Terra Invicta

Chapters

Prologue: The Beginning of the End
Chapter 1: Repercussions
Chapter 2: First (Second) Contact
Chapter 3: Catching Up
Chapter 4: The Journey Begins Pt. 1
Chapter 5: The Journey Begins Pt. 2
Chapter 6: Ends Meet
Chapter 7: En Route
Chapter 8: Baby Steps

Prologue: The Beginning of the End

Welcome back to the Union's hottest late night show this side of New Alexandria! I'm your host Amanda Skylift and I'm glad to see you all here tonight! In recent news, High Marshal Cornelius was able to secure the Shok'to'a trade route through Algan Republic space. I mean, glory to the Union and all but I think the only shok'to'a-ll (shock to all) of us was the fact that he could pull it off with a haircut straight out of Grease. You guys remember Grease?

Several audience members raise their hands.

Yeah! There we go! Man, you know call me old-fashioned but the 20th century? That was the stuff! A time mark by both near-unmatched political turmoil and the use of exploding dinosaur bones for transportation.

There was a mild laugh from the audience.

Anyhoo, tonight we have quite the show for you folks! We have the sta-

The holoscreen dissipated into thin air amid flickers and distortions emanating from the emitter. Brantley Johnson slowly rose from his graphene-infused microfiber-coated self-cleaning couch. All of this technology was getting to him. nothing he touched wasn't covered in a nano-compound. Nothing he breathed was ever fresh or unfiltered. The last time he ate non-synthetic food was two years ago when he was promoted to Fleet Admiral and took a brief holiday to the recently-terraformed Sol II: Mars. Once he was done reminiscing, his attention was drawn to what was outside his window. Thousands of tiny lights and iridescent signs adorned the horizon. The nebula visible from the northern hemisphere of Mantac VI is truly something to marvel at. Indigoes and purples performing an intertwining ballet that would take billions of years. only slightly below the stars were several-kilometer-high star-scrapers that housed thousands of people in a single block. The dichotomy between the high population density and the splendorous view was one of the defining traits of Corvax. The former, however, was responsible for less-than-satisfactory living conditions. These included the occasional power outages that Brant experienced every time he tried to watch Spectrum Spectator. Regardless, he was up now. Might as well enjoy a night on the town/city/megalopolis/ecumenopolis.

Johnson proceeded down the hallway towards the elevator. Once inside, he noticed that the walls were scuffed up considerably more than they were the day before. granted, the self-healing alloy was doing a good job at making sure that it was near unnoticeable, but you don't become a Fleet Commander for being unobservant. He thought nothing of it for the moment, however. He exited the mega complex and drank in the incessant humming of bustling maglev cars. "Where should I go tonight, ol' buddy?" Brant queried as the simple-minded AI flickered to life on his wrist-worn exonet terminal.

"Based on your previous activity today, I would suggest visiting The Crow. Their traditional atmosphere may appeal to you." his wrist broadcasted to his earpiece.

"Well, at least it's nice to know I have at least one personal stalker." Brant retorted as he began following the walking path that appeared on his eye contact. "You know what? Screw the power outages. Sightseeing is good enough for me." Brant exclaimed, in his head, of course, as he looked upward toward the mixed-use residential/spaceport buildings thorugh his living room window.

Amongst the towering metallic behemoths were countless airships and starships. linear streams of civilian vehicles patterned the sky in a multi-planar grid. At a more eye-level height, holographic screens littered the sides of buildings advertising and broadcasting various news outlets and the latest technology, including the newest models of exonet-interfaceable wearable tech. From the corner of his eye, he saw a man with a rather distressed look on his face. He couldn't help but overhear his exclamations. "Wai- whoa-whoa-whoa," he turned to a passerby near him and continued, causing them to stop and listen out of courtesy, "You're telling me they just came out with another Terminal?!" Brantley allowed himself to giggle for a little bit before regaining composure. Regardless of the view, the smoggy air was definitely taking away from the whole "pizzazz." With a clearing of his throat, Brant activated his lung air filter implants by tapping his chest thrice. He began his trip through the sidewalks, marked by holographic barriers that ran along the ground and shoulders of the street. People flanked the former officer on right, an almost constant flow. There seemed to be all sorts of people in this town. Brant couldn't help but internally cringe when he saw a man walk by with a VR visor on and his purple hair animated by the nano-gel he had obviously put in which gave it an obnoxiously glossy look. Not to mention how it was practically greeting the public with how much it was waving.

"Good evening, sir. Might I interest you in some-"

"Ah!" Brant shot back immediately after the holographic salesman materialized from the building wall beside him, noticing how people had stopped around him, "I mean, ahem, shut it, tin can!" he finished with an awkward attempt of a suave look on his face. Although, as a GTU Fleet Admiral, he had great control and an authoritative stature in the helm of a starship, he was another story in public without his crew. But that was for another time; this holographic Billy Mays was still here.

"I apologize for the intrusion, sir." It sarcastically responded. Since when did AI's have attitudes? "Suppose the best I can do is hope it isn't Vex and carry on." Brant half-joked. He had noticed a decline in his drive recently after he was put on temporary military leave. I mean, why else would a goddamn Fleet Admiral be living in such a dirty, overpopulated, and power-outage-prone area? He couldn't complain, however, considering he was caught smuggling small amounts of nano-gel from the USS Archer infirmary to the prison on Ceres on his way back from Sol II with his whole crew. Alcohol is a hell of a drug, huh? the 78-year-old man was a kind-hearted individual but sometimes he went a little overboard when it came to seeing others injured. In this case, let's just say prison fights could get rather nasty.

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw a large group of people gathering below one of the aforementioned public holoscreens broadcasting news. This one seemed to be displaying the Union News Network. There was a woman standing with her hands cupped around her nose and mouth. She bore a petrified expression as an image appeared next to her displaying what Brant recognized to be the tyrum homeworld with an ominous object orbiting it. Whatever it was, it had to be at least the size of the North American Commissariat in diameter. Its accents of red defined the rod located within its rotating ring. The footage showed the object increasing in brightness until the unspeakable occurred; the object fired what appeared to be a laser directly tangent to the planet's surface. From the point of impact, a red wave could be seen spreading in all directions, leaving in its path nothing but molten metal and minerals.

In a matter of seconds, what was the safe haven for the race that nearly wiped out humanity without retribution became nothing more than a series of continent-sized chunks of rock. The crowd was shocked. Some cheered, some gasped, but most remained silent. Brant was one of the many who stood speechless as they gazed at the death of an entire alien race. There was nothing he or anybody else could do as they let the implications of this historic moment set in.

Humanity had developed the galaxy's first planet-destroying weapon. They had achieved one of their largest goals: revenge. But there was one question the great civilization had failed to ask itself: at what cost?

Author's Note

Hey, guys! This is the first story I have ever written. I know the character development in this prologue is utter shit but I will try to improve every aspect I can. I plan to upload new chapters every 2 weeks or so. I understand that is a long time but AP classes tend to take their fair share of time. I apologize for the slow manner but thanks for reading!

Chapter 1: Repercussions

Powering on
Please wait...
Channel 034: Union News Network

Crashing can be heard in the background amongst the hissing of RAM gas, a nanite-infused gaseous compound designed to cause an irritating body-wide stinging sensation meant to harmlessly deter public disruptions. The camera drone pan down and to the left to reveal a woman on the screen in the midst of what appeared to be a very violent protest.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! This is *crash* Lucy Wilson reporting *tsssss* directly from in front of the Union embassy on the Algan homeworld! I apologize if the audio it a bit hard to *sirens wailing* interpret but it's all part of the job contract!" she paused to look behind her as algan peacekeepers, local law enforcement, arrived on the scene with a loud whirr form their anti-grav shuttles and hovered with sonic weapons visibly exposed on either side of the vehicles. She turns back to face the camera, "Protests have broken out regarding the Union's violation of the Homestead Treaty. The destruction of the Tyrum homeworld has added to the upset caused by the Union's raid on the Wassari in order to eliminate their threat should they have been given enough time to develop FTL travel. Most Terran embassies have been shut down due to the cutting of diplomatic ties between the GTU, the Peronisti Union, *BOOM* the Wassari Protectorate, and, most obviously, the Algan Republic.

The holoscreen flickered off once again, only this time on purpose. Brant had heard enough. He was tired of hearing network after network talk about the deteriorating state of the Union's diplomatic relation with, well, everybody. He got up from the couch and headed over to his kitchen. "Good evening, Brantley. What may I prepare for you today?" asked the residence's AI.

"A burger and a Coke, please," replied Brantley. He always was a sucker for the old-timey lifestyle.

"Right away." With that, four robotic arms that before sat motionlessly and efficiently folded on the counter walls were reanimated and instantly began preparing everything needed for a hamburger. Patties Were grilled, bread was baked, vegetables were cut, and condiments squirted on. The meal was completed in a mere 10 minutes and Brant couldn't help but stare in awe even after all the meals he had made with the machine. Even though he was technically "temporarily fired" and without pay, what they had already given him was more than enough to buy some high tech goods. Granted, it meant he would have to sacrifice other living conditions. These included having to deal with occasional power outages, stale air, and Deborah, his neighbor who he suspected had a huge crush on him considering the fact that she would deliver marionberry pies straight to his doorstep with chocolate hearts no matter how much he asked her to stop.

An alert appeared in the upper left corner of his sight as his contact alerted him that there was somebody at the door. "Well speaking of the Devil..." Brant made his way to his apartment entrance and initialized the door phase change, revealing -- you guessed it -- a marionberry pie with chocolate hearts. He turned away and the door rematerialized behind him. Maybe being put on leave wasn't as good as he thought. Just as that thought concluded, his holoscreen booted up and began displaying the flag of the GTU. This was immediately replaced by the face of Brant's former superior: High Admiral Vorchavski. Somehow, all of them went unnoticed by the annoyed Brantley who was in the middle of finishing his burger when the High Admiral spoke up. "Good morning, Johnson."

"WHAT the fu- oh, Jesus." Brant sighed as he simultaneously realized that he had dropped his burger and who he had embarrassed himself in front of. "Vorchavski? I-is that you?" The man in the hologram did not flinch but only gained a barely noticeable smirk.

"Yes, Johnson. I am here to tell you that your leave has been recalled early and you're being reinstated immediately." Vorchavski calmly stated to an almost petrified Brantley.

"What?! I haven't seen a sign of the military in two years and you think you can come in here a-"

"Alright, good talk. A shuttle has been dispatched to your location. Glory to the Union!" Before Brant could respond, his holoscreen had turned off and the sound of Brant's struggles to speak was replaced by the humming warble of anti-grav engines. Brant looked out of his windows only to see a Mars-class lander with the words engraved on its side:

Property of the GTU
USS Archer Dropship

"Welp, time to get back to work." Brant finally stated with his hands on his hip. He proceeded to slide his windows open, allowing the engines' thrust to blow everything that once sat on the kitchen counter in front of him on to the floor. A smile came across his face as he climbed through the window and the ship's side shifted out with a hiss and slid backward, allowing the officer to climb inside.

Brantley fell from his window sill and into the main cabin of the dropship just outside. Thuds filled the cabin as the officer clobbered and rolled into the hallway. Silence filled the cabin as got on all fours and stood up. Once he regained his posture, the Captain looked around. He was surrounded by now transparent walls, the alloy's nanites displaying the outside of the dropship through cameras located n its exterior. He followed the luminescent lines flanking the main walkway of the cabin to the front where two pilot seat was located. Once he got up there, he noticed that, while the holographic console and dashboard were on, there were no pilots. Oh, thank God nobody saw my... entrance. he thought to himself. The whirr of the dropship's engines increased in volume as the dropship lurched forward and the Captain sat down in the pilot seat. Brantley looked out the lander's "window" as he exited Mantac VI's atmosphere. The space-scrapers quickly fell as the lander angled itself towards the stars. The ship accelerated rapidly without the drag of the atmosphere and a moderately-sized ship could be seen along the horizon.

"Oh, goodness. I missed you, space!" A wave of excitement washed over the Admiral as he became surrounded in swirls of black, blue, and purple. The emptiness of it all almost made him feel as if there was not a care in the world. It reminded him of the vast expanses, the countless star systems, and their even more countless planets. His eyes practically sparkled with wonder as his yearn for discovery was revived. Speaking of discovery, he was now just moments away from reuniting with his pride and joy: the USS Archer.

The Archer is a Ceres-class research vessel. Designed and first manufactured just fifteen years ago, the Archer was more than the ordinary starship. Being one of the earliest vessels to have incorporated Precursor nanotechnology, the Archer was, and still is, one of the most advanced vessels in the entire Union fleet thanks to its crew. The Union had poured some of its best and brightest into this ship in hopes that it would allow the Union's most capable to venture and discover more about the universe. All, of course, in the name of bettering humanity. Brantley, although he may not look like it at first glance, tested as one of the highest in Union Academy history, scoring a whopping 1540/1600 on his military aptitude assessment. His mind flashed back to his graduation from the academy and the talk with the dean fo the school about a new and improved vessel that was currently being constructed somewhere in the Mars orbital shipyards.

The Fleet Admiral's thoughts were interrupted, however, as the dropship's holographic console display turned from a blue, orange, and green to a solid red across the board. Where dials and graphs used to be, thee hologram now displayed only the message, "Welcome back, Captain. Please get back in your seat and brace for docking."

Brantley blushed a bit, remembering that there were cameras on board the lander.

Brantley walk out of the lander to a hangar of saluting figures. But they weren't just figures for long for he quickly recognized all of his fellow officers even though he had not seen them for years:

Dahlia Rogers: my chief xenobiologist
Roger Orwell: my chief engineer
Usher Mulligan: my chief military officer
Chase McLending: my chief comms officer

"I would give your boarding of the dropship a 10, sir!" Chase blurted out as soon as the Captain exited the dropship.

"At ease, lady and gentlemen," he stated in between awkward chuckles.

"You son of a bitch..." muttered Roger.

"Excuse me?" the Admiral inquired with a slightly threatening tone.

"You had to go and tend to those prisoners, didn't you? You big-hearted bozo. We fucking missed you!" With that, he embraced me, followed by Dahlia, Chase, and, finally, Usher.

"Haha, it's a blessing and a curse, I suppose" Brantley replied.

"Well, we're glad to have you back, sir. Our interim captain was a bit of a-" Dahlia attempted to say.

"Pussy." finished Roger.

"Roger!" there was a pause. "... I suppose..." said Dahlia with her thumb, index, and middle fingers rubbing the bridge of her nose.

Brantley finally broke the silence, "Well, I'm very eager to catch up with all of you but I think I should get some rest. This is all a bit of a shock and seeing all of you has been extremely exciting and-"

"That's understandable, sir. Let me show you to your dormitory." led Usher, interrupting the Captain who had no energy to continue. The rest of the crew saluted and returned to the bridge as Usher and Brantley took an elevator to the top deck and began down a corridor to the Captain's room. They must have turned down more than 20 different hallways. It is amazing how Brant had this ship figure out 2 years ago. That was the thing; all of this was so sudden. Only a few hours earlier he was making plans to spend the day in my undies watching whatever the first channel the holoscreen tuned in to when I turned it on was. Now, without any re-acclimation or drills, Brantley has been thrust back into command of one of the most advanced ships in the GTU fleet. He didn't have time to finish that thought, however, as he arrived at his room and had to scan his retina in order to be allowed entry. Upon doing so, Usher saluted and began his trek back to the bridge, retaining the cold and stoic expression he almost always wore. When the Admiral entered, he saw something that made him very happy; a king-sized bed with a warmly-lit, simple-looking desk beside it. It was nothing much but being exposed to the cutting-edge on board this ship takes its toll after a while. He stumbled his way over to the bed and slumped onto it. Without even getting under the covers, he fell into a deep sleep.

In his dreams, he sees something.

You are a strange one, being a navy silhouette sang from behind me.

"What? Who are you?"

What do you want?! the unidentifiable shadow struggled to speak, a raspy tone only partially conveying the true intensity of their inquiry.

"Hello? Are you okay?" The Admiral began to clumsily stumble towards the fading figure. He reached out with his hand to touch it and swiped in a desperate attempt to grasp whatever was trying to communicate with him.

Admiral Brantley shot up in his bed. His eyes were wide and sweat was pouring down his face. He quickly scanned the room around him, his head popping around like a chicken.

"Okay, o-okay. It was just a dream..." he calmed himself. But, what was the being that tried to contact him? It looked almost like a... unicorn. Brantley quickly shrugged the thought off, justifying it under the fact that it was just a dream. Having sufficiently calmed himself, he relaxed his posture and slumped back down into the bed, leaning back up against his back board. With a yawn and a stretch, he looked at his ceiling. "Alright, time to get this show on the road." He raised his arm to use his wrist terminal. With a few swipes and taps, the windows in his dormitory began to untint and revealed a black wall of metal and specks of light. This was no doubt a space staiton. A huge one at that. The terminal that the Archer was in looked at least 5 or 6 times the size of the ship's 412-meter body. That was funny, too. Why were we parked in a terminal meant for a much larger vessel? Eh, a question for another time, Brantley thought. Right now, he needed to figure out where he was.

"Computer, where am I?" Brantley calmly asked the ship's AI. A holographic projection materialized in the corner to the left of the entrance, displaying a simple sphere with concentric lines, almost looking like an eye's iris.

"Good morning, Captain, or should I say afternoon?" a voice rang throughout the Captain's neural implant, "We are currently docked at Terra Prime Station, in orbit around Sol III." With that, the sphere phased into thin air leaving the Captain to his own thoughts. Oh, great. So now the ship has an attitude, too. Time to make planetfall on Ear- Brantley stopped in his own thought's tracks. Did the computer just say Earth? "Computer!"

"Yes, Captain?" The sphere rematerialized, projecting from the luminescent strips on the wall once again. The Admiral squinted and raised his index finger in an attempt to physically express his confusion.

"Now-n-now did you just s-say that we were... we were at Earth?" he asked as he approached the floating orb.

"Well, I technically said we were at Sol III. But, yes, we are at Earth." it nonchalantly replied. The Captain simply stood with his index finger pointed at the orb and his eyes still squinted. Holding in his feelings, he strained, "Thank you... that will be all." The sphere disappeared once again and the Admiral let what was building up inside of him out.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" he yelled as he clawed his face in an attempt to physically cope/ snap himself out of this alternate reality. His bedroom doorbell rang as his contact displayed a camera feed of what was outside of his bedroom. There was an officer outside with a worried expression on his face.

"Captain, sir, are you alright?" he asked.

"Yes, officer, just fine. Thanks!" the Captain quickly replied as he regained his composure and flattened his bed head with his hands. The officer outside nodded and returned to his post down the hall. Brantley hobbled his way over to his bed and sat down on it. "Well, that was certainly a wakeup call." he joked. Normally, the Captain wasn't this upset over... anything really. It is, however, important to understand the implications of being on Earth. Brantley needed answers. So, he opened a map of the ship's bridge deck on his contact display and began to make his way over to the bridge, coming to term with his situation along the way.

Come on, Brantley! I know you just got back to military duty with no review whatsoever but you need to get it together! This was especially true now. Earth is the capital planet of the GTU. Now, what exactly does that mean? That means that the only reason anybody would ever come here, or rather could ever be permitted to come here, was either if they were the top 1% of the top 1% returning home, they were some galaxy-changing scientist one day away from making a breakthrough and was about to set up shop on Earth to give it a technological edge, or they were the leader of some alien civilization negotiating their integration into the Union. Why was hte USS Archer here? Brantley thought the best way to get answers was to ask. The bridge was now right in front of him.

The circular door in front of him whirred as the carious mechanisms undid themselves and interlocking metal components slid across the door's surface to reveal a hexagonally-patterned nano-membrane as a final line of defense. This dephased itself as the computer interfaced with his neural implant to confirm my ID. As he stepped through, a guard flanking the left side of the entrance saluted and exclaimed, "Captain on deck!" Upon hearing this, the entire crew stood to form their sseats, saluting, and the Captain was temporarily caught off guard by both this show of respect and the absolutely spectacular view in front of him. "At... at ease, crew," he mumbled as he was still amazed by what lay ahead of him in the bridge's viewscreen. The crew returned to their seats as the Captain approached his seat, his eyes unable to peel themselves away from the scenery.

In front of him was the slightly curved profile of mother Earth, lit by the sun and spotted by high rises that breached the atmosphere and space elevators carrying cargo to and from the hundreds of space station in geostationary orbit of the planet. "Beautiful, ain't it?" he heard Roger from behind me.

"I'd be lying if I said it wasn't. I have only been to earth three times in my life: once for my Bar Mitzvah, once for my promotion to Fleet Admiral, and now." Brant replied.

"Well, it's nice that you're finally up. We are here for a briefing and some new cargo. Some very expensive new cargo." stated Dahlia. That must be why they came to Earth. They had the galaxy's premier science institutes and, considering his sudden recall in addition to the GTU's risky move against the Tyrum, we must be preparing for the repercussions.

Meanwhile, on a small blue planet in a galaxy far, far away...

A blue alicorn awoke in a cold sweat and scrambled to get on her feet as she fell off the side of her bed and collided with the ground. "Princess, are you okay?!" one of her guards asked with concern as he burst through her chamber doors.

"I don't know, Edge. I don't know." Luna replied, still laying in a contorted position on her chamber's marble floors.

Author's Note

I understand that the story-telling and overall flow of the story is a bit clunky right now. But, I aim at improving my writing skills over time. So, please, continue reading and I don't believe you will be disappointed.

Chapter 2: First (Second) Contact

Stars filled Luna's sky. Each of them formed an integral part of a network that spanned light years. Little did the inhabitants on the surface know of the true vastness of their universe. A crisp breeze wafted through the rolling hills of the land just outside Ponyville. Crickets can be heard chirping amongst the rustling leaves of numerous trees. The rushing stream curves its way around the land, accentuating the lush grasslands' figure and color. Of the few creatures who were still up at this hour were a creme-colored earth pony and her marefriend: a mint-colored unicorn.

"Can we go home now, Lyra?" The creme one spoke up.

"But I'm so close! I know it landed somewhere around here!" replied the mint.

"Why do you even care so much, anyway? It's not like you're the only one searching for it. I am sure there is some much more qualified group that has been dispatched by-" Bonbon's attention was directed to the now crouched Lyra who appeared to be sniffing the ground. "What are you doing now?" asked the defeated Bonbon.

"I KNEW it!" exclaimed Lyra, much to Bonbon's chagrin. Several nights ago, a meteor could be seen rocketing through our atmosphere. Officials claimed it was nothing but a freak occurrence; an asteroid that had been knocked off of its course. I personally found it funny how none of the royal astronomers, or even Princess Twilight, had seen it coming. But, of course, outside our planet was a deadly void and if we couldn't traverse it with magic, then I find it rather difficult to believe that anything else could. That was where Lyra came in. She always had a fascination in myths; so much so that she decided to major in mythological studies in college. This, sadly, made me the only money-maker of the household. I mean, seriously. What kind of job did she hope to get with a major in a dead subject in the most literal sense? Even though she pulled in chump change from her street performances, I still love her. This meteor, she said, was her "big break." According to her, millennia ago, humans and ponies coexisted, the humans giving us technology while we provided hard labor that they were incapable of doing. This was a thriving relationship until one day, the humans grew greedy. They began to condone pony slavery as they kept their technological advancements to themselves. Eventually, however, the gods grew dissatisfied with human behavior. They gave us powers beyond our wildest imaginations: magic. They destroyed humanity's library of knowledge in what is now northeast Zebrica. They then separated our worlds by great distances in order to prevent us ever reaching each other. Now, however, Lyra claimed that the meteor was not just a meteor but a sign of the humans. How she arrived at this conclusion? Humans = technological whizzes and tech = the ability to do anything. How do I know all of this? You try spending three years with a mare that begins ranting about mythology when you ask her for a bit of pleasure as opposed to simply stating that she is tired and not become a fellow expert on pointless information. Not that she ever is. Evidently considering that it is 11:34 pm and she is behaving like a diamond dog.

"That is the scent of burnt metal! This was no meteorite!" Lyra exclaimed as she began to giggle with slight hysteria. "To the Night Court!"

"Oh, dear..."

Luna's moon shone light through the regal stained glass depicting the three princesses residing in Canterlot. The Lunar Guard patrolled the halls in front of the throne room. The musty smell of antique carpet was heavily present and the only noise that could be heard was that of the crickets. That is until Lyra landed just in front of the castle entrance with a thump as Bonbon struggles to keep up with panting and sloppily galloping. I guess this is what I get for making pastries for a living. she thought. Together, they began their trek towards the throne room. "Do I really have to embarrass myself with you?" queried Bonbon.

"Of course! That's what relationship is all about. facing the unknown head-on and together!" replied Lyra.

"Not when the unknown is absolutely impossible..." Bonbon cautiously muttered. The guards stepped aside when they recognized who the two approaching mares were and allowed them to make their way into the throne room. There, sat upon her marble throne, was Princess Luna. In front of her, were anywhere between 15-20 ponies all waiting to voice their opinions to the princess. The two ponies waited for their way through the line and bowed before the ruler. "Welcome, my little ponies. We are happy to listen to thy thoughts." regally stated the diarch. "What has you troubled?"

"Hi, Princess Luna- er... I mean, your Highness. I was wondering if you were aware of the meteorite that crashed down outside of Ponyville but, somehow, could not be found." Lyra sheepishly sputtered out.

"Of course, and I assure you that we have taken every measure-"

"It was built by humans." interrupted Lyra.

"I beg your pardon?" Luna star, head tilted.

"I smelled metal near the supposed crash site. Burnt metal. That means that the object is artificial in origin." Lyra stated, adopting a teacher-esque demeanor. "It is rumored that the humans grew too technologically advanced and greedy to coexist with us. And-" Lyra paused as she noticed a smirk grow on Luna's face. "Your Highness? Is there something I am missing?"

"I apologize, my little pony, but you realize that it is entirely possible that meteorites be comprised of materials found on our planet, do you not? I mean not to embarrass you but I believe assuming that a myth is responsible for the construction of an object from space. I am sure you have many concerns regarding this object of technically extraterrestrial origin but I assure you that the likelihood of this object being created by "humans" is remarkably low. If it puts your qualms to rest, then I will make note of this and dispatch a small search party tomorrow who will attempt to try and catch anything the pegasus fly-by did not. I wish I had more time to converse but, if you will take a look behind you, you will see that there are more pressing issues to tend to." Luna started with a bit of a patronizing tone. Lyra knew she cared about her subjects but having the subject of her life's studies be denied in a matter of seconds for its impossibility stung. She was not done.

Huffing, Lyra stomped out of the throne room as the pony behind her stepped up to take her place. Bonbon quickly followed, eager to leave the tense atmosphere of the throne room.

The walk home was quiet. Bonbon was worried that she would agitate the short-fused bomb that Lyra currently was if she attempted to console her regarding the interaction with Princess Luna. Soon, however, it seemed that she would not need to as Lyra, she noticed, had a considerable grin on her face.

"I know what I am going to do, Bonbon." Lyra finally stated. Uh oh, nevermind. thought Bonbon. "I am going to go home and get a good night's sleep and reconsider my options in the morning!" Lyra chirped. Suspicious. But, Bonbon was too tired to do anything about it. With a nod, she made her way to the bedroom and flopped onto the bed. Lyra's grin grew wider. ONly slightly faster than a slug, she worked her way back towards the entrance of the house and creaked open the door, her ears painfully reacting to the obnoxious creaking noise it generated. checking one last time to ensure than Bonbon had not awoken, she glided out and shut the door just as slowly as it had opened.

On her way back to the crash site, Lyra began to question the logic of this whole situation. A potentially dangerous object has crashed outside one of Equestria's main population centers and all she sends is a pegasus fly-by? Something seems a little suspicious here. But that doesn't matter. I am going to get to the bottom of this myself. As the lights of Ponyville become smaller and smaller behind me, the only things around me are swathes of grass, the sounds of the wind rustling the trees, and... beeping? To her left, Lyra heard a very faint electronic noise. The only machines that could produce any noise like this, let alone at this distance considering she could not identify the source, were kept locked up in the science institute in Canterlot. Lyra had a decent relationship with Dr. Cutting Edge who was spearheading all sorts of technological breakthroughs such as the telegraph, which allowed instantaneous communication between two locations as far as 1000 feet away without magic! Even then, the technology was highly experimental and how anything like it could be sitting all the way out here was beyond her. As she approached the source of the noise, she still saw nothing. It was as if there was some sort of cloaking magic in action.

She started swiping her hoof around aimlessly, hoping to hit something. After two minutes, the beeping was becoming rather incessant. Her swings became more aggressive and frequent. "Aw, buck it!" she yelled as she leaped into the air in frustration and flailed, using her magic to sloppily but aggressively toss rocks and twigs everywhere. Much to her surprise, she ended up headbutting a very hard metal pole and fell onto the grass below her. Looking up she could not believe what she saw. The seemingly empty space flickered as it was replaced by what could only be described as alien. A tapering metallic structure with glowing red accents that traveled up the structure vertically and occasionally sloping at a 45-degree angle. Standing at roughly 5 hooves tall, it seemed to be teeming with energy but was not natural. It was rooted into the ground as the soil surrounding it seemed to be dug up. Regardless of all of its splendor, there was a noticeable dent in its side and yellow flints like that of a flame spraying out of it. Its beeping had slowed in frequency until it had stopped and the humming of its mysterious internal components as died down. What was this metallic statue and what had she done?

"Sir, garden world probe A-060 has stopped transmitting."

"What? Pull up its black box."

"Yes, sir." The holoscreen of the command center displayed a mint-colored horse with a glowing horn ravaging her surroundings before she impacted the camera and the screen displayed "Uplink lost."

"Contact high command. Tell them the Alpha Equinus system's species shows signs of precursor activity." the comms officer stared speechless at her superior. "Did you not hear me, officer?"

"R-right away, sir, sorry, sir." the comms operator immediately complied.

"Also, tell them we just won the war." The superior stated as he stared at the looping footage of the unicorn on screen.

Chapter 3: Catching Up

It was yet another quiet night in Canterlot. From her room, Luna could see a few lights which dotted the dark landscape surrounding the capital and those restless enough to remain awake at this hour were all gathered in the pubs that formed Ponyville's southeast district. It was nice to get some fresh air after several hours of work she had done. Luna's room was a nightmare to look at; parchment was strewn across nay horizontal surface that was available. Aboard the marble balcony that provided both of these views stood a blue alicorn. Her coat was splotched with the occasional black ink blot around the mane, which was frizzled almost beyond recognition. What was once an ethereal entity comprised of the very matter of the heavens had become nothing more than navy-blue cotton candy. Her eyes, bearing the weight of the brown bags directly beneath them, began to close shut as the princess started her descent into a deep sleep. But, she couldn't go to sleep just yet. She had closed Night Court after waiting three hours and receiving no complaints from any of her subjects. But that wasn't the only reason.

As she re-entered her drawing board of a room, she meandered her way to the other side of it and sat down at her desk. As she did so, she had brushed up against several of the protruding pieces of parchment, creating a quiet crinkling sound. With a soft sigh, she levitated her quill, scraped the bottom of her ink pot, and resumed writing the 57th page of her report. Surrounded by the warm light of her oil lamp, the scratching of her quill against the parchment had resumed while all other slept.

The next morning, the sun shone through the stained glass windows adjacent to the ceiling as the courtyard, green and lush with almost every plant species in a 100-mile radius, was easily visible through the windows on ground-level. Within the beams of light, there could be seen dust particles dancing their way through the air. An alabaster alicorn sat at the end of a long, white-silk-covered table. Upon it was a feast of what could only be described as royal; at the center was a large pile of fresh fruit, flanked on either side by stacks of pancakes, bottles of syrup, eggs, and hay-con. Despite all of this, something was missing. Celestia sighed as the chef came to personally deliver the omelet that she had ordered. The chef took note and spoke up. "Your Highness, I hope I'm not intruding but, is something on your mind?"

Celestia snapped out of her daze and turned to head to the chef. Smiling calmly, she replied, "Oh! I apologize, chef Gourmane. Yes, something has been bothering me lately."

"Would you mind me talking about it with you?" the chef cautiously inquired.

"You know what? That would be rather nice. Guards! Inform the royal staff that day-court is canceled." Celestia responded with previously unknown excitement. This made Gourmane a bit nervous as to what he had just gotten himself into. After all, with how prim and proper princess Celestia acted all the time, there were times when she just had to let off a little steam.

Three hours later, the princess and the head chef found themselves in their 124th lap around the palace garden in the courtyard. Celestia, he believed, had relayed almost her entire history of family troubles to him at this point.

"... and yet she feels that she has the authority- Nay, the audacity to stay in her room and ignore me. Does she have any idea the amount of sacrifice that has been required to keep her- no, our reputation afloat?! I mean, lately, she has just seemed so distant and sometimes I wonder if I- Chef? Are you still there?" Celestia asked as her 3 word-per-second rant came to a halt.

Form behind her, she heard heavy hoof-steps approaching and as she turned around, she saw a very sweaty colt in a chef's hat attempting to catch up to her. "Hah, hah... Just... let... me.. catch my.... breath... your Highness...." Gourmane wheezed out in between pants.

"Oh! Of course, Mr. Gourmane. I apologize if I am rushing. As I said, there is a lot on my mind, heh heh..." Celestia embarrassingly stated.

"It... is no problem... Princess. I am here to serve, after all. I would like you to know, however, I have arrived at a consensus as to how to deal with your situation." the chef responded, regaining control of his breath.

"Oh goody! Please, do tell." The princess excitedly exclaimed.

"Talk to her." the chef bluntly stated.

"Wha..?" The princess, expecting a much more complex response, dumbly responded, still holding her wide-eyed expecting smile.

"If you really feel that your relationship with your sister is in jeopardy, then go talk to her. It is a personal problem and doing anything other than directly confronting her will create a basis of mending your relationship based on indirect interaction and separation. If I am being perfectly honest, your Highness, this really does not seem like that big of a deal. It is a normal problem for friendships to encounter." Gourmane continued, hitting the princess with a wave of philosophy she did not know resided in her head culinary expert.

"Wow, Gourmane. I-I mean, thank you. I appreciate your input and apologize for wasting your time with my problems." Celestia regretting said.

"Nonsense, your Highness. I am, again, her to serve. If you don't mind, however, I really should be returning to my work. My employees are not the most competent ponies in the kitchen." the chef stated, finally relaying his true feelings.

"Hehe. Of course, my little pony. Thanks again for your time." Celestia returned.

Through the marble corridor perpendicular to the hallway outside throne room, muffled footsteps could be heard, gradually becoming louder. Celestia rounded the corner that connected the two corridors and made her way over to Luna's bedroom. The lunar guards, seeing the diarch approach, ceased their chatting and stood at full attention while stepping aside to make way.

"Good day, your Highness." one of the guards sternly greeted.

"Hello, Strongheart. Swiftwing." she nodded her head to each of the guards. With that, she opened the door to Luna's room and entered. From just inside the doorway, she heard the guards resume their chatting.

"S-she knew my name!" one guard exclaimed in a whisper.

"Mine, t-too!" the other returned.

Celestia leto ut a warm giggle as she continued into her sister's room. However, upon entering, her warm smile that accompanied her giggle turned into a look of confusion. With a raised eyebrow, she tiptoed around the bedroom, narrowly avoiding the scattered parchment sheets on the marble floor. She noticed her ink-covered sister was sleeping at her desk, quill leaning against her head. She was going to wake her sister considering it was noon but she decided to wait until the afternoon. In the meantime, it may be a good idea to see what had drained all of her energy. Levitating the piece of parchment that she was standing on, she took a moment to try and figure out what exactly was on the paper.

On it was what seemed to be a flag or emblem of some sort. it was a rectangular symbol with two horizontal stripes, red on top and black on bottom, with an upside-down triangle in the center with several sections missing from its inner area. Celestia knew not what this was but, judging from the hundreds of different attempts or renditions cluttering the room, she knew it was something important.

The cobalt mining colony-turned-city of Nova was a sight to see. It was located directly under the surface of the Atlantic ocean, roughly 250 miles off the east coast of the North American Commissariat. The city had two main industries: tourism and alcohol. I mean, seriously. Aside from the hotels, the only other official establishment nets were bars and pharmacies to ensure you did not die from your bar tour around the city. However, there was one group of people that seemed rather out-of-place here considering that they were not tourists with beer bellies and camera contacts glued to their eyeballs. It was the crew of one of the most advanced starships in the entire Union, who else would it be?

The crew had taken a dropship to the entrance to one of the underwater low-drops (like high-rises but, like... totally not) and watched as the robotic arms carried and stowed the ship in the underwater parking garage that descended 50 feet below the surface. Upon paying their toll for the parking, they made their way through the white arches that formed the entrance gate on the surface platform. They found themselves in a long and wide lobby. On the left, there were elevators labeled "Descent" and, on the right were ones labeled "Ascent."

"Guys, do we really have to do this?" inquired the now nervous Brantley. He had never liked any of the underwater cities. He had always been claustrophobic and, even though there were millions of people who inhabited them without any health risk, he hated the idea of being protected from a completely unsurvivable environment by only a few meters of graphene-enforced polycarb.

"I'm afraid so, Captain. High Command told us that our briefing was to be conducted in secret and that meant in the back alleys of the deepest floors of the deepest structure in an unsuspicious city, such as this one." Consoled Dahlia as she led the group over to join a group of tourists into an elevator.

"So, where exactly are we headed?" asked Usher, showing no signs of emotion, let alone nervousness, at all.

"Probably some VIP room in a strip club." chimed in Roger.

"Roger, I swear to God, if you show any of that behavior in front of the High Admiral, I will make sure you regret it." replied Dahlia

"If yOu sHoW anY Of thAt bEhaViOr iN frOnt oF thE HiGh AdMirAl, I WilL mAke SUre yoU regrEt It." mocked Roger

"Why, you little..." Dahlia attempted to finish but was overcome with annoyance and tackled Roger.

"Guys! Guys! Come on, break it up! If this meeting truly is as important as it is then we had better not go into it looking like we just got out of a fight." reasoned Brantley, attempting to diffuse the situation.

The fighting ceased and the two soldiers scrambled to regain composure, standing at attention. "Yes, sir! Sorry, sir! It's just that sometimes physical violence is the only way to get anything through Roger's thick skull, sir!" Dahlia stated as Roger merely grumbled. Brantley was surprised at the quick change of mood and tone. He sure had missed these guys. He had forgotten how much of a role model Dahlia could be, even if her methods were, at times, unorthodox.

Brant's thoughts were interrupted as he noticed the stares of the dozens of tourists in the elevator that had given them a 15-foot-diameter circular space and all had one eyebrow raised.

"Relax, folks. My name is Captain Brantley Johnson of the USS Archer. My crew here just has a few quirks. Nothing to worry about. They only want to harm each other, not you. Have a nice one!" Brantley quickly saved. With that, the tourists closed the gap and began waiting for the rest of the elevator load to fill in before they began their descent.

It was at this moment that Brantley began to feel his nervousness set in again. Chase, realizing the forehead of his superior getting shinier and shinier, rushed in to comfort him the best he could. "You know, sir, there really is nothing to worry about. I understand you realize the mass amounts of people that move in and out of the city each day are still alive but even this elevator is nothing to worry about."

This set the captain at ease and he began to hunker down from the descent into the civilized abyss. This was until the comms expert continued. "I mean, sure that doesn't mean that there couldn't be an accident that was previously unheard of. There is a first time for everything, after all. This elevator could even fail. As a matter of fact, that is rather likely. This elevator accelerates to 5 meters a second in, like, 2 or 3 seconds. Even with the self-repairing alloys, there could be an error in their programming or somebody may have sabotaged this whole complex. There, actually, has been a bit of a resurgence to the Resistance terrorism activity so-" Chase's rant was cut off as the captain put his sweaty finger over Chase's lips.

"Chase, please. I mean this in the n-nicest way possible but, for a comms officer, you suck at picking up social cues." squeezed out Brantley as he came to terms with the torrent of information Chase had just released.

Just as soon as Brant finish that sentence, the ambient lights inside turned from white to blue as holographic text started wrapping around the perimeter of the elevator and an automated monotone voice rang throughout the elevator's intercom.

"Please stand clear of the closing doors. Brace for downward acceleration.
Por favor, manténgase alejado de las puertas que se cierran. Apoyo para la aceleración hacia abajo.
Qǐng yuǎnlí guānmén. Zhīchēng xiàng xià jiāsù.
Pozhaluysta, derzhites' podal'she ot zakryvayushchikhsya dverey. Gotovnost' k uskoreniyu vniz"

Not long thereafter, the pneumatically powered doors of the elevator slammed shut with a hiss and doors along the perimeter of the elevator cabin and harnesses protruded. Brant made his way into the u-shaped apparatus and the semi-circle swung around to complete itself, locking the captain in place. Once everybody else in the elevator had done so, Brantley felt his insides lurch upward as his surroundings rushed upward.

After a few seconds of speeding through a vertical corridor in the elevator and watching iridescent rings fly upward indicating service floors, the artificial structure gave way to a most spectacular view of the Atlantic ocean. Mining drones were propelling themselves through the blue abyss, providing small blips of light among the darkening gradient of the water. At the endpoint of the drones' network were gargantuan metallic structures of both residence and service. They stood like pillars of light, one after the other for miles upon miles.

Brantley knew he was here for possibly the most important mission briefing of his convoluted career. But, he couldn't help but be captivated by the spectacular sight before him. Maybe this whole shindig wouldn't be so bad after all.

Chapter 4: The Journey Begins Pt. 1

Equestria was a land of many wonders. There were sprawling fertile plains that made even the most pessimistic of ponies glean a sliver of hope from the endless expanses. In the northeast, there are the frozen snowlands that border the Griffon Kingdom, which provide year-round winter fun for any family willing to travel the minimum of 100 miles from any population center. In the south are the arid deserts that from the border between Equestria and the United Tribes of Zebrica. However, the main focus of the most powerful nation on Equus was the central, landlocked region which contained the capital, a moderately-sized city beside it, and one of the largest monthly population booms on the planet. On the first Friday of every month, POnyville was home to what could have been the most sumptuous thing on the planet: Bonbon's world-famous vanilla and cardamom cupcakes.

Ponies and griffins alike would rush in from all walks of life to enjoy even a nibble of these cupcakes and, for the past seven years, would leave satisfied beyond belief. This monthly occurrence has actually become quite the normal occurrence for Ponyville, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. With the massive influx of tourists, local businesses have become dependent on the increase of product demand, to the extent that their inventories have to be moved otherwise they lose a rather considerable amount of money. This can mean one of two things: people get to make more money off of naive customers or "uh oh." This also means that, once a month, a certain creme-colored earth pony has a considerable amount of stress on her shoulders.

Today is the first Monday of the last week of April. Ponies filled the bustling dirt streets of Ponyville, followed by the occasional wooden cart hauling various produce items to be sold during today's farmers market. In front of the town hall, dozens of crudely assembled wooden stalls lined either side of the streets. They flanked various groups of ponies hopping from stall to stall, searching for cheap prices for fresh produce and the entire area was polluted with their professional conversations regarding various purchases. However, there was one voice that could be heard above the rest.

"What the hay do you mean you are out of vanilla beans?!" one creme-colored earth pony practically screamed.

"W-we apologize, Ms. Bonbon, but we our s-supply from the Zebrican j-jungles has d-decreased by 30% from last y-year." one of the merchants working an exotic goods stand sheepishly replied to the now fuming earth pony.

"This is utterly ridiculous! How can you simple traveling merchants not do your one job?! You absolute imbeciles! I can not-" Bonbon paused her outrage to take a deep breath and to allow the shopkeeper to regain their composure. "I apologize for my tantrum. I will be returning home. Thank you for your help." Bonbon solemnly droned as she sulked and backed away from the stand.

"Good day," she concluded as she turned and began walking through the stunned crowd. A simple glare from Bonbon at one passerby was enough to tell the shoppers to resume their previous activities lest they incite another episode form the unusually grumpy earth pony.

Bonbon rounds the corner leading to the road that her and Lyra's house is on. Being that most everypony was at the farmers market, the walk home was rather quiet. As the crunch of the dry soil beneath her hoofsteps approached the front door of her house, the turquoise door was pushed open with a loud "whack!" Bonbon's sadness had turned to anger as she began to feel her blood boil.

"Why those..... little.... slimy..... Celestia-darned... GAAAHH!!!" She accentuated the second tantrum of the day with the flipping of a chair sitting at the dining table. The chair accelerated into the air, chipped the ceiling, and returned to the ground with an initial "bonk" followed by rattling as the various components of it were snapped from the force of the impact. Finally regaining control of herself again, Bonbon collapsed onto the floor as she grabbed her recipe for her world-famous cupcakes and slid it onto the floor in front of her. A turquoise head popped out of a doorway at the end of a corridor in the house in response to the unsettling barrage of noises coming from the living area. This head was slowly, but surely, followed by a turquoise body creeping towards the living room. Her hoofsteps were muffled by the gray rug covering the hardwood floor. As she entered the living room and passed the coffee table, the kitchen entrance came into view and Lyra was able to lay her unexpecting eyes on her marefirend in a state that she had not seen her in for a long time.

"Bonbon?" Lyra cautiously asked, attmepting to gently alert Bonbon of her presence.

*sniffle* "Oh! Lyra! *sniffle* I-I was just l-looking at my re-recipe. You know, tryin' to review f-for the big b-batch this Friday! Hehe..." Bonbon acted as she tried to convince Lyra that she was not just sitting on the kitchen floor sobbing.

"Bonbon..." Lyra attempted to console, not knowing exactly what to do. Lyra made her way over to Bonbon and sat down beside her, taking a look at her recipe. "What happened?"

"I can't make the cupcakes this month, Lyra." Bonbon flatly stated.

"What? Why not? Come on, you can tell me." Lyra replied, beginning to get a sense of how to talk to her marefirend.

"There is no vanilla-ha-haaaaaaaa!!!" Bonbon finally broke out crying into Lyra's chest. After the initial shock subsided, Lyra's initially widened eyes returned to their normal size and she wrapped her forelegs around Bonbon.

"Well then... I am going to assume that you searched at the farmers market for vanilla." Bonbon slowly nodded. "And I am going to assume that there are other places we can find vanilla. Hey! How about we ask Applejack for some! She grows eeeverryything." Lyra reasoned.

Bonbon looked up at her marefriend with an "are you serious?" look in her eyes, all signs of the previously distressed and broken Bonbon nowhere to be found. "Lyra. Please stick to mythology because you appear to be utterly clueless as to the growing conditions of vanilla." Bonbon finally stated.

"Well, I'm sooorrryy, princess. I was just trying to comfort you." Lyra quipped.

"Okay, well, first of all, vanilla only grows in very humid and tropical climates. Second of all, that means that Applejack isn't going to have access to aNY VANILLA IN EQUESTRIA!" Bonbon explained, raising her voice at the ned fo accentuate her point.

"Well then, where can you get some vanilla?" Lyra asked, a little bit curious. This was a question that Lyra may come to regret asking.

"Zebrica." Bonbon stated blatantly as a look of realization came across her face.

"Wha-w-w-whoa. Hold on there. You can't just go to some Zebrican jungle for some vanilla, Bonbon." Lyra began to confront her marefriend with genuine concern.

Bonbon's eyes began to grow wide again, this time upon completion of her plan and the subsequent increase in insanity it required. "Yes! I've got it! Actually, why not go to the jungles?! It's only a 10-day trip there and back and, if I leave now, I can make it back in time for the cupcake festival! It's not like I am going to find any vanilla here if it isn't at the farmers market!" Bonbon ranted as she maniacally schemed while pacing back and forth across her kitchen floor.

Lyra was about to interject but then she thought about it. How could she forget about that thing she had encountered last Friday? It was unlike anything she had ever seen before. Regardless, there was something about it that screamed "human." This probably had something to do with her preconceived notion of the technological capabilities of humans but there was no way to be sure. This whole endeavor seemed extremely farfetched but is it any coincidence that this thing comes from outer space and the only thing that she ever thought could launch something from all the way out there was an extremely technologically advanced race. Plus, why did it come to her planet of all the others in the galaxy? This trip to Zebrica may yield another one of these devices. In working condition, too! It is likely considering there is no way the Zebras could detect that beeping noise Lyra could since they don't have horns. The reason Lyra was annoyed by the noise was that it began to resonate and consequentially hurt her horn, after all.

"Wait! I-I'm coming with you!" Lyra interrupted as Bonbon began to pack.

"What? Are you sure? I mean, this is a totally last minute gig and borderline dangerous. I mean-" Bonbon was interrupted by Lyra waving her right forehoof around frantically.

"I know! I know! This whole thing is really risky. Actually, I don't even know why I was considering letting you go all alone. I'm supposed to be your marefriend, aren't I?" Lyra shot out her quickly formulated lie as to why she needed to go with Bonbon. It was best to keep this whole alien business on a need-to-know basis. Actually, now that she thought about it, even more, this whole trip was going to be expensive, wasn't it?

"Hey, Bonbon?" asked Lyra.

"Yeah, sweetheart?" replied Bonbon

"You seem to be rather calm about this whole last minute trip. How are you going to handle any of the expenses?"

Bonbon scoffed as if Lyra was a five-year-old. "If these businesses know anything about supply and demand, then they need me to go just I much as I need myself to go." Bonbon nonchalantly stated. Lyra wasn't going to question any of this since she was becoming more eager by the second to see if another one of those machines had landed on her planet. She absolutely needed a functioning component. Within half an hour, they had packed two satchels with enough food, water, and camping supplies to sustain a small village for a month. "Let's get a move on!" exclaimed Bonbon as she exited the house, lugging her 30-pound satchel behind her. Lyra followed doing the same.

The couple made their way into Ponyville. However, not without attracting more than one odd stare at their oversized travel bags. Then again, it wasn't very hard to miss them considering all of the dust the bags kicked up as they were dragged along the dirt streets of the city. It was a bit of a trot to the train station and after 10 minutes of lugging the baggage around,

"*pant* Bonbon... *pant* when are we going to... *pant* get there?" Lyra was able to struggle out in between fatigued panting.

"Just.. *pant* a couple... *pant* more minutes, Lyra." Bonbon struggled to reply, as well.

Just as expected, after a few minutes of walking towards the south of Ponyville, a large wooden structure came into view with a sign on the front reading, in large, bold letters, "EQUESTRIA EXPRESS". In the front, facing the slowly incoming couple, was a window and behind the window was a brown earth pony colt dressed in a traditional conductor's uniform. As the couple approached, his usual calm demeanor flees out the window and he recalls how there was rumor spreading around town that the cupcake festival next week was in jeopardy. This must have something to do with it.

"*pant* Good day, operator. My name is-" Bonbon was cut off.

"I know who yew are, miss. Ah am gunna take a wild guess here n' assume that yew wanna take a train outta here fer some missing supplies. Am ah wrong?" the operator stated, catching both ponies by surprise.

"Well, actually, yes. When is-"

"Next one to the international airport leaves in 15 minutes. Have a seat. All these gift shop items need some customers so yer tickets are on me." the operator nonchalantly replied.

"Oh! Well, thank you, sir." Lyra concluded as the completely depleted Bonbon dragged her way over to the wooden waiting bench. They were going to an airport! There were only a couple in Equestria so, usually, it was pretty tough to get to one without running into immense amounts of traffic. However, at this time of the month, people everywhere were settling in their tents in Ponyville for the cupcake festival so the airways were open. The blimps they made nowadays are way more comfortable and efficient than the first ones about 5 decades ago. Their interiors were decked out with lush velvet and other rare fabrics while their new and improved magic-compressor-powered engines could get them up to speeds as fast as 45 whole miles in a single hour! The advancements of modern technology were astounding to Lyra. All the more reason to find out what these strange contraptions form another world held.

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The Southeast Equestrian Airport provided service from anywhere in Equestria the train ran to various airports located in Northern Zebrica, Southern Griffonia, and the recently diplomatically established Changeling Republic. During the train ride, there were periods where the excitement of possibly finding functioning human technology dissipated for Lyra. It was at these times that the true absurdity of this entire trip came out. Here she was, hundreds of miles from home, having left on a moment's notice with nothing but the rather slim chance of finding alien technology in addition to a blatant lie to her lover. Regardless of all of this, there was no turning back now, careening down the Equestrian rail lines at 60 miles an hour. It had been around 4 hours at this point as all Bonbon had done was pay a game of poker with her nad take a 3-hour nap. Both ponies were pulled from their thoughts as the droning of an airship filled the atmosphere. Bonbon awoke from her nap and Lyra's blank expression changed to that of surprise as they looked out the window and upward in unison.

Travelling Southbound at an altitude of about 500 feet was one of the largest models of commercial blimps on the market: the Stratus S-14 by Glimmer Industries. It truly was a behemoth of a machine; 8 separate engines provided a whopping 1000 pounds of thrust which could barely propel the 600-kilogram vessel at acceptable speeds. Its grand fins swept through the air as the draft it left in its trail could blow any stack of paper off of any desk. The couple turned their attention form the aircraft itself to its destination. Following the line of travel the vessel was taking, the airport itself came into view. Various wooden platforms painted with targets marked landing sites for various blimps while their respective terminals housed hundreds of staff members and the occasional traveler who inhabited the airport. These all came together to produce a three-story wooden fortress that was easily the most advanced piece of architecture this side of Canterlot. Why wouldn't it be? After all, it dealt with some of the most advanced machinery available to ponykind on a daily basis.

Pretty soon, the train began to decelerate as screeching from its metal wheels could be heard from inside the car cabins. The train conductor who was last seen at the beginning of the trip when they departed from Ponyville appeared from the front of the train as he made his way through each car, repeating the phrase, "Next stop: Southern Equestria Airport. Next stop: Southern Equestria AIrport." Bonbon and Lyra took this as their cue to rise from their sweats and began gathering their belongings which were strewn throughout their sitting area in various attempts to amuse themselves during the 4-hour trip. As they made their way down the steps of the train car, their first breath of fresh air in a few hours hits them and they both, on reflex, take a moment to appreciate the pristine atmosphere. Opening their eyes, they resume their adventure.

"Well, honey, there is no time to waste!" Lyra exclaimed as her excitement from the beginning of the trip began to return.

"Right!" returned Bonbon.

The two walked under an arch which signified the entrance to the airport. Inside the massive structure, there were rows of counters which seemed to be ticketing stands. Their entire work area was completely illuminated by the natural sunlight shining intensely through the walls and ceilings which were, collectively, approximately 80% glass. Walking up to one of the ponies sitting at their customer service desk, Bonbon spoke up to the formally dressed mare.

"Excuse me, miss. We would like two tickets for your next flight to Zebrica."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Here, just sign here." the "formal" mare reeled in an obviously annoyed tone as she shuffled around in her chair, unveiling a cacophony of dings and dongs as the various bottles under her desk were shoved around, to retrieve a slightly crumpled up piece of paper with a bunch of signatures on it. Bonbon forced a weak smile towards the mare's rather gross demeanor and picked up a pen sitting on the desk, signed the paper, and set the pen back down where it was.

"Alright, cool. How would you like to pay for your ticket?" the mare asked dryly.

"Oh, well, you see, my name is Bonbon and I, along with my marefriend here, are attempting to retrieve supplies necessary to put on the cupcake festival of Ponyville. So, I was thinking that since, you know, it is really important for a lot of local economies and tourists and so-"

"Okay! Please, just shut up already and I'll let you get your ticket for free. Quite frankly, I don't give two flanks about any of your pastry affairs but they don't pay me enough to deal with things like this so... have fun!" With that, the rude mare spun around in her circular wooden stool and simply walked away, leaving two confused mares to stand and stare. Eventually, they both came to terms with what just happened and decided to wait for their flight which looked like it was departing in.... 2 minutes?! The couple exchanged quick and frantic glances as they began a quick gallop towards their terminal. The two, without speaking a single word to each other, ran their way up the several flights of stairs to reach their terminal's floor. There, they saw a blimp sitting on a wooden platform with its ropes that kept it fastened to the airport being untied. "Hold the blimp!!!" yelled Bonbon. The young colt outside untying the blimp ceased the untying as the two frantically ran aboard.

In the blimp, there seemed to be 30 rows and 15 columns of red velvet seats adorning the red and gold interior, The maroon curtains adorning the windows which lined either side of the cabin we accented by the golden furnished nailed to the floor. The couple's rush did not stop, however. They rushed to make their way to their seats and buckle their belts, just in time to feel the legends of the blimp to whirr to life with a few initial pops and a final buzz. "Mares and gentlecolts, welcome aboard Equestrian Air flight 465 en route to the Central Zebrican Airport. Estimated flight time is 3 days and 14 hours so I would suggest you sit back, grab a snack, and allow one of our flight attendants to tend to your every need. Have a pleasant flight, everypony." The captain's voice rang through the intercom's loudspeakers. This blimp had microphone technology? Lyra thought that was just implemented last month into high-class government research institutions. Regardless, the message from the captain prompted the couple to look around the cabin only to realize that they were the only ones abroad.

"I think our journey is only just about to begin, Bonbon." Lyra excitedly stated.

"Relax, Lyra. We're getting vanilla." Bonbon replied. It was obvious that they had rather different outlooks as to their coming trip. Despite this, Lyra knew that the next few days would be a life-changing experience.

Chapter 5: The Journey Begins Pt. 2

"*cough, cough* Log date: Wednesday, April 21st. I'm surrounded by the insurgents. It doesn't look like I'm going to make it out alive; they have all exits from the temple barricaded and crossbows aimed at their exteriors. I... I think this is going to be goodbye. I-if anybody finds this message *cough*, tell Bonbon... I love herrrrrrrrrrrr." Lyra rasped into a phonograph sitting on the red carpet floor of the blimp's passenger cabin.

Suddenly, Bonbon crashed through the bathroom door, swinging it open with a loud crash as it impacted the wall adjacent to it. She slammed her hoof down in front of the door to prevent it from rebounding and damaging the extravagant, but delicate, the makeshift costume she had put together. Completely masking her creme-colored fur was a suit of intricately folded pieces of parchment made to resemble sheet metal armor. Her helmet only showed her eyes, glimmering with determination. Her overlapped parchment sheets forming the torso seciton of the armor were secured to the most glamorous piece of her suit using folded lips of parchment: the chest plate. On it sat an emblem of Bonbon's cutie mark, drawn upon it in black ink. She acquired a wide stance and puffed out her chest as she swung her head upward, effectively raising her helmet's visor with its momentum.

"Not to worry, m'lady! Your knight in wooden armor is here!" Bonbon shouted. She accented the last word with a stomp of her right forehoof. At this point, Lyra had transitioned from her initial fetal position whispering into the phonograph to gazing up at the towering figure of her marefirend who was intent on saving her.

"Bucking finally!" exclaimed Lyra, completely obliterating whatever epic mood was present n the cabin moments before.

"Welp, there goes that..." mumbled Bonbon as she began to strip her "armor" in defeat. For the past several hours, the couple had been playing pretend to satiate their boredom from the flight that had now gone on for over three days. Being the only passengers in the entire cabin, they were free to act out such scenarios as medieval damsel in distress, escaping from the ancient temple with the tribal deity, and a combination of the two... somehow. They both broke out into a bit of a giggle fit as they comprehended the situation they had just created. They had managed to convert a commercial airliner into a children's improv theatre for the past three hours. As the two recovered from their laughter, Bonbon was the first to speak up.

"Oh, Lyra. I haven't laughed like that in a while."

"Haha, neither have I. It felt great!" Lyra replied, wiping the tears from her eyes.

They made their way back to their seats which were now littered with various empty flasks and paper nags which had contained fried hay chips. This entire trip had already proved to be more than what either of them thought it could be in the time allotted. The soft hum of the blimp's engines could still be heard through the thin wood-insulated iron walls of the cabin. The couple, upon plopping back down into their seats, took a deep breath as they relaxed again.

"Whoo! That was fun and all but I think I need to touch down on earth." Lyra complained as she used her hoof to paw at the red carpet.

"I agree. As fun as it's been to be up here with you all alone, honey, three days of sitting in the same room can drive a mare insane." Bonbon replied with reason.

"I'll tell you what, though. I am super psyched to get down there." Lyra stated as she levitated a map of the region in front of her and scooched over next to Bonbon so that they could both see it. "So, we are going to be landing here," Lyra pointed at a red X on the parchment, "and it should be about a 45-minute carriage ride from the airport into the nearest jungle village. I think it's called something like Zebwono... Zebrononk?" As Lyra searched for the name of the village she had found in her memory, she attempted to spell what she could recall in the air with her right forehoof. "Anyway, my point is: it won't be long until we can fix this whole vanilla problem of yours and it seems like the only planning you have done it pack your bags. Are you sure there won't be any more... complications?" Lyra finally asked with a bit of concern. During the flight, what time wasn't spent with Bonbon was spent looking and planning with maps as to their entire trip both to and from the closest vanilla source.

Bonbon had spent the previous 45 seconds staring off into space, pretending to listen to her marefrend's longwinded recap of their itinerary. "Sheesh, relax, honey. There are two things that Zebrica is comprised of: desert and jungle. I don't think it will be too hard to find a plant in a place completely filled with them."

Lyra was going to retort but, as she began to open her mouth, a voice rang throughout the cabin, "Mares and gentlecolts, we will be beginning our initial descent into the National Zebrican Airport. Please return-" The captain of the blimp was interrupted by who one could only assume to be his co-"pilot", "-to partyin' yer flanks off! That's right, I saw yew two totally wrecked! Ha! Whooohooooo-"

"Gimme that, Swisher!" the captain swiftly stated. He could be heard clearing his throat and the microphone could be heard being wrestled from the copilot's magic. Adopting a central-Equestrian accent once again, he continued, "I apologize for the interruption. As I was saying, please return to your seats and buckle your seatbelts. Thanks for your time."

As Lyra and Bonbon stared and blinked blankly at each other and recovered from the audio whiplash they had just experienced, the creaking of the blimp's hull resisting the downward acceleration echoed. The two snapped out of their trance and looked down through the window at the quickly-approaching ground beneath them. Figures like trails and bodies of trees and water that had been the size of Lyra's hoof for the past three days were now returning to their actual size and a few other objects came into view with them. The various trails leading through the forests all led to a desert expanse in the center of Lyra's vision. Contrasting with the light-yellow sand was a large cluster of red and white ringed targets. As the ground became even closer, this structure began to define itself as a wooden structure not too different from the one this blimp had departed from. The only difference between this one and the couple's initial airport was that this one had a bit more traffic. Scratch that; this one had a lot more traffic. Dust could be seen drifting through the air along the margins of the airport's paths as the dozens of wagons and carriages bustling into the airport's vicinity formed networks of traffic lines that seemed to span miles. Fittingly, at the center of each fo the targets sat a blimp. Tiny blimps, but blimps nonetheless. Now, Lyra and Bonbon's blimp approached one of the few empty terminals and the faces of the zebra technicians hard at work to make sure that each of the smaller blimps was ready for flight could be seen displaying expressions to relief.

"That... is a lot of zebras..." muttered Bonbon.

"Yeah..." Lyra barely replied.

They both stared out the window, completely hypnotized by what was happening before them. With wide eyes, they peered into the airport's third floor which supported the terminal platform they had just landed on. On the other side of the building's glass, there stood upwards of 100 zebras clad in what seemed to be rather high-class clothing. Many were wearing capes of gold and royal blue while others were adorned with jewels from their ears to their flank. Bonbon shivered at the sight of the buttocks piercings. "W-well, this is quite the sight, eh?" consoled Lyra. Bonbon simply stood still, her left eye twitching.

"Why are all of these ponies so eager to leave?" finally asked Bonbon. Lyra had assumed a calm expression once again, perhaps delusional form the 3-day trip.

"Whatever... we're here for some vanilla and maybe a bit of-" Lyra caught herself in the middle of slipping word of her ulterior motives for coming on this trip. "-bit of nothing else, I mean! Hehe..." Wow, nice save, Lyra.she scolded. Bonbon still stood wide-eyed.

"What do you mean "whatever?!" Never have I ever seen this many ponies trying to leave all at once. Aren't you the least bit curious as to why?" Bonbon retorted, evidently having overcome her shock.

"It's none of our business, Bonny. Come on, l-let's just get in a carriage so we can finally get to the jungle." Lyra reasoned, an urgency easily detectable in her voice.

"Lyra! What has gotten into you? There is a huge mob of ponies eager to leave because of something and it is our responsibility as morally conscious mares to do something about it." Bonbon always seemed to be the authoritative, motherly type. Regardless, Lyra needed to get her act together. If she let anything about her technological motives skip out, not only would her relationship with Bonbon be slightly compromised but this whole shindig with a spacefaring civilization would get exposed to the masses, taking away her chances at being a pioneer.

All of a sudden, several metallic clanks could be heard from the front of the cabin. The wheel that adorned the arch-shaped entrance to said cabin began to spin, creating several "ker-chunk" sounds which echoed throughout the room. After a few seconds, the door swung open to allow light to pierce the dark interior of the blimp and force Lyra and Bonbon to squint and use their forehooves as visors. Through the doorway came a suited zebra. The couple, however, could only make out that some pony had just boarded the vessel. "Hillo ind wailcoom to de Zebrica National Airport! My name is-" it was at this point that the zebra took the time to look around the cabin and see that there were but two passengers aboard. "... my name is Abra ind, on de behalf of de Oonited Tribes of Zebrica, hope yoo enjoy yoor stay in our coontry." the zebra managed to finish, focusing on Lyra and Bonbon whose eyes had now adjusted to the influx of light. The zebra now stood motionless at the cabin entrance with a large grin plastered on his face, apparently waiting for the two passengers to disembark.

The pony travelers began to gather their belongings. They walked throughout the cabin, using their forehooves and magic to gather items strewn across the floor. Lyra came across a parchment mask made to resemble a dragon's face. She levitated it to her face using her magic and turned towards Bonbon. "Raawwwwr! I'm gonna get- ow!" Lyra's playful display was cut short by Bonbon chucking a book at her marefriend's head. Bonbon merely pointed towards the crowd of still-cheering zebras inhabiting the entire third floor of the airport. "Yeah yeah..." was all Lyra could respond with. After re-packing their bags and thanking the pilot on their way out, they walked along the wooden bridge to the entrance to the airport's third floor.

The glass doors were swung open by the doorponies inside. As soon as the couple entered, a cacophony of voices filled their ears. In front of them, there was a yellow carpet that covered the entire floor. Or, at least, it used to cover the entire floor. Now, among the patches of carpet that were stomped up and ripped by the hooves of the 100 zebras shuffling and romping around in excitement. This airport, outside of the said crowd, was just like the Equestrian airport, allowing the couple to maneuver their way around with certainty even though they could not see through the countless zebras in front of them. "It seems a little loud in here, eh?" Bonbon mentioned.

"WHAT?!" Lyra practically shrieked.

"Nevermind, let's get out of here." With that, Bonbon led the way, squeezing along the perimeter of the terminal and down the stairs. What they saw when they got to the bottom was almost impossible to put into words. "Oh, dear Celestia..." they said practically in unison. Just 20 feet in front of them was another crowd of zebras only this one was at least three times as large. Separating this crowd from the smaller one on the floor above it was a line of armed Zebrican guards, using the blunt ends of their spear sticks to push back the crowd. Several statements could be heard from the stairwell as the crowd protested the obstruction. While the crowd on the floor above was loud with cheer, this one was loud with the opposition.

"You most allow us onto one of de blimps up dere! De curse is spreading!"

"Please, sir, the building is simply too unstable to support that many ponies. More blimps will come and once all up there have boarded, you may, too."

Lyra and Bonbon turned to look at each other with faces of concern. They knew that there were no more blimps coming considering how the busiest airport in Equestria was almost completely empty. "We.... we should go. Don't want to disturb the locals any more than they already are..." Bonbon whispered to Lyra.

"Y-yeah, right." she solemnly agreed.

The two faced the yellow carpet beneath them as they followed the perimeter of the crowd to the stairs which led down to an empty first floor.

"Well, this is certainly a relief." Lyra joked -- not to much avail. Bonbon looked as stoic as she did a few seconds ago.

"Please, Lyra. I think the trip schedule has another goal added to it." Bonbon replied. Lyra knew her marefriend was right. Now, not only did Bonbon have to save Ponyville's economy but she also had to, in good conscience, do something about this thing that was driving the locals out of the Zebrican jungles. The couple made their way out of the airport thourgh tits glass entrance. In the pick-up/drop-off area, there was a plethora of carriages dropping off another swarm of zebras ready to protest their way onto a non-existent flight. Lyra scanned the herd of carriages and spotted a white and gold one which a zebra family had just exited. Adorned with various metal curls and ornate lanterns, it looked like something straight out of Celestia's private fleet.

"There! That one!" she exclaimed, prompting Bonbon to turn her attention to the almost grossly regal carriage that sat parked on the opposite side of the lot.

"Wha- bu- is there any chance you could choose... no? Fine." Bonbon attempted to bargain, but to no avail.

The couple waited for the new crowd of zebras to rush the first floor of the airport, clearing the lot. They made their way over to the carriage and climbed the golden steps to the royal purple velvet interior. Sitting down on the lushly cushioned benches, they directed their attention to the driver's window at the front of the cabin. Sitting at the front of the wagon was a zebra dressed in patched, dirty rags of matching shades of gray, rather unbefitting for the carriage. "Uh, hello. My name is-" Lyra started but was cut off when the driver waved his forehooves and pointed to the map he saw sticking out of Lyra's bag. "Oh! Right," she said as she retrieved the map and unfolded it in front of the driver, pointing to the red X marked on it. The driver simply nodded, turned away, and slid into place a wooden plank, effectively closing the window Lyra used to communicate with him. "Oh... okay! Thanks for the ride!" Lyra attempted. There was no response.

Lyra slumped down on the seat next to Bonbon and attempted to start a conversation with her marefriend. "So... it's off of one seat and into another, huh?" joked Lyra. Instead of replying to her marefriend's comment, Bonbon unloaded what she had been thinking about for the past few minutes.

"Okay, so I think I just figured out how to solve both of these problems. If we just take this carriage to the jungle village you specified and retrieve the vanilla, we can head into town and ask the locals if they know anything about the "curse" that is sweeping Zebrica." Bonbon explained n a single breath, catching herself panting afterward. Clearing her throat, she recombed her hair with her hooved to regain composure.

"Oh, well that sounds like a plan," Lyra replied with a hint of disappointment. Her initial goal of finding more remnants of that highly advanced technology seemed to be getting further and further out of reach. Maybe she just had to wait for another time. Besides, this will give her time to spend with her marefirend and possibly help the locals in the process.

After 40 minutes of riding, the couple still sat in their initial positions from when they first entered the carriage. For the past 40 minutes, they both had been deep in thought. Lyra, concerned about her research mission and how it would be salvaged, and Bonbon, concerned about how they could help the locals with their limited time of four days maximum. The scenery had gradually increased in tree quantity since their departure. What used to be mostly desert with the occasional group fo trees had become almost a constant flow of dense foliage with only intermittent segments covered in weeds amongst damp, fertile soil.

"We must be getting close." Bonbon stated.

"Bonbon, are you alright? It seems like your mood has been on a downhill slope ever since we found out about the 'curse.'" Lyra inquired with concern.

"It-... I'm fine, Lyra. It's just this is all a lot to think about on such short notice. I mean, we just came here for some vanilla and here we are about to attempt to unravel an act of mass terrorism." Bonbon nonchalantly replied.

"Relax, sweetheart. Getting stressed won't solve anything. The best thing we can do now is only what we can." Lyra stated, smiling at Bonbon.

"Wow, look at you being all mentor-y." Bonbon jabbed.

"Shut up!" Lyra laughed in reply.

Suddenly, the plank that covered the window in the front of the cabin was removed to reveal the driver once again. "We are here. No payment necessary." the driver stated stoically. He turned away and gave the ponies pulling the carriage the signal to slow. Lyra and Bonbon lurched forward as the carriage finally came to a halt.

"Thanks, again!" Lyra stated and, again, there was no response. "Not much of a talker, that one," she concluded.

As they opened the door to the chariot, they were greeted by village folk rather... oddly. Standing in front of the couple as they descended the stairs of the carriage was an entire village of zebras bowing towards them. Their village consisted of a single dirt path that was flanked by wooden-stick huts on either side. At the end was a more extravagant and rotund hut, probably denoting the home of the chieftain. On the single street were various smaller shacks, rather stands, that were probably shops of some sort. One of them had a cauldron of boiling... eh... boiling the liquid. They had obviously ditched their daily activities on a whim to come and "worship" us.

"Uh, h-hello! My name-" Bonbon started.

"Greetings! We are Lyra and Bonbon of Ponyville. We hail from the nation of Equestria!" stated Lyra. Maybe a bit too regally.

"Lyra! Has the carriage atmosphere gotten to your head? What are you doing?!" Bonbon frantically whispered.

"Just play along! I have a plan!" replied Lyra.

The villagers in front of them simply looked onward with desperate eyes.

Chapter 6: Ends Meet

For the past several hours, the bridge crew of the USS Archer had been perusing Nova's various alleyways, and subsequently being exposed to the city's various aforementioned attractions. Perhaps too much. The group was now traveling down their tenth alleyway of the day and the smell of sulfur and dead fish was as present now as it was three hours ago. It would be safe to say that the team was a bit lost.

"Are we there yet?" droned Roger.

"Nope," Dahlia answered for the tenth time in the past minute. "Any luck yet, Chase?"

"Yes! Well... maybe. Um, no." Chase had been tasked with the responsibility of deciphering the map that they had been given through drone delivery upon entering earth's atmosphere. Nobody on the crew had any experience interpreting traditional paper maps, especially when the maps were of the entire city. Having no way to indicate the group's current location, the paper was of almost no use to any of them.

"Oh! I have an idea. How about the Admiral gives the map a shot?" the comms officer asked. He turned to Brantley. "Aren't you a fan of all things low-tech?"

"Only because it calms me to get away from the quick-paced life. This is just downright inconvenient." reasoned the Admiral.

"Well, even then, two heads are better than one, eh?" Chase jokingly stated, giving the Admiral a playful smirk. "Nothing? Fine."

"Alright, let's take a look here." With a grunt, the Admiral caught up with Chase attempting to lead the team form the front of the group. The sound of footsteps splashing in small puddles of water intensified as the rest of the group clustered around the Admiral and comms officer. "Soooo... if we are here... then that is..... this way!" Brantley confidently concluded.

"Wh- well, that was quick." Dahlia bluntly stated.

"Yes, indeed. This makes me wonder why we did not stick the captain in charge in the first place." asked in an almost robotic manner.

"Well, we are his crew and we need to show our devotion to the Union." Dahlia finished by striking a Union salute.

"As cheesy as that was, I am glad to be back with you guys so if there is anything you need me to do, just ask," Brantley said, causing the crew to smile warmly at him. At least most of the crew.

"D'aaawww. Isn't that sweet? Well, now that we have our reunion emotions behind us, why the hell did they give us a paper map?! Who in the Milky Way even uses those anymore?!" Roger ranted, completely shattering the mood in the alleyway. "I've had just about enough of walking down these dirty backwater streets. If you are not right, Admiral, with all due respect, I will surgically remove your kneecaps." he continued, only to get elbowed in the side by Dahlia.

"Guys! Relax, I am pretty sure this will get us there. Here, I'll mark the route on the map. Give it here." Brantley motioned to Chase. "Look at this, gang." Brantley held up something the crew had not seen for a while. In his hand, Brant held a ballpoint pen. His entire bridge crew simply stared in awe at the practically classical device. Pens had been practically phased out of society for more than 100 years with the public application of neurotransmitter interfaces and self-reforming nanomaterial to replace ink or graphite in 2256. Needless to say, this was the equivalent of visiting the Smithsonian for free. "So, we got from where we are here," he marked their current location with an "X," "and we need to go up here, over here, and our destination for the coordinates specified should be... here!" Brant barely explained as he drew a line from the first X to another he finally drew.

"Perhaps I missed this, but why is it that our map is made of paper?" Usher honestly queried. Dahlia proudly chimed in with a response.

"High Admiral Vorchavski mentioned that it was all part of High Command's plan to keep this briefing tippy top secret. Nobody today would think that such an important mission would utilize such primitive tech."

"Excuse me! I will not have my belongings referred to as "primitive," officer!" Brantley facetiously scolded Dahlia. She, however, unable to pick up on this, stammered.

"I-I apologize, s-sir. I did not mean to c-cal anything of yours "primitive," sir. Please, it was only a stupid thing to add on. I apologize for my-"

"Relax, officer! It was a joke." Brant consoled as a blush began to spread across Dhalia's face.

"O-oh, right, sir. I knew that hehe..."

The group continued along the path that the Admiral had marked n the map. It seemed like their map-reading skills improved form having to use an old-fashioned one made of mere wood and pulp. The occasional remark was made about the atmosphere surrounding them. Roger would point out the unpleasant aspects of the trip while Dahlia would marvel at the aquatic life above and around them. All the while, the only two who weren't actively talking were the stoic Usher and Admiral Brantley, who was intently reading the path he drew in order to ensure that his group did not get lost. After getting everybody's shoes sufficiently wet with broken plumbing leakage, they began to get concerned with how "backwater" their destination was. Eventually, the group turned the corner that led to the alleyway which was supposedly their destination. The group looked everywhere, scanning the area for clues.

Brantley and Dahlia were looking under various suspended canisters of hyper-reactive butane and Usher was helping Chase look over the roofs of buildings by lifting him up. Suddenly, Roger chimed in.

"Oi, guys. Come look at this."

The crew huddled behind Roger as they stared down at what was in front of him. There, seemingly dry and adjacent to the wall sat a metallic ball, definitely a military-grade data storage device.

Roger chimed in once again to explain the mystery to his fellow crew members.

"These things are practically indestructible, made of a self-reconstructing alloy reinforced with graphene, and keep their up to 50 exabytes of content under a 50-digit rotary password which follows a pattern to change itself every 20 minutes, a pattern that only the owner knows. Given all that we had to do to find this object, it was no surprise that such a secure device would be used for our briefing." The group turned to look at the engineer after the technological rant he had just finished. "What? I know how to do my job. Anybody got a problem with that?"

The group dismissed Roger and Brantley was the first to reach forward and pick up the device. He held it in his hands as he felt around it. Eventually, his index finger came across a button and he pressed it. Suddenly, the device began to glow, prompting the admiral to drop it. The ball rolled until legs popped out of one of its hemispheres, causing the entire object to take up a pyramid-esque stature. The hemisphere that was now pointed upward split into two wedges which began to glow even brighter than the rest of the object. In the span of 2 seconds, a ball had transformed into a holographic projector which was now displaying a simple rectangle with the GTU's flag in the upper left. It read --

Fingerprint Identity ACCEPTED

Welcome, the crew of the USS Archer. This is an automated message from the High Command of the North American Commissariat. To ensure confidentiality, this message will only play once.

Fleet Admiral Brantley Johnson, your crew has been selected to be one of 53 to journey to another galaxy. You are very lucky that the High Marshall has granted you this job considering that you and your staff will be rewarded for your efforts rather generously.

We assume that you are aware of the Precursor technology space-race. In an attempt to give the Union the upper hand in the fight against the Star Concorde, various probes were dispatched to the known warp gates. These probes are to land on the planets in the systems supposedly touched by the Precursors and search for any remnants of their technology.

The display now showed various probes leaving the solar system, headed for the location of the gates.

These probes were to land on planets possibly hosting remnants of Precursor technology and report back as to the system's tech status. Several of these probes have reported signs of Precursor activity and Project Archangel was born. To ensure the survival of the Union and humanity, crews were assembled to explore these Precursor planets and reverse engineer their technology for the betterment of human science.

The system that you have been assigned to is the Alpha Equinus system, named for the native lifeforms which resemble the Equus caballus species of Earth. They have displayed abilities parallel to our current assumptions of the abilities f Precursor technology. Your objective, therefore, is to study the locals and do whatever you need to in order to gain the technology present. Because they are a primitive civilization, the use of force is strongly discouraged. However, there are no laws during the war. Your itinerary and maps will be uploaded to your ship's AI and database. Before you begin your journey, you must pick up a Precursor technology specialist by the name of Samuel Wolfe from MIT (Martian Institute of Technology). A colony probe has already been launched to your destination planet. You and your crew will have all necessary accommodations set up prior to arrival. Currently, your ship is being outfitted with highly advanced scientific devices designed to research experimental Precursor technologies. Your engineer has already been given the basics via his neurotransmitter. It is imperative that you depart ASAP.

Roger suddenly collapsed and Dahlia rushed over to ensure that he was alright, performing basic CPR.

Side effects include light-headedness and possible fainting

GLORY TO THE UNION AND GODSPEED

While everybody was in shock, Dahlia spoke up about what surprised her most as a xenobiologist. "Did they say that they already colonized the planet?"

In a galaxy far, far away...

"O, great saviors, we are most humbled for your gracious visit to our desperate village." a zebra in the front of the bowing crowd stated. He was clad in a necklace of shells and a cape of dried reed.

Lyra gave her marefirend a nudge to play along with the god-like persona that she had adopted. "Y-yes, of course." Bonbon attempted. Lyra, nodding, continued with her regal character.

"Before we serve, you must provide. We require vanilla!" she stated with confidence. Almost instantly, the "chief" of the village waved his forehoof and prompted several zebras behind him to run into a hut. The rustling of leaves could be heard and, not ten seconds later, the zebras re-emerged carrying several sacks of what seemed to be vanilla, considering hows it was overflowing at the top.

"Surely, you will aid us now." the chief reasoned.

Lyra's confident expression turned into one of worry. She was prepared to get vanilla but, for some reason, she neglected to plan further than that. When Bonbon saw this change in expression, she mentally face-hoofed. Of course she didn't plan further than this Bonbon thought. The villagers walked the bags of vanilla over to the couple and placed them down in front of them with yet another bow, eliciting a blush from both of them. Lyra was the first to try and get on top of the situation.

"What exactly d-do you need us to do?"

The chief of the village ordered for the entire village to return to their daily activities. as if nothing had happened, they carried on with what seemed like very village-like pastimes. Perhaps they worshipped travelers often. The chief was now motioning for the couple to follow. With a glance of uncertainty, they both shrugged and began to follow the zebra down the only road of the village. They continued down to the end of the road where the town hall sat. The chief was the first to part the beaded string which made the "door." He was followed by Lyra and finally Bonbon. Trotting around a large table to sit down in a chair slightly larger than the rest, he spoke. "Take a seat, please."

The couple pulled out chairs at the opposite end of the circle and did as the chief told them. "There is a situation of utmost importance that we believe you have arrived to resolve, considering your near impeccable timing."

"Oh, well thank you, chieftain, but I am afraid we are merely travelers who came here for some vanilla." Bonbon finally came clean. Lyra simply sat there and dwelled in her embarrassment. "I apologize if we are letting you down at all but we will still do everything in our power to help you. Isn't that right, Lyra?" Lyra simply nodded as she sulked her head. "Oh, and I hope it is not too much to ask to keep that vanilla for, uh, trying to save your village and all." BOnbon bargained.

"I suppose not. And not need to worry about "disappointing" any of us. We were merely doing all of that too, as you say in Equestria, 'butter you up.'" HWat the chieftain had said did not phase the couple too much, but they did acknowledge that they had been at their first stop in another country. Regardless, it was about time to get to the bottom of this. They still had another day before he had to head back to Equestria in time for the festival. "We are ready, chief," stated Bonbon.

"Oh, good! Right this way, please."

The chief led them out through another bead door on the opposite end of the tent. When the couple re-emerged, the sight that greeted them was not one either of them could have ever expected. Where there used to be lush forest populated by all sorts f flora and fauna, there was now nothing but... metal? Directly outside of the town hall, completely disguised by the layer of trees near the back of the village, vast expanses of metal covered at least several acres of land. It spread almost as far as Applejack's farm only, instead of fertile soil and fruitful trees, there was only flat metal.

"This... this is y-your c-curse?" Lyra asked.

"I am afraid so. This arid desert of metal has been spreading almost non-stop for the past several days, killing anything and everything in its path. We are extremely lucky that it decided to stop where it did on this end, allowing us not hastily rebuild our village on the other side of its border." the chief explained.

"What could cause such a calamity?! This is driving your entire country into the ground and it's even taking that from you!" Bonbon passionately replied.

"Well, we understand that it is something bad, miss. Our problem is that it is not responding to any of our magic, which has never happened to anything I have ever personally witnessed. Perhaps it is not even of this world!" the chief proclaimed facetiously, of course. However, this statement caused something to click in Lyra, forcing her deep into thought.

"I-I- Oh, dear Celestia. I am so sorry, chief. Th-this is... far beyond what any of us c-can do." Bonbon solemnly stated. Lyra was speechless.

"We understand, but please, take this up with your princesses. Nobody has bothered to travel by here for so long and we have no idea why." the chieftain replied.

"Oh! Well, that would be because of the cupcake festival in Ponyville." Bonbon replied, her mood improved by talking about baking. She pulled a flier out of her satchel and handed it to the chief. He looked the parchment over and nodded.

"I see. Well, we appreciate your help. Please, get back to us as soon as possible. We do not know when the next pony will come by here given your "cupcake festival." the chief pleaded, a hint of voice crack peaking through.

"I assure you, chief. We will do everything we can. This is no longer your problem. Come on Lyra! We have a lot of work to do!" With that, Bonbon dragged a wide-eyed and frozen Lyra back to the carriage which, for some reason was still there, even though nopony asked the driver too. Or perhaps Lyra did just that in her little regal frenzy. Regardless, it was imperative that they get this news to Celestia and Luna as soon as possible. Plus, they got vanilla! Yay!

While Bonbon was planning and choreographing their entire return trip on the fly, Lyra was still deep in thought from her realization. All of that metal... could it really be from another world? If it is, could it really be the humans? Why else would it be on this world of all the others in the Universe? Yes! That must be it. Oh, wow.. this whole human shindig is a lot more ingrained than I thought it was. Not only was there an abundance of human materials that were sooommeeehooww impervious to magic of any sort, but there was also simply evidence that humans existed! Kind of... it still could be another alien species. But, the fact that the material did not react to magic has to be a huge hint for everypony. OH! And that was another thing! This whole rumor about the humans is about to get out to the royalty of Equestria! The highest levels of government! They'll surely get to the bottom of it! We might actually get to interact with some of the aliens! OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!

Despite her excited and borderline psychotic train of thought, Lyra's exterior could not be blander. She still sat wide-eyed, staring at nothing in particular. This trip has brought on more than she could have ever imagined and there needed to be a plan for something this big resting on her and Bonbon's haunches. She had better talk to- "Okay! I have a plan!" Bonbon... It seemed, however, that her marefirend was one step ahead of her. "First, we use the vanilla to make the cupcakes and appease the folks in town for the cupcake festival. We don't want to rile up the entire planet just yet. Next, we take the news to the Princesses!" Well, then it is settled. Even though Lyra and Bonbon thought that this was ogin to be the extent of their direct involvement, along with the rest of Ponyville, they could not have been further from the truth.

Chapter 7: En Route

The entire crew of the USS Archer sat idle in the U-shaped bridge. Each officer was practically lounging in their respective seats. Chase sat with his head propped up on his left hand and elbow resting on the currently unpowered control interface in front of him, the contacts in his eyes visibly displaying a movie. Roger was leaning up against the front left wall of the bridge, looking through the same window as Dahlia. Dahlia sat in front of her console with her legs crossed, staring forward to the various space elevators that dotted the Earth's surface, including the one connected to the station that the Archer was docked at. Usher was down in the cargo bay of the ship, doing what he could to help the drones load what was left of the new machinery they needed for the trip. For the past two hours since the crew returned to their ship, they were hailed by High Command and told to delay their journey until all of their supplies were loaded.

Even among the heavy clanking that could be heard and the occasional whirring of new tech being installed both above and below them, Admiral Brantley was able to remain completely focused on what was in his hand. Sitting in his left hand was a holographic projector displaying a full-body 3D model of the young Precursor specialist they were to pick up as their next stop.

There, the young man assumed a formal stance, his arms flush with his sides and back arched in a militaristic posture. Brantley was never one to obsess over looks but if this kid was going to be spending the next couple of months with him and those he was closest with, he wanted to know all he could, even more than his Union database file could tell him. Samuel's rotating figure was clad in a white nano-fiber shirt paired with matching white nano-fiber pants. His shirt contained a small blue circle over his left breast that indicated the wardrobe was powered. From this alone, the captain could tell that this was a reserved man. The nano-fiber, aside from being a good insulator, provided for custom designs since the fabric itself was able to alter its weaving pattern and color to show anything the user wanted. This fashionable ambiguity showed Brantley that the tech specialist was rather reserved, choosing the public and atmosphere to dictate what he wore rather than wear a set wardrobe. Brantley thought that made sense considering the boy's academic background and rather petite stature.

Dahlia looked over and noticed what her captain was spending so much of his energy looking at. She stood up, stretched and approached the Admiral. "Sir, I understand we don't have much to do but I don't think pedophilia is a good pastime in any case."

"Haha, very funny, lieutenant. I'll have you know that he is 19 years old." the Admiral confidently replied. Dahlia simply smirked and raised an eyebrow. "A-and! And I wasn't looking at him in that way either!" Brantley quickly saved when he realized that he had left half of Dahlia's statement unaddressed. Light snickering could be heard from everybody else in the room except Chase, who was still engrossed in his movie.

"You are too easy, sir." Roger chimed in.

"Yeah, well, you try leaving service for years, only to be welcomed back by, perhaps, the most important call-to-arms in the history of anybody's military career!" the Admiral whined in defense. This only served to cause the entire crew to burst out laughing as their high-and-mighty captain fell further and further down a hole he dug. "Well, keep on laughing. I... I can request to have your citizenship tiers reduced!" the Fleet Admiral threatened to no avail.

The laughter of the crew members only stopped when the bridge doors phased out to reveal none other than Usher Mulligan, standing in the doorway dirtied and with a dreamy look on his face, clearly distinguishable even from his normal stoic expression. As he walked through the bridge, everybody stared at the hulking figure sagged his way to the weapons console. Brantley and those who had been laughing were now completely silent as they became overwhelmed by why Usher was, for the first time to any of the crew's knowledge, tired. The seat groaned in protest as Usher's frame slumped down into it with a groan of his own. Silence consumed the bridge and the only noise that could be heard was the whirring of the generators and digital jingles of the ship's AI integrating and running diagnostics on the newly-installed machinery. Speaking of which, the clanking of the installation was over.

"So... Usher?" The weapons officer slowly raised his head to look at the Admiral. "Are, uh, you done loading the machinery?" Usher slowly nodded. "So... we can depart?" Usher nodded again. "Coolio..." Dahlia raised her eyebrow once again at the odd word choice. Usher merely sunk his head.

The Fleet Admiral altered his stature to assume that of a captain. He looked towards Roger. "Roger, are we ready to leave?"

"Well, I suppose, sir. Isn't there some sort of permission we need from the station or High Command before we actually depart?" Roger asked, breaking character and following protocol.

"Wow. I see you're as shaken up by this mission as I am. Or perhaps just by Usher." Usher turned to look at the Admiral. "I suppose it would be courteous. Chase, hail North American Commissariat High Command. Chase?" Chase was still watching his movie. "Chase!" The comms officer snapped out of his little movie world and turned to face the captain.

"What is it, sir?" Chase asked in a nonchalant tone. "Oh! Hey, Usher! You're looking up..." Chase paused as he looked around the room to all of the shaking heads and hands urging him to think about his next words wisely, "... unique." he finished. Brantley simply rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Chase, hail NACHC," Brantley asked again, calmly.

"The NAC- Oh! Got it." Brantley rolled his eyes as his comms officer powered on his console and used the holographic display to enter the caller ID of High Command. After a few seconds, the bridges holographic projector flickered to life and displayed a large, empty blue rectangle front and center in the bridge. "Establishing visual, sir." Soon, the rectangle flickered to reveal a close-up portrait of a man in a navy-blue High Command berrett in front of a dark background illuminated by the array of lights formed by other holo-screens and servers.

"North American Commissariat High Command. USS Archer, greetings. You have questions?" the man bluntly inquired.

"Ah, well, yes. So, we have all of the supplies that you guys sent over so... can we go?" Brantley asked with the eloquence of a 12-year-old. Dahlia simply rolled her eyes.

"Yes, sir. Your mission file states that you are to depart ASAP."

"Right. We got that from the ball... thingy. What did you call it again, Roger?" Roger shook his head. "Besides the point, you're right. Well then, I suppose we'll be on our way." Brantley finished.

"Very well, Admiral. Oh, and one more thing. What you're doing from the Union... is no small feat. I want to personally thank you for your efforts." the High Command officer stated while taking his berrett off in respect.

"Thank you for this opportunity. Serving the Union is all I ever wanted to do. Long live the Union!" the Admiral stated, bringing up a patriotic side of him that few people ever saw. The sheer magnitude of what they were about to undertake was unsettling, to say the least. However, as soldiers of the GTU Space Force, they were to do anything given to them with dignity.

"Glory to the Union, Ad-" the operator paused as a smirk spread across his face and he looked up from the camera in front of him. "Admiral, there is something else you should probably see." The image on screen rotated as the operator flipped his web-cam around to reveal the entire control room standing with their right arms across their hearts and left arms in a salute. They were all performing a Union salute. In front of the large monitor at the front of the control room, dozens of operator cubicles dotted the view as the operators themselves looked onward with determination. Then, in unison, they declared, "Glory to the Union! Terra Invicta! Long live Terra and the Union!" With that, the entire room erupted in cheers and the speakers on board the bridge began to vibrate the entire cabin. Brantley returned a salute, as did everybody on the crew. The Admiral then took a seat and terminated the connection using his neural interface.

"Roger! Get this baby online!" Brantley declared.

"It would be my pleasure, sir!" Roger complied. His console came to life and, with a few drags, twists, and taps, the whirring of the electromagnetic drives booted up. The lights in the cabin flickered as the generators, being idle for so long, struggled to provide sufficient current. However, once the fusion generators' humming rose in pitch to a sufficient degree and they were at maximum output, the floor in the cabin opened to reveal a glass slate. It rose and moved to arch over the captain's lap. When the floor beneath the captain's chair shut again, the glass powered up and a holographic display surrounded it, displaying the ship's vitals, current trajectory, and the ship AI's icon. Once the captain had familiarized himself with the summary tool by flicking around a few icons and exploding a couple of views to see what everybody was doing, he gave the go-ahead. "Roger, disengage magnetic locks and get us to safe warping distance. Chase, run diagnostics and prime the tachyon arrays for long-range communications with Mars Prime. Tell them of our arrival. Usher," Usher looked up from his console which was lighting up his empty face. "... get some rest, will ya? We won't disturb you with the whole Precursor techy pickup." Usher nodded and set off for his quarters. "Dahlia, prep the lab for a new scientist. I have the staff working on fashioning up another quarter. Oh, and while you're on it, put some more micro-polymer in the 3D-printer." Dahlia simply nodded and set off the accomplish her task, The other crew members did the same and began quickly typing on their holo-interfaces.

Among the beeps and whirs that made up the atmosphere of a busy bridge, Admiral Brantley was glad to be back in his chair. He knew that this was going to be the start of something wonderful, even without the amount of pomp and circumstance that might come with potentially saving humanity. Granted, they were just one of 53 vessels tasked with this mission. However, the Admiral knew that there was something particularly intriguing about the planet they were visiting as he pulled up a 3D-model on his summary display.

Outside the ship, the USS Archer sat idle with its rear illuminated in a fluorescent blue from its ion propulsion system. Soon, the terminal that it sat in began to glow as well with the lights of the mag-lock arms which kept the 412-meter research vessel docked. A small wedge of the NAC Station became outlined in red as the terminal's arms moved to position the ship facing away from Earth. With a click and whirring sound which descended in tone, the mag-locks powered down and the arms folded back, awaiting another vessel. Looking to the right, one would be able to see the splendor of the North American Commissariat station. It was as if somebody had taken the Beijing International Airport from the 21st century, sized it up by a factor of 4, and thrown it up 120 kilometers. The thing was a floating fortress, to say the least.

"Captain, we're ready to leave," Roger stated.

"Good. Main ion thrusters at 60% until we get to warping distance." Brantley responded. After a few digital beeps and rings, the whirring of the engines intensified, shaking the cabin as the ship accelerated. The curvature of the earth became fully visible as the planet became a moon-sized ball in a matter of minutes. The purple and yellow glow of the cosmos was all that surrounded them now.

"Sir, ready to engage quantum drive." Roger again stated.

"Not yet, lieutenant. Chase, have you sent the message?" Brantley returned.

"I'm about to, Captain. The tachyon arrays haven't been activated for a while so the diagnostics took a little longer than expected." Chase replied as he was vigorously typing away at his console.

"Understandable, officer. Notify me when they are online." Brantley calmly replied. Chase returned an od and went back to dealing with the various notifications and yellow warning triangles his console was throwing at him. The muffled rattling of the bridge door phasing out filled the bridge as the Admiral turned to see who was entering. The tritium-carbide gave way to Dahlia, looking as pristine and bored as she did when she left the bridge. She could be heard muffling something under her breath.

"Goddamn "precursor" specialist. What the hell do you even need to do for a degree in Precursors? Sit around and dig in the ground for broken shit?" Dahlia continued as she made her way and angrily thwomped into her seat. Brantley took notice of her mood.

"Hey, uh, Dahlia. You... doin' alright?" Brantley cautiously asked. Dahlia slowly turned to face the Captain in her chair, her eyes now wide with fury. Her left eyelid was even twitching.

"Yes... sir. I am..." Dahlia worked to suppress an outburst by breathing deeply, "I am fine." WIth that, she slowly resumed facing forward, doing nothing with her hands in her lap. Brantley glanced around the cabin and saw that the other officers were more engrossed in their work and ship preparations than before, most likely not wanting to provoke Dahlia. Brantley would agree that angering her was a mistake in any case especially this one. Thankfully, chase chimed in with his status report.

"Uh, sir! The tachyon array has been successfully primed and is ready for transmission to Mars Prime."

"Alright, finally! Tell them that the USS Archer is there to retrieve Precursor tech specialist Samuel Wolfe, Martian capital ID 0261653, under mission order..." the Captain drew out as he searched for the mission file number in his contact and neural interface, "234-D45-768-8786." Brantley concluded.

"Will that be all, sir?" Chase inquired.

"Yes. Send it and we can get on our way." Brantley finished by rubbing his hands together and giggling a little bit in anticipation. Thankfully, this went unnoticed by the rest of the crew.

"Right away, sir." With that, Chase resumed vigorously typing on his console. After a few seconds, he turned around and nodded. Roger brought up several throttle controllers that resembled those of 21st-century airplanes on his holographic console.

"Sir, the quantum drive have been spooked and is ready for hyperspace travel," Roger said on queue. The Captain let out a chuckle in anticipation for what he knew Roger was about to do.

"Alright, Roger. Do your thing," he said almost reluctantly. With a child-like grin on his face, roger turned around and began prepping the ship for FTL travel. In an instant, the ambient lighting of the bridge was replaced by solid blue. The edges of the room became illuminated by fluorescent green strips of light that ran along the perimeter of every room and corridor of the ship, further serving as a warning to brace all belongings for entering hyperspace. Back on the bridge, the crew observed the entire ship become encased in a shield as synth-alloy phased out of nothing around the ship hexagon by hexagon until the viewports across the ship were sealed from any harmful radiation that the FTL travel presented. The hsip lurched forward as the ion thrusters behind slowly increased to maximum thrust. Brantley looked down at his summary console which displayed the gradually increasing speed of the ship. The metal that surrounded the ship de-tinted to become a translucent orange hexagonal pattern. With the stars in sight, Roger moved his hands over to the throttles and pushed both of them forward simultaneously.

The whirring of the ion thrusters dropped out and was replaced with an oscillating warble. As the throttle approached its maximum, the warble increased in both frequency and tone. The cosmos that surrounded the ship on all sides began to stretch towards the aft of the vessel and soon became mere parallel streaks of white. The speedometer on Brantley's console now read 12C. Wait, at 12 times the speed of light, it should only take us like... 180... divide by 3... carry the 2.... Before Brantley could finish his mental math, the green strips of light around the ship turned red and the streaks of light that surrounded the ship returned to tiny white specks. Only now, in front of the USS Archer, sat the behemoth trading station and spaceport of Mars Prime.

Luna paced back and forth in her chambers amongst the sun piercing through her curtain-covered windows. The sound of her hooves clicking on the marble floor was occasionally interrupted by the parchment that she would accidentally step on. Her otherwise dark bedroom doors were locked shut and their handles were held together with a bent coat hanger that Luna had found in her closet.

"Lulu! Please, I merely wish to talk!" Princess Celestia called out from the other side of the doors, muffled.

"No, sister! I do not wish to repeat thyself again!" Princess Luna fired back. She steamed as she unfurled her wings and retracted them as she regained control of her blood pressure. Just a few minutes earlier, Luna's chambers were 100% quieter as Celestia crept around and inspected the hours of Luna's work scattered around the room. It was when the white alicorn attempted to wake the ink-covered Luna that problems arose. The dreary navy alicorn rose and, upon seeing that her sanctuary had been breached, immediately worked to push her sister out along with any guards that came in upon hearing the ruckus. She barricaded the entrance to ensure that this never happened in the foreseeable future and, thus, we are here.

"I mean no harm, Luna. I am simply concerned!" Celestia shouted through the doors again.

"You are concerned with business that does not concern you!" Luna replied.

"This is unbelievable," Celestia muttered so that only the guards directly outside the doorway could hear. "I hope to see you at dinner." she finished. Celestia decided that it was probably not the best idea to continue praying on a topic that caused her sister this much discomfort. It was best to let Luna come to terms with how she was going to talk to her sister.

Later, 7:05 pm

Celestia sat at the end of the royal dining table, once again in her own presence. The stoic faces of her solar guard also kept her company, which was saying a lot about the state of loneliness she was in for the most unemotional ponies in all of Equestria to be of comfort to her. The fire in the middle of the large dining room crackled as its amber waves were reflected by the pristinely polished marble floor. Celestia turned her attention to the open windows leading onto the veranda. The curtains were moving ever so slightly as the breeze whistled through them among the chirping of the crickets. what is going on with her? Celestia thought to herself. I have never seen her this engrossed in anything before. Why was this happening? she finished. Celestia was genuinely concerned for her sister's wellbeing. If they weren't even on talking grounds, then how was she supposed to get through to her?

Her mind flashed back to the drawings she saw scattered on parchment through the entirety of Luna's bedchambers. That has something to do with it. But, what could they mean? Even though the drawings numbered in the hundreds, they were all of the same simple symbol: segmented triangles within a striped rectangle. Such a simple shape could not have any meaning to anypony... unless it wasn't just a character of some sort.

"Say, Heatstreak, have you much knowledge with regards to new flags or the sort?" Celestia inquired of one of the two solar guards standing next to the dining room doors. The red-maned earth-pony turned to look at the princess, who was still quietly sipping her tea with a warm expression on her face, as always. He searched his repository of information before replying.

"I suppose I know the basics. Geography was never my strong suit but I will try my best for you, your Highness." he humbly replied.

"Thank you. Now, is there any faction or nation on Equis with a flag resembling a triangle within a rectangle?" the princess continued. The guards broke his stoic expression as he raised one eyebrow for a second, then proceeded to lower both in an attempt to concentrate. After a moment of silence, he responded with a tinge of regret.

"I'm sorry, Princess Celestia. Not to my knowledge." he bowed his head. The princess simply dismissed it.

"It is truly alright. I was merely wondering. By the way, there is no need for such formalities all the time. It is evening time. I would love to know that you both are comfortable around me, considering you are part of my castle patrol this week." she stated in a motherly tone, eyeing the both of them over. Heatstreak relaxed his haunches and a blissful expression came across his face.

"Oh, thank you, your Highness. Having to carry around that set of armor all day really does a number on one's back," he replied. "If you don't mind me asking, why do you want to know about flags all of a sudden?"

Celestia was caught off guard. She knew that this family topic, even though it should be kept on a need-to-know and personal basis, was already revealed to enough of her personal guard that revealing it to another member would not make too much of a difference. "Guards, have either of you seen Luna around the castle recently?" Both of the guards shook their heads. "And I assume that you do not know the reason behind her complete absence, correct?" They both nodded, Heatstreak beginning to regret asking his question as Celestia's replies became more and more personal. Celestia's posture shifted as she placed her teacup down on the table with her magic. She began approaching both guards, her horn glowing brighter and brighter as she got closer to the doorway.

She stopped a couple of hoof-lengths in front of the guards. Her horn began to glow more brightly as a yellow and orange line manifested in between her and Heatstreak. The line slithered around for a moment before Celestia closed her eyes and began focusing. The line stopped moving, now appearing as a single point in space. It slowly resumed movement as its path remained illuminated by a thin, but a still visible, stream of light. It traveled in a rectangle, then in horizontal lines, and, finally, in a triangle. In a matter of seconds, the symbol that had been stuck in Celestia's head for the past several hours.

The two guards glanced at each other, raised an eyebrow in unison, and looked back at the glowing figure in front of them. Heatstreak spoke up, "You're kidding, right Princess?" Celestia gave him a slight scowl.

"I would never joke about personal matters, Heatstreak," she stated sternly.

"R-right, I apologize, your Highness. It's just... I have seen that in my dreams." Heatstreak sheepishly continued. The guard standing on the other side of the doorway nodded and stated, "We all have. The entire guard was discussing a recurring dream of that symbol in the mess hall this morning."

Celestia's expression became concerned. She turned to face the guards again and resumed questioning. "Do you, by any chance, remember what happened in these dreams?" Heatstreak opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by the doors of the dining room creaking. Celestia, entrenched in thought about the extent to which her domain was already infested by this image, jumped at the sound. "Ahem," she regained her composure as she used her magic to tip her tiara back into place, "excuse me. I hope to resume this conversation another time. This seems to be a very urgent matter."

"Of course, your Highness," Heatstreak concluded. With that, Celestia turned to head back towards her seat at the dining table. The doors opened, revealing a rather refreshed Princess Luna. She saw her sister sitting down at the dining table and followed suit. Luna made her way over to the opposite end of the long-table, her hooves' clattering against the marble reverberating throughout the entire room. Luna took a seat and simply stared at her sister, expecting her to break the ice during this rather tense "family feud."

"Thank you for accompanying me this evening, Lulu." Celestia began with a cold tone, still sipping her tea and staring into the fireplace.

"Y-yes, sister. I..." Luna struggled for a response. She obviously felt awkward about this whole situation. Just as Celestia was about to interrupt, the kitchen doors swung open and chef Gourmand walked in, followed by an entourage of waiters and waitresses. The work ponies flanked the table and intricately displayed the dozen of dishes that had been prepared. It was a ballet of service and Luna was a bit dumbfounded. The last time anything like this had been prepared was when they had established stable trade relations with the Griffon Kingdom.

"Sister, what is-" Luna was interrupted by a waiter reaching in front of her to place a bowl of soup down, "-what is the meaning of all this?"

"I believe you would be better suited to answer that," Celestia replied. She placed her tea down and assumed a more authoritative stature. "Please, Luna. What has been troubling you lately? I mean, you have missed night court on multiple accounts, you have locked yourself in your chambers late at night, not to mention how you-"

"Humans." Luna bluntly stated as she stared stoically down at the empty plate in front of her. The crackling of the fire retook the room as everypony was silent. The guards remained in their positions but were wide-eyed as Celestia's expression remained as warm and regal as always.

"Humans," Celestia repeated, her expression now shifting from one of calmness to one of anger. "Humans?! You are threatening to tear our relationship and domain apart because of a myth?!" she finished now fuming with rage, having stood up form her seat and began her approach to Luna.

"Sister, please-" Luna began but was interrupted as her sister continued to rant.

"Do you realize how much trouble you've caused me and our subjects?! Countless complaints having gone ignored simply because of your.. your... your childish ignorance!"

"If you'll please just hear me out for-"

"For what? A second? Well, listen very carefully, Luna, I have waited thousands of seconds to resolve this plague that you have started. I don't think you-"

"ENOUGH!!!" Luna shot up from her seat, meeting her sister face-to-face just a couple of inches apart. "Come with me." Luna started making her way towards the doorway the guards were at. Celestia, her rage having been extinguished by LUna's own outbreak, rolled her eyes and followed suit. The guards did not even bat an eyelash at the two passing princesses. However, they could both be seen visibly moist with sweat.

The two princesses proceeded down the dark corridor in front of their dining room, lit only by the occasional wall-mounted torch scattering light in a rather small radius. The sisters' muffled hoofsteps against the red carpet made up the only noise for the first few seconds of the journey, both siblings coming to terms with what they were doing.

"Lulu, it seems you have come to terms with whatever was keeping you up these past few days." Celestia started, attempting to break the ice after their falling out.

"Yes, I suppose. Pray tell, sister, dost thou recall the meteor shower that occurred a few days ago?" Luna inquired, not turning to look back at her sister.

"Of course, it was beautiful. However, I fail to see the signif-"

"And dost thou recall the meteor that collided with our planet and landed right outside of Ponyville?" Luna continued over Celestia, rounding a corner to another strip of red carpet that led to a darker hallway. Celestia began to fall behind as her expression became one of suspicion. Luna, however, carried on until they were a good 12 hoof-lengths apart. Celestia had come to a complete stop.

"Luna, where exactly are we going?" Celestia cautiously asked.

"Please, sister. Come with me and everything will be explained." Luna replied. Celestia gave her a "seriously" look.

"You realize that this area of the castle has been shut down, right? The dungeon underneath collapsed and the foundation has been too unstable for several months now."

"I am fully aware of the complications this area has experienced recently. However, I assure you," Luna made her way over to her sister and put her wing around her back in an attempt to push her forward, "what you are about to see will make everything you think you know about-"

"Alright, alright. Cut the cheesiness and I will see whatever it is you want me to." Celestia finished. Luna began walking forward once again when another thought crossed Celestia's mind. "Just as long as you promise this is what has actually been bothering you." Luna paused and looked back.

"Oh, I would not say 'bothering' is the correct term, per se. But, yes, this is what has been... occupying me. Now come!" Luna motioned with her wing to follow, abandoning all attempts to get Celestia to answer her guiding questions. This would explain all of it, after all. She resumed her trek down the unlit corridor, the moonlight pouring through the stained glass near the ceiling on either side of the hallway is the only thing to provide illumination. The two princesses walked in silence until Luna came to a stop in front of a wooden closet door. "Hold on," she stated as she lit her horn and knocked on the door with her forehoof three times.

For the next ten seconds, there was only silence as Luna simply stood in front of a closet door in an abandoned corridor. "Well, Lulu, this is certainly some way to spend a Wednesday ni-" Celestia began but was interrupted by the sound of creaking and wood banging on wood. The noises were coming from behind the door. But, what could be happening in a 20-cubic-hoof storage closet?

All of a sudden, the door handle on the outside became encased in a glowing purple aura and the door itself swung open to reveal a familiar purple unicorn clad in a white lab coat. Upon seeing her, Celestia went wide-eyed. "There you are, Luna. I thought you were never going to- Princess Celestia?! Princess Luna, I thought you said you were simply coming tonight to perform a progress check." Twilight exclaimed, almost as wide-eyed as her mentor. She leaned into Luna's ears and whispered, "I thought I told you to keep this on a strictly need-to-know basis!"

"I know, I know, Twilight, but... well, long story short, it's best for her to know, too." Luna fumbled for a response. Celestia simply stood in place as her mentor and her sister conversed in private about something that had to do with Luna's depression, the meteor, and now her favorite student. Her expression slowly turned into a scowl as she felt another wave of rage boil up inside of her.

"Will somebody please tell me what the hay is going on here?!" Celestia bellowed. Luna and Twilight both jumped upon hearing Celestia's royal Canterlot voice at such close range. Once the echoes throughout the dark marble corridor had dissipated, the three were left standing in a rather awkward situation in the middle of the walkway.

"Hehe... Of course, Princess. Erm," she gave Princess Luna a confirmatory glance to Luna to which she nodded, "then, uh, right this way, your Highnesses." Twilight finished. Celestia wanted to once again correct her student on calling the princesses "you Highnesses" since they were all equal now. But, what awaited her just a few hoof-lengths ahead required all of her focus. The three all filled into the storage closet and closed the door. The dark corridor returned to its usual lack of activity as the reverberation of the wooden door slamming shut died out. The glimmering of the residual light from the moon and torches did no justice for the monumental activities taking place just several stories below.

There, in possibly what was the most secure room in Equestria, sat something that would alter the fate of ponykind forever.

Chapter 8: Baby Steps

Attention: Civillian transport vessel Alpha-5 DEPARTING from aft terminal 36B. Those below TIER-3 citizenship subject to inspection.

Please stand clear of the designated ports for loading and unloading. Your Ministry of Transportation cares and wishes you safe travels!

The text scrolled across the holographic banner that spanned the walkway in the space station. Below it, there were almost never-ending streams of humans and the occasional humanoid repair droid. Above the banner, crossing the generous expanse of the walkway were utility drones, whirring by carrying anything from luggage to weaponry. In them midst f the blue trails these drones' antigravity stabilizers left were two members of the USS Archer bridge crew. Sitting in front of a window and flanking a hexagonal table, Dahlia and Roger were attempting to have a civilized game of chess among the hundreds of travelers.

"Well, will you move before..." Dahlia pulled up a calendar on her holographic wrist display, "Mars' New Year?"

Roger's already tense expression soured and his face became even moister with sweat. He frantically waved his finger in an effort to shut her up. "Sh-shoosh! Shush! Shushoo!" With his rant of childish gibberish over, he squinted his eyebrows and returned to staring intently at the holographic chess board in front of him. "Knight to E7." he finally spoke, a smile returning to his face and assuming a proud posture. The knight piece on the board suddenly came to life as the knight on top kicked the horse to send it careening, galloping across the board to E7.

Dahlia still sat with her head resting on her hand, her face looking as dull as it was before Roger's "revelation." Without a second thought, she stated, "Bishop, E7." The bishop piece's cloak began to sway as it floated over to the knight and proceeded to knock it off the board, the holographic piece animated the horse and knight's frantic but futile attempts to prevent their inevitable fall into the abyss.

Finally, a smirk crept across Dahlia's face as she stood from her chair, knowing that an ounce of self-esteem Roger had left was just crushed. As the chair's nanoparticles morphed back into the floor, she approached Roger. She leaned in and whispered into his ear, "Let's get back to work, sweetie." She then pressed a button on the side of the holographic projector, collapsing the holographic board and pieces and smoothly slipping the projector into her pocket.

Roger shot up from his chair and crossed his arms. "Do not patronize me, woman." Dahlia simply continued to chuckle. "Whatever, I'm still a good engineer," he mumbled to himself.

"Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night." Dahlia slyly shot back. She made her way over to a collection of cargo crates being unpacked by a swarm of drones. Roger followed and sat down on an empty one next to where she was standing. "So you're sure he was supposed to meet us here?" he asked.

Dahlia surveyed the passing crowd in the walkway of the space station terminal. "That's what the Captain said."

Roger rolled his eyes but then got a devilish idea, a way to get back at Dahlia for winning. "SOOOoooo," he began as he crept up beside her, "I hear that you'll be sharing your lab with the new recruit."

Dhalia turned to Roger, an unamused look in her eyes. "I believe 'recruit' is a bit of a strong term." This gave Roger the go-ahead for his annoyance tactic.

"Even so, the only reason any of us are on the Archer is that we are exceptionally talented in our respective fields. So, it stands to reason that somebody with a shit-ton of experience in Precursor technology would be joining us for a Precursor-centered mission, right?" Roger leaned in closer, "Perhaps the reason he is getting 65% of the lab is that he may even be a better scientist than you."

Dahlia shot a glare at Roger. "First of all, I doubt your barbaric engineering definitions of science can determine who is a 'better' scientist. Second, the next time you doubt my ability to do my job, I will ensure that you won't be able to do yours."

Roger was forced to stumble back a little, "Jeez, Dahlia. It's almost as if our relationship is built entirely on hating each other. I mean," he pouted his lips, "we used to be friends."

"Yeah? Cry me a river." Dahlia returned coldly as she returned her attention to the onslaught of travelers once again. Roger continued his act as he gasped and placed his hand over his heart. "Oh! Oh, LAAAWWD JESUS HAlp mE!" he pleaded. Finally, Roger was able to earn a smile from the xenobiologist and, for a short time, Dahlia and the ship tech were able to share a heart-to-heart moment. For a short time.

Suddenly, a crash reverberated throughout the terminal, the source seemingly directly in front of Dahlia and Roger. As the crowd in front of them dispersed in fear of the loud sound, the scene was revealed to be two hulking men circling a much smaller man whom they had obviously just knocked to the floor. The crash must have been his backpack, which now had its contents scattered across the terminal's floor. The two attackers began to tease the smaller man. "Heh, how pathetic. What's he gonna do, cry for his mommy?" one began, continuing to orbit him like a vulture.

"Yeah! Ha! Cry for his mommy!" the other finished.

The smaller man in the middle began to frantically glance around, "W-well, I would love to spend m-more time with you boys and your marvelous, original, and overall brilliant wits. However, it looks like I am a bit pressed for time. So, if you'll e-excuse me..." He began to get up but was viciously punched in the stomach by the first man to speak. He lurched backward and began coughing. The crowd around them gasped as five security drones stormed the area and, just like the criminals, began to orbit the situation. A blue light washed over the perpetrators from one of the drones and the blue strip of lights that encompassed its perimeter turned red as it boomed, "Union IDs confirmed. Instigators, acts of aggression toward TIER-5 citizens is prohibited and protected by lethal force under statute 13, paragraph 6, line 4 of the Greater Terran Union Code of Citizenry."

Roger and Dahlia looked at each other as Roger mouthed, "Tier 5?!" to which Dhalia only nodded, wide-eyed. The perpetrators began to nervously glance at each other. The one who seemed to be the leader of the duo backed away and put his hands up. The second one continued to glare at the smaller man with a sinister glare until he was elbowed by the leader in his side. They both then were escorted out by the drones' tractor beams keeping them in a single-file line. One drone stayed behind and hovered next to the smaller man, using its tractor beam to assist him in standing up. After patting himself down to get the dust off, he turned his head upward to face the drone which was still lit bright red. "Thank you for-" The drone shifted back to blue and sped off before he could finish, "-your assistance..." He shrugged as the crowd mumbled and dispersed, returning to its normal activity. The rather scrawny-looking man continued walking down the terminal, looking on both sides as if he was searching for something.

Dahlia finally spoke out, "Jeez, I hope this doesn't delay that Samuel guy from getting here on time." In an instant, the attackee swiveled to face the pair. He walked up to them until he was not more than two feet away. He then looked up at Roger, then at Dahlia who both simply stared back with neutral expressions. "Um, hello. A-are either of you searching for a man by the name of Samuel Wolfe?"

Dahlia continued her neutral glare and put her hands on her hip, "Yes, and is that you by any chance?" with a patronizing tone. The person in front of them began to blush and twiddle his fingers. "Oh! Um... yeah. Sorry, I suppose that was a bit mindless of me." His eyes suddenly lit up and stuck his left hand out, "Where are my manners?! Hello, you already know my name so I won't trouble you with repeating that information. I am a professor of ancient technology. Not the most applicable area of expertise, I know, but I evidently have some purpose... being here and all, haha..." The entire time, he had a huge smile plastered on his extremely young-looking face.

Roger, knowing how much this little guy could get on Dahlia's nerves considering her already distressed expression, took the initiative. "Well, Sam. Can I call you Sam? Sam, I welcome you to the USS Archer. Let's head on board." At first, Sam appeared a bit flustered but the group proceeded to stand there for a good 15 seconds until Dhalia spoke up, "You first, sir, please." A look of realization came across Sam's face as he began heading towards the gate at which the massive starship sat. Dahlia and Roger looked on at the specialist, with Roger chuckling. "You're about to learn why we don't like to bring civilians on board too often."

"I just hope that tier-5 citizenship lives up to its name," Dahlia said as she began following Sam on board. With a final chuckle, Roger too followed. In front of him, he heard Dhalia begin muttering about the new recruit once again. "I swear if this kid messes anything up in MY lab, I will make sure he never sees the surface of his homeworld again. Goddamned 'professor.' How the hell is somebody that young a fuckin' specialist on a humanity-saving mission?"

TOP SECRET

PROPERTY OF THE ROYAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

EXPULSION OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS CONSIDERED A ROYAL OFFENSE

Codename: MYTHOS INCREMENTUM

Celestia stared down at the parchment packet in front of her. The page was so simple, various lines of text. Regardless, the amount of weight it carried with it was immense to the point where it was almost unfathomable, even for an immortal being. The night before, she had been introduced to something that would change the fate of the entirety of Equis forever. preconceptions were shattered and the bounds of pony beliefs were questioned to the extremes. The princess, having descended the stairway that led to the laboratory that contained the strange device, was exposed to something, unlike anything she had ever seen before in her millennia of experience. Now, that same device had dragged her down to the castle dungeon time and time again over the past several days, even though she had never seen the object without a cloak. That brings us to where she is right now: on the same plush cushion, in the same stone room, surrounded by the same guards.

Even before any progress had been made to figuring out the inner workings, origin, or even the purpose of the foreign object, the normal workings of Canterlot had been completely disrupted. All three princesses had been working tirelessly to find the proper staff and resources to keep this entire situation a secret. Today, progress was made. There had been a massive breakthrough in the studies regarding the strange object by Princess Twilight and her personal team of scholars. The specifics of this breakthrough and the onslaught of information it brought with it, though currently unknown to most everybody in Equis, were sitting directly in her. However, Celestia was reluctant to open the packet. Not because she feared the information inside, but because there were currently four experts on their way to explain it to her and undermining their work may be detrimental to both them and her.

Behind her, Celestia heard hoofsteps echoing throughout the stone stairwell. Looking behind her, she saw Princess Twilight and Luna followed by two unicorns in lab coats. The only thing off-putting about them was the fact that they all looked like they were a bit insane. Their eyes were wide despite the fact that they all had bags under them. Their mouths were locked in grins and all of their ears were perking straight up. Celestia had not seen a more conflicting sight in the past century. Twilight was the one leading the single-file line. "Princess Celestia! You came! Good!" Twilight greeted as her wings unfurled in excitement. The four ponies joined Celestia in the stone room and flanked the opposite side of the packet, also sitting on cushions.

"Thank you for inviting me." Celestia finally replied to Twilight.

"But, of course, your Highness. A-actually, I..." Twilight shook her head to escape the drowsiness slowly taking over her body, "I wanted to thank you for putting me in charge of this project. I mean, this-this is the single most profound discovery in known history!"

The hired scientists glanced at each other and chuckled under their breath. Twilight, however, took notice and began to blush. "I-I suppose I did get a bit carried away there." Celestia took part in the laughter, too. Her melodious laughter filled the small confines and echoed throughout the dungeon system.

"Though I would love to discuss the grand scale of this project with you, I believe there are other things to discuss regarding the object we discovered." Celestia looked on with an expecting gaze at her former student. Twilights eyes lit up once again. "Yes! Right this way, your highnesses." Twilight stood and briskly trotted over to a door at the opposite end of the corridor attached to the stone room. As the rest of the group followed, Twilight's horn glowed and the lock on the door's handle began to glow, as well. Shifting and clicks could be heard from within the door until it began to creak open. Twilight stepped through, followed by the other two princesses and scientists. Their hoofsteps still echoed on the stone floor only, now, it sounded like they were in a much larger chamber. The chilly atmosphere was soon illuminated when torches that lined the walls automatically ignited with marvelous displays of flying embers. It was then that the true scale of the chamber was revealed to the group: the room, completely made of stone and marble, must have been no smaller than 35-by-50-by-25 hoof lengths. Sure, it wasn't gigantic but, for an underground facility, this was an engineering feat to marvel at.

The scientists were speechless, their heads gawking at the sheer magnitude f the underground compound. Luna stepped up to comfort them, "Deep breaths, my little ponies." she soothed with a motherly tone. The scholars blushed and scurried off to begin setting up their equipment for the demonstration that was planned. A vast majority of the room was empty space. At its center, there stood a metal table with an object on it covered by a red velvet cloak. Towards the entrance was an array of plush pillows behind a glass wall. There seemed to be multiple layers to ensure that the viewers were protected. Twilight walked over to the pillows and took a seat, motioning for Celestia to follow, "Please, princess." Celestia nodded and made her way next to Twilight. Once Luna had flanked Celestia on the other side, Twilight began.

"As you remember, several days ago we encountered a strange object that had seemingly crashed just outside the Ponyville city limits." The scientists began to make their way over to the cloaked object as Twilight continued. "By Luna's decree, we sent a squadron of Pegasus guards to extract the object and brought it back here." The scientists flanked the object and began removing the cloak. "Initially, we had no idea at all as to what it was. Now, we have made a great breakthrough and we are very eager to show you the progress we have made. But first, it is about time Celestia saw what has been the center of our efforts."

With that, the cloak was yanked off by the scientists. There, illuminated by dozens of torches, sat the object in question. Celestia was dumbstruck. "W-what on Equis is that?" she stammered. She got up and began making her way over to the alien artifact.

"Well, that is the thing, Princess. It isn't from Equis." Twilight slightly facetiously answered. Celestia rounded the object, circling it and examining all of its details. Luna and Twilight gave each other smirks as they watched their utterly speechless equal try to make sense of what had stumped even the brightest minds of the most cutting-edge departments in Equestria. Its odd pyramid-esque body lined with converging and diverging engravings. Throughout its body were odd vertical protrusions at which the engravings seemed to collectively converge at. Twilight and Luna came by Celestia's side.

"I see that you have taken an interest in the lines, sister." Luna began. Celestia paused her close inspection of the artifact and looked at Luna and Twilight. "I hope you finally understand why I had to step away from my duties around the castle." Twilight butted in. "I-I am really sorry for not being able to fulfill any of my tasks as a princess but... but, I mean, look at this!" Twilight finished her statement by using her wings to gesture to the object in its entirety.

Celestia merely chuckled. "Oh, Twilight. You should know by now that if I haven't even the capacity to prevent you from referring to me so formally that what I am concerning myself with excuses most everything." A smile came across Twilight's face as her eyes began to sparkle.

"Wonderful, Prin- I mean Celestia! Now, on with the demonstration!" Twilight practically pranced over to the bag of supplies that the scientists had brought in and began rummaging around. Celestia looked at Luna for some resemblance of an explanation for what Twilight was about to do. Luna simply shrugged.

Twilight re-emerged from the bag of supplies with a large metal cylinder which was connected to an even larger wooden box. Coming out of the wooden box were dozen of dozens of strips of metal which were connected to what looked like spring-loaded clamps. Twilight grunted as she slammed the box and its accessories on the table next to the artifact. "Okay!" she sighed. "Now, I bet you're wondering what this thing is." The scientists came over to take over the operation as the other princesses were motioned back behind the protective glass by Twilight. "We have a while before the demonstration is up and running, so..."

Luna butted in, "This is probably an ideal time to clear up any confusion that any of us have about the object." Twilight and Celestia nodded. Luna turned to the scientists around the foreign technology, "How much did Princess Twilight nag before you let her take over the project?" Twilight's face instantly became 10 shades redder and the scientists secretly chuckled to themselves. However, an aggressive glare form Princess Twilight quickly put an end to that.

"On another note, Twilight," Celestia looked towards the scientists attaching the clamps to the artifact's protrusions, "does your team have any idea as to what that is?"

Twilight was the first to perk up. "Well, no." She chuckled a bit. "We don't actually know anything about it. However, we do have several hypotheses." she finished, looking at Celestia with her chin up. Celestia rolled her eyes, "Well, you don't have to be a smart-flank about it." They shared a momentary chuckle but their attention was brought back to the situation at hand by Luna clearing her throat.

"Right. Now, we spent the first day with the object simply analyzing the material that the object is made of. Is there anything you notice that is odd about it?" Twilight began again. The other princesses both stared at Twilight with unamused glares.

"We appreciate the amount of energy you have devoted to becoming an exemplary teacher. However, we are not your students but, instead, your equals, princess." Luna firmly stated the bags under her eyes becoming more prominent. Twilight sighed, trying to re-formulate her "lesson plan." "Well, it is obviously metallic. However, as I am sure you noticed the engravings along the sides. When the retrieval team found the object, it appeared to be broken." Twilight motioned towars the top of the object. "The entire top half had been connected to another part of the entire machine. However, that piece seemed to be heavily damaged considering that it was crumpled and lodged elsewhere in the ground. Nonetheless, we retrieved it for study."

"Well, after an entire day of tapping it, shaking it, and using scrying spells, we came up with a radical idea. Of course, metal conducts. So..." Twilight looked at the other two princesses expectedly, who returned her stare with blank expressions. "Which means that this entire object conducts!" Twilight accentuated her exclaim with a flap of her wings. "And, I wanted to share what we learned using that fact with your highnesses today."

She seemed to have finished her sentence with the perfect timing as one of the scientists called out, "Princess, the battery has been successfully connected!"

"Wonderful! Begin charging the object!" Twilight replied and one of the scientists began using his magic to rotate the large handle protruding from the wooden box. She turned back towards her royal company. "Now, what you're looking at right now is a very experimental technology that the University of Canterlot developed just for this project." She motioned to the cylinder, "You see that metal cylinder in between the box and the object?" The princesses nodded. "That is acting as an intermediary for the electrical charge being used to power the device." This was when the princess' expressions faded and their anxious and excited expressions were replaced with blank ones. Twilight took note. "Look, your highnesses, it is very important to accept the fact that this object is..." she looked back at the artifact. "... is so far beyond anything we have ever seen before. Who-whatever constructed this is... rather technologically advanced. Exactly how far ahead of us are they? Well, we don't have a good estimate. It could be by several decades, perhaps by several millennia." When Twilight posed that the civilization who constructed this could have been thousands of years ahead of them, they froze.

Princess Celestia spoke up, her motherly instincts emerging. "Twilight, are you certain that everything we are doing here is safe?"

"Princess, I assure you. We have taken every precaution necessary. Even though electricity is still highly experimental, we believe that, utilizing the latest scholarly records and scientific articles, we have safely constructed a way to properly power this artifact."

Now, the princesses were confused. "Pardon me, did you say 'power?'" Luna blurted out. Twilight's dreary eyes widened once again.

"Oh, well, I suppose some of the surprises is ruined now..." she stated as she stared disappointedly into space. "Anyway," she began again, instantly regaining her composure, "the reason I mentioned the conductive properties of the object and the experimental development of this power source is that this... machine... uses electricity."

Princess Celestia gawked at the object, finally realizing its complexity. "Amazing..." she barely muttered. Very rarely would Celestia become speechless? However, electricity was still highly experimental in Equestria. Only recently had they figured out which material were able to transfer electricity more efficiently than others. Even so, they had not figured out why nor had they figured out how to effectively channel it without arcs causing short circuits. This device that was hastily developed was a revolutionary breakthrough in and of itself.

Suddenly, one of the scientists approached the princesses. "Princess Twilight, we are ready when you are," he said. Twilight gave her fellow princesses a cursory glance, to which they nodded. Conitnuing the trend, she finally nodded to the scientist who made hi way back to the artifact. His hoofsteps were all the more prominent now, with the princesses on edge with regards to what they were about to see. Every bit of stimuli had a heightened effect and the clicks of the device's loose components. One of the scientists' horns began to glow and a green aura surrounded the metal cylinder After about three seconds, it dissipated and the scientists called out, "Charge flowing!"

Silence.

Everypony in the room stared intently at the device as the tension in the room built. The more time elapsed, the greater the urge for everybody in the room to duck and cover. Perhaps what Twilight witnessed was only by chance. Perhaps it was merely a one-time occurrence. "Your Highnesses!" one of the scientists said as he stood. He took one last glance at the object and concluded, "I am afraid we will have to do this another da-" Twilight's ears immediately perked up, her fur began to stand up. She sensed something different about the object.

Princess Twilight interrupted, "Hold on a minute. Something isn't right here." She left her post behind the glass with the other princesses and made her way back over to the object, her body still tingling with suspicion. She eyed the object closely, putting her ear up to its side. To her surprise, she was able to make out a faint pulsating humming. The other princesses took note of Twilight's change in expression and came up beside her to see what was happening.

"Princesses, perhaps approaching it right now is not the best course of action." one of the scientists blurted out in a shaky tone. Luna diverted her course to reassure the scientists, "I find that it is best to allow Twilight to experiment without obstruction." She leaned in further. "For all of our sakes." The scientists simply smiled and nodded, backing away from the princesses' path.

With all four princesses huddled around the artifact, time seemed to slow as the three most important figures in all of Equestria stood a mere three hoof lengths away from something that nopony anywhere on Equis could possibly begin to understand. The torch lights in the room continued to sway and silence remained present as if everything was normal. However, in a desperate attempt driven by sheer curiosity, ponykind may have awoken a beast with powers that are unfathomable to them.

Lyra paced around the confines of her private study. Bonbon, along with the entirety of Ponyville was attending the first day of Bonbon's Cupcake Festival. Lyra made her way over to the one window in the closet-turned-library of Lyra's own creation. It was a small circular glass panel, not more than three hooves in diameter. It wasn't much but Lyra didn't need much light for what she was doing. Using her magic, she surrounded the thin drape in a mint-colored aura, moving it aside to reveal her surroundings. outside, in front of the lush expanses of grass between Ponyville and the Everfree, was one of the dirt roads leading into Ponyville. Today, it was understandably flooded with an almost constant stream of travelers arriving from the train station. they were either the last-minute or the elite who could afford to stay in Canterlot for the past couple of days. Bags of all colors passed by and the fact that the sun was shining brightly in the sky did not help form keeping people out of the streets. However, living on the outskirts of Ponyville had its obvious perks. Outside of the almost constant stream of clackering wagon wheels and the trotting of hooves against soil, the adjacent location of Lyra and Bonbon's house to pretty much everything in between Ponyville and Canterlot made life there pretty easy, on average, if you didn't mind walking a bit.

For the past couple of days, however, this seclusion has offered a reliable iron curtain to drape over their alien studies. With a sigh, Lyra returned to her desk. Ever since their return from Zebrica, what they had encountered in that rural village had stuck with them like tar. What was it? Why was it there? How did it get there? These questions would obviously take a while to answer. Lyra turned her attention back to the desk in front of her. On it was a huge piece of parchment, completely smeared with a thin layer of ink form all of the drawing and writing Lyra had done to catalog exactly what she saw that day. She had actually been cataloging everything that she had encountered regarding human civilization ever since her encounter with the crashed object outside the Everfree. However, throughout the past couple of days, truth had been nagging at her. Lyra made her way into the kitchen and slumped down o the wooden floor, right where Bonbon had sat depressed prior to their trip to Zebrica. This whole ordeal was progressing far further than Lyra could have ever anticipated. Perhaps, she thought, her research would have rewritten a few history books or created a few cults at most. But take over an entire continent via biological-to-mechanical matter conversion? I don't think so.

Lyra sighed. She needed to do something. Bonbon had to be at the festival because, well, if the main person at one of the largest celebrations in all of Equestria was missing, then the public may find out about why she was missing. This all lead back to the truth that Lyra knew was slowly becoming more and more prominent: her research was stagnating. While Zebrica is being devoured, she is sitting here slouching on the kitchen floor. Then, an idea popped into her head for a while back. Why not just go and get a sample of the machine instead f just sticking to drawings from memory? There is the chance that somepony might see her trying to steal stuff should the operation take longer than expected. Plus, even if she did find more with samples, was she really going to be able to tackle this all by herself, even with Bonbon? Regardless, she needed to get going. With the festival keeping everypony occupied in downtown Ponyville, it should be especially easy to sneak out to the crash site, even in broad daylight.

The front door of the Bonbon household creaked until it finally snapped shut. Lyra looked to her right, towards the resto f Ponyville where a grand fanfare and the occasional cheer could be heard. Reassured that people were wholly occupied with the festival, she began on her way. Eventually, the sound of partying died out as it was replaced by the breeze rustling the trees nearby as well as the occasional bird chirp. "Howdy, partner!" Lyra playfully stated as she passed the scarecrow that marked the detour to Sweet Apple Acres. That also meant that she should be coming up to the crash site right about n- Where is it?

...

"Where did it go?!" Lyra whisper-yelled as she galloped up to the indentation in the ground and began frantically swiping the air with her forehooves.

"Where did what go?" a deep voice suddenly stated from behind her. Lyra yelped and jumped in surprise. As she regained her composure and turned around, she came face-to-face with a Pegasus Guard clad in golden and blue armor. He wore an unamused expression, with eyes that stared deep into her soul. Lyra gulped.

"H-hey there, Mr. Guard!" Lyra instantly assumed a forced innocent demeanor, "Wow! wonderful weather we are having today, eh?" She nudged him in the chest plate and his expression did not change. "Heh heh..." Lyra's fake smile began to fade as she realized that there was no way to sway this guard's opinion.

"Please come with me, miss." The guard commanded as he wrapped his left wing around Lyra and began pushing her in the direction of a chariot sitting nearby. How did she miss that on the way over? Lyra struggled to break free but this pony's wings were... developed, to say the least. The guard took note of Lyra's struggles and attempted to calm her saying, "Do not resist, ma'am. You are not in any trouble yet." Lyra began to calm down and her struggles decreased in magnitude. As they reached the chariot and Lyra began to climb the steps to get in, she looked towards Ponyville and began to wonder what Bonbon will think when she returns home tonight. Not to mention what this whole investigation would be- wait, did he say "yet?"