Chapters Two colts trotted away from the village as the sky darkened. Kip looked up towards the growing clouds.
"I think now might be a bad time," he said, "the storm is getting worse."
The other colt didn't seem to care.
"It's fine," he responded, "It'll only take a minute. You have to see this."
Kip jumped as lightning struck nearby.
"Streey, we should go."
The other colt didn't respond. He just stopped at the top of the hill.
"What is that?" Kip asked.
They looked down into a crater where a large purple column sat surrounded by stone spikes, all pointed towards the center.
"I found it yesterday," Streey said, "I have no idea what it is."
They approached the base of the crater. Lightning struck right in front of them, and the column lit up with strange characters. The two stared in terror as a strange shape began to form on the side. Glowing gears began to slide into place, assembling a holographic mechanism. The glowing text that covered the spire faded and the gears started to move. It was counting. Streey and Kip glanced at each other. When they looked back to the counter, its large hand jumped. Kip's horn immediately started to glow. But not with regular magic. It was much more powerful- it was supercharging. Streey, who was an Earth-Pony and had no horn, only watched in awe. Then he realized that Kip was in pain. He couldn't make it stop. As he stared, he felt something strange- he didn't want it to stop. Streey wanted to understand this thing. He wanted it to keep going.
The large hand moved again and the sparks ceased. Kip was gasping for breath.
"Are you alright?" Streey asked.
"What is that thing?" Kip exclaimed.
Streey's eyes grew wide. "You know who else should see this?"
"Wow!" Sugar Crystal exclaimed, "You could build a spaceship with all this stuff!"
"I tried my hoof at the spaceship thing," Vicona said, gesturing to a large covered machine behind him, "It's harder than it sounds."
Vicona Artray was rather new to town. He was a tinkerer and former engineer, but his primary focus now was music. Nopony knew why he quit or why he moved here, but he set his shop by the towncenter and started selling his old stuff.
"What's this?" a purple pegasus asked. Summer Lilly was also new, she had moved in just weeks before Vicona had.
"That's a radio," Vicona answered.
"Oh," Summer said with dampened interest.
"I used to use it to listen to stuff in space."
"Do they have music in space?" Crystal asked.
"No, it's actually very boring."
Quietly in the back, another filly just listened as she examined the odds and ends with no apparent interest. While she was zoned out on a random what-not, Vicona came to see what she was staring at.
"That controls the radio," he said.
She jumped as her mind snapped back into focus.
"I can turn it on if you like," he continued.
Crystal bounced over. "Do it!" she exclaimed.
Vicona adjusted the dial with his wing and activated it.
The radio blared to life behind Summer, who jumped to turn it down.
The ponies gathered in front of the radio, listening to the static noise it made.
"I can't hear anything," Summer said, rubbing her ears.
"I hear voices," said Crystal.
Everypony leaned in as words faintly became audible.
"Can y-... hear?... We nee- help... Stre-... " then it quit.
"Well..." said Crystal, "That's not music. Oh well, I've gotta bounce."
"I still didn't hear anything," said Summer, who followed crystal out of the shop.
The only pony who seemed concerned was Starskater- the quiet filly. Not only did she appear concerned, but she went completely pale, which was easy to tell despite her silver-white coat.
"Are you okay?" Vicona asked, "What's Streey?"
"I... don't really like to think about it," she whispered- the first words he had heard from her all day, mavbe even all week.
Vicona had known her the longest. He had actually met her prior to his moving here.
"Is Streey why you're so... quiet?" he asked, "Come on, we're friends, you can tell me."
Starskater sat silently for a minute and inhaled deeply.
"Streey-," she began, "First, I'm gonna have to be completely honest- my name isn't actually Starskater. I changed it so he wouldn't be able to find me."
"Streey?"
"Yes- Streey. He was a pony who was obsessed with magic. He took me along with hundreds of other unicorns to experiment on. I don't even remember how I got away."
"That must have been them on the radio. We have to help them."
"I can't go back there. I don't want to go back there."
"But they asked for help, if anyone can help them, it's you. You escaped, surely we can help."
Starskater sighed, "It's a long way off, but I can show you."
Starskater and Vicona looted his shop for all the useful gear they could find. They filled both their saddlebags with tools and supplies. According to Starskater, the trip was a couple days long.
Starskater was a mysterious pony- she was quiet and shy, she apparently was subject to tyrannical experiments, and did she say her name wasn't actually Starskater? The mare had a silver mane- just darker than her coat. Her one splash of color was the rich blue stripe that ran down her mane and tail, which matched her cobalt eyes.
Viconan also kept largely to himself, mostly due to the fact that he hadn't really met anypony other than those three fillies. He had a very bright blue mane- unnaturally bright, which helped set it apart from his softer blue coat. Vicona also sported a pair of silver headphones, which he never seemed to use.
They left towards the South- the Plains was what everypony called it, and it was pretty much a giant field of grass, which had died short by this time of year. The Plains continued on for miles until they reached the Carrier Mountains, visible on the horizon. This was where Summer Lilly once resided. Her old village was at the bottom of the pass, but Starskater insisted that they go over.
The ponies climbed through the dry peaks, even the sun had long since set. When they stopped for the night neither of them spoke. The silence was deafening. Even quiet nights back at the village were filled with singing frogs and chirping crickets. Up here, there wasn't even a breeze to fill the silent air.
Vicona didn't sleep, and Starskater likely didn't either, Vicona was thinking about who Streey was and what could lead a pony to do such terrible things. He was just getting to the point of exhaustion when he heard Starskater gasp. He turned around and saw her curled up tightly and trembling. Her horn was glowing faintly.
"Starskater, are you alright?"
And just like that, it stopped.
"I- I'm fine."
Vicona stayed up until she was asleep. By then the sun was already beginning to peak up.
They were up late the next morning and on their way again. They passed over the wide ravine that divided the mountain range and descended into the forest that had not yet felt the cooling weather.
The sky was cloudless and blue, and the grass slowly became mixed with soft sand. Even as the sun rose high, a cool breeze kept them refreshed. A smaller mountain range appeared in front of them, but it was more like broken stone hills then mountains. Just in the distance, almost directly in front of them, a bright bolt of lightning came down from the clear sky.
"I think that's it," Starskater said.
They turned their trot into a gallop as they approached the circle of stone spikes.
Author's Note
I actually have songs slotted in the script in place of some scenes. This entire chaper was not in the script, but instead it says, "...they are shown persevering through all kinds of circumstances."
The ground was completely dirt and cold stone. There were no plants or animals were nearby, only sharp-looking stone columns and wreckages of old transport ships. They walked slowly and quietly, searching for a sign of the unicorns that sent the distress call. The two came upon a circle of stone spikes surrounding an ominous purple column. There was a clock of sorts imprinted on the side of the column, and it was counting. In front of the clock stood a unicorn. He had a black and orange mane and a pure white coat.
The unicorn turned and saw the visitors. "Who are you?" he asked.
Vicona hesitated, "Umm...Are you Streey?"
"Yes," the unicorn almost seemed to ask.
"We're here to rescue the unicorns you kidnapped," Vicona declared.
Starskater couldn't believe her ears.
Streey just looked confused, but then all of a sudden, he fired a blast from his horn. Starskater jumped up front to cast a shield. Streey turned to run, but they chased after him. They had only taken a few steps when the clock's large hand moved. Starskater's horn glowed brightly, and bolts were sent everywhere. Vicona stopped to see Starskater bent towards the ground, breathing heavily. Vicona then noticed as a ship launched from behind him and disappeared into the sky. Turning back to Starskater, he saw that she was still frozen in place.
"That w-was just one tick. What happens when it gets all the way?"
Vicona looked up at the clock. It was only a few good ticks away from circling all the way around.
"Let's not stick around to find out," he said and started walking back towards home.
"Wait," Starskater called, "It doesn't just happen to unicorns who are nearby."
Vicona stopped.
She continued, "It also happens to anypony who's wearing a cuff."
"A what?"
"All of Streey's unicorns have a cuff that controls their magic. They're linked to the clock, I think, which will deliver the shock to them."
"But where are they? They were supposed to be right here."
"I don't know. Streey used to just have a village of them right here. He must have moved them."
"I saw him leave that way. We can fix up one of these ships and follow him."
Starskater looked at the wrecks around them. "I thought you said it was hard."
"Well, it is, but we can find one that won't take so long to fix."
They scanned through the ruins for an hour or so before finding a good machine. Vicona began repairing it while Starskater gathered useful parts from the other ships. The clock managed another tick before they finished, sending a searing pain through Starskater.
With the ship finished, they managed to take off in the direction of Streey.
"We need to get some fuel first," said Vicona.
"Are you sure it'll hold?" Starskater asked, eyeing the ship around her suspiciously.
"Of course it'll hold," Vicona answered, "We just need fuel."
The ship lurched suddenly.
"I'm sure that was nothing, he continued.
They arrived at a fueling depot where they were greeted by an android pony.
"Hello," he said, "My name is Chrome Cylinder, and let me just say- that is the worst ship that I have ever seen."
Starskater just laughed as Vicona responded, "Yes, well, I was in a hurry."
"I will perform complimentary maintenance and repairs."
"Um, thanks?"
Chrome proceeded to gather a few other androids and deliver instructions. Over the course of ten minutes, they had practically rebuilt the ship.
Chrome returned to them shortly after and said, "It appears that your ship's O2 synthesizer has been misplaced- likely fallen off during flight. It has been replaced, however, and your tank is full. Is there any other service I can offer?"
Vicona answered,"Thanks, but-"
Starskater interrupted, "Yes. Have you seen a pony named Streey with maybe a hundred or so unicorns?"
"Streey? The Earth-Pony with the mechanical horn? I don't see what business you lovely ponies have with somepony like that. But, to my knowledge, he currently resides on a space station behind the dark side of the moon."
"We're trying to rescue the unicorns he captured," Vicona added.
"That sounds like an adventure... Hey, would you mind if I tag along? I can keep your terrible ship in repair so you can survive your trip."
Vicona began to object, but Starskater once again cut him short.
"Absolutley, we could use somepony who knows their way around."
The group of three boarded the ship and left towards the moon.
"Will they be okay with you leaving?" Vicona asked.
"The headpony isn't on site at this time. He will never miss my departure."
As they began rounding the moon, a fleet of small starships came into view.
"That's new," Chrome said, "I don't think they will let you through."
Vicona accelerated towards the fleet, hoping to catch then off guard. Unfortunately, it did not take them long to respond. Laser-bolts were fired at them as they rapidly approached. The ship shook as one or two shots landed a hit. The ship started flashing warnings as the fire got heavy.
"I will go outside to perform repairs," Chrome said.
"Be careful," Vicona responded.
Starskater was nowhere to be seen.
Vicona looked up to see a bright flash headed right for them. The ship shook violently and the viewport cracked.
"Starskater! We need a shield," he called out.
Starskater didn't show.
They passed through the fleet, sustaining a couple more hits before the fire ended. They didn't fire towards the station, which was now on the other side of their target.
Vicona landed and saw several androids on the station look their way.
"We need to hurry," he said as Starskater entered, "Where have you been."
"I-"
"Nevermind, we don't have time."
They hurried outside, when Starskater asked, "Where's Chrome?"
The android was gone. They both looked up to the ships above them.
"No..." Starskater whispered.
"Hey! Hault!" somepony yelled.
They spun around to see two android guards approaching.
"Run," Vicona said.
Starskater teleported them past the guards. Surprised, Vicona followed quickly after Starskater.
"You can teleport? Why didn't we just teleport to the station before?"
"I can only teleport to places I've seen."
The guards were slow. It was no trouble getting away from them, but not being seen was hard not being seen. Not only were there so many guards, but Vicona's bright blue mane was hard to hide.
Once they were out of sight, Starskater asked, "Where is everypony? I've only seen guards."
"Maybe they're all inside," Vicona suggested as he knocked on the door of one of the houses.
"Vicona!" Starskater whispered, "What if there are guards in there?"
Vicona froze as he realized his mistake. The door opened, revealing a confused unicorn.
"What are you two doing out so late," she said, "come in."
They hesitated, but then entered cautiously. Inside there were two other unicorns- one stallion and another mare.
"Guests?" the stallion asked.
"We don't many pegasi around here," said the second mare.
Vicona glanced at his wings then said, "We're hear to get you home."
"Home?" the stallion asked, "We're already home."
"But... Streey-" before he could finish, Starskater waved his attention to the cuffs the unicorns were wearing. "Can we have a moment?" he finished.
Vicona followed Starskater back into the front room.
"I think they've been brainwashed," she said.
"This just got complicated."
"Maybe we should-" once again, Starskater received a shock from the column.
"But we're nowhere near the it," Vicona said.
"It's getting stronger. It's almost time."
"The others!" Vicona realized and ran back into the main room.
"I'm gonna step outside..." Starskater said.
She stood on the porch and drew a deep breath. Then she felt something cold and metal jammed onto her horn. She tried to use magic, but she couldn't. Three guards stepped surrounded and prompted her towards the center of the city.
"Is everpony okay?" Vicona asked.
"What do you mean?" the first mare asked, seemingly oblivious to the magic surge.
"I should probably go," Vicona said.
When he stepped outside Starskater was gone.
"Not good..."
Starskater ran down hallway after hallway, trying to remember the way she came in. She was sure that she was nearing the entrance when she ran right into an android.
Starskater gasped, but the android said, "Shh! It's me."
"You're alive!"
"I just fell off the ship is all. This way, we need to find Vicona."
Vicona had managed to alert four guards and was now in the process of losing them. Unfortunately, the closer to capital, the more androids there were. He cut a corner and made a dash for it when he heard somepony call his name.
"Vicona!"
He stopped and turned. There in the alley was Chrome and Starskater.
"Chrome?" he said, joining them in the shadows.
"I'll explain later," he said, "we need to return to the castle."
"I think I know how to free the unicorns," Vicona said.
"Me too," Chrome responded, "We can de-activate the cuffs from there."
"Right, the cuffs seem to cause the unicorns to forget anything out-of-the-ordinary that happens to them."
"Guys," Starskater moaned, "I'm not feeling well..."
Chrome answered, "It's most likely just nausea from the false gravity. It will pass."
Chrome proceeded towards the capital and Starskater followed. Vicona was concerned, but went after them.
Streey stood over the shoulder of an android, watching a red dot on a screen as it moved back towards his castle.
"I was hoping you'd come back."
As they were making their way back through the corridors of the capital building, Starskater stopped. She squinted dizzily down another hallway.
"I think we should go this way," she said.
Vicona turned around. "Are you sure? I think the control vault is this way."
Chrome stopped as well."I concur, I am confident that the vault is further up."
Starskater shook off her blank expression. "You're probably right. I thought it looked familiar."
"No, why are they still going up?" Streey asked to nopony in particular, "They need to come here."
"Perhaps they are headed to the control center?" the android suggested.
"Why would they-? Oh..."
The control vault was just below Streey's throne room, about halfway up the tower. Once they arrived, Vicona and Chrome immediately set to deactivating the cuffs. To Vicona's concern Starskater was hardly able to stand upright at this point. Chrome began turning the coding dial to reset the cuffs.
The door behind opened, revealing Streey and several android guards.
"Well, this exactly what I didn't want you to do. I asked you to leave and you didn't, so now I'm going to take you all prisoner."
"Wait!" Vicona said.
Streey just sighed. "I know how this goes. Do you think that you're the only renegades I've had to deal with?"
The coding dial continued to turn.
"Starskater escaped," Vicona said, "She escape your entire army."
"I have a hundred unicorns and a thousand guards, besides, she seems incapacitated."
Vicona glanced at Starskater, who was very obviously dizzy. "She's fine," he said. As soon as he finished, Starskater proceeded to vomit behind him.
"Most subjects don't take well to having chips chemically reactivated," Streey said.
The androids around him collapsed to the floor. Streey was shocked and jumped back as the three ponies charged towards him.
"Good move," Vicona said as they ran back down.
"I didn't think he he would buy it any longer," Chrome replied.
"I had Starskater's help." Vicona glanced at the mare, who was now really pale. "We need to hurry, she needs attention."
"No attention please," she said.
They exited the castle when Vicona stopped.
"We still need to figure out how to get everypony out of here before Streey reactivates the cuffs," he said.
Chrome responded, "Rather than shut off the cuffs, I sent them instructions to gather in your ship."
"Nice, I hope they all fit..."
Sure enough, they arrived at their ship to find it full of unicorns.
"I hope that's everypony," Vicona said, "They're catching up."
They took off, but the androids could fly. They followed them towards the blockade. What they did not notice was the unicorn filly, watching them leave from a rooftop below.
On the ship, Chrome began removing the cuffs from the unicorns' horns. As they approached the fleet, Starskater managed to cast a shield, which lasted just long enough for Vicona to get past. It was a straight shot to home, but the android army still followed.
Starskater spent most of her time on top of this hill. She came here whenever she needed to relax or think. She would come up here and dance. Under sun, under the moon, under the clouds and stars, she would dance her stress away. She moved smoothly and gracefully, standing up on her hind leg and reaching towards the setting sun.
Vicona had seen her since they landed. He was told that he could find her here.
"Starskater?" he asked
Startled, she dropped to all-fours. "I-I didn't know you were waiting for me."
"I didn't mean to interrupt, but something you said has been on my mind. A while ago you told me that your name wasn't actually Starskater."
Starskater walked and sat down by the large tree that accompanied her atop the hill. She drew a deep breath and said, "My name was Filia."
Vicona walked over and sat down beside her.
"I like that name."
Starskater was taken into a metal castle at the center of the city. She was lead all the way up to the throne room where her nightmare sat, staring at her from across the room.
"Just her?" Streey asked, "You know what, if you could only get one, at least it was the right one."
Starskater just stared.
"I thought I recognized you," he continued, "You're subject 2.14. I had big plans for you, but thanks to a glitch in the system, I lost all my work. Well, not all my work."
Starskater just continued to stare without a word.
"Seriously? That's it? I that after all these years you'd, I don't know, may be more surprised to see me."
He walked up to Starskater.
"You are 2.14, right?" he said, then noticed the horn cuff. "Get this thing off her."
A guard removed the cuff, and Streey slipped on another, which he had just scribbled the number 2.14 on.
"Yep, you're definitely 2.14. Come, let's discuss our issues over food. Surely you're hungry."
Vicona ran as quickly and quietly as he could through the city. She must have been seen, but where would they have taken her? The capital building stood out in the center of the city- it was probably the best place to start.
Starskater was rather hungry, but she didn't dare touch any of the food.
"I'm a reasonable pony," Streey said, "You don't need to be shy, we're friends, right?"
A unicorn came and poured water into her cup.
Streey continued, "I just had an idea- How about I let you and your friend go. You two can just leave my city, and I'll never bother you again. You don't bother me, and I won't force you into potentially life-threatening experiments."
Starskater sipped her drink. "I can just go?"
Streey removed the cuff. "Just remember, if I see you or that pegasus here again, all bets are off."
Starskater backed up slowly, then turned around. She eyed him over her shoulder and ran.
The unicorn waitress walked up to Streey. "You took her cuff off?" she asked.
"You remeber the old batch?" he asked.
He got a blank stare.
"Of course you don't... A group of five or so unicorns not only got a cuff, but also an internal microchip. It just needed to be chemically reactivated."
The unicorn was confused.
"Nevermind."
Author's Note
The original script did not have the cutscene of Vicona running through the city.
The ship had landed hard at the site of the clock. Once Vicona got out, he saw Streey standing with hundreds of androids behind him. They start to march towards him, but a beam appeared from behind him and shut down one of the androids. It was one of the unicorns. Streey scowled as the group of unicorns they rescued emerged from the ship and began fighting the androids. Streey was lost in the chaos until one unicorn caught his attention. Starskater stood with a dazed glare, staring right at him. Streey charged at her and she half-walked towards him. Starskater fell and slid past him, taking the opportunity to hit his metal horn with a blast. The mechanical horn sprayed sparks as the metal bent and broke. The androids began to stop fighting one by one as Starskater walked back towards the ship.
"We have to stop the clock," Vicona said.
Starskater nodded and looked at the spire. She fired a sustained spell at the column, but she couldn't gather enough energy to stop it. Another unicorn joined, followed by another. Streey was helpless to watch as the entire crowd of unicorns joined in on the effort. The clock began to glow brightly, then its large hand spun almost a quarter of the way back. All of the unicorns stopped and watched the frozen hands of the clock.
"You can'r stop the clock," Streey said, breaking the silence, "Nothing will stop it from going."
True to his word, and to the crowd's dismay the clock's small hand continued its movement.
"By my estimate," said Chrome, "You have added approximately two years to the clock."
"I guess we have until then to figure out how to stop it," Vicona said.
The unicorns packed once again into the beaten ship. They were to be taken to their old villages or relatives. Many of them suffered memory loss, those of whom returned to the village with Starskater, Chrome, and Vicona.
