Author's Note
And there we go, my first chapter of an immense story I have high hopes for. To all who read this, I understand if you dislike it, as not everyone will, but if you truly dislike it, please do send me a message as to why you dislike it so, and I will consider it. After all, constructive criticism is the best way to explain how it's bad without causing a fight.
Chapter 1: The Arrival
A single mare, who stood on two hooves, with legs similar to that in shape of a Quarian, her torso having mostly human shape, alongside the two DD cups, her arms were humanoid, with four digit hands, and finally she had the head of a pony, with a long black mane, a tan coat, and deep blue irises. Alongside this, she wore a finely made uniform over her clothing, made of the finest materials that could stop anything short of a laser, with a few black reinforced platings, the suit itself was a snow white, with the symbol of Celestia's mark on the back of the uniform, her ranking on her left shoulder, her rank being that of a Lieutenant Commander, and finally she had multiple medals adorned on her uniform from her extensive time in the battlefield.
Stopping at the door down the snow white hall of the ship she was assigned to, she pulled out a small datapad, holding it up to the lock, which caused the recently red light to turn green as a emotionless and synthetic voice echoed through the lock. "Ranking and Title recognized, access to the bridge is accepted. Have a safe trip, Specialist Seraph Archangel."
The mare, now known as Seraph Archangel, or as she was called actually, steps through the open door, walking over to the captain's chair, where the current captain of the ship resided. The mare in the chair turns to Seraph, a hand under her chin as the elbow rested on the arm of the chair, a cigar in the white coated mare's mouth as her red irises eyed the LC. The captain was an extremely beautiful sight to most any stallions and the occasional mare, but also held the look of a 'mess with me and die' aura, which was aided by the eye patch where her eye used to be. And she also had a long, blonde mane. The ponies of the GSE consisted of very few colors, unlike their ancestors, and were distinguished by their faces and names now instead of the color of them. The most common mane colors were black, blonde, pink, and white, while the coats common colors were black, tan, orange, pink, or white, mostly acquired through their lives in space, though none are entirely sure how they came to be.
The mare pulls the lit cigar out of her mouth and dabs some of the now ashes into the arm's ashtray. "Lieutenant Commander Archangel, I assume you know why you're here?"
Seraph keeps her blue eyes on the captain. "Only what the poor human you sent rushing to my quarters was told." She brushes her mane out of her face. "He seems to have grown attached as well."
The captain grins. "And will you acknowledge it?"
Seraph glares at her. "I don't let anyone get to close anymore, or have you not read my dossier."
The captain sighs as she puts out her cigar. "I know, I know, lost your husband to a Zetan attack and all that." She eyes Seraph for a moment. "You need to learn when to let go sooner or later."
"And you think a human would be the ideal choice?"
"And why not? They're more attractive than most stallions I've seen, and they're a lot more capable than they appear to be." She gains a glint of inspiration in her eyes. "I've managed to see one take on a heavily armored brute with nothing more than a suit of human-developed power armor. They are, without a doubt, the best allies the GSE could ever have gained."
Seraph glances to the side. "Even if you say so, I'm not about to go and indulge simple curiosity."
"Very well, be stubborn then." She leans back. "Enough of the idle chit-chat, you were called here for the very specific reason of reconnaissance."
"And why me?" Seraph folds her arms. "You could easily send a more capable human or pony out to do that and they'd do much better than me. I'm known as the Lone Wolf covered in Black Ink."
"Ah yes, same as that one human back on the colonized planet of Reach, quite." She folds her hands. "But, regardless, you were the one highly suggested by the GSE Council, and specially picked by Emperor Solaris himself."
Seraph narrows her eyes at this. "Why would the emperor himself take an interest in me of all ponies?"
"Who knows, it's not my place to question his word." She looks at one of the Ensigns. "You, Sergeant Miles!"
The human quickly stands, saluting as he spoke out. "Yes, Captain?"
"Show our specialist to the hangar and help her load up on all the necessities. Assume it will take about 5 years at the longest." She looks at Seraph. "Not that it will, but best safe than sorry."
Seraph reluctantly nods while the Ensign nods in affirmation, before the two began walking down the snow white corridors of the ship. The walk was mostly quiet, the bright lights mimicking the sun itself keeping the feeling of pleasant warmth on the two as they walked. The Ensign eventually speaks however. "So... You're Code Name is Seraph?"
Seraph doesn't look at him as she answers. "I forgot my name after being inducted into the Special Forces. I earned the nicknames Seraph and Archangel, and they just stuck."
"Huh, so that's why everyone calls you that then?" She nods. "Why did you forget your name? Was it similar to the Spartan-II Program?"
"Most likely, but unlike the Spartan program, ours wasn't illegal, at least not in the eyes of the government. Of course, odds are either the Special Forces, or the Spartans had it rougher, I wouldn't know."
The Ensign slowly nods as the two walk, before soon reaching the the hangar, and barking out to the workers. "Alright men, start loading up that stealth ship on whatever resources you can! Expect it to be gone for five years, that means make sure it's loaded to the very brim!"
Everyone yells out a 'Yes Sir!' before getting to work. The Ensign lets Seraph examine the ship she was going to be driving. It was quite similar to that of a Pelican, but about three times bigger, twenty times the amount of storage space, and it had a mini kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and mess hall. With a nod, Seraph gets into the ship, and sits down in the cockpit, examining the controls for the next hour or two before the Ensign climbs into the cockpit. "Everything is secure, LC, have a safe flight."
Seraph grunts in acknowledgement as the Ensign climbs out of the ship. And once it closes the doors, the ship engine starts up, and flies off into the empty void of space, opening up FTL and heading off. Seraph turns on autopilot as she climbs out of the cockpit and down into the cargo bay. The first thing she examined was the equipment. Among all the equipment, she had a decent supply of weapons and plenty of ammo, alongside recharges for the alien gear she enjoyed, and there was even a few additional useful items, such as the all-purpose wrist-computer, a suit of X-07 Advanced Power Armor, which was much slimmer than the X-01, held twice the durability, and a whole lot more mobile, alongside a ton of mods to allow not only stealth, but aid in translations, Hazardous Environments, and more. It even came with an under-suit for complete comfort.
Nodding at everything among the cargo, she heads into the kitchen, and starts cooking up a meal for herself, consisting of a T-Bone, Baked Potato with Allioi, and finally a glass of Crowned Vodka. Sitting down at the table nearby, she downed the bottle of vodka, and let out a low breath as she mutters silently to herself. "Those humans know how to make some good alcohol... Unlike the brewers back in the GSE..." She shakes her head and starts eating her meal.
In the middle of the meal, she is suddenly greeted to the sound of the ship getting hit by an unknown source, but the gravity support system made it simply feel like a slight shudder. But with a well trained mind like Seraph's, she knew what to do as she puts the rest in the fridge and rushes up to the cockpit to see what happened. And what she saw shocked her.
In front of the ship was a large planet, covered in green and blue, and looking to be well developed for a primitive civilization without space travel. However, the first thing she noticed was the fact that her ship was plummeting down to the world below, making her growl in agitation as she began to work her skills as a pilot. Obviously the planet won't let her fly back into space, at least not right now, so the best option was to soften the landing. With a good amount of work, she manages to shift the ship enough to use it's large wings to help lower acceleration, which greatly succeeded. After a very rough and bumpy ride, she manages to make it touch down in a forest outside of a local town.
Once everything eases and the ship slowly calms down, she leans back in her chair with a heavy sigh of relief, rather glad she had the training to pilot this thing. Shaking her head, realizing the locals could be coming this way, she turns on the cloaking field, before jogging down to the bay, and slipping the jacket of her uniform off, then her pants, leaving her in black undershirt and black shorts as she pulls out a M-045 Stealth Suit, specially designed for humans, but compatible with ponies. Putting the suit on, and grabbing a M99 Anti-Material Rifle, she also grabs a total of four clips, before climbing out of the ship through a way easier to hide, then closing the exit and marking the ship so only her HUD could see it. And with that, she hid within the forest.
Using her Free Running skills, she climbs up a tree, and crouches down safely on the branch as she kept the sniper at the ready, waiting to see whether this was a safe or hostile location.
What she was unprepared for was a group of... Ponies, not at all like the ones she's accustomed to, they stood on four legs, wore ancient medieval armor, carried swords, spears, or bows and arrows, and overall the armor was a solid gold while their coat was a deep blue. Seraph grunts silently to herself, before seeing what appeared to be the leader, having the same snow white coat as Emperor Solaris, alongside the exact same cutie mark as the GSE insignia, and she was both tall, had wings and a horn, and overall radiated of the sun herself.
Staying silent, Seraph activates camouflage and distortion, in case of the mare being highly intelligent or able to read minds as she gazes down the scope.
She could also hear them speak in an unknown language, instantly causing the HUD to translate to... Ancient Pony?
"I'm fine, Captain, I just suddenly received a headache... It's nothing." The mare was looking around, searching for Seraph, who was instantly glad the cloak was on, before the obvious ruler turns to the guards. "Secure the area, something tells me we aren't seeing the whole picture." The guards nod and go to do so.
Deciding not to let them make her sit there for hours, she stealthily jumps down to the ground, and starts getting to work. Sneaking up to the first guard, she chops them in one of the weak spots of the pony body, making them go limp and unconscious. 'One down' She then proceeds to do the same with the other guards, before soon standing before the ruler, deactivating the cloak, but not the distortion.
The ruler blinks in surprise upon seeing the figure covered head to toe in sleek and thin armor, taking a step back as she speaks. "Who are you?"
Seraph had her rifle on her back, but she wasn't willing to go completely unprepared, as she had put a M6H at her thigh alongside a M1911 on the other thigh, but regardless. She says through the translator. "Lieutenant Commander of the Galactic Solar Empire, Code Name Seraph Archangel."
The ruler blinks at this, before slowly nodding and motioning to herself. "Princess Celestia of Equestria."
Seraph's eyes widen upon hearing this, staying silent for quite some time, before finally asking barely above a whisper. "What..."
The ruler tilts her head. "What was that?"
Seraph shakes her head, before unlatching her helmet, and pulling it off, shocking the mare upon seeing a pony face as Seraph pulls the headset out of the helmet, then attaches it to her ear, and speaking again. "The... Galactic Solar Empire... Is this planet named Equus?"
"Yes, actually, how did you know that?"
"...Because the Galactic Solar Empire originated from this planet." Celestia's eyes widened. "We... Left the planet before the nuclear warheads landed many centuries ago, and have been traveling through space for years now... And now... We... I... I found our home..."
Celestia could see the normally stoic Seraph beginning to shed a small number of tears, making Celestia offer a soft smile. "Would you like to join me at the palace? I am sure you would like to know what has happened since your ancestors left this planet." Seraph nods. "And I assume you knocked out the guards?" She is silent. "As suspected, I understand, given your situation of this possibly being a hostile planet and all. I will send a few extra guards to retrieve them. Now, let us go and get you something to drink."
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Seraph watched from the carriage flying through the air, looking down at the world below, and in honest disbelief at how... Well... Back to normal the planet looked. It looked just like in the history books... Albite with less skyscrapers and more medieval-like buildings. Sighing softly, she sits back as she looked at Celestia, before asking. "So are you The Celestia? From back in..."
Celestia shakes her head. "Oh no, I'm not, my full name is Celestia Solian Cel, though I suppose it would be simpler to say Celestia Junior in a sense." She joked.
"So you're a descendant of the original Celestia?"
"Yes, it seems that the recent descendants are all, quite literally, almost entirely the same as our ancestors, quite the shocker isn't it?" Seraph nods slowly. "But outside of looks, we're all not the same, not in personality or the such. Honestly, the ancient Elements of Harmony are just as likely to pick other descendants than they are to pick the mares who look like the originals."
"I see..." Seraph slowly nods, before looking down below. "The planet is much bigger than I expected."
"Ah, that's right, you wouldn't know. See, after the balefire war, and the wastelands, the world suddenly began to create a layer above the wasteland, like it was preparing for a new world, and once done, not only were there an increase of the abundant resources, but they increased tenfold in number since the dawning days of Ponykind. It was quite strange, to say the least." She yawns slightly. "Oh bother, my Insomnia is kicking in..." She looks at Seraph. "Be a dear and wake me up when we make it to Canterlot, would you?"
Seraph awkwardly nods. "Oh, yeah, sure..." Celestia smiles softly and lays down, getting some shut eye as Seraph returned to gazing down at the world below, unable to really understand anything, let alone how she should feel about any of this...
Oh well, there is still quite a bit of the day left, maybe she'll see something special once they arrive to Canterlot. Maybe.
...To Be Continued...
