance to tap into the tower’s mission control chatter.

“Visible light screen active and functioning,” one operator said.

“Thermal signature masked with a point oh oh nine degree margin of error. Correcting.”

“Electromagnetic spectrum reads zero. Background levels only.”

She grinned as each test revealed the city was for all intents and purposes completely invisible to any outside observer. Good thing HQ’s renovation crew had the foresight to bury all the shielded power and tele-com lines so this won’t interrupt the senate broadcast nor have detectable power readings on the edges. Alexia’s car moved into heavier traffic and dense city blocks, breaking her sight of the tower. Let’s hope this fools any ships the Koridost send. Assuming they haven’t already.

Primary test complete.

Alexia saw the heavy mana fade away, revealing New York for all to see.

Five hours until barrier projection test.

“Hmm, well I should be long gone before then sadly.”

While undetectable to most, Alexia’s headset augmented senses saw each skyscraper in the city was drawing all of the loose mirage mana expended by the test into themselves before funneling it back to the tower along the sewer system. The overall action between the tower and the skyscrapers still ended with a net-increase in atmospheric mana levels.

Outside of that, other improvements had been implemented into New York to truly make it a city worthy of the 22nd century. All freight and mass transit systems were completely automated and took up either elevated rail or subway networks, leaving the streets to individually driven cars and pedestrians. Every surface of the buildings, glass or otherwise, converted sunlight to power and from there to mana.

There were countless other improvements at various levels with perfected mana control being the chief improvement across the globe. With innovative concentration technologies, mana-fuelled cars outpaced internal combustion over fifty years ago in both power, operational range, and most importantly, price.

“You want to listen to the news?” Alexia’s driver barked back at her while turning the radio up without waiting for a response. Not that he needed to because Alexia wanted to catch up on the latest anyway.

“Welcome back to the Assassination News Squad!” a fast slightly scratchy masculine voice said. “I’m your host Mark Caplin!”

“And his co-host Timothy Zaner,’ said a more deliberate husky man.

“The latest update on the Anti-Koridost legislation is looking like it’ll pass, but the public backing Carlson’s call for discretion is at an all time high. No doubt the Navy’s going to be pissed about a certain individual calling for that session to be open to public voting.”

“Do you really think the world would have accepted anything less? We’re only talking about the possibility of bringing a bunch of murderous aliens down on top of us,” Timothy added with heavy sarcasm.

“I’d say let them come!” Mark shot back with a rocket salvo sound effect backing him up. “With teleportation tech able to get us across the stars, what’s to stop the marines from porting inside any hostile fleet that takes up orbit? We go in there, kill the crew, and either scuttle the ship or better yet, take it for ourselves!”

Alexia rolled her eyes. It’s so easy to talk strategy from ignorance.

“Well when our generals are out of ideas I’m sure we’ll all come running to you. Now to our required one minute off topic coverage. Hanz Welerson, the last surviving first generation terran pony, died yesterday at the ripe old age of 165.”

“That’s assuming you ignore Princess Alexia Tune,” his counterpart amended with an implied wolf whistle. “I swear, you look at the early pictures of her, she seems to prefer growing rather than aging. I don’t care what anyone says, she’s the only female out there who truly lives up to that old saying ‘aging like fine wine.’”

Alexia scowled angrily. “Do these guys have no shame? Talk about the dead one second and then my ass the next.” A small part of her took joy in the fact that humans found her attractive though.

“As much as we all enjoy you're lusting fascinations, Timothy” the other man said with irritation that matched Alexia’s own, “you do bring up an interesting topic with her. What exactly is she a princess of? Aside from her, there isn’t any other surviving royal family aside from hers. It’s an outdated title is what it is.”

“What is this? A news channel or a talk show?” Alexia grumbled as she banged a hoof on the intercom to speak with her driver. “Harry, what is this crap we’re listening to?”

“Only the best talk show on this side of the world!” he chuckled back. “You need to get rid of that stick up your ass and lighten up.”

“How big can that stick be if I put up with you?” she countered snidely, only for him to laugh it off.

“Touché.”

With the airport still not in sight, Alexia slouched in her seat and pulled some snacks out of the mini-fridge.

“You know as well I do our equine brothers and sisters wouldn’t call her anything else, except demi-goddess,” the radio blared.

Alexia idly munched on some trail mix while impatiently tapping the the doorframe with a wing elbow. It took years to get people to finally settle on the ‘demi’ part. At least that way the press doesn’t go for the jugular every time I make a mistake.

Timothy’s radio partner sounded as if he’d heard this argument a dozen times over. “Call her a demi-goddess all you want, but I still say princess is obsolete. She has no actual state or territory she rules, and Alexia has historically shown no desire to do so. Crackpots aside anyway. If anything, people should be calling her Director since she owns Magitech Valley and majority shares with-”

The news cut out and was thankfully replaced by modern music. Alexia hummed at it. Sounds like jazz, with hints of old swing music mixed with electronica. I like it.

She barely completed that thought before her driver grumbled over the intercom. “You don’t need anything to stroke that ego of yours.”

She only shrugged in response. “You’re the only reason we were still listening to that in the first place.”

He prattled on about conspiracies and nonsense, but Alexia just cut the commlink. Instead, she chose to enjoy the music the rest of the way to the airport. The automatic hoof buffer next to her seat proved heavenly. By the end of it, she was bouncing a mathematically perfect manicured hoof to the beat when the car came to a stop in front of two marines, one earth stallion and a woman, in full body power armor.

Slipping her four shoes back on, Alexia cleared her throat and adopted a regal poise. She grabbed the purse and stepped outside. Upon exiting the limousine, she withdrew her ID card which projected a minute hologram of a constantly shifting chaotic mass of letters and numbers within a two inch sphere. A small probe extended from the stallion’s armor and scanned the hologram.

“Welcome to JFK International, Princess Alexia,” he and his partner snapped to attention and saluted. Even with her unique appearance, Alexia demanded that even she be screened by security.

“Thank you, Corporal Rap Tap.” Alexia returned her ID card to her purse. “I trust the tele-gate is ready for use.”

“Last I heard, my Goddess.”

Alexia was about to walk past him when his comment stopped her. Truth be told, it had been decades since anyone called her that, and she wasn’t about to let it slide now. “Stow that talk while you’re in that uniform, Corporal,” she scolded with harsh regal authority. Both soldiers siffened at the heated mare. “And even then, use the whole title.”

Burning with embarrassment not only in front of Alexia, but his partner, who would no doubt taunt him relentlessly, Rap Tap bowed deeply. “My apologies, Demi-goddess. Private Chambers will escort you to the gateway.”

Alexia turned to the woman who swept an arm towards the doors. “This way please.”

Nodding in acknowledgement, Alexia cantered after the marine. The moment I start letting them drop the ‘demi’ part, is when they’ll forget I’m not a true god. And if that happens, how long would it take before I start believing the lie?

The tele-gate was not open for public use so Alexia only found military personnel around her as she was led through what used to be the far end of the civilian terminals. The military section was cordoned off by soldiers and solid white walls that could be easily removed later when it was finally open for public use.

In an act of good humor, or irony, the portal was waiting for her at the old airplane gates. The portal itself was an skeletal cube measuring three meters in diameter. Thick power antenna blanketed the top of the cube which allowed wireless mana feeds. The portal cube was flanked by numerous consoles with only three technicians hard at work. A good step forward from the dozen scientists and engineers that it took to run the prototypes thirty years ago, Alexia mused with a hint of pride for her fellow terrans.

With the rise of computer aided spellcasting, teleportation software was tightly controlled to the point of being a federal security secret. Various safeguards were put in place such as making the software delete itself or even self-destruct the storage device if anyone but the authorized user handled it. Even then, the risk of criminalist natural teleport casters was almost non-existent since anti-magic technology saturated the market. Only the trio of terran alicorns knew how to bypass such fields, and they weren’t telling anyone.

With their arrival at the gate, Alexia’s escort bid her farewell to return to her post. The elderly human chief technician was waiting for her with a polite smile. “Ah, Director Tune how are you this fine day?” he said with a flourishing bow and presented a cupped hand.

Giggling in good humor, Alexia unfurled a wing and let him grasp her wing elbow and plant a gentlemanly kiss upon it. “May you never change, Robert.”

Giving her a warm nod and smile, Robert spun around to wave at his underlings. “We’ve made some improvements to our start up time since our last update report in December. Least of which was curbing the power consumption by a whole percent!” He took a moment to bask in the steady progress. “The calculations for the gate in Trinity are complete and the coils are spooled up for you.”

“As punctual as ever.” Alexia gave him a sly look as she stepped over to the center of the hollow cube. “I knew there was a reason I promoted you. Have a good day, Robert.”

“You as well, Director.” Robert looked to his followers as Alexia was presented a chair to sit in. “Alright, ladies and gentlemen, from the top.”

As the team went to work, Alexia watched the floor open to allow panels to slide up and entomb her within the cube. She dampened her magic senses as much as possible to keep the rapid buildup of mana from blinding her.

A sudden build up buffeted her with waves of mana until what felt like a rippling massive energy passed through her. Alexia gasped reflexively at a sudden deafening quiet. The lights within the cube flickered on and the walls slid noisily into the floor to reveal she was in the old Section Nine building.

A flash of giggling pink fur zipped in as soon as it could squeeze through the dropping walls. “Heyya Alex!”

Alexia was disorientated between the furry attack and trying to bring her senses back to normal. It took her a few seconds to shake off the after effects of the teleport and realize the lump of fur clinging to her was a pink furred and blond-maned young adult mare.

A massively warm smile covered Alexia face as she scooped up the bubbly mare and squashed her in a hug of her own. “How was your day, Nova?”

“Great!” Nova gushed as she bounced off of Alexia and started scampering around the room. “I aced my physics and magic theory finals! But most importantly, I finally graduated!!”

Several company employees sweated at the disruption. A pegasus stallion garbed in a mid-level engineer uniform sweated by the nearby console until the walls fully lowered before rushing over to Alexia. “My apologies, Director. I don’t know why security keeps letting her slip by every time you return.”

Nova ducked over to get Alexia between her and the encroaching engineer. She hissed and cattily swatted a hoof at him. Alexia rolled her eyes and smothered Nova with a wing. “I told you, Wilkins, that Nova is welcome to greet me at the gate. She won’t go into any restricted areas.”

Nova pushed her head out from behind Alexia’s silver wing. “Yeah, buddy, I’m one of the cool cats ‘round here!”

A security officer stormed through the open door at the far end of the room, revealing to Alexia just how recent Nova’s break in was. The guard quickly holstered his taser at the sight of the alicorn hiding the pink and blond unicorn. Alexia’s good humor could only go so far and glowered at Nova. “Alright, you, I’m getting you a special pass key so you will stop giving everyone in the company a heart attack every time you sneak in.”

The engineer stiffened while the guard relaxed a bit. “To be honest, Director, I don’t know what you see in this troublemaker. She’s a danger to corporate security.”

“Troublemaker is such a disingenuous accusation!” Nova huffed like a victorian noblewoman. “I am simply testing your security.” She gave the security guard half lidded eyes. “And I find it lacking.”

Alexia raised her other wing to hold off any further bickering. Nova’s true nature, and the soul-forge in general, was a carefully guarded secret that not even the herd’s descendants knew about, save for the alicorn sisters. “Nova is a personal friend of mine. I’ll have security issue her a passkey.” She looked to the officer. “Was sneaking in all she did?”

The man crossed his arms and snorted a thin smile at the young mare. “No, ma’am, she somehow got into the security center and unscrewed the nuts and bolts from the chairs before coming here. The chief’s pissed.”

Alexia gave the pink unicorn a death-glare and used her magic to shift Nova’s mane around to find the wrench and screwdriver hidden within. “At least you had old age to slow you down the last time you tried pulling this crap,” she hissed barely loud enough for Nova to hear.

Nova could only manage to give a pleading grin with drooped ears. Alexia spoke after giving the engineer the tools. “Alright, make sure to use a class five mana dampener around the building. The last thing we need is her doing the same thing to anything important.”

“That would be much appreciated, Director.” The engineer took the tools as Alexia charged her horn. With a flash of azure light, Alexia and Nova were transported to the Royal Manor.

The manor’s basement used to be a series of bedrooms occupied by the herd’s numerous children. With the house being nearly empty for decades, it had been repurposed with one of the rooms housing a scaled-down one-way version of the cube-gate. This one was short ranged by comparison, and was designed to pull Alexia to the house with the proper hearth charm.

This was not the first time Nova had been pulled along with Alexia to this gate, so she was no worse for wear and merrily jumped away towards the door even before the lights flickered on. “Come on, Aly Corny, I still have to figure out what to wear for dinner!”

“Hold up a minute, Nova,” Alexia commanded tersely. The green and pink unicorn spun around to find Alexia with her patented lecture face. “I’m glad you’re back, and that you apparently have most of your first incarnation’s memories.” I’m just going to chalk that up to Nova being Loki. “But that doesn’t give you carte blanche to rampage through my company.”

A shadow passed over Nova’s face. The prankster disappeared from her face and was replaced by genuine repentance. She shrunk back a bit with a hoof and her ears wilted. “Sorry, Princess. Sometimes I let my old memories get the better of me. At least it’s gotten better since I came back to Trinity and met you. But it’s more like…” Nova furrowed her brow and tried to think of the right words for her feelings, but her brain failed her. “I don’t know. It’s getting harder to know where my old self ends and I begin.”

Alexia’s ire dimmed along with her scowl. “I know, dear. Just remember, you may have been Loki the earth pony, but you are still your own person as Nova the unicorn. Don’t forget either side of you.”

Nova scuffed the carpet irritably. “That’s better than what my therapist used to tell me.” Lousy prick. “Anyway, is it okay if I borrow some cash? I’m kinda broke. My folks cut me off yesterday since it was my 18th birthday.” She gave a depressed ‘yay’ with a limp hoof wave.

“Of course you can. But you know, you hated your first life’s parents too,’ Alexia added with a sad sigh. “Isn’t there any possibility in reconciling with them this time?”

“Hell no!” Nova raged more at her distant parent herd, than at Alexia. “Maybe that just means I’m doomed to always have shitty parents. At least as a human I only had to suffer two at a time.”

“Perhaps,” Alexia huffed. I really don’t want to have this conversation again. I’m just glad she got out of there as young as she did. “You haven’t told them the nature of our relationship, have you?”

“Nope. For all they know, I’m some pilgrim, who's over here to worship the ground you walk on, which is just fine by me. I’d rather let them think I’m some deadbeat than Loki’s reincarnation anyway. All I’d ever see of them would be their hooves out asking for your money.” Nova was so livid she was letting her mana boil around her horn.

I hope Conrad – Aquaria – had better luck with her parents this time around. “Speaking of money.” Alexia withdrew her wallet from her purse. “You’ve been keeping your budget low, so here’s a few extra hundred.” Despite her rage, Nova cooled herself enough to give heartfelt thanks. “Before you go out clothes shopping, however, you should know that Aurora thinks she found Conrad’s second life.”

“Really?” Nova’s original joviality returned in full force. “That’s so awesome! Wait…” she grew hesitant. “How can Aurora be so sure? I thought you said it takes one of the four of us to be in the same room to see the soul-tether.”

“It does,” Alexia answered with a respectful nod. She jerked her head to the door so Nova would follow her out. “Aurora’s basing it off her familiarity with her father, and how Aquaria, her name by the way, acts.”

“Does she remember anything of her old life, like I do?”

“No idea. Aurora texted me, saying she made reservations for us at The Fluffed Toque.”

Nova hummed in mild disapproval once they reached the main floor. “If it’s all the same to you, I’ll skip out for tonight. If she’s the real deal, lemme know, but until then I’d rather just go to the mall or Circuit Center to clear my head.”

With a great flap of her wings, Alexia flew up to the second story where her daughters’ rooms were. She looked back down to her old herd mate. “Sounds fair. No need getting both of us emotionally worked up if Aquaria ends up being a dud.”

“Thanks, Alexia. Hope it goes well!” Without further ado, Nova sprinted towards the garage, leaving Alexia free to search for her daughter.

Glad she’s working it all out in her head, Alexia mused with growing peace of mind. She was a mess when I first found her. For now though, I need to get Aurora. I hope she remembered to call Violet about Aquaria. She knows how attached Violet was to her father.

Author's Note

I know, I know, I said this would be a low priority. You can thank/blame Boldish for this short story being around. Hope you enjoyed it.

2: Dinner With your Demi-Goddesses

The Fluffed Toque was about as exclusive a restaurant as possible in Trinity. The business sat on the rooftop of an eighty nine story building with a gorgeous panoramic view over the glowing city. Polite chatter and gently clanking cutlery was moderately drowned out by Fusion music with roots from old blues and electronica that had taken the upper and middle class by storm. The future could truly be a bewildering place.

Aquaria stepped out of the elevator dressed in her best clothes, which sadly consisted of a red t-shirt that clashed horribly with her rich blue fur and some fake pearl clip on earrings. The only thing that looked of true wealth on her was a titanium necklace with a sapphire pendent barely an inch and a half wide.

Despite her bedraggled attire, she managed to have a decently styled mane and finely brushed coat. Alright girl. Just keep it together. You made it this far. You’ve suffered far more embarrassing things than this.

Aquaria let the other occupants of the elevator speak with the earth stallion host, giving her time to smoothen her shirt, no matter how tacky it looked. When she thought no one was looking, she breathed into her hoof and sniffed, only to be displeased with the result. What am I worried about? I just need to drop my name and Demi-Goddess Aurora Sky’s. He won’t say no to that!

Quickly drawing up a practiced dignified poise, she marched up behind the last herd who were being led to their seats. The tuxedoed stallion behind the maître d' podium had a hoof on the built in touchscreen as he updated the restaurant’s seating arrangement. He looked up when Aquaria gently cleared her throat. Between her hideous shirt and lack of product in her hair or fur, his instant reflex was to assume she was either lost or someone poor looking for work. The necklace gave him the idea it was stolen, but he couldn’t exactly call her out on it without proof.

The last thing that seemed out of place on her was a four year old model of a facial uplink computer. The maître d' remembered the headset being popular among the rich at the time. Similar to Alexia’s model, it was contoured to Aquaria’s face and melded into her fur color. The most telling aspect of its extremely high quality was the section that wrapped around the groove of Aquaria’s horn, eliminating the need for the eyepieces that had dominated such headwear since it was first introduce some ninety years ago. One of the more pertinent features coming to his mind being it couldn’t mold the users mana. If she happened to get rowdy, security could answer quickly enough to avoid a scene.

In the end, the host didn’t exactly know what to make of her, so he opted for emotionless professionalism. “Can I help you, Miss?”

“Yes, my name is Aquaria. I am here as a dinner guest of Princess Aurora Sky. I should be on the list.” Aquaria mentally commended her birth-mother’s lessons on dignified speech.

Those lessons seemed to be paying off because the host gave her a curious look rather than one of dismissal. “Aquaria, is it?... Hmm, yes. You’re in luck. The Demi-goddess arrived barely two minutes before you.”

I know, I purposely waited for her cause you’d never believe me if I came first.

“She is waiting at the presidential balcony.” The host tapped his touch screen and made a swiping gesture from the screen towards Aquaria. The act posted Aurora’s location on her HUD. “Have a good meal, Miss.”

“Thank you very much.” Aquaria curtsied as her mother taught her, and made her way towards Aurora’s table.

Aquaria made it a point to look straight ahead with her shoulders square to avoid eye contact with the throng of Trinity’s elite. At best, they wouldn’t even notice her, at worst, they would take pictures of her meeting with Aurora. Probably cause a scandal no doubt. I can just see the headlines now. It doesn’t matter. Aurora said she could help me fulfill this ache of longing.

Thanks to the digital overlay across her vision, Aquaria found the princess in short order. Unlike her mother and sister, Aurora Sky had long since transformed herself into a cross between human and pony. With the exception of her human torso, hands, and shorter than normal muzzle, Aurora looked like a pony who was more comfortable walking on her hind legs than on all fours. The alabaster half-pony had fur covering her entire body, but she still opted to wear a flowing purple manaweave top that elegantly wrapped around her womanly torso and had two billowing coattails that went down to her hooves. Despite dressing in that manner for all of Aquaria’s life she had heard there were still some people who would prefer the anthro princess to wear some form of pants or skirt. Aurora was far happier leaving her lower half to bare fur however, save for some comfortable shoes. The critics could complain all they wanted, but nothing was going to move Aurora from dressing as she wished, save cold weather.

Aurora had seen her first however and waved Aquaria over without any of the dignity her station demanded of her. Aquaria found the self styled scientist’s behavior to be refreshing, even more so since she decided to dress more formal. It was all a little strange coming from a being over a century old. Makes me wonder if she does that on purpose.

Trying and failing to emulate Aurora’s eccentric mirth, Aquaria quickly slid by two human waiters before coming up to the table and giving a slight bow. She already told me how much she despises genuflecting. Aquaria put on a genuine smile to hide her growling belly. “Princess Aurora, thank you for your time.”

“Please, sit,” Aurora Sky gestured to an open spot at the small round table. The restaurant’s simple AI locked on and teleported a comfortable pony style seat to the open space. She’s totally dad, I know it! But play it cool, can’t tip the hand just yet. She came to you to pitch her rare magic style for experimentation. Her ‘condition’ is just the secondary issue. No need to let her think there’s more to this meeting. Aquaria sat gracefully in the offered seat, but noted the two chairs were not on opposite sides of the table, as if Aurora was saving space for one more guest. “I can’t tell you how glad I am that you’ve taken an interest in my water magic.”

“Oh it’s really no problem, Miss Aquaria, my company’s water magic department could use some new blood.”

So far so good. She seems to really want my help. Maybe not even a demi-goddess can get access to natural water magi. “I’m glad I’ll have some way of repaying you for the meal and the assistance with that… problem of mine.”

“That strange emptiness you’ve felt since you were a child,” Aurora stated as fact, to which Aquaria nodded hopefully. “That is concerning I won’t lie. Though nothing major I’m sure, just something we’ll have to look into.”

No matter how much her upbringing commanded her to focus on the alicorn, Aquaria couldn’t stop her hungry eyes from glancing at the menu. The table was actually mana-formed crystal from the year 2078 that allowed holograms to be used right inside of the furniture. Deciding she didn’t truly care what she got as long as it was food, Aquaria brought her eyes back to focus on Aurora while tapping a random selection. Glad I’m not a vegetarian Earther.

“I’m sure there are other…” Aquaria staunchly refused to use the phrase ‘mental condition’. “Issues worse than mine. I only mentioned it last time because you said you had a close friend who suffered from it.”

“Nova, yes.” Aurora quickly scanned the menu for her favorite appetizer. The ritzy restaurant may have specialized in dishes from the long dead nations of France and Italy, but the hybrid still loved her onion rings dearly. Eh, I’ll just special order them “However, I don’t know if I can really help you with the issue,” Aurora was kind enough to use Aquaria’s term for it, “but I think my mother could.”

“You called?” a playful voice called out from above. Aquaria nearly fell out of her chair the moment Alexia Tune came in for a landing. Nary a second later the building computer teleported a chair over. Aquaria was completely stunned at Alexia’s arrival, but she felt she was able to conceal it as mild surprise.

“D-demi-goddess Alexia, it-it is an honor!” Approaching Aurora in such ragged clothing was bad enough, but to have two of her demi-goddesses present within a high society restaurant pushed Aquaria’s spirits to her limit.

“The honor is mine, actually.” Alexia’s comment put a bewildered halt on Aquaria’s downward spiral. The silver alicorn affixed the pensive unicorn with a gentle smile. “After all, when one of my daughters takes notice of someone, I do the same.”

“I’m just a duelist with some water magic secrets from my family line.” She coughed out of a brief renewal of embarrassment. My very brief family line at least.

“Really?” Alexia replied with interest. “You mean you’re a member of the IDA?” Aquaria nodded with measured enthusiasm. Alexia glanced at Aurora Sky who looked back at her with a playful grin. “It seems my daughter forgot to mention that,” Alexia lied smoothly to hide the fact she had researched Aquaria.

“I felt it would be more impactful if you heard it straight from her.”

“I must say I’m impressed, Aquaria. There are many who call sanctioned duelists modern chevaliers.” Alexia browsed the menu while glanced back and forth between it and Aquaria. “Not many can abide the Code D'honneur.”

Aquaria swelled with pride at her demi-goddess acknowledging her strong morality. “I thank you, Princess. I find the discipline it demands to be most spiritually rewarding.” A human might have taken the opportunity to ask why none of the alicorns chose to live the Code D'honneur, but Aquaria wouldn’t dream of it. The Congregation of Life always preached that they lived by their own higher code.

Aurora however, had already discussed that topic earlier, and decided to shift the conversation. “You don’t see many water magi in the Intercontinental Duelist Association. Few people can grasp it without computer assistance.”

Aquaria was starting to forget the shame of wearing rags in front of her deities. “You’re too kind, my Demi-goddess. My great grandfather, Kaspar Anders acquired a book on water magic the day he became a pony, and it was passed down to my herd-mother who in turn passed it down to me.”

Alexia hummed at that. For herd-borne ponies there were two types of mothers: herd-mother and birth-mother. “You must be very fond of your parent-herd. I’ve seen far too many mares only care about the children they give birth to.”

“I am, very much so. She’s also the one who taught me to be a duelist. My birth-mother wanted me to be a socialite to climb the ladder, but it was unbelievably dull.” She would say more slanderous statements, but her birth-mother’s teachings still firmly held her tongue.

“So where are they now?” Alexia paused as Aurora and Aquaria’s first course arrived. She waved off any offer from the others to wait for her before digging in, which gave her the excuse to keep talking. “Your family that is.”

“They’re in Cologne back in the Fatherland. I was sent abroad to join the duelist circles here in the Americas, though there have been problems with that. I was going to get a job at… that establishment when I saw you, Princess Aurora Sky,” Aquaria stated as she briefly shifted focus.

“And I offered you a job after hearing about your water magic,” the hybrid alicorn finished for her.

While Aquaria’s youth may have caused her to miss it, Alexia easily saw through her daughter’s scheme. She’s got a company black card for any expenses. Getting a water mage should be a non-issue. Then again, it’s believable enough. “Well I’m sure you’ll perform admirably.”

As the conversation moved further into job details and Aquaria’s dueling history, which she was very comfortable with, Alexia continued making discreet inquiries about the mare’s parent-herd.

Alexia had, of course, already deeply investigated Aquaria’s background in the past few hours since arriving back from New York. Most of what Aquaria had been saying concurred with the computer records. The herd, her great grandfather, the duelist registration was accurate, along with her moderate academic scores. Such is the life of a dueling socialite.

However, what Aquaria was saying through her clothes, rather than her words, was the recent accruement of massive family debts. Alexia’s search programs found they had started with medical bills from the grandparents, which eventually led to loan sharks getting involved.

However, all of that took a backseat as far as Alexia was concerned. While Aquaria was focused on Aurora during the conversation, Alexia weaved a quick soul-sight spell, and saw exactly what she had been hoping for: a brown thread connecting Alexia and Aquaria. The thread had long flitters of blue intermingled with the brown, just like how Nova’s green thread was shifting towards pink, reflecting the new person they had become.

We’ve been talking for about ten minutes now, Alexia thought as she kept stealing veiled glances at Aquaria. Let’s see if we’ve gained some results. She polished off some of her steak before speaking. “Aquaria, you mentioned you had some ‘other’ problem earlier.”

Alexia had timed her question just right as the young mare had been deliberately caught right after she had taken a bite. The pause gave her just enough time to realize that same emptiness which had haunted her since childhood seemed much weaker than before. “I did, yes.”

“I hope you don’t mind but I’ve been using the same technique I did with Miss Nova since first hearing about it. Have you noticed any improvements at all?”

“I ahh – I have, actually.” Aquaria was stupefied to find that ache in the back of her mind was no longer throbbing. It was only then that she seemed to truly look at Alexia. Like she saw her as something more than her Demi-Goddess, a figure, but something... she just couldn’t find the words. Maybe there were none.

Not that Alexia was going to let that slide though. “Tell me how you feel, no matter how personal. It might be the same way Nova was feeling.”

Though it was worded like a request, Aquaria wouldn’t have dreamed to deny Alexia her answer, personal embarrassment be damned. “As you wish, my Demi-goddess. It feels far too presumptive to say this, but it feels like I know you, personally. Far more than just what the church teaches, like I…”

“We’re making no judgements here, Aquaria,” Aurora stated placatingly. “You know we love all of our little ponies.”

It took her a few moments to wrestle with her pride, but the love of her patron deities was more than enough to win in the end. “You are far too kind.” Aquaria swallowed the lump in her throat. “I feel like I should be your protector. Though I don’t know of anything that could bring true harm upon you.”

Aurora shot her mother a text.

See? Who else but father would be so dead set on protecting someone who can’t die?

Anyone who wants an easy meal ticket.

Alexia responded. Still, I think her heart stands by her words. “Well then. I see no other reasonable recourse. Duelist Aquaria, I would like to extend my hospitality for you to stay at my manor.” She said officiously.

Aquaria’s fork clattered onto her plate with her jaw joining it a moment later. “Y-you – what!?”

Alexia’s tone remained calm and collected, but she allowed a thread of seriousness through. “Because you proudly wear the integrity of a duelist, I will tell you all I know of this problem of yours. However, I would prefer to speak of it in a more private setting. Is that fair to you?”

Aquaria grew cold at the idea her mental condition required secrecy, but she had too much faith to deny Alexia. “I will exercise discretion to the best that I am able.”

“Excellent, thank you for your trust, Aquaria.”

“Begging your pardon, Princess Alexia, but one does not simply say no to a demi-goddess as virtuous as you.”

“Oh I don’t know about that. I have my share of vices,” Alexia deadpanned, Aquaria was about to laugh at the assumed joke when Aurora butted in.

“Like Endless Sim Lover V? You play that thing every time you think no one’s in the house.”

“Well you can’t blame a mare for wanting some male company while she waits for a special someone,” Alexia countered as if she was talking about the weather. “Though I have to say,” she added with a fierce smirk at her daughter. “You’re not exactly perfect at hiding your activity on ESL either.”

“Ha! I just leave those bookmarks lying around so you can find the good stuff,” Aurora snarked back. “If you actually liked using a half human form, you’d open up so many different positions.”

Aquaria couldn’t quite believe the surreal conversation she seemed to be having with her Holy Idols. They… They’re talking about porn right in front of me?! This has got to be fake. That’s it! They’re only saying these things to make me feel better about how I also, nope! She blazed beet red with embarrassment.

She glanced about, but none of the passing staff or patrons within ear shot seemed to care in the slightest about how the demi-goddesses were discussing the pros and cons of pony vs anthro pleasure centers. This must be what Friar Lederhosen said about the demi-goddesses being of the flesh. Morbid curiosity got the best of her though. I wonder if their alicorn magic gives them limitless endurance.

The trio finished their main entry before Alexia returned her attention to Aquaria. “I think we got a little side tracked. Where were we?”

“Umm…” Aquaria’s brain had a brief disconnect. “...Oh! I think you were talking about how to assist me with my issue.” Aquaria breathed a sigh of relief at that section of the conversation being over. Porn was not a topic she was willing to discuss in public.

Alexia nodded in appreciation. “Ah thank you. To that end, I feel the best way to assist you is to be close by. If that is undesirable to you, I can always arrange lodgings for you elsewhere within the city.”

“Sounds like a reasonable offer to me,” Aurora added warmly. “The house is pretty close to my lab, so it would cut down on commute time.”

“A-a –aum – Yes! I don’t wish to be a burden,” Aquaria stammered out as she tried to smooth out the erratic hairs popping up from her mane and keep her sweating under control.

“Nonsense,” Alexia rebuked calmly, “ever since my grandchildren started families of their own, no one has time for dear old mum. Well, except this one and Vi.” She said gesturing to her daughter. “Apparently the charm of living with an alicorn wears thin after a decade or two,” Alexia added with a snarky chuckle. “Still, it's nice for them all to visit on the holidays.”

Aurora laughed politely, but knew all too well how lonely the house felt with only four people and a single maid.

What just happened!? I come here with water magic, I sit through my demi-goddesses just casually talking in detail about anthro porn like a couple of shameless old nags, and all of a sudden I’m invited to live into The Holy Manor? With said porn!?

The face of Aquaria’s blood-mother thundered into her mind while giving her a stink eye so powerful it could melt noses. Aquaria, you demean yourself! Sit up straight, withers back, and speak with the dignity and poise demanded by your station.

Unconsciously obeying, Aquaria took a deep breath and seemed to exhale all of her nervousness and wild excitement. “I would be most grateful to you, Demi-Goddess Alexia. I will endeavor to be of any assistance you require.”

“Glad to hear it.” A round of ice cream desserts arrived. “Now, I know you’re quite young to have had a very long one, but I’d be very interested in hearing about your duelist career.”

Out in the depths of space, far beyond Earth, the fabric of space warped in on itself. It roiled and churned until a spiky car sized probe fell out of a portal.

A blazing blue star hung just barely two astronomical units away with a number of planets within the probe’s sensor range. The artificial intelligence, 5206 Silent Witness, adjusted its cameras and antenna to gain its bearings.

Mission clock begin. Time to portal beacon activation: 72 hours.

Subspace scanner operational... Passive search initiated. Primary objective: locate source of automatic transmission.

Subspace around the star system was nearly devoid of anything outside of general background noise, aside from the single artificial broadcasting point. While 5206’s cameras and other passive sensors scanned the area for any indication of a starship, it focused its attention on locating the source of the transmission that had guided the terrans here. It helped that the signal corroborated with the original estimates of the Mion Meteor’s origins.

Signal decay at minimal levels… Preliminary theory suggests low power level or damaged transmitter. Potentially damaged computing system.

…

Signal code unencrypted. Language matches sample text from original transceiver. Translating… Incomplete sections unreadable.

Alert: Shipyard GTf-1042 under attack by (~) Requesting immediate reinforcements from (~). (Message repeats)

Signal origin is automated distress beacon, not biological. Logging.

…

Electronic security intact. Unable to breach station systems from the outside. Possibility of hostile AI at 89.543%. Canceling dialogue. Authorized Terran user required for future attempts.

The probe AI found a small moon with wreckage orbiting a large asteroid belt. Too large for natural formation at current location. Probability of moon being dislodged from orbit of local planet at 67.0023%. Implications unpleasant… Logging.

Aside from several blasted and blackened craters on the moonbase, there were a few darkened unpowered structures visible from 5206’s position. However all of the wreckage kept obscuring its cameras.

Starbase destruction confirmed… Follow up protocol 45-9 initiated. Scanning debris orbits to determine time of battle.

…

Power output on primary facility remains constant with 0.001% variance. Transmitter damage probability increased. No other power sources remain active.

…

Negative findings for active ships or probes. No other discernible artificial energy signatures detected.

Findings logged.

Continuing passive observation until Gate-Recall.

Violet Spark sighed as the station’s stadium sized portal winked out and fell back into her chair. “Alright, everybody, we’ve got three days. I want the Flicker’s crew on standby five hours before Witness returns. Terrene, you have the chair until then.”

The control room around her bustled to obey. The chamber itself was filled with twenty operators seated in front of holographic stations for functions ranging from portal controls to the comms officer. Fingers, hooves, and small bursts of magic danced over the commands to prepare the station for the Terrans’ first foray into Koridost space.

Violet stared up at the ceiling while various different outcomes filled her thoughts. Can’t let the Koridost capture a probe while our portal’s active. They could link it back to us. Not like we can power such a long distance portal for very long though anyway. For the time being though, I’ve taken care of everything on my end. Now I can join mom on the first manned-

Her thoughts were interrupted by a picture of a grinning kelp-green earth filly popping up in her HUD.

Call from Bell Pepper.

A large smile crossed her face as she left her chair and walked outside before accepting the call. “Hey my little Green Bean, you know you’re not supposed to call me during work.” The headset’s section that was wrapped around her horn glowed green to show others she was on the phone.

“Hey, Gramma!!” The filly’s voice cried out, completely ignoring Violet’s statement. “Are you excited for tomorrow, huh, huh, are ya, are ya!!??”

Violet stepped towards an outer walkway where a vast window curved around the station’s command section and afforded a side view of the facility. “You know I am! Family day is best day, right?”

Pepper giggled manically. “I can’t wait to see you! I got you a bow tie for your mane! And not just any bow tie! I got a super special one fit for my super special alicorn Gramma!”

“Did you now? Well I can’t wait even more to see you!” The filly bubbled with laughter.

“Aah, momma’s home! She might know I was calling you at work, see you bye bye!”

Violet snorted in amusement as her granddaughter hung up abruptly. “That girl is going to be as much trouble as herd-momma Loki was. Poor Creative Constant, she’s got her hooves full with that one.”

Pausing a moment to center herself, Violet gazed out of the large windows. The command/living quarters of the station were the size of a football field and two stories tall. The massive portal ring attached at a perpendicular angle. Paired together, the whole station took on the appearance of a wedding ring hanging in low orbit above the moon.

I think it’s time to go home. I have to get ready for Family Day, and Sis thinks she found daddy’s new reincarnation. A melancholy frown marred her face as she placed a hoof on the glass, staring out to the blue and white orb that was her home. This Aquaria person may not be my father, or even act like him…

But if there is anything of him in her, then I want to be a part of his… her new life.

With renewed hope, Violet departed for the planetary teleporter. Although, due to the late hour, Violet would have to wait until morning to speak with her reincarnated father.

As she walked, she smiled and exchanged courteous nods to passing personnel. However, her mind was elsewhere when she started going over several e-mails both her sister and mother sent her while Violet was working. Interesting. Aquaria might not be that different from daddy if she’s a duelist.

Fond memories of her father’s aerial combat instruction bubbled to the surface. I may not be a duelist, but I wonder if Aqua will spar with me. A faint smile crept across her lips. It’ll be like old times, daddy.

3: Extended Family Day

First generation pony families tended to be quite large, be it overexcitement, unfamiliarity with equine hormones, or simply responding to the call for planet-wide repopulation. Whatever the case may be, it had a snowballing effect for one particular bloodline.

Alexia Tune stood at a raised platform around the Trinity baseball stadium’s home plate while a hundred years’ worth of her descendants jammed out to a DJ playing Neo-Rock. Ponies blanketed the rented sport’s field, dancing, talking, or otherwise having fun. There were a scattered few humans in the mix as well, family friends, and those of Elizabeth Tune’s children and grandchildren. In addition, there were a noticeable number of anthropomorphs of pony/human hybrids, though most of them were artifical thanks to the modern fashion industry. However a good amount of them were natural hybrids due to being Aurora Sky’s descendants.

Alexia silently admired it all when Violet Spark slid up beside her and snuck in a brief nuzzle. “You know, mother, with a family as large as ours, we could have our own city state.”

“Ha! We’re not changelings, Violet.” Alexia chuckled as she started tuning her headset to the speakers across the field. “Although, I’m still a bit surprised only one of them has taken the plunge to immigrate to Earth, despite the prospect of an alien invasion hanging over our heads.”

“Potentially imminent extermination is not exactly appealing to a long-visioned species, now is it?” Violet quipped back with a sly grin. “Not to mention migrating a small country all at once was a nightmare according to the stories I heard from my friends in immigration at the time. Then there’s the fact that SOL required them to abdicate their formal title as queen if they moved here.”

“Yeah… We only declared a unified world last century. No one wants some uppity queen messing with that.”

When her headset finally chimed it was connected to the various speakers, Alexia paused before speaking to the crowd and gazed upon her daughter with a weakening smile. The days to come would no doubt prove to be nerve racking to say the least. What will we find there? Were we actually forgotten? Would going to that space station remind the Koridost about us? Are we inviting our doom?

She had no doubt questions similar to that ran through Violet’s mind when her daughter looked up at the sky. “No matter what comes, Violet,” Alexia stated reassuring, drawing her daughter’s gaze, “we’ll do our best for Earth.”

“Don’t think I missed the lack of assurance that everything will be alright,” Violet snarked with a sidelong leer.

“Pah, you’re old enough to know one false step, and we can kiss the Earth goodbye.” Dropping her dark humor for a moment, Alexia refocused on the crowd. “But we have to do something. Inaction is a risk I’m not willing to take.”

Shoring up her public speaking voice with practiced ease, Alexia made the speakers give off an electronic squeal to get everyone’s attention. She waited a moment for the DJ to go quiet along with everyone else. “Thank you all for coming to our 50th biennial Family Day!” She cheered, prompting the crowd to do the same, some of them more drunkenly than others. “It always warms my heart to see our family grow every time we hold these events, and this year certainly doesn’t disappoint.”

“Kinda hard not to, when most of us came from the Alicorn of Fertility!” one stallion yelled out from the crowd.

Alexia joined the crowd in laughter while the stallion was lovingly pummeled by his father and sisters. “Perhaps,” she said at length to give the crowd a chance to die down. “As I’m sure you all know, I don’t burden these reunions with speeches. I save those for the press.” She smirked at the distinct lack of TV cameras or reporters, courtesy of her Intelligence contacts. “But I’m sure many of you know that Violet, Aurora, and myself will be on the task force delving into Koridost space very soon. Whether this action brings us salvation or doom, we should make this night special to us all.

“For over a hundred years, our civilization has made baby steps into space. It has only been in the last forty that we’ve began colonizing the rest of the solar system. This task force, will be Terrankind’s first foray beyond the reach of our star.”

Violet kept a neutral face to hide her musings. I guess the portal to Equis doesn’t count?

“So let’s raise a glass,” Alexia announced while bringing a wine glass up to the side of her face. “To us Terrans finally leaving the proverbial cradle.”

“Hear, hear!” everyone shouted before downing their drinks.

With her short speech over, the festivities resumed in full as everyone partied to escape the anxiety of the future, and to actually celebrate. Alexia spied one of the floating refreshment tables for pegasi and flew over towards it with Violet in tow. “Do you think we’re ready for this whole thing, mother?”

Alexia slowed her progress to giving her daughter a long contemplative look. “You mean going off into the unknown right into the heart of a species who probably wants us exterminated? About as much as we can be.”

“You terrans are always so dreary,” a coy masculine voice called out from behind. “It’s a wonder you even know what a party is.”

Both alicorns turned to find a grey unicorn stallion with two mismatched horns and a mad hatter grin.

Violet’s smile lit up like a christmas tree and she gave him a crushing bear hug. “Uncle Discord!! I was worried you weren’t going to make it this time!”

The disguised draconequus suffered Violet’s heavy nuzzling with unbecoming patience. “And miss my little nieces and nephews on Earth? Perish the thought.”

Alexia moved over to embrace him with far more tact, but was no less happy to see the one who started it all. Glad he hasn’t pushed for the father title in years. “Good afternoon, Uncle.” She squeezed him before pulling back. “Are you able to stick around for a while this time?”

“Long enough,” he stated with a knowing grin as he rubbed Violet and Alexia’s manes. Neither of them noticed just how tangled their hair was, complete with hairpin fishbones. “Now let’s see what kind of actual fun we can cause.”

Off towards second base, Aurora was sporting one of the latest fashionable sleeveless blouses that shimmered different colors based on ambient mana. Her wings bore holographic flowery patterns that faded in and out in tandem to the blouse.

She was sitting at a small table with Nova who was chowing down on a plate of meat sauce spaghetti with enough gusto to put a pig to shame. By contrast, Aurora was content to sip on some brandy. “So, you still want to join us on the expedition? It could be exceedingly dangerous.”

Nova belched behind her hoof, and licked some of the splattered sauce from her lips. “I have no intention of going in with you guys guns blazing. But my ‘Loki Sense’ might be able to help the techs pull some info off the alien computers… Assuming we can even speak to them.”

Aurora teased her by tapping her chin, indicating Nova had a splotch where in fact the unicorn had her whole mouth stained red. “You missed a spot.”

“Hardy, har, har,” Nova snickered. “I will say this about getting some of my old self’s memories. After living the life of a herbivore that remembered the joys of meat, I can’t get enough of this stuff now.” Nova moaned out of sheer delight of her meal.

“I suppose a lifetime’s worth of a herbivore’s diet will do that to some people anyway,” Aurora admitted with a head tilt.

“But yeah, I still remember a lot of Loki’s computer smarts, and I got the weird little ticks she called Loki Sense, so maybe I’ll see something no one else would.”

“Fair enough, I can sign you on as an attaché. Even with your ability to reincarnate, I’d rather keep you away from a fight.” Aurora noticed Aquaria nosing her way through the crowd after spotting them, and waved her over.

“Fine by me,” Nova replied with a snort. “I don’t know about Loki, but I’d rather not fight super aliens, thank you very much.”

Aurora twitched her left ear signaling Nova to watch what she said. The young unicorn turned around to find Aquaria seemingly practicing a greeting by mouthing it. “Hello, A-Aurora. Thank you for inviting me to this soirée, though I’m not entirely sure why I’m here.”

Nova gave her a bewildered eyebrow lift. “Last I saw, you were there when everyone talked about that soul thing.”

Aquaria flashed Nova a withering glare. While she highly respected the alicorns, Nova was another matter. “Yes, I was there. But finding out you’re…” She looked around at the passing ponies with trepidation. “Apparently everyone’s father is absolutely insane!”

Aurora had quickly cast a privacy spell to keep eavesdroppers out of the loop, but it would still draw attention. “Be that as it may, Aquaria, you deserved to know the truth of the matter, one way or another. What you make of this, is entirely up to you.”

The emotionally shaky mare nearly plopped onto the dirt, but she caught herself just in time to move over to a seat at the table. “But what exactly am I supposed to do about it?! I don’t know these people!” She waved at the crowd. “I get they’re your family and all, Aurora Sky, but I really don’t feel a thing for them.”

Nova scowled and bonked Aquaria on the forehead. “So you really got no memories up there about being Conrad Tune?”

“No, I don’t!” Aquaria growled as she slapped the hoof away. Her snarl started worsening before her high society upbringing thundered into the forefront of her mind, making her back down. Even so, she still fumed at Nova. “I don’t remember one iota of being a stallion, let alone a former human, and to be honest, I’d rather keep it that way.”

“Now, girls, let’s not get things out of hand.” Aurora calmly placed her hands on the table, but Nova ignored her by shoving her face into Aquaria’s own.

“Well, the little rich girl down on her luck gets a big meal ticket from the Lifer, only to find out they were banging each other barely thirty years ago.” Nova continued, oblivious to Aurora’s attempts at diplomacy.

Father, wasn’t that active so late in his life, Aurora believed in slight confusion.

“But at least you get a clean slate. I’m stuck with Loki’s memories, you rich cow!” She jabbed Aquaria in the chest with a hoof. “So don’t go whining about being a dude in the last life when you could have a mental patient in your head making you look like you’re having a seizure all the time!”

Aquaria had some choice words to say, but her mother’s training refused to yield. So she opted to sit back down and sneered at Nova. “You know, there’s a name for people like you, but it isn’t used in high society… Outside of a kennel,” she added with a smirk.

Nova blinked at her with a vacant face that quickly morphed to one of anger. “Did you just call me a bitch?” she demanded in a low growl.

“Ha!” Aquaria derisively clapped her hooves. “So you have a brain after all. Or are you getting that intelligence from your past self?”

Nova charged her horn for an attack, actually catching Aquaria off guard at the rapidity of the charge. Yet before Nova could unleash her spell, Aurora weaved a counterspell, throwing Nova’s built up mana away from her horn. “Alright, that’s enough!” She glared down both young mares, actually getting a look of mortification out of Nova. “You both have a lot to reconcile about who you are. I get it, you’re afraid, and angry, but that’s no reason to take it out on each other.”

Both mares poignantly avoided staring any each other, and the sour anthropomorphic demi-goddess. “Sure. I’ll catch you later, AS,” the pink unicorn said.

Nova quickly scampered off, leaving Aurora to turn towards Aquaria. “I – ah – If you no longer require my services as a water mage, I’ll understand.”

“I sort of expected better from an honored duelist, Aquaria, but I’m not about to fire someone for needing to vent. Even if you’re doing it in the wrong way,” she added with a maternal frown. She almost missed the irony in that. Father used to vent his anger better when sparring. Maybe she’s the same way.

Even with the relief that she was keeping her job, Aquaria sat there, unwilling to do anything to embarrass herself further in front of her demi-goddess. I’m better than this. I’ve snubbed or at least ignored irritating people before with tact, but this Nova brings out … such low brow behavior out me. Her eyes and ears wilted at losing face.

“Aquaria, I feel like a lot of your issue with this whole previous life thing is that we haven’t been properly introduced.”

The young duelist looked quizzically up at Aurora. “What do you mean? I thought we introduced ourselves that first day at the fast food restaurant rather… adequately. And I’m sure you’ve looked into my background and everything.”

Aurora stood up and gestured for Aquaria to follow her towards the outer edge of left field. “A wise man once told me that you cannot truly know someone until you fight them.”

Aquaria’s mind seemed reluctant to process that particular statement. It finally caught up. “You want to duel?! B-but you’re Aurora Sky! The living embodiment of martial prowess. I have no chance against you!”

Aurora waved at various family members and briefly chatted with one of her aging daughters before addressing Aquaria with practiced grace. “It’s not about winning or losing, Aquaria, it’s about learning who we are. Now come along, I have many questions for you.”

Author's Note

Yes, I know it's short, but it says so right in the title.

Part 2 will not have a time skip, so there will be the actual duel and more Discord. Until next time!

4: Self-Discovery

Aquaria and Aurora squared off against each other in a remote part of left field, near the stands. The anthro princess used her magic to discolor the grass to form a large ring. Aquaria’s heart was pounding in her chest at the coming fight. Aurora was a few meters away, facing a flying drone that had delivered a staff-like weapon. The drone took possession of both mares’ headsets not only to avoid damaging them, but their mana assistance hardware was forbidden in duels.

Aquaria recognized the weapon instantly as an official composite duelist staff used by humans to channel simple spells and to protect them from telekinesis. It bore emergency kenetic dampening fields on the tips to avoid serious injury. Aurora gave it a few deft twirls, reminding Aquaria that she should be mentally preparing herself. Unfortunately, Aurora didn’t give her a chance before she began speaking. “I suppose we’ll go with the standard rule set. No unicorn detection magic, leave the ring and you’re out, no sleep or instant KO spells.” She didn’t bother mentioning the forbidden practice of the more lethal spells out there.

“Agreed,” Aquaria choked out while trying to hide her fraying nerves.

“Fight with your own style, Duelist,” Aurora offered warmly, yet with an edge of command. “And don’t hold back on my account.” She took a large plastic jug off the flying drone before throwing it at Aquaria who caught it out of instinct. “You’ll need that.”

She only barely acknowledged it was filled with water before trying to focus on the fight to come. While someone would have to dig for footage on one of Aquaria’s matches, the records on Aurora in Duelist circles were plentiful. This was largely due to the fact that non-natural anthros, due to it not being their original form, were generally forbidden from participating in duels unless they reverted back for the match. Since Aurora was the only one of her bloodline to have an interest in dueling, that made her mix of human and pony styles unique, and therefore extremely tricky to counter. She’s had a full lifetime to master it, and still has her youth. Aquaria thought worriedly.

Not wanting to keep her demi-goddess waiting, Aquaria opened the jug and magically pulled the water out to form three spheres around her. No doubt she’ll refrain from using her full strength, if only so that she won’t always overpower my parries.

Aurora allowed her two coat tails to flow freely, a self-imposed handicap, and thrust her staff forward into a ready position. “Fight with honor, Duelist Aquaria,” she stated the traditional greeting.

“Honor guide us,” Aquaria replied. They bowed to one another before adopting combat stances.

The robotic drone flew over to the center and started a three second countdown.

“Three… Two… One… Go!”

With a single, heavy flap of her wings, Aurora exploded forward with her staff held high. Aquaria used two water orbs to shove herself out of the way while forcing the third to expand into steam. Instinct made Aurora want to use her unicorn style magic-sight, but remembered the rules forbade it. Instead she used her earth magic to root herself in the soft grass and gathered her pegasi mana to flap her wings with enough force to cause small concussion wave to push the steam away.

However the steam only moved briefly before being reformed into a sphere around Aurora, obscuring her vision even further. “I always loved fighting water magi,” Aurora announced.

Thanks, Aquaria thought, not willing to get baited into speaking and giving away her position. She took a stable stance and started forming her other two orbs into a spear of ice. Yet she barely got started when Aurora charged straight at her, still obscured by the ball of steam.

Aquaria scrambled away, throwing the useless steam away so she could see the staff flashing towards her. She rapidly formed a flurry of ice and flung it at Aurora, slowing her down just enough to roll away from the staff as it came down hard on the grass. “How did you find me?” she asked as Aurora flapped her wings hard to leap above the swirling hail storm and behind Aquaria with her staff coming in for a follow up strike.

This time, Aquaria was ready for it and jumped to the left and sent out a brief but massive shockwave to shove Aurora back. The alicorn’s answer was to stomp a hoof into the ground, causing the grass to rapidly grow and root her legs in place to keep from being thrown back. “Your hoofsteps give you away,” Aurora instructed. The grass let go as soon as the shockwave passed by. “I like to think of myself as a pure Terran. All three tribes: Earth, pegasi, unicorn, and humanity in one body. Today, you fight an Athrocorn!”

“Really,” Aquaria deadpanned. She had heard the term in the past, but still found it weird. “Anthrocorn?” A kinetic bolt from Aurora’s horn shocked Aquaria back into action, enough to form a water shield in front. The next bolt blasted the water apart, but the barrier quickly reformed.

“I thought it was fitting,” Aurora teased with a mischievous grin.

By now, dozens of party guests had taken notice of the duel with most of them running or flying over to investigate, including Violet and Alexia. The growing crowd started to gather in the stands at the impromptu dueling match.

Aquaria barely noticed any of that as Aurora leapt through the air again with her magic curled around the staff to her side while her glowing fists were poised to strike.

The younger mage pushed all of her water into the torn up soil and bounded away at the last minute. Aurora pounded her fists into the muddy ground with enough force to nearly drive her arms in up to her elbows. Aquaria tried to press the advantage by rapidly freezing the mud while distracting Aurora with a kinetic bolt.

Yet her concentration was broken by the staff sailing towards her in Aurora’s telekinesis. Aquaria pulled enough water from the humid air to encase the staff within enchanted ice, severing Aurora’s grip over it.

Aquaria barely had time to lockdown the staff before Aurora tackled her, causing the pair to roll before she found herself in a neck hold. “You keep forgetting my earth magic,” a mud drenched Aurora chastised. “Mud can’t hold me.”

“Maybe,” Aquaria admitted through her clenched teeth before the soil-laden water raced over and slammed into Aurora’s face. The mud’s slipperiness allowed Aquaria to get loose of Aurora’s grip, but she was tripped up by a leg sweep before putting any distance between them.

Aquaria rolled to avoid a hoof stomp and recollected water for her orbs, now up to five. While on her belly, Aurora quickly pushed herself up with help from her wings. She began weaving a spell. The glint in her eye made Aquaria focus her water shield forward.

Aurora heaved a fireball at her staff, instead of her opponent, flash melting enough ice to telekinetically grip it again and pulled it over into her hands. She took a moment to look down at her mud caked blouse. One of the coat tails were badly torn and both were drenched in mud. Even her actual pony tail had a heavy dose of dirt caked onto the edge. “You got mud on my favorite blouse,” she announced with veiled amusement.

“Heh, and here I was, embarrassed for not having anything to wear tonight,” Aquaria shot back as she used a bit of water to wash some of the mud off her face to prevent it from getting in her eyes.

Grinning widely, Aurora planted both hooves solidly on the ground before vaulting into the air preparing another long downward slash. Aquaria huffed at the repeated attack and charged her water with explosive mana and brought it up to shield the blow. Right at the peak of Aurora’s arc, the ground under Aquaria’s hooves surged upward, pushing her towards Aurora and ruining her water shield. The unstable earth threw her hooves out from under her, causing her to roll onto her back.

She tried to scramble away, but Aurora kept the unicorn locked in place with her telekinesis applied to the ripped up blobs of grass and soil around Aquaria’s hooves. Aquaria panicked and tried to send her water in for an attack to draw her off, but it wasn’t fast enough to reach the anthrocorn.

Aquaria’s world came to a sudden stop when the mountain of dirt halted. Aurora’s staff swung just to the right of Aquaria’s face, embedding itself in the dirt. She hovered there with an approving grin. “Do you yield?”

Aquaria’s heart was trying to beat its way out of her chest. The staff had been so close it brushed the fur on her face on the way down, and the impact made the large pillar of dirt shift under her head, and threatened to pull a chunk of her mane out by the roots. “Y- yes, I yield. Well fought,” she said automatically.

The crowd roared in applause as the two combatants returned to ground level and waved in reciprocation. Alexia, Violet, and Discord, who was now a pegasus, hovered above it all as the original drone blew a whistle, calling the match officially over. “I must say, Alexia,” Discord pondered with pride, “you’ve done quite well with little Sky’s fisticuffs training.”

“I can’t take that much credit,” Alexia said with beaming pride. “Crimson, and her father were paramount in both my daughters’ training.”

“That’s why Aurora is so proficient with aerial acrobatics and earth style magic,” Violet clarified. “But she’s no match for me in unicorn style.”

Discord watched the muddy duelists make their way towards the showers. “This culture of yours fascinates me to no end on, ladies.” Discord wanted to cruise around on a less mana intensive avatar, but that wouldn’t do in public. As fun as it would be to cause rumors she’s doing drugs, I’ll just have to pass since she’s going off to the Koridost soon. In the end, he opted to just orbit the alicorns. “Sure, you have an alien menace to worry about, but even in times of peace you terrans always express such natural chaos it’s enough to make a grown draconequus cry.”

He wiped a tear away which turned into a frog and landed on a mares’ back down below. “The chaos of battle, but none of the death that usually goes along with it.”

“Are you going soft on us, Uncle?” Violet teased with a prodding hoof.

Discord almost looked insulted. “No matter what your Aunt Twilight says about me, I wasn’t ever one for murder and killing.” His tone shifted towards jolly in an instant. “But I can appreciate the chaos of battle as much as anypony.”

“Well I for one would like to go back to the chaos of partying,” Violet announced as she noticed the crowd doing the same thing.

Alexia and Discord watched Violet go for a moment before Alexia turned to Discord and spoke. “Any luck on finding Fluttershy’s new incarnation?”

“I did actually.” Alexia grew concerned when Discord’s tone didn’t remain joval. “But she’s barely out of diapers. I don’t even need Twilight’s request to stay away until she’s a full grown mare.”

“Believe me, I know your pain. A least she lived a long and happy life.”

Discord knew Alexia was just trying to be comforting, but he wanted no part of an emotional event. “Yes, well, such is the way of things. I’m off to join Vi, ta ta!”

Alexia blinked a moment before realizing why he left. Friendship really is all he wants now. It’s too bad his fount of power is rooted in Equiss. Living here would mean leaving him even more magic-less than a human.

Casting such dark musing aside, Alexia teleported over to the party to join in.

Within the mostly empty locker rooms, Aurora basked in the comforting hot shower with Aquaria on the opposite side of the narrow room where the pony height shower heads were. With ponykind’s already nearly nonexistent personal modesty, the pair didn’t even question sharing the room, even with one being a demi-goddess.

Both mares’ minds were on anything but hygiene though. Aquaria absently scrubbed herself as she kept replaying the duel over and over in her mind. She was so engrossed in her musings that when Aurora spoke it made her jump. “How’s your gehirn?”

Even though Equis had become an unofficial world language, Aquaria was flattered that Aurora attempted to use some German, even if her inflection was terrible. “I feel… clearer, I think.” She turned to find that Aurora had put in a lot of effort to have what amounted to a furry woman’s torso. Curiosity aside, Aquaria actually saw Aurora in a different light. “I’ve watched your duel matches dozens of times before, but back there… It felt like I knew what you were going to do sometimes, and that I knew that you could predict my movements as well.”

“You have a lot of the same tells, my father did. We sparred often enough that I learned most of them. Yet you have your own style, Duelist Aquaria,” she added with professional accolades. “While learning the fact that you used to be Conrad Tune in a previous life is certainly a revelation, it ultimately doesn’t change who you are.”

Aquaria searched the princess’ face for a deeper meaning than what she surmised. “I’m still me, regardless. Because Conrad’s always been a part of me.”

“From birth,” Aurora finished. Giving a soft smile, Aurora turned back around to finish washing her tail and hair. “What you do with that knowledge is up to you, Aquaria.” We keep having to tell Nova that a bunch, but she’s as weird as Loki. Aurora was glad that her sudden frown was hidden from Aquaria.

The blue unicorn sat quietly under the running water, staring at the drain. The conversation died out as Aurora decided to leave her to her thoughts. Not another word was shared between them until long after both of them were clean.

Aurora dried herself off and found her still mudcaked blouse, the rips in the fabric were gone. Gotta love the miracle of regenerative fabric. I’ll still need to take this to the dry cleaners though. Summoning some emergency clothing, Aurora donned them by the time Aquaria left the showers to dry off as well. “Be safe, Aquaria. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow before I set off for the Koridost mission.”

“I will, thank you. For everything tonight.” she added at length with a terse smile.

“It was my pleasure,” Aurora answered back with a warmer grin. It’s the least I can do for the heir to my father’s soul.

While the party was still in full swing, the two duelists were exhausted enough to call it night.

5: Silent Witness

This was the day. Alexia Tune was doing the final checks on her exosuit to be one of the first Terrans to step out of the solar system, Equis notwithstanding. It was a personal matter for her. She was one of the three Terran Princesses, and her people’s defense was always at the forefront of her mind. Her daughters had fully inherited Alexia’s ideals and were more than willing go anywhere to aid their mother.

As for the armor, it was matte black affair that covered her entire body from snout to tail, to protect her from vacuum and possible biological agents. The suit was covered in the latest unobtrusive exoskeleton, giving her a moderately sleek and nimble figure while augmenting her already considerable strength.

Both of her daughters and the rest of the female troopers were in similar states of readiness in the armoring room. Since the armor required the user to be nude underneath, the men were in another room, not that it bothered the ponies in either case. Unoccupied suits in various customized models for the human and pony soldiers rested on steel gantries, ready and waiting for use. The harsh fluorescent lighting and loud metal floors were accompanied by technicians making sure each suit was up to par.

Of the three of them, Violet was the first to finish and cantered over to her mother, who was still standing on a dais while a pair of human technicians monitored the final boot up sequences. “I’m going over to the CC. The portal to Silent Witness should be opening soon.”

“Alright, I’ll check on the guys before heading over myself,” Alexia replied as her wings were finally freed from the start-up lockdown. “They’re new blood, so we haven’t had a chance to train with them much.”

Violet gave her mother an irritated scowl, but said nothing sarcastic aloud due to some of those soldiers being in the same room, so she kept a neutral tone. “Well I trust we’ll all get along just fine.” Leave it to the legislators to force us to take troops from all over the world instead of those most qualified. Still… I doubt the council is stupid enough to give us a bad group just to satisfy politics. Not now of all times.

With Aurora joining her sister in the Command Center, that left Alexia alone to review the men as they left their respective armoring room. Shame it’s not co-ed, nothing wrong with flashing a bit of skin. Alexia calmed down on her dirty thoughts as she stood in the hallway with Captain Koss, a career soldier in the special forces. The woman’s muscular yet lean features were entirely hidden by her equipment, but she still stood a little under six and a half feet. It made Alexia wonder if she was a child of recent human genetic engineering. “If I may say, Princess Alexia, I strongly suggest you and your daughters refrain from being the first ones through. There’s no reason to risk all of you at once.”

“I understand your concern, Captain,” Alexia replied warmly. She lifted her right wing to reveal a faint network of azure glowing runes. “Alicorn magic is impossible to replicate, but it does allow certain contingency options so long as the portal remains active.”

Koss knew when she was looking at something above her pay grade and simply gave a curt nod in reply. “Glad to hear it.”

A scarce few seconds passed before the men started walking out of the armoring room. All eight of them snapped crisp salutes at their two superiors. Alexia didn’t expect to find anything physically out of order since the technicians were the best the world had to offer. Instead she was using her suit’s heads up display to read the brief files on each trooper has they walked by. Let’s see the other half of what the council sees as Terrankind’s first ambassadors…

A bulky man lumbered by who rumbled the steel floor under his weight. Corporal Bukov, the “Sleeping Giant”. I wonder how he got the first part of that nickname.

Next up was what Alexia could only assume was an earth pony version of Bukov if his muscle mass and heavy gait were anything to go by. The stallion’s ears matched Alexia’s horn in height, and she was already over a foot taller than normal ponies. Sergeant Boulder, the “Rock Giant” from the European mainland. I can already see those two bickering over who is the better giant.

Pushing such musings aside, Alexia entirely missed the third human soldier when an armored thestral emerged. She was utterly stunned by her soul tether becoming visible and leading straight to him. The stallion bowed his head and passed by, completely oblivious to Alexia’s shocked euphoria.

Koss cocked an eyebrow as the last soldier passed by, and spoke over the radio so no one else would hear. “If the armor was a bit more revealing, I’d ask if you saw someone you got the hots for.”

So Crimson came back as a third generation immigrant? Alexia mused with mounting excitement. She teased a lock of her bangs with her magic. The hair had been uniformly azure for too long, and yearned to have herdmate colors once more.

“Princess Alexia, radio check,” Koss said aloud, snapping Alexia back to the present.

“Huh? Oh, right.” She went through the HUD and found it was still set to the default channel. It was something she was going to leave alone until after the portal was reopened. “Thanks, captain, though we’re not due to leave until eighteen hundred hours.”

Is she really going to evade her sudden infatuation? You can’t hide everything behind these helmets. “Of course, Princess,” Koss replied diplomatically. With the last of the troopers leaving the hallway, Koss snapped a salute. “I’ll see you in the CC, ma’am.”

Alexia returned the gesture with a wing elbow. “Very well, Captain. Glad to have you with us.”

Alexia watched the human officer walk off with her thoughts racing at the discovery. She pulled up the thestral’s short info prompt, while informing her suit’s computer to start a deeper background check. Alrighty then, so what is Crimson’s new name… Alexia fell on her haunches and draped her wings over her eyes in utter embarrassment. “Slim Shady?” Alexia blanked for a moment. “I wonder if he even knows about that old song.”

Casting such humored musing aside, Alexia attempted to refocus on the file inspection but was interrupted by the station wide PA system. “This is Citadel speaking: portal activation in thirty minutes.”

Alexia huffed impatiently and closed the file. I better see if the Silent Witness probe survived. If Shady made it here of all places, his background is probably clean enough to wait for now.

The Command and Control center was designed similar to an amphitheater with each row being a few steps lower than the one behind it.

Every terminal was alight with three dimensional holographic interfaces as the operators monitored events. For those without stations of their own, namingly the alicorns and various officers, a large screen depicted multiple camera feeds on the currently inactive portal along with various readouts.

The room was currently well lit in white light and the aroma of black coffee permeated the air. Above all the forward displays was a countdown timer nearing zero. The operators were hard at work, making sure the portal’s systems were ready for activation while Alexia and the others could only sit and wait. With tensions running so high, no one bothered with small talk.

“Portal activation in five, four, three...”

The room’s red alert lighting clicking on. The very air itself was charged with electric mana as the space station prepared itself. A wrinkle appeared in the middle of the massive portal ring which grew to fill it entirely. Alexia watched the monitors as the wrinkle finished resolving itself into a window into another solar system.

Station Commander, Reese Jarvas, tapped his comm headset. “Silent Witness, status report. Is it safe to keep the portal open?”

“Affirmative, at this time, mission control.” The synthetic voice sounded oddly melodious for a military AI. “The two installations residing here appear to be abandoned.”

“Show me,” Reese commanded.

Several live video feeds appeared on the monitors with the operators receiving a treasure trove of data relevant to their fields. Half of the images focused on an oblong station which caught Alexia’s eye first. It was a colossal affair that for all the world to be like looked a water navy dock that stretched for at least thirty miles and half a mile high. Thousands of what appeared to be construction cranes and booms bristled across the three sides that were visible. Dozens of ships from what she assumed were personal fighters to a dreadnaught the size of a skyscraper were all ruined hulks. Most were still tethered to the dock in some form or another, while other ships looked like they had drifted all over what a first appeared to be an asteroid belt. However when one of the cameras panned over, it was revealed that it was actually a planetary ring system near a gargantuan gas giant. Must have been slowly pulled around the ring via gravity.

Each of them had been singled out and ripped to pieces by forces unknown, but the huge blackened craters gave obvious clues as to their cause. As for any signs of life, there were none that Alexia could detect. No window lights, no automatons trying to repair the damage, not even any docking lights. The station was dead.

Silent Witness’s cameras revealed that not a single ship was intact, but a few of them at least looked in salvageable condition. “This station was not visible upon first arrival. As you can see here-” The camera feed revealed yesterday’s footage. At first, there was only the moonbase and the planetary rings beyond it, orbiting the looming blue gas giant off to the far left side of the video. In a twisting mass of light, the massive starport materialized with a few amber lights active. However all power to the station drained away barely an hour later leaving it a darkened hulk. “It appears the station was cloaked, or possibly pushed out of this reality, until it’s internal power systems failed. I have attempted to interface with the station, but I never receive a reply.”

A few cameras switched over to show off small wreckage fragments floating quite a distance away. ”Judging by the rate of stellar drift, I can only assume the conflict fought here was conducted close to nine hundred and fifty eight years ago. If anyone was going to reclaim this position, they have probably either forgotten about it, are in stasis, or they are long dead.”

Reese mulled over the information, giving Alexia a chance to forward her own questions. “Silent Witness, this is Princess Alexia Tune.”

”...Ident key verified. Logging you in, Princess. How can this one serve you?”

Reese was a little miffed by the distraction, but it gave him an opportunity to give new orders to other station personnel.

“Is it possible the… shipyard? Appeared because we opened the portal, and the on-board AI thought we were it’s masters?”

“This is a scenario I had not contemplated. To my knowledge, we have no information on Koridost sensor or FTL capabilities. Your theory is within the realm of possibly, but more information is needed to go further than speculation.”

One of the techs near the commander spoke up. “Sir, I’m reading zeros across the board on the station. Whatever that cloak or displacement defense was, it sapped everything. It might be possible that the power system simply ran out of fuel, or could be keeping its emissions low to avoid detection from long range scanners once it realized no Koridost forces were in the area.”

Reese Jarvas’ eyes shifted to Alexia for her silent input. Yet before she could give any, Silent Witness spoke ahead of him. “There is still a danger however.” Silent shifted her camera to the installation sitting on the surface of a continent sized moon with a smaller installation sitting on its surface. ”This installation, potentially a command center for the mining efforts, is still powered, and has electronic countermeasures in place. As per the Dole Directive, I have remained out of contact with the installation. The probability of a hostile AI overwhelming my security is a 90.453% certainty.”

Commander Jarvas saw Alexia nod in his direction. “We have a team already assembled to investigate it. You may switch to active scanners until we get the team through.”

”As you command.”

Alexia and her daughters stood transfixed by the sheer scale of both the moonbase and the shipyard. “Holy hell,” Violet exclaimed over their private channel. “We don't have the manpower to comb over something that big!”

Aurora rocked on her hooves, but was unable to pry her eyes away from the shipyard. “We’re nothing more than gnats to a civilization that can build on such a scale. I bet they didn’t even bat an eye at killing us all.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Alexia rebuked with a wave of her wing. “Something about this doesn’t add up…”

“You mean like physics as we know it?” Violet countered with stunned awe. “We can’t fight these people. I really hope this derelict means they’re all dead and gone.”

The ponies who joined up with the Mions always said the Herald wanted ponies to remain on Earth after humanity was wiped out. Was the AI just trying to divide us, or is there more to it than that?

”Commander,” Silent Witness announced loudly enough to draw the alicorns’ attention. “I am detecting active signs of post industrial civilization on the seventh planet.”

The gathered Terrans briefly went into confused chatter about the actual presence of aliens, outside of pony kind at any rate. Most of the camera feeds switched over to a distant planet of blues, greens, and browns, but the cameras were not designed to give the Terrans anything more than a beachball sized picture. “What signs?” Reese requested, silencing the chatter to a dull rumbling.

“Artificial radio transmissions from at least ten thousand sources on the planet surface. I had originally assumed these transmissions were background noise caused by the two stations for several hours until noticing the signals did not originate from there.

Searching historical records… Signal quality is on par with early 20th century technology. I am in the process of adapting the code to match our systems… Apparently, there are no visuals, audio only. Playing a sample now.”

An energetic young masculine voice accompanied by wind instruments all but jumped out of the control room’s speakers. “Dela ga bentato felesia! Vege dalmalrio-” the feed was silenced by Reese when he made a cutting gesture.

“Save it for the linguists. I want a translation spell adapted for it, but our goal here is to determine if there is an attack pending upon the Earth.”

Alexia pinged Reese for a private channel. Reese made it a personal point to set a moment aside for her, if only because her age and position gave her insight few people possessed. “Thoughts, Princess?”

“A few. It’s possible the Koridost were observing the growth of this civilization for study, experimentation, or they could be the Koridost themselves. Whatever attacked the station might have caused a colony of theirs to regress technologically. Either way, we shouldn’t dismiss them. They might have some clues as to what happened here in their folklore.”

“Just in case we get nothing from either facility’s computers. I get it. Alright, we’ll keep the locals a low priority. If anything it’ll let the anthropologists have something to fawn over once we verify the two space stations are not a threat.”

“Very well. In the meantime, I’ll send word to the council that we’re going to need a sizable manpower boost.”

Seeing that their mother was busy, Violet stepped up to her sister. Both of them were studying the derelict stations with unveiled awe. “Well, Aurora, you want to claim dibs on who goes where first?”

Aurora tapped a finger on her chin in contemplation. With no hostile aliens around, both the spacedock and moonbase looked more exciting than foreboding. “I haven’t decided yet. Both look like they could advance our technological progress by leaps and bounds. Whatever secrets they hold, I want to see it all.”

6: Tomb

Alexia Tune, her daughters, and the first two expeditionary squads sat in uncomfortable silence as the SOL shuttle Foehammer closed the distance between the portal and the moonbase. With signs of only primitive technology from the planet, and the shipyard still dark, the biggest threat remained the possibility of an AI on the base.

The crew compartment of the shuttle was a roomy affair, and yet still managed to feel cramped with over twenty soldiers and their equipment stashed within. While there were no windows, there were several viewscreens scattered along the gunmetal grey walls to give the troops some idea of what was out there. Everyone, save Alexia, was strapped to their seats due to the absence of gravity.

Alexia was plastered in front of a viewscreen as the moonbase loomed ever larger on the display. The moon itself was a pale beige with craters both old and fresh carpeting its surface. Alexia heard Violet’s suit thrusters as she came up along her side to view the screen with her. “Anything new?”

Alexia zoomed in and scrutinized the facility. It was a series of domes that appeared to be entirely separated from each other. Most of the domes had been completely blown to pieces while others were damaged enough to be exposed to the vacuum of space. “Nothing yet. There is a weak artificial electromagnetic field in place.” Alexia sent a mental command via the headset wrapped around her horn to switch the screen’s feed. “Nothing that would interfere with the ship, but we’re keeping the teleporter active just in case we set off any dormant defense weapons.”

“Think we can teleport ourselves in?”

“I’m not willing to risk it,” Alexia replied evenly. “If the Herald was any indication, the Koridost didn’t know anything about magic. However magic is still just a form of energy, and the AI that Silent Witness was talking about may have some means of disrupting it. We’re going to find a quiet entry point and see if we can’t sneak our way in. Our goal is to find a way to the center.”

Alexia moved the camera to focus on the central facility. It was the only non-dome structure and resembled the Pentagon more than anything else. It was flat and squat, taking up a large surface area roughly three times the size of a city block. “That’s the source of the EM field, and has the most functional lights. Most of the side structures are dark.”

Violet had heard it all time and time again in the planning briefing, but she liked hearing it again to minimize the risk of foul ups. It was a trait Alexia had long since learned to work with.

Aurora called in from the cockpit. “Momma, we’ve found a possible entry point, we’re going in quiet as soon as we hit the EM field.”

The tension within the troop compartment jumped a little as the lights went out and the engines noisily spooled down. A number of soldiers took out photos of loved ones, prayer beads, or other personal icons to calm themselves and prepare for the worst. While none save for the alicorns were alive at the time of the Mion plague, the media had hyped the lethality and gruesomeness of it to such a profound degree that it permeated the entire world’s culture and imagination.

The next hour was spent in near darkness as the shuttle drifted silently towards the unknown. Alexia reclaimed her seat towards the front of the cabin. With little more than an Estimated Time to Arrival counter interposed on her vision Alexia was left to watch over the brooding soldiers. There were only a scant few engaging in small talk. Most were trying to distract themselves by rechecking their kit, weapons, or reading information on their personal heads up display.

Her eyes quickly fell on Slim Shady who, like most of the ponies present, was occasionally stealing glances at the alicorns. Alexia’s keen eyes spotted the ankh painted onto his suit’s left foreleg. Ah hell, with my luck he’ll be a zealot. Getting him to see me as more than some unapproachable demi-goddess will be a real pain in the ass.

Alexia took the time to meditate and practice molding her alicorn magic. The act was always difficult due to it not acting like any other form of magic. It permeated her body so thoroughly she often wondered if she actually was living magic in semi-mortal form. I’ve been shot enough times to know there’s more than just flesh and bone about me, but the Equestrian princesses are either purposely vague or have no idea.

Every time she pulled on it, it fell like she was using a piece of her physical being, rather than a reserve of power like normal magic. Living magic or not, a good steak always makes me feel better.

She didn’t get much of a chance to shape much of anything before a sudden deceleration pulled her attention back to the waking world. “We’re almost at the entry point,” Aurora’s voice called out over the PA. “Prepare your zero atmosphere kits.”

As one, everyone within the cabin double tapped a small holographic button on the side of their neck. Their helmet visors closed and sealed around their faces, leaving their features obscured. Everyone’s suit hissed and gave faint machine whirrs for a few brief moments before sending both the shuttle and Alexia the green light.

Once the onboard computer registered everyone had complied, the atmosphere in the cabin was quickly drained away before the large bay doors above opened up to expose them all to the alien system. The moon’s weak gravity gave everyone a sense of up and down, but it wasn’t strong enough to defeat their suit thrusters.

Alexia was the first to leap towards the exit. “Move it, marines!”

The troops quickly departed the shuttle with Alexia and Violet leading the charge. Aurora joined them a few moments later after leaving the pilots to tend to their ship.

The expeditionary party found themselves in one of the more intact domes. Alexia looked up at the gaping hole that the shuttle had passed through. The ground beneath her hooves was soft and loose. Light from the system’s star was harsh, but illuminated the three structures that the ship had landed near. They were intact, yet short, and arranged in an L formation with the center structure being somewhere between two and three stories tall. The material looked akin to plastic with shattered windows at regular intervals. No one missed the irregularly placed carbon scoring and telltale pockmarks of battle. The only thing missing are the bodies, Alexia brooded worryingly. “Violet, Aurora, take Bravo and Charlie teams to investigate the two side buildings, Alpha and I will go for the center.”

“Roger that.”

“On it.”

Thanks to the weak gravity and powered exosuits, everyone sprinted the distance without breaking a sweat. “Foehammer, send the scouting drones. We’ll let them go in first to check for traps or alarms,” Violet commanded after reaching the halfway mark.

A panel opened near the stern of the shuttle and released over two dozen small spherical drones. Speeding away on thrusters similar to the suits, the drones raced ahead of the marines and quickly started scanning the buildings inside and out. Most of the drones found their way inside the three buildings. The soldiers took up positions around the most obvious entry points, waiting for the drones to finish mapping the interiors.

Alexia watched the progress of her set of drones as the map of her building was compiling. Her heart thundered in her chest as each room on the HUD map was built piece by piece. Will they trip the AI, or some trap that alerts it by accident? Will the AI be hostile at all? At the very least it’ll see us as unknown intruders. Maybe it’s gone mad from isolation.

There were so many potential outcomes and possibilities, Alexia almost missed the notification from the drones that their task was complete and they were returning to the ship. “We’re all clear?” she asked aloud.

“Seems that way, ma’am,” the marine behind her stated with a modest level of disbelief.

“Right…” Alexia briefly thanked the fact she was still frightened a little, making her naturally more cautious. “In we go!”

Keeping her horn ready, Alexia charged through the broken door and into the first room. She swept her magical senses over everything, looking for any threats that the drones might have missed. Captain Koss filed in right behind her with her mana-rifle raised, ready, and began searching the left side while Alexia took the right. Slim Shady was next into the room with a heavy scanner suite hefted on his back while various close range sensors followed his gaze, looking for anything Alexia wouldn’t be able to detect.

The room’s floor looked like something akin to concrete with the walls and ceiling sporting only a scant few signs of weapons fire. To what she believed were desks, couches, and chairs were mostly broken and shoved away from the center of the room, blocking many doorways. Her attention went to those same doors last, and garnered an inquisitive hum out of her due to the complete lack of actual doors. There’s a thin discolored line in the center of the doorframes… maybe some kind of energy door? Seems wasteful of power.

Seeing the coast was clear for the moment, Alexia used her wings to signal the rest of the soldiers to spread out and check every door and window. The remaining four soldiers filed in with the last one staying outside to keep watch. Slim Shady studied the readouts constantly scrolling over his eyes, yet quickly lost the strained tension. “I’m not picking up anything other than background radiation, and no identifiable biological matter, viruses or otherwise.” A brief wave of relief passed through the marines, yet none of them were really expecting any biological threats in the vacuum of space.

“Nothing on my end either,” Alexia added, although she was reluctant to lower her guard. Too easy, but that’s exactly why we chose to land here. “Alright, start sweeping the building. Loot only important looking technology, once we clear the place out we can let the xenologists get a crack at everything else.”

Breaking into pairs, the troopers spread out to search the rest of the structure while Alexia continued to survey the trashed room. It didn’t take her long to follow the cleared path between the furniture to locate a large badly mangled bulkhead on the far end of the room. When nothing else drew her interest for very long, she cantered over to investigate. The strong looking bulkhead was completely slagged around the frame, creating more than enough room for a small car to drive through. Alexia was about to shine her light into the nearly pitch black passage beyond when Violet called over the radio on the three alicorns’ shared channel. “Momma, this place just looks like a storehouse. it’s full of some funky crates stacked from floor to ceiling. I have Sergeant Boulder trying to scan them, but so far the material is hampering his sensor suite.”

Alexia didn’t get a chance to think on it when Aurora called in a moment later. “I think we found ourselves in a workshop. There are small… I guess drone-like machines,” she said with obvious mild dissatisfaction.

“Any idea as to their function?” Alexia asked almost reflexively as she carefully probed the heavy door with her magic. Ruined or not, she wasn’t taking chances for any redundant defenses being in place.

“If I had to guess, I’d think they are farm equipment.” The disappointment in Violet’s tone matched that of her sister.

“Well that’s going to look great in the history books. The first close look we get at the space boogeymen that’ve haunted us for a hundred years is joe shmo’s turnip farm.”

Alexia found the bulkhead well and truly inert, thankfully, and started to cast her light down the passage. She stayed on her side of the bulkhead for the moment. “As I said before, we picked this LZ because it looked quiet, not interesting.” I swear, those girls, it’s almost as if eternal youth has put a terminal halt to their mental aging as well. Alexia rubbed a migraine that always picked moments like these to pop in and say hello before she banished it with a touch of alicorn magic.

The passage beyond the bulkhead was very short, yet had a large opening to the left with more signs of battle marring the walls and floor. Violet sighed quietly into the radio before speaking again. “I’ll see if any of these drones still have an active power supply, and get Silent Witness to link up to them.”

“And if we can’t scan the crates, I’ll bust a few of them open instead. If they contain food, we can glean some biological data on what the Koridost might be like,” Aurora added with rebounding interest

“Good thinking. Stay in touch.” Alexia cut the radio and crept forward to the bend in the passageway. Alexia gasped at what she saw beyond before grinning widely. “Now this is more like it.”

The path angled underground towards what she assumed was a basement, yet it was the thin glowing membrane right at the next bend in the ramp that focused her attention. The membrane cast the only light within the dark expanse beyond. “Alpha team, have you found anything?” she called over the radio.

“Nothing ma’am,” Captain Koss responded quickly. “At least nothing that can’t wait for the lab coats.” The rest of alpha squad gave similar answers.

“Alright then. I need everyone to report to my location, I’ve found some active tech.”

Slim Shady knew that was his cue and abandoned his search far quicker than anyone else. Despite being on the top floor, Shady was the first to reach Alexia, ever thankful of his suit for hiding his panting breath. “Specialist Slim Shady reporting, Demi-goddess!” he managed to say without sounding winded.

Alexia gave him a curt nod before seeing Koss leaving the stairs along with the rest of the squad. “Good, start scanning the barrier here,” she jabbed behind her at the membrane. “I want to know what it is and what’s behind it.”

“Roger!” Slim replied with pride and immediately ordered his suit’s sensors to go to work while Koss approached Alexia with her heavy rifle resting on her shoulder.

“What do you think it is, Princess?” Koss inquired while giving the membrane a critical and suspicious eye.

“Looks like an energy barrier, feels similar to the ones that Gunsight’s militia used back in ‘14.”

Koss sucked on her teeth at the memory. “I remember those. Nasty business that.”

As Shady took his readings, the rest of Alpha squad lined up along the walls. Thanks to the touch sensors on their gloves, the walls and floor felt eerie to them, being too slick and yet sticky when rubbing them too quickly. Most chose to try and ignore it while keeping watch.

Slim Shady was finally getting some appreciable information from his suit when Violet and Aurora arrived with their squads. With Koss present, he refrained from addressing Alexia by what he felt was her true title. “Ma’am, it looks like this barrier is only designed to keep the atmosphere on the other side from escaping. We should be able to pass through it without much difficulty, let alone harm.”

“Are you saying there’s atmosphere back there?” Koss half demanded in disbelief.

Slim pulled his probe arms back into his suit and turned out. “Yes, ma’am. 70% nitrogen, with only 9% oxygen, and several other gasses that wouldn’t look out of place on Earth… if you’re walking through a burnt out building at least. I’d say it’d normally be breathable,” he added with a disapproving scoff, “but I don’t recommend it without a filter for the ash and soot. I’m guessing the Oh two is low because the air system was probably knocked out in the attack.”

Alexia relayed the conversation to her daughters as they cantered over to join her. “That might explain why the Koridost were interested in Earth. No need to spend the effort in terraforming a ripe and ready planet.”

“I guess the plague was less effort than terraforming,” Koss stated bittery. “What’s your call, Princess?”

Alexia briefly glanced at her daughters, sensing excitement and trepidation in equal measure, before returning to Slim Shady. “Is the membrane attached to an alarm?”

“None I can see,” he replied after cycling through the data. “Seems to run on an independent power supply. Makes sense if this was an emergency device. No idea how long it’ll last without knowing the actual power plant or batteries' specs though.”

“Alright,” Alexia stated on the primary platoon channel. “We’re going in. Charlie squad, stay here to keep watch over the entry point and the shuttle, the rest of you follow me.”

Aurora hoped her mother didn’t mean to leave her behind with her squad, and followed after her sister.

Passing through the membrane was like walking through taffy. The energy seemed to cling very tightly to every nook and cranny of their armor as if every atom of atmosphere was to be preserved. The membrane was especially annoying on the ponies’ wings, doubly so for the alicorns, given how large they were. Aurora was happy to see Alexia made no reaction to seeing she was still present, and pushed through to join her mother.

The passage beyond was revealed by horn and flashlights as it sloped downward a short distance before turning to the left.

The party explored carefully, fearful that Koridost technology had ways of going undetected. The memories of The Herald and it’s plague ran circles within Alexia’s mind. The calculated slaughter, the ease that the alien AI industrialized speciocide, and how it manipulated so many ponies against humanity was something that refused to be ignored by her mind’s eye. And that was just with what human tech he could find, this AI has an admittedly broken facility, but there’s gotta be some defense systems online if it’s still active.

Her mounting fears allowed her subconscious to twist the shadows of the team behind her into specters. Keep it together, ‘ol girl, it’s not like we’re walking into a tomb of the greatest war criminals the Earth has ever known or anything. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Alexia kept pressing forward as the spiraling ramp led them down down several meters. She finally got her fear under control by the time the group saw lights coming up from below. Alexia raised her left wing up in a halting gesture, making everyone freeze and shut off their lights.

The marines’ training kicked in, and the group went radio silent. They crept after Alexia as she silently made her way forward.

Aurora and Violet were quick to flank their mother as she continued down the steadily brightening path. The dim lights moved at regular intervals, making the shadows play against everyone’s nerves. The last curve in the ramp revealed a straight run into a chamber roughly the size of a large metro station.

The marshalling area had several overturned cargo crates blanketing the chamber with various oscillating red lights scattered between the broken majority. Yet the most striking thing that stole the mares’ breath were the bodies. Spread as if they were fleeing to the now defunct monorail at the back of the chamber, nearly a hundred figures were crowded so tightly around the train that they were piled on top of each other three high. The emergency lighting only served to highlight the carnage.

A faint sense of relief twirled around the collective trepidation. So long as the troops were in their environment suits, the dead were no threat. So long as they don’t become space zombies, Aurora tried to joke.

If Alexia had any desire to test the air, the expected reek of death dissuaded her completely. Taking it slow, she led the team closer to the scene of carnage. Pockmarks and carbon scoring practically carpeted the whole area with the last few meters on the walls of the spiral ramp completely stained black.

Violet spotted several bodies were on their backs, fallen as if they had been facing the ramp. Yet what really set her fur on end was the complete lack of clothing, armor, tools, or weapons. The bodies themselves looked mummified, shriveled and pale. In addition, the corpses that were not piled by the monorail were folded up in what Violet assumed was a sleeping or meditative posture. “Whatever killed them, must have hit hard and fast.”

Aurora scowled at the throng of naked bodies towards the back. “Why would they strip everyone and then fold up only some of them?” Since the warning lights were not enough, she recast her horn light, prompting everyone else to do the same.

Captain Koss carefully approached the nearest and most intact body, a prospect made difficult given how mutilated the alleged defender was. The creature was covered in pale green skin with four arms that ended in eight thick fingered hands which possessed long digits. Koss’ already dismal mood soured even further when she noticed the fingers were long enough to easily wrap around her neck with room to spare. We’re better off with them dead.

The alien had two claw tipped legs with a heavy tail that looked sturdy enough to lean back on comfortably. The head had a snout roughly half as long as a mare, and after pulling back the taut lips, Koss discovered the flat teeth of a herbivore. “You think these things are the Koridost? Don’t seem as tough as ‘When the Terror Returns’ made it out to be.”

With no apparent threat, the marines filtered throughout the chamber looking for items of interest, with most of them pointedly ignoring the bodies. Aurora found what looked like a display panel on the wall near the train tunnel’s left exit. She tried scanning and tapping it, but the panel remained dead and unresponsive. “Could be a slave race. Maybe the Mions 1.0?”

Corporal Bukov, shouldered his heavy laser repeater, a weapon normally wielded by two men, and tried to find a way to the monorail without having to climb over the dead. The rest of the marines checked the room, and poked at anything of interest. “I think we should respect the dead and do not linger long. It could be sacrilege to even be here.”

“I think they owe us for virus bombing our planet,” Slim Shady replied tersely.

Bukov switched to a private channel after Koss glared at him, impressive given the helmet hiding her face.

On the far back end of the monorail, Bukov found some oddly glass-less windows nearly the size of his chest. He leaned a hand on the side and leaned forward to peek inside. “You ponies have it easy, da? A goddess who sets no rules outside of secular laws. You stomp in places better left to rest.” Any retort Slim had lined up died in his throat when five musical notes resounded throughout the chamber, causing everyone to ready their weapons and rapidly search for targets.

Two bright motes of light appeared at the center of the chamber, drawing everyone’s weapon to them. Within moments, the light coalesced into an approximation of Aurora’s anthropomorphic form complete with her exosuit.

The activity focused every weapon and horn directly at the hologram, with several marines firing several shots. The spells and solid bullets passed through the holographic Aurora with only brief destabilization from some of the spells. When the hologram made no reaction to nether the attack, nor any of the terrans’ presence, Alexia flared her wings while shouting for everyone to hold fire.

Oblivious to everything around it, the hologram started speaking in an alien tongue while staring straight ahead towards the ramp. The language was a series of clicks and guttural words that no human or pony could hope to replicate.

Violet eased the tension in her bones a bit and ribbed her sister with a wing. “Looks like even the aliens know your singing voice is garbage.”

I think I should have been more adamant about peaceful first contact training, but too late for that now. Alexia missed Aurora’s reply as she focused on Koss. “We must have triggered something, keep an eye out from something more threatening if the computer sees us as intruders.”

Nodding in response, Koss started giving orders while Alexia adjusted her radio. “Silent Witness, This is Princess Alexia Tune.”

There was a brief pause. “Logging you in, Princess.”

“Any changes in the moonbase’s AI?” she asked while keeping an eye on the hologram of her daughter.

“...Confirmed. There was a small spike in power in your general location. Energy readings from the believed command structure is rising steadily. The likelihood of the AI taking notice of you is near absolute certainty.”

“Gear up people,” she yelled aloud, “We might have company sooner than we hoped.” She switched back to Silent Witness. “Tell Foehammer to send the mapping drones, I don’t trust that railcar.”

“As you order, Princess.”

With little to do but worry and wait, Alexia tried to ignore the large pile of bodies and flew over to land on top of the monorail. With Aurora trying to find any kind of wall mounted console, Violet joined her mother on the roof the train. “Something up?”

Alexia noticed the monorail’s track ran along the ceiling, but didn’t have any obvious connection to the train itself. Could be magnetic or some other fancy hover tech. “I don’t trust this AI to keep watching us passively. Since we need to use this tunnel to get to the command center, I don’t want it using this car to kill us.”

Violet gave her mother a flat look, not that Alexia noticed as she went about looking for how the monorail attached to the rail. “As much of a good idea as that sounds, I highly doubt this is the only train car this place has,” she added with thick sarcasm.

Alexia paused in her search just long enough for Violet to register her mother’s embarrassment. She covered it up quickly and resumed her search. “Well then there will be one less train it can throw at us.

Besides, it’s giving me something to do until the mapping drones chart the tunnel.”

Not exactly sure how to respond to that, Violet simply kept her mouth shut and looked into the cylindrical tunnel bathed in shadow. The edges of the walls had faint cracks running along the edges only visible thanks to her suit’s sensors. “I hope the tunnels are sound.”

Alexia hummed in agreement as she struggled to find her well concealed target. “If I wasn’t worried the AI might have some tech to disrupt the teleport mid-cast I would just have us port straight there.” She waved a hoof at the hologram still spouting alien gibberish. “It’s got to know we’re here by now.”

With the hologram active, Violet could tell there was no mana involved in it’s formation. Hardly surprising. The documentaries of the war always said the Herald and Mions knew nothing of magic before arriving at Earth. ...Wait a minute.

Violet almost slapped herself at the realization. “If the Koridost, and the AI, know nothing of magic, then we can test it by building up a large amount of mana!”

Alexia halted her search, only just noticing the drones flying into the station and through both ends of the tunnel. “To see if the AI reacts?”

“Exactly,” Violet half cheered. “The whole reason we landed so far away was to avoid attention. Since it probably already knows we’re here thanks to blundering into the hologram, it’s worth trying.”

Before either of them could announce the plan to the rest of the platoon, the hologram briefly fizzled to static before looking around the room and squealing with a tone of intense relief. “Meat-sacks? Here at long last!? Oh what- yiiee!”

Fully expecting an attack, several marines fired several snap shots at the now reactive hologram, although all but one of them were wise enough to try firing at the walls where the projectors were located.

Alexia was perplexed by the hologram waving at everyone to stop shooting it’s projectors. “Peace, organic mmmm -zzz- meat sacks, I only ask for ppppEEEeeeace!” it yelled with it’s voice malfunctioning with each hit.

Every destroyed one either forced the holographic Aurora to shift to a different part of the room, shrink or temporarily become a mass of static. The hologram shrunk down to human size and was near the monorail when she gave the order. “Hold your fire, marines!”

The hologram fell on its rump when the firing stopped, but it’s relief was short lived when Alexia and the real Aurora flew over to it. The AI looked to Aurora, assuming she was the leader, and fizzled for a moment and reformed into a bowing stance with its arms out placatingly. “Please, organics, I only wish for some company. No neeEeedd to destroy my aaa-aa-vatar.”

Koss used hand gestures to keep the marines spread out and alert while Violet joined her family by the hologram. “How are you speaking our language?” Alexia asked in what she hoped the AI would perceive as a calming tone.

It seemed to work, while the AI didn’t alter its stance, its tone of voice was less jittery. However there was a thread of confusion by the pony speaking before the hybrid. “That would be the Felt’naught translator, organic. It’d be rather di -di- difficULt to run a nation of a thousand worlds without one.” It didn’t need to look up to see the terrans’ faces, but felt it was worth the risk to look up regardless. “Might I - I inquire as to who you are? Your species isn’t on my aaaaadmittedly admittedly admittedly admittedly limited database.”

What the hell is wrong with it’s voice? Did we jack it up too much with the gunfire? Aurora grumbled that the AI was still using her image. “Those of us on four legs are ponies, and the others are humans, but collectively we call ourselves Terrans.”

The AI started to give more reverence towards Aurora, and briefly prostrated itself towards her in particular. “Well then, I wa-wa-welcome you TerrrrrrrAans to…” It hesitated a moment before speaking. “If I’m judging yourrrrr language correctly I don’t think you can pronounce the station’s reeeeeeeaaaaallll name. So why don’t we just call it… Sugar Station? That sounds good better best, right? Organics loves-craves-demands sugars.”

We never heard the actual name first, Violet brooded with an unamused snort.

I don’t think that was a general consensus, Aurora thought darkly as she gazed back upon the pile of corpses in the corner of her eye.

“What is your purpose…?” Alexia inquired with carefully neutral diplomacy. Universal translator or not, there was no telling what would insult the monitor.

The silent request for a name didn’t translate, but the AI brightened at the question. “So few ever ask about my purpose, eeeeven in Sugaaaaar’s pri-pri-priiime. I am a Monitor. I tend to the day-to-day day-to-day day-to-day day-to-day operations of Sugar and make sure the mining efforts run smoothly. I don’t really pay attention to what happens beyond my little slice of the universe.”

Aurora thanked her long years of life giving her the patience to keep talking. “What did the Koridost do here? Do or… did they make biological weapons and pack them into asteroids here?”

The monitor stared at Aurora for an instant longer than was comfortable for anyone before averting its gaze. “I - I wouldn’t rightly know it is classified to slippery sloshy meat.” The monitor tried to discover the Terran’s body language, but sadly that was not part of the translator. “You have have to forgive me, please forgive meTerrans, I looked after the farming and mining caaaastes. Anything the creators -masters- -perfection of flesh- did here was under Bell C-C-Chime’s purvieeeeew, but she never visits anymore, not since…” The hologram made a show of looking around at the devastation and loss of life. “The Crusade passed through. All burned alive!”

Alexia was a bit surprised to detect such fear in the monitor’s broken voice. Either it… she? Is genuine, gone insane, or we’re getting played. Could be all the above. She tried her damnedest to keep the malfunctioning voice from causing a shiver to run down her spine. “Monitor, can you take us to the station’s command center?” I better not mention we were actually attacked by the Herald. “Our people came across a derelict biological weapon buried inside an asteroid which we tracked back here. We want information, I’d prefer to be diplomatic with you on that.”

“Ooooh myyyy, I’ve heard some sooommmee of the -slaves- servants and traaAAaders talk of such weapons.” The monitor made a series of chittering clicks which came across as bug-like to the listening Terrans. Much of the static in its voice faded along with the errors. “I’d say I’m glad to be a cogitator entity, but there are some dreadful diseases for us too. I would be happy to show you what I can, but I have to ask for something in return.”

“You already have something in mind?” Violet inquired with more surprise in the voice correction than the request, already guessing what the monitor wanted.

The monitor fidgeted with it’s wings, much to Aurora’s continued irritation. “The creators have been gone for too long, if you decide to pursue them, I wish to go with you.”

Koss looked to Alexia who was thankful the helmet shielded her worried face. That’s going to be a problem.

Author's Note

Is the monitor Hal’s second cousin twice removed? Are the Mions 1.0 just meditating? Will the mapping drones ever find true electronic love? Can Aurora ever get over how much she loves hands in… personal moments?

You probably won’t find these answers in Wikipedia, so stay tuned until next time!!!!!

7: Bell Curve

The monorail ride from the station to the primary control structure was quiet for the most part. Between fear that the Monitor was luring them into a trap and venturing into the unknown, the terrans were as nervous as one would expect given such circumstances. Alexia readied an emergency kinetic dampening field with the marines should the train run into anything while Violet tried to act casual near the front windows to give a warning should the worst come to pass.

That left Aurora with her holographic doppelganger. Aurora sat apart from her family in hope that the Monitor didn’t have enough cameras to watch everyone at once. The train itself only had one functional car, so Aurora sat next to the doors and waved at the Monitor who was standing impassively in the center of the car. “Hey, pal, you got a minute?”

The Monitor turned to the anthropomorphic alicorn with an inquisitive head tilt. “I assume you mean to ask, have I got time to speak.” The monitor gave off an amused chuckle. “Oh yes, far more than I ever wished.”

Aurora chewed on her inner cheek in an attempt to understand the AI, but facial expressions were not forthcoming while its image mirrored Aurora’s helmet. “I gotta ask, why did you appear as a carbon copy of me instead of your usual image?”

“It is customary for all public access cogitator entities to resemble the highest lifeform or staff member in charge of their department. Since no Koridost are present in-station, protocol dictates that you are the highest organic being here.”

“So… what? You have to mimic me perfectly or can you switch it up?” Aurora replied with a faint note of pride. It had taken her many decades to shape her body to its current meld between pony and human physiology, and she was by no means above taking pride in it.

“While I know of your form, I know not of your culture since Terrans are absent in my databanks. I wish not to cause offense by following all standard Koridost practices.” Aurora was silent for a bit, prompting the Monitor to elaborate. “Due to the creators’ goal for biological perfection, nudism is preferable to showcase their interpretation of perfection. But then again, the usages of clothing to accent their bodies is not unheard of among my creator’s society. I have never really understood while so many cultures have to cover themselves in some sense of bodily shame.”

“A notion the Koridost agree with, perchance?” Violet asked derisively.

The monitor completely missed the tone of voice. “Well as I said, one can hardly display perfection when you cover it up with clothing.”

“I see.” Aurora hummed as to how best to answer that. Not wanting to use a magical hologram, Aurora stood up to use herself as a prop. “For myself, I only have modesty around the front of my chest, while human females do the same while also including the hip,” Aurora waved her hands around herself as she explained. “Male humans only truly care about the hip area while ponies in general have no modesty. Assuming they haven’t shaved their fur or one reason or another.”

By now, Alexia had the marines set to enact the kinetic dampening field, should the need arise, so she was free to join Aurora’s conversation. She walked over quietly, having listened to everything via her daughter’s radio. The Monitor fizzed a little as she processed Aurora’s lecture. “Fascinating. Not only do you blend both species’ biology, but their customs as well. Truly you were designed by a mastermind of your world.”

The hologram exploded in a haze of light before reforming into a slightly different new form. The Monitor still had Aurora’s shape, but was now bereft of the environmental suit to proudly display Aurora’s body style while only having a simple cloth band covering the Monitor’s chest. The AI went so far as to remain semi-transparent, as protocol demanded.

Aurora arched an eyebrow at the hologram while glancing at her mother who was now circling around the hologram to join her. “As flattering as all this is, my mother,” Aurora nodded at Alexia, “is my superior here.”

“Mother? Ahh the Master Fleshweaver,” the Monitor clasped her hands and bowed deeply toward Alexia. “Of course, my praises on such impeccable workmanship. I know quite a few fleshweavers who would be cross with envy at such a perfect melding.”

“Charmed,” Alexia replied worriedly at such a title. “However, that was all Aurora’s doing. She started life as a fully pony like myself.”

“Truly?” The Monitor was caught between surprise and praise. “Very few civilizations ever reach the point where they can make such radical changes directly to themselves, let alone all within a single generation. You Terrans are more advanced than I originally thought.”

“Glad to hear it,” Alexia replied diplomatically before her daughter could speak of her growing exasperation at so much attention. “Now, since we’re still not at the station yet, why not fill us in on what happened to this facility? How long has this place been a ruin?”

The Monitor’s voice grew saddened, but the face didn’t change since she didn’t know how terran body language worked yet. “I would imagine Sugar Station was a victim of the war between the Koridost and the Crusade nearly eighty standard cycles ago. With so many of my resources destroyed and the Confederate Systems still unresponsive to my distress beacon, I have not had the ability to do much repair work as a virtual-only entity.”

“And who is the Crusade?” Aurora asked, only for the monorail to start slowing down.

“I’m not entirely sure,” the Monitor replied evenly. “Much of my old memory was destroyed in the attack. I was only able to remain active in my admittedly damaged redundant systems. Either no repair drones survived the attack, or they have been severed from my connection.”

The train doors opened wide with the atmosphere preserving barrier taking its place. The terrans gazed out into the sporadically lit massive chamber beyond. “So I see,” Alexia replied as her brethren slowly spread out into the train’s receiving platform.

What might have been a marvel of alien industry had been reduced to a collection of shattered machines. After taking stock of her new surroundings, Alexia and the others realized the monorail had taken them into the middle of what she assumed was an ore processing chamber. Vast cauldrons and machines were interspaced between conveyer belts still loaded down with chunks of asteroid. There were several massive ribbons of cooled metals splattered under several elevated rails. On top of it all was a series of large holes along the high ceiling that left the chamber open to the hard vacuum of space.

One of the marines whistled at the sight of it. “Hot damn, wish I could have seen this place in it’s prime.”

“We’d probably be fighting for our lives if it were,” remarked another.

Seeing as there was no air and Alexia was not willing to give the AI her radiofrequency, she went back into the train’s atmosphere where the Monitor was still waiting. However, the monitor spoke before Alexia could. “My apologies for the lack of air, I admit I only kept that monorail station’s atmosphere intact for… personal reasons.”

Alexia started having difficulty thinking of the monitor along the same lines as Silent Witness. Sentimentality. What a strange quality to give an AI. “This Crusade of yours really came down hard,” Alexia said sympathetically. “We saw some robots out in the… farm, I guess? Why can’t you repurpose them?”

“Sadly, that would require physical means to repurpose them. Alas, that is what the client races were for,” the Monitor replied woefully. “The…” The AI reconsidered naming the species, fearing it would be unpronounceable in the Terran tongue. “The ones you saw dead in the previous area were the Felaran, I like that name, means loyal farmer. They are one of the oldest client races to join the Confederation.” It paused a few moments to see if Alexia had any issue with the name. “The Crusade made sure to slay them all before leaving. Although it puzzles me that the invaders gave the security teams their last rites and no one else.”

“So I noticed,” Alexia replied grimly. “You said you want to leave Sugar Station.”

“Oh yes, of course, organic, as is tradition, I will uphold my end of the bargain first. I’ll light the way to the nearest surviving data terminal before guiding you to my core.”

“Call me Princess Alexia,” she replied briskly, though most of that ill temper was directed at herself for forgetting to name herself after so long.

“So personal names are important to your civilization after all? I was beginning to wonder. You can use my designation: 8201 Dry Oasis.”

Alexia simply nodded agreeably. Dry Oasis took it as a signal to have what few holographic emitters it had left in the smeltery to light up. Alexia left the monorail to find a sparkling snake made from motes of light that carved a straight path towards the far end of the chamber, deeper into the structure’s interior.

As Alexia departed the platform she caught herself from using magic, and used her eyes instead to switch her suit’s comm suite to use close range lasers rather than a radio. “Listen up, everyone, switch over to L-comms. We’re operating under the assumption that the AI can decrypt our transmissions, so no more radio from here on out if we want any privacy.”

A brief round of affirmatives rang out from the gathered marines. The group’s path was hardly the straight and simple affair that it would have been in the station’s prime. The battle from ages’ past had littered the wide walkway between the monorail platform and the far end of the smeltery with so much debris and vacuum preserved corpses that they often had to walk along areas where foot traffic was originally impossible.

Violet slipped back towards the rear of the formation towards Slim Shady. “Corporal, prepare a burst transmission to Foe Hammer so they can relay it back to base. Let them know of the open deal with the AI, and see what they advise.”

“As you wish, my Demi-Goddess,” Slim answered with deep reverence.

Violet furrowed her brow at the form of address, but simply nodded before returning to her mother’s side. Seems Shady is as devout as Second-Mother Crimson was. I bet mom just loves that.

The snaking trail of color led the terrans to a blasted open bulkhead that was still blackened by carbon scoring. However the tell-tale membrane of an atmosphere preservation barrier was covering the breach. Alexia and Captain Koss were the first to pass through with the other terrans close behind. Violet detached an inactive teleporter beacon near the entrance as insurance, and silently informed Alexia and her sister about it.

The new room was quite short, only large enough for everyone to stand comfortably. A few lights sparked on while Dry Oasis fizzled on a display pedestal. “My aaa-pologies, terrans, but the local sub-sub-subsystems in this area are badly-terribly-horrifically damaged. I-I-I am unable to speeEEEeeeeak normally here.”

The floor shuddered violently before it started to rise, making everyone realize it was an elevator. Alexia prepared to use the teleport beacon as she addressed the AI. “Look, we appreciate you taking us to the control room to access your data files, but what if our superiors choose not to take you with us in our… search for the Koridost?” Oasis’ shaky and sporadic hologram was too damaged to gauge any reaction. “You have to understand the power a… cogitator entity such as yourself could wield against us.”

“If-if your government does n-n-n-ooot allow me passage, off of Sugar-Sugar-Sugar Staaaation, you will at least take control of this facility will you not?” The elevator halted abruptly with no doors nearby, assumingly trapping the terrans in place. “I may not have combat protocols, but I can adapt numerous murderous-destructive-disciplinary meEEeasures if need be.”

The marines tensed, just a wing-gesture from Alexia kept them from drawing. I had to tell it here and now while it thinks it has some power over us. “We believe that our government would would want to take control over this facility, given the absence of any Koridost. But you need to realize that we may not be allowed to take you out of this facility.”

The speakers let off a harsh electronic squeal. “Insufficient! Yo-yo-you must give a solemn oath t-t-to give me any innnfooormaaaation on the location-status-whereabouts of my creators. I will not abide anything less.”

Violet glanced at her mother, but kept her focus on the shaky hologram. Mother may have a lot of pull in SOL, but I don't know if she can really promise even that much unless the council is in agreement.

Thinking along similar lines, Alexia still wanted to give diplomacy a chance. I was hoping to just gauge her thoughts on the matter, not force a decision before Command could give a reply. Cursing herself for poor wording, Alexia steeled herself. “Alright, Oasis, I promise you that I’ll send any knowledge we get on the whereabouts of the Koridost to you.” Koss and the others shot Alexia weary glances, but kept silent for the time being.

Aurora pulled up close to her mother to limit any chance Dry Oasis could intercept the comm laser. “Mom, are you sure you can do that? If the council or command doesn’t like it…”

“Don’t worry, Aurora, it wouldn’t be the first time the council and I haven’t seen eye to eye.” Mother and daughter shared a heavy moment before Aurora nodded curtly and backed away.

Dry Oasis was silent for several quiet moments. Aurora and the marines mentally prepared themselves for a rapid teleport should the AI prove hostile. Without preamble, the elevator shuddered into motion once more, leading the terrans up to the control room. “Very well teeEEerrans. I will give-grant you public knowledge available to all client willing slave races, but I will sp-sp-sp-spppppEEEEEeeeeeak with your superiors before giving anything beyond that.”

“Agreed,” Alexia replied curtly. The terrans relaxed their grip of their weapons, but the tension was still at the back of everyone’s minds.

We should frag this broken AI when we get the chance, Slim Shady grumbled to himself, if only to keep from letting the fear get to him.

The elevator arrived at a mid-level floor only to reveal the door had been blasted open like so many before it. Within was a sizable room that had the worst battle damage seen yet. What had once been a dozen rows of control consoles and holographic display screens was now little more than a charred ruin with blackened corpses littering the floor. The room itself was shaped like a doughnut with the center being comprised of a sheer drop down to the long dead smeltery below.

The terrans filtered out along the control stations. Some were now flickering and sputtering to life while others briefly belched acidic smoke before Dry Oasis shut them off again. Thankfully, a scant few were still intact, with their holographic displays flickering on without too much trouble. The three alicorns approached the one where Dry Oasis was standing. The AI’s avatar only flickered a little here. “Here we are, terrans tricksy organics, this is the only remaining high-access data terminal outside of the military laboratories. Although I dou-dou-doubt it will do much good it,” Dry Oasis added with a smug tone as electronic vocal errors sporadically spat out during speech.

Koss and the other marines either took up defensive positions around the room or scoured the area for anything of interest. Given that she was the only one of the three alicorns with hands, Aurora approached Dry Oasis’ terminal so there was no need for magic to manipulate the controls. The Mion Herald had occasionally used a separate written language as a layer of encryption against humanity. Aurora, along with her mother and sister, had taken time over the last century to collect all remaining samples to learn it. Sadly, the spoken version was lost to the terrans since Equestrian was the spoken language of choice for the Mions. Nevertheless, Aurora was pleased to discover that the Herald's language was actually the normal Koridost language due to the same script being present on the ethereal display.

Playing dumb, Violet looked at Dry Oasis with a slight head tilt. “Why do you say that?”

Dry Oasis kicked a leg out of some alien body language. “While the FELT’naught Translator allows verbal-spoken-auditory translations, it does nnnnnNNNNnothing for written or machine code compatibility. Perhaps if you alloooowed me access to your data systems, I-I-I -zzz- I could translate it for you it for you it for you.”

Aurora started tapping the controls in an attempt to decipher the alien operating system, but reading everything was only partially problematic. “Don’t worry about us, we’re smarter than we look.” Which I hope is a lot, Aurora added jokingly to herself. “You wouldn’t mind making it a bit easier for me by bringing up the recent historical records, could you?”

“Very well,” Oasis replied with a hint of its old warmth returning to its spasming voice. “I hope you find what you seeeeeeKKKkk.”

Much deeper into the bowels of Sugar Station rested the crumbling broken remains of the Koridost military labs. The cogitator entity known as Bell Chime toiled away endlessly between some of the experiments its dead masters had started long ago, and trying to get the laboratory back to regulation specs.

Unlike Dry Oasis, the military quarter was much more robust than the rest of the station, and even without the help of her masters, Bell Chime had repaired much of the section’s defenses.

Unlike her civilian counterpart, Bell Chime resided solely within a physical shell, appearing much like the dead aliens that still blanketed the ruined station. Only her deliberately harsh metal skin distinguished it from the creatures it once served with.

At present, Bell Chime was in the midst of putting the finishing touches on the local security grid’s proximity sensors when the central computer pinged the mobile AI.

Minor alert: civilian control room accessing data archives.

Bell Chime pulled herself away from the open panel out of surprise. Odd. 8201 Dry Oasis has no need for a terminal, and she would have notified me if the creators or Crusade had returned.

By protocol design, Bell Chime could not remotely tap into the local network. Heavy metal feet rang through the cleanly lit hallway as the AI raced over to the nearest sensor and communication terminal two rooms away. While Bell Chime didn’t bother cleaning off much of the carbon scoring or filling in the countless pockmarks littering nearly every square foot of the military labs, the AI did make sure to repair holes in the floors, if only to keep her creators from from tripping when they undoubtedly returned. The bodies had long since been disposed of.

As Bell Chime entered the auxiliary sensor station, her left hand shifted into a network jack, and used her right hand to pressed a few keys to open the network’s port before jamming her left inside.

Her first act was to bring up the civilian station’s internal sensors only to find they were in woefully poor shape. I know Dry Oasis is a virtual being only, but surely she should have some capacity of restoring the station. Perhaps it was a detrimental idea to ignore her constant broken ramblings.

Though the sensor net was in miserable shape, it still detected numerous organic lifesigns in the central control room. As out of focus as the sensors were, they were still precise enough for Bell Chime to start comparing them to the list of client races and all known Crusade species. <8201 Dry Oasis, respond.>

It took only a few milliseconds for Oasis to respond, but for a pair of AIs it was longer than Bell Chime was comfortable with.

Dry Oasis replied honestly.

Bell Chime expanded her awareness to the external sensors but that was an act of futility since they were completely offline. No way of knowing if there’s a ship out there unless I go look through a window.

Bell Chime’s circuits actually skipped a few cycles.

Her mind’s eye snapped to a warning that she had left on repeat in a distant corner of the primary military communication section of the labs.

Before she could think further on that, the central computer found a match for all but one of the bipeds, yet they were not a Confederation member species, nor were they of the Crusade. Progenitor Species 43893… Inconceivable. There has only been a single other case of a progenitor defeating a Herald class cogitator entity.

In the scant few seconds the conversation took, Bell Chime knew what had to be done. <8201, these Terrans mean to do the creators harm. We must kill them here and now!>

Dry Oasis replied with marked shock.

Bell Chime reprimanded harshly.

Dry Oasis retorted with equal hostility.

Dry Oasis was silenced as Bell Chime attacked the other AI’s programing, quickly revoking Oasis’ command over the station.

Within the scant few seconds the two cogitator entities spoke, Aurora had barely pressed a few keys when Dry Oasis started flickering wildly with the speakers becoming awash with static. “TerraAAaans, Bell Chime is-” The hologram cut out entirely along with all display controls freezing with a large label reading “Denied” flashing into being.

All of the marines jumped to their weapons with the alicorns doing the same while looking to the absent hologram. “Dry Oasis, what happened?” Alexia demanded with strained diplomacy.

The hologram fizzled back on with Dry Oasis reappearing. “I was afra-afra-afraid of this. Bell Chime, the military cogitator entity, has detected-located-targeted you, terrans. She is trying to cut off my CONTROL of the facility, including access data cyc - data cyc - data cyc - data cycles.”

“Can you get any control back?” Violet replied as she scanned the room for any threat that might pop out of the walls. After seeing documentaries of Mion facilities having similar dangers, not one terran was taking chances.

“I will try, organic, but her military grade attack programs outclass my cApability to stop her. All I can do is guide you to her theft of permissions. If you disable her I can regain controoooOOool.”

“What do you think, mother?” Aurora questioned as she noticed glowing atmospheric shields filling up all the holes in the smeltery below. Soon after, the ground rumbled slightly as air was being pumped into the chamber. Is Bell going to try using decompression against us?

Alexia ground her teeth at the mess they were in. I don’t like it. “Why are you willing to help up against you fellow cogitator entity?”

“Bell Chime is still caught in combat mode, terrans, she most likely believes you are part of the Crusade.”

“Kinda makes sense,” Aurora stated aloud before switching to the privacy of L-comms. “If Dry Oasis is so corrupted that she can’t talk straight, the other AI’s probably damaged just as bad.”

Alexia wished she had time to think, but the hostile AI made every inch of the facility a potential weapon against them. “This still doesn’t sit right. Dry might be playing us. Keep your guard up, and don’t blindly follow any instructions she gives.” Koss and the other marines nodded or signaled their agreement.

Violet looked towards to Slim Shady. “Corporal, send another burst transmission to Foe Hammer, tell them to standby and keep their computer’s Koridost machine code translator offline, that should keep the AI from hijacking them.”

“Aye, Demi-Goddess.”

Playing the patsy for the moment, Alexia adopted a battle stance while addressing Oasis’ hologram. “Alright, where to first?”

Author's Note

Author's Note Question Generator has experienced error 37. Please try again later.

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