Divergence

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5

Prologue

Trailblazer stumbled against the wall as the ship shook again. She had told that man not to get so close. But he wouldn’t listen. He just had to show off his piloting skills. Now they were running for their lives. If they survived this, she’d smack him. She knew she would. For now, she needed to get to engineering. She just might be able to increase their odds. She secured the bag she was carrying and continued her way to engineering.

The ship was s stealth scout ship. The UESS Coyote, the most advanced scout ship the United Earth Force could currently produce. It was under the command of Captain Steven Bellman. They were on patrol when they received orders to examine an area of space. It seemed that the enemy, a collection of A.I. controlled machines, had a drone research ship stationed there. By itself, it wasn’t strange. The A.I.s had such ships stationed in a lot of places. What was strange was the evidence that that one ship had been stationed there for millennia. That was highly unusual and worthy of investigation. Even more so when Earth’s allies told them there was nothing in that region of space.

When they arrived, they found more than just a ship. There was a whole fleet there. Everything from dreadnoughts to destroyers were there. Along with several score more research ships. The captain immediately ordered the ship to activate the stealth systems. Once the systems were fully active and Captain Bellman was sure they had gone unnoticed, they began to look around.

It took them two days to find what the A.I.s were looking for. And that was because they had gotten lucky. A random asteroid was moving through the region. When it reached the area in question, part of it suddenly disintegrated. The ships sensors detected a ripple in space where the asteroid was. Even with the disintegrating asteroid, they could barely detect the cause.

The cause was a barely detectable energy barrier. One unlike any they had seen before. For one thing, the barrier stretched for parsecs. Nobody had the knowledge or ability to make a barrier that size. For another, it was of an energy that was unknown. It was obvious that the A.I.s wanted whatever was making the barrier. And it was equally obvious they the humans and their allies couldn’t let them have it. Because the fleet was there, it was believed that the A.I.s were close to breaching the barrier. They sent a message back to command and received the expected stay and watch. They were only to act if the A.I.s were able to make a breach. They only had enough supplies for a month before they would have to leave in order to resupply. They were promised to be relieved or resupplied before then.

It was two weeks later that everything fell apart.

They hadn’t been idle for those weeks. They had performed their own scans of the barrier and dutifully sent the data to the science team being assembled. The crew, though, noticed that one member seemed to be very nervous. Her name was Trailblazer and she was relatively new to the crew and they weren’t quite sure what to make of her. The captain said she was okay, and that was good enough for the crew. She said it was nothing when asked. And since whatever was wrong didn’t interfere with her duties, they let it slide. They had leaned not to pressure her on things when it wasn’t an emergency.

The day had started normal. But the pilot, Adam Penknife, was starting to feel adventurous. He started to get closer and closer to the enemy fleet. Trailblazer had warned him not to. She told him that nothing good would come of him showing off. And she was right. He got too close. They were detected. And now, the chase was on.

“Trailblazer, just what the fuck are you doing?” There were times when she hated personal communication systems.

“Saving our hides,” Trailblazer snapped back. “I have an idea that’ll help us escape, Captain.”

“Will the ship be intact after you do this?”

“I am not going to blow up the ship!”

“There are reasons why I call you trailblazer,” the captain said.

“Those were not my fault,” Trailblazer growled. “And I am not going to tell you my name! You can call me something else.”

“I call them as I see them,” the captain replied. “Now, go and do what you’re going to do. Just try not to blow up the ship while you’re at it.”

Trailblazer opened her mouth to argue but said nothing when the ship shook. “Right,” she said. “Save the ship first. Then argue. And I really wish the captain would choose something else to call me. Trailblazer reminds me too much of home.”

Once in engineering, Trailblazer went straight for the shield generators. The room was a scene of organized chaos. People were dashing from control panel to control panel, doing what they could to keep the ship running. Dodging people, Trailblazer pulled a disk shaped device out of her bag. One the sheet was what looked like a complicated circuit. She quickly placed it by the generator and opened a panel.

“What are you doing,” a thunderous voice demanded. “We need those shield generators to say up!”

“Sorry Chief,” Trailblazer said. “But I have a way to get us out of the mess that idiot Penknife got us in. For that to work, I need this generator.” She didn’t stop working while she talked. She had reached inside the panel and shut down the generator. Quickly she pulled out two cables as the ship started to shake more often.

“Chief,” the captain shouted. “Shields just dropped by 40 percent. What’s going on down there?”

“That would be Trailblazer’s doing,” the chief answered. “She’s fucking with the generators. Says she has some plan to save us.”

“Trailblazer.”

“Just trust me captain,” Trailblazer said. “I got this.” Just then the sip shook even more violently than before. This cause Trailblazer to bend some of the components on the device she was working on.

“Celestia’s flaming tits,” Trailblazer shouted. She quickly corrected her accident. She didn’t notice the looks she got from the engineering chief and several other people. After double checking her work, she reached into her bag and brought out five crystals. The chief’s eyes widened when he saw the crystals. Each was the size of a large chicken’s egg and looked to be flawless. Any one of those would net a person several thousand credits on the market. And she was carrying five of them in her bag?!

Once she was satisfied with their placement, Trailblazer then touched each crystal while muttering. The chief was surprised to see each crystal glow with a soft orange light. Trailblazer then attached the cables from the generator to the device. She then turned and glared at the chief.

“Uh, captain,” the chief said after a moment. “The shields should have more power now.”

“Chief Engineer Byrne,” Captain Bellman said. The chief winced. The captain did not use a person’s whole name unless he was unhappy with them. “Why are the shields orange?”

“Yes! It worked,” a gleeful Trailblazer shouted. “Captain. I need the ship to dive into the barrier.”

“Are you fucking crazy,” the captain roared. “That’ll destroy the ship!”

“We don’t have a choice! We can’t outrun those ships. And there’s too many to fight. The only thing we can hide in is the barrier. And that will only work if we can get inside it.”

“You better be right about this shit! Or it’s your ass, Trailblazer!”

“Captain Bellman, I have never led you wrong when it came to a path,” Trailblazer solemnly said.

“There’s always a fucking first time,” chief Byrne muttered. Trailblazer shot him a look.

The captain didn’t answer, but everybody in engineering could feel the ship change heading. Ever since they had started running, they had tried to get some distance from the barrier. The A.I.s kept herding them back. Limiting their options for escape. This sudden change caught them by surprise. They hesitated for a moment before following.

Everybody on the bridge tensed every time the shields were struck. They didn’t know what Trailblazer did to the shields, but they could see they were effective. Before, the shields would flash, and the ship would shake with every hit. Now, the only sign the ship was under attack was the flashes from the explosions. When Trailblazer arrived on the bridge, several crew members could not help staring at her in awe.

Then the moment of truth came. The ship dove straight into the barrier. The shields’ glow increased greatly. Everybody either looked away or shielded their eyes. When they could look back, the glow of the shields was dimmer, but still brighter than it originally was. “I told you it would work,” Trailblazer said. “And I didn’t even blow anything up.”

Captain Bellman silently pointed at the view screen. Trailblazer turned and saw flaming debris floating past them. “Fuck.”

Author's Note

Thank you for reading this. I'll warn you know: don't expect updates often. I am a hobby writer and this is my first fanfic. I write more as a past time than anything else. Hopefully you, the readers will enjoy my story.

Also, I don't have any proof readers. Please point out any mistakes I have missed.

Chapter 1

Applejack groaned and opened her eyes. Before doing anything else, one hoof stretched out, grabbed her hat, and placed it on her head. Then she looked around, trying to see where she was and how she got there. She saw the ruins and suddenly it all came back. The Summer Sun Celebration. The Princesses disappearances. The appearance of Nightmare Moon. The inspector from Canterlot. The trip through the Everfree Forest. The ruined castle. The Elements of Harmony. The fight with Nightmare Moon. Then, the Elements glowing and the six of them floating in the air.

Applejack looked around again. This time she was looking for the mares she had came in with. She found four of them. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were all laying near her. She could see them starting to show signs of waking up. But she couldn’t see Twilight Sparkle. Finally, she spotted the missing mare. She was standing near on the walls staring down at a shadow.

“Ya had me worried there, sugarcube,” Applejack said as she trotted over to the lone pony. “Last thing Ah remember was us fightin’ Nightmare Moon.”

Twilight didn’t say a word. She just stood there, staring down at the shadow. Applejack looked at the shadow as she approached the pony. In it, she could see the broken remains of Nightmare Moon’s armor. It was only then that Applejack noticed how unnaturally still Twilight was standing.

“Sugarcube? Twilight? Are you okay?” Applejack placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.

And screamed.

Applejack scrambled back from the purple pony. She was waving the hoof she had touched Twilight with wildly. When she had touched Twilight, she had felt, things, moving under her skin. That feeling was creepy as buck. And it wasn’t something she wanted to repeat. Her screams of fright drew the others’ attention.

“Why are you screaming,” Rainbow asked as the group of mares rushed to Applejack’s side.

“Somethin’s wrong with Twilight,” Appplejack yelled as the others got to her. “Ah think Nightmare Moon’s inside her!”

“Whatever do you mean,” asked Rarity as Fluttershy squeaked and tried to hide behind her.

“Ah went up to her to see if she was okay,” Applejack explained. “When she didn’t answer, Ah touched her to get her attention. That’s when Ah felt it. It felt like somethin’ was movin’ under her skin!”

Fluttershy squeaked and tried to make herself smaller while the others gasped. Then Rainbow chuckled. “Good one, Applejack,” she said. “I didn’t know you had it in you.” She started walking toward Twilight. “How did you talk Twilight into doing this prank with you?”

“It ain’t a prank,” Applejack said. “Ther’ really is somethin’ movin’ under her skin.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Rainbow waved Applejack’s words off. “Now Twilight, I can appreciate a good prank. But enough is enough. This prank is over.” She placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.

For one moment, nothing happened. Then Rainbow’s eyes shrank to pinpoints. She screamed and zipped back to the others. “There’s something moving under her skin,” she said as she shook the hoof she had touched Twilight with.

“That’s whut Ah been tryin’ to tell ya,” Applejack said. “It has to be Nightmare Moon. Somehow, she dun got into Twilight!””

“But the Elements of Harmony were supposed to defeat her,” cried Rarity. “How could she have gotten into Twilight while being struck by them?”

“Ah don’t know,” Applejack said. “But we gotta’ find a way ta get her out.”

Just then, there was a bright flash of golden light behind the group. Started, they turned to see what new threat was coming to them. Behind them stood two female ponies both had wings and a horn. One was a tall regal pony with a pristine white coat. Her mane and tail were the colors of the aurora and waved in a nonexistent wind. She was dressed in her golden regalia. Beside her stood a slightly smaller pony. This one had a dark blue coat. Her mane and tail depicted the night sky and also waved in a nonexistent wind.

“Princess Celestia! Princess Luna,” the group chorused before bowing.

“Rise, my little ponies,” Princess Celestia said with a motherly smile. “You should not be bowing to us. It is us should be bowing to you. You five have done Equestria an important service. Together, with Twilight Sparkle, you have saved us from a dire threat.” Celestia paused and looked around. “Where is Twilight?”

“Please don’t tell us she has been injured,” a worried Princess Luna asked. “It would not do for one such as her to be injured in her hour of glory!”

“We believe something worse has happened to her, Your Majesty,” Rarity said as she gracefully rose.

The two princesses looked at each other. “Where is she,” Princess Luna asked. “We need to confirm this.”

“Back that way,” Rainbow Dash said as she pointed at Twilight’s position. “She’s standing over a puddle of black goo.”

Princess Luna rushed to where the blue pegasus was pointing. Princess watched her sister rush off then turned to the others. “I’m sure it’s nothing serious,” she said. “Unfortunately, Twilight has had things like this happen to her before.”

“She’s had things moving under her skin before,” Rarity asked in shock.

Princes Celestia studied the ponies in front of her for a moment. On one hoof, what they were asking was a state secret. Only she, Luna, Twilight’s family, and a select few others knew this. On the other hoof, these ponies were now the Element Bearers. They were going to be involved in a lot of secrets. Whether they wanted to or not.

“What I’m about to tell you is a state secret,” Celestia told the group. “You are not to tell this to anypony else unless you have permission from either myself, my sister, Princess Cadenza, or Twilight. Can you promise me that?”

“Does this concern Twilight,” Rarity asked.

“Yes, it does,” Celestia solemnly said.

“Then I’ll do it,” Rarity answered. “I promise that I want tell another pony anything you say here.” She, and the others then went through an odd set of motions.

“Twilight is not a normal pony,” Celestia said.

“Well, duh,” the pink pony, Pinkie Pie, said. “She’s your student. Of course, she’s not a normal pony.”

“Pinkie,” hissed Rarity. “That’s not what she meant!”

“What did she mean,” Pinkie asked with a puzzled look on her face. “Any pony Princess Celestia takes has to be special.”

“All ponies are special,” Celestia said firmly, but kindly. “It’s just that Twilight is different.”

“I’ll say,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “Not every pony can fight evil like that!”

“Ah think the Solar and Lunar Guards would argue that,” Applejack said. “Especially the Lunar Guard. They’re the ones who fight along side Princess Luna! We Appples have a history of bein’ in the guard. My great, great grandpappy was a Solar Guard. And he was proud of it.”

“Sergeant Sour Apple,” Princess Celestia said with a smile. “I remember him well. He was up for many a promotion, but he never accepted anything past sergeant. Said he worked for a living. Then he apologized for implying that I didn’t work.”

“Yep,” chuckled Applejack. “That was Sour Apple.”

“That’s nice and all,” Rainbow said. “But what about Twilight? She will be okay, right? You said this happened before?”

“Yes, but not for some time,” Princess Celestia said. It was how we discovered that she wasn’t a normal pony.”

Before Celestia could day anything else, Princess Luna rushed up to the group. “Sister come quick,” she shouted. “You need to see this!”

“What is it Luna,” Princess Celestia asked.

“It is Twilight! Her clockworks have grown in complexity and have encompassed her entire body!”

“What?!” Celestia stared at her sister for a moment. Together they rushed to Twilight. Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy looked at each other for a moment before rushing to follow the princesses.

By the time the group had arrived, Princess Celestia had her horn lit and was examining Twilight. “My word,” the alabaster alicorn said. “They have spread all through her body!”

The five mares, hearing this, looked at each other. After a moment, Applejack stepped forward. “Beggin’ your pardon, Princess,” she began. “But what has spread through Twilight’s body?”

Princess Luna looked at the five ponies. Then she looked at her sister. “She has not told you,” Luna asked as she turned back to the ponies.

“We kept getting kind of side-tracked,” Rainbow Dash said while rubbing the back of her head. “She did mention that Twilight was different.”

“That is one way of putting it,” Princess Luna said. She cleared her throat. “For some reason, which we cannot fathom, some of Twilight Sparkle’s skeleton is made of metal. Specifically, her spine, half her skull, and eight ribs.”

The five ponies gasp. “Oh my,” Fluttershy said. “Was she in some sort of accident?”

“We do not know,” Luna said. “Additionally, several of her organs have been replaced by machines. And there are incredibly thin strands of some time of wire running through her nervous system. It even taps into her thaumic channels.”

All five of the ponies had wide bulging eyes and looks of horror on their faces. “My goodness,” Rarity exclaimed. “How is she still alive?”

“How is that even possible,” Fluttershy asked. “None of what you said is even medically possible! When did this happen to the poor mare?”

Princess Luna sighed. “That’s the problem. We don’t know. After Twilight was accepted into the Royal School for Gifted Ponies, she was given a medical exam. All students are. That was when we found the metal bones and mechanical organs. There was nothing in her medial files that even hinted that they were there. Even her parents were shocked. The only thing they could point at was a strange illness that she came down with a month before her exam. But she recovered from that in a day.”

“Even now,” Luna continued. “We don’t know who, how or why this has happened. But we are monitoring the situation. We have the best doctors and scientists working with Twilight. Not to mention my sister. Between them, they will be able to figure this out.”

“But why is she just standing there,” Rainbow Dash asked. “She is alright, isn’t she?”

“She is perfectly fine, as far as we can tell,” Luna said. “She has been like this before. We did ask her what was wrong at those times. Twilight just said that sometimes, the machines inside her need to reset. When they do, she just stops.” Luna turned to look at Celestia and Twilight. “On some level, she is aware of what’s around her. Enough that she can react to dangers.”

“So she is okay,” Applejack asked.

“Yes,” confirmed Princess Luna. “We just need to wait for her to wake up.”

“But what about the changes you mentioned,” Fluttershy asked.

“That’s why we need to wait. She’s the only one who can tell us what those changes mean.”

“Oh. Okay,” Fluttershy softly said.

“Do you know how long it will be,” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Rainbow Dash,” Rarity exclaimed.

“What,” the blue pegasus asked. “I want to know.”

Luna laughed. “Patience,” she said. “I too want to know, but there is no rushing this. We do not know much about the things in Twilight. Rushing them could cause serious problems for her.”

“We don’t want to do that,” agreed Fluttershy.

“But I want to know,” Rainbow Dash shouted. “She sounds like a Robomare.”

“Robo-what,” Applejack asked.

“Robomare,” Rainbow repeated. “You know, half robot, half mare.”

“Are ya talking about one of those there comic books Apple Bloom reads?”

“Yes,” Rainbow excitedly answered. She turned to Princess Luna. “Is Twilight like Robomare? Is she stronger than a hundred stallions?”

“Ooh, ooh,” Pinkie excitedly jumped in. “Can she shoot lasers out of her eyes?”

Luna laughed. “She can’t do those things. Although, she is the inspiration for Robomare. Ten percent of the sales goes to her.”

“That’s so awesome,” Rainbow shouted. “Now she has to wake up! She has to tell me how she started Robomare.”

While her sister, Luna, was talking with the ponies, Princess Celestia was examining Twilight. Celestia would be the first to admit that her sister was better when it came to modern devices. Even the most complicated of clockworks. But between the two of them, Celestia was the one who knew Twilight and her inner workings the best. After all, Twilight was her personal student.

As she examined Twilight, Celestia could see that Luna had told her the truth. In fact, it seemed that she had under-stated the changes Twilight had undergone. Her entire skeleton was now composed of metal. Her muscles now had pieces of machines running through them. Mostly pistons, gears and pulleys, it seemed. The impossibly thin wires now ran through her entire nervous system instead of just being in her spine and brain. And the mechanical devices. They were everywhere! There wasn’t a single organ that did not have, at least, one device embedded in it. Some were replaced entirely and had only a thin covering of tissue. Others were laced with them.

Also, there appeared to crystal formations spread all through her body. Celestia couldn’t determine why they were there. But she could tell they were there for a reason. She could detect magic radiating from them. From what she knew of magic, she knew that wasn’t by accident. Tracing their flow of magic led the alabaster princess to a metal and crystal device located in Twilight’s head at the base of her horn. This was not there the last time she had looked. She wondered if the scientist knew about it. Or the doctors. Did Twilight know? Worried by this find, Celestia started looking for more similar changes.

She found them.

Replacing Twilight’s heart, Celestia found a strange pump. This pump not only moved Twilight’s blood; it also propelled a strange energy throughout Twilight’s body. It was an energy that Celestia did not recognized. It wasn’t thaumic in nature. Nor was it electricity. All of the strange machines and devices seemed to run on this energy. And now that she was looking, Twilight’s body seemed strangely dense. Like there was more, a lot more, to it than could be seen. And she could detect no signs of spatial folding.

Celestia knew that the scientist and doctors would have a field day studying the changes in Twilight’s body. Of course, Twilight would be the most excited of all. But this was not something to get excited about. It was something to be worried about. She was sure Luna would agree with her. The Changes in Twilight were beyond what she had though possible. At this point, Twilight seemed to be more machine than pony.

Suddenly energy pulsed through Twilight. The machines and devises started activating throughout the young unicorn’s body. It seemed that Twilight was waking up. “Sister,” Celestia called out. “I believe that Twilight is about to wake.”

Author's Note

And here's chapter 1. I want to thank you for reading this so far. Hopefully I haven't disappointed you. I tried to establish some major differences in this story. How these, and future, changes came about will have to wait for future chapters.

Remember, I am a hobby writer. I write for my enjoyment.

Chapter 2

Princess Luna turned toward her sister when she heard her call. She turned back to the ponies. “Perhaps you would like to accompany me,” she asked them.

“Iffn’ you don’t mind,” Applejack answered.

“Yes, please,” Rarity said giving Applejack a slight frown. “We’d like to make sure Twilight is fine.”

Princess Luna nodded and led the group closer to Twilight. As they got closer, they could see something strange was going on with the lavender unicorn. Her ears, eyes, muscles, and various portions of her skin were all twitching.

“Why is she twitching like that,” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Systems test,” Princess Celestia answered.

“She really is Robomare,” squealed Rainbow Dash.

“Hush,” Rarity hissed at Rainbow. “Twilight does not need to hear that when she wakes up.”

Rainbow opened her mouth to reply but was silenced when two . . . things ripped out of Twilight’s barrel in a spray of blood. There was one on each side of Twilight. They were suspended from a frame protruding from inside Twilight. The rear part was bigger around than Princess Celestia’s upper foreleg and had cables running back into the lavender unicorn. Extending from that was a series of seven tubes arranged in a circle. There was no way they could have fit into Twilight. But everypony present could see that they had come out of the mare.

Before anypony could do anything, the tubes started spinning. Once they were up to speed, lavender beams shot out of the tubes and blew holes through the stone wall in front of Twilight. Jaws gaping, the group could only stare.

“That was so awesome,” squealed Rainbow Dash.

Applejack slapped the blue pegasus on the back of her head. “Ya darn idiot,” she said. “Jus’ think whut would have happen’ if’n that was you instead of the wall.”

“Um, that would have been bad,” Rainbow admitted.

“Ya darn right!”

“What were those things,” Rarity asked the princess as the strange devices withdrew into Twilight’s body.

“They were very scary,” Fluttershy said from behind Rarity.

“I don’t’ know,” Princess Luna said. “She has never displayed such an ability before. Celestia, you know more about Twilight than I do. Do you have any idea what that was?”

“I’m still working on how they fit in her,” a wide-eyed Celestia said. “There wasn’t any sign of spatial folding inside Twilight! I’m not even sure that can be done inside a living being!”

“No spatial folding,” Luna asked her sister.

Princess Celestia shook her head.

“Pocket dimension?”

Head shake.

“Portals?”

Head shake.

“Shrinking spell?”

Head shake.

“Internal saddlebags of holding,” Luna asked desperately.

Celestia gave the dark pony a look. “Now you’re just being silly.”

“Well, Star Swirl swore it was only a matter of time before he would get those to work,” Luna said sullenly.

“You know the last time he tried that spell; the saddlebags sucked the pony they were in inside themselves,” Celestia pointed out.

“Item Tester was never the same again,” Luna sadly said.

“He never did trust saddlebags after that,” Celestia said. Both princesses gave a sigh. The watching ponies gave them worried, and slightly confused looks. Except for Rarity. She gave the sisters a slightly frightened look. She had heard rumors of about some of Star Swirl the Bearded’s experiments. She had always thought the internal saddlebags of holding were a joke. If those were real, what other of his experiments were real? That was something she didn’t want to know.

~ * ~

Twilight stared impatiently at the blue field. In every direction, all she could see was blue. Blue with text scrolling up. Normally, she didn’t mind the blue field. She always learned something new about herself when it appeared. Right now, she was in a hurry. The last thing she remembered was fighting Nightmare Moon. Then she was here. She knew this was a system reboot. She had been through a few of those before. Always after something had gone wrong. This time, though, she feared the worst.

She feared that her and her newfound friends lost to Nightmare Moon.

Twilight wanted to pace. But that was impossible. She didn’t have a body to pace with. She would have growled in frustration, but she knew from experience that there wouldn’t be any noise. The only thing she could do was wait. That and read the text. With an inaudible sigh, Twilight started reading the text. It was the only thing she could do to distract herself from the wait.

It didn’t take her long to discover there was more text than usual. There was a perfectly good reason for it too. Before, most of the entries had either ‘Error’ or ‘Not Found’ written beside them. Now, there were entire pages of text. Some of the entries led to more text. If it weren’t for her situation, Twilight would have spent hours days just reading. It looked like everything she wanted to know about what happened to her was here. All she had to do was read. She had no problem reading.

The more Twilight read, the more excited she became. The answers she wanted were here. The devices inside of her kept a log of everything they did to her since she was a filly. That was one of the answers she wanted. She saw that her skeleton was now comprised entirely of metal. There was more metal in her nervous system as well. While the system didn’t recognize the two metals, from the properties listed, Twilight could guess which they were. She still was going to confirm it as soon as she could. Professors Loose Screw and Spring Loaded were going to be so excited.

Twilight saw something that made her pause. She was surprised when the text stopped scrolling. That had never happened before. Usually, the text kept moving despite her wishes. Putting the question of the text aside, Twilight went back to her objective.

“I have defensive and offensive systems,” Twilight asked in shock. With her big brother, Shining Armor, being the captain of the Solar Guard, she knew what ‘defensive’ and ‘offensive’ meant. ‘Systems,’ as she was coming to understand it, meant the devices inside her. Even though she had had them inside her for years, Twilight worried about the things inside her. Now she had more reasons to worry. She never expected to have devices of war inside her. She doubted anypony did.

Twilight tried to puzzle out what some of the things meant. Under defensive systems, she found armor, power armor, and armor plating. There was also anti-personnel anti-vehicle ordinance. “Okay,” Twilight told herself. “I know what armor is and that lets me guess at armor plating. But what the hay was power armor?”

Even with what she learned studying herself, Twilight couldn’t figure it out. She knew about enchanted armor. Everypony knew that enchanting armor made it stronger and more resistant to wear and tear. And it made the armor more comfortable to wear. Something which the guards much appreciated. If the enchanter was particularly good, they could add some special enhancements like fire or ice resistance. With a mental shrug, Twilight decided to wait until she could talk to the princesses and moved on. She didn’t move far. The next thing she looked at was the offensive systems list.

Twilight’s eyes would have widened if they could, there were so many entries. She didn’t know where to start. She saw things called particle cannons, ion cannons, and mortars. She saw missile launcher, rocket launchers, and something called a S.A.M. Torpedoes, railguns, grenade launchers, and miniguns. Her mind was whirling with all the names. The only thing she knew about these things was that they were weapons of some sort. Not all the same type of weapon either. She knew this because some of them, like the S.A.M., had notes beside them. The note said that the weapon was only useable in battle mode.

With her curiosity driving her, Twilight mentally reached out to one of the weapons. She chose the thaumic enhanced miniguns. She knew the word ‘mini’ meant small, so whatever a gun was, it had to be small. And she knew that ‘thaumic’ meant magic. Whatever these miniguns were, they were enhanced with magic. The file for the miniguns opened. Inside, Twilight found schematics for a device more complicated than any she had ever seen. It was almost as complicated as some of the more advanced magic formulas she had studied. As she studied the schematics, Twilight started wondering what this minigun did. Shortly after that, she received an alert.

“Weapons test: thaumic enhanced minigun,” the alert read. “Beginning test. Deploying miniguns.”

“Weapons test?” Twilight said. “The miniguns are weapons?”

“Miniguns successfully deployed. Firing miniguns.”

“What? No, no, no, no. Stop!”

“Test firing complete. Securing weapons.”

Twilight didn’t know what to do. She triggered a weapons test and she didn’t even know what the weapons were. Or what they did. Hopefully, nopony was standing in front of her. She didn’t want to hurt anypony. Worried about who she may have hurt, Twilight decided to wait until she was back with the professors and doctors before she tried to figure out what the rest of these things were.

Of course, that didn’t stop her from reading. Nor did it stop her from making mental notes of things to come back to.

Some time later, Twilight was never sure how long, the blue field flickered and Twilight found herself blinking. When her vision cleared, she was looking at the princesses. “Welcome back,” Princess Celestia said.

“Nightmare Moon,” Twilight asked.

“Unfortunately, she did not survive your encounter,” Princess Luna said.

Suddenly a blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane filled Twilight’s sight. “Forget that,” she said. “You’re Robomare!”

Before Twilight could make a reply, an orange hoof grabbed the mare. “Get over here, ya idjiot,” the owner cried. “She just woke up! Give her some space.”

Twilight turned to follow the voice and found her new friends standing with the princesses. “Girls! You’re alright! I was worried about you.”

“We’re fine, darling,” Rarity said.

“You were all ‘You won’t hurt my friends’ then we got all glowy,” Pinkie said. “Then these things popped out of your sides and you made Black Snooty taste the rainbow!”

“Yeah! Wait. What?” Rainbow Dash said. “She did not taste me!” Her cheeks were flushed pink. Everypony stared awkwardly at the pink and blue mares.

Rarity cleared her throat. “Darling, if you would be so kind, could you tell us just what came out of the sides of your barrel and how they got in there?”

“And are you okay,” Fluttershy quietly asked. “They looked like they hurt.”

“Ooh, how much of you is machine,” Rainbow excitedly asked.

Twilight looked at her new friends for a moment. Then turned to look at the princesses. They each gave her a small nod. “I’ll tell you more later,” Twilight said. “But for now, there are machines in every part of me except my mane, tail, and horn.”

Everypony’s jaw dropped. Even the jaws of the two princesses. “W-what,” Princess Celestia asked.

“But most of that is new,” Twilight continued. “The machines inside of me tell me that new stuff was install. New ‘hardware’ and ‘software’, whatever they are.” She looked at the confused look on her new friends faces.

“Now let me get this straight,” Applejack said. “Ya say ya have machines inside ya. Actual machines, like the Friendship Express?”

“Yes.”

“But the pony express is huge,” shouted Pinkie. “How can something so big fit into a pony? But what if she isn’t a pony?” She gasped. “What if she’s a space alien come to take over?”

“Oh no,” Fluttershy moaned from behind a surprised Princess Luna. Luna turned confused eyes toward her sister. Celestia just shrugged. She didn’t know what the pink mare was doing either.

“Pinkie don’t be ridiculous,” Applejack said. “Of course, she’s a pony. Whut Ah’d like to know is how those things got inta her in the first place.”

“Um,” Twilight said. “They were built there.”

“What,” they all chorused.

“According to the machine’s records,” Twilight said. “They been inside me, slowly growing ever since I was a filly. I’m not sure if I’m reading the time correctly, but it looks like they first showed up about a month before I took my examination.”

“That mysterious illness you had for a week,” Princess Celestia said. “The doctor never did fine a cause for that.”

Twilight nodded. “That’s what I’m thinking. We can talk about how they got in me later, when the professors and doctors are with us.”

“Of course,” Princess Celestia agreed. “In that case, we should start back. I’m sure the captain of the Solar Guard and the captain of the Lunar Guard are worried about us. We haven’t contacted them yet.”

Princess Luna walked to the puddle of black goo that was all that was left of Nightmare Moon. After staring for a moment, she lit her horn and pulled the armor out. With a sigh she returned to the others.

Twilight looked up at Princess Luna. “I’m sorry, Princess,” she said. “I couldn’t save her.”

“Do not worry, Twilight,” Luna answered. “My sister and I discussed this outcome. We were not sure she could have been saved. We do thank you for trying though. It shows that you are a good pony.”

“I still wish I could have saved her,” Twilight said as she lowered her head.

“I know, Twilight,” Princess Celestia said as she put a wing over Twilight. “We wish that you could have as well. But even the Elements have their limits.”

“Begging your pardon,” Rarity said. “But who was Nightmare Moon?”

“She was my shadow,” Princess Luna quietly said.

Author's Note

And here's chapter 2! Thank you for waiting. Hopefully I continue to entertain you. Chapter 3 will be along eventually.

Chapter 3

“She was your what,” Applejack asked as Rarity gasped.

“My shadow,” Princess Luna repeated.

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy all looked down at Luna’s hooves. “Um, begging your pardon,” Applejack said. “But your shadow is still there.”

“One can have more than one shadow,” the dark mare said with a smile. “It depends on the number of light sources there are.”

“That does make sense,” Rainbow Dash said, her face screwed up in thought.

“Ah can see that,” Applejack said. ‘But that doesn’t explain how Nightmare Moon came about.”

“Nightmare Moon was created by some well-meaning but misguided unicorns,” Princess Luna said. “They used dark magic to capture my shadow. Then they bound it to a golem.”

“The spell work they used was most impressive,” Princess Celestia said. “They only made one mistake.”

“Yes,” nodded Luna. “Since they were using dark magic, they needed to remove my emotions from my shadow. And they needed to keep their emotions out of their spell work. Since they did neither, Nightmare Moon was born.” The dark princess sighed.

“Is that important,” Applejack asked. “Keeping their emotions out, Ah mean.”

“Very,” Princess Luna said. “Dark magic is magic of the mind and emotions. If one isn’t careful, the magic will take over. Once that happens, you’ll be lost to the darkness.”

“H-has that ever happened,” a trembling Fluttershy asked.

“Sadly, yes,” came the answer.

“We. . . don’t like talking about him,” Celestia said quietly. “He was a brilliant stallion. He had such a bright future ahead of him. Until he submitted to the darkness. When he did that, he took and old ally with him.”

Twilight nuzzled Celestia as the other five ponies looked at each other. “We’re sorry Princess,” Rarity said. “We did not mean to bring up bad memories.”

“It is no problem,” Princess Celestia said. “When you live as long as we have, you’re bound to have many memories. Both good and bad. You just try to keep them from overwhelming you.”

Princess Luna brought Nightmare Moon’s armor closer to her. “Let us start back. I’m sure our captains are worried.” She looked at Twilight. “Your brother especially.”

“He better not be tied up again,” Twilight said.

“He’s a guardpony,” Rarity exclaimed. “Why would he be tied up?”

“He’s a little protective of me,” Twilight said with a blush.

“What do you expect,” Princess Celestia said. “You’re his little sister.”

“Let me get this straight,” Rarity said to Twilight as they exited the castle. “Your older brother is captain of the Solar Guard?”

Twilight nodded.

“Just when were you going to tell me about this,” Rarity asked. “I do love a stallion in uniform. They’re dashing and handsome. Not to mention they know how to treat a mare.”

“His special somepony agrees with you,” Princess Celestia said.

Rarity paused. “Of course, he’d have a special somepony,” she said. “All the good ones always have a special somepony.” She looked at the taller mare. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she.”

“Yes, she is,” Celestia answered.

Rarity turned to Twilight. “Do you have any other brothers,” she asked.

“Sorry, no,” answered Twilight.

Rarity slumped for a moment. “Oh well,” she said. She raised her head. “But there are still other available stallions in Canterlot.”

“That is true,” said Princess Luna. “If you don’t mind, I would like to learn about the rest of you. I already know about Twilight as she is my sister’s student. As the Element Bearers, you will be called upon when the need arises. I, for one, would like to make sure you’re well compensated for your time.”

Pinkie Pie immediately started talking about herself. The other four ponies needed some encouragement to start. But they too started telling the Princesses about themselves and their lives.

~ * ~

As the group of ponies approached the edge of the forest, Twilight suddenly stopped. For a moment, there was an alert in her vision. Her communications suite detected a message. An encrypted message on a subspace channel. Who sent the message, she didn’t know. It was an encrypted message broadcasted over a subspace channel. It couldn’t have been from any planet-based source. Equestria was just now starting to experiment with producing radio waves. Even the Minitours only had rudimentary radio. As from where, that was easy. The transmission was direction. She was on the edge of it, but she did catch enough of it to tell the direction. It was from the Everfree.

Twilight stopped and looked back. There was something going on in there. She knew it. Subspace messages just don’t pop out of nowhere, her systems told her. Someone had to have sent it. But who did? Nopony on the planet had any contact with beings who could have sent that signal. It was a mystery. A mystery that she had to figure out.

“Twilight!”

At her shouted name, Twilight snapped her head around. She found both princesses and her new friends staring at her. “Um, yes,” she said.

“We’ve been calling your name for a couple of minutes,” Celestia said. “Is something wrong?”

“Twilight often does this,” Luna said to the others. “Usually, she’s going on about all the possible outcomes of an event. No matter how unlikely the outcome is.”

“I’m getting better,” protested a blushing Twilight.

“Indeed, you are,” Princess Celestia said. “But why where you looking at the forest?”

“Oh,” Twilight perked up. “I received something called a subspace transmission.”

“Cool,” breathed Rainbow Dash. “Wait a minute. What’s a sub-space trans-mission?”

“Um, give me a moment,” Twilight said with her eyes unfocused. “There’s a lot of fascinating things in here.”

The group waited for a minute. Then another. And another. And still another. Princess Luna gave her sister a look.

Princess Celestia just facehooved. “Twilight Sparkle,” she intoned. “You are going to be late on your report.”

Twilight’s head snapped up. Eyes wide, she swung her head from side to side as she galloped in place. “Oh no,” she cried. “I can’t be late.”

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity stared at the purple mare with their mouths hanging open. Fluttershy was peeking from behind Rarity as Pinkie giggled. As one, they turned to look at Celestia.

“Twilight is a very studious student,” Princes Luna said as her sister blushed. “She hates being late for anything school related.”

Suddenly, Twilight stopped moving. “Wait a minute,” she said. “I don’t have a report due.”

“Twilight,” Celestia said. “We are waiting on you to tell us what a subspace transmission is.”

Twilight blushed. “Oh, uh. It’s a non-magical way to send messages over vast distances faster than anything else. Even magic.”

“This, thing, can send messages faster than magic,” Celestia confirmed with a vaguely shocked look on her face.

Twilight nodded.

“Just how ‘vast’ are these distances,” Luna asked after a moment.

“We don’t have the words to express how vast,” Twilight said. “These beings can talk to beings across the distances between stars.”

Princess Luna’s mouth dropped open as she slowly sat. Princess Celestia focused on Twilight’s face. The others had varying expressions of puzzlement on their faces. Except for Pinkie. Her smile was just as big as ever.

“The stars are far apart,” Rainbow Dash asked. “I thought they were lights in the sky that Princess Luna made.”

“Yes and no, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia said. “About half of the stars we see are put there by my sister. The others are not. She did not put the constellations there. They’ve always been there. Sailors around the world use those to navigate by. Because they never change.”

“It’s not just sailors,” Applejack put in. “Explorers do it too. Granny Smith will tell ya her pappy sometimes used the stars to travel. They couldn’t always travel during the day.”

“Luna was ecstatic when she discovered that our little ponies used her stars this way,” Princess Celestia said. “Too bad Nightmare Moon never did. Things would have been different if she had.” She poked her sister. “Come on. We don’t want the guards worrying any more than they have been.”

“What,” Luna said, startled. “Oh, yes. Let us continue. But about that message.”

“Yes,” Twilight said.

“Any idea who sent it? It would be nice to have contact with ponies from beyond the stars.”

“No. It was encrypted,” Twilight answered. “But it did come from somewhere in the forest.”

“That is a problem,” Celestia said. “Since it came from the forest, I’d like to know how they got here.”

“What do you mean,” Rarity asked as Luna’s eyes widened in surprise.

“There is a, barrier let’s say,” Luna said. “You can’t see it, but it surrounds everything you can see in the night sky. It separates us from everything else. Our mother, Faust, wanted it that way.”

“She never told us why,” Celestia said.

“So, yer sayin’ somethin’ from beyond the stars is in the forest,” Applejack asked. “Somethin’ that shouldn’t be here because of somethin’ yer mother did?”

“That is correct,” Celestia said.

Eyes wide, Rainbow Dash asked, “That barrier is still up? At full strength?”

“Yes,” Princess Luna answered. “The barrier has shown no sign of weakening for all the time it has been up.” She turned to Twilight. “Are you absolutely sure that message came from the forest?”

Twilight nodded. “I am.”

“Then as your princess,” Luna said. “I formally ask you to find the source. Whatever it is, we need to know. Somehow it got past the barrier.”

“You can count on me, Princess,” Twilight saluted.

“I’ll inform your friends in Cantorlot of your new assignment,” Princess Luna continued. “Now, we just need to find you a place to live while you do this.”

“That’s easy,” Celestia said. “She can stay in the Golden Oaks Library. The librarian recently retired, and the living space is open.”

Princess Luna gave her sister a look. “A library,” she said. “You want to put Twilight in a library?”

“I get to live in a library,” squealed Twilight as she excitedly hoped up and down.

Celestia looked at Luna. “Forgot who we were talking to, didn’t you,” she said.

Luna hung her head and nodded.

Rarity stepped forward. “Excuse me,” she said. “But are you honestly asking Twilight to live in a library while she investigates this, uh, tranz-mission thing?”

“Yes,” Celestia said. “In Cantorlot, Twilight would have moved into the royal library if the librarians had let her.”

“It’s true,” Luna said. “I’ve never seen a pony so in love with books.” She stopped for a moment to look at the prancing purple pony. “I and my sister have curled up with a good book every now and then. And I’m sure you five have done the same.” All but Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement. “But Twilight takes it to extremes. She has been known to create forts out of books. And woe any who try to dismantle it before she’s done.”

“Let me tell you about the Night of the Filly,” Princess Celestia said.

Twilight stopped prancing and stared at Celestia with wide eyes. “Princess Celestia, no,” she cried. “Please don’t tell them about that.”

The others looked at each other. “Okay, now we gotta here this,” Applejack said for the group.

“Well, it started like this,” Princess Celestia said with a smile. Twilight groaned. She knew there was no stopping it now.

~ * ~

Princess Luna had raised her moon, bringing forth the night. Ponies across the land were laying down their weary heads. Others were getting ready to start their night. In the Castle of the Two Sisters in the Everfree Forest something was also rising.

The black puddle of goo hadn’t evaporated like the princess and Twilight had thought it would. Instead, it congealed into a gelatinous glob. As the moon ascended, it mounded. Slowly the mound changed shape. Until, near midnight, it held the shape of an alicorn filly.

The filly’s physical features nearly matched those of Princess Luna. Even down to her cutie-mark. Any who saw the two side-by-side would instantly believe them to be mother and daughter. The eyes of the filly were closed even as she slowly breathed.

At the stroke of midnight, slit-ed eyes opened.

Author's Note

And here's chapter 3. As always, thank you for reading this. Hopefully I've continued to entertain you. Don't know when the next chapter will be, as usual. Guess as to what will happen in future chapters are welcomed.

Chapter 4

One week had gone by. Five mares were gathering. Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash were walking toward Rarity’s shop. Well, Fluttershy and Applejack were walking. The blue pegasus with the rainbow mane was slowly flying beside them. “Ah’m tellin’ you Rainbow,” Applejack was saying. “I dun saw it. The Shadow Pony is in the forest.”

“I’m not saying you didn’t see something,” Rainbow Dash replied. “But I still think you just saw somepony’s shadow.”

“Darn it Rainbow! Ah know what Ah saw!”

“I wasn’t there, so I can’t say any different,” Rainbow said as she raised her hooves placatingly. “But if you really think something’s there, why not tell Twilight? She did say she wanted to look at the forest. What do you think, Fluttershy?”

“Um, well,” the yellow pegasus said shyly. “My animal friends did say there was something new in the forest. Something dark.” She shuddered.

“The Shadow Pony,” Applejack said triumphantly. “See? Ah told ya, Rainbow. The Shadow Pony is real.”

“She something new was in the forest,” Rainbow argued back. “How can it be the Shadow Pony if it’s new? You said that it’s been there for years.”

“Maybe it has a cycle,” Applejack suggested. “Like th’ zap apples. Th’ zap apples don’t ripen every year. So, th’ Shadow Pony doesn’t have to appear every year. Th’ Shadow Pony could come back every so often.”

“Maybe,” Rainbow said as she rubbed her chin. “But I still say we tell Twilight.”

“You don’ have to worry about that,” Applejack said. “Ah’m definitely gonna tell her. Last thing Ah need is Apple Bloom and her new friends getting’ in their heads to go and catch th’ Shadow Pony.”

Rainbow Dash dropped her head. “Tell me about it,” she said. “I’m glad Scootaloo has friends. But she, your sister, and Sweetie Bell are getting into all sorts of trouble.”

“What about Sweetie Bell?”

The three ponies looked up at the question. In their discussion, they had approached Rarity’s boutique. The pony herself was standing in front of her door looking at the three of them. “Oh, we’re just talking about how her and her friends are causing so much trouble.”

“Darling, you don’t need to tell me anything,” Rarity said. “I fail to see how three fillies can get into so much tree sap.” Rarity shuddered. “Why, it took me hours to get the sap out of Sweetie’s mane.”

Rainbow Dash and Applejack rolled their eyes while Fluttershy comforted the white mare. “Now Rarity,” Applejack began as the group started walking. “A little dirt never hurt nopony.”

“It wasn’t dirt,” Rarity said. “It was tree sap! And it wasn’t a ‘little’ sap. I’m not sure how the trees survived the loss of that amount of sap.”

“Ya got me there,” the farm pony said. “Ah don’t know where all th’ sap came from. And how could three fillies get so much on ‘em either.”

“At least they’re having fun,” Rainbow said.

Applejack turned to look at the flying pegasus. Rarity glared.

“They were having fun, right,” Rainbow asked nervously.

“If those three don’t start thinkin’, they’ll get somepony hurt,” Applejack said. “It’s only the grace of the Princesses that nopony has gotten hurt yet.”

“I really try to impress on Sweetie how they should take more precautions,” Rarity said. “But then she looks at me with her big eyes and I can’t help but comfort her.” She sighs. “It’s a good thing that she doesn’t stay with me all the time.”

“Ah’ve been meanin’ to ask ya,” Applejack said. “Why do yer parents send her to ya?”

“They travel a lot,” Rarity answered. “When she was younger, they could take her with them. But now, she needs to attend school. At least, until she gets her cutie mark.”

The other mares nodded. One a pony got her cutie mark, she focused on learning things that could help. That is, unless it was the family business. Then, she stopped going to school and started working. It was like this all over Equestria. Everypony knew and expected this.

“Yes,” Applejack said. “But how long will it take them ta get their cutie marks?” The group sighed.

A few minutes later, the group stood in front of the Golden Oaks Library. They had stopped at Sugarcube Corner to pick up Pinkie Pie. They had just knocked on the door and were waiting for it to be answered.

“Are you sure she lives here,” Fluttershy quietly asked.

“Yes, I’m sure,” Rarity said. “Why the Sisters let her move into the library, of all places, I don’t know.”

“Because it’s a library,” Rainbow Dash shouted. The others turned to stare at her in shock. The blue pegasus was vibrating in midair.

“Of course, Twilight would live here,” Dash continued excitedly. “Remember. Robomare is based on her! And Robamare’s secret identity is a librarian!”

Pinkie Pie’s eyes grew huge and she gasped. “Twilight is Robomare,” she screamed. “Why didn’t anypony tell me?”

“Pinkie,” Applejack said. “We learned this last week. An’ Twilight isn’t Robomare.”

“That’s right, Darling,” Rarity added. “The writers just based the character on Twilight. Just how they discovered that Twilight was part whatever those things are, I don’t know.”

“Well, in the comic book,” Rainbow said. “Robomare was in a horrible accident. She would have died if the scientist hadn’t found her. They rebuilt her body using machines.”

“But that’s jus’ th’ comic books,” Applejack said. “You don’ expect us to believe that, do you?”

“It could have happened,” Rainbow said belligerently.

“I thought the princesses said that they found out when Twilight was examined,” Fluttershy quietly said. “They could have been on the staff then,”

“That is a good possibility, dear,” Rarity said with a smile.

“But why would Princess Celestia let them do that,” Applejack asked.

“Who would believe a young filly was the basis for that character,” Rarity asked. “Especially since the best we can do for a leg replacement is a peg leg.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yeah. A lot retired Wonderbolts know somepony who’s lost a leg.”

“Those poor ponies,” whispered Fluttershy.

“Why are you ponies standing in front of the door,” a voice suddenly asked.

With a squeak, Fluttershy leapt behind Applejack. The other mares turned to face the now open door with gasps of surprise. The door was empty.

“Who said that,” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I did,” the voice answered.

“There’s nopony there,” Rainbow said.

Pinkie gasped. “Maybe it’s a ghost!” Fluttershy squeaked and ducked back behind Applejack.

“What’s a ghost,” the voice asked.

“Seriously,” Rainbow said. “What kind of pony doesn’t know what a ghost is?”

“I’m not a pony,” the voice said. “I’m a dragon.”

“A dragon,” chorused the ponies. Rainbow Dash and Applejack got ready to fight. Rarity with Fluttershy now behind her backed up. Pinkie Pie, on the other hand, was sitting off to the side eating popcorn out of a bowl.

“Show yerself,” Applejack demanded.

“But I’m right here,” the voice said.

“Where?”

“Here!” The ponies looked down. Standing in the door was a dragon. A baby dragon. He was green and purple with a green frill running from the top of his head and down his back.

“A baby dragon,” Rarity asked.

“Yeah I am,” the dragon said. “You got a. . .”

Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash were sent flying as Fluttershy crashed through them. Before the dragon could react, he found himself wrapped in her hooves. “Aren’t you just the handsomest thing,” she said. “What is your name? Where’d you come from? How long are you staying?”

The young dragon stared at the yellow Pegasus. He hadn’t even noticed her. “My name is Spike,” he finally said. “Dragon Lord Torch sent me to Celestia. I’m to stay until the Dragon Lord tells me otherwise.”

“Who’s the Dragon Lord,” Fluttershy asked.

“Only the most important dragon in the world,” Spike said as he pushed out his chest.

“Why did he send you to the Princesses,” Rainbow asked suspiciously. She had recovered from the shock of seeing a dragon. “Couldn’t he have done whatever it is he wants the Princesses to do?”

“It was because of my flame,” the dragon smugly said. “My flame is purple. See.” He turned his head a blew. A small stream of purple flame came from his mouth. “The Dragon Lord said that wasn’t normal dragon magic. So, he sent me to Celestia to learn what it was. She made me Twilight’s assistant to learn more about magic.”

“If you’re Twilight’s assistant,” Rainbow said. “Where is she?”

“In the basement,” answered Spike. “Doing egghead stuff.”

“Would you be a dear, and show us the basement, please,” Rarity asked.

Spike stared at the white unicorn of a moment. “Sure,” he said with a shake o his head. “It’s this way.” Fluttershy put him down and he led the way into the library.

“I don’t know what those ponies are doing down there,” Spike said as he led the group through the tree. “They’ve been down there all day.”

“Thar’s a basement in the library,” Applejack asked.

“Why not,” Spike said. “There’s already a kitchen, bathroom, and a few bedrooms.”

“Say whut now.”

“The bedrooms and bathroom are upstairs.”

The ponies looked at each other. They were all thinking the same thing: This was a library? They had never heard of a library that had a kitchen or bedrooms. A basement? Sure. Bathrooms? Well, the librarians needed someplace to relieve themselves. But not all of it together. There was even couches, lamps, and tables in here. Rarity noticed the throw rugs on the floor. They were old but they did bring the rooms together.

“Y’all live in here,” Applejack asked.

“Yeah,” the dragon said. “The previous librarian did, so why not?” He studied the following ponies. “Did you not visit the library?”

“Sorry, but no,” Rarity answered for the group. “The previous librarian, Mrs. Book Mark, was close to retirement. She did not present a welcoming demeanor. Don’t get me wrong, she wasn’t mean. She just wasn’t welcoming.” Fluttershy nodded her agreement. Applejack shrugged while Rainbow Dash looked away.

“Ah wouldn’t know anything about that,” Applejack said. “Ah was too busy workin’ on mah farm.”

“I really don’t have time to read books,” Rainbow said. She was scratching the back of her head with one hoof. “I manage the weather here in Ponyville and I’m training for the Wonderbolts.”

Spike just shrugged. “Twilight’ll be happy to have ponies come in a borrow books. She’s crazy about books. Just don’t damage them. You wouldn’t like her when she’s angry.”

“Heck no,” Rainbow said. “She’s Robomare! Everypony knows you don’t make Robomare angry!”

“Robo-what,” Spike asked.

“Rainbow Dash,” Rarity exclaimed. “You know Twilight is not really Robomare. That comic book is only based on her.”

“I know that,” snapped Rainbow. “But look. Robomare works in a library.” She waved her hooves around. “And where are we?” She looked at the others. “Robomare has her secret base in her library’s basement. Where are we heading? Twilight even has doctors working on her. Just like Robomare! I know she’s not Robomare, but you have to admit, she’s preeeetty close.”

“Well, Ah hate to admit it,” Applejack began. “But she’s right. If most ponies knew about Twilight, they’d make the same mistake.”

“Um, what’s a comic book,” Spike asked. “Twilight hasn’t said anything about a comic book. Ans she knows books.”

“Pfft,” Rainbow Dash said. “She can’t know everything about books if she doesn’t know comic books.” She puffed out her chest. “I can tell you all about it.”

“Not now, Rainbow,” Applejack said. “We’re here for Twilight. Y’all can talk about that later.”

The blue pegasus wanted to argue. But with the others nodding their agreement, she had no choice but to wait.

It wasn’t long until the group reached the basement door. “She’s down here,” Spike said. “She and the other ponies made some type of discovery this morning. They’ve been working on that all day.”

“Thank you, Spike,” Rarity said as the others opened the door. “You’ve been a big help to us.”

Spike blushed slightly. “No problem,” he said. “Just call if you need anything.”

Rarity joined the others as they walked down the stairs. They could see that the room was large and open. At least, it would have been if it hadn’t been cluttered with equipment, boxes, and metal ingots. Even the few pieces of furniture were covered.

“This is so cool,” Rainbow Dash squealed. She was bouncing excitedly in the air.

“This is a mess,” Applejack said.

“How will we find Twilight in all this,” Rarity asked.

“Easy peasy,” Pinkie Pie said. “She’s right over there.”

The others looked to where the pink pony was pointing. There, sitting in a chair was the purple unicorn herself. Her head was nodding, and she had her eyes closed. She looked very peaceful. Even her missing right foreleg did not seem to be bothering her.

“Twilight,” the group gasped.

* ~ *

Trailblazer sighed as she finished drying herself off. She sighed with pleasure as she ran the fingers of one hand over her vagina. She had never felt anything like this before she got to earth. She raised one hand and started moving the fingers. She thought about spending more time in play but changed her mine. She just got out of the shower. She didn’t need to play anymore. Besides, she need to go to the bridge.

It had been four hours since they had breached the barrier. They haven’t reached the other side and the captain was starting to get a little worried. Who knew how thick this barrier was. And it didn’t help that all the debris that came with them has vanished. Most collapsed in upon themselves. While a couple of pieces just vanished. Considering the nature of the barrier, she wasn’t surprised. But she knew she couldn’t tell the captain. She wasn’t sure how to explain her past. Not yet, at least.

With a sigh, Trailblazer started dressing. Not for the first time she wished things had been different when she arrived. In her defense, she did not expect to arrive in the middle of a war. A war the humans were fighting not with themselves. At first, she was terrified that her secret would be found. But then she found out that she needn’t have worried. Thanks to the war, multitudes of records were lost. As long as one was willing to help others, your past didn’t matter.

And then she joined the navy.

At the time, it seemed a good idea. She had some vague notion of showing them how much of leader she was. Then, somehow, getting them all to follow her as she returned to her home, the triumphant student, now the master. Instead, what she got was an eye opener on how much she didn’t know. Why they put up with her, she didn’t know and was too frightened to ask. But put up with her they did. They even worked with her to find what she was good at and focused her training on that. And now, here she was. Most likely heading back home. Just not how she thought she’d be.

Trailblazer shook her head. Now was not the time to be thinking of the past. She needed to think about what she was going to tell the captain. The barrier was magic. She may be in a low magic area, but she still knew how magic felt. She just couldn’t tell the captain that. Her adjustments to the shield generators were magic as well. They were the only thing keeping them from being destroyed. Also, they were allowing them to past through the barrier. The only problem was, she didn’t now where inside the barrier they would appear.

“There you are, Trailblazer,” Captain Bellman said as she entered the bridge. “I was beginning to thing I was going need to send a search party after you.”

“You didn’t have to worry, Captain,” Trailblazer responded as she approached the captain. “I just went to take a shower.” Everybody on the bridge chuckled. Trailblazer ignored them. She knew her showers were becoming legendary for their length. “So I enjoy my showers. Is that a problem.”

“As long and environmental doesn’t have a problem, then I don’t,” the captain said. “Now, what can you tell me about this?” He waved a hand at the viewscreen.

Trailblazer turned toward the screen. It was currently displaying a shifting field of mottled gray. It was the view of inside the barrier. She ran a hand through her red and blonde hair. She didn’t know how she was going to explain this without sounding crazy. She gave a mental shrug as she remembered most of the crew thought she was already crazy.

“Well, Captain,” Trailblazer began. “We’re inside the barrier.”

Bellman stiffened then forced himself to relax. He studied his scout for a moment. Several of the crew gave Trailblazer uncertain looks. “Inside the barrier,” he repeated. “And do you know how long we’re going to be inside the barrier?”

“Not for much longer,” Trailblazer answered. She was aware of the looks and the fact that they were getting worse. “But that’s not the problem.”

“And what is the problem?”

“When we exit, we will have no idea where we are,” the woman stated. “In fact, we can appear anyplace in the area the barrier is surrounding.”

Now everybody was staring at Trailblaze in shock. They had all assumed that they would exit the barrier near where they entered. It was common sense. But the two-color haired woman knew they had no experience with magic. Because of that lack of experience, they could not argue with her. Of course, that fact would not stop some people.

“And just how do you know that,” demanded Lieutenant Charlie Johnson. He was the science officer. The displays at his station were either blank or filled with static. “The sensors can’t detect anything. They can’t even say we’re still in space. So, how can you know what they don’t know?”

Trailblazer shrugged. “I am Trailblazer,” she said. “I forge tails into the unknown. It is my job to know these things.”

“Forge is right. All your trails are lined with fire.”

“I heard that Morely,” Trailblazer said as some nervous chuckles sounded off.

Before anybody could say anything else, the Coyote emerged into normal space. The bridge personnel sprang into action. They all forgot about Trailblazer’s behavior as they each focused on their tasks. All that is, except for Captain Bellman. He alone stared at the woman. Again, he wondered how this woman knew what she knew. And what other abilities she hasn’t reveled.

“Captain,” reported Lieutenant Johnson. “Sensors can not find any sign of the barrier. Nor can they identify the any of the stars in view.” He turned to look at Trailblazer. “We’re lost.”

“Navigation beacon detected,” Helmsman Tremaine called out. “It’s weak. Very weak. And old. But it is valid.”

“How old,” Bellman cautiously asked. It wouldn’t be the first time the machines tricked them using an old beacon code.

“Unknown,” Tremaine replied. “The computers just say it’s an old code.”

“It’s not like we have anywhere else to go,” Bellman muttered. “Alright, Helmsman Tremaine. Make for the beacon. Best speed. Now Trailblazer. . .” He turned to look at Trailblazer, but she had left the bridge.

Author's Note

Again, thank you for reading this. Hopefully I've continued to entertain you. Hopefully the next chapter will not take so long. There was a bit of backstory. More on Trailblazer's backstory in future chapters. The action should start picking up in the next 2 or 3 chapters.

Chapter 5

Twilight jerked her head up. She looked around and saw five mares rushing toward her. “What,” she said.

“Are you alright,” Rarity said as the group reached the resting pony. “What happened?”

“What do you mean what happened,” the puzzled unicorn asked.

“To your leg,” Rainbow Dash shouted as she pointed at Twilight’s missing leg. Fluttershy had ran with the others to Twilight’s side. Unlike the other three, she was focused on Twilight’s shoulder. She stared in fascination at what was exposed by the missing limb.

“My leg,” Twilight asked. She looked down. “Oh. That. It’s over there.” She pointed off to one side with her muzzle. All but Fluttershy looked to where she was pointing.

There were two ponies standing by a table. One stallion and one mare. The mare’s fur was dark gray, and her mane and tail were light blue. Her cutie mark was of a compressed spring. The stallion had a red coat and green mane and tail. His cutie mark was a screw being turned by a screwdriver. They were studying something on the table in front of them. The staring ponies took a closer look, until.

“Is that your leg,” Rarity shrieked. At the shriek, the two ponies jerked their heads up in surprise. They looked at the group by Twilight with some concern and shock.

“Don’t worry, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’ll get your leg back.”

“Rainbow, wait,” Twilight shouted. But it was too late.

The blue pegasus had already shot into the air. She shot over to the two ponies and snatched up the limb. Ignoring their cries, Rainbow Dash flew back to Twilight and the others. “Here ya go,” she proudly said as she came to a stop before the purple unicorn.

“That’s your leg,” Rarity asked.

While it was a leg, it was not normal. There were panels open along it. The interior was made from a reddish black metal that none of the ponies could identify. There were lines of purple crystals with faint pulses of light moving through them. The muscles bulged oddly. Like something was buried in them.

“It’s Robomare’s leg,” Rainbow Dash said. “It’s not supposed to look normal.

With a sigh, Twilight took her leg back. “They didn’t take my leg, Rainbow Dash,” she said. “I gave it to them. They were studying it. I was hoping they could identify some of the things that were in there. And why I could still feel it while it was over there.”

“Say whut now,” Applejack said.

“Professors Spring Loaded and Loose Screw are helping me study my body,” Twilight said. “They’ve been doing it for years and have made many of discovery.”

“I’m afraid that may be coming to an end, Twilight.” The group of mares looked up to see the other two ponies approaching.

“I’m afraid that we could not understand anything new about your leg,” Spring Loaded continued. “We could, at least, figure things out before. Whatever made these changes, it’s far beyond us.’

“Thanks Spring,” Twilight said. “I was hoping you could guess at what’s in me now.”

“Guessing’s no problem,” Loose Screw said. “We can guess all we want. But we wouldn’t know if we were right. And I don’t think the Princesses, or you, would want to go on guesses.”

“No, that wouldn’t do.” Twilight sighed. “Thank you for looking, though. Are you going to stay with us?”

“Princess Celestia herself can’t get me to leave,” Spring Loaded said. “I’m staying. You’re the most interesting thing to happen in centuries. Studying your body, with your permission, of course, will lead to untold discoveries. Just getting to where we can make accurate guesses about you will revolutionize the country. If not the world.”

“Besides,” Loose said. “We may have enough of a puzzle to get Professor Nickerlai Tesla to come here.”

“Do you think he’ll be able to help,” Twilight asked.

“There’s nopony who knows more about electricity than him,” Loose stated.

“Then I’ll ask Professor Neighstein if he could ask Tesla to come,” Twilight said with a determined nod.

The two professors and the group of mares stared at Twilight in shock. “You know Professor Neighstein,” Spring squeaked.

“Why yes,” Twilight said. “He’s been working with Princess Luna for years. They’re trying to figure out why her stars move the way they do.”

“If’n he’s helping Princess Luna with her stars,” Applejack began. “How does he know this Nickerlai pony?”

“Coperneighcus asked him to help,” Twilight said. “He was having some trouble tracking the stars. Princess Luna always knew where they were. But she couldn’t tell him how she knew. It was her magic keeping track of them, of course. Since he didn’t have Princess Luna’s magic, he had to have some way to keep track of them.

“Neighstein came up with some interesting theories on gravity and how it affects objects and magic,” Twilight continued. “Somehow, those theories started him thinking on energy. At first, it was how much energy a moving object had. Then how much the object had while moving at different speeds. Then finally, it was how much energy the object itself had. Some of his theories caught Nickerlai’s attention. And they’ve been discussing things and comparing theories ever since.”

Spring shook her head. “Do you really think he’ll do that,” she asked. “I mean, he’s a busy pony. I don’t want to interrupt his work.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Twilight said. “Neighstein is involved in a lot of different things. In fact, he has already stated an interest in anything new that is discovered about my body. I’m surprised he hasn’t arrived here yet.”

“He’ll probably be on the first train here once he hears about this,” Spring said. “Since there’s nothing else we can do for you, Loose Screw and I will head on out. Please contact us if you think of anything. We’ll do the same.”

“It was nice meeting you,” Loose Screw said to the mares. “I hope we can meet again someday.”

“The pleasure was ours,” Rarity said. “Don’t hesitate to come to us in the future.”

“If’n you’re finished workin’ for th’ day,” Applejack said. “We could show ya around town. It’s right comfortable place.”

“Oh, oh, oh, and we can tell you about the monster in the forest,” Rainbow said excitedly.

“I do need to learn my way around town,” Twilight said as she rubbed her chin. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

The ponies started walking up the stairs. At the door to the basement, Twilight paused. “Spike,” she called out. “I’m heading out. Do you want anything?”

The young dragon appeared in a doorway. “Some gems would be nice,” he said. “I got nothing against pony food, it just doesn’t taste right without gems.”

“Oh, I can provide you some gems, darling,” Rarity said. “I’ll send some back with Twilight.”

“Ohh,” Spike gasped. “You have gems?!” He turned to Twilight. “Can you bring some back?”

“Of course,” the purple unicorn answered. “As many as Rarity will send. Thank you, Rarity.”

“Don’t mention it. I have plenty of gems,” Rarity answered.

As the group exited the tree, Twilight’s head jerked up. Ears pointing forward. Then she froze. Her newfound friends all stared at the mare in shock.

~ * ~

Apple Bloom looked at her two new best friends. She, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were standing under their new club house. Of course, it would have been better if they had built it together. But she and her older sister had repaired it and she did not want to lose the experience. It wasn’t often she got to do things other than work with her older sister or older brother.

“This is really cool,” Scootaloo said. “But it’s not high enough.”

“Scootaloo,” Sweetie Bell said. “Apple Bloom and her sister built this.”

“I know,” the pegasus filly said.

“They’re Earth Ponies,” Sweetie said. “You should be happy it’s as high as it is.”

“I’m sorry, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo said. “It is a nice treehouse. It’s just. . .”

“Yer a pegasus,” Apple Bloom said. “Ya like high places. The higher the better.”

“That’s right,” the orange pegasus filly nodded.

“Hmm,” Apple Bloom said as she looked at the tree house. “Ah think we could add another section. This one will be higher though.”

At first Scootaloo looked excited. But then she looked sad. “No,” she firmly said. “I can let you do that. It wouldn’t be right. You and your sister built this.”

“That’s right,” Apple Bloom said. “Me and muh sister did build this. But she done gave it to me. Said it was my treehouse. If we add another floor, it will be our treehouse.”

“But what will your sister think,” Scootaloo asked. “Won’t she be sad you wanted to change the treehouse?”

“Ah don’t think so,” Apple Bloom said. “Ah think she’ll be proud Ah want t’ make this our treehouse. Besides, we need someplace t’ plan how we’ll get our cutie marks.”

“You mean,” Sweetie asked.

“Yep,” Bloom nodded. “This here is goin’ t’ be our clubhouse. Jest as soon as we make the needed changes.”

“When can we get started,” Scootaloo asked excitedly.

“Well,” Bloom said. “That’s th’ thing. We don’t have any lumber yet. Ah’ll have to wait until muh sister and brother can get more. They’ve already said we could use the wood t’ make changes.”

“That’s great,” the pegasus shouted. “But what do we do until then?”

“We could hunt for our cutie marks,” Sweetie said.

“Ooh, that’s a wonderful idea,” Scootaloo said. “We’ll show that Diamon Tiara!”

“Call us blank flanks,” Sweetie said. “But what are we going to do to get our cutie marks?”

“Well,” Bloom said. “Muh sister did say she saw th’ Shadow Pony.”

“Ooh,” Scootaloo said. “If we catch her, we’re bound to get our cutie marks!”

“Um, Whos’ the Shadow Pony,” the white unicorn asked.

“That’s right,” the earth pony said. “Yer not from around here. Nopony knows who th’ Shadow Pony is. They just know she makes ponies disappear.”

“She does what,” Sweetie exclaimed.

“She makes ponies vanish,” Scootaloo said excitedly. “All anypony knows is that a pony will be walking alone at night. Suddenly, two eyes appear in the shadows and that pony is never heard from again.”

“And you want us to go after her,” Sweetie asked.

“We can handle it,” Bloom said. “We won’t be alone. Thar’ll be three of us.”

“Well, okay,” the unicorn slowly agreed. “As long as we stick together.”

“Let’s get going,” Scootaloo said. “The sooner we catch her, the sooner we get our cutie marks.”

“To th’ Everfree Forest,” cheered Apple Bloom.

“Wait, what,” Scootaloo said.

~ * ~

She stared at the strange metallic devise. Lights blinked on and off. Some in patterns while others were random. It had been eons since it had last worked. She had hoped it would never work again. She should have known her hopes were in vain.

“How long has this been active,” she finally asked.

“Forgive me my queen,” her guard said. “But we do not know.”

The queen turned her head and stared down at the guard. It was easy for her to do as she was almost twice as tall as the guard. “And why is that?”

The guard bowed. “We’ve only been checking on this once a moon, my queen. It has been this way for centuries.”

The queen grimaced as she turned her gaze back to the device. It was taller than she was. A circular platform with a cone extending from the center. The metal was one she did not know. From the previous queens’ memories, no one knew what metal this thing was made from.

“My queen, if I may,” the guard ventured. “What is this thing? None of the hive’s memories can tell me what it is.”

“It is a sign,” the queen said.

“Of what?’

“A great enemy is returning,” the queen answered. “Or a great ally. Either way, we will not know until they get here.” She turned to leave the cavern. “Double the watchers on the Princess of Food. Get a messenger ready. The Princess of the Sun and the Princess of the Moon need to be informed. Make sure the message is from an anonymous source.”

Author's Note

Finally got the chapter up. Why did I choose to keep the Apples' accent?