Lord 961 maneuvered his giant centipede-like body down from the ceiling of the bridge and glared at the holographic display in front of him. He had been assigned to lead the 204th Fleet Group and was tasked with exploring and subjugating any sapient species that was discovered in the name of the Ur-Quan Hierarchy. Subjugation duties were typically carried out by higher ranking Ur-Quan, though the task recently had to be delegated as the Hierarchy prepared to resume the Doctrinal Conflict.
He shuddered at the thought of both the Doctrinal Conflict and the display he was witnessing. His fleet group had recently discovered an inhabited though primitive world which housed several sapient species. A planet with more than one race of sapients was an oddity though not unheard of by Lord 961. The most prevalent species were equine in nature and were overheard describing themselves as 'ponies' by scouting probes that had arrived at the planet before the fleet group. Two subspecies of ponies were of particular interest to Lord 961. The unicorns and the exceedingly rare alicorn subspecies were capable of feats that the natives referred to as magic. Early reconnaissance suggested that magic could be used to compel and even control the minds of other sentient beings.
Lord 961 cringed at the thought of finding another species capable of mind control. If left to their own devices, these aliens will surely one day reach for the stars and enslave us as the cruel Dnyarri once did.
His mind was briefly overtaken by fear. The Dnyarri were powerful psychics who had enslaved the Ur-Quan early in their species' history. They had split the Ur-Quan into two subspecies, the green and the black Ur-Quan. The green Ur-Quan were better suited to scientific, diplomatic, and bureaucratic careers while the black Ur-Quan were made into laborers and soldiers. Both subspecies were very physically capable however. It was only after the Ur-Quan hero Kzer-Za discovered that the Dnyarri's psychic compulsion could be resisted by inducing pain in any being that was under its effects that the Ur-Quan were able to revolt. The green subspecies had taken to calling themselves the Ur-Quan Kzer-Za since then.
Lord 961 turned to his talking pet. The small amphibian was all that was left of the Dnyarri. Once the Ur-Quan revolt had concluded the remaining Dnyarri were subjected to their own genetic modification equipment and were reduced to tiny non-sapient pets, though they were still capable of speech. The Ur-Quan programmed these talking pets with the language of every species they studied. Translation was deemed unbefitting of an Ur-Quan, so their pets were used to translate their own speech and the speech of those who dared to speak with them back and forth. His had recently been programmed with Equish, the prominent language of the natives he was soon to subjugate.
He would growl and speak to the pet, which began to translate his speech to the various slave species who ran the bridge. "Instruct the fleet to prepare for partial orbital cracking of this planet's moon, communications crew. You will also prepare an invasion force. Navigation you are to now descend into the atmosphere of this so-called 'Equis.' It is time we initiated first contact."
No being dared question Lord 961 as they went about their duties. He grunted and climbed up into the ceiling of the bridge to watch his viewscreen as his dreadnought quickly descended into the planet's atmosphere. It was time to impose the will of the Hierarchy upon the natives below.
Celestia awoke as explosions rocked Canterlot. She rose from her bed and trotted to the window only to witness a horrifying sight. The sky was utterly blotted out by a swarm of flying machines that launched bolts of plasma onto the city. Above the swarm was a massive green airship made entirely of metal.
The door to her chambers swung open as a pegasus guard sprinted inside and screamed. "Your majesty-"
Celestia ignored the guard and galloped out of her room in a delirious panic. She had to ensure the safety of her sister and her ponies. She ran into the throne room only to be blasted by a bright laser. Celestia felt no pain as she fell to the floor. She found herself unable to move and convulsing on the ground. She was unable to scream and unable to use magic, shivering as a wave of helplessness washed over her. She only briefly saw Luna and the various ponies who were unlucky enough to be in the throne room which all shared her fate before blacking out entirely.
It had only been eleven hours since Lord 961 had given the order to initiate first contact, which entailed capturing the leaders of the various societies that formed Equis. He found it pitiful that they remained fractured and had not unified into a single planetary government as many of the other species he subjugated had. Truthfully, he did not care about the rulers of the nation-states that make up the planet. His true prize was the four alicorns his forces had captured. Early intelligence implied that all four were of mature age, yet one that was brought in appeared to be a foal.
He dismissed the strange inconsistency. The battle thralls operating reconnaissance were never particularly competent.
The giant centipede-like alien was pacing around the dreadnought's brig as he monitored the unconscious alicorns through the shielded cell doors. Lord 961 took notice as one began to wake. He identified her as Princess Luna, the self-proclaimed princess of the night. He scoffed just thinking about the title and activated the viewscreen behind him. The viewscreen displayed the rest of the fleet group as well as the planet's moon.
His talking pet began to translate as he spoke to the Night Princess. "I am rather fortunate you were the first to wake. You will know most the gravity of my actions here."
Luna quickly rose and attempted to touch the shield door, only to fall to the ground as it backfired and shocked her.
Lord 961 spoke once more. "Witness now this demonstration, and know that the same fate awaits your people should you resist the might of the Ur-Quan." The viewscreen glowed as the ships it displayed fired specialized lasers intended for cracking planetary surfaces. In an instant it was as if half of the moon had been defaced and broken apart.
Luna watched the viewscreen in horror. Several chunks of the moon flew through the vacuum of space into different directions. She attempted to access her magic to no avail. She could not feel the moon. Her eyes were filled with a deep hatred as she growled. "...Why?"
Lord 961 glared down at Luna. Even to the alicorn he was massive and intimidating. He spoke. "The demonstration was necessary to quell certain elements of your society. Rest assured your species will benefit greatly from Ur-Quan domination. Your 'magic' will remain under inhibition so long as you are kept here. It is only a matter of time before your planet surrenders. I have come to offer you the terms that are granted to newly subjugated species."
He shifted and lowered his body, meeting at eye level with Luna as he continued to speak. "Under the conditions of the Path of Now and Forever your society will be granted two choices. However, your right of choice has run out princess. I will be leaving the choice to every sapient being on the planet below via popular referendum. I do not care for your political boundaries. Your society may become a client state of the Ur-Quan Hierarchy and serve us as battle thralls. Should this option be chosen your previous governments will be restored, although merged into one planetwide governing entity that answers to the Ur-Quan. You will be required to regularly send citizens to the Hierarchy as slave conscripts for the purposes of manning our own ships and armies. Additionally, you will be required to maintain your own spacefaring fleet and are expected to regularly send any resource we require to us. Given your primitive status you will be granted significant technical assistance, the framework to establish spacefaring colonies, and technological uplifting so you may serve us well and fulfill these obligations. You will also be free to interact with other battle thrall societies within the Hierarchy."
Lord 961 would rise and tap the wall impatiently. He stated, "Alternatively your society may opt for simple Fallow Slavery. Your planet will be encased within an impenetrable slave shield that will prevent all entry and exit from your planet, except for those we retrieve from the shield. You will have no presence in space beyond a simple supply station that will be expected to provide support to Ur-Quan and battle thrall fleets. The crew of said station will be hand-picked by us from the various species of your planet of course. You will remain free to govern as you are currently though you will be required to permanently disarm and cease research and production of both weaponry and spacefaring technologies, though you certainly lack the capabilities for the latter regardless. Finally, any structure or artifact that is 500 of our years or older will be utterly annihilated and your governments will be required to adopt our social framework."
Luna glared at the bug alien in silence, barely restraining her temper.
Lord 961 would slink away from the brig cell and disable the viewscreen. "May your citizens make the correct choice, princess. You are to inform the other three of your species what I have told you here once they wake."
He crawled out of the brig with an automatic metal door closing behind him.
Luna sat quietly. So much bad had happened in so little time. The guard in Canterlot had failed miserably and she and her sister had been utterly powerless to stop the alien advance. She laid down next to Celestia, quietly contemplating what had happened.
Lepi made her way through the abandoned suburbs of Canterlot quietly pondering the events that transpired a week ago.
A mysterious race of insects which were best described as giant predatory caterpillars had descended from the stars and established near-complete control of the planet with their army of slave races and deadly flying machines. When her father had predicted this a month prior she did not believe him at first.
Her father always had an uncanny ability to predict the near future, though she had never considered the implications of such an ability until the Ur-Quan made themselves known and abducted the various world leaders as her father said they would. Lepi always assumed father was somehow using powerful magic to predict what would happen though he always denied it.
Magic or not, it is a shame he never helped me with those lottery cards, Lepi mused.
Lepi trotted into an alleyway and descended down a flight of stairs into their home. It was in surprisingly good condition after the Ur-Quan had reduced much of Canterlot to rubble, she attributed the homes safety to it being partially underground. She walked inside and found an aging deer waiting in the living room.
Lepi rushed forward and embraced her adoptive father in a hug. "Father! It is lovely to see you again."
The old deer smiled and returned the hug to the changeling before speaking. "It is good to see you too, little Lepidoptera. I am afraid we cannot remain for long however. You do remember what we discussed last month?"
The changeling would frown and nod, before her father spoke again. "Very good. It is absolutely critical that everything occurs as I have told you. I fear we are running out of time."
Lepi took notice as her father shuddered and displayed a look of horror in his expression. She prodded his emotions and found only fear. She was filled with fear as well, not knowing of what her father had predicted.
Her father spoke once again with a tinge of sadness. "I am so sorry, Lepidoptera. We can spend no more time together before this undertaking. When you have finished, seek me out."
Lepi would sigh and nod. She loved her father and he loved her in return. Her entire life had led up to these coming moments. Lepi was filled with a sense of duty as her father reached for a pair of saddlebags and placed them upon herself. She had not spent long here with her father today but she knew that she could not delay any longer. She would about-face and march outside.
Lepi began to gallop to Canterlot Castle.
It was a rare occurrence for a changeling to use their shapeshifting ability to deceive since their species reformation, Lepi had not even been born when it occurred though her ability to shapeshift was of great importance for her father's plan.
It would be quite difficult to approach a castle occupied by aliens as a bright orange changeling after all.
Green flames briefly surrounded Lepi as she transformed into a tall green one-eyed mollusc-like alien known as a Spathi, one of the Ur-Quan's slave races. Bipedal transformations would normally be difficult to adjust to but she had a months practice with various ape species since her father's initial prediction. She chose this form specifically because it was identical to her target.
Her target was the personal assistant of the Ur-Quan who led their planet's invasion. Despite being a slave the Spathi had some level of authority due to their unique position with the Ur-Quan which allowed Lepi to march into the castle without being questioned. Lepi sighed in relief as she did not understand the alien's language regardless.
Lepi marched upstairs and past a pair of arachnid-like alien guards into a room that connected to the castle balcony. She quietly shut the door behind herself and turned to the only other occupant, the Spathi she was disguised as. Lepi assumed her original form once again.
The Spathi took immediate notice of her and attempted to scream for assistance, but was tackled and muzzled by Lepi with a stained piece of cloth she had grabbed from her saddlebag. The Spathi went limp and slipped into unconsciousness.
Lepi shuddered, she abhorred the use of violence but it was necessary for the plan to succeed. She carefully placed the cloth into her saddlebag and stepped to the desk the Spathi previously sat it. The desk had a strange machine and two rods. One of the rods was white while the other was black. Lepi knew that the machine was a computer from her father's description though she knew not how to use it. The computer was of little importance however.
Despite how advanced the Ur-Quan seemed they were still rooted in tradition. A referendum had been forced upon Equis' inhabitants to decide whether they were to become fallow slaves or battle thralls for the Ur-Quan. Lepi could only speculate why but the vote result was not to be sent to the Ur-Quan directly but was instead to be sent to the computer where the Spathi would then step onto the balcony and raise a rod to correspond to the result.
The white rod signified fallow slavery, and the black rod signified battle thralldom.
The computer would light up and display indecipherable alien numbers and text. Lepi was unaware of what it truly meant but she knew that the vote had finally been tallied. She transformed into the Spathi once again and retrieved both rods.
To be fallow slaves was to be locked on Equis forever as unknown alien horrors operated just out of sight. They would come for Equis eventually, and Equis would be vulnerable.
To be battle thralls was to be integrated into the Ur-Quan war machine, but they would be allowed some autonomy and be granted alien technologies.
Lepi sighed as she stepped onto the balcony. She let out a long drawn-out breath and stood at the edge of the balcony facing a crowd of aliens. She knew what had to be done.
Lepi hesitated. She knew that she would be subjecting all of Equis to the horrors of Ur-Quan subjugation but their survival depended on it. She knew there would be suspicion aroused by her actions as well. Despite the blatant hostility of the Ur-Quan all of Equis was quickly occupied and any resistance was eradicated. She knew of the pacifistic sentiment that most of Equestria held, and while she was unsure of the other nations she knew that the Equestrians would be strongly opposed to her choice.
She quietly raised the black rod as high as she could hold it in her Spathi form. The alien crowd seemed to acknowledge this as they dispersed and resumed their business.
