The Crystal Empire was far different from what it had been during the years after the fall of Equestria and the rise of Onorus, massive factory complexes had sprung up on the outskirts as the protective shield had been expanding outwards. Smokestacks churned out clouds of smog which were quickly carried out of the dome and into the atmosphere. The Empire, once small and weak, had since grown into a true rival of Onorus to the south. Under the command of Shining Armor, their military had annexed Yakyakistan, Maretonia, and dozens of other smaller states overseas. Unlike the Caribou and Zebra, the Empire was at least fair to its new territories. The factories in the capital city were built to equip the Crystal Empire’s rapidly growing military, uniforms, tanks, trucks, guns, and all manner of other war machines passed through their doors on a daily basis.

For Princess Cadence, this was the antithesis of what she had set out to accomplish when she’d taken control of the Empire. Her husband had gradually become more and more powerful, each time he took over a new territory his popularity grew and Cadence lost more and more control of what was supposed to be her kingdom. Everything from the massive factories to the conquest was fed by a powerful motivator. Fear. Shining Armor had become paranoid of the Onorussians to the south, a sentiment shared by a majority of the Crystal Empire’s citizens, even those that had been annexed.

The nations of the world not under the control of the Crystal Empire or Onorus were either allied with the two superpowers or bought weapons from them. Though tensions were elevated, Cadence was sure that things would turn out alright. Shining Armor would still need her approval if he wanted to go to war with Onorus or one of their allies, as long as she could maintain what little power she had left she could ensure the peace. The alicorn had been having an increasingly difficult time assuring Dominic Occisor of that, however, and she had to admit that he had a good reason to be skeptical. There had been numerous times where border guards had nearly come to blows, not to mention the rapid growth of Anti-Onorus sentiment in the Empire.

The Princess of Love stood in her room in the Crystal Castle, staring down out her once peace loving city through the window. She and Shining had started sleeping in separate rooms four years prior, she couldn’t handle living with him any longer, despite her feelings for him. She loved him, deep down she knew the fun loving stallion she married was still in there, somewhere… He wasn’t home at the moment, he was speaking with the Minotaur Ambassador. Apparently Blueblood, their chief weapon’s designer, had been killed by the Onorussians…

That, coupled with the existing tension between the Minotaurs and Onorus, had driven their government to want to join ‘The Empire Pact’. The Pact was a union of nations that had allied together to stand against the Onorussian Republic and their own defensive pact. Cadence stared down at numerous factories with a growing pain in her heart, she didn’t know what she could do but keep trying to passively resist the growing amount of hate she sensed in her city.

The mare turned away from the window and walked over to the couch that had been set up near the center of her room, it was in front of her television. That was really her only way of seeing the world outside of the Crystal Empire, she didn’t dare leave the capital for a second, for fear of what damage could be done if she did. Cadence hopped up onto the couch and levitated the remote, she powered on the screen and punched in the channel that she wanted to watch. The screen began to display an anchor from the Onorussian News Channel.

”...In other news, Minotaur naval vessels attempted to sail close to Kirk Naval Base on Twin Island. This marks the third incursion into the area in the past year.” The anchor said in his usual droning voice. ”Twin Island was once a hotly contested location between the Minotaurs and the Zebras, leading many to worry the strip of land will become a point of contention in the coming days.” Cadence changed the channel again, she didn’t want to hear more bad news about the Minotaurs. The channel she’d shifted to was also Onorussian in origin, though it was displaying a movie that had come out the year prior.

The film was one of Cadence’s favorites, and the best part was that she had tuned in just as it was beginning. It was a drama about a group of ponies from back in ancient times that helped to hide Thestral Refugees during the Nightmare War, even despite the historical inaccuracies, the movie depicted the ponies as compassionate and caring, just the way they had been in real life. Cadence leaned back in her seat and sighed, her wings ruffling against her side. The mare looked to a picture frame that rested on a table beside the couch, it depicted her in Onorus, standing in a church with the Imperator, his wife, and her Aunt Luna... As well as their son, though he was just a baby. Shining had told her to get rid of it, but she wasn’t about to… It reminded her of when times were better.

Not many people knew, but all those years ago Cadence had been selected to be the godmother of the Imperator’s son. She had taken a shine to the role, and during the early years things had seemed fine, but as tensions grew, Cadence found herself getting less and less time to see her godson. She doubted if he’d even remember her at this point, and that was something she didn’t think she’d ever be able to forgive Shining for. After all, it wasn’t like she could have children of her own… Not with Shining, at least. Altair had been the closest thing she’d had to a child, and now she suspected he wouldn’t recognize her other than ‘The leader of the Crystal Empire’.

The mare looked back to the TV and leaned her head back, she let the dialogue and music fade into the background as she closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind. There had been so much that had happened, sometimes she felt like just using her immense power to retake control of the Empire, but that would make her look like a tyrant to the citizens of the Empire, and what little sway she had over them would be lost if they decided to rebel. No… What she would need to do would be to sway opinion away from her husband’s way of thinking, but she had no idea how to accomplish that.

Cadence noticed that the movie seemed to have become silent, the mare lifted her head and looked at the television. She was surprised to see that none other than Shining Armor had entered the room, his horn was glowing as he muted the television. Cadence looked at the stallion quietly, wondering just what it was that he wanted from her.

“I’ve completed my negotiations with the Minotaurs.” Shining said in an even voice, his once long mane was now high and tight. “They’ve agreed to join the Empire Pact, with them on our side, we’ll stand a good chance against the Onorussians if they should try to test us.” Cadence only nodded and looked back to the muted television, she watched as some of the characters had taken shelter under a bridge while Royal Guards marched overhead. “This is a good thing, Cadence! Finally, we won’t have to worry about them wiping us out like they did the Equestrians.”

“We never had to worry about that, Shining…” Cadence said quietly, she looked over at her husband with tired eyes. “But… I’m too tired to have this argument with you again.” The mare leaned her head back once more. “Go… Celebrate with your Generals, I know that’s what you’re going to do after this anyway.” Shining Armor scowled and looked at the TV, of course his wife was watching an Onorussian Movie, and of course she still hadn’t gotten rid of the photograph of her and the Onorussian Imperator.

“Very well…” Shining said curtly, his horn lowered the remote next to Cadence. “Please… Refrain from watching any more of those… Films. The maids are starting to think you’re feeding information to the Onorussians.” Cadence kept her eyes closed, ignoring the stallion’s request as best she could. “I’ll have someone along to ensure that photograph is also taken care of properly, we can’t afford to look like we’re sympathizing with them either…”

“You can certainly try to take it.” Cadence replied flatly, not opening her eyes. Shining Armor was about to issue a retort, but stopped himself and simply turned to the door. He walked out into the hallway and closed the door behind him, leaving Cadence by herself in the quiet room. The mare looked over to the photograph and levitated it closer, quietly she held it against her chest and hugged it tightly. She told herself that eventually she would get that life back, she just needed to carry on a little longer, then she’d have a chance to show the Onorussians how she really felt, then she’d finally have the chance to be the godmother she wanted to be…

[♠]

The sun was setting on the horizon, casting a pinkish orange glow across the ocean that stretched onwards into the distance. Despite heavy cloud cover, there was still sufficient light to make the sunset a beautiful sight. It gave the sea an eerie feeling of calm, the waves were surprisingly small, and a thin fog had started to settle in. For the crew of an Onorussian Destroyer, the ONV Banshee, it had been a day of smooth sailing. Their patrol of the waters in the South Luna Sea had gone well, with no sightings of ships other than the occasional cargo vessel.

The Banshee was an Arkon Class Patrol Destroyer, crewed by a less than two hundred and captained by a Thestral named Steuerrad. With a length of three hundred and fifty feet, a beam of forty feet, and a draft of twenty feet, the Banshee was one of the smaller vessels in the Onorussian Navy. Painted a bluish grey, to match the color of the sea, she displayed her national colors with pride, the numbers ‘621’ were largely painted on her bow. Her armaments consisted of eight eight inch guns, five twenty millimeter cannons, four forty millimeter auto cannons, four torpedo tubes, and two stern mounted depth charge racks.

For Captain Steuerrad, the Banshee was his home away from home, the stallion was just barely thirty years old and had studied under Admiral Eugene. Though Eugene had been a submarine skipper, he had taught Steuerrad everything he needed to know about hunting subs. Even though there wasn’t much action in this part of the South Luna Sea, Steuerrad and his crew didn’t seem to mind. As the thestral stood on the bridge, watching the sunset on the horizon, he took comfort in the sound of the Banshee’s twin diesel engines pushing her along through the waves. The bridge was quiet, it didn’t take many to staff, which gave it a peaceful feeling.

Most of the crew was below deck in the galley, eating dinner and conversing. Others were on the deck, some where mopping up, a few had taken up painting, and one diamond dog was even fishing. Officially it was to help the cook, but the Captain knew better. He also knew that if need be, his men would drop what they were doing and snap to action, but that didn’t seem likely in this peaceful sector of the ocean.

“Radar Contact!” One of the bridge officers shouted, Steuerrad looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. “Bearing Zero Five Zero. Range Eleven Miles. Speed… Zero Knots.” The captain walked to the Radar station and looked at the screen, watching as the radar lit up a large blip to the North East. “It’s big, sir, and it isn’t moving.”

“Civ Traffic, any container ships scheduled to pass through this area?” Steuerrad Asked one of the other officers, a griffon female who had just reached the rank of ensign. She quickly picked up a clipboard and flipped through a couple pages.

“Negative, sir. No civilian traffic in this area for another four hours.” The griffon replied, Steuerrad hummed for a moment before looking to a young man who was manning the helm.

“Adjust your heading to intercept the vessel, ahead full.” The captain ordered, he looked to the Radar operator. “Alert the forward guns, this may be a Minotaur spy vessel.” The officers nodded, one of them picked up a microphone that was routed into the ship’s PA system.

”Achtung! Achtung! All hands be advised, we are investigating an unidentified vessel. Forward battery personnel are to report to action stations, all others are to remain on alert.” The officer announced as the Banshee began to increase in speed, her bow slicing through the water like a knife. The crew on the deck quickly began putting away their various other activities, within two minutes of the announcement they had donned their helmets and flack jackets. The gun crews for the bow, port, and starboard forward batteries meanwhile had also taken their positions.

“Forward weapon’s crews reporting ready, captain!” The griffon officer announced as she looked at a panel of green lights beside the radio. Steuerrad nodded and raised his binoculars to his eyes, the light was beginning to fade and the fog was thickening, he couldn’t see the ship in the distance. A sense of tension settled on the bridge as the minutes ticked by, no one spoke unless they were reported a change in status, all Steuerrad could rely on was the droning sound of the Banshee’s engines. Eventually binoculars became useless, so the captain set them aside and instead looked to the Radar operator. The sun had set by the time they were approaching the vessel, the clouds obscured the moon and the stars, and the water was dead calm.

“The vessel is still stationary, sir. Two hundred yards, dead ahead.” The Radar Operator announced.

“Searchlights. All stop, bring us up alongside the vessel.” Steuerrad ordered, the searchlights were switched on as the ship began to turn. The lights cut through the fog, the men operating them combed the water with them until finally one of them landed on the hull of the ship. To the surprise of the crew and the captain, the ship’s hull was heavily rusted, but it depicted grey paint… Military paint. The lights roved over the ship a bit more, revealing that by the looks of it, it was in fact a military vessel… Of some kind. The fog obscured a good deal, but the presence of a forward gun turret couldn’t be overlooked. “Gott im himmel…”

“Sir, this doesn’t look like a minotaur ship…” One of the bridge officers said quietly as the Banshee came up alongside the mysterious ship. The other ship was dark and seemed to be listing slightly, what was more, there was battle damage. “We’ve had no reports of any of our ships going missing either…”

“Radio this in… Send Major Sweets and a squad of MACOs over to secure the vessel. Something tells me they won’t respond to a radio transmission.” Steuerrad ordered, once again the officers answered in the affirmative. The captain hoped that the MACOs would live up to their reputation… Once called ‘The Globe Corps’ AKA ‘The Onorussian Global Expeditionary Corps’ AKA ‘OGEC’, their branch had been renamed ‘Marine Assault Command of Onorus’, and they had been assigned to every ship in the South Luna Sea. Major Sweets was a capable officer, if a bit on the dramatic side, and Captain Steuerrad had every confidence that he would get to the bottom of whatever had happened on that strange dark vessel.

Sweets and his men stepped out onto the deck in full combat armor, each holding an Arcane Assault Rifle, and each looked at the other ship with uncertainty. The Major was a tall man, with tanned skin and well defined muscles, he had half a face of stubble as the call to action had come mid shave. His eyes were intense and cold, much like those of the soldier’s under his command, for all intents and purposes he was the exact opposite of his last name. The team of MACOs made their way to a Zodiac that was being prepped to be lowered into the water.

“Alright, we’re going to do a compartment by compartment sweep of the vessel. No one goes off on their own.” Sweets said as they climbed into the Zodiac. “Thermals showed no signs that they’ve operated their engines recently, and we’ve got no signs of crew on the deck. All we know is that something shot at whoever they are and it did a helluva job.” The boat began to lower into the water with one of the soldiers taking a position at the controls. “The vessel isn’t marked with any flag, so unless otherwise provoked we’re to assume they’re friendly, do not engage anyone onboard unless ordered. If there is anyone onboard...”

The boat touched down in the water, the driver started the engine and began driving towards the other ship. By now the entire crew of the Banshee had come up to see what was going on, and searchlights illuminated most of the visible side of the ship. It looked like it was also a destroyer, though it had what looked like missile launchers in place of torpedo tubes. It also looked like it had been floating the seas for at least two years, judging by the rust on the hull. Sweets and his men pulled up alongside the derelict ship at the point it was riding lowest in the water, which happened to be the bow. They could see there were numerous holes in the metal, and they hadn’t been caused by rust.

“Looks like some sort Arcane weapon, seen burns kinda like these from unicorns… But never this big.” One of the soldiers commented as they tossed a pair of grappling hooks up onto the side of the vessel, Major Sweets tugged the ropes a couple times. The MACOs used the ropes to climb up onto the ship, leaving the Zodiac tied to the side of the vessel. Once on the deck, the squad began to move towards what appeared to be the bridge.

“Let’s see what they have on the bridge, it might give us some idea of what happened here.” Sweets ordered, the soldiers flicked on their flashlights as they began to ascend a set of dark stairs that the searchlights weren’t able to illuminate. As Sweets and the squad stepped into the bridge they were presented with dozens of computer monitors and screens, some of them had been smashed out, but all of them were dark. What was more, there were skeletons laying around the floor. Not many, but some… Ponies from the looks of it. They didn’t look like they’d died suddenly, or even violently. They were slumped against the walls, as if they’d just… given up.

“Sir… Those are Equestrian Naval Uniforms…” One of the MACOs said as they approached one of the skeletons, the tattered remains of a uniform were indeed present, and the cloth bore unmistakable evidence of being Equestrian. Patches, medals, even nametags… What was more, the writing on the bridge was also in Equestrian. “This is Spooky… If the Queasies had tech like this before us, why didn’t they use it in the war?”

“I don’t know…” Sweets replied quietly as he approached one of the consoles, his Equestrian was rusty, but he could make out that had belonged to the captain. He briefly rubbed the dust from the screen and pushed some random buttons, after several seconds of nothing, the screen let out a hum as it turned on. It only displayed an image of a map, a map of an area that was supposed to be restricted. “This ship… Seems to have come from the Farlands…”

“That explains it…” One of the others said, Sweets looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “You know what they say about the Farlands, all sorts of weird things happen there…” The soldier walked over to the console. “SEDI does all sorts of experiments there, what if this ship isn’t from here… Our world.” Sweets was about to tell his subordinate that he was crazy, but the man stopped himself and looked at the screen again. The evidence was rather compelling.

“We should inform Captain Steuerrad, then radio the Nocturne Agency… Let them decide if this is SEDI related.” Sweets said as the screen became a little more fuzzy. “Let’s continue to clear the ship before we jump to any conclusions, alright?” The man paused and looked at his rifle. “Just to be safe… If this did come from the Farlands… Set your weapons to maximum, never know what might have killed the crew…” He didn’t need to give the order twice, the MACOs quickly switched their weapons to their highest output setting, known only as ‘Vaporize Mode’, it was intended to be used to shoot open locks, use on a living target was against the Onorussian Rules of War unless it was an extreme emergency. With a new sense of urgency, the squad proceeded to continue clearing the ship, not knowing for a second what mysteries they would find.

After all was said and done, the results of the search were deemed Classified… A call was placed to the Nocturne Agency in Canterlot, and two agents would eventually be dispatched to deal with the vessel. The official report was that it was simply a prototype Crystal Empire vessel that hadn’t been reported missing due to it’s secrecy… It may have been good enough for people in mainland Onorus, but the crew of the ONV Banshee knew better… Whatever they saw that night wasn’t from the Crystal Empire… But what else could it have been?

Author's Note

So here's a little more world building, don't you worry though, there won't be a big war in this story... I'm saving all that stuff for later... On an unrelated note, I'm concerned that I'm not doing as well as I used to when it comes to writing. I really would appreciate any comments you folks have.

Okay, that's enough from me. I'll just leave you with the clip of the day. Oh, and Happy Easter.