Humanity's Intentby Mythos-Of-CreationChaptersNightmare's IsolationA boring beginingOpposite WorldsNightmare's IsolationEquestria’s Moon Cold and desolate. Those are the words that would be used to describe Nightmare Moon’s current predicament. She had lost to the weakling’s sister and was now imprisoned on the moon. She fumed with anger, pacing back and forth until finally she would scream out and fire a blast of magic into space. She did this multiple times, in an attempt to relieve any stress she could. ‘It won’t help’ A quiet voice whispered into her mind. Nightmare immediately let loose another silent scream. She slammed her hooves into the ground. Shattering it on impact. ‘SILENCE YOU WHELP! It's your fault that we are stuck here you useless, inbred WEAKLING!’ She shouted through their mental connection. Luna fell silent and Nightmare started to repeat her earlier actions. She then tried to fly but to no avail. Her wings failed her, just as her magic failed to do anything to the shield that kept her on the moon. Whenever she directed the blast directly at the shield, it would bounce off and simply slam back into her. When she didn’t aim for it, it would simply pass through with no resistance. She had originally thought that she could use that to her advantage but was sorely mistaken. As soon as she would make contact with the shield, she would be greeted with immense pain. This didn’t stop her from trying multiple times though. Each time she would grow more and more tired until finally, she was able to move no more. When she woke she struggled to even get up. That had been another thing she was struggling with. Breathing. There was no oxygen on the moon, instead, she was being kept alive by the spell itself. But she still found herself trying to take in air, which would eventually lead her to hyperventilate. She would freak out to the point where she would fall unconscious, and into a dreamless sleep. Nightmare hated them, she hated all of them. She wanted to hurt them so badly, but she couldn’t reach them. She couldn’t reach her. The source of her pain, the one responsible for her imprisonment. Celestia. The things she would do to her if she gets free… ‘If…’ She shuddered at the thought. She was unsure if she would ever be free. She found no flaws in the spell that currently held her. And Luna had no knowledge of the spell that her sister had used. Nightmare wanted to cry, she wanted to scream and yell. She wanted to tear Luna and Celestia apart till nothing remained. But she was here. Unable to do anything. Unable to count the days, she lost track of time. Her thoughts went through loops, as did her actions. Luna stayed quiet for long periods of time, and when she did speak, it was only fuel to her fire. A fire that was running on fumes at this point. Nightmare could feel it. What remained of her sanity was melting away. After some time, Luna retreated into her own mind leaving Nightmare to suffer alone. Not that she cared. Whenever she could, Nightmare would poke and prod the magical shield until she would grow angry enough and try ramming through it with brute force. Time and time again she would pass out from the pain. It never got any easier for her to handle. She would start to form bruises, and sometimes even cuts. Thought the cuts would heal near instantly. After more time had passed Nightmare found herself missing having her to talk to. Despite how much it disgusted her she needed sompony to talk to her. To have an intelligent conversation to keep her sane. But no matter how hard she tried, Luna would not stir. In a desperate attempt, she started to use her magic to build pony statues that she would play out her revenge on. Time and time again she would end up blasting them to pieces, start crying, rebuild them, and blast them again in anger. She went like this for years, or was it hours? She could never tell. Eventually, she stopped moving altogether. She just laid down on the cold hard ground. She tried to sleep but to no avail. She closed her eyes but remained fully conscious. She started to hallucinate after that. She would see Celestia or Luna in front of her. She attempted to attack them at first but found that her body refused to move. Her insults turned to pleas as time went on. Then she stopped seeing anything. She found that she could no longer open her eyes. The irony of the situation was that she was now truly living in a world of eternal night. She hated it. She hated every second of it, she couldn’t move, see, or even think properly after some time. She begged for a death that would never come. The immortal body that she had stolen wouldn’t allow her to die, and neither would the spell. Though she knew it was not for her to live. But rather for Luna to live. She was just a parasite to everypony, and this was the treatment to kill her. But death would never come, it seemed so close at times, but was taken away from her each time by the spell. However, it was with this that her hatred started to burn once more. The spell denied her her death that she wished for. She wanted it gone, and she wanted to kill the one who placed it, but she couldn’t move. She just wanted something to save her. Save her from this eternal damnation, but nothing came. Until finally, after what felt like eons for her, she heard something. Surprisingly, she found that she could open her eyes, and immediately thought that she was hallucinating once more, for what she saw defied everything she knew. A metal mountain, which was scorched, and torn apart like something had played a tug of war match with it, crashed into the magic shield that made her prison. And then it did something that her power couldn’t even come close to. It completely smashed the shield and went silently crashing into the surface of the moon. Then fireballs started to escape from different parts of the mountain. Though as soon as they erupted the died off due to the lack of oxygen. Sheets of metal were sent flying, and explosions kicked up dust and scarred the landscape. Her mind was torn on what to do, she found the will to stand and looked back and forth between the planet that held the subject of her revenge, and the thing that had saved her from her never ending torment. Then her thoughts split into two different voices. Revenge... Freedom... The two voices fought for control over one another. Nightmare found her body being yanked back and forth between the two possibilities. She couldn’t decide. Her mind was racing for the first time in what felt like an eternity, and it caused an insufferable headache. The voices continued to shout over and over again, and each time they grew louder and louder. Revenge.. Freedom.. Revenge. Freedom. Revenge! She started to charge up her horn, the magic formed into a raw form, crackling with black and blue streaks of lightning. She closed her eyes once more and finally made a decision. ‘FREEDOM!’ Author's Note This is my first time writing a MLP themed story, so forgive me if it seems off. I am mainly just testing out a story idea that I have. I'm not too well versed in MLP's lore, so this is my own take on what it would be like to be stuck on the moon for 1000 years. This is a crossover with one of my own stories, so if there are any questions about it feel free to ask. Anyways thank you for reading! A boring beginingDate: 10/25/19R-0002 Admiral level document AXQ4; Admiral Thomas Mc’Ortley (Warning Classified uncensored data inside) “Summarized” Please read the full document when there is time available. This document contains information about the GearFive Fleet. (Galactic Exploration And Reconnaissance/ GEAR.) The 50th largest U.F.A fleet remaining after then end of the war. It consists of 50,207 heavy class ships, 6,482 light class ships, 800,000 Mechas, 450000 misc., and 486 million personnel. This fleet has been commissioned at the end of the war, designated with the sole purpose of exploring distant galaxies, as well as looking for any potential threats to the U.F.A and those under its protection. Most of the ships included in GearFive’s Fleet are ones that have either been recommissioned and repaired or have been constructed within the past 14 months. New generations of Heavy class star ships are to be treated carefully and no unusual actions should be taken unless in an emergency. If an emergency does arise that jeopardizes the previous statement, a complete record must be filed and documented. In the event that a Heavy class star ship is to be lost, and not enough information is recorded as to the cause, or the information is lacking in crucial details, the fleet admiral will be held directly responsible. Of the 486 million personnel that make up the crew of GearFive, 120 million are U.F.A Marines, 200 million are engineers and miscellaneous ship personnel. The 140 million are essential crew. 250 thousand are classified as non-essential personnel and 24.75 million are U.F.A Soldiers. This deployment, of Soldiers, has been estimated to be around an 89th of the remaining Soldiers alive and or active. Due to the new PeaceTime Accords, many military assets are now being put under the lens of the U.F.A government. As of 10/8/19R-0002, debates are still going on as to whether or not new Soldiers are to be created and trained, or if the program should be put on ice, or shut down indefinitely. As such, requests for more soldiers will currently be both logged and denied until further notice. Please check pages 10483-12496 for more information on the requisition of more military personnel. Mecha development has had significant funding added, and new and improved Mechas have been supplied to GearFive for testing purposes only. Any usage of the newer class Mechas must be cleared by military personnel with level ABA1 status. If usage is cleared, all run time information must be recorded and sent back to U.F.A servers for evaluation. All unauthorized usage must be documented. Falsification of any documents will lead to the immediate termination of any Mecha deployments. However multiple accounts of unauthorized usage will only result in the termination of GearFive’s Vanguard testing until acceptable reasons have been given. Along with Atlas Class Mechas, the new Vanguard Class Mechas have had more funding than other projects, as of 5/03/19R-0001, as a direct order from {REDACTED}. Orders have also been given to give Vanguard technology to older Mechas until such time as the new Vanguard Mechas have been fully implemented into the standard military. The GearFive fleet has been given one operational Atlas class Mecha for emergencies only. Mission Statement GearFive’s current mission is to travel through Galaxy 16, the last closest galaxy in the Soul Cluster. After traversing through Galaxy 16, and having acquired the Inter-dimensional Relay that is located on the planet Calavore V, GearFive is to start the estimated 1500-year journey to Galaxy 17, AKA: Ignotum Stellas. Due to insufficient data around Stellas, GearFive is to be escorted by The Suppression Fleet until an Inter-dimensional Relay has been established in Ignotum Stellas. The 5th Suppression Fleet is to be dispatched, all other fleets are to remain on standby for the duration. Any request for additional information regarding the other Suppression Fleets will be regarded as an act of high treason. Due to the nature of this document’s particular access level, this information should be the first time you have heard of multiple Suppression Fleets, if it is not, you are to immediately report where and when you were made aware of this information. All information regarding the other fleets will be made available once GearFive has completed its mission. After the fleet has determined a suitable location for the Inter-dimensional Relay it is to be deployed. After the Inter-dimensional Relay has been deployed, the construction of The Galiant Repressor space station is to begin. Estimated time for completion of the assigned tasks is 2,000 years at minimum, and 3000 years at maximum. If the U.F.A is not able to get in contact with GearFive by the 3,000-year mark, the mission will be deemed a failure and no further fleets will be deployed to the galaxy for 500 years, or until the information has been gathered as to the current state of the fleet. Further action will be decided upon by that time. After you have read the summary as well as read the full, or plan to read the full report, please report to the Trivictian Sector in Galaxy 12. Note: Your position will be as the Lead Admiral of the above-mentioned Fleet. Questions of pay, benefits, and other misc. questions will be answered in the last 5500 pages of the full report. If you have any further questions that are not answered by the document please contact the U.F.A Government and not the U.F.A Military. Inside a somewhat large room, there was a single bed against a wall, a metal desk and chair, and a large holographic screen that was currently dimmed. The only sound in the room was faint breathing and the sound of a fan. The room was very plain, with only a few minute details in the form of a rather oddly shaped plant with orange leaves, along with 4 picture frames. Two of the picture frames held sheets of paper that were addressed as military achievements. The other two were pictures of what appeared to be a family of 5 in one, and a graduation photo with a caption and multiple written notes in the corner: “The 255th Class of Graduated Admirals,18R 4/27/8345” “Never thought you’d make it!” “Congratulations Thomas!” “See you on the battlefield” On the bed, itself was a human man reading from a holopad. His face was full of color, with very few imperfections. His hair was a light brown with a few hints of silver. He had large darkened bags under his green eyes, indicating a lack of sleep. He was currently sitting down on the thin black cloth that made up the entirety of the “sheets” on the bed. The man, known as Thomas, dragged his eyes down the page, and the screen seemed to follow along with his pace. Every time he got close to the bottom, the page would scroll up. The page number was “2,721,455”, and the title of the paragraph was labeled “Pay and Benefits”. Thomas let out a long sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose before moving one hand away from the pad, and over to the desk on his left. He then picked up a remote that was sitting on it and proceeded to point it at the large HoloScreen on the wall. With a click of a button on the side, the hologram was now showing what appeared to be a schedule. There were numerous bullet points in a very long list, and only 3 were crossed out so far. He got up off the bed and quickly stretched his arms and then proceeded to crack his back. He then let out a sigh of relief as he turned his attention back to the desk. On it was a hardcover book titled “Admirals Guide to the 6th Reformation”. Just as he was about to pick the book up a metallic beep filled the room. The door’s control panel, which was green, lit up yellow, indicating that someone was outside of his door. He looked over to the door at called out. “It's open.” As soon as he said that the door then chimed again and the panel lit up blue, resulting in the door being pulled into the side of the wall. Standing in the door frame was a tall human man, standing around 7ft tall. The doorway, however, was 10ft tall, easily accommodating the man. He was wearing a grey suit, with a pin on the left side of his chest that depicted one large shooting star and smaller comets trailing behind it. His face was rough and jagged: brown eyes, dark black hair, and a scar running along his left ear to the center of his forehead. He then quickly brought up his hand and saluted Thomas. “Sir! I was told to inform you, directly, that Admiral Cal’Vrose of the GearFour fleet will be on board at 1100 hours.” As soon as he finished speaking he brought his arm back down to his side. “Ohh great, just great,” Thomas muttered to himself, causing the person in front of him to tilt his head in confusion. “Uh what was that sir?” “Nothing, it was nothing.” He let out a short sigh before continuing. “Did he say where he wanted to meet?” “Sorry sir, but I don’t know. I told you all that I was told.” “Right well then thank you...”He trailed off and when the officer didn’t move Thomas rolled his eyes in his head. “You’re dismissed.” “Sir!” He saluted and then turned around and proceeded to walk down the corridor with two other officers who were waiting for him. Thomas spun around on his heels and walked over to the HoloScreen. He then waved his hand in front of it and the page scrolled down. He kept scrolling until the schedule showed 1100. He waved his hand from the left to right and a new holographic image displayed in the form of a keyboard with around 300 keys with various symbols. He selected the 1100 box and typed in “Meeting with Admiral Cal’Vrose.” Once he was finished, he moved over to the bed where he left the remote for the HoloScreen and turned it off. He walked over to the desk and picked up both his book and Holopad. He walked over to the door and pressed his hand on the screen and the color switched to blue, and then to orange signaling it would lock behind him. He walked on through the door and into the 13ft tall, steel grey, octagonal hallway. For being a corridor on a spaceship, it was very bright. The lights were placed along all 8 sides of the corridor and not a single light seemed out of place. It also gave a very calm and neat impression. With only a few interactive panels scattered throughout the hallway, it was relatively smooth. At the far end of the corridor, at least 40 meters away, there was a “T” junction with a large dark silver bulkhead that was just closing as the three officers turned left and disappeared out of sight. He continued to walk down the hall and glanced down at his holopad. “Lead Admiral? What a fucking joke.” His grip tightened on the book in his other hand and turned a corner. “More like political pawn. I swear. Ever since the end of the war the Gov has just been pulling more and more shit like this.” He shook his head and approached a closed doorway. He pressed a button on a small console on the wall which resulted in a chime. A quick burst of air and a humming noise were heard and then the doors opened. He stepped into the open room, which turned out to actually be an elevator. “Computer” He said while looking at the screen on the wall. “Level-” He was cut off by a computerized voice. “Gracie” “Forty...nine?” He looked at the screen with a look of utter confusion. “What?” “My name. I’m not ‘Computer’” The female robotic voice spoke with venom. “R-Right.” He looked uncomfortably around the elevator. “Sorry. Umm l-level 49” He said with a nervous smile. The elevator didn’t move. “Please?” He added. Finally the doors shut and the elevator started moving. The only sound that came after that was a ‘hmph’. After about 20 seconds of awkward silence the door chimed again and it opened. He walked on through the open doors and got a few feet away from the door before he turned around. “Eh...Listen I’m sor-” The doors to the elevator closed and it went off to some other level. “Right. TuhTuhTuh” He rubbed his face in agony before turning back around and proceeded to walk down the corridor. He walked for about five minutes before he finally came to a stop at an open doorway. The sign above it was written in a strange language, but under it was a translation that said ‘Cafeteria’. The room was easily the size of two football fields, and it was nearly packed full of people. The majority of the people were human, with some exceptions such as the Garvolans. The look human, but instead of skin they are covered in scales. There were only three in total, and they made up the species diversity in the room. He walked down the ramp and towards the lunch line. He stood patiently in the back of the line tapping his foot on the metal floor. He brought up his holopad and started looking over his schedule once more. He had memorized it already, but he kept checking over it, his nervousness getting the best of him. He was barely paying any attention and was unconsciously moving with the line until finally someone cleared their throat, startling him. “So what’ll it be today” The chef asked him. The chef was wearing an old pre-reformation, 21st century chef outfit. “Really going for the classic vibe aren’t ya?” Thomas joked to him before looking at the menu. “Gotta keep the classics alive man. May I make a suggestion?” He asked Thomas. “Chef’s suggestion? I’d be a fool to deny it” He said with a laugh. “Heh, yes you would. I personally suggest the Roysian Steak. It may not seem like a breakfast food, but trust me it’ll get you going.” He said while handing him the dinner menu. He looked over the ingredients and price. After looking it all over, he nodded. “Sounds great, I’ll take that for here then.” He pulled took out a card from his back pocket and proceeded to swipe the card across the pay screen. “Annnd paid” The chef spoke before calling out the order. He turned back around and handed him a metal cup. “I’ll have that out for you in just a minute, drinks are over to the right” “Thanks” Thomas said, as he moved off to the side to allow another customer to order. He walked over to the drink dispenser and selected the water option and filled his cup. He then heard his order called out, and walked over to the waiter. “Here you go Admiral, have a nice day” The woman smiled and went back behind the counter. Thomas’s stomach grumbled as he walked over to an empty table to sit down at. ‘Gods I haven’t eaten anything in a whole month’ He thought to himself. He grabbed the fork off of his tray when he heard someone sitting down across from him. “Sup Thomas. Isn’t it a little early for steak?” The man asked. “Well. Well. Well. If it isn’t my least favorite marine. Harrison.” He joked to him as he used a knife to cut off a piece of the steak and started to eat. ‘And besides time is irrelevant in space’ He thought to himself. “Oh yeah? If I’m your least favorite why did you select me to be on your ship?” He asked as he bit into what appeared to be a purple apple. Thomas shot him an annoyed look before swallowing. “I didn’t select YOU, I selected your battalion. You just happened to be apart of the battalion I chose.” Thomas waved his fork around to help explain his point. “And quite frankly, you bring down the curve”. “Ouch, words hurt dude.” He placed his hand over his heart. He then looked over at the book that was on the table. “Watcha reading?” He leaned over to read the title. “Admirals Guide to the 6th Reformation?” He raised an eyebrow before he sat back down in his seat before taking another bite of the purple fruit. Thomas sighed before looking over to the book. “Yeah, unfortunately I have to read about 30 more of these” He said with a flick of his wrist. “Why’s that?” “Well due to certain events that were taking place at the time of my training, they had to skip a lot of the history lessons.” Thomas then grabbed his cup and started drinking. “Fucking government” He muttered under his breath after putting his cup back down. “Huh. Well is it any good at least? I mean, I haven’t seen a hardcover book in a while. So I’d assume that anything that’s hardcover would be worth it right?” He finished eating his food and then threw the core of the fruit into the nearest trash can. He then proceeded to pull out a second one from a bag he had with him. “Hmm, well…” Thomas placed his silverware down and wiped his hands off. “Did you know in the 6th reformation that reactors cores could be jettisoned remotely?” Thomas asked before he went back to finishing his steak. “Wait...Isn’t that a normal function?” “Yeah it is, though nobody informed the admirals back then, so imagine their surprise when one of them accidentally jettisoned their main core in the middle of a jump” Thomas said with a smile as he saw the look of confusion turned into a look of horror. “Oh dear gods! They didn’t know?” He practically shouted, causing a few people to glance at them. “Nope, the engineers never even told the military, nor did they put it in the manual.” He took another drink from his glass. “Morale of the story. Don’t push random fucking buttons.” Thomas said with a laugh. Then they both started laughing together. This caused even more people to stop what they were doing to stare at the two in annoyance. “Whe-haha-well were they alright at least?” Harrison asked. Thomas’s face immediately turned dark as he stopped laughing and just stared at him. “Oh…”He trailed off. “Nah just messing with you” He shrugged. “ They lived. Ended up scaring the hell out of everyone on board though” “Asshole” Harrison shook his head and stood up. “Well it was great talking to you, Lead Admiral.” Thomas stood up as well and gave him a disgusted look. “Yeah yeah yeah, whatever” Harrison just laughed in response. Thomas grabbed his tray and turned around for a few seconds before turning back around. “Hey Harrison!” He shouted out. “Hmm? Yeah?” He turned with a questioning look. “What’s up with the computer?” “The computer?” He muttered. “You mean Gracie?” Harrison asked. Thomas just closed his eyes and turned around walking towards the tray rack. He let out a hiss of frustration which eventually turned into a word. “Fuck me…” All of the ships in the fleet moved around doing final checks and getting into their proper positions. Transport ships moved cargo and personnel to and from ships at a steady rate, and a constant flow of chatter between all the ships signaled that they were almost ready to leave. Some of the ships that were currently under maintenance, they had parts ranging from satellites, relays, weapons, and shields being repaired and worked on. The planet the fleet stayed close to was a lush green and blue world, holding oceans large enough to swallow its largest moon. Theristole is a military shipyard world, home to millions of ships, vehicles, and military personnel. It was midnight on this side of the planet, and the few cities that were built on the surface of the planet could be seen due to its hundreds of lights and seemed as though they were small constellations of stars on the planet itself. On the other side of the planet, near one of its three moons, six large ships moved towards the fleet. They carried with them a sense of dread and fear that was seemingly second to none. The Suppression Fleet, the planetary enforcers as they are called by the people of the U.F.A. These six ships were armed with the most controversial weapons to be constructed, the Galactic Suppression Cannons. Each ship was armed with three of these cannons, and with a volley of 13 shots (two from five, and three from one) they could destroy an average-sized planet. They were only ever used in extreme circumstances and were debated widely as to whether or not they were ethical to be used at all. These ships normally stayed close to Atlas and were its guardians since the last battle of Atlas. Atlas is the home world of the U.F.A. A bastion of hope and freedom. Long ago the people of Atlas waged wars on one another, to the point that it was almost uninhabitable. Now it stands as the most untainted and unpolluted world in the Galactic Cluster. The ships were large and bulky, a dark steel color with gold details decorated most of the ships, it’s “shield wings” bore the insignia of the U.F.A. No two ships were identifiable from each other, besides the large Atlisian(At-Lee-Z-N) numerals below the insignia. The ships moved slowly over to the rest of the fleet, their mission was to be GearFive’s main escort for the majority of the voyage, and would eventually return to Atlas once the Inter-dimensional Relay had been set up. After a few minutes of silent travel, the ships settled over most of the fleet and stayed silently above while the bustling activity below occurred. The yellow sun was just starting to shine on to the planet below. Sunlight slowly crept across the surface of the planet, revealing the vibrant colors as it continued its path. As this occurs, one of its moons was slowly caught in the light, casting its shadow onto both the planet and the fleet for a few minutes. Solar and lunar eclipses were very common on the planet, and while those who lived there thought nothing of it, early settlers believed that if a moon's shadow was cast directly on you, that a terrible fate or misfortune would befall you. Misfortune or not, the fleet carried on preparing for its long journey into galaxies beyond. The fleet carried with it the hopes and dreams of people who no longer had to fear, and no longer had to fight for their very lives. It carried the ideas of a new generation. Life once again would prosper unhindered, and wounds would heal. Yet not all wounds heal as easily as others, time is the only kind to those who can move on, and it is hell to those that can’t. Author's Note This was a quick introduction into the U.F.A, although I know that a lot of it doesn't make any sense right now. Trust me when I say that the U.F.A will be explained in greater detail. This was honestly very fun for me to write, so I hope that whoever reads this enjoys it. Opposite WorldsGalaxy 12: Trivictian Sector After having left the cafeteria, Thomas was greeted by two men who looked just as tired as he did. They were dressed in gray uniforms with blue details along with the standard U.F.A. emblem on their shoulders. The only noticeable difference between the two was their hair and eye color. One of them had brown hair with green eyes, and the other had gray with blue eyes. They were fellow admirals who were stationed on the ship. It was common practice for U.F.A. ships to have more than one admiral on board, along with multiple command bridges for said admirals. This was to allow the ship to function smoothly if an admiral and or command bridge were to be lost. “Good morning, sir” The one with blue eyes spoke, though it was rather slow. “Morning Alvrest, Irwin. Walk with me,” Thomas nodded to them in the respective order. “I assume you’ve got the status report on Engineering core 12?” “Unfortunately, I do,” Irwin spoke before pulling up the holopad he was carrying. He swiped across the screen a few times before flicking his fingers outwards to expand the file he was looking for. “As of 0600 this morning, EC12 submitted a report that there was a minor…”He trailed off, looking for the right word. “Incident,” Alvrest finished. “It would appear that one of the shield generators was improperly mounted, and it caused an energy feedback which has fried a good portion of the wiring” Alvrest, who had pulled up his holopad as well, read off from the report. Thomas shot an annoyed look to no one in particular before sighing. “Alright, what’s the estimated time of repairs?” They all stopped walking in the middle of the hallway as Thomas also pulled out his holopad to adjust his schedule. “Around 3 hours is what I’ve been told, Sir,” Irwin responded. “Well, I suppose that isn’t too bad. What of the shield generator itself?” Thomas said as he lowered his device to his side. “No significant damage was taken, but they are running a diagnostic check on it just to be sure,” Alvrest answered. ‘Good thing that we weren’t the ones who put it in, otherwise I’d have to fill out another long-ass report.’ Thomas thought to himself. “Alright, then. Send me the diagnostic report as soon as you can, and have EC12 send me any updates on the repair”. Thomas said before stopping next to an open elevator. “Will do,” Irwin responded before moving into the elevator along with Alvrest. He noticed that Thomas wasn’t following suit. “Aren’t you coming?” He asked. Thomas looked at the elevator with a nervous glance before shaking his head. “No I….” He paused for a brief moment. “I’ve got to check on some things. I’ll be up shortly.” He said before giving them a half-hearted two-finger salute. He then turned around and started to walk down the hallway. He only got a few feet before stopping and leaning on the wall. He looked up at the lights on the ceiling, allowing his thoughts to run wild. He was exhausted, and he hadn’t been able to get any rest in a few weeks. While his body could certainly tolerate it under normal circumstances, he had been working non-stop. He finally mustered up the courage to walk over and call the elevator. Within a few seconds, it chimed, and the doors opened. He hesitated for a second before entering. “Gracie.” He said, followed by a few seconds of silence. “Oh well, if it isn’t the rude one,” It responded. Thomas was surprised, though, and it sounded much less robotic than before. Thomas swallowed hard before speaking. “Listen, I just want to apologize for earlier. I didn’t know that you were...sentient now” He looked around the rather spacious room waiting for its response. After not getting one, he decided to continue. “I really am sorry, I wasn’t informed, and..” He trailed off. “Well, you're a fully functioning A.I. now so...” “I know” Its voice is much quieter and weaker now. Thomas let out a long sigh as he leaned against the back wall. “I think...I think we got off on the wrong foot” He quickly realized his mistake. “Er, well, you get what I mean,” He said with a soft chuckle. “Okay?” It responded. “Okay. My name is Thomas Mc’Ortley, Lead Admiral of the GearFive Fleet.” He said with a salute, which earned a chuckle out of it, thought it was a very creepy chuckle. “I think you need to work on your laughing.” “My name is Gracie, your ship’s new Artificial Intelligence. And for the record, I identify as a female.” She responded. “Alright, then Gracie. It's nice to meet you.” “Eh, it’s okay to meet you,” She said with some sass in her robotic voice. “Could you please bring me up to the bridge?” He asked while pulling up his holopad. “Sure. I mean its either that or drop the cable” She joked, though unfortunately, it went over his head. He dropped his holopad on the floor as his face took a horrified expression. “Umm...That was a joke. Too soon?” She asked in the same sorrowful voice from before. “Ye-Yeah. Just a little” He released his tight grip on the railing that he hadn't realized he was doing. He rubbed his hands together before bending down and picking up the holopad. The elevator then started to move up. After only a minute, the elevator stopped once more. However, the doors didn’t open. “One more thing before you go,” She spoke. “I want a holo-projector on the bridge,” She asked with a rather innocent voice. Thomas looked at the closed doors realizing what she was doing. “You ‘Want,’ huh?” He asked as he knocked on the doors. He took a deep breath. ‘Well, I’ve already gotten this far with her, might as well continue to trust her,’ He thought to himself. “Yes, I want a holo-projector, and not just some repurposed one. I want a dedicated one just for me” She sounded rather upset, and cheery at the same time. A small smile crept on his face before he responded. “Alright, but none of this” He gestured to the closed elevator doors. “Ever again. Got it?” “Deal” The doors then opened to reveal the bridge. The bridge was three floors, all connected by either stairs or ramps. There were around 250 people all around the deck, either walking around or sitting down. The latter being the most prominent. Thomas managed to walk a few yards towards his seat, which was situated on the third floor, where he could see Alvrest and Irwin. They were talking to someone when they saw him. Alvrest gave him a nod before continuing back to the conversation. Thomas moved over to his seat, which was a black padded seat. It wasn’t over the top in terms of design or function, so there wasn’t much to acknowledge. He spun the chair and sat down before spinning back around. As he did this, a large holo-screen lit up. A large U.F.A. icon, a picture of two swords and a shield in front of Atlas, with comets at the sides and stars in the background. With the letters “U.F.A.” underneath it all. Beneath the icon was a spinning circle and a green loading bar below it. It only took a few seconds before it was completely loaded, and the large screen split into hundreds of smaller ones. Thomas then noticed that the screen displayed a new number. It was the time and date of repairs. Which was showing that it was worked on not even 10 minutes ago? “Hey, Alvrest?” “Yes?” He said while he broke away from his conversation. “Was there something wrong with the computer? It shows that it was just recently updated.” Just as he finished, a new voice from a floor below called out. “Engineering Core 12 came in not too long ago to check on the navigation systems.” The crewman called out. “Alright, then. Nevermind.” He said before turning back to the screen. Each screen had different information on it, some of which were continually changing. He glanced at all of them, lingering only on the ones that had an orange triangle in the bottom right corner. He eventually came upon a red triangle, which meant that there was a problem. He made a motion with his hand as though he were grabbing and crushing the screen, which the screen shrunk in response, he then dragged his hand over to the center of the screen which was just showing an animated U.F.A. icon. He then flicked open his hand, and the screen changed to the one he grabbed. “Time to get to work,” He grumbled to himself before making another hand motion, and a holographic keyboard popped up. He glanced at the time that was displayed just under the main screen. “0800, two hours to go,” He said with a shake of his head. Some time later Thomas was rubbing his forehead in agony before he slammed his hands down onto the console. “Son of a PRYDAK!” He cried out as the screen glitched out once again, closing all of his windows. His outburst was quickly met with many offended looks, to which he buried his head in his hands once more. “Okay...Ignoring the very offensive comment,” Irwin spoke out from behind him. “What seems to be the problem?” He asked as he leaned over his seat to look at the blank holoscreen. Thomas just held up his hand, motioning him to stop. He then raised his head to look at the blank screen. “Gracie,” He said with all the sweetness of a venus flytrap. “Please contact Engineering Core 13 for me”. After a few short moments, a new holoscreen opened up to reveal a human man. He wore simple grey engineer clothes with “EC13” on the top right of his chest. The man was bald and had a faint scar above his left eyebrow. He appeared to be lying down and working on something off-screen. Thomas guessed that someone else was holding the camera. “Lead Admiral?” He said with some confusion. “How can I help you?” “Yes, can you possibly spare some COMPETENT” He shouted. “Men, to come and repair my computer?” “Of course Admiral, I’ll have my second go up there and get on it.” He said while pushing himself up from the ground and grabbing the holopad from someone. Thomas let out a sigh of relief before responding. “Thank you…?” “Kalrin Reynolds, sir.” “Yes, thank you, Mr. Reynolds” And with that, the transmission was cut off. He then looked over to Irwin. “Now as for you,” He said before spinning around to face him properly. “EC12 is to be permanently banned from all computer maintenance until further notice. Is that clear?” Irwin just let out a laugh and nodded before turning around and walking off. ‘This just isn’t my day,’ Thomas thought as he spun his chair back around and stared defiantly at his malfunctioning computer screen. Time: 1053 Now with a fully functioning computer, Thomas had managed to get the majority of the prep work done and was now just waiting for the reports from the other ships. He had just leaned back in his chair when he heard it. The sound of death incarnate. “Hello. Admiral Mc’Ortley,” The metallic voice spoke out from behind him. Thomas’s whole body tensed up, and he wasn’t the only one, multiple people who were close enough to hear it had also stopped working. Thomas slowly spun around in his chair and was greeted to the sight of a 10-foot metal monster. A Mech. The Mech quickly took note of how he and the rest of the crew around it were tense, and then took a step back. “I…” The Mech stopped, thinking over its next words carefully. “Apologize for startling you all.” It said in a cold, calculating tone. That’s when Irwin came walking up from behind it. He then took notice of the air in the room. “Hey. Hey. Everything cool?" He asked while stopping next to the Mech’s side. “I'm afraid that I have left a bad first impression on them,” It responded. “Oh...shit. Hey, everyone, he’s cool." He said while patting its shoulder twice. The Mech turned it's head to look at Irwin. “I am not sure that ‘cool,’ would be the appropriate metaphor for this emotional situation,” Irwin’s face twisted into confusion, and eventually into an eye roll. “Lead Admiral Mc’Ortley, Lead Admiral Cal’Vrose is waiting for you in hangar 45”. Gracie said through the computer’s speakers. I was now silently walking beside a rough-looking man. The man’s face was jagged and angular. His hair is a dull gray, and very short, the same went for his stubble on his face. We two walked in silence, as one did not feel the need to, and the other was too nervous about speaking. We finally stopped their walk in front of a small door. The man then pressed his hand against the screen, and the door chimed and opened, revealing a relatively small room. The room held very little in it, just a few chairs and a medium, circular, holo-projector. The man then grabbed two of the chairs and brought them over to the projector, which he promptly turned off. “Well.” He paused, “Come sit.” He then gestured to the chair on the opposite side of the projector. “And do lock the door behind you.” I nodded my head and moved from the doorway, making sure to lock it behind me. Once I sat down, I cleared his throat. “Admir-” The man shot him a sharp look that made me fall silent. The man looked over me a few times before sighing heavily. “I trust you understand why I am here?” I nodded my head once more, causing the man to grumble. “Verbally, please.” “I believe so,” I spoke, trying to regain some of my confidence. Admiral Cal’Vrose was not a man to be messed with. He was one of the more easily recognizable names when it came to Admirals. After all, he had served in two of the most critical battles in our history. The Battle of Sandreon, and the Battle of Alphos Titanos. These facts alone told you of both his knowledge and ability, as well as his age. “Then let me clear up any doubts or misconceptions. Despite how our brief time together has been so far, I am not here to cause any conflict.” I relaxed significantly upon hearing this. I had feared that my impromptu promotion had garnered a lot of distaste from the Union of Admirals. “However” ‘shit' “That does not mean I have come here to simply pat you on the back. There are some severe things we must discuss.” ‘Why can nothing ever be simple?’ ‘Why can nothing ever be simple?’ Celestia wondered to herself. It had been nearly 950 years since her sister’s banishment. She was exhausted from her duties as the sole Princess of Equestria, the daily task of raising and lowering the sun, and her nightly job of doing the same for the moon. Celestia sat on her throne, surrounded by bickering nobles. The most recent topic of discussion was the recently changed tax on imported and exported goods to and from other nations. One noble in particular, Golden Fields, a pegasus. Was arguing heavily against the tax change, and today was the day he would face justice. “This is unfair! Why should MY business be taxed for exporting our goods! TWICE I might add.” Golden Fields practically shouted in another noble's face. This had been going on for a few hours, and Celestia had been awaiting word from her guards before she could act. Finally, an earth pony royal guard opened the throne room door and entered. The nobles were too busy arguing to notice. The guard walked up to her and bowed before getting closer. “Princess. We have just received word that the last of them have been caught, as well as a Griffon named Slight Talon. They were attempting to flee the country in a caravan,” He whispered, all the while keeping his eyes on the pegasus. Celestia felt a rush of relief and thanked the guard and told him to return with more guards. ‘Alright, I’ve had enough of this charade,’ Celestia thought before stamping her hoof onto the floor, instantly silencing all the nobles. Golden looked over to her with anger still present on his face. But it soon melted once he saw the stare she gave him. “Mr. Golden Fields. I will not have you pollute this conversation with your obviously biased opinion.” Her relatively calm yet stern voice made him shift uncomfortably. “Furthermore, just because you are a noble does not mean that you are to be exempt from paying taxes” ‘As well as the law,’ She added in her mind. “But Princess I-” He attempted to speak out in protest. “You will not talk over me!” Celestia shouted in the royal canterlot voice and was now standing at full height. Golden looked around the room nervously as some of the nobles shot him looks of disgust, and others stood silent. “You have been fighting this for three weeks now, and not once have you given any meaningful information to help your case. Was it or was it not you who ordered the creation of a subsidiary in the Griffon Kingdom?” She was well aware of the answer but needed to buy more time for the guard to mobilize. Golden glanced at Celestia, wanting to make sure that it was okay for him to talk. With a simple nod from her, he did so. “Yes, Princess, I did order that” Celestia raised a hoof for him to stop talking. “Then. As you should know, there is nothing wrong with creating a local subsidiary and tracking the income and expenses related to your business, if that’s what you had indeed planned. However, as your records have shown,” She purposefully stopped to gauge his reaction and was not disappointed. Golden had frozen up with fear at the mention of his records. Sweat was building up around his face, and his breathing became sharp. ‘I see, so you truly were oblivious to the raid last night.’ Celestia mused to herself. “P-Pr-Princess, I can explain!” At this moment, several royal unicorn guards walked in. They each had a gold-tipped spear held in their dull yellow magic. “I do not believe that will be necessary, as your personal logs have been acquired as well in the raid that transpired just last night” Her horn lit up a bright gold, and she used her magic to pull out a scroll which she had hidden behind her throne. Levitating it in the air, she proceeded to unroll it to read aloud what it said. “Ahem!” She cleared her throat, and judging from the look on Golden’s face; he knew just which one this was. “My good friend Slight” She started, imitating Golden’s snobby accent. “The barbaric Princess doesn’t seem to be wavering in her opinion of the tax change. I need you to take and hide our money and assets. With any luck, in a few days, I will be leaving this shithole of a country and move to the Griffon Empire” She stopped and let the words sink into all of the nobles in the room. She scanned the scroll once more before laying her eyes on a particular section. “Ah, yes. This is my favorite part.” She shifted back into the accent. “If any of the others so much as attempt to snitch, I’m leaving you to arrange their “accidents.” For if that whore of a Princess finds out about our operations, it won't be just me that goes down.” With the last sentences said, all of the other nobles slowly backed away from Golden, who just sputtered out nonsense and tried to come up with anything to get him out of the mess. He looked towards one of the stained glass windows, and then looked down at his wings. The act was not lost on Celestia, who grabbed him with her magic just as he started to make a dash for it. She brought him closer, and her eyes narrowed at the squirming figure before her. “Golden Fields. In the name of Equestria, I find you guilty of tax evasion, money laundering, embezzlement, bribery, fraud, treason, insurance fraud, 29 counts of blackmail” She paused, giving herself a moment to say this correctly. “And the conspiracy to commit murder” The nobles in the room flinched as the word. What was worse was that she had said all of that without raising her voice. The royal guards then moved over to Celestia, who promptly dropped the pegasus onto the ground, who was frozen with fear. One of the guards hit him with the wooden end of the pole and told him to stand, which he then did. “Guards. You are to take Mr. Golden to the dungeons and lock him up. There will be no visitations allowed unless it is me.” The guards nodded in response before smacking the broken pegasus once more, and they led him out of the throne room. The other nobles took this as their cue to leave. Each of them bowed courteously before booking it out of the throne room. Once they had all left, Celestia walked back over to her seat and collapsed. She started to rub her head with her hoof when she heard the door open once more. Glancing over, she saw the captain of her Royal Guard, Brilliant Steel. She was a unicorn mare, with white fur and a dark blue mane. Her cutie mark was that of a silver sword guarding a book. She walked towards Celestia before bowing. "You may rise." "Your majesty, permission to speak freely?" The mare asked. "Permission granted," Celestia said with a smirk. "I am so glad this is bucking over," She groaned out as she fell backward onto the floor. Celestia started to snicker at her behavior, before letting out a long sigh. "Yes, I do believe that is something that both you and I can agree on. I trust none of them presented any trouble?" Celestia asked before walking down and standing next to the guard who was currently stretching. "Hmm? Nope," She responded. "That's good." She glanced at her prone form. "I'm not sure that this floor has been cleaned in a while, Ms. Brilliant." Celestia rubbed her hoof on the floor before bringing it up to blow the dust off that had gathered. "I don't care, it's cold, and it makes me feel better." She responded. "Hmm...Well, I would join you, but this coat is hard to keep clean. And I do seem to recall you promising me a spa treatment once this whole thing was over." Celestia then started to walk on past her towards the throne room doors. "Cashing in already? Well, then let's go. Mother." Author's Note Well hello there... Did you just? Yeah...Yeah I'm ashamed...ANYWAYS! And of course you're changing the topic. Shut it. Now as I was saying, I'm sorry for the delay. But combine college, with COVID19, along with my laziness, stress and anxiety. Well lets just say it gets in the way. I'm not going to sugarcoat anything, mainly because Valen would die. It's true, I am deathly allergic to sugar. Stop interrupting my train of thought! Now my upload time for chapters, for anyone who is concerned,(but lets face it, that's not many people) is going to be either very fast or very slow at times. My motivation comes and goes whenever it pleases. Also I feel I must apologize for the way this author's note is set up. I like to entertain myself by having conversations with characters from some of my other stories. The colors are just for fun though. Yeah I think they get it. But yeah, comment if you like, ask questions and I'll try to answer them as best as I can. But besides that, have a good day/night! And stay safe out there!
Nightmare's IsolationEquestria’s Moon Cold and desolate. Those are the words that would be used to describe Nightmare Moon’s current predicament. She had lost to the weakling’s sister and was now imprisoned on the moon. She fumed with anger, pacing back and forth until finally she would scream out and fire a blast of magic into space. She did this multiple times, in an attempt to relieve any stress she could. ‘It won’t help’ A quiet voice whispered into her mind. Nightmare immediately let loose another silent scream. She slammed her hooves into the ground. Shattering it on impact. ‘SILENCE YOU WHELP! It's your fault that we are stuck here you useless, inbred WEAKLING!’ She shouted through their mental connection. Luna fell silent and Nightmare started to repeat her earlier actions. She then tried to fly but to no avail. Her wings failed her, just as her magic failed to do anything to the shield that kept her on the moon. Whenever she directed the blast directly at the shield, it would bounce off and simply slam back into her. When she didn’t aim for it, it would simply pass through with no resistance. She had originally thought that she could use that to her advantage but was sorely mistaken. As soon as she would make contact with the shield, she would be greeted with immense pain. This didn’t stop her from trying multiple times though. Each time she would grow more and more tired until finally, she was able to move no more. When she woke she struggled to even get up. That had been another thing she was struggling with. Breathing. There was no oxygen on the moon, instead, she was being kept alive by the spell itself. But she still found herself trying to take in air, which would eventually lead her to hyperventilate. She would freak out to the point where she would fall unconscious, and into a dreamless sleep. Nightmare hated them, she hated all of them. She wanted to hurt them so badly, but she couldn’t reach them. She couldn’t reach her. The source of her pain, the one responsible for her imprisonment. Celestia. The things she would do to her if she gets free… ‘If…’ She shuddered at the thought. She was unsure if she would ever be free. She found no flaws in the spell that currently held her. And Luna had no knowledge of the spell that her sister had used. Nightmare wanted to cry, she wanted to scream and yell. She wanted to tear Luna and Celestia apart till nothing remained. But she was here. Unable to do anything. Unable to count the days, she lost track of time. Her thoughts went through loops, as did her actions. Luna stayed quiet for long periods of time, and when she did speak, it was only fuel to her fire. A fire that was running on fumes at this point. Nightmare could feel it. What remained of her sanity was melting away. After some time, Luna retreated into her own mind leaving Nightmare to suffer alone. Not that she cared. Whenever she could, Nightmare would poke and prod the magical shield until she would grow angry enough and try ramming through it with brute force. Time and time again she would pass out from the pain. It never got any easier for her to handle. She would start to form bruises, and sometimes even cuts. Thought the cuts would heal near instantly. After more time had passed Nightmare found herself missing having her to talk to. Despite how much it disgusted her she needed sompony to talk to her. To have an intelligent conversation to keep her sane. But no matter how hard she tried, Luna would not stir. In a desperate attempt, she started to use her magic to build pony statues that she would play out her revenge on. Time and time again she would end up blasting them to pieces, start crying, rebuild them, and blast them again in anger. She went like this for years, or was it hours? She could never tell. Eventually, she stopped moving altogether. She just laid down on the cold hard ground. She tried to sleep but to no avail. She closed her eyes but remained fully conscious. She started to hallucinate after that. She would see Celestia or Luna in front of her. She attempted to attack them at first but found that her body refused to move. Her insults turned to pleas as time went on. Then she stopped seeing anything. She found that she could no longer open her eyes. The irony of the situation was that she was now truly living in a world of eternal night. She hated it. She hated every second of it, she couldn’t move, see, or even think properly after some time. She begged for a death that would never come. The immortal body that she had stolen wouldn’t allow her to die, and neither would the spell. Though she knew it was not for her to live. But rather for Luna to live. She was just a parasite to everypony, and this was the treatment to kill her. But death would never come, it seemed so close at times, but was taken away from her each time by the spell. However, it was with this that her hatred started to burn once more. The spell denied her her death that she wished for. She wanted it gone, and she wanted to kill the one who placed it, but she couldn’t move. She just wanted something to save her. Save her from this eternal damnation, but nothing came. Until finally, after what felt like eons for her, she heard something. Surprisingly, she found that she could open her eyes, and immediately thought that she was hallucinating once more, for what she saw defied everything she knew. A metal mountain, which was scorched, and torn apart like something had played a tug of war match with it, crashed into the magic shield that made her prison. And then it did something that her power couldn’t even come close to. It completely smashed the shield and went silently crashing into the surface of the moon. Then fireballs started to escape from different parts of the mountain. Though as soon as they erupted the died off due to the lack of oxygen. Sheets of metal were sent flying, and explosions kicked up dust and scarred the landscape. Her mind was torn on what to do, she found the will to stand and looked back and forth between the planet that held the subject of her revenge, and the thing that had saved her from her never ending torment. Then her thoughts split into two different voices. Revenge... Freedom... The two voices fought for control over one another. Nightmare found her body being yanked back and forth between the two possibilities. She couldn’t decide. Her mind was racing for the first time in what felt like an eternity, and it caused an insufferable headache. The voices continued to shout over and over again, and each time they grew louder and louder. Revenge.. Freedom.. Revenge. Freedom. Revenge! She started to charge up her horn, the magic formed into a raw form, crackling with black and blue streaks of lightning. She closed her eyes once more and finally made a decision. ‘FREEDOM!’ Author's Note This is my first time writing a MLP themed story, so forgive me if it seems off. I am mainly just testing out a story idea that I have. I'm not too well versed in MLP's lore, so this is my own take on what it would be like to be stuck on the moon for 1000 years. This is a crossover with one of my own stories, so if there are any questions about it feel free to ask. Anyways thank you for reading!
A boring beginingDate: 10/25/19R-0002 Admiral level document AXQ4; Admiral Thomas Mc’Ortley (Warning Classified uncensored data inside) “Summarized” Please read the full document when there is time available. This document contains information about the GearFive Fleet. (Galactic Exploration And Reconnaissance/ GEAR.) The 50th largest U.F.A fleet remaining after then end of the war. It consists of 50,207 heavy class ships, 6,482 light class ships, 800,000 Mechas, 450000 misc., and 486 million personnel. This fleet has been commissioned at the end of the war, designated with the sole purpose of exploring distant galaxies, as well as looking for any potential threats to the U.F.A and those under its protection. Most of the ships included in GearFive’s Fleet are ones that have either been recommissioned and repaired or have been constructed within the past 14 months. New generations of Heavy class star ships are to be treated carefully and no unusual actions should be taken unless in an emergency. If an emergency does arise that jeopardizes the previous statement, a complete record must be filed and documented. In the event that a Heavy class star ship is to be lost, and not enough information is recorded as to the cause, or the information is lacking in crucial details, the fleet admiral will be held directly responsible. Of the 486 million personnel that make up the crew of GearFive, 120 million are U.F.A Marines, 200 million are engineers and miscellaneous ship personnel. The 140 million are essential crew. 250 thousand are classified as non-essential personnel and 24.75 million are U.F.A Soldiers. This deployment, of Soldiers, has been estimated to be around an 89th of the remaining Soldiers alive and or active. Due to the new PeaceTime Accords, many military assets are now being put under the lens of the U.F.A government. As of 10/8/19R-0002, debates are still going on as to whether or not new Soldiers are to be created and trained, or if the program should be put on ice, or shut down indefinitely. As such, requests for more soldiers will currently be both logged and denied until further notice. Please check pages 10483-12496 for more information on the requisition of more military personnel. Mecha development has had significant funding added, and new and improved Mechas have been supplied to GearFive for testing purposes only. Any usage of the newer class Mechas must be cleared by military personnel with level ABA1 status. If usage is cleared, all run time information must be recorded and sent back to U.F.A servers for evaluation. All unauthorized usage must be documented. Falsification of any documents will lead to the immediate termination of any Mecha deployments. However multiple accounts of unauthorized usage will only result in the termination of GearFive’s Vanguard testing until acceptable reasons have been given. Along with Atlas Class Mechas, the new Vanguard Class Mechas have had more funding than other projects, as of 5/03/19R-0001, as a direct order from {REDACTED}. Orders have also been given to give Vanguard technology to older Mechas until such time as the new Vanguard Mechas have been fully implemented into the standard military. The GearFive fleet has been given one operational Atlas class Mecha for emergencies only. Mission Statement GearFive’s current mission is to travel through Galaxy 16, the last closest galaxy in the Soul Cluster. After traversing through Galaxy 16, and having acquired the Inter-dimensional Relay that is located on the planet Calavore V, GearFive is to start the estimated 1500-year journey to Galaxy 17, AKA: Ignotum Stellas. Due to insufficient data around Stellas, GearFive is to be escorted by The Suppression Fleet until an Inter-dimensional Relay has been established in Ignotum Stellas. The 5th Suppression Fleet is to be dispatched, all other fleets are to remain on standby for the duration. Any request for additional information regarding the other Suppression Fleets will be regarded as an act of high treason. Due to the nature of this document’s particular access level, this information should be the first time you have heard of multiple Suppression Fleets, if it is not, you are to immediately report where and when you were made aware of this information. All information regarding the other fleets will be made available once GearFive has completed its mission. After the fleet has determined a suitable location for the Inter-dimensional Relay it is to be deployed. After the Inter-dimensional Relay has been deployed, the construction of The Galiant Repressor space station is to begin. Estimated time for completion of the assigned tasks is 2,000 years at minimum, and 3000 years at maximum. If the U.F.A is not able to get in contact with GearFive by the 3,000-year mark, the mission will be deemed a failure and no further fleets will be deployed to the galaxy for 500 years, or until the information has been gathered as to the current state of the fleet. Further action will be decided upon by that time. After you have read the summary as well as read the full, or plan to read the full report, please report to the Trivictian Sector in Galaxy 12. Note: Your position will be as the Lead Admiral of the above-mentioned Fleet. Questions of pay, benefits, and other misc. questions will be answered in the last 5500 pages of the full report. If you have any further questions that are not answered by the document please contact the U.F.A Government and not the U.F.A Military. Inside a somewhat large room, there was a single bed against a wall, a metal desk and chair, and a large holographic screen that was currently dimmed. The only sound in the room was faint breathing and the sound of a fan. The room was very plain, with only a few minute details in the form of a rather oddly shaped plant with orange leaves, along with 4 picture frames. Two of the picture frames held sheets of paper that were addressed as military achievements. The other two were pictures of what appeared to be a family of 5 in one, and a graduation photo with a caption and multiple written notes in the corner: “The 255th Class of Graduated Admirals,18R 4/27/8345” “Never thought you’d make it!” “Congratulations Thomas!” “See you on the battlefield” On the bed, itself was a human man reading from a holopad. His face was full of color, with very few imperfections. His hair was a light brown with a few hints of silver. He had large darkened bags under his green eyes, indicating a lack of sleep. He was currently sitting down on the thin black cloth that made up the entirety of the “sheets” on the bed. The man, known as Thomas, dragged his eyes down the page, and the screen seemed to follow along with his pace. Every time he got close to the bottom, the page would scroll up. The page number was “2,721,455”, and the title of the paragraph was labeled “Pay and Benefits”. Thomas let out a long sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose before moving one hand away from the pad, and over to the desk on his left. He then picked up a remote that was sitting on it and proceeded to point it at the large HoloScreen on the wall. With a click of a button on the side, the hologram was now showing what appeared to be a schedule. There were numerous bullet points in a very long list, and only 3 were crossed out so far. He got up off the bed and quickly stretched his arms and then proceeded to crack his back. He then let out a sigh of relief as he turned his attention back to the desk. On it was a hardcover book titled “Admirals Guide to the 6th Reformation”. Just as he was about to pick the book up a metallic beep filled the room. The door’s control panel, which was green, lit up yellow, indicating that someone was outside of his door. He looked over to the door at called out. “It's open.” As soon as he said that the door then chimed again and the panel lit up blue, resulting in the door being pulled into the side of the wall. Standing in the door frame was a tall human man, standing around 7ft tall. The doorway, however, was 10ft tall, easily accommodating the man. He was wearing a grey suit, with a pin on the left side of his chest that depicted one large shooting star and smaller comets trailing behind it. His face was rough and jagged: brown eyes, dark black hair, and a scar running along his left ear to the center of his forehead. He then quickly brought up his hand and saluted Thomas. “Sir! I was told to inform you, directly, that Admiral Cal’Vrose of the GearFour fleet will be on board at 1100 hours.” As soon as he finished speaking he brought his arm back down to his side. “Ohh great, just great,” Thomas muttered to himself, causing the person in front of him to tilt his head in confusion. “Uh what was that sir?” “Nothing, it was nothing.” He let out a short sigh before continuing. “Did he say where he wanted to meet?” “Sorry sir, but I don’t know. I told you all that I was told.” “Right well then thank you...”He trailed off and when the officer didn’t move Thomas rolled his eyes in his head. “You’re dismissed.” “Sir!” He saluted and then turned around and proceeded to walk down the corridor with two other officers who were waiting for him. Thomas spun around on his heels and walked over to the HoloScreen. He then waved his hand in front of it and the page scrolled down. He kept scrolling until the schedule showed 1100. He waved his hand from the left to right and a new holographic image displayed in the form of a keyboard with around 300 keys with various symbols. He selected the 1100 box and typed in “Meeting with Admiral Cal’Vrose.” Once he was finished, he moved over to the bed where he left the remote for the HoloScreen and turned it off. He walked over to the desk and picked up both his book and Holopad. He walked over to the door and pressed his hand on the screen and the color switched to blue, and then to orange signaling it would lock behind him. He walked on through the door and into the 13ft tall, steel grey, octagonal hallway. For being a corridor on a spaceship, it was very bright. The lights were placed along all 8 sides of the corridor and not a single light seemed out of place. It also gave a very calm and neat impression. With only a few interactive panels scattered throughout the hallway, it was relatively smooth. At the far end of the corridor, at least 40 meters away, there was a “T” junction with a large dark silver bulkhead that was just closing as the three officers turned left and disappeared out of sight. He continued to walk down the hall and glanced down at his holopad. “Lead Admiral? What a fucking joke.” His grip tightened on the book in his other hand and turned a corner. “More like political pawn. I swear. Ever since the end of the war the Gov has just been pulling more and more shit like this.” He shook his head and approached a closed doorway. He pressed a button on a small console on the wall which resulted in a chime. A quick burst of air and a humming noise were heard and then the doors opened. He stepped into the open room, which turned out to actually be an elevator. “Computer” He said while looking at the screen on the wall. “Level-” He was cut off by a computerized voice. “Gracie” “Forty...nine?” He looked at the screen with a look of utter confusion. “What?” “My name. I’m not ‘Computer’” The female robotic voice spoke with venom. “R-Right.” He looked uncomfortably around the elevator. “Sorry. Umm l-level 49” He said with a nervous smile. The elevator didn’t move. “Please?” He added. Finally the doors shut and the elevator started moving. The only sound that came after that was a ‘hmph’. After about 20 seconds of awkward silence the door chimed again and it opened. He walked on through the open doors and got a few feet away from the door before he turned around. “Eh...Listen I’m sor-” The doors to the elevator closed and it went off to some other level. “Right. TuhTuhTuh” He rubbed his face in agony before turning back around and proceeded to walk down the corridor. He walked for about five minutes before he finally came to a stop at an open doorway. The sign above it was written in a strange language, but under it was a translation that said ‘Cafeteria’. The room was easily the size of two football fields, and it was nearly packed full of people. The majority of the people were human, with some exceptions such as the Garvolans. The look human, but instead of skin they are covered in scales. There were only three in total, and they made up the species diversity in the room. He walked down the ramp and towards the lunch line. He stood patiently in the back of the line tapping his foot on the metal floor. He brought up his holopad and started looking over his schedule once more. He had memorized it already, but he kept checking over it, his nervousness getting the best of him. He was barely paying any attention and was unconsciously moving with the line until finally someone cleared their throat, startling him. “So what’ll it be today” The chef asked him. The chef was wearing an old pre-reformation, 21st century chef outfit. “Really going for the classic vibe aren’t ya?” Thomas joked to him before looking at the menu. “Gotta keep the classics alive man. May I make a suggestion?” He asked Thomas. “Chef’s suggestion? I’d be a fool to deny it” He said with a laugh. “Heh, yes you would. I personally suggest the Roysian Steak. It may not seem like a breakfast food, but trust me it’ll get you going.” He said while handing him the dinner menu. He looked over the ingredients and price. After looking it all over, he nodded. “Sounds great, I’ll take that for here then.” He pulled took out a card from his back pocket and proceeded to swipe the card across the pay screen. “Annnd paid” The chef spoke before calling out the order. He turned back around and handed him a metal cup. “I’ll have that out for you in just a minute, drinks are over to the right” “Thanks” Thomas said, as he moved off to the side to allow another customer to order. He walked over to the drink dispenser and selected the water option and filled his cup. He then heard his order called out, and walked over to the waiter. “Here you go Admiral, have a nice day” The woman smiled and went back behind the counter. Thomas’s stomach grumbled as he walked over to an empty table to sit down at. ‘Gods I haven’t eaten anything in a whole month’ He thought to himself. He grabbed the fork off of his tray when he heard someone sitting down across from him. “Sup Thomas. Isn’t it a little early for steak?” The man asked. “Well. Well. Well. If it isn’t my least favorite marine. Harrison.” He joked to him as he used a knife to cut off a piece of the steak and started to eat. ‘And besides time is irrelevant in space’ He thought to himself. “Oh yeah? If I’m your least favorite why did you select me to be on your ship?” He asked as he bit into what appeared to be a purple apple. Thomas shot him an annoyed look before swallowing. “I didn’t select YOU, I selected your battalion. You just happened to be apart of the battalion I chose.” Thomas waved his fork around to help explain his point. “And quite frankly, you bring down the curve”. “Ouch, words hurt dude.” He placed his hand over his heart. He then looked over at the book that was on the table. “Watcha reading?” He leaned over to read the title. “Admirals Guide to the 6th Reformation?” He raised an eyebrow before he sat back down in his seat before taking another bite of the purple fruit. Thomas sighed before looking over to the book. “Yeah, unfortunately I have to read about 30 more of these” He said with a flick of his wrist. “Why’s that?” “Well due to certain events that were taking place at the time of my training, they had to skip a lot of the history lessons.” Thomas then grabbed his cup and started drinking. “Fucking government” He muttered under his breath after putting his cup back down. “Huh. Well is it any good at least? I mean, I haven’t seen a hardcover book in a while. So I’d assume that anything that’s hardcover would be worth it right?” He finished eating his food and then threw the core of the fruit into the nearest trash can. He then proceeded to pull out a second one from a bag he had with him. “Hmm, well…” Thomas placed his silverware down and wiped his hands off. “Did you know in the 6th reformation that reactors cores could be jettisoned remotely?” Thomas asked before he went back to finishing his steak. “Wait...Isn’t that a normal function?” “Yeah it is, though nobody informed the admirals back then, so imagine their surprise when one of them accidentally jettisoned their main core in the middle of a jump” Thomas said with a smile as he saw the look of confusion turned into a look of horror. “Oh dear gods! They didn’t know?” He practically shouted, causing a few people to glance at them. “Nope, the engineers never even told the military, nor did they put it in the manual.” He took another drink from his glass. “Morale of the story. Don’t push random fucking buttons.” Thomas said with a laugh. Then they both started laughing together. This caused even more people to stop what they were doing to stare at the two in annoyance. “Whe-haha-well were they alright at least?” Harrison asked. Thomas’s face immediately turned dark as he stopped laughing and just stared at him. “Oh…”He trailed off. “Nah just messing with you” He shrugged. “ They lived. Ended up scaring the hell out of everyone on board though” “Asshole” Harrison shook his head and stood up. “Well it was great talking to you, Lead Admiral.” Thomas stood up as well and gave him a disgusted look. “Yeah yeah yeah, whatever” Harrison just laughed in response. Thomas grabbed his tray and turned around for a few seconds before turning back around. “Hey Harrison!” He shouted out. “Hmm? Yeah?” He turned with a questioning look. “What’s up with the computer?” “The computer?” He muttered. “You mean Gracie?” Harrison asked. Thomas just closed his eyes and turned around walking towards the tray rack. He let out a hiss of frustration which eventually turned into a word. “Fuck me…” All of the ships in the fleet moved around doing final checks and getting into their proper positions. Transport ships moved cargo and personnel to and from ships at a steady rate, and a constant flow of chatter between all the ships signaled that they were almost ready to leave. Some of the ships that were currently under maintenance, they had parts ranging from satellites, relays, weapons, and shields being repaired and worked on. The planet the fleet stayed close to was a lush green and blue world, holding oceans large enough to swallow its largest moon. Theristole is a military shipyard world, home to millions of ships, vehicles, and military personnel. It was midnight on this side of the planet, and the few cities that were built on the surface of the planet could be seen due to its hundreds of lights and seemed as though they were small constellations of stars on the planet itself. On the other side of the planet, near one of its three moons, six large ships moved towards the fleet. They carried with them a sense of dread and fear that was seemingly second to none. The Suppression Fleet, the planetary enforcers as they are called by the people of the U.F.A. These six ships were armed with the most controversial weapons to be constructed, the Galactic Suppression Cannons. Each ship was armed with three of these cannons, and with a volley of 13 shots (two from five, and three from one) they could destroy an average-sized planet. They were only ever used in extreme circumstances and were debated widely as to whether or not they were ethical to be used at all. These ships normally stayed close to Atlas and were its guardians since the last battle of Atlas. Atlas is the home world of the U.F.A. A bastion of hope and freedom. Long ago the people of Atlas waged wars on one another, to the point that it was almost uninhabitable. Now it stands as the most untainted and unpolluted world in the Galactic Cluster. The ships were large and bulky, a dark steel color with gold details decorated most of the ships, it’s “shield wings” bore the insignia of the U.F.A. No two ships were identifiable from each other, besides the large Atlisian(At-Lee-Z-N) numerals below the insignia. The ships moved slowly over to the rest of the fleet, their mission was to be GearFive’s main escort for the majority of the voyage, and would eventually return to Atlas once the Inter-dimensional Relay had been set up. After a few minutes of silent travel, the ships settled over most of the fleet and stayed silently above while the bustling activity below occurred. The yellow sun was just starting to shine on to the planet below. Sunlight slowly crept across the surface of the planet, revealing the vibrant colors as it continued its path. As this occurs, one of its moons was slowly caught in the light, casting its shadow onto both the planet and the fleet for a few minutes. Solar and lunar eclipses were very common on the planet, and while those who lived there thought nothing of it, early settlers believed that if a moon's shadow was cast directly on you, that a terrible fate or misfortune would befall you. Misfortune or not, the fleet carried on preparing for its long journey into galaxies beyond. The fleet carried with it the hopes and dreams of people who no longer had to fear, and no longer had to fight for their very lives. It carried the ideas of a new generation. Life once again would prosper unhindered, and wounds would heal. Yet not all wounds heal as easily as others, time is the only kind to those who can move on, and it is hell to those that can’t. Author's Note This was a quick introduction into the U.F.A, although I know that a lot of it doesn't make any sense right now. Trust me when I say that the U.F.A will be explained in greater detail. This was honestly very fun for me to write, so I hope that whoever reads this enjoys it.
Opposite WorldsGalaxy 12: Trivictian Sector After having left the cafeteria, Thomas was greeted by two men who looked just as tired as he did. They were dressed in gray uniforms with blue details along with the standard U.F.A. emblem on their shoulders. The only noticeable difference between the two was their hair and eye color. One of them had brown hair with green eyes, and the other had gray with blue eyes. They were fellow admirals who were stationed on the ship. It was common practice for U.F.A. ships to have more than one admiral on board, along with multiple command bridges for said admirals. This was to allow the ship to function smoothly if an admiral and or command bridge were to be lost. “Good morning, sir” The one with blue eyes spoke, though it was rather slow. “Morning Alvrest, Irwin. Walk with me,” Thomas nodded to them in the respective order. “I assume you’ve got the status report on Engineering core 12?” “Unfortunately, I do,” Irwin spoke before pulling up the holopad he was carrying. He swiped across the screen a few times before flicking his fingers outwards to expand the file he was looking for. “As of 0600 this morning, EC12 submitted a report that there was a minor…”He trailed off, looking for the right word. “Incident,” Alvrest finished. “It would appear that one of the shield generators was improperly mounted, and it caused an energy feedback which has fried a good portion of the wiring” Alvrest, who had pulled up his holopad as well, read off from the report. Thomas shot an annoyed look to no one in particular before sighing. “Alright, what’s the estimated time of repairs?” They all stopped walking in the middle of the hallway as Thomas also pulled out his holopad to adjust his schedule. “Around 3 hours is what I’ve been told, Sir,” Irwin responded. “Well, I suppose that isn’t too bad. What of the shield generator itself?” Thomas said as he lowered his device to his side. “No significant damage was taken, but they are running a diagnostic check on it just to be sure,” Alvrest answered. ‘Good thing that we weren’t the ones who put it in, otherwise I’d have to fill out another long-ass report.’ Thomas thought to himself. “Alright, then. Send me the diagnostic report as soon as you can, and have EC12 send me any updates on the repair”. Thomas said before stopping next to an open elevator. “Will do,” Irwin responded before moving into the elevator along with Alvrest. He noticed that Thomas wasn’t following suit. “Aren’t you coming?” He asked. Thomas looked at the elevator with a nervous glance before shaking his head. “No I….” He paused for a brief moment. “I’ve got to check on some things. I’ll be up shortly.” He said before giving them a half-hearted two-finger salute. He then turned around and started to walk down the hallway. He only got a few feet before stopping and leaning on the wall. He looked up at the lights on the ceiling, allowing his thoughts to run wild. He was exhausted, and he hadn’t been able to get any rest in a few weeks. While his body could certainly tolerate it under normal circumstances, he had been working non-stop. He finally mustered up the courage to walk over and call the elevator. Within a few seconds, it chimed, and the doors opened. He hesitated for a second before entering. “Gracie.” He said, followed by a few seconds of silence. “Oh well, if it isn’t the rude one,” It responded. Thomas was surprised, though, and it sounded much less robotic than before. Thomas swallowed hard before speaking. “Listen, I just want to apologize for earlier. I didn’t know that you were...sentient now” He looked around the rather spacious room waiting for its response. After not getting one, he decided to continue. “I really am sorry, I wasn’t informed, and..” He trailed off. “Well, you're a fully functioning A.I. now so...” “I know” Its voice is much quieter and weaker now. Thomas let out a long sigh as he leaned against the back wall. “I think...I think we got off on the wrong foot” He quickly realized his mistake. “Er, well, you get what I mean,” He said with a soft chuckle. “Okay?” It responded. “Okay. My name is Thomas Mc’Ortley, Lead Admiral of the GearFive Fleet.” He said with a salute, which earned a chuckle out of it, thought it was a very creepy chuckle. “I think you need to work on your laughing.” “My name is Gracie, your ship’s new Artificial Intelligence. And for the record, I identify as a female.” She responded. “Alright, then Gracie. It's nice to meet you.” “Eh, it’s okay to meet you,” She said with some sass in her robotic voice. “Could you please bring me up to the bridge?” He asked while pulling up his holopad. “Sure. I mean its either that or drop the cable” She joked, though unfortunately, it went over his head. He dropped his holopad on the floor as his face took a horrified expression. “Umm...That was a joke. Too soon?” She asked in the same sorrowful voice from before. “Ye-Yeah. Just a little” He released his tight grip on the railing that he hadn't realized he was doing. He rubbed his hands together before bending down and picking up the holopad. The elevator then started to move up. After only a minute, the elevator stopped once more. However, the doors didn’t open. “One more thing before you go,” She spoke. “I want a holo-projector on the bridge,” She asked with a rather innocent voice. Thomas looked at the closed doors realizing what she was doing. “You ‘Want,’ huh?” He asked as he knocked on the doors. He took a deep breath. ‘Well, I’ve already gotten this far with her, might as well continue to trust her,’ He thought to himself. “Yes, I want a holo-projector, and not just some repurposed one. I want a dedicated one just for me” She sounded rather upset, and cheery at the same time. A small smile crept on his face before he responded. “Alright, but none of this” He gestured to the closed elevator doors. “Ever again. Got it?” “Deal” The doors then opened to reveal the bridge. The bridge was three floors, all connected by either stairs or ramps. There were around 250 people all around the deck, either walking around or sitting down. The latter being the most prominent. Thomas managed to walk a few yards towards his seat, which was situated on the third floor, where he could see Alvrest and Irwin. They were talking to someone when they saw him. Alvrest gave him a nod before continuing back to the conversation. Thomas moved over to his seat, which was a black padded seat. It wasn’t over the top in terms of design or function, so there wasn’t much to acknowledge. He spun the chair and sat down before spinning back around. As he did this, a large holo-screen lit up. A large U.F.A. icon, a picture of two swords and a shield in front of Atlas, with comets at the sides and stars in the background. With the letters “U.F.A.” underneath it all. Beneath the icon was a spinning circle and a green loading bar below it. It only took a few seconds before it was completely loaded, and the large screen split into hundreds of smaller ones. Thomas then noticed that the screen displayed a new number. It was the time and date of repairs. Which was showing that it was worked on not even 10 minutes ago? “Hey, Alvrest?” “Yes?” He said while he broke away from his conversation. “Was there something wrong with the computer? It shows that it was just recently updated.” Just as he finished, a new voice from a floor below called out. “Engineering Core 12 came in not too long ago to check on the navigation systems.” The crewman called out. “Alright, then. Nevermind.” He said before turning back to the screen. Each screen had different information on it, some of which were continually changing. He glanced at all of them, lingering only on the ones that had an orange triangle in the bottom right corner. He eventually came upon a red triangle, which meant that there was a problem. He made a motion with his hand as though he were grabbing and crushing the screen, which the screen shrunk in response, he then dragged his hand over to the center of the screen which was just showing an animated U.F.A. icon. He then flicked open his hand, and the screen changed to the one he grabbed. “Time to get to work,” He grumbled to himself before making another hand motion, and a holographic keyboard popped up. He glanced at the time that was displayed just under the main screen. “0800, two hours to go,” He said with a shake of his head. Some time later Thomas was rubbing his forehead in agony before he slammed his hands down onto the console. “Son of a PRYDAK!” He cried out as the screen glitched out once again, closing all of his windows. His outburst was quickly met with many offended looks, to which he buried his head in his hands once more. “Okay...Ignoring the very offensive comment,” Irwin spoke out from behind him. “What seems to be the problem?” He asked as he leaned over his seat to look at the blank holoscreen. Thomas just held up his hand, motioning him to stop. He then raised his head to look at the blank screen. “Gracie,” He said with all the sweetness of a venus flytrap. “Please contact Engineering Core 13 for me”. After a few short moments, a new holoscreen opened up to reveal a human man. He wore simple grey engineer clothes with “EC13” on the top right of his chest. The man was bald and had a faint scar above his left eyebrow. He appeared to be lying down and working on something off-screen. Thomas guessed that someone else was holding the camera. “Lead Admiral?” He said with some confusion. “How can I help you?” “Yes, can you possibly spare some COMPETENT” He shouted. “Men, to come and repair my computer?” “Of course Admiral, I’ll have my second go up there and get on it.” He said while pushing himself up from the ground and grabbing the holopad from someone. Thomas let out a sigh of relief before responding. “Thank you…?” “Kalrin Reynolds, sir.” “Yes, thank you, Mr. Reynolds” And with that, the transmission was cut off. He then looked over to Irwin. “Now as for you,” He said before spinning around to face him properly. “EC12 is to be permanently banned from all computer maintenance until further notice. Is that clear?” Irwin just let out a laugh and nodded before turning around and walking off. ‘This just isn’t my day,’ Thomas thought as he spun his chair back around and stared defiantly at his malfunctioning computer screen. Time: 1053 Now with a fully functioning computer, Thomas had managed to get the majority of the prep work done and was now just waiting for the reports from the other ships. He had just leaned back in his chair when he heard it. The sound of death incarnate. “Hello. Admiral Mc’Ortley,” The metallic voice spoke out from behind him. Thomas’s whole body tensed up, and he wasn’t the only one, multiple people who were close enough to hear it had also stopped working. Thomas slowly spun around in his chair and was greeted to the sight of a 10-foot metal monster. A Mech. The Mech quickly took note of how he and the rest of the crew around it were tense, and then took a step back. “I…” The Mech stopped, thinking over its next words carefully. “Apologize for startling you all.” It said in a cold, calculating tone. That’s when Irwin came walking up from behind it. He then took notice of the air in the room. “Hey. Hey. Everything cool?" He asked while stopping next to the Mech’s side. “I'm afraid that I have left a bad first impression on them,” It responded. “Oh...shit. Hey, everyone, he’s cool." He said while patting its shoulder twice. The Mech turned it's head to look at Irwin. “I am not sure that ‘cool,’ would be the appropriate metaphor for this emotional situation,” Irwin’s face twisted into confusion, and eventually into an eye roll. “Lead Admiral Mc’Ortley, Lead Admiral Cal’Vrose is waiting for you in hangar 45”. Gracie said through the computer’s speakers. I was now silently walking beside a rough-looking man. The man’s face was jagged and angular. His hair is a dull gray, and very short, the same went for his stubble on his face. We two walked in silence, as one did not feel the need to, and the other was too nervous about speaking. We finally stopped their walk in front of a small door. The man then pressed his hand against the screen, and the door chimed and opened, revealing a relatively small room. The room held very little in it, just a few chairs and a medium, circular, holo-projector. The man then grabbed two of the chairs and brought them over to the projector, which he promptly turned off. “Well.” He paused, “Come sit.” He then gestured to the chair on the opposite side of the projector. “And do lock the door behind you.” I nodded my head and moved from the doorway, making sure to lock it behind me. Once I sat down, I cleared his throat. “Admir-” The man shot him a sharp look that made me fall silent. The man looked over me a few times before sighing heavily. “I trust you understand why I am here?” I nodded my head once more, causing the man to grumble. “Verbally, please.” “I believe so,” I spoke, trying to regain some of my confidence. Admiral Cal’Vrose was not a man to be messed with. He was one of the more easily recognizable names when it came to Admirals. After all, he had served in two of the most critical battles in our history. The Battle of Sandreon, and the Battle of Alphos Titanos. These facts alone told you of both his knowledge and ability, as well as his age. “Then let me clear up any doubts or misconceptions. Despite how our brief time together has been so far, I am not here to cause any conflict.” I relaxed significantly upon hearing this. I had feared that my impromptu promotion had garnered a lot of distaste from the Union of Admirals. “However” ‘shit' “That does not mean I have come here to simply pat you on the back. There are some severe things we must discuss.” ‘Why can nothing ever be simple?’ ‘Why can nothing ever be simple?’ Celestia wondered to herself. It had been nearly 950 years since her sister’s banishment. She was exhausted from her duties as the sole Princess of Equestria, the daily task of raising and lowering the sun, and her nightly job of doing the same for the moon. Celestia sat on her throne, surrounded by bickering nobles. The most recent topic of discussion was the recently changed tax on imported and exported goods to and from other nations. One noble in particular, Golden Fields, a pegasus. Was arguing heavily against the tax change, and today was the day he would face justice. “This is unfair! Why should MY business be taxed for exporting our goods! TWICE I might add.” Golden Fields practically shouted in another noble's face. This had been going on for a few hours, and Celestia had been awaiting word from her guards before she could act. Finally, an earth pony royal guard opened the throne room door and entered. The nobles were too busy arguing to notice. The guard walked up to her and bowed before getting closer. “Princess. We have just received word that the last of them have been caught, as well as a Griffon named Slight Talon. They were attempting to flee the country in a caravan,” He whispered, all the while keeping his eyes on the pegasus. Celestia felt a rush of relief and thanked the guard and told him to return with more guards. ‘Alright, I’ve had enough of this charade,’ Celestia thought before stamping her hoof onto the floor, instantly silencing all the nobles. Golden looked over to her with anger still present on his face. But it soon melted once he saw the stare she gave him. “Mr. Golden Fields. I will not have you pollute this conversation with your obviously biased opinion.” Her relatively calm yet stern voice made him shift uncomfortably. “Furthermore, just because you are a noble does not mean that you are to be exempt from paying taxes” ‘As well as the law,’ She added in her mind. “But Princess I-” He attempted to speak out in protest. “You will not talk over me!” Celestia shouted in the royal canterlot voice and was now standing at full height. Golden looked around the room nervously as some of the nobles shot him looks of disgust, and others stood silent. “You have been fighting this for three weeks now, and not once have you given any meaningful information to help your case. Was it or was it not you who ordered the creation of a subsidiary in the Griffon Kingdom?” She was well aware of the answer but needed to buy more time for the guard to mobilize. Golden glanced at Celestia, wanting to make sure that it was okay for him to talk. With a simple nod from her, he did so. “Yes, Princess, I did order that” Celestia raised a hoof for him to stop talking. “Then. As you should know, there is nothing wrong with creating a local subsidiary and tracking the income and expenses related to your business, if that’s what you had indeed planned. However, as your records have shown,” She purposefully stopped to gauge his reaction and was not disappointed. Golden had frozen up with fear at the mention of his records. Sweat was building up around his face, and his breathing became sharp. ‘I see, so you truly were oblivious to the raid last night.’ Celestia mused to herself. “P-Pr-Princess, I can explain!” At this moment, several royal unicorn guards walked in. They each had a gold-tipped spear held in their dull yellow magic. “I do not believe that will be necessary, as your personal logs have been acquired as well in the raid that transpired just last night” Her horn lit up a bright gold, and she used her magic to pull out a scroll which she had hidden behind her throne. Levitating it in the air, she proceeded to unroll it to read aloud what it said. “Ahem!” She cleared her throat, and judging from the look on Golden’s face; he knew just which one this was. “My good friend Slight” She started, imitating Golden’s snobby accent. “The barbaric Princess doesn’t seem to be wavering in her opinion of the tax change. I need you to take and hide our money and assets. With any luck, in a few days, I will be leaving this shithole of a country and move to the Griffon Empire” She stopped and let the words sink into all of the nobles in the room. She scanned the scroll once more before laying her eyes on a particular section. “Ah, yes. This is my favorite part.” She shifted back into the accent. “If any of the others so much as attempt to snitch, I’m leaving you to arrange their “accidents.” For if that whore of a Princess finds out about our operations, it won't be just me that goes down.” With the last sentences said, all of the other nobles slowly backed away from Golden, who just sputtered out nonsense and tried to come up with anything to get him out of the mess. He looked towards one of the stained glass windows, and then looked down at his wings. The act was not lost on Celestia, who grabbed him with her magic just as he started to make a dash for it. She brought him closer, and her eyes narrowed at the squirming figure before her. “Golden Fields. In the name of Equestria, I find you guilty of tax evasion, money laundering, embezzlement, bribery, fraud, treason, insurance fraud, 29 counts of blackmail” She paused, giving herself a moment to say this correctly. “And the conspiracy to commit murder” The nobles in the room flinched as the word. What was worse was that she had said all of that without raising her voice. The royal guards then moved over to Celestia, who promptly dropped the pegasus onto the ground, who was frozen with fear. One of the guards hit him with the wooden end of the pole and told him to stand, which he then did. “Guards. You are to take Mr. Golden to the dungeons and lock him up. There will be no visitations allowed unless it is me.” The guards nodded in response before smacking the broken pegasus once more, and they led him out of the throne room. The other nobles took this as their cue to leave. Each of them bowed courteously before booking it out of the throne room. Once they had all left, Celestia walked back over to her seat and collapsed. She started to rub her head with her hoof when she heard the door open once more. Glancing over, she saw the captain of her Royal Guard, Brilliant Steel. She was a unicorn mare, with white fur and a dark blue mane. Her cutie mark was that of a silver sword guarding a book. She walked towards Celestia before bowing. "You may rise." "Your majesty, permission to speak freely?" The mare asked. "Permission granted," Celestia said with a smirk. "I am so glad this is bucking over," She groaned out as she fell backward onto the floor. Celestia started to snicker at her behavior, before letting out a long sigh. "Yes, I do believe that is something that both you and I can agree on. I trust none of them presented any trouble?" Celestia asked before walking down and standing next to the guard who was currently stretching. "Hmm? Nope," She responded. "That's good." She glanced at her prone form. "I'm not sure that this floor has been cleaned in a while, Ms. Brilliant." Celestia rubbed her hoof on the floor before bringing it up to blow the dust off that had gathered. "I don't care, it's cold, and it makes me feel better." She responded. "Hmm...Well, I would join you, but this coat is hard to keep clean. And I do seem to recall you promising me a spa treatment once this whole thing was over." Celestia then started to walk on past her towards the throne room doors. "Cashing in already? Well, then let's go. Mother." Author's Note Well hello there... Did you just? Yeah...Yeah I'm ashamed...ANYWAYS! And of course you're changing the topic. Shut it. Now as I was saying, I'm sorry for the delay. But combine college, with COVID19, along with my laziness, stress and anxiety. Well lets just say it gets in the way. I'm not going to sugarcoat anything, mainly because Valen would die. It's true, I am deathly allergic to sugar. Stop interrupting my train of thought! Now my upload time for chapters, for anyone who is concerned,(but lets face it, that's not many people) is going to be either very fast or very slow at times. My motivation comes and goes whenever it pleases. Also I feel I must apologize for the way this author's note is set up. I like to entertain myself by having conversations with characters from some of my other stories. The colors are just for fun though. Yeah I think they get it. But yeah, comment if you like, ask questions and I'll try to answer them as best as I can. But besides that, have a good day/night! And stay safe out there!
