Legacy of the Past

The inside of the shuttle shook as it entered the planet's atmosphere, Nathaniel shook in his seat next to another soldier. He briefly considered talking to them and they would reveal their faces behind their visors, but with the shaking, it was next to impossible to say more then a few words.

In a few moments, the intercom crackled. <<"Get ready boys, I've found a nice little clearing by the edge of the forest, hold on to something...">> There was a brief shudder, then the Captain was nearly jostled out of seat as the shuttle landed on the soft ground. The four soldiers immediately stood up as the ramp opened up, causing fresh air to flow into it. Nathaniel unbuckled his seat belt and stood up, walking slowly down the ramp.

<<"Captain, there's something out there, not sure what it is, but it's big and very close.">>

Immediately the soldiers tensed, and Nathaniel gestured them to continue ahead of him. Nodding, they went down the ramp, small cannons popping out of there suit on their right fore hoof, save for one who carried a large pack, where a wire connected to his left fore hoof. The jogged down the ramp and raised their armed hooves, looking around for any sign of suspicious activity, the forest was deathly silent.

Then, a rustle, and all the soldiers turned in the direction of the noise. All they saw was trees, then a growl was heard.

"Marcus..." A soldier said to the one with the back pack. "I'd start charging up your Plasma Beam if I were you..."

Marcus nodded and flicked a switch, a small humming was heard from the backpack. Another rustle, then a roar, and a massive lion-like creatures jumped out, with wings and a long scorpion tale jumped out, charging at the soldiers.

"Oh shi-" a soldier cursed before his voice was drowned out by the squad firing their weapons at the charging beast. The creature halted, flaring up in surprise as the blue-white shots flew past it, raising a paw to protect its face. A few shots struck the creature, causing it to howl in pain and enrage it.

"Marcus! Where's that Plasma!?"

Marcus frantically checked something on his hoof. "It's not fully charged! Keep me covered!"

The beast roared and charged the soldiers, causing them to scatter. The soldiers began firing their weapons on all sides of the creature, confusing it and causing it howl in anger.

"Watch that tale!" One soldier cried out. "Don't let it get near you!"

The beast zeroed in on the soldier that spoke and growled menacingly.

"Oh crud..." He said before the beast roared and charged, swiping it's huge paw. The soldier ducked and rolled out of the way, but as he recovered from his maneuver, the beast swung its tail, slamming the soldier against a tree. With a grunt, he looked to see the beast towering over him, and slammed his left fore hoof on a control placed on his right and, instantly, vanished before the beast struck a more severe blow. The creature blinked in confusion as to its prey's sudden disappearance. The a shot appeared from out of no where, hitting it square in the face. The beast stumbled back in surprise as the other two soldiers regrouped.

"Daniel's in trouble!" One of them cried out. "Switch to your Ice Cannons!"

With a flick of there hooves, the cannons changed slightly, and then the soldier fired, freezing the beast's tail where it hung in the air. The beast cried in surprise and pain, whirling around to face its attackers.

"Cloaking Devices, now!" The soldier ordered, and they vanished. Except for Marcus, who looked at his counter, showing how close his weapon was to being fully powered.

"Uh, guys?" He said as the creature focused on the only visible prey it could see. "Remember that I can't power the Plasma and cloak at the same time!?"

He began backing up, stumbling on a rock but maintaining his balance. The creature pawed the ground, snorting and preparing to charge, ignoring the shots from the invisible that slammed against is side, freezing portions of it. With a roar, the beast prepared to leap at the hapless soldier, who kept saying "just a little longer, just a little longer..." before a hollow ping noise was heard and a light, glowing yellow shot zoomed and hit the creature in the head.

The beast, unphased, turned to see its new attacker. Nathaniel stood somehow holding an Emergency Pistol in his hoof, aiming for its head.

"That's right," he said as he fired another shot at the beast, who snarled in challenge and took a step towards him. "Focus on me..."

With a roar the beast lunged into the air, its mouth opening to catch Nathaniel in its maw. At that moment, there was a loud bing! and, with a cheer from Marcus, fired a bright blue beam of super-heated plasma at the creature. The beam only grazed its head, but it was enough for it to twist in mid-air, howling in pain. Nathaniel rolled away as the beast crashed into the ground, rolling in pain. It stood up, revealing half of its burnt face, roaring before bounding off into the treeline.

For a moment, there was only silence and the hum of Marcus' recharging Plasma weapon. Before the other three soldiers decloaked and made there way to the Captain, who got up and dusted himself off.

"Captain Caster," the soldier Daniel said. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," the unicorn replied. "What about you? That looked like a nasty blow you took."

Daniel shrugged. "I'm a Phasic trooper, sir, we've taken far worse in training."

Nathaniel smiled. "I see why Benedict chose you to come with me, you have all performed admirably and I commend you."

He placed a hoof on a comm piece on his ear. "Pilot, is it clear?"

<<"It's kinda hard to tell sir, the whole forest is filled with many creatures, but if I'm reading the scanners right, your area is clear, I guess all the noise you guys made scared him off...">>

"Good, you are cleared to land again, be careful not to crush any of us."

<<"Roger that.">>

Nathaniel turned back to the Phasic troopers, who were in conversation with each other.

"What the hell was that thing?" Marcus asked.

"If I know my mythical creatures," Another soldier answered. "...then that was a Manticore."

For a moment, the troopers were silent, before Daniel muttered. "The sooner we get off this planet and back to our dimension, the better..."

Nathaniel shook his head. "It's not like our dimension is any safer..."

"With all due respect, Captain, in our dimension we at least know what creatures we're fighting. Here, we have no idea what to expect."

The Captain nodded at the point made, then cleared his throat. "Alright, I want three troopers to stay here and guard the shuttle, one of you will escort me to the edge of the forest, I will proceed alone to the nearby village alone."

The soldiers saluted and Daniel stepped forward. "I volunteer for the escort mission, sir."

Nathaniel nodded, and turned in the direction of the village. "Keep that Plasma Beam charged just in case, Marcus." He said as he left.

"Way ahead of you, Captain."

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The forest was deathly quiet as Nathaniel and Marcus trudged through the foliage, there ears peeled for anything that may attack them. Nathaniel had a very bad feeling with the whole forest, something deep down told him that there was something very, very wrong with it. He breathed a mental sigh of relief as he stepped out of the forest and onto cool grass, the sun shining clear on his face. He turned and nodded to Daniel, who saluted and returned behind the foliage. Nathaniel turned and saw the town not too far away, and began walking towards it.

The village had a nice, quaint feeling to it and it had an air of friendliness about it, helping put Nathaniel mostly at ease. His approach did draw some eyes, and he noticed something that made him blink in surprise. Just about every single pony in the town was not wearing any clothes whatsoever. It made him blush thinking about it, he shook his head, he was on another planet with completely different cultures. Suddenly, he realized his uniform which covered him completely might make him stand out and he cursed himself for not looking closer into the culture of this place before recklessly coming down.

With a deep breath, he continued walking, looking at each of the buildings and wondering how he was going to find that pegasus...

Ditzy walked down the market, looking at the assortment of vegetables laid out before her, when she noticed her daughter scuff her hoof uncomfortably.

"Something wrong, muffin?" She asked, turning her full attention to her daughter, much to the chagrin of the stall owner.

"Um, well..." She looked down, unsure of how to ask what was on her mind. "I was just wondering..."

"...yes...?" the Mailmare asked expectantly.

Dinky took a deep breath, before she spoke. "I was wondering how your eyes came to be like that?" She flinched, as if expecting to be yelled at. Instead, Ditzy tilted her head in confusion.

"Dinky, where did this come from? I've had this your whole life, and you're asking now?"

"Well, it's just... a few days ago, some fillies in my class were talking about you and your eyes and... they said a lot of mean things and... I just wanted to know why they were like that."

"Oh muffin, it's okay, and I'm not mad at all." This put her daughter at ease. "In truth, I'm not entirely sure what happened that made them like this, I have a few ideas, but no for sure thing."

"You mean, you weren't like this your whole life?"

"Oh no no no, it was shortly before I came to live in Ponyville, when BAM! Suddenly, derp eyes!" She made a goofy face, made more goofy thanks to her eyes, causing Dinky to giggle.

"Oh!" Her mother said excitedly. "Watch this..." She closed her eyes, scrunching up her face in concentration. Dinky watched closely, wondering what her mother was doing. Ditzy grunted a little as sweat began building up on her forehead.

"Come on..." She said. "You can do it... almost... THERE!" Her eyes popped open and Dinky jumped back in surprise. They were... normal! She looked straight at Dinky, both eyes completely on her for the first time. "Pretty neat, huh?"

"Woah! How did you do that!?"

"I discovered this a few years ago, but unfortunately, it takes a lot of concentration and I can't keep this up for long, but yeah, I can temporarily have non-derp eyes!"

Ditzy giggle at her daughter's face, when she heard hoofsteps approach behind her. "Uh... hey, Derpy...?"

She turned and saw Pinkie Pie looking at the ground with a very guilty look on her face. "I feel real bad for destroying your batch of muffins..." She slowly began to look up and face the pegasus. "...so I made an extra batch for yoooeeeeeeEEEEAAAAAGGGGHH!" Upon seeing Ditzy's face, she threw the box of muffins in the air, wide-eyed and terrified, there was a streak of rainbow as a cyan pegasus rushed to catch the box of muffins and any that fell out. Pinkie took a step back in horror.

"Who are you...?" She asked, her voice almost a whisper. Ditzy blinked.

"Pinkie, it's me..."

The pink pony blinked, then her look of fear turned to anger. "I don't believe it... They actually did it! How could they do such a thing!? It was one thing to change your voice in your one special scene, but now they've gone and changed your eyes!? I'LL NEVER FORGIVE THIS HASBRO!!!"

Ditzy and Dinky and a few nearby ponies stared as Pinkie shook a hoof and shouted at the sky. Then she faced the pegasus. "Don't worry, Derpy!" She said, pawing the ground and looking about to charge. "I'll fix your 'fixed' eyes!"

"Pinkie, wait, let me explain..."

But Pinkie did not listen, and instead began charging at her. "For BaldDumboRat!!!" She cried out.

The speed that Pinkie moved was a speed that she normally reserved for pursuing Rainbow Dash, who watched the spectacle, idly munching on the muffins.

As Pinkie moved in a pink blur, planning on doing Celestia-knows-what to Ditzy, and old instinct kicked and she spun in the air, moving to the side as Pinkie came by her, then Ditzy grappled the pink pony, sending her into the ground and slamming her right hoof into her face, with not enough force for it to be a punch. Her wings flared up aggressively and her eyes wide, she panted as the adrenaline coursed through her. Pinkie blinked in surprise as her mind tried to process what just happened. When Ditzy realized what had happened, she let go of Pinkie, letting her head fall to the ground.

"Woah!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, dropping the half-eaten muffin in shock. "How'd you do that Derps!?"

Ditzy turned and face the rainbow maned pegasus, her eyes moving into opposite directions once more. "Do what?" She closed her eyes, smiling, and rubbed the back her head nervously. Before Rainbow Dash could question her further, she grabbed her shocked daughter and ushered her away from the market. "Come on, Muffin... We have lots to do today..."

Rainbow merely stared, perplexed, before noticing a somewhat dazed looking Pinkie Pie get up. "You okay, Pinkie...?"

"I miss Faust..." She said, shaking her head sadly.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, and just simply put it as Pinkie being Pinkie...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nathaniel shook his head, the town was a lot bigger then it had looked and he wondered how on earth he was going to find her. That was when he heard a shocked gasp, he turned to see a white unicorn with a purple mane galloping towards him, her eyes wide. With worry? With fear? He could not say.

"Your suit!" She cried out, having some sort of high class accent. "Who in the name of Celestia made this?" She skidded to a halt and looked the nervous Nathaniel over. "It is so precisely and phenomenally done!"

"Oh, um... thanks?" A naked unicorn is gawking over my uniform?

"You must tell me who designed this, I've never seems something that seems to scream 'authority! I am in command and you will listen to me!'"

"Uh... well..." Nathaniel shook his head. "Listen, I don't want to be rude but-"

"Oh my, of course, where are my manners?" The unicorn cleared her throat in a very proper manner, before continuing. "I am Rarity, owner of Carousal Boutique, no doubt a rather handsome stallion with such excellent choice in clothes has heard of me and my business?"

"Your... your business?"

"But of course, I help design the latest fashions in Equestria."

Naked ponies have fashions?

"Well..." Nathaniel didn't want to insult the mare, and decided to lie. "...I actually haven't heard of you, but I only recently became interested in... clothing and style."

Rarity seemed to beam. "Well, I can tell you right now you are on the right track, my friend. In fact, you may have just given me an idea for a new fashion trend. Tell me, who designed this suit of yours? I must know the pony who made this, it just screams 'efficiency'!"

"I thought you said it screams 'authority'?"

"That too..."

"Well... I can't really say, he lives a good distance away and, let's just say I had this specially made... In fact, it was more of a group project."

"Oh well..." The mare looked at the ground, examining her hoof distractedly. "In that case, perhaps you and I can discuss this suit over lunch, if you're willing of course?"

Nathaniel blinked. Is... Is the unicorn asking me out? Is that seriously what's going on right now? "Um well, I'd love to but I'm on a tight schedule and I'm looking for someone."

"Oh? Who?"

"Uh... You wouldn't happen to know a gray pegasus with a blond mane and a certain... condition with her eyes?"

The unicorn blinked. Is it me or does she look severely disappointed? "Oh... yes, there is only one pegasus I know who fits that description, you're looking for Derpy, right?"

Derpy? That's the name she's taken? Has she no dignity!?

"Last time I saw her..." Rarity said. "She was in the market, down the road and to the right, you can't miss it."

Nathaniel looked, and memorized the simple directions. "Thanks, Rarity, and have a good day."

Rarity smiled. "You too, mister..."

Nathaniel briefly considered if telling her his name, and settled on just his last name. "Caster..."

"Mister Caster, and remember, if you need any help with anything, you can always come to me, Rarity is always willing to lend a hoof." She smiled as she watched him go, her smile slowly dropped however and she shook her head as she continued walking on. "...they're always taken. Why are all the good stallions taken?"

Nathaniel hurried down the street, anxiety gripping him as he felt he was getting nearer to his target. He moved so fast, that he accidently bumped into a mint-green unicorn.

"Watch where you're going!" She said annoyed.

"Sorry, in a rush."

The unicorn scoffed as Nathaniel continued on, until he saw the gray pegasus with her daughter. He slowed to a walk and wondered how he'd approach her and wondered if she was anything like the archives said she was...

"Mom, what about the vegetables?" Dinky asked as she hurried to keep up with her mother.

"Oh, we can always buy more tomorrow. Right now, it's a little crowded..."

It didn't take a genius to know that wasn't the reason, but Dinky kept silent, knowing that her mother clearly did not want to talk about it. Meanwhile, Ditzy was mentally berating herself over what had transpired. Stupid stupid stupid, how could I let that happen? Some things never change, I've got to be more careful...

"Uh, excuse me?" Came an unfamiliar voice. Ditzy turned her head, and her blood froze at the sight. She didn't recognize the stallion before her, but she recognized his uniform and the symbol embroidered on his chest, that of a spiral galaxy and a sword placed in front of it. The stallion saluted.

"Ma'am." He said simply.

Ditzy did not respond, as she was frozen in shock and fear.

"Dinky...?" She said, finding her voice, which trembled. "Go to the park and find some friends to play with."

"Mom?"

"Please... just go..." Ditzy said, not looking at her daughter, but staring straight at the stallion who worked for her old ally.

Dinky looked between her mother and the stallion, scared at what had come over her mother and who this stallion was. Soon, she nodded and ran off, glancing back every few steps. The stallion lowered his hoof and blinked, unsure of what to do or say.

"I'm Cap-"

"Stop." Ditzy said, drawing a confused look from him, she quickly glanced around her. "Follow me..."

The stallion didn't say a word as he followed Ditzy to her house, where she opened the door and entered. He hesitated, before stepping in, where the door was slammed by Ditzy, who stared at him angrily.

"I don't care who you are or how you got here, but know this..." A pause, before the Mailmare continued. "I'm not going back."

Nathaniel gulped. This wasn't going to be easy...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dinky walked around a large fountain, deep in thought. Ever since that weird move she did on Pinkie Pie, she had not been acting herself. But then, there were moments like that that she had seen her mother do. And she always became uncomfortable when she asked her mother what her life was like, always giving a few small comments and then quickly changing the subject. There were also many nights when she heard her mother mumble in her sleep, nightmares, she had them constantly. And there were times when, if Dinky went to wake her mother up, there would be times when she looked like she didn't recognize her or where she was. Like she was another person entirely. And some of things she muttered in her sleep. Begging someone or something to spare her parents and a bird... and then she'd mutter something along the lines of 'no objections'... And now that stallion, but why was she thinking about all these other memories and that strange stallion at the same time?

Dinky turned and made her way back to her house at full gallop, it was time to get some answers from her mother, one way or another. That was when she suddenly bumped into something, landing hard on her flank. She looked up but saw nothing. Then, a blue and whited suited pony appeared out of nowhere, and grabbed Dinky, covering her mouth and pulling the struggling filly away, towards, she realized with horror, the Everfree Forest! Struggling like her life depended on it, she tried to scream, but the strange pony's hold on her mouth was strong and only muffles came out. She closed her eyes and kept struggling as she came ever closer to the Forest...

At the forest's edge, Master Sergeant Benedict watched as his soldier brought the filly to them. He clicked a comm pad, where he stared at the now human Doctor Zeb.

"Alright, the child's been capture, now what?"

"Now we wait, it will only be a matter of time before she comes looking for her daughter." The doctor replied. "Keep her daughter close at hand and use her as the bartering chip. Keep the Humanizer chemical ready but be careful with it, it's the last we have and there's just enough to humanize her."

"Right, are you sure that Captain Caster ordered this, Doctor?" Benedict asked. "This doesn't seem like something he would allow."

Zeb simply. "I'm just following order, Sergeant, just like you are. Make sure the child doesn't escape, if we lose her, then we have nothing to barter with..."

Benedict nodded and ordered his soldiers to cloak and return to the shuttle, taking the little unicorn child personally, she struggled but the soldier was far stronger and wasn't even slowed down by her struggles as she was brought deep into the Everfree forest.