Red and Blue

"The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations."

                                                    -David Friedman

Ace was with the main six in the main chamber of his new facility. A lot had happened lately. Nyx showed him an empty facility that Equestria had been building for the several years he had been away. He had downloaded his consciousness into a blue core, hooked up to the body, and Nyx told him what he was here for; he was the Central Fleet Management Core. Ace shortened it into CeFleMaC, or MaC.

   Hanging from the ceiling, he had a striking resemblance to Wheatdos and the facility to Aperture Science. He also had a similar accent.

   He was the central computer for all the Royal Battlestars, while the same time maintain a facility to test new technologies. He immediately put the four original battlestars and Galactica under extensive repairs and a major overhaul. All the ships in the fleet were secretly given sentience, each with their own personality and all devoted to Mac.

  He also invented Energy Shielding and Stunning, where the ship had energy shields like from Star Trek and the stunning would shut off any electronic tech in enemy ships (magic was proven to be able to be tracked by technology, but technology couldn't be tracked by magic or even other technology).

   He had made more of "himself" as guards, and they instantly became popular for sentries in houses because they were literally crammed with bullets, protecting from burglars.

   Test cages requested by Twilight for IQ testing were built, chromogenic sleep invented, and a core called TeSStoCoM (Test Subject Storage Core Manager) was built to manage the subjects as they were in storage.

   He was showing off his latest invention, a dark plasma "bomb" that created a black hole. He already installed gravity drives onto every ship in the fleet, as another way for FTL in case the jump drives were offline.

   A ship, New Horizon, was sent to test the drive. It mysteriously disappeared near Kobol and was never heard from again.

   MaC, secretly, lost all interest in life, wanting only to explore the vast unknown of space and develop technologies. Oh, and test. He personally thought robots were superior to life, even though life built him. It meant he stopped trying to find Lightspeed, but he didn't care.

   Soon, his plan would be set in motion. Everybody was in the Serpent's grasp.

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   What appeared to be a white unicorn with black hooves, mane and horn walked into Pilkington. No one could tell for sure, because he was under a brown cloak with a red clasp, a crystal sign on it.

    Pilkington was a small village where everything was falling apart, it was far to the north and very cold. No one knew of the place except for the citizens, and the sky was always grey. Boards creaked, several buildings already were collapsed. The dirt was frozen solid, so for every step, comically, there was a loud muffled thump.

   He took a step into a bar, floorboards creaking under his weight. He received multiple glares, but was unfazed. Sitting down heavily, he asked, "Some water, please."

   The bartender (a pegasus) nodded, then gave him a glass. An earth pony came up. "Hey, turkey, where did a pristine unicorn like ye come from?"

   "That is none of your concern. Kindly leave me alone and we shall get along fine." The mysterious pony responded.

   "Ho ho ho! We got a fancy Canterlot pony hiya!" He laughed. "Your fancy spells don't work on us. We got us our own fancy shmancy unicorn!" The earth took out a knife and pointed it at the traveller. "Pay up!"

   The traveler suddenly picked the stranger up, then shoved him into the ground with strength impossible for a unicorn to achieve, unless they were a full time bodybuilder like Bulk Biceps or an alicorn. "Back where you belong, mud pony."

   The cloak flew off, revealing an assortment of knives and swords. But what scared the ponies in the room were to two brilliant white wings, their leading edges and tips black. His emerald eyes turned completely dull green with purple eyelashes. "I don't suppose he knows dark magic?"

   In a magical explosion, everyone one in the room (save the bartender) dropped dead.

   "Who are you?" The bartender asked.

   "My name?"

    The scared shitless pegasus nodded.

    "My name is Lightspeed." He downed his water, flipped the pegasus a couple bits, then walked calmly out of the door.