Twilight Sparkle, trotted back to her crystalline home with a smile on her face. The sun had barely risen up in the quaint town of Ponyville. About a week ago, Celestia called her to Canterlot and had given her another one of the Star Swirl's famed incomplete spells. Despite her apprehension because of the last time she tried to finish one of Star Swirl's spells, she had accepted the challenge, believing in herself and Celestia that she has the power to fix anything that could go wrong.
By the time she had reached her crystalline castle, the town was slowly waking up from its slumber. Entering her home, she looked around the quiet halls of her home. She assumed that Spike was still asleep so she quietly made her way to her study room. A smile entered her face as looked at the rows and columns of books that she had already read twice or thrice. In the middle of her study room was a large purple cushion which she intended to lie on. However, it would have to wait. She looked at the clock which was posted just above the door to her study room.
5:09 AM
About an hour before Spike would usually wake up and make her breakfast, considering that he held the fort down while she was gone for a week, she wouldn't mind cooking for him every now and then to show her gratitude. She left her study room and made her way to the kitchen with some difficulty. She still wasn't used to the idea that she'd be living in a castle of all places -- becoming the Princess of Friendship felt like it happened just days ago -- regardless, change is indiscriminate and will happen to every single being in Equestria whether they're prepared or not.
"Now where did I put that gem stash."
An hour would pass by without anybody noticing, Twilight laid on the purple cushion with a scrunched up face, an empty plate sat beside her with merely crumbs remaining as the sole reminder of her daisy sandwiches. In the dining room, Spike happily munched down on some gem delicacies courtesy of Twilight. Once he was done, he cleaned up the table and made his way to Twilight's study room. He gave a knock before entering with a peek.Twilight walked around the room, eyes full of interest. Spike knew it would be one of those moments where it would take a while before Twilight comes back down from the high of learning. Regardless, he still entered the room, curious as to what she was doing.
In the middle of her study room, a large pentagon was drawn with a piece of chalk, stacks of books were pushed aside to make room for said pentagram. Twilight paced to-and-fro across the room, muttering the words that were in book that she was holding with her levitation. At the corner of her eye, Twilight spotted the purple dragon and put the book down.
"Good morning, Spike." she said with a soft smile.
"Good morning," he replied, his tired voice still not catching up with is already awake body. "What are you doing here?"
"Finishing another one of Star Swirl's incomplete spells."
Upon hearing her answer, Spike became apprehensive. "Are you sure you should be doing that? Don't you remember the last time you tried to finish one of his incomplete spells?"
Twilight's reply to his apprehension was a simple smile. "Oh don't you worry Spike, besides last time I was completely unprepared for it but in the end I managed to solve it didn't I?"
"I suppose." Spike's voice leaked unsurety.
"If it makes you feel safe, I've already placed cautionary wards in case something does come up."
While what she said did calm down the little dragon, he was still cautious. However, he also had confidence that Twilight had what it takes, and she's not a mare that would leave any holes when it comes to something delicate -- except only when she's too absorbed in her work that she forgoes caution -- but that's a different case.
"So... what spell are you doing this time around?"
Twilight beamed at his question. "I'm glad you asked Spike! To start off, let me ask you a question. How well do you know of our universe?"
An unusual question but one that Spike can answer. "Well, according to some books dating way back when, it was hypothesized that we are the centre of everything since Equis inhabits living things. However, during Star Swirl's time, he had offered a different hypothesis and told the old court that we aren't alone and that there are other beings outside of Equis. Of course, most ponies ridiculed him for this- what does this have to do with the spell?"
"What wasn't written in the history books and was personally told to me by Princess Celestia was that Star Swirl was right."
Spike double backed on her statement. "W-Wait, so you're telling me that aliens exist?!"
Twilight rolled her eyes, a small smirk appeared on her face at his exaggeration. "For simplicity's sake, yes. There is the possibility that there are planets out there that could be harbouring life."
Spike was still awestruck by this revelation, he shook his head. "And to reiterate," Spike began. "what does all of this have to do with Star Swirl's incomplete spell?"
"Well according to the spell matrix," she opened the book and rephrased the entire block of words that described the spell. "Upon activation, the spell would emit a powerful signal that could stretch to even the furthest stars! If something responds, the signal is returned back, similar to a bat's echolocation!"
Silence
"So..." Spike slowly said. "you're trying to call out to aliens?"
Twilight shook her head. "No, no- the spell only looks for life. Once it detects one, it returns the signal back similar to how bats make use of echolocation." Her tone then shifted into one of sarcasm. "So, don't worry about some alien trying to communicate with us with weird appendages, showing signs that they come in peace."
That alleviated most of Spike's worries, Twilight gave a short giggle when Spike breathed out a sigh of relief. For a baby dragon, he sure has some wild imaginations. With their talk done,Twilight went back to completing the spell matrix. Spike watched with some interest as she moved here and there. It didn't take long -- after Spike entered Twilight's study room -- for the spell matrix to be completed.
"And... that should be it! All I need to do is activate it using the 'Detect Me So' spell!"
Twilight lowered her head and began casting the spell. The spell matrix drawn on the ground glowed a bright purple, the light intensity increased to the point that Spike had to squint his eyes to see what the would be effects. Outside of the castle, ponies took a curious glance at Princess Twilight's castle, from the looks of it, it was glowing pretty bright. The light being emitted was enough to pierce through the blinds of nearby windows. A moment after, a magical dome exploded out from the castle and washed through the town of Ponyville. The dome continued on until it reached the very border of Canterlot's perimeter before dissipating.
Back in Twilight's castle, the Princess of Friendship waited eagerly for any incoming responses. Spike on the other hand was more confused and couldn't share Twilight's enthusiasm.
"So... what happens next?" Spike asked.
"Now, we wait for a response!"
Spike cocked one of his scaly eyebrows. "And if nopony answers back?"
"Then Star Swirl's hypothesis is either wrong OR the nearest life form is too far for the spell to reach." She looked at the purple glowing matrix. "Although, I do believe that it will take time for the spell to find something. So in the meantime, why don't we do something else? My schedule's currently free!"
Spike beamed, he beckoned for Twilight and they both left her castle off to enjoy the rest of today. Unknown to Twilight, the spell was never meant to work. For no matter how much magic energy is put in to amplify the distance of the detection spell it still pales in comparison to the scale of the universe, this all changed however because of Twilight's castle. The castle amplified the magic by a hundred fold, causing the detection spell to reach further than Luna's moon, further than Celestia's sun, further than Equis' solar system...
Capella sector
A sector in the Milky Way galaxy that was once controlled by the abominable Bugs race. For the most part, the infestation was already controlled with only a few planets still infested with Bugs and even then none of them ever breached threat level 10. In the vast depths of space, a fleet of black with yellow highlights spaceships floated dormantly.
The fleet consisted of:
2 Dreadnought-Class Battleship
4 Bruiser-Class Destroyers
6 Zeus-Class Cruisers
Battlefleet Indiana is the name of this fleet with a Dreadnought-Class Battleship nicknamed 'SS Independence' acting as the flagship. Inside the SS Independence stood its captain, Admiral Arkin Aether. She looked at the holographic sector map of Capella, a troubled but interested look on her face. According to one of her men, they had detected an unusual signal coming from one of the unexplored planets of the sector. What made this signal unusual was the fact that it wasn't recognized as neither Cyborg or Illuminate, the scientists in the lab deck of the ship didn't even assume it came from Bugs since their frequency was completely different from the the frequency that she's looking at right now.
Multiple assumptions came to the forefront of her mind, one of the most prevalent was the thought of a new potential threat but at the same time she couldn't eliminate the factor that the unknown signal could be a distress signal coming from an alien species under attack by one of their common enemies. The sounds of boots on metal reached her ears, she turned around to lock eyes with one of her crew.
"What are your orders, admiral?"
She looked back at the map. After a moment of thinking, she came to a conclusion. "Patch me through the fleet."
The beeping sounds of terminals followed after her order. A few seconds later, the virtual map of Capella disappeared and what replaced was a collection of faces -- all were wearing the standard uniform that a ship captain would wear -- Admiral Arkin cleared her throat and spoke.
"Attention all ships of Battlefleet Indiana. About thirty minutes ago, our sensors have detected an unusual signal that doesn't belong to neither Cyborg or Illuminate. Now, since we are one of the patrolling fleet of Sector Capella, it is our duty to investigate what that signal is and figure out who sent it. Now, I understand that some of you are apprehensive about this endeavour because some of you assume that it could be another potential threat against Super Earth but at the same time, we have to assume that whoever sent this signal could very well be asking for help because one of our common enemies are invading them. If the case were to be the latter then we don't have time to lose but if it's the former, I am confident in this fleet and its men and women 's ability to subdue them."
A pause.
"With that being said, for those who don't want to join, feel free to speak up now. You will not be judged and your decision will be expected. Ship captains, please send a survey to your crew members to vote whether they are willing to join. You have an hour to decide."
An hour passed and the votes were in.
"This is Captain Jared Jackson of the Dreadnought-Class Battleship, SS Victory Liner, ready to depart."
"This is Captain Kelly Aiella of the Bruiser-Class Destroyer, SS Machinations. Representing all Bruiser-Class Destroyers. Ready to depart."
"This is Captain Jayson Wiles of the Zeus-Class Cruiser, SS Bugsy. Representing all Zeus-Class Cruisers. Ready to depart."
Admiral Arkin gave a smile. "Very brave of all of you." She turned to address her crew member. "All hands, prepare for jump. Send us to that anomalous signal!"
The sound of activity echoed in the command deck of Arkin's ship, she gripped on the hand railings of the virtual map as she heard one of her crew members call out to her and told her that the jump was ready.
"On my mark... launch!"
Author's Note
Some thoughts about the first chapter is greatly appreciated. Now, I don't know how many of you guys have played Helldivers, personally, I think it's a diamond in the rough. It's a good co-op game that I really recommend all of you should try.
Now as for the story. I'm sure some of you have already read stories about human ships crash landing on Equestria, I sure have. Not once did I read a story where an entire FLEET of spaceships travel to Equestria so I thought now would be a good time to do so!
Again, tell me your thoughts, constructive criticisms are appreciated and stay tuned for the next chapter!
Atmospheric Window Shopping
Admiral Arkin Aether looked at the planet at which the warp had taken them. It looked eerily similar to Old Earth, a time where other types of governments existed and Democracy was only upheld in a few countries. The similarities between this planet and Old Earth ended there. According to the scientists down in the lab decks of her ship, the planet doesn't seem to be rotating to some axis at all, one side of the planet faced its sun while the other side faced the moon. An unusual phenomenon that, apparently, stumped even their lead scientist, Gustaf Brackman.
Investigating the mysteries of the planet's rotational axis isn't her objective here however, Battlefleet Indiana was here for a specific reason: to investigate the unusual signal that was detected by their ships' sensors. She took a deep breath before turning to face her crew members.
"Take us to the planet's orbit."
The sounds of activity filled the main deck of the ship as the men and women os SS Independence followed their admiral's orders, the rest of the fleet followed their flagship like ducklings following their mother. As the fleet closed in on the planet's orbit, Arkin walked up to the war table sitting in the middle of the main deck. The surface of the deck lit up a bright yellow and showed an entire holographic map of the entire solar system. There were five planets in total with only one of them circling around the habitable zone -- the planet which sent the anomalous signal -- the furthest planet from the sun was a gas giant while the nearest one was a volcanic planet and anything in the middle was either a desert planet or a tundra planet.
And then there was the one that sat in the middle of it all, the one that her entire fleet was orbiting around at this very moment. Again, she took a deep breath. Whatever this signal was, was definitely setting her on edge, several questions plagued her mind but the most prevalent question was why.
"Why only now do you send a signal?" she muttered.
She straightened herself, looked back at the crew member and issued her first order since their arrival on this planet. "Pass this message to the entire fleet: I want Eagle Fighters down on that planet conducting atmospheric mappings,"
At the her command, the men and women of Battlefleet Indiana -- especially the ones in the vehicle decks -- moved to-and-fro, pilots hopped on their designated Eagle FIghters, the high pitched humming noises of Eagle Fighters reverberated in the vehicle decks of Battlefleet Indiana. From a distance, small yellow dots escaped from the fleet like spores that emerge from fungi before zooming towards the planet. Back in the main deck of SS Independence, radio chatter was at an all time high as pilots speak through their microphones, relaying their message back to Battlefleet Indiana or making some small talk as the pilots mapped the entire planet.
From the planet's size, it should take around seven to eight hours before the entire surface of the planet is mapped. While this was happening, Admiral Arkin interacted with the war table. The map of the solar system disappeared and what replaced it was the battleship's artificial intelligence, EDEN-18.
"What do you need me for, admiral?" the male robotic voice of EDEN-18 said.
"Call the Helldivers to my bridge."
Jab, jab, left hook, right hook, spinning low sweep!
Her feet collided with the legs of her opponent causing a trip and crash on the foamed platform with a soft thud. She quickly scrambled up from her low sweep and rushed for her enemy who was trying to stand back up. Unfortunately for her opponent, she was quicker. Before her sparring partner could even get up, she planted a knee on his chest and placed all of her body weight on it so that her partner couldn't get up. Her partner struggled for a few moments before eventually giving up and admitted defeat.
Both fighters composed themselves before giving a nod of appreciation to each other for completing a duel. As her opponent left the gym, a new person entered but instead of wearing light clothing suited for working out, he was wearing a uniform. The woman standing in the padded arena took a passing look at the young man before speaking.
"You're in the wrong place private, cafeteria's on the upper decks." She said.
"Actually, I believe I'm in the right place. You're Helldiver Josie Del Rosario, correct?"
"That I am," She turned to face the private. "anything you need from me?"
"I don't need anything from you ma'am. Admiral Arkin wants you on the bridge."
Josie raised an eyebrow. "Another mission?"
"She never specified. She told me to tell you that you have to be there before you ask questions."
"Sounds pretty serious." She muttered before returning her attention to the private. "Thanks for telling me. You can go back to whatever you were doing."
The private -- whose name she won't be bothered asking -- gave her a salute. She made her way to the exit of the gym but not before being called out by the private once again.
"A-Are the rumours true?" He asked, a look of hesitation but at the same time, a dying curiosity. "Is it true that you've liberated more than a hundred threat level 10 planets?"
Josie raised an eyebrow at his question before giving off a light chuckle. "A hundred's an exaggeration, I've only liberated a dozen. You can check in the ship's archives for all of those twelve planets."
The exit door of the gym gave off a loud hiss as Josie left and another hiss as it closed.
A tense look settled on Admiral Arkin's face, one that wasn't missed by Josie as she entered the main deck of the ship, now wearing her Helldiver armor and helmet. She walked up to the admiral's side and gazed at the hologram of the planet that they were currently orbiting. It seemed like Arkin was lost in her thoughts as she realised too late that Josie was already beside her. Clearing her throat, she turned to face her. Josie, for her part, saluted before speaking up.
"What do you need me for admiral?"
"You mission is relatively simple." She began and debriefed Josie about the unknown signal and how she wanted to find out where and who or what sent said signal. When the debriefing was done, Josie took a moment to ponder on her admiral's words.
"You said 'relatively simple'. Any reason why you said that?"
Arkin commended Josie's attentiveness. If she was wincing at those words, she didn't show them. "Two teams will be sent down there. Team One has already reached planetside and is making the fortifications of a base nearby where one of the Eagle Fighters said where the origins of the signal was. The base is situation in a densely packed forest teeming with hostile creatures."
"That all? I don't see those as difficult tasks considering I'm bringing in a whole team." Josie said, her eyebrow raised from underneath her helmet and her hands placed on her waist.
The wince that Arkin was hiding finally showed itself on her face, her gaze moved away from Josie. "That isn't the issue. I said 'relatively simple' because Team One is consisted of these people."
Arkin interacted with the war table, removing the planet and pulled out a list of names. As soon as Josie locked on the first name, the confusion in her face turned into a frown.
Gabriel Lanner
Everyone in the ship didn't need to assume when they took a glance at Josie to know that she was glaring at the name from underneath her helmet. Admiral Arkin winced at Josie's obvious reaction at the name. It was well known in Battlefleet Indiana that Gabriel Lanner and Josie Del Rosario do not mix well together, it's like comparing an unbreakable shield and a
powerful spear, respectively. While Josie and Gabriel are considered to be the best in her fleet, their methods and rules of engagement are polar opposites.
Josie preferred to tackle a situation before it even happens. According to her records, Josie takes out the scouts with deadly efficiency before they could even alert the main army. Josie works quick; moving and completing objectives left and right before the enemy even notices what is wrong, and by time the enemy does notice something wrong, it was already too late. This was how Josie operated on her missions, quick and clean, efficient and resourceful. It's because of this, she's a terrifying force in battle. A problem that arises from this kind of mentality is the fact that Josie isn't that good when it comes to teamwork, because of her rapid actions, some Helldivers struggle to keep up with her, forcing Josie to either slow down or in worse cases, completely abandon her team
"Admiral, I'm pretty sure you know how vocal I can get when I'm paired up with a team, especially if she is going to be working with me." She sternly said.
Despite her intimidation, Admiral Arkin didn't budge. Facing Josie with a glare of her own, she replied to her complaint. "You will be working with Team Two in collaboration with Team One. This isn't a suggestion, soldier, this is an order."
Although, Josie wanted to argue, she can't really disobey her superior's orders lest she wanted to be marked for insubordination. She clenched her fists tightly, took a deep breath before exhaling through her mouth and loosening her clenched fists.
"So," She began. "Where can I meet Team Two?"
Admiral Arkin smiled.
While the exchange between Arkin and Josie happened, on the planet's skies, a lone Eagle Fighter flew across the lower atmosphere. Its belly open revealing a black ball which was the go-to tool for surveying an area. The pilot of the craft, surveyed the skies with clear boredom in his eyes. When the call to perform atmospheric surveillance happened, he had expected some action other than just mapping the entire world. Perhaps some resistance on the ground where he will be called on to provide support or a dogfight against the planet's local air force, hell, at this point he preferred to do anything other than just fly around, letting some black ball--underneath the belly of his aircraft--scan the world.
He took a passing glance at the screen which displayed what the black ball was showing. One of his brows raised up with slight interest and confusion.
A cloud city?
He shook his head and face forward, it must be his imaginations playing with his mind, boredom can really make the craziest of imaginations. A short chuckle escaped his nose at the thought of a city made of clouds, even if he entertained that line of thought, how could the city function?
"A nice cup of Liber-Tea might be good right about now." He thought, he is done with the mission after all.
With the thought of sipping his delicious tea on the forefront of his mind, he flew the plane upwards and activated his thrusters to leave the planet's gravitational pull.
News Flash, a pegasus pony who works for one of Cloudsdale's news paper company, shuffled his hooves nervously as his boss read his news article with a neutral look. He was still new to the media business so he didn't really know what would be considered a 'good scoop'. Nevertheless, he always brought his camera with him to try and take pictured that he believe could catch his boss' attention.
After minutes of deafening silence inside his boss' office, his boss looked up from his article with a wide smile on his face.
"News Flash, I believe that what you have here is definitely going to be the story of the century!"
"You really think so?" He said, his voice suddenly filled with hope.
His wide smile suddenly turned into a frown. "NO!" News Flash flinched. "What were you thinking when you decided to write this article?"
He tried to make himself smaller. "I thought it might be an interesting article."
His boss snorted. "Yeah, for the goonies!" His scolding attitude simmered down when he noticed News Flash practically trembling at his voice.
Dapper Blitz sighed and took another look at the article. It certainly is an interesting article, but one that isn't really well received in the public. Unless their targeted audience are the ponies who are into those conspiracies and theories, he just couldn't see how this article could fly. Then again, News Flash did try his best to find a scoop and he believe that, to News Flash, this might be his biggest scoop yet second only to the Elements of Harmony.
"I'll allow it." He said.
News Flash perked up at his words, his mouth wide open as he tried to formulate words. Dapper Blitz didn't let him however as he continued speaking.
"Paste it somewhere on the lower corner of the front page." He said casually. His stern attitude came back in full swing when he didn't hear the sound of scrambling hooves. "Well?! Are you going to move your flank?!"
News Flash was snapped out of his stunned state and with stammering mouth he replied with a "Yes sir. Thank you sir!" before rushing towards Dapper's office door--nearly slipping along the way.
As the office turned back to its quiet state, Dapper Blitz looked at the paper once more, a short snort came out. "Heh. Aliens."
He slammed the article on his desk. An image of what looks like flying arrow above the city of Cloudsdale. While the picture taken was quite blurry due to the urgency that it needed to be taken, it was clear that this 'arrow' has the distinct color of yellow and black and a trail of white smoke behind said arrow. Below the image was an entire block of paragraph talking about the unidentified flying object.
Dapper Blitz leaned on his cloud shaped chair and looked at his cloud ceiling. "What a ridiculous notion."
Author's Note
Tell me your thoughts!
