Command & Conquer: My Little Psychicby unknown2ChaptersHead GamesArrivalOn A Stranger SphereHead GamesToday was an excellent day. Sure, that pest, the comrade general, had destroyed my network of Psychic Dominators, forged an alliance with the capitalist dogs, and laid waste to my Moon Base. The plan for world domination was now an impossibility. Even now, his forces assault the very heart of my operation. The walls are crumbling. My castle was not built to withstand this kind of assault after all, and I was unfortunately unable to attune the Psychic Beacons to the specific brainwave patterns of his men. A consequence of using suboptimal tools, I suppose. To be fair, it's not like I had the time to come up with anything better. I had been busy with a personal project, a proverbial ace in the hole. And now it is complete. None of the commander’s actions matter anymore. In his eagerness to destroy me, to undo whatever future in that other timeline, where my plans had undoubtedly succeeded, the comrade general had left his little device completely unprotected. Such a tactical mind, but oh so foolish in grasping the truly important details. A pity I could not look into it in depth. I became aware of his device from a report I received while the commander was busy with the fool Romanov. I had to have it. While the general was destroying my fleet of Boomer submarines, I sent out a retrieval team. Security was, rather lax, for such an important wonder of machinery. With my knowledge of technology, as well as some of the finest scientists, short of that funny little german Einstein, repairing it was… well, alright, it was not that easy. Still, the important thing is that it was done in time. A few hours, or even minutes, late, and it would not have bode well for me. The Union is not famous for being kind to traitors, after all. Energy reserves in place, chronoshifters ready… Heh, I remember once thinking to myself: ‘Why should I be content with ruling one country, when I can rule the world?’ Well, now the question is: ‘Why should I be content with ruling one world, when I can rule all of human history, and beyond?’ My senses become aware of certain human brainwaves corresponding to panic. Focusing, I determine that they are radiating from... Ah it's the intelligence officer of that meddlesome general. I believe her name was... Zofia? She has discovered my little project, it seems. Well, it’s not like she can actually do anything about it, now can she? I have a few seconds left before the time machine activates, and I don’t sense the presence of any soldiers that can interrupt me in time. Why not indulge in a little gloating? As a parting gift to the comrade general. Video connection online, and one two three: “I found your little device in San Francisco. Repairing it was a simple matter. It is too late comrade. The entire world, and all of its history, is mine, to command and conquer.” One of my best speeches yet, if I do say so myself. The shock on his face, and, most importantly, the sheer horror in his brainwave patterns… Ah, those are the memories I will treasure forever. Who knows? Maybe I can track him down in the annals of time, and get the good look I wanted after all? Might take some work, but I have all the time in the world now, don’t I. The machine glows blue, and I vanish from the ruins of my ancestral home. *** Lt. Zofia was having a good day. The remnants of the traitor Yuri’s bid to conquer the world had been cleaned up. Soon, the man himself would be captured, and executed for his crimes against the people. She contacted the general who made this possible to deliver the post-battle report: “The castle has been taken, my general. I knew you would be victorious.” Then, the sensors picked up something concerning: “Comrade general! We are picking up an energy buildup beneath the castle! The signature wave is consistent with distortion wave of the time machine!” At that point, the traitor himself made contacted them, boasting about his victory. While the live transmission blared the would-be conqueror’s farewell, Zofia realized that Yuri had missed something important: “We still have the time machine’s command codes, comrade general. I have overridden the controls, and released all of the energy reserves. If you remember, we ourselves experienced some difficulty when too much energy was channeled into the machine. The machine’s energy reserves have been depleted. Yuri cannot use the machine without additional power. He will be trapped in time.” What Zofia had been expecting was that Yuri would be banished to some ancient part of Earth’s history, to be devoured by the wildlife there. After all, that is what had happened on their first try at using the time machine. The difference being, of course, that they had spare power to make the journey back, as well as guns and tanks to fend off the local wildlife. Yuri, on the other hand, would have had no way of recharging the immense energy needs of the time machine, and it was well documented that his psychic tricks were ineffective at controlling non-sapient life forms. Without his powers or the benefits of modern technology, he would be eaten by the local fauna almost immediately. That is not what happened. In another universe, one more magical and fantastic than the one Earth inhabited, hatred, jealousy, and loss drove one inhabitant, a unicorn named Starlight Glimmer, to uncover an ancient spell, written by Starswirl the Bearded, which she used to travel back in time and prevent the Sonic Rainbow, an event that was central to life of Twilight Sparkle, the pony she most blamed for the failure of her life’s work: a perfect little town, where everypony was completely equal. Twilight got caught in the spell, and did her best to prevent Starlight’s meddling, spawning a number of alternate timelines. Now, the problem was that Twilight was one of the Elements of Harmony: a group of friends who were the key to preventing Equestria’s fall at the hands and hooves of celestial deities, spirits of chaos, and other, nastier things. Every time Starlight prevented the Sonic Rainboom, she spawned an alternate continuity, where Equestria was subjugated by some dark force that Twilight and her friends had fought off in the original order of things. Eventually, Twilight managed to convince Starlight to stop, and return things to how they once were. But, the timelines created by her spell persisted. While that was bad for their inhabitants, the disturbance of time by such powerful magic left behind several temporal anomalies and weaknesses. Normally, they would be academic intrigues for those with the ability to detect them, but of little practical concern otherwise. But, as Yuri’s machine received more energy that it could safely handle, the temporal chronosphere, unstable even in the best circumstances, picked up on certain weaknesses in the time stream, and managed to puncture through the fabric that separates on universe from another, depositing Yuri into one of these stillborn timelines. As Lt. Zofia did not have the sensors to detect such a breach, she assumed that Yuri had been sent to his doom in the Jurassic Era. Practically speaking, there was little difference between her assumption and reality, as it pertained to the fate of Earth at least. The puncture the machine created was quick to heal, and the time anomalies faded away soon after, leaving the psychic mad man well and truly stranded. Einstein’s notes on the time machine were confiscated, classified, and stored in the safest location the USSR could find, so to as prevent any challenges to Soviet domination by way of temporal shenanigans. Wall Street was shut down. Having defeated the Allies, the USSR spread Communism across the globe. A space program was launched to spread the ideology to the rest of the solar system. Romanov got the legacy he always wanted. The general took up Zofia’s offer, and they eventually married. Life was, from a certain perspective, good. *** Yuri’s tale, and his endless hunger for power and control, however, did not end, as it would have had under almost any other circumstance. Instead of being devoured by dinosaurs, he got a whole new world, which, while not without its own dangers, warlords, and powerful beings, had yet to see his own special blend of genius and monstrosity. A world that he could Command & Conquer. ArrivalA blue flash, and the stone walls of the my castle are replaced with a clearing surrounded by trees. I allow myself to feel just a little disappointed. You’d think that something as grandiose as travelling through time would be a bit more dramatic, like the G-forces I experienced when I first left the Earth to oversee the construction of a lunar colony, or some sort of proverbial river of time that you would travel through… No, it's over in a blue flash of light. Ah, that doesn’t matter. The important thing is that I’m alive, and I can begin my conquest of history. First step: determine where and when I am. First one is easy: I’m in Transylvania. I captured the design notes of the Ally’s Chronosphere, not enough to build one of my own on the timetable that I had, but enough to know that the time machine does not have any way to travel through space. Well, aside from the compensation to maintain the same position relative to the original gravity well, but that is something entirely different. I should still be in Transylvania. When I am… Well, that is a little tricky. I know for a fact that I set the machine to travel into the past: wouldn’t do if my enemies decided to lay a trap for me in the future. I also know that the castle had existed for eight hundred or so years. The fact that there is a forest here means I must have severely overshot my original goal. Oh well, I can always make another trip. I should have enough energy for… … This could be a problem. *** Chitin’s day was fairly bland. Well, technically it was day all the time, because Chrysalis could no… had no reason to move the sun in the sky. Chitin certainly didn’t doubt the capabilities of Queen Chrysalis. He was an obedient worker drone, after all. And obedient drones don’t doubt the proclamations of their queen. If the weakling pony ruler could do it, so could the Queen. It would just be a waste of valuable love energy. After all, why bother with the night? With all the food they had, the changelings did not need sleep. And the ponies, well, all they were fit for was harvest. So it all worked out in the end, just like the Queen planned it to be. The Queen was never wrong. Why, just... yesterday? she had figured out the location of the resistance. The raid had been glorious, with the pony leaders captured, and many more fresh food sources acquired. Of course, some of them had managed to run away. But that’s where he and his cluster of five came in. They were to scout the Everfree, and capture any escapees. When Chitin learned of the opportunity, he jumped at the chance of bringing in more ponies. After all, it was custom for the bug who captured a love source to get the first pickings, while the love was still freshest. Now, in the sweltering summer heat, Chitin was starting to regret choosing this assignment. The mission had been going on for several hours, and there was still nothing. Not even the infamous beasts of the Everfree made an appearance, having learned long ago not to antagonize the swarm. Not that anybug in the cluster would want to face one. Being this far away from the Hive would mean certain doom if they had a bad run in with a manticore pack. Suddenly, boredom seemed much more preferable to excitement. The cluster was beginning to give up and call an end to the patrol, when suddenly, a noise was heard. Normally, in the Everfree, a loud noises meant you scrammed, as it was more often than not the sign of a Hydra or Ursa or some other large, nasty thing had woken up and was looking for lunch. However, this noise was not something that would be found in nature. The only thing it could mean was that some foolish unicorn had used some form of magic. The five changelings began converging on the unicorn’s position. What they found was a clearing, occupied by a strange half oval building. Next to the building was a bizarre looking creature: tall, bipedal, resembling an incredibly scrawny minotaur, and bald, with metal bits sticking out of its head. It wore some sort of dress made out of fur. Despair and panic radiated from the creature, seemingly directed at the structure. “Well, it's not a pony, but it's something,” Mandible began. “Maybe this patrol won’t be a waste after all.” “We don’t know what that thing is, or what it can do,” Ocellus protested. “Besides, it doesn’t seem very appetizing to me.” “There’s five of us and one of it, we can take it,” Stinger countered. “I don’t want to come back to the Hive empty-hooved. Besides, if it can feel that kind of despair, its intelligent enough to love something just as strongly. And if it tries anything, we’ll burn some love to incapacitate it.” “Well, then what made the sound then?” Ocellus continued. “It doesn’t have a horn, so it can’t do magic. I’d wager the noise came from that oval it's looking at. Maybe it's some sort of contraption. And you can’t use a machine if you’re taken by surprise,” Mandible explained. Compound began strategizing: “You know what’s great about land critters? They never look up. Mandible, Stinger, Ocellus, and I can attack from above and carry it upwards, one bug for each limb. Chitin, you’re new to this and will probably screw it up, so stand back and watch. If something happens, report it to the hive.” With that in mind, the four took off. Compound’s rationalization had proven false: the thing did in fact notice them, craning its head to look up. Fortunately, it did not flee, instead gawking at the four, confusion emanating from its form. That confusion quickly turned to panic as it was lifted up into the air. It began struggling, but it was for naught: its captors had experienced far stronger adversaries, from yaks to earth ponies to actual minotaurs. Suddenly, in a fraction of a second, the panic transformed into a cold, almost cruel calmness. Before the attackers could figure out what had changed, everything went wrong. A purple wave sprung forth from the prisoner, moving in all directions, catching all four of the changelings who had tried to incapacitate him. They fell to the ground, not moving. The thing, on the other hoof, got up, dusting off its clothes. Chitin was not caught in the primary blast. However, even from his concealed, observational position, he could feel the effects of whatever strange magic that was unleashed. He struggled to formulate coherent thoughts after his mind was scrambled by sheer power of the blast. He managed to regain enough cognition to feel a presence in front of him. Looking up, he saw the one responsible for his state. Its beady little eyes seemed to stare directly into his soul. Whatever grasp he managed to acquire on his consciousness began to slip away, as if a drill was tearing apart his brain and scrutinizing the leftover pieces. And then, a single, mighty command subsumed his being. OBEY. Chitin was an obedient worker drone. He did as he was told. On A Stranger SphereI am getting sloppy. Unacceptable. Just because I found out about the time machine’s empty reserves, does not give me an excuse for why I just left to gawk like an idiot without mentally scanning the perimeter. What is worse was my reaction to when the threats made themselves known. My senses screamed at me that there were four hostile presences above me. Instead of getting cover, I just stood there, staring at whatever abominations decided to make me their lunch. In a stroke of good luck, instead of killing me outright, the monsters tried to lift me up. No doubt they were planning to eat me alive later on. I managed to compose myself, and unleash a psychic blast, crushing their feeble minds. Of course, by that time I was up in the air, and the fall knocked the wind out of me. Hmm, can’t feel any broken bones, that’s good. Now, are there any more of these creatures? Huh. Something has changed. Its as if I had been nearly blind my whole life, and now! My clairvoyance is better than ever! That tree over there has a family of squirrels. Over there, what am I talking about, its three kilometers away! And wow, ant colonies look so much stranger when you can peek inside. And what about that No, no, Yuri, focus. You can stop to sense the roses later. I wouldn’t be surprised if another one of those predators snuck up on me while gawking like an idiot at something so… inconsequential. Although I should look into what has changed. I do have several interesting hypotheses I would like to test out. But later. Scanning, scanning, found something. Some sort of consciousness, definitely sentient, currently incapacitated. Location is… that close? What’s it doing there? Ah well, it is similar enough to a human that I should be able to control it. Time to investigate. According to my senses, it should be right about here. … Ah. Another one of those insect monstrosities. Some sort of rear guard, perhaps. And it's starting to recover. Can’t have that. OBEY. Now then. One new bug monster under my control. Excellent. Senses show that there aren’t any other hostile presences. Good. If it is intelligent enough for me to control, it should be intelligent enough to have long term memories. Memories that I should be able to view to figure out just what is going on around here. Good thing the language of the mind does not care for the language of the tongue. What secrets do you have for me, my slave? Did my mind blast really do that? I don’t remember it having that great a range. Feed on… love? How does that work? Oxytocin does not have enough energy stored to support a complex organism. Although, perhaps they harvesting the psionic potential of their victims? I suppose that could work. After all, that is how my late levitation technology had functioned. Yes, I think that could most certainly work. Another thing to look into later, once I get the appropriate technological infrastructure set up. This new timeline is giving me so many new exciting ideas! Shapeshifters. I see. The problems of the conservation of mass can be sidestepped with clever applications of psionic powers, of course. But even I required complex computer programs to modify an organism's genetic code. Somehow, these critters have evolved to psionically self-mutate. I definitely need a first hand demonstration. How about a copy of myself? TRANSFORM. What the. Why green fire, it seems like it would be a waste of energy. Speaking of energy, whatever it gave off, it isn’t like any psychic field that I am familiar with. Another addition to my ever growing list of leads to investigate in the future. Although, I could just see if my minion knows anything on the subject. Magic. They call it magic. What a superstitious and backwards way to explain a divergent branch of psychic abilities, without even investigating further. Magic. Sure, why not, I’ll just accept the explanation for now. Certainly can't deny the effectiveness. Looks exactly like me. Even replicated the clothes. I have no idea how an organic creature can do that, but I suppose I should be thankful and move on. What’s the political structure. Some sort of monarchy. The behavior of their “hive” is remarkably similar to those of locust swarms. I don’t think locusts have a queen, but that is just semantics. And what an ego on that Queen. Claiming to be able to raise the sun and moon! I have seen more than my share of dictatorial regimes, even headed one, but I have yet to encounter one that claimed something so… unscientific. The closest equivalent I know of were the Aztecs, but they are long wiped out. I certainly needed that laugh though. And I now know that diplomacy with this “Chrysalis” is to be avoided. Now, back to learning about the hive. Apparently their recent conquest are… Equines. Equines with stamps. Why would evolution uplift the equine form to intelligence? How do they use tools? How do they build? These insects have psionic telekinesis, but small horses? It's clear that I am in some sort of far future, where humanity has died out. Unless there was a horse civilization that got erased from the fossil record, at least. Depressing, but without me, it is not exactly an unexpected development. Besides, I can make do long enough to recharge the time machine, and undo whatever caused the calamity. I won't be able to study the fascinating phenomenon I have discovered, but that's life. I can muse about this later, for now, back to work. On second glance, a third of the horses are also psychic. Still doesn’t explain why the other two subspecies have achieved sapience. And now they are but batteries for the invaders. No wait, a few remain. Some sort of “resistance.” One of their cells had recently been discovered, and my new minion here was sent out to hunt down survivors. How unfortunate that he ran into me instead. Unfortunate for him, that is. New goal: track down and contact the remainder of the resistance. More minions are always nice, even if I don't have the resources to establish complete control over them.
Head GamesToday was an excellent day. Sure, that pest, the comrade general, had destroyed my network of Psychic Dominators, forged an alliance with the capitalist dogs, and laid waste to my Moon Base. The plan for world domination was now an impossibility. Even now, his forces assault the very heart of my operation. The walls are crumbling. My castle was not built to withstand this kind of assault after all, and I was unfortunately unable to attune the Psychic Beacons to the specific brainwave patterns of his men. A consequence of using suboptimal tools, I suppose. To be fair, it's not like I had the time to come up with anything better. I had been busy with a personal project, a proverbial ace in the hole. And now it is complete. None of the commander’s actions matter anymore. In his eagerness to destroy me, to undo whatever future in that other timeline, where my plans had undoubtedly succeeded, the comrade general had left his little device completely unprotected. Such a tactical mind, but oh so foolish in grasping the truly important details. A pity I could not look into it in depth. I became aware of his device from a report I received while the commander was busy with the fool Romanov. I had to have it. While the general was destroying my fleet of Boomer submarines, I sent out a retrieval team. Security was, rather lax, for such an important wonder of machinery. With my knowledge of technology, as well as some of the finest scientists, short of that funny little german Einstein, repairing it was… well, alright, it was not that easy. Still, the important thing is that it was done in time. A few hours, or even minutes, late, and it would not have bode well for me. The Union is not famous for being kind to traitors, after all. Energy reserves in place, chronoshifters ready… Heh, I remember once thinking to myself: ‘Why should I be content with ruling one country, when I can rule the world?’ Well, now the question is: ‘Why should I be content with ruling one world, when I can rule all of human history, and beyond?’ My senses become aware of certain human brainwaves corresponding to panic. Focusing, I determine that they are radiating from... Ah it's the intelligence officer of that meddlesome general. I believe her name was... Zofia? She has discovered my little project, it seems. Well, it’s not like she can actually do anything about it, now can she? I have a few seconds left before the time machine activates, and I don’t sense the presence of any soldiers that can interrupt me in time. Why not indulge in a little gloating? As a parting gift to the comrade general. Video connection online, and one two three: “I found your little device in San Francisco. Repairing it was a simple matter. It is too late comrade. The entire world, and all of its history, is mine, to command and conquer.” One of my best speeches yet, if I do say so myself. The shock on his face, and, most importantly, the sheer horror in his brainwave patterns… Ah, those are the memories I will treasure forever. Who knows? Maybe I can track him down in the annals of time, and get the good look I wanted after all? Might take some work, but I have all the time in the world now, don’t I. The machine glows blue, and I vanish from the ruins of my ancestral home. *** Lt. Zofia was having a good day. The remnants of the traitor Yuri’s bid to conquer the world had been cleaned up. Soon, the man himself would be captured, and executed for his crimes against the people. She contacted the general who made this possible to deliver the post-battle report: “The castle has been taken, my general. I knew you would be victorious.” Then, the sensors picked up something concerning: “Comrade general! We are picking up an energy buildup beneath the castle! The signature wave is consistent with distortion wave of the time machine!” At that point, the traitor himself made contacted them, boasting about his victory. While the live transmission blared the would-be conqueror’s farewell, Zofia realized that Yuri had missed something important: “We still have the time machine’s command codes, comrade general. I have overridden the controls, and released all of the energy reserves. If you remember, we ourselves experienced some difficulty when too much energy was channeled into the machine. The machine’s energy reserves have been depleted. Yuri cannot use the machine without additional power. He will be trapped in time.” What Zofia had been expecting was that Yuri would be banished to some ancient part of Earth’s history, to be devoured by the wildlife there. After all, that is what had happened on their first try at using the time machine. The difference being, of course, that they had spare power to make the journey back, as well as guns and tanks to fend off the local wildlife. Yuri, on the other hand, would have had no way of recharging the immense energy needs of the time machine, and it was well documented that his psychic tricks were ineffective at controlling non-sapient life forms. Without his powers or the benefits of modern technology, he would be eaten by the local fauna almost immediately. That is not what happened. In another universe, one more magical and fantastic than the one Earth inhabited, hatred, jealousy, and loss drove one inhabitant, a unicorn named Starlight Glimmer, to uncover an ancient spell, written by Starswirl the Bearded, which she used to travel back in time and prevent the Sonic Rainbow, an event that was central to life of Twilight Sparkle, the pony she most blamed for the failure of her life’s work: a perfect little town, where everypony was completely equal. Twilight got caught in the spell, and did her best to prevent Starlight’s meddling, spawning a number of alternate timelines. Now, the problem was that Twilight was one of the Elements of Harmony: a group of friends who were the key to preventing Equestria’s fall at the hands and hooves of celestial deities, spirits of chaos, and other, nastier things. Every time Starlight prevented the Sonic Rainboom, she spawned an alternate continuity, where Equestria was subjugated by some dark force that Twilight and her friends had fought off in the original order of things. Eventually, Twilight managed to convince Starlight to stop, and return things to how they once were. But, the timelines created by her spell persisted. While that was bad for their inhabitants, the disturbance of time by such powerful magic left behind several temporal anomalies and weaknesses. Normally, they would be academic intrigues for those with the ability to detect them, but of little practical concern otherwise. But, as Yuri’s machine received more energy that it could safely handle, the temporal chronosphere, unstable even in the best circumstances, picked up on certain weaknesses in the time stream, and managed to puncture through the fabric that separates on universe from another, depositing Yuri into one of these stillborn timelines. As Lt. Zofia did not have the sensors to detect such a breach, she assumed that Yuri had been sent to his doom in the Jurassic Era. Practically speaking, there was little difference between her assumption and reality, as it pertained to the fate of Earth at least. The puncture the machine created was quick to heal, and the time anomalies faded away soon after, leaving the psychic mad man well and truly stranded. Einstein’s notes on the time machine were confiscated, classified, and stored in the safest location the USSR could find, so to as prevent any challenges to Soviet domination by way of temporal shenanigans. Wall Street was shut down. Having defeated the Allies, the USSR spread Communism across the globe. A space program was launched to spread the ideology to the rest of the solar system. Romanov got the legacy he always wanted. The general took up Zofia’s offer, and they eventually married. Life was, from a certain perspective, good. *** Yuri’s tale, and his endless hunger for power and control, however, did not end, as it would have had under almost any other circumstance. Instead of being devoured by dinosaurs, he got a whole new world, which, while not without its own dangers, warlords, and powerful beings, had yet to see his own special blend of genius and monstrosity. A world that he could Command & Conquer.
ArrivalA blue flash, and the stone walls of the my castle are replaced with a clearing surrounded by trees. I allow myself to feel just a little disappointed. You’d think that something as grandiose as travelling through time would be a bit more dramatic, like the G-forces I experienced when I first left the Earth to oversee the construction of a lunar colony, or some sort of proverbial river of time that you would travel through… No, it's over in a blue flash of light. Ah, that doesn’t matter. The important thing is that I’m alive, and I can begin my conquest of history. First step: determine where and when I am. First one is easy: I’m in Transylvania. I captured the design notes of the Ally’s Chronosphere, not enough to build one of my own on the timetable that I had, but enough to know that the time machine does not have any way to travel through space. Well, aside from the compensation to maintain the same position relative to the original gravity well, but that is something entirely different. I should still be in Transylvania. When I am… Well, that is a little tricky. I know for a fact that I set the machine to travel into the past: wouldn’t do if my enemies decided to lay a trap for me in the future. I also know that the castle had existed for eight hundred or so years. The fact that there is a forest here means I must have severely overshot my original goal. Oh well, I can always make another trip. I should have enough energy for… … This could be a problem. *** Chitin’s day was fairly bland. Well, technically it was day all the time, because Chrysalis could no… had no reason to move the sun in the sky. Chitin certainly didn’t doubt the capabilities of Queen Chrysalis. He was an obedient worker drone, after all. And obedient drones don’t doubt the proclamations of their queen. If the weakling pony ruler could do it, so could the Queen. It would just be a waste of valuable love energy. After all, why bother with the night? With all the food they had, the changelings did not need sleep. And the ponies, well, all they were fit for was harvest. So it all worked out in the end, just like the Queen planned it to be. The Queen was never wrong. Why, just... yesterday? she had figured out the location of the resistance. The raid had been glorious, with the pony leaders captured, and many more fresh food sources acquired. Of course, some of them had managed to run away. But that’s where he and his cluster of five came in. They were to scout the Everfree, and capture any escapees. When Chitin learned of the opportunity, he jumped at the chance of bringing in more ponies. After all, it was custom for the bug who captured a love source to get the first pickings, while the love was still freshest. Now, in the sweltering summer heat, Chitin was starting to regret choosing this assignment. The mission had been going on for several hours, and there was still nothing. Not even the infamous beasts of the Everfree made an appearance, having learned long ago not to antagonize the swarm. Not that anybug in the cluster would want to face one. Being this far away from the Hive would mean certain doom if they had a bad run in with a manticore pack. Suddenly, boredom seemed much more preferable to excitement. The cluster was beginning to give up and call an end to the patrol, when suddenly, a noise was heard. Normally, in the Everfree, a loud noises meant you scrammed, as it was more often than not the sign of a Hydra or Ursa or some other large, nasty thing had woken up and was looking for lunch. However, this noise was not something that would be found in nature. The only thing it could mean was that some foolish unicorn had used some form of magic. The five changelings began converging on the unicorn’s position. What they found was a clearing, occupied by a strange half oval building. Next to the building was a bizarre looking creature: tall, bipedal, resembling an incredibly scrawny minotaur, and bald, with metal bits sticking out of its head. It wore some sort of dress made out of fur. Despair and panic radiated from the creature, seemingly directed at the structure. “Well, it's not a pony, but it's something,” Mandible began. “Maybe this patrol won’t be a waste after all.” “We don’t know what that thing is, or what it can do,” Ocellus protested. “Besides, it doesn’t seem very appetizing to me.” “There’s five of us and one of it, we can take it,” Stinger countered. “I don’t want to come back to the Hive empty-hooved. Besides, if it can feel that kind of despair, its intelligent enough to love something just as strongly. And if it tries anything, we’ll burn some love to incapacitate it.” “Well, then what made the sound then?” Ocellus continued. “It doesn’t have a horn, so it can’t do magic. I’d wager the noise came from that oval it's looking at. Maybe it's some sort of contraption. And you can’t use a machine if you’re taken by surprise,” Mandible explained. Compound began strategizing: “You know what’s great about land critters? They never look up. Mandible, Stinger, Ocellus, and I can attack from above and carry it upwards, one bug for each limb. Chitin, you’re new to this and will probably screw it up, so stand back and watch. If something happens, report it to the hive.” With that in mind, the four took off. Compound’s rationalization had proven false: the thing did in fact notice them, craning its head to look up. Fortunately, it did not flee, instead gawking at the four, confusion emanating from its form. That confusion quickly turned to panic as it was lifted up into the air. It began struggling, but it was for naught: its captors had experienced far stronger adversaries, from yaks to earth ponies to actual minotaurs. Suddenly, in a fraction of a second, the panic transformed into a cold, almost cruel calmness. Before the attackers could figure out what had changed, everything went wrong. A purple wave sprung forth from the prisoner, moving in all directions, catching all four of the changelings who had tried to incapacitate him. They fell to the ground, not moving. The thing, on the other hoof, got up, dusting off its clothes. Chitin was not caught in the primary blast. However, even from his concealed, observational position, he could feel the effects of whatever strange magic that was unleashed. He struggled to formulate coherent thoughts after his mind was scrambled by sheer power of the blast. He managed to regain enough cognition to feel a presence in front of him. Looking up, he saw the one responsible for his state. Its beady little eyes seemed to stare directly into his soul. Whatever grasp he managed to acquire on his consciousness began to slip away, as if a drill was tearing apart his brain and scrutinizing the leftover pieces. And then, a single, mighty command subsumed his being. OBEY. Chitin was an obedient worker drone. He did as he was told.
On A Stranger SphereI am getting sloppy. Unacceptable. Just because I found out about the time machine’s empty reserves, does not give me an excuse for why I just left to gawk like an idiot without mentally scanning the perimeter. What is worse was my reaction to when the threats made themselves known. My senses screamed at me that there were four hostile presences above me. Instead of getting cover, I just stood there, staring at whatever abominations decided to make me their lunch. In a stroke of good luck, instead of killing me outright, the monsters tried to lift me up. No doubt they were planning to eat me alive later on. I managed to compose myself, and unleash a psychic blast, crushing their feeble minds. Of course, by that time I was up in the air, and the fall knocked the wind out of me. Hmm, can’t feel any broken bones, that’s good. Now, are there any more of these creatures? Huh. Something has changed. Its as if I had been nearly blind my whole life, and now! My clairvoyance is better than ever! That tree over there has a family of squirrels. Over there, what am I talking about, its three kilometers away! And wow, ant colonies look so much stranger when you can peek inside. And what about that No, no, Yuri, focus. You can stop to sense the roses later. I wouldn’t be surprised if another one of those predators snuck up on me while gawking like an idiot at something so… inconsequential. Although I should look into what has changed. I do have several interesting hypotheses I would like to test out. But later. Scanning, scanning, found something. Some sort of consciousness, definitely sentient, currently incapacitated. Location is… that close? What’s it doing there? Ah well, it is similar enough to a human that I should be able to control it. Time to investigate. According to my senses, it should be right about here. … Ah. Another one of those insect monstrosities. Some sort of rear guard, perhaps. And it's starting to recover. Can’t have that. OBEY. Now then. One new bug monster under my control. Excellent. Senses show that there aren’t any other hostile presences. Good. If it is intelligent enough for me to control, it should be intelligent enough to have long term memories. Memories that I should be able to view to figure out just what is going on around here. Good thing the language of the mind does not care for the language of the tongue. What secrets do you have for me, my slave? Did my mind blast really do that? I don’t remember it having that great a range. Feed on… love? How does that work? Oxytocin does not have enough energy stored to support a complex organism. Although, perhaps they harvesting the psionic potential of their victims? I suppose that could work. After all, that is how my late levitation technology had functioned. Yes, I think that could most certainly work. Another thing to look into later, once I get the appropriate technological infrastructure set up. This new timeline is giving me so many new exciting ideas! Shapeshifters. I see. The problems of the conservation of mass can be sidestepped with clever applications of psionic powers, of course. But even I required complex computer programs to modify an organism's genetic code. Somehow, these critters have evolved to psionically self-mutate. I definitely need a first hand demonstration. How about a copy of myself? TRANSFORM. What the. Why green fire, it seems like it would be a waste of energy. Speaking of energy, whatever it gave off, it isn’t like any psychic field that I am familiar with. Another addition to my ever growing list of leads to investigate in the future. Although, I could just see if my minion knows anything on the subject. Magic. They call it magic. What a superstitious and backwards way to explain a divergent branch of psychic abilities, without even investigating further. Magic. Sure, why not, I’ll just accept the explanation for now. Certainly can't deny the effectiveness. Looks exactly like me. Even replicated the clothes. I have no idea how an organic creature can do that, but I suppose I should be thankful and move on. What’s the political structure. Some sort of monarchy. The behavior of their “hive” is remarkably similar to those of locust swarms. I don’t think locusts have a queen, but that is just semantics. And what an ego on that Queen. Claiming to be able to raise the sun and moon! I have seen more than my share of dictatorial regimes, even headed one, but I have yet to encounter one that claimed something so… unscientific. The closest equivalent I know of were the Aztecs, but they are long wiped out. I certainly needed that laugh though. And I now know that diplomacy with this “Chrysalis” is to be avoided. Now, back to learning about the hive. Apparently their recent conquest are… Equines. Equines with stamps. Why would evolution uplift the equine form to intelligence? How do they use tools? How do they build? These insects have psionic telekinesis, but small horses? It's clear that I am in some sort of far future, where humanity has died out. Unless there was a horse civilization that got erased from the fossil record, at least. Depressing, but without me, it is not exactly an unexpected development. Besides, I can make do long enough to recharge the time machine, and undo whatever caused the calamity. I won't be able to study the fascinating phenomenon I have discovered, but that's life. I can muse about this later, for now, back to work. On second glance, a third of the horses are also psychic. Still doesn’t explain why the other two subspecies have achieved sapience. And now they are but batteries for the invaders. No wait, a few remain. Some sort of “resistance.” One of their cells had recently been discovered, and my new minion here was sent out to hunt down survivors. How unfortunate that he ran into me instead. Unfortunate for him, that is. New goal: track down and contact the remainder of the resistance. More minions are always nice, even if I don't have the resources to establish complete control over them.
