Legacy of Manby Equestrian IntelligenceChapters......Is Another One's Treasure"The War to end all Wars"One Civilization's Trash............Is Another One's TreasureAuthor's Note The re-write of the second chapter is finally here. ......Is Another One's Treasure July 3rd,2020 I've been in basic for about a month now. God, the drills never get any easier. Tensions have flared up between the United States and the new United Soviet Socialist Republics of Asia. What remains of the old Russian Government resides in Belarus. The takeover wasn't pretty and many Eastern European countries including New Russia are gearing up for a massive war. The Truman Doctrine has been reactivated due to massive communist revolutions all throughout Asia. India, Tibet, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia and Vietnam are the only free countries remaining. But their safety is being tested as we speak. A second Vietnam war has sprung up, South Korea is all but gone, even with UN support. Lately reports have been coming in about communist revolutionaries in India gaining support. What with much of India's food and workers being drafted into the war effort in Vietnam. We aren't safe at home either, Arizona, Colorado, And Nevada have seceded from the union declaring themselves the United Socialist States of America. The USSA is making gains in New Mexico and Utah, but they've been stopped in California, Wyoming, and Oregon. An unsurprising devepment in the Second Civil war was Almost every Texan taking up arms. There have been nuclear detonations. My Hometown was obliterated when a USSA nuke had a malfunction and overshot it's target of Chicago. Phoenix was reduced to ash by a retaliatory strike launched from California. A surprising development was aid from Cuba to the United States. I have to report to my morning pt soon, so I'm going to end this log. Edward Schratwieser Marine Recruit What I didn't know was that there was a communist movement was growing in South Carolina. Gunfire sent me into cover, a Marine who was next to me asked me if I knew how to shoot. I did and she handed me her service pistol with six spare magazines. Getting up from cover, I took aim and hit two of the commie bastards before I was forced back into cover by return fire. This pissed me off as I realized that communists had infiltrated our own ranks. With a new resolve to fight this rebellion, I took aim, but was shocked to see my family members, my friends, everyone I knew shooting at me. As round after round tore through me, I just stood there. The biggest sense of betrayal washing over me. I was brought to my knees. My father coming up to me. "You should have fought harder son." He said, before putting me down with a bullet to the brain. I woke up with a gasp, sitting straight up. The light blinded me temporarily. My head swimming with my sudden move, black outlining my vision as blood flowed to my brain. As I scanned the area around me, a persistant beeping caught my attention. I looked to my right and saw a heart monitor. "Why am I in a hospital, did my experiment fail?" I asked myself A gasp and metallic clatter pulled my attention to the door, where I saw a cartoony white pony with a pink mane, and a 1950s era nurses cap. As it rushed away, I caught a glimpse of a mark on its flank. "I must be hallucinating, cause that just looked like Nurse Redheart." I say to myself. The sound of someone else entering pulled my attention to the door once more. "We were wondering when you might awake," Luna said, "We had Princess Twilight Sparkle teleport you here immediately upon your arrival." "I have to be hallucinating," I said, "I must have hit the console pretty hard. Because right now it looks like Princess Luna herself is standing in front of me doc, if you're even there. Who knows, I could be just talking to myself in a padded hospital room." "You know our- I mean my name?" Luna asks. "Ok then, I'm not tripping out, I'm dreaming," I say, pinching myself in the arm, "Why haven't I woken up yet, I felt pain, you don't feel pain I'm dreams!" Tears start to pour down my face as I come to the realization that I am possibly the only human on this world, but also that humanity can be saved. "Why are you crying? Luna asked. "I might have just saved my species," I reply, "But I might be the only one of my kind here. Wait what are you doing? I ask, feeling a weird sensation course through my body. "I was scanning for a thaumic signature," Luna replied, "And I'm afraid Inhave some very bad news for you." "Tell me, there's no use for delaying what I may find out independently." I say. "You are the only one of your species on this planet, and the only one left" Luna says. My vision goes red with absolute rage, my face red with anger, my teeth bared. "Is this some kind of joke?" I ask. "THERE IS NO POSSIBLE WAY THAT HUMANITY IS GONE, NO WAY THAT I AM THE SOLE SURVIVOR OF WORLD WAR THREE! HUMANITY IS NOT GONE, I WAS JUST ON EARTH! PONYS WERE NOT THE DOMINANT FUCKING SPECIES!" My hostile outburst causes rage to take hold of Luna. "DOES THOU THINK WE BROUGHT THOU HERE? WE DID NOT BRING THOU HERE, WE DID NOT ASK FOR THOU TO DECEND FROM THE HEAVENS IN HELLFIRE! THIS EARTH THOU SPEAK OF IS NOW EQUIS. HUMANITY IS GONE, THEY HATH BEEN GON FOR TWENTY-THREE MILLION YEARS! THOU ARE IN THE LAND OF THE PONIES NOW AND THOU WILL SHOW THE SHEPARD OF THE NIGHT RESPECT. WE RAISE THE MOON FROM HER HEAVENLY REST AND RETURN HER ONCE OUR SISTER MUST RAISE THE SUN! "YOU RAISE THE SUN AND MOON!? OH THAT'S JUST FUCKING PRECIOUS, THE MOON ORBITS THE DAMN EARTH AND THE EARTH ORBITS THE FUCKING SUN. THAT'S BEEN KNOWN FOR SEVERAL HUNDRED YEARS!" I shout back. The shouting match goes on for several hours. Once it ceases, I apologize for my rash behavior and a suicidal depression takes over. "I need you to take me to the nearest cliff." I say. Thinking I just want to process the information and plan my future from that point on, Luna signs me out of the hospital and takes me to Dragon's Plunge. Once I am there, I sprint from the edge and leap. Before I can hit the ground, Luna catches me and field me to secluded meadow in the nearby forest. "Why did you try to kill yourself?" She asks. "Why do you think, I want to die." I reply. "Killing yourself won't bring you species back," Luna replies, "but remove it from this planet for good." After some thought, I realize that she's right, ending my life would only end the legacy of man, and I can't let that happen. "Do you know of a place I could stay?" I ask Luna. "I know somepony who would love to have you." She replies, and we walk back to Ponyville. "The War to end all Wars"Bullets whiz overhead as my unit desperately tries to retreat. "THIS IS DELTA 2-2 TO URBAN, COME IN URBAN!" I shout into my helmet's headset. "URBAN, DO YOU READ!" "Urban to Delta 2-2, we read you loud and clear." The response comes through a little scratchy. "WE NEED IMMEDIATE EVAC!" I respond, "WE ARE PINNED DOWN IN NORTHERN NEW DELHI! BRAVO IS KIA!" I take a breath. "I REPEAT, BRAVO IS KIA!" I woke up in a cold sweat. Unable to fall back asleep, nor wanting to, I decided to take a walk in the cool night air. I got dressed and departed. I ended up covering a lot of ground. My long legs taking me to the edge of the Everfree Forest. Why I thought it would be a good idea to enter it at what my watch said was 1:23 AM eludes me. I walked down the well worn path, taking in the smell of moss. Sure, I saw timberwolves, but they seemed to not be sure if I was a hostile or not, so they ignored me. As long as I didn't make myself a threat to them that is. For some reason, I felt like I had always wanted to napalm the ever loving crap out of this place, but that thought soon left my mind. Before long, I came across a small stream. Feeling thirsty, I took a drink. I didn't realize how thirsty I really was, but I soon left the area. And continued down the thinning path. It wasn't long before I recognized my surroundings and continued over a rope bridge. Into a structurally deteriorating castle. Clearly I am very smart. Surprisingly, the castle took me for a little nostalgia trip as the decaying structure reminded me of the time I had visited Gettysburg in my youth. This made me think of the George Santayana quote "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." While walking through the halls of the old throne room, I thought of how I could teach the young of the many great achievements of the human race, as well as their most brutal mistakes. I left the ruins and followed the transponder beacon from my craft. When I arrived, I found that Twilight and co had tried to force their way into my craft, putting it into lock-down mode. "XR-71 Blackbird 2, Enter authorization code Gamma Delta Sierra 0 1 1 7." The sleek craft whirred as it left the lock-down mode. The cockpit opened up once more and I climbed inside. As I seated myself at the controls, I saw that I only had enough fuel for one flight. And I wasn't walking back. I turned the craft on and enabled VTOL mode. The twin engines slid forward and pivoted up. A powerful roar emanated from them as I lifted off and retracted the landing gear. As I soared across the roof of the Everfree, I noticed a certain cyan speedster fly up next to me. I could see her lips moving, but couldn't hear a word she was saying. I put the craft at a hover, a dangerous thing to do with the limited fuel reserves, opened the cockpit, and told her to get inside quick. As the cockpit hatch closed, Rainbow Dash asked me a question. "How is thing flying, I don't see any wings, and if there are any, I don't see any flapping." "My race was born without wing's, so we had to use technology to achieve flight." I replied " That's the only reason why we're in the air and not on the ground." I landed my craft just behind Twilight's castle and answered Dash's questions on the history of human flight. I then felt exhaustion take hold of me once more and I reentered the castle and fell back asleep. The next morning, I awoke to a commotion down the hall. I got dressed, and left my room to head to my craft. Twilight stopped me from leaving the castle because of reports of a dragon last night. Knowing full well that it was my ship, I instructed her to follow me. A brief walk around the castle later brought us to my craft. "How did that get here?" Twilight asked. "Easy, that roar you heard was the engines on my craft as I was flying." I replied. "How did you get in then, we couldn't." She continued. "I used the vocal authorization code." I replied back. "Could you demonstrate it's flight?" Twilight asked, "I'd certainly like to see how it achieves it." "I depleted the rest of the fuel getting it here, so unless you can use magic to make it work, it isn't flying and what are you doing." I said. "Giving it magic." "God this is such a mcguffin." I say. "Is there a long stretch of flat land nearby?" LATER "Rainbow Dash, i have a bet for you." I announce. "Yeah, what is it?" She replies. " I bet you that I can make it to Canterlot and back faster than you." I say. " And when I win?" She asks. "I tell you an embarrassing secret," I continue, "But if I win, I get bragging rights." "You're on." I hop into the cockpit and fire up the engines. at the firing of Pinkie's confetti cannon we take off. The cyan speedster gets an early lead, but that is broken as I shatter the sound barrier and continue to mach 5.2 I pull a wide turn just as Rainbow breaks the sound barrier herself. but it was too late as I had already landed my craft. It took Rainbow another half an hour to get back. "THAT THING CAN PULL OFF A COLORLESS RAINBOOM!?" She shouted. "It's called a sonic boom," I reply, "Besides planes 40 years older than me regularly broke the sound barrier. Though you've broken the visible light spectrum so I guess that's something." My thoughts are interrupted by a massive yawn as I'm hit with a sudden bout of sleepiness. I felt naturally drawn to my room in Twilight's castle. Little did I know the horrors that would befall me the next morning. One Civilization's Trash......It was finally happening. The complete and total annihilation of the human race. Reports were pouring in from militaries across the globe that ever single god damn country launched everything they had. Places had already been reduced to ash. Tokyo was bad, the bomb missed its intended target and hit Mt. Fuji instead, causing an eruption. The western U.S. Faired much better, with all the blasts and their subsequent quakes causing Yellowstone to pop its top. Everywhere I loved was being vaporized. I knew it was only a matter of time before the bombs hit my base, so I fled. It wasn't like there was any structure anymore to keep me there. It wouldn't matter. Billions of organisms perishing with their surroundings becoming ash and glass. Beautiful landscapes burned away. I could see it all happening before my very eyes. The light of a ten Suns, happening over and over and over again. Burning man's many achievements away. Wiping away our legacy. It would seem that the fire in humanity's heart could not be put out. Our passion for war was unsurmountable. The fact that some men finally felt that the pros outweighed the cons was something that haunted me. I was whisked away to the first ever nuclear test, the hesitation and subsequent guilt each member of the party felt. The first ever nuclear attack. The vaporization of Sydney. The annihilation of the outback. I could see it all. I was brought back to my childhood home. The mutilated, burnt husks of all who I cared for, crying out to me, wailing how I didn't save them, how I never cared about them. I was brought down to my knees. In so much despair, I never noticed them tearing into me. Ripping flesh from bone. A bright flash distracted them all, and I smiled, knowing that this nightmare was over. I woke up, my sheets soaked in sweat. My roommate, out cold from an intense night of drinking, laced on the couch in our barracks. Me being a former soldier, my career having ended due to shrapnel lodge in my knee, I was chosen to develop something that would help humanity survive the impending nuclear war. One of many, we all sought out different methods, one thought out terraforming, one thought out massive underground communities, one thought out extra Terran colonies, I took that idea further with extra solar colonies using Faster than Light technology. My craft was called the XR 71 Blackbird 2. Twice the size of an ordinary SR-71, my craft used decommissioned Space shuttle booster rockets to get into orbit, from there, my suborbital engines would take over, getting me into orbit. After that, they would jettison allowing the main engines to take over and allow me to position for an FTL launch. At least, that was the theory anyways. I was going to test it myself later that day. My train of thought was interrupted as my roommate woke up. "So, when are you going to test that rocket thing you've been talking about?" He asked, pouring himself a glass of ice water. "I've over this with you before James, it's not just some rocket, it might be humanity's only hope of survival." I respond, not sure if the IV I hooked up to him had allowed him to wake up with just a buzz or not. The ice water gave me doubts. "Besides, it's classified." I add. "Nick, you're always such a spoilsport." He taunts. "When have I ever been a spoilsport?" I asked, while walking towards the canteen, my roommate in tow. "Let's see." He began, "The frat party at Chattenooga State. That time I was getting women in France, the time I almost pet a deer in Yellowstone, just to name a few." "Ok, ok." I respond, " I see your point." We continue our conversation throughout breakfast and my morning Pyhsical Therapy. It wasn't until lunch when I learned to that Tokyo and it's surrounding area had been engulfed in volcanic ash. Later I found out that it had been a nuke air lifted in by China that had set off Mt Fuji. Knowing very well that my sister was dead, and that China was responsible, I was overcome with a newfound resolve to make sure that humanity survived. "AC-1 to tower. Do you copy?" I ask into my headset. "Tower to AC-1, we copy" "Requesting permission to begin maiden voyage." "Permission granted." I feel a sudden burst of power as I rocket off down the runway. As I rocket off into the sky, I begin to decelerate as the boosters fulfilled their purpose. Feeling more control as the sub orbital engines kicked in, I made my way to the designated orbital range. Once there, I powered up the FTL drive and began the target calculations. A sudden flash behind me startled me, causing me to engage the drive before it had completely charged. The view outside the cockpit was a sickly blood red, the jostling inside the flight cabin was violent enough to knock me out. Ponyville, Equestria It was a beautiful day in Ponyville, the birds were chirping, the foals were playing, nothing could go wrong. It was on this day that a certain purple alicorn and her friend were investigating the ruins near the castle of the two sisters. "That's odd." Twilight said to nopony in particular. "What's odd sugarcube?" Applejack asked her friend. A little startled by the sudden question, "Well, there isn't any magical signature on these remains." Twilight answered. "That could only mean that whatever creature this belongs to had no thaumic connection at all." "But didn't ya say these came before pony kind?" Applejack asked. "Well, yes, but carbon dating puts these at over 23 million years old. So they could have been a whole different civilization." Twilight responded. "So it is possible they might not have-" "Do you hear that Twilight?" AJ interrupted. A low rumbling could be heard, getting louder by the second. Soon the source could be seen, a fireball in the sky. But then something the lavender mare never expected happened. The object slowed and altered its course, making a b-line straight for them. Getting nearer, the object froze just above them, caught in a blue field. Panels underneath the object opened up to show metal wheels surrounded by rites of rubber. The object was slowly lowered the ground by Luna who had just crested the trees surrounding the digs site that Twilight and Applejack were in. "Are we intruding in something girls?" The princess of the night asked. "Not really, but why are you up at this hour princess?" Twilight responded bowing. Having no time to address that Twilight need not bow anymore, Luna continued on, "I was awoken from my slumber as I sensed an object enter our planet's orbit. What struck us as odd is that the object was not foreign to Equis at all." "Odd." Twilight stated. "Yes, odd indeed. Stranger even is that the object has no magical signature at all." Luna continued. "Wait, no magical signature?" Twilight asked, "The remains Applejack and I uncovered have no magical signature either. Could they be related?" The party was startled by a sudden hissing sound, as a hatch on the object opened up. Inside was a broken creature bleeding from multiple head wounds. "Miss Sparkle, levitate this creature out of the object. We will teleport it to Ponyville General Hospital."
......Is Another One's TreasureAuthor's Note The re-write of the second chapter is finally here. ......Is Another One's Treasure July 3rd,2020 I've been in basic for about a month now. God, the drills never get any easier. Tensions have flared up between the United States and the new United Soviet Socialist Republics of Asia. What remains of the old Russian Government resides in Belarus. The takeover wasn't pretty and many Eastern European countries including New Russia are gearing up for a massive war. The Truman Doctrine has been reactivated due to massive communist revolutions all throughout Asia. India, Tibet, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia and Vietnam are the only free countries remaining. But their safety is being tested as we speak. A second Vietnam war has sprung up, South Korea is all but gone, even with UN support. Lately reports have been coming in about communist revolutionaries in India gaining support. What with much of India's food and workers being drafted into the war effort in Vietnam. We aren't safe at home either, Arizona, Colorado, And Nevada have seceded from the union declaring themselves the United Socialist States of America. The USSA is making gains in New Mexico and Utah, but they've been stopped in California, Wyoming, and Oregon. An unsurprising devepment in the Second Civil war was Almost every Texan taking up arms. There have been nuclear detonations. My Hometown was obliterated when a USSA nuke had a malfunction and overshot it's target of Chicago. Phoenix was reduced to ash by a retaliatory strike launched from California. A surprising development was aid from Cuba to the United States. I have to report to my morning pt soon, so I'm going to end this log. Edward Schratwieser Marine Recruit What I didn't know was that there was a communist movement was growing in South Carolina. Gunfire sent me into cover, a Marine who was next to me asked me if I knew how to shoot. I did and she handed me her service pistol with six spare magazines. Getting up from cover, I took aim and hit two of the commie bastards before I was forced back into cover by return fire. This pissed me off as I realized that communists had infiltrated our own ranks. With a new resolve to fight this rebellion, I took aim, but was shocked to see my family members, my friends, everyone I knew shooting at me. As round after round tore through me, I just stood there. The biggest sense of betrayal washing over me. I was brought to my knees. My father coming up to me. "You should have fought harder son." He said, before putting me down with a bullet to the brain. I woke up with a gasp, sitting straight up. The light blinded me temporarily. My head swimming with my sudden move, black outlining my vision as blood flowed to my brain. As I scanned the area around me, a persistant beeping caught my attention. I looked to my right and saw a heart monitor. "Why am I in a hospital, did my experiment fail?" I asked myself A gasp and metallic clatter pulled my attention to the door, where I saw a cartoony white pony with a pink mane, and a 1950s era nurses cap. As it rushed away, I caught a glimpse of a mark on its flank. "I must be hallucinating, cause that just looked like Nurse Redheart." I say to myself. The sound of someone else entering pulled my attention to the door once more. "We were wondering when you might awake," Luna said, "We had Princess Twilight Sparkle teleport you here immediately upon your arrival." "I have to be hallucinating," I said, "I must have hit the console pretty hard. Because right now it looks like Princess Luna herself is standing in front of me doc, if you're even there. Who knows, I could be just talking to myself in a padded hospital room." "You know our- I mean my name?" Luna asks. "Ok then, I'm not tripping out, I'm dreaming," I say, pinching myself in the arm, "Why haven't I woken up yet, I felt pain, you don't feel pain I'm dreams!" Tears start to pour down my face as I come to the realization that I am possibly the only human on this world, but also that humanity can be saved. "Why are you crying? Luna asked. "I might have just saved my species," I reply, "But I might be the only one of my kind here. Wait what are you doing? I ask, feeling a weird sensation course through my body. "I was scanning for a thaumic signature," Luna replied, "And I'm afraid Inhave some very bad news for you." "Tell me, there's no use for delaying what I may find out independently." I say. "You are the only one of your species on this planet, and the only one left" Luna says. My vision goes red with absolute rage, my face red with anger, my teeth bared. "Is this some kind of joke?" I ask. "THERE IS NO POSSIBLE WAY THAT HUMANITY IS GONE, NO WAY THAT I AM THE SOLE SURVIVOR OF WORLD WAR THREE! HUMANITY IS NOT GONE, I WAS JUST ON EARTH! PONYS WERE NOT THE DOMINANT FUCKING SPECIES!" My hostile outburst causes rage to take hold of Luna. "DOES THOU THINK WE BROUGHT THOU HERE? WE DID NOT BRING THOU HERE, WE DID NOT ASK FOR THOU TO DECEND FROM THE HEAVENS IN HELLFIRE! THIS EARTH THOU SPEAK OF IS NOW EQUIS. HUMANITY IS GONE, THEY HATH BEEN GON FOR TWENTY-THREE MILLION YEARS! THOU ARE IN THE LAND OF THE PONIES NOW AND THOU WILL SHOW THE SHEPARD OF THE NIGHT RESPECT. WE RAISE THE MOON FROM HER HEAVENLY REST AND RETURN HER ONCE OUR SISTER MUST RAISE THE SUN! "YOU RAISE THE SUN AND MOON!? OH THAT'S JUST FUCKING PRECIOUS, THE MOON ORBITS THE DAMN EARTH AND THE EARTH ORBITS THE FUCKING SUN. THAT'S BEEN KNOWN FOR SEVERAL HUNDRED YEARS!" I shout back. The shouting match goes on for several hours. Once it ceases, I apologize for my rash behavior and a suicidal depression takes over. "I need you to take me to the nearest cliff." I say. Thinking I just want to process the information and plan my future from that point on, Luna signs me out of the hospital and takes me to Dragon's Plunge. Once I am there, I sprint from the edge and leap. Before I can hit the ground, Luna catches me and field me to secluded meadow in the nearby forest. "Why did you try to kill yourself?" She asks. "Why do you think, I want to die." I reply. "Killing yourself won't bring you species back," Luna replies, "but remove it from this planet for good." After some thought, I realize that she's right, ending my life would only end the legacy of man, and I can't let that happen. "Do you know of a place I could stay?" I ask Luna. "I know somepony who would love to have you." She replies, and we walk back to Ponyville.
"The War to end all Wars"Bullets whiz overhead as my unit desperately tries to retreat. "THIS IS DELTA 2-2 TO URBAN, COME IN URBAN!" I shout into my helmet's headset. "URBAN, DO YOU READ!" "Urban to Delta 2-2, we read you loud and clear." The response comes through a little scratchy. "WE NEED IMMEDIATE EVAC!" I respond, "WE ARE PINNED DOWN IN NORTHERN NEW DELHI! BRAVO IS KIA!" I take a breath. "I REPEAT, BRAVO IS KIA!" I woke up in a cold sweat. Unable to fall back asleep, nor wanting to, I decided to take a walk in the cool night air. I got dressed and departed. I ended up covering a lot of ground. My long legs taking me to the edge of the Everfree Forest. Why I thought it would be a good idea to enter it at what my watch said was 1:23 AM eludes me. I walked down the well worn path, taking in the smell of moss. Sure, I saw timberwolves, but they seemed to not be sure if I was a hostile or not, so they ignored me. As long as I didn't make myself a threat to them that is. For some reason, I felt like I had always wanted to napalm the ever loving crap out of this place, but that thought soon left my mind. Before long, I came across a small stream. Feeling thirsty, I took a drink. I didn't realize how thirsty I really was, but I soon left the area. And continued down the thinning path. It wasn't long before I recognized my surroundings and continued over a rope bridge. Into a structurally deteriorating castle. Clearly I am very smart. Surprisingly, the castle took me for a little nostalgia trip as the decaying structure reminded me of the time I had visited Gettysburg in my youth. This made me think of the George Santayana quote "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." While walking through the halls of the old throne room, I thought of how I could teach the young of the many great achievements of the human race, as well as their most brutal mistakes. I left the ruins and followed the transponder beacon from my craft. When I arrived, I found that Twilight and co had tried to force their way into my craft, putting it into lock-down mode. "XR-71 Blackbird 2, Enter authorization code Gamma Delta Sierra 0 1 1 7." The sleek craft whirred as it left the lock-down mode. The cockpit opened up once more and I climbed inside. As I seated myself at the controls, I saw that I only had enough fuel for one flight. And I wasn't walking back. I turned the craft on and enabled VTOL mode. The twin engines slid forward and pivoted up. A powerful roar emanated from them as I lifted off and retracted the landing gear. As I soared across the roof of the Everfree, I noticed a certain cyan speedster fly up next to me. I could see her lips moving, but couldn't hear a word she was saying. I put the craft at a hover, a dangerous thing to do with the limited fuel reserves, opened the cockpit, and told her to get inside quick. As the cockpit hatch closed, Rainbow Dash asked me a question. "How is thing flying, I don't see any wings, and if there are any, I don't see any flapping." "My race was born without wing's, so we had to use technology to achieve flight." I replied " That's the only reason why we're in the air and not on the ground." I landed my craft just behind Twilight's castle and answered Dash's questions on the history of human flight. I then felt exhaustion take hold of me once more and I reentered the castle and fell back asleep. The next morning, I awoke to a commotion down the hall. I got dressed, and left my room to head to my craft. Twilight stopped me from leaving the castle because of reports of a dragon last night. Knowing full well that it was my ship, I instructed her to follow me. A brief walk around the castle later brought us to my craft. "How did that get here?" Twilight asked. "Easy, that roar you heard was the engines on my craft as I was flying." I replied. "How did you get in then, we couldn't." She continued. "I used the vocal authorization code." I replied back. "Could you demonstrate it's flight?" Twilight asked, "I'd certainly like to see how it achieves it." "I depleted the rest of the fuel getting it here, so unless you can use magic to make it work, it isn't flying and what are you doing." I said. "Giving it magic." "God this is such a mcguffin." I say. "Is there a long stretch of flat land nearby?" LATER "Rainbow Dash, i have a bet for you." I announce. "Yeah, what is it?" She replies. " I bet you that I can make it to Canterlot and back faster than you." I say. " And when I win?" She asks. "I tell you an embarrassing secret," I continue, "But if I win, I get bragging rights." "You're on." I hop into the cockpit and fire up the engines. at the firing of Pinkie's confetti cannon we take off. The cyan speedster gets an early lead, but that is broken as I shatter the sound barrier and continue to mach 5.2 I pull a wide turn just as Rainbow breaks the sound barrier herself. but it was too late as I had already landed my craft. It took Rainbow another half an hour to get back. "THAT THING CAN PULL OFF A COLORLESS RAINBOOM!?" She shouted. "It's called a sonic boom," I reply, "Besides planes 40 years older than me regularly broke the sound barrier. Though you've broken the visible light spectrum so I guess that's something." My thoughts are interrupted by a massive yawn as I'm hit with a sudden bout of sleepiness. I felt naturally drawn to my room in Twilight's castle. Little did I know the horrors that would befall me the next morning.
One Civilization's Trash......It was finally happening. The complete and total annihilation of the human race. Reports were pouring in from militaries across the globe that ever single god damn country launched everything they had. Places had already been reduced to ash. Tokyo was bad, the bomb missed its intended target and hit Mt. Fuji instead, causing an eruption. The western U.S. Faired much better, with all the blasts and their subsequent quakes causing Yellowstone to pop its top. Everywhere I loved was being vaporized. I knew it was only a matter of time before the bombs hit my base, so I fled. It wasn't like there was any structure anymore to keep me there. It wouldn't matter. Billions of organisms perishing with their surroundings becoming ash and glass. Beautiful landscapes burned away. I could see it all happening before my very eyes. The light of a ten Suns, happening over and over and over again. Burning man's many achievements away. Wiping away our legacy. It would seem that the fire in humanity's heart could not be put out. Our passion for war was unsurmountable. The fact that some men finally felt that the pros outweighed the cons was something that haunted me. I was whisked away to the first ever nuclear test, the hesitation and subsequent guilt each member of the party felt. The first ever nuclear attack. The vaporization of Sydney. The annihilation of the outback. I could see it all. I was brought back to my childhood home. The mutilated, burnt husks of all who I cared for, crying out to me, wailing how I didn't save them, how I never cared about them. I was brought down to my knees. In so much despair, I never noticed them tearing into me. Ripping flesh from bone. A bright flash distracted them all, and I smiled, knowing that this nightmare was over. I woke up, my sheets soaked in sweat. My roommate, out cold from an intense night of drinking, laced on the couch in our barracks. Me being a former soldier, my career having ended due to shrapnel lodge in my knee, I was chosen to develop something that would help humanity survive the impending nuclear war. One of many, we all sought out different methods, one thought out terraforming, one thought out massive underground communities, one thought out extra Terran colonies, I took that idea further with extra solar colonies using Faster than Light technology. My craft was called the XR 71 Blackbird 2. Twice the size of an ordinary SR-71, my craft used decommissioned Space shuttle booster rockets to get into orbit, from there, my suborbital engines would take over, getting me into orbit. After that, they would jettison allowing the main engines to take over and allow me to position for an FTL launch. At least, that was the theory anyways. I was going to test it myself later that day. My train of thought was interrupted as my roommate woke up. "So, when are you going to test that rocket thing you've been talking about?" He asked, pouring himself a glass of ice water. "I've over this with you before James, it's not just some rocket, it might be humanity's only hope of survival." I respond, not sure if the IV I hooked up to him had allowed him to wake up with just a buzz or not. The ice water gave me doubts. "Besides, it's classified." I add. "Nick, you're always such a spoilsport." He taunts. "When have I ever been a spoilsport?" I asked, while walking towards the canteen, my roommate in tow. "Let's see." He began, "The frat party at Chattenooga State. That time I was getting women in France, the time I almost pet a deer in Yellowstone, just to name a few." "Ok, ok." I respond, " I see your point." We continue our conversation throughout breakfast and my morning Pyhsical Therapy. It wasn't until lunch when I learned to that Tokyo and it's surrounding area had been engulfed in volcanic ash. Later I found out that it had been a nuke air lifted in by China that had set off Mt Fuji. Knowing very well that my sister was dead, and that China was responsible, I was overcome with a newfound resolve to make sure that humanity survived. "AC-1 to tower. Do you copy?" I ask into my headset. "Tower to AC-1, we copy" "Requesting permission to begin maiden voyage." "Permission granted." I feel a sudden burst of power as I rocket off down the runway. As I rocket off into the sky, I begin to decelerate as the boosters fulfilled their purpose. Feeling more control as the sub orbital engines kicked in, I made my way to the designated orbital range. Once there, I powered up the FTL drive and began the target calculations. A sudden flash behind me startled me, causing me to engage the drive before it had completely charged. The view outside the cockpit was a sickly blood red, the jostling inside the flight cabin was violent enough to knock me out. Ponyville, Equestria It was a beautiful day in Ponyville, the birds were chirping, the foals were playing, nothing could go wrong. It was on this day that a certain purple alicorn and her friend were investigating the ruins near the castle of the two sisters. "That's odd." Twilight said to nopony in particular. "What's odd sugarcube?" Applejack asked her friend. A little startled by the sudden question, "Well, there isn't any magical signature on these remains." Twilight answered. "That could only mean that whatever creature this belongs to had no thaumic connection at all." "But didn't ya say these came before pony kind?" Applejack asked. "Well, yes, but carbon dating puts these at over 23 million years old. So they could have been a whole different civilization." Twilight responded. "So it is possible they might not have-" "Do you hear that Twilight?" AJ interrupted. A low rumbling could be heard, getting louder by the second. Soon the source could be seen, a fireball in the sky. But then something the lavender mare never expected happened. The object slowed and altered its course, making a b-line straight for them. Getting nearer, the object froze just above them, caught in a blue field. Panels underneath the object opened up to show metal wheels surrounded by rites of rubber. The object was slowly lowered the ground by Luna who had just crested the trees surrounding the digs site that Twilight and Applejack were in. "Are we intruding in something girls?" The princess of the night asked. "Not really, but why are you up at this hour princess?" Twilight responded bowing. Having no time to address that Twilight need not bow anymore, Luna continued on, "I was awoken from my slumber as I sensed an object enter our planet's orbit. What struck us as odd is that the object was not foreign to Equis at all." "Odd." Twilight stated. "Yes, odd indeed. Stranger even is that the object has no magical signature at all." Luna continued. "Wait, no magical signature?" Twilight asked, "The remains Applejack and I uncovered have no magical signature either. Could they be related?" The party was startled by a sudden hissing sound, as a hatch on the object opened up. Inside was a broken creature bleeding from multiple head wounds. "Miss Sparkle, levitate this creature out of the object. We will teleport it to Ponyville General Hospital."
