The EHS Harmony was not a big spaceship. In fact, it was rather small considering the size of most GA made ships. However, this was more on the people, or ponies, that had created the ship. Princess Luna, princess of Equestria and Equis’ chosen representative, looked out through the glass. On the other side, all she could see was the pitch black vacuum that filled space, something that made her feel smaller than she ever had. She was one of fifteen passengers heading to New Haven, the capital city of the GA, and she was one of only three other ponies who had joined.
While the EHS Harmony was made to be used and operated by ponies, it was still large enough to contain a seven foot bipedal at most. Of course, the tallest bipedal she had met was only just under six foot five. That very figure stood next to her, making a call on a cell phone to a friend. Ging, a member of a race known as the Navara, which had porcupine like features such as quills on its back. That being said, it shared a lot of DNA with humans, have smooth skin, a flat face, and five digits. Ging was one of the few representatives that Luna had managed to get along with. Not that the others were nice, Ging was just more laid back then the others had been.
Ging hung up, giggling. Luna looked to her friend, Ging looking back with her strange red eyes (a common trait among her species) “Whelp, looks like Pinkie’s going to have to postpone her ‘Thanks-for-letting-us-into-the-Galactic-Alliance’ party. Fol wants to give us a surprise of his own,” Luna could help but laugh at this, knowing exactly where this was going before Ging said it. “Apparently he is still trying to beat her at the party thing.”
“Fol never was your normal politician,” Luna said. “Compared to some of the human leaders I’ve heard about he’s rather popular.”
In truth, Fol was anything but a politician. His position as a member of the council was mainly due to his father’s position, which Fol took over after his retirement. In many ways Fol was more of a mechanic then a politic, serving as a military technician and still worked on projects in that area. This was the first time Luna would be meeting with the Fentar official, or most of the officials really. The first contact party consisted of only five different species out of the seventy-five (now seventy-six) that made up the GA. Fentar was one of those that they hadn’t seen, and one that Luna still hasn’t met.
“Well besides from Ren most human leaders have a much… different way of thinking then most of the races do,” Ging said hesitantly, looking at a file that someone had just sent her, cautiously touching the phone screen (the Navara have claw-like fingernails, rather sharp ones too). “Fol is a lot less private than most human council members are, which makes him more trustable. Add that to his rather unique personality and you got someone most people can trust.”
“Still getting use to saying that,” Luna commented. “Back on Equestria it was everypony, not everybody. It’s like learning a phrase you’ve used for so long in your language is bad to say in another one. Heard humans have problems with that.”
Ging let out a ‘hmph’ at this, sitting down on the cold metallic floor next to Luna. She tapped her index finger against the side of Luna’s seat, a silver ring making a clink noise. The Harmony was not as outfitted as most spaceships in the GA, but the important parts of it were there. There was multiple empty seats due to a lack of crew currently present. The only other crew member on the bridge was a male human piloting the ship. The bridge was made up of two levels, Luna sitting on the upper level looking at a blue holographic screen with an iron plate on the other side. She was busy reading some information sent to her by the council members. Some were letters welcoming her, while others gave information on the other races and cultures.
There was so many things she had to keep in mind, so many changes to culture on Equestria. Back on Equis clothes was only a necessity for formal events, but with first contact wearing clothes had become much more normal. Luna, herself, was wearing a black, silky top and bottoms with red lines forming the pattern of the moon and sky on it. Where her cutie mark would be the tailor was kind enough to replicate the mark in the same red color as the lines. She also had a blue cape going over her back and hiding her tail.
On her front right sleeve was a small, metallic device called a PGT (Personal Galactic Terminal), which was basically a portable computer. Games, Email, Audio Recording, and streaming was just some of the things that was on here. It was used by both civilian and government personnel, had many capability, and used face recognition to activate. It was near impossible to break into and each unit had it’s own server for it’s specific owner, meaning it’s impossible to hack or break into. Luna’s copy was a gift from Ging, as a PGT model for ponies and other Equis races was still being developed.
“Official Luna!” Luna looked a level at the lone human on the bridge. “We will be arriving at New Haven station in T minus 10 minutes. I’ve already cleared us for entry.”
“I thank you,” Luna nodded her head to the human as she got up from her seat. “I will prepare to disembark the Harmony, please inform the rest of the crew,” She turned to Ging, who had gotten up. The Navara’s blue dress shifting slightly as Ging dusted it off. “Is this friend you wish to introduce me to going to be onboard New Haven.”
“Trust me,” Ging said. “He’s got other, more ‘important’ things on his mind then the arrival party. Bounty Hunter’s tend to be like that.”
The large, decorated door to a Navaran cathedral blew apart. Three Navara inside shielded their eyes as splinters flew everywhere, stabbing their bodies like needles. Behind them stood a Navaran priest, or at least he looked like one, who was unharmed by the blast thanks to a shield he had prepared. The explosion threw the doors of their hinges, ripping them apart and flinging them over the halls of the cathedral. The priest smiled, knowing all along that someone was coming to collect his bounty. The Navara in front of him raised rifles at the door way, ready for the detonator to show themselves.
“Do not shoot,” The priest said. “Let’s way to see who our visitor is, shall we?”
One of the Navara nodded but kept his gun raised as a figured walked in. A human, young adult with blue eyes and dark brown hair, walked into the room. His clothes were much different from most bounty hunters, which slightly confused the priest. The human were a white jacket with brown fabric near the zipper, bouncing as he walked to show a bright red t-shirt. His pants were white, a few shades darker then his coat was, and a holster for a rapier strapped to it. The priest knew this was the bounty hunter, but it baffled by the lack of protective armor of any kind.
“I see you’ve come after me with the hope I wouldn’t fight back,” The priest said in surprised tone. “So tell me, how many are you being paid by the council. Seven hundred thousand? Nine hundred?”
“I don’t see why you care so much,” The bounty hunter replied back, his voice rather high and laid back. “Of course, I must apologize for the mess I made. I used a burst to try and create a dramatic entrance, not destroy something that’s going to take weeks to replace,” The Navaran were confused at how normal the bounty hunter was acting, almost as if he didn’t come here to kill them at all. “Doesn’t change what I’ve come here to do however.”
Like lightning, he unholstered the rapier he was carrying and brought it in an attention stands. The sword was held right in the middle of his face, and his stared intentively at it. Then without warning, the bright metal blade turned to a solid black, and dark energy exploded from the blade. The confusion in the Navara in front of him turned to fear at the dark energy he was admitting. The bounty hunter then brought his sword quickly to his side before swinging diagonally across his body. Dark matter came out of the blade as he swung, and a confident smile grew on his face.
“Allow me to formally introduce myself,” He said in an elegant voice. “The name is Pilot, Pilot Armasos Rose. You may know me by the bounty hunter name Death Waltz,” He pointed the tip of his rapier at the frightened Navara. “As you see, I’m no normal essence user. Dark essence isn’t something you usually see I presume, and I can tell you it’s just as frightening as you think,” He scanned the cathedral, glad it was empty save for the targets. “Priest Horen, I have come for the a two hundred thousand credit reward one of your victim's family has placed on you for murder. You no longer deserve your title as a priest, and I’m surprised you aren’t ashamed for your actions. I thought someone like you would know better.”
Horen gritted his teeth, eyes locked on Pilot. “SHOOT HIM!”
At his command the Navara fired their guns at Pilot, blue plasma hitting were the bounty hunter had been. They unloaded an entire clip into the bounty hunters direction, only for there eyes to widen as they saw no blood or body in sight. They search the cathedral with there eyes for any sign of the bounty hunter. Then before they could respond, Pilot appeared out of thin air next to the left most henchman. The Navara turned around in shock as Pilot shot the dark energy of his Rapier into his enemy's heart. The other two turn around, weapons reloaded and sights on Pilot.
“Did you really think I was going to just stand there?” Pilot asked teasingly.
His only answer was a barrage of plasma in his direction. He withdrew the Rapier from the Navaras stomach and held it in front of him. The dark essence of his blade formed a shield in front of him that halted the plasma as they hit it. After realizing what they were in for, the other two henchmen stopped and stared in fear. They turned to run, but it was fruitless as the essence making up his shield extended outward. In less than four seconds it ripped through the stomachs of the two remaining henchmen, who were dead only a few more seconds later
“Ging is going to hate me for this,” Pilot said with a sigh, looking to his right.
Only moments ago Horen had stood in front of a giant statue of some strange being. Know, he had disappeared, and Pilot was so focused he didn’t realize the slight glow of the statue in front of him. He looked down at the other side of the Cathedral, and he could see Horen running down the hall. Pilot rolled his eyes, unable to believe how many times he had seen targets try to pull this stunt. He once again held his sword between his eyes, and muttered something.
As soon as he finished his muttering, a ring flew out of the sword. The world became black and white, and he could see his target frozen in place in front of him. He walked casually over to his frozen target, unaware of the statue growing even brighter as he past it. This had gone much easier than it usually did, and he couldn’t help but wonder what in Horen’s mind made him think he needed only three henchmen. As he stood in front of his target time started back up and Pilot grabbed Horen’s robe.
“No, please don’t kill me, I beg of you!” Horen pleaded “I won’t do it again. I promise. Please mister, let me live.”
“How could you?” Pilot asked with anger, “As I said, I expect better from priest such as yourself. The murder of people, both yours and mine, is an unacceptable mistreatment of your position,” Pilot lifted his rapier to his targets throat. “Your crimes are one thing, but for a priest to commit such horrendous act is a sin to both your species and my own. You had a chance to change, but that time had long since past,” He pushed the blade up against his targets skin, fury deep in his eyes. “Go to hell.”
Then, with one swift action, Pilot slit his targets throat. Blood stained the edge of his blade as he dropped Horen’s dead body to the ground. These were the kind of folks he hates the most. The kind of people who abused or corrupted their position to get what they want and do what they want. This wasn’t the first time he had done this, and deeper down he knew he had committed a sin himself. Not that he cared at the moment, glad to give leverage to a hurting family and to remove another horrible person from society.
“Pilot, you done staring at him?” A slightly mechanical, feminine voice sounded into his ear.
“Thanks for staying quite all that time Neasi,” He thanked the voice.
Neasi, Pilot self-made artificial intelligence and his only companion usually on bounties. He had spent months making her, and his luck has paid off exceedingly well. Neasi, unlike a lot of AIs, had an emotion program built into her to make her seem more human. It helped Pilot feel like there was another human being with him when he was drifting in his ship. Of course, her tendency to talk his ear off did tend to be more annoying than helpful in most cases.
“Thank me later, something's wrong with the statue!” Neasi shouted at him. Pilot turned his attention to the statue in the middle of the cathedral, which was now covered in a blinding light. “TAKE COVER!”
Pilot didn’t to be told twice, running to the side of the cathedral and crouching behind one of the pillars. A loud whistling sound came from the statue, and Pilot plugged his ears as it became too much. Then, as the sound almost became to high for human ears, the statue exploded into pieces. Pieces of granite-like rock flew everywhere from the mysterious explosion. As things came to a rest, Pilot looked to the middle of the cathedral, eyes wide.
There, laying on the ground, was a girl. Not a Navara, but a human girl that could have only been inside the statue. Getting up, Pilot made his way towards the girl, knowing that something was wrong. As he came up next to her, he could she see was unconscious. From the looks of it the girl was nineteen, maybe twenty, with long blond hair and a strange outfit. It was a long purple dress with large white lines going through it in the shape of an eye. Pilot blinked, seeing that the girls skin seemed to be very smooth.
“I'm sensing a ton of essence coming off her body… no, it’s surrounding her!” Neasi explained in shock “But, with the amount of essence she has it should rip a normal human apart. How is this possible?”
“I don’t know, your the AI not me,” Pilot said. “However, this doesn’t make sense. Her skin is in clear condition and she has a heartbeat. If she was stuck inside that piece of rock she should be dead unless…” Pilot hesitated to answer, but he knew it was the only thing that could explain the strange girls top condition. “Unless this body she has is entirely knew.”
“Well Pilot,” Neasi replied, already knowing the answer. “I think it’s safe to say this isn’t just some random girl. If I’m correct, given the location and the being on the statue…”
“If your correct then what?!” Pilot said, unable to tell where this was going.
“Considering the amount of essence present around her body, and the body being in near perfect condition… call me crazy but I think we’ve witness the mortality of a Navara God.”
Author's Note
Please like, comment, and follow if you enjoy this story and others I have as well. I won't be focusing on this as much as Descendant of the Night and Fallout Equestria: Reminders, but I'm glad to be writing something sci-fi for a change. So, with that, I will see you all in the next chapter.
“The year is 2688, and I'm not so sure if we've won or lost.”
It all started with first contact, like it always does with these stories. Which one was more pressing is debatable, but to me it always goes back to us. Humanity, when we first saw those spaceships appear from the sky in the year 2273, reacted in fear. Unknown to us, they were also afraid of the same thing, war. War between two planets, one that could travel faster than the speed of light and another that has fought wars on the scale of the entire planet. It was a fear that humans back then knew in science fiction, and the newcomers had seen before. Yet, despite that initial fear, we somehow found friendship.
We were only a century away from being able to ascend to the stars, at least that's what they believed. Still, humanity soon found its place as one of over seventy different species that was part of the Galactic Alliance. What had long been man's dream became a reality, and only a few years later we joined the many races in the Milky Way as a one of them. Some greeted us with smiles, while others stayed optimistic. It was something expected, but underneath the initial smiles and cheerful chatter laid what we still felt that first day.
Fear. With the many advancements made through first contact, humanity learned of a new power. This power was essence, the very fabric that everything - even atoms - are made up of. They taught us to wield it like magic from fantasy stories of old, and it became a power that mankind adapted to. Yet, our adaptive nature made many races scared of what might follow. Like many old wars, technology was but a first spark of a war that would come. Yet it never came, or at least not yet.
Four centuries past, and everything has stayed peaceful for the most part. With the time past since humanities first contact, the Galactic Council, made up of members of almost every race in the Galactic Alliance, thought it was time. First contact with a new race would be made again to help a promising species of intelligent beings reach the stars with hopeful peace. With humanity having become accepted long ago, more the nine tenths of the council agreed. This time, Council head Fol Ten, a member of a lizard like species called the Fentar, targeted an odd planet. To many how have never seen intelligent quadrupeds (specifically mankind) what they found was shocking.
The target planet: Equis. A planet about the size of earth with many strange and different creatures on it. Yet, the strangest of all to humans was the intelligent races that the planet held. Creatures long thought fiction to them, as well as many other races, lived lives close to that of humans. Unicorns, pegasi, griffons, and even species like ponies and zebras had much higher intelligence than their earth or fictional counterparts. Many races found it interesting to see what would happen if they ascended, and so it was decided.
One week later, in the year 2673, over the Equis city of Canterlot in the country of Equestria, the Galactic breached the planet's atmosphere. Unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies, griffons, and many more races watched in awe and wonder at what to them was beyond comprehension. Upon touching down, we found ourselves greet in a way we never expected. The two crowned sisters, princesses Celestia and Luna, welcomed us with friendship. I could still remember the look on the first contact parties faces when they heard that. Completely confused and absolutely stunned. Considering the planet was very much like earth, they had expected a similar greeting.
In the months that followed, members of the Galactic council met with the many leaders around Equestria. Peace was already set, as no fighting had come upon their arrival, and the council offered the wisdom and knowledge of their species to aid Equis in reaching the stars. It was there that they saw the main trait of most of Equis' intelligent species, curiosity. The took the chance to head to the stars as the ability to learn things long thought to be centuries away. The Galactic Alliance apologized to Celestia and Luna for there unsuspecting contact with a species they hadn't realized was so many centuries away from the stars. Still, the curiosity of those on Equis took over, and they set to work on preparing for the stars.
Due to the physical capabilities of those on Equis, helping them quickly advance was much harder than that of humanity. Still, in just five years Equestria was about to send its first citizen to the stars, and others would soon follow. On that day, Celestia gave a speech that would forever be remembered by those on Equis. Only moments later, Equis' first space shuttle, the EHS Harmony, took for the stars. The crowds in Canterlot, and those watching from across the planet and the galaxy, watched the occasion with grand enthusiasm.
Sadly, that's where all the good things come to an end. That spark, the long forgotten spark planted when humanity reached the stars, was within months of igniting. This is where it all started to fall apart. This is how the galaxy ended up how we see it today. Today marks ten years since Equestria ascended to the stars…
Ten years since everything went everything went to hell.
Author's Note
One year ago, I started writing on Fimfiction with a story called Our Days Are Numbered. I was rather unhappy with the story, and felt like it could have been much better. Maybe deleting it was to far, but I've long since wanted to bring it back. Of course, this isn't simply a rewrite of that story. In a way, it's a remnant of that story. I've been working on a way to bring this back for a while, and I've found. So, ladies and gentlemen, bronies and pegasisters, welcome to Fallen: It Starts With Anguish
