MLP: Technology is Magic

Chapters

Informal Meeting
The Great and Powerful Mind
Plans, Therapists and Bomb Makers
Cosmic Wave
Data Gathering
Nova and Tosh
Exploration
Canterlot
Life in Ponyville
The Meeting Resumes
A Tragic Filly
Rise of The Cyber Filly
Moondancer's Party
Summer Sun Celebration
Trusting in Friendship
Aftermath
The Ticket Master
New Potential
Ponyville Days
Reality and Reconciliation
Pinkie Sense and Sonic Rainbooms
The Crusaders
The Fashionista of Ponyville
Birds and Breakdowns
Changing Seasons and Gala Preparations
The Worst Night Ever, Part 1
The Worst Night Ever, Part 2
End of a Dark Age
The Chaotic and the Inevitable, Part 1
The Chaotic and the Inevitable, Part 2
Twilight's Therapy Visit
Mare Do Well
Dragons and Dreams
The Future Adjutant
Assertiveness

Informal Meeting

After the two fillies left the study, Celestia let out a sorrowful sigh as she worried about her other student, Sunset Shimmer, who had fled from her after she threatened to revoke her status as a student if she continued her studies into dark magic. She didn’t want to use such a heavy hoofed tactic but she couldn’t afford to allow the mare to fall into the same pitfalls that Sombra did. Even in the off chance that she could have surprised her, it wasn’t worth the risk. She only hoped that the guards would bring her back safely.

Her thoughts drifted toward her other two students, Twilight and Starlight, both had shown great promise as mages. Twilight’s magic surge caused a lot of chaos and turned a number of ponies, including her own parents, into potted plants while hatching the dragon egg which should have been impossible and made her suspect that somepony or someponies conspired against the filly; a matter that she would have to investigate later.

Starlight, based on what she had heard from her father, the victim and the victim’s mother, had shown a similar degree of potential. From what she heard, the filly had a surge of her own and brought an entire bookcase worth of tomes to life and turned her foalhood friend into a book. Funny enough, the book contained a detailed biography of the colt’s life from birth to present.

Though what really caught her interest was the effect the surge had on the filly herself. Celestia examined the filly to see if the surge had any lasting side effects. She did the same with Twilight after her episode and was thankful that there was no lasting harm or changes to her. What she found in Starlight, however, was that her intrathaumatic resistance matrix had been altered slightly. The matrix existed in all ponies that allowed their bodies to resist the effects of their own magic to their bodies which prevented them from receiving any significant harm to themselves. The matrix in Starlight was not broken or damaged, only altered. If she was right, then she might be capable of self-levitation now; a feat that was impossible for any unicorn because of the matrix. Of course, Celestia couldn’t teach this to Starlight because it was impossible for anypony but the filly.

Celestia was pulled from her thoughts when her senses picked up on a presence that seemed to be in the room with her. Her ears perked as her head turned in every direction she could as she attempted to locate the source of this presence. “Twilight? Starlight?” No response, so it wasn’t them. She began to suspect an assailant. “Whoever is there, show yourself!”

As if accepting an invitation, the source of the presence dropped onto the floor in front of Celestia, though not before lifting her cloak of shadows before hopping down. To her surprise it was a rabbit, though the color of its fur was unusual. Her attention was drawn to the fact that she was able to sense a significant amount of power coming from the creature but it didn’t feel like magic exactly. It was easy to conclude that this was no ordinary bunny.

The alicorn slowly moved toward the bunny with a scrutinizing gaze, trying to figure out what it was without scaring it off though she sensed no fear from the creature for some reason and it was making Celestia nervous. “What are you…?” she mused.

“Cute and adorable, I would hope.” Sophia replied jokingly. This was followed by an amusing reaction of Celestia backing up into a bookshelf in surprise, the impact dropping an avalanche of books on herself. The rabbit giggled at the mare’s antics before her eyes glowed blue as she grabbed the pile of books in a telekinetic hold and returned them to the shelf, doing her best to remember the order the books were in before they fell.

Celestia sat on her plot with her eyes widened in shock and her jaw hanging open which Sophia closed with a little telekinesis. With no further surprises, Celestia managed to regain her wits enough to speak with her, “You can talk? And perform magic?”

Sophia tilted her head and placed a paw under her muzzle as she considered how to respond to that. “Yes to the talking part but no to the magic. Well…more like a yes and no to the latter. What I used was psychic power which isn’t something that comes from a magical source but comes from my mind. It doesn’t have the versatility that magic has but it still has plenty of uses.”

“What can you do with it?”

“For the basic stuff I can levitate objects or myself.” Sophia demonstrated this by lifting herself into the air before lowering herself back to the floor. “And there’s telepathy; mind reading. While it’s easy to read your surface thoughts, I can see the small part of you who is lamenting eating an entire…germane chocolate cake with a rich vanilla center in one sitting a few days ago?” Sophia gave a deadpan expression, “Really?” Not that she could judge her given the many strange things she had devoured over her life.

The pink in Celestia’s coat became much more pronounced in that moment as she looked away in shame. Sophia sighed and continued, “Look, it’s still pretty tame compared to the things I have eaten.”

“Like what?”

“You don’t want to know, not unless you enjoy having your coat going from that rosy shade of pink to a deep green in record time.”

Celestia nodded in agreement to let that matter slide as she cleared her throat and rolled the conversation back. “You mentioned what you called the basics of psychic power, what are the more advanced things you can do with it?”

“I can create illusions of myself or others and with a lot of training I can increase the range of their capabilities in the physical plane.” Celestia suddenly found another bunny that looked just like Sophia standing next to her hooves and staring at her.

“May I?” the copy asked. Celestia nodded numbly with uncertainty before the rabbit nuzzled her foreleg, getting a smile from the mare. Though just as quickly as the image appeared it vanished in a puff of smoke.

Sophia continued, “There are also more destructive uses for psychic powers but I won’t demonstrate them here. I can create localized lightning storms over small areas or use the shadows to wrap myself in them to make myself invisible and other uses that I’d rather not say because I want us to have a friendly relationship. But just to help you feel better, I am one of the most powerful psychics out there and your average psychic isn’t nearly as powerful as me.”

“While I do appreciate the gesture, I would like to know about those uses that you do not wish to tell me about. It’s nothing personal, I simply do not wish for one of your secrets to lead my little ponies to harm.”

Sophia hesitated for a moment and sighed, “If you insist…” She then went on to tell the princess about the darker aspects of her psionic powers where she sometimes used them for assassination purposes and then the variant that she figured would terrify the alicorn. She informed her about the corrupting power of the void and how it was used to unleash destruction or to directly steal the life force of others.

“I see…” Celestia mused. “It sounds like void energy runs in circles similar to dark magic. You haven’t been influenced by it, have you?”

“Can’t really say, I have spent centuries strengthening my discipline to help insulate myself from its dark influence so I can use it in controlled amounts when necessary. Thankfully, my other abilities have proven sufficient in regular scenarios.”

“‘Centuries?’ You claim to be older than you look?”

“I’ve been around a few millennia,” Sophia casually stated.

“Same, perhaps we are close to the same age,” Celestia giggled. She then gave her a diplomatic smile as she decided that the time for small talk was over. “So, perhaps now you can tell me your name and why you snuck into my palace?”

“As if your guards would ever give someone who looks like a small woodland critter the time of day for a formal appointment,” Sophia shrugged. “My friends and family call me Sophia. In a much more formal setting I go by Sophia ‘Archon’ Craft. I came from a place that is uncharted by your people. As for why I came here, that strange shockwave of energy from before had far-reaching effects that impacted far away places. Your kingdom may be visited by other foreign powers someday, possibly with ill intentions. Power on the scale of what we felt would be coveted by others; others with powerful and advanced technology and weaponry the likes that have probably not been imagined by your greatest minds.”

Celestia knew about the shockwave that happened weeks ago that sent poor Twilight into a magic surge. While she knew that it would have been seen by all of Equestria, she didn’t realize that it was that powerful. No pony should have been able to unleash the level of magic that was felt then, not even herself. She suspected that somepony or something may have amplified the effect.

Then there was the threat, what force in this world would have the power to defeat her nation with advanced technology when she had never heard a thing about them. Certainly news about them would have spread around the world if that were the case. Something about the rabbit’s story didn’t add up.

Sophia didn’t need psychic powers to know that Celestia was skeptical of her. Honestly, if she were in her position she would too. “I don’t need you to believe me right now, but I do wish to provide assistance to your ponies. The fact is that your magic will be a highly coveted resource in the years to come and if you don’t want to become enslaved and used as batteries for your slavers you will need to develop your military quickly to stand a chance against such threats. Honestly, I have no idea why your civilization isn’t as advanced as it should be by now.”

“We have only developed as the need arose, is it not the same as your lands?”

“No it’s the same way for us, we have simply developed as per our needs. Domestic and external issues have pushed us to improve our technology in many areas, including the military. I would hazard a guess that you have brokered peaceful relations with those who could potentially threaten your kingdom. However, a long era of peace could lead to complacency and stagnation which would leave your kingdom unprepared for the next big threat.”

“I am aware of this, it’s just…” Celestia trailed off. Truth be told, she wasn’t sure how to improve upon military technology, that was her sister’s area of expertise. Her sister was the innovative one between them and a brilliant commander. Unfortunately all research and development into military technology slowly ground to a halt over the centuries when she was banished to the moon and her commanders and officers went into self-imposed exile. Because of this Celestia was left with a succession of incompetent military advisors. After a few generations of this she simply left the position vacant.

Before Celestia could say anything else, Sophia’s communicator was chirping in her ear, indicating that the ship’s crew was wanting to tell her something. Celestia looked like she was about to form her response but the bunny cut her off, “We’ll continue this conversation later, I need to attend to something.”

Pulling out a crystal shard, Sophia channeled a little power into it which caused it to activate and pull her body into it, much to Celestia’s shock. The shard shattered into dust when it landed on the floor.

Sophia appeared at the Canterlot relay point which was the most secure place she could find in the city. Putting the prior conversation out of her mind, she swiped her paw and a screen appeared, showing the officer who was trying to talk to her. “This is Sophia.”

“Hierarch, I am so sorry for interrupting your investigation but I wanted to inform you that new information has come up. We did a geological scan of the planet to see if there were any valuable materials that could be helpful for your mission.”

“What did you find?”

“You may not believe this ma’am but the scans found a huge abundance of mineral crystals on the continent you are on. That continent alone is richer than planet Moria, the richest mining node in the Koprulu sector. The rest of the planet doesn’t have quite as much but it’s still more than we have ever seen on one planet before.”

“Are you serious?!” Sophia nearly yelled. “Ugh, nevermind! What about Vespene? Do the scanners detect any pockets under the surface?”

“No ma’am, we can’t detect any geysers on the scanners. If there is any Vespene Gas in the planet somewhere it would be too deep for the scanners to pick up.”

Sophia facepawed, “Wonderful, we found what may be the richest mineral node in the galaxy and no gas. They have the materials to build starships but not the fuel to power them. Well, I’m sure the ponies will be able to find an alternative to universal fuel. One thing is for certain, this planet and these ponies have targets on their backs.”

Author's Note

Wondering how Equus is so rich in minerals? I got the idea when in the game minerals were used as currency at one point. What else in the MLP universe was used as currency aside from the bit and you will see where my plans are going.

The Great and Powerful Mind

In the days that followed Gilda’s visit, Ponyville returned to its routine. Sophia smiled as she noticed a remarkable improvement in Starlight’s combat skills with each training session she had with Nova and Tosh. The Ghost and Spectre pair were beginning to put more effort into their sparring sessions.

Sophia suspected at this point that the unicorn could take on any of the Royal Guards and win but it appeared that Starlight wanted more. When asked how far she wanted to go with the training her response was a satisfactory declaration of her intent on proving her point that the guard needed to change their ways.

Even though Luna was back at Celestia’s side, it would be some time before the younger alicorn would return to the political scene. The parliament was still uncertain about what changes the night princess would bring about and a fear of those changes still ran rampant in pony society.

At some point Sophia would need to ask Celestia where this fear of change came from as this fear seemed a little extreme for a race that still held the potential to brave the unknown, from what she had seen of the ponies of Ponyville.

It was a week later that a new pony came into Ponyville carrying a modestly sized caravan. The driver was an azure unicorn mare with a pale cerulean mane and tail with a mark of a star wand with a wave of glitter. Not long after her arrival she began putting up posters for her traveling magic show.

Sophia was no stranger to stage magicians and the poster implied that she was one. What did surprise her was the fact that Equestria had stage magicians given that a third of the nation was made up of spellcasters. On the other paw, she supposed that magic performed in a way that left its method in mystery would still be a form of entertainment.

Always on the lookout for potential talent, Sophia decided to peer into the mare’s mind. She could see a lot of insecurity in the belief that her magic was mediocre at best but she also noticed that she had attended Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns but dropped out when her grades were slipping and she couldn’t focus on her studying. She used the excuse of wanting to be a showmare in order to avoid the humiliation by her peers. However, she knew that they didn’t buy that excuse. Despite that she had developed an impressive talent for sleight of hoof.

This information wouldn’t have been useful to her but there was something about the mare’s mind that interested her. Her mind seemed to rapidly process information faster than normal ponies, perhaps even more so than Twilight who was a rapid thinker herself. However this ability was not useful because the mare couldn’t keep up with her own thoughts, leading to her appearing as an eccentric pony to others.

Finally, the mare whipped around to face Sophia with a surprised look on her face. “Were you in Trixie’s head?”

Sophia responded to this with a surprised look of her own. Since ponies were normally unaware of her mental intrusions, this was indeed an unusual case. “You noticed that I was looking into your mind?”

“Well it was hard to tell at first, but Trixie felt something weird worming around in Trixie’s head and felt that it was coming from behind Trixie.”

Noticing the third person talk, Sophia figured that it was part of her eccentricity. “The fact that you felt my presence in your mind at all tells me that you have a powerful mind. Usually other psychics could feel a mental intrusion. Since ponies usually don’t sense that I’ve been careless about my efforts. Your reaction tells me that you are a natural-born psychic.”

“What’s a psychic?”

“Psychics can use telekinesis like a unicorn but they also have other mental abilities such as telepathy, also known as mind reading, and elemental kinesis, the generation of elemental energy using psychic power, though the latter is usually used by exceptionally powerful psychics. It’s not as versatile as magic but it still has many uses.”

Trixie was now looking at the bunny with rapt attention. “Perhaps you may tell the Great and Powerful Trixie how to control these powers?” It didn’t take a mind reader to pick up on the pleading tone.

Sophia chuckled with a shaking of her head, “I can see that your psychic powers are trying to manifest but it seems like something is holding it back. I’m not certain but I think it might be your magic. If you can find a way around that your mind will be opened to new possibilities.”

“How is Trixie’s magic getting in the way of accessing this power?”

“I suspect that it has to do with your mana channels extending to your horn and since your brain and your horn are next to each other your magic may be interfering with your psychic awakening. I’m no expert on magic so my best guess to get around it would be to empty your wellspring until the awakening triggers.”

“Hmm…perhaps Trixie will try that out later. For now, the Great and Powerful Trixie has a show to put on.”

“Want an assistant for tonight?” Sophia offered.

“Sure, Trixie has always wanted to do the rabbit in the hat trick but couldn’t afford animals for the shows. Pet stores charge a royal treasury.”

A few hours later a crowd of ponies gathered in the central square of town around the caravan turned stage parked in the area. The citizens were curious about the “new unicorn in town” and at least a few were excited by this. There were also some skeptics but Trixie was used to such naysayers.

Once enough ponies had gathered it was time to begin her show. She quickly donned her stage persona before making her grand entrance. “Come one, come all! Come and witness the amazing magic of the Great and Powerful Trixie!” With a burst of one of her smoke bombs she made her appearance on her stage and captured the audience’s attention. “Watch in awe as the Great and Powerful Trixie performs impossible feats of magic that will leave you mystified.”

Spike scoffed, “Yeah, right!”

Trixie heard the dragon’s comments and while there were a few who were beginning to lose interest, such as Rainbow and Applejack, Trixie decided to show the audience a few of her illusions that she had honed with training. The audience’s attention returned when it appeared that some of the illusions depicted her in situations where her life was at risk but she emerged unscathed each time.

“It’s awesome, I guess, but I bet it’s nothing compared to what Twilight or Starlight can do,” Rainbow commented.

“Rainbow!” Twilight scolded.

“You know more spells than I do, but only because a lot of my time had been training under Nova and Tosh,” Starlight admitted.

“Why are ya putin’ yourself through that, anyway?” Applejack asked.

“To show the Royal Guard that their training regimen needs work. Did you know that they are using a codex that hasn’t been updated in centuries? It’s a wonder how we haven’t been conquered yet.”

“Trixie can hear you in the back, you know,” Trixie called out. “Perhaps the Great and Powerful Trixie needs to issue a challenge to one of you to prove her greatness?”

“Twilight will take you up on your challenge!” Rainbow declared.

“Rainbow, don’t volunteer me for things!” Twilight growled, her teeth beginning to grind.

“Twilight? As in Twilight Sparkle?” Trixie asked. “The Great and Powerful Trixie couldn’t ask for a better challenge. Come up here and let us face one another in a contest of magic!”

Having no other choice now that she had been called out, Twilight made her way to the stage where she faced the blue mare. “Alright, am I naming the challenge or are you?”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie knows how powerful a student of Princess Celestia is but how great are you without your horn?” Before Twilight could respond, a ring was placed around Twilight’s horn and one was placed on Trixie’s horn immediately after.

“Hey! What gives?” Twilight demanded.

“For this challenge, we only need our hooves.” Trixie then pulled out a deck of cards and shuffled them in ways that the audience didn’t think possible without unicorn magic as the cards flew into the air only to land in the deck. “Now, pick a card.” Twilight picked the five of diamonds before Trixie shuffled the deck again. She then picked out the two of clubs. “Is this your card?” Twilight shook her head. Trixie then picked the nine of hearts and the seven of spades which Twilight also shook her head to. “Then it must be this one.” She reached above Twilight’s head and pulled a card from behind her ear that she didn’t know was there. It was the five of diamonds.

Twilight was gobsmacked by what happened. “What? How? I didn’t even see you put that card there! I didn’t even feel that the card was there!”

Trixie smirked, “Maybe now your friends will stop neighsaying the greatness of Trixie’s magic.”

As Twilight returned to her friends who were equally stunned, Trixie then took off her hat to announce her assistant for the show as she pulled Sophia out of her hat.

The rest of the show continued for another half hour with Trixie and Sophia showing off more illusions, including one where Trixie tapped her horn on the bunny’s head and she ended up multiplying. The multiplication was the result of Sophia creating illusionary copies of herself with her psychic powers.

Once the show was over, Spike couldn’t help but be impressed by what the two did though he did overhear two colts, a short, pudgy unicorn with a grayish opal coat and an orange mane and tail and a pair of scissors for a cutie mark as well as a lanky amber unicorn with a turquoise mane and tail and a snail for a cutie mark, talking about Trixie’s performance. However, Spike noticed a point in their conversation where they believed that if Trixie could defeat Twilight Sparkle then she could defeat powerful monsters such as an Ursa Major.

Spike felt that was a huge leap in logic and could only hope that the conversation was innocuous as he returned home with Twilight and Starlight.

That night as ponies were headed off to bed a loud roar was heard in the distance and the roars grew louder over time. Ponies began to leave their homes to check out the noise only for them to run back inside screaming as they spotted a giant, blue and transparent ursine creature running toward the town and they didn’t look happy.

The two colts, Snips and Snails knocked on the door to Trixie’s caravan and awoke the now cranky unicorn. When they told her about the coming Ursa Major who had just made it into town and let out a deep roar, Trixie panicked and fled with the two colts as the Ursa crushed the wagon.

When cornered the two tried to encourage Trixie to vanquish the creature they worked so hard to lure here which made the mare furious at the two.

Unfortunately Trixie’s magic was completely ineffective against the Ursa. The three managed to slip away between the creature’s legs though the Ursa was now rampaging around town causing panic among the populace.

Twilight, Starlight and Spike arrived to see what was happening. It was the two colt’s who answered. “We just thought that if Trixie could defeat Twilight Sparkle she could defeat an Ursa,” Snips said.

“Seriously? What kind of logic is that?” Spike demanded.

“We can deal with them later, Spike,” Twilight offered. “For now we need to take care of this problem. Good thing you told us about what they said earlier. Starlight, you still haven’t recovered from your sparring earlier so you handle number sixteen. I’ll try to handle the rest.”

“You should let Trixie handle the heavy lifting,” came a voice from behind them. Looking behind they found Tosh approaching.

“Why would we do that? Her magic wasn’t anything to write home about,” Spike questioned.

“It’s for her own sake.”

“Are you insane?!” Trixie cried out. “There’s no way Trixie can lift that creature with her magic!”

“When pushed to the limit, you may find what you’ve been looking for.”

Trixie had no idea what the zebra was talking about but since they didn’t have time to discuss the matter they went along with the plan. Starlight began by creating a melody using the wind blowing through the nearby pond’s cattails to soothe the Ursa’s rage while Twilight ripped out the nearby water tower and emptied it before sending it through a barn and somehow milking enough cows to fill it. The creature accepted the gift and began sucking on the giant makeshift baby bottle.

Meanwhile, Trixie struggled with all of her magical might to lift the Ursa but to no avail. Tosh encouraged her to push harder but this only succeeded in depleting her magical reserves.

That was when a new strength surged through the blue mare. As her horn’s glow faded her eyes began to glow the same color as her aura. With strain, she actually began to lift the creature off the ground.

“Do not lose focus, girl. Mass is only a limitation you impose upon yourself,” Tosh instructed. “Of course, since you have just awakened to this power, I can give you some assistance. Tosh’s eyes glowed white and Trixie suddenly felt that the burden on her mind had lessened. Tosh moved forward toward the town edge and Trixie followed him, doing her best to focus on keeping the Ursa lifted. The mare had no idea that her horn wasn’t lit and that she was actually lifting the Ursa with her mind.

“Good. Keep it up,” Tosh encouraged. “We are heading toward the cave. We’re almost there.”

“Unh, the Great and Powerful Trixie is getting a great and powerful headache,” she grunted.

“That’s to be expected. With proper training you can master this new power. You don’t need to decide on that right now, but if you do decide to seek guidance, Sophia and I will give you that.”

After a few more minutes of strain the Ursa was placed inside the cave. However, the strain was too much for Trixie and she collapsed and blacked out in front of the cave. Tosh chuckled as he hoisted the mare onto his back and returned to town and the expecting crowd that gathered.

“Sweet Celestia, is she alright?” Rarity asked.

“She is exhausted after her psychic awakening so she only needs rest,” Tosh answered.

“Psychic awakening?” Twilight asked.

“As interesting a topic as I am sure you believe it to be, I will not be taking questions on the matter. You can direct any questions to Sophia.”

“Oh, I will,” Twilight ominously stated. Spike and Starlight knew that look and began to feel pity toward the bunny.

Tosh decided to carry Trixie back to his house since he found her mobile home had been destroyed in the attack. Since the household was stocked up on painkillers, Nova, Sophia and himself were the ones in the best position to help her right now.

As for Snips and Snails, their parents found out what they did and soon found themselves grounded for a very long time. With any luck they would be able to end their punishment before they were adults.

Author's Note

Hope you like the changes I made to Trixie for this story. I have big plans for her.

Plans, Therapists and Bomb Makers

In the Canterlot Castle dining hall, Celestia was slightly off-put by the wide grin on her sister’s face. She knew what this was about and she was happy for her sister’s excitement over the coming of her favorite holiday, which was still months away, but the look still disturbed her somewhat.

“Luna, are you sure you will be ready by then?” Celestia asked with concern. “Have you recovered enough of your strength to resume that duty?”

Luna nodded, “I believe that I will have regained enough of my former power by then at the rate my powers return. Even the incident at the Gala did little to set back my progress. I have already regained enough to resume my duties as the guardian of dreams. I am certain that I will be ready by this coming Autumn.”

Celestia smiled, “If you are certain, then I will prepare an announcement to prepare the ponies for the coming of the true form of that holiday. We will need the extra food for the war on the horizon.”

“It certainly helps that it’s my favorite holiday, just as Hearts and Hooves day is our niece’s favorite. It was a great idea to use Nightmare Night as a placeholder holiday so that when the true form of it returned that it wouldn’t inconvenience our ponies.”

“Well, we will still keep the Nightmare Night traditions going since the cities won’t be able to celebrate the additions like the rural towns will be able to, this will simply add more for the farming communities to enjoy.”

“I can remember how it was a thousand years ago,” Luna fondly reminisced. “We didn’t have large urban areas like we do today. Every town had its share of farms so they could celebrate in equal measure.”

Celestia chuckled, “Sometimes I wonder why more ponies favored my sun over your moon when you could do so much more with yours than I could with mine.”

“Using my moon in such a way is taxing on my reserves but I’d still do it every year to ensure our ponies had enough to eat.”

“Then let us make preparations for the return of the Harvest Moon Celebration.”

Ever since the incident where Twilight had a meltdown, Sophia had reluctantly given Violetta more freedom to do as she wished. She hoped that she wouldn’t regret it, but she had more important things to do than to act like the horror’s keeper.

Twilight had also attended more therapy sessions with Violetta. The sessions helped her to realize that she tries too hard to please Princess Celestia by being a good student. When it was pointed out that Starlight’s slightly casual behavior toward their ruler was never rebuffed, it made her wonder why that was and if it was alright for her to do the same. She wasn’t too sure it was a good idea, but she was willing to take small steps toward being more casual toward her teacher.

A month had passed since Starlight taught a few guard instructors what she learned from Nova. At that point, Celestia was ready to pass her first wave of reforms to the parliament. The policies were a little more radical than they were used to since peaceful times had made any major changes to the laws unnecessary.

A few nights ago, things changed when a few scouts were sent to the northeast by Sophia’s direction where they discovered an outpost that was unlike anything they had ever seen before. Sophia accompanied the scouts in order to help them understand what they were up against by pointing out their weapons and what they could do to a pony.

She pointed out the missile turrets that would blow up any pegasi who got too close and detect any of Luna’s bat ponies who would try to conceal themselves with shadows. She pointed out the round structures near the entrance with square bases as bunkers that could house a few of their infantry while allowing them to attack through the holes without endangering themselves. She also pointed out the large vehicles with the cannons on top that appeared to roll on treads but were immobile thanks to the stabilizers at their base to keep them from moving around. She pointed out that they were in a mode that fired long range artillery shells and that they were just barely out of their attack range. There were also many more soldiers like the ones who attacked the gala within the encampment, along with some bulkier models.

“How would anypony get past that defense?” one scout asked. “Unicorns would have to move closer to attack but those cannons would probably wipe them out before they could get close enough.”

“I can think of a few ways to break through that,” Sophia offered. “However, even if I destroyed the place, it won't change the fact that you ponies are insignificant in the face of enemies like this and they certainly won’t be the last.”

“So your plan is to help Equestria become stronger so we can deal with threats like these humans?”

“Exactly!”

The humans in the prison had made clear their intent for Equestria and seeing what they were capable of, the nobles of the parliament were less resistant to Celestia’s reforms. Their sense of self-preservation had made them more pliant and hopeful that their princesses and Sophia knew what they were doing.

Among the reforms was the request to have the entire royal guard retrained in waves by the recently retrained instructors. After a month of Starlight teaching them how to fight all over again, she felt that they were ready enough to train the rest of the guard. She could have taught them more, but she was worried about Twilight after her episode a few weeks ago.

Starlight had asked Moondancer and the others about their friend and was surprised that Twilight told them that she was having weekly therapy sessions with the same creature who tormented Discord’s mind. This only worried Starlight more as she was concerned about potential damage the horror could have done to her best friend’s mind.

Once her time in Canterlot was up, Starlight took the fastest train to Ponyville and headed straight for the library where she found Twilight reading a book on the couch like she usually did.

“Hey Starlight!” Twilight greeted. “How did everything go?”

“Twilight, I heard what happened,” Starlight replied as she slowly moved around her friend while scanning her with her magic. “Are you sure you’re okay? I heard that you’ve been talking to Violetta.”

Twilight sighed, she knew why Starlight was looking her over and she admitted that if she were in Starlight’s place she would be doing the same thing. She couldn’t blame her, she’d be skeptical too if she heard that one of her friends was being psychoanalyzed by a creature from who knew where.

Once Starlight was finished giving her scans, which she knew were pointless but did so anyway to tell herself that she did something, she seated herself in a nearby chair to get comfortable. “What did she do?”

Twilight hesitated for a moment as she wasn’t sure how to explain what happened to her. What happened to her would be difficult to believe after all. In the end, she tried her best to explain what happened.

An explanation later, Starlight tilted her head confusedly, “So she just…talked to you from inside your mind?” Starlight questioned as she tried to make sense of what happened.

“Most of it was her asking questions while I thought about my own answers. It wasn’t like she was quizzing me, it was as if she was trying to make me consider my own actions from an outside perspective. She showed me my own memories and made me think about my own actions.

“Starlight, part of me actually envies that you can speak with Princess Celestia as if you were friends while I’m not sure if I can be the same since I’ve always feared disappointing her. It’s as if I dedicated my life to making her proud of me and I couldn’t bear it if I disappointed her.”

Seeing her best friend holding her usual concerns made Starlight breathe a sigh of relief as it seemed as if Violetta hadn’t done anything to change her mentality. Starlight gave a sympathetic smile, “Twilight, at the end of the day, Princess Celestia is a pony like you and me. You have to look past the regal facade to see who the real Celestia is. Most ponies are too blinded by that to see anything else. Try to be more adventurous toward her, you haven’t even seen where she would draw the line. Even if you have to take baby steps toward Celestia the pony, it’s still progress in the end.

Twilight nodded, ”Yeah, you’re right! I should make an effort to see her like I would see my friends, just in a private setting, of course.”

Starlight giggled, “Yeah, wouldn’t want those stuffy ponies being sent to the hospital for overexposure to watching somepony’s casual behavior toward the princess.”

The two then talked about their days and shared a few laughs for a couple of hours.

The next few weeks featured a few events but Sophia nor her family needed to intervene and allowed them to play out.

Ponyville hosted its annual Sisterhooves Social race and the judges had finally decided to allow Sweetie Belle to compete despite her mechanical form. Sweetie had been denied the previous years because the judges were afraid that Sweetie’s mechanical body might offer some unfair advantages in the race. It took a lot of begging and pleading from the two sisters to finally get the judges to cave to their wishes. Thankfully the race was as fair as it always was so it was decided that Sweetie could compete in future races as long as she never used any gadgets stored within her body.

There was also a point in time when Rainbow became jealous of her friends because they all had pets and she didn’t. Fluttershy happily helped Rainbow find a pet for her which led to a series of events that led to her being rescued by a tortoise and her choosing the tortoise as her pet.

The biggest event was when Apple Bloom was brought to Zecora’s hut by Sophia for her weekly potions lesson. The filly and the zebra worked together to create a potion to help a rooster fix his morning call. After that, Apple Bloom began crafting her own potions under Zecora’s supervision.

Zecora and Sophia noticed that the filly created a few potions that seemed highly volatile and prone to exploding if jarred. Another potion turned a pile of dirt into a clay-like substance that gave off a weird smell. When Sophia smelled it, it smelled familiar to her.

“Aw, why do ah keep makin’ all these stinky failures?” Apple Bloom whined.

Sophia took one of the potions that the filly made and gave it a smell. It was also a familiar scent. This is impossible, she thought. These chemicals can’t be crafted with plants and dirt, this stuff is usually fabricated in a specialized weapons plant. Is she subconsciously altering the chemical composition of her potions with her earth pony magic?

“Ah guess mah special talent ain’t in potion makin’” Apple Bloom sighed, dejected.

“Do not give up on your attempts in haste, the look on our friend’s face shows your efforts were not a waste,” Zecora observed.

Apple Bloom then looked at the rabbit who had a thoughtful look on her face. “I have no idea how you did it. By the science that I know this should have been impossible. The potion bottles contain pentaerythritol tetranitrate or PETN which is a highly explosive compound. The plastic you made is also an explosive. Frankly, these substances need to be disposed of with caution since they will pose a threat to anypony’s home or life if they aren’t properly handled and we haven’t created anything that can properly contain these, yet.

“So what good are a bunch of explosives, anyway?” Apple Bloom asked.

Sophia grinned. “What you made today, not much good. However, I can help you craft more powerful explosives that would be useful in defeating the terrans in the future.”

“Terrans?”

“Another name for the human invaders.”

“So ah could create somethin’ that could help protect ponies from those pirates?” she asked with a hopeful look in her eyes. A nod from Sophia was all the confirmation that Apple Bloom needed which filled her heart with elation. Her happiness was expressed with a wide smile.

Suddenly, the room was briefly flooded in a bright flash of light. None of the creatures in the room were prepared for it so it left them briefly stunned while they waited for their vision to return. Once the spots faded from their vision, they looked around to see what had happened. The rabbit and zebra were mildly shocked to see a change in Apple Bloom who looked at them staring at her. “What?”

The staring continued so the filly looked around herself until she spotted something on her flank. It was an apple, however the stem was sparking, as if the stem had been replaced with a fuse. She rubbed at the image to make sure it was real. Her wide smile widened even further to one that would have rivaled one of Pinkie’s best smiles. “AH GOT MAH CUTIE MARK!!” she cheerfully shouted, much to the annoyance of the two in the hut with her as they recovered from the auditory fatigue.

“Seems your voice can be explosive too,” Sophia quipped.

“Ah gotta tell Sweetie and Scoots, Di and Silver too, and Spike!” The filly then raced out the door recklessly. Sophia quickly bid the zebra farewell before she quickly caught up with Apple Bloom to keep her safe on the way back to town.

Author's Note

Sorry this one took so long. Seems I struggle to find inspiration when it comes to slice of life content. Plus I've been working on Starlight Saint and that takes up time as well. A lot of the Season 2 episodes will be glanced over in this story unless I have something interesting in mind for it.

This chapter covered Sisterhooves Social and May the Best Pet Win with The Cutie Pox being altered into a special event for Apple Bloom.

Cosmic Wave

“Captain on the bridge,” an ensign declared.

Strolling onto the bridge of the ship was an anthropomorphic blue rabbit girl wearing a buttoned blue jacket with a white half skirt going down to the back of her knees. She wore white gloves and black skinny pants that would have chaffed with her fur if it weren’t for her abilities. Her boots matched her pants.

She glanced around at the officers on deck before I gave a deadpan look at the ensign, “We’ve been over this, ensign. Just because I step out to use the facilities doesn’t mean you need to announce my presence every time I return.”

The ensign gave a firm salute to her, “Sorry, ma’am!”

She rolled her eyes and returned to the captain’s chair. Though, given her position the crew seemed offended by the chair she sat in. She couldn’t believe the number of times the crew had tried to replace the thing with something more extravagant but she turned it down every time.

The girl’s name was Sophia Archon Craft, heirarch of the Starcraft Federation. She was quite knowledgeable of the original story of the Koprulu Sector. In one variation of that universe, she unified three warring alien races under a single banner through a combination of diplomacy, brute force and guile. The federation was the fruit of her labors; a union of humanity with a technologically advanced race of psychic aliens as well as a race of genetically malleable and brutally ferocious aliens. The latter two were commonly known as the Protoss and the Zerg.

Some may wonder how she could get these races who had fought each other for years to just get along. Overall it was a combination of charisma, power and a sense of honor; traits that were greatly respected among the three races.

She was originally born human, at least, that’s what she thought growing up. It wasn’t until her late teens that she found out that she possessed immense psionic powers which surpassed what humans were capable of. She also learned that she was genetically hybridized with Protoss DNA in an experiment to create a more powerful psychic solder which surpassed the standard human covert ops soldiers known as Ghosts and Spectres. This allowed her to use a myriad of psionic abilities, some of which were highly destructive.

However, her current appearance showed no signs of such hybridization. Part of it was because she was also infused with Zerg DNA which allowed her to adapt her body to a number of conditions. When combined with her Protoss DNA it allowed her the ability to shapeshift to an extent. While she couldn’t turn into other people, she could instantly grow Zerg chitin on her body to use as armor or to attack with. She could also shift into the various strains of Zerg.

The main reason why she didn’t look human was the fact that she had a cousin who was a mad scientist. While she did help her to unleash the full potential of her powers, she also decided to have a bit of fun with Sophia’s DNA so now her base form was that of an anthropomorphic blue rabbit.

She didn’t resent her cousin though. In fact, she actually found it cute and exotic. Plus, she got to play the role of the adversary the enemy always underestimated…up until running in terror screaming bloody murder. She tended to have a bit of a sadistic streak, blaming the predatory instincts she gained from her Zerg genetics.

As for where she was at this time, she was aboard her flagship: The Aquaelie. It wasn’t originally hers since she ended up displacing it from its home universe moments from when it was destined to be destroyed, crew and all. She told the crew back then that she couldn’t return their ship to that universe because of the circumstances. Since they were officially cut off from their original government permanently, the captain and crew decided to serve her for the rest of their days.

That was centuries ago.

Since then she had made her own modifications to the ship and now it was the envy of her entire Starcraft Federation. Even the humans and their Battlecruisers or the Protoss and their capital ships didn’t hold a candle to the vessel.

As for their current mission, they were tracking down a band of pirates who were discovered to be operating in the sector. Rumor had it that the pirate leader was none other than Alan Schezar who was supposed to have died a long time ago to a renegade extremist Protoss. If it really was him then he somehow survived the encounter and probably entered a long sleep in a cryo chamber to preserve himself.

Still, he was no match for her forces so it was only a matter of tracking him down. Even if he did have one of the last few existing Zerg Cerebrates, giant larvae-like creatures with the ability to control an entire brood of Zerg, it wouldn’t be enough.

Her attention was taken from the mission when the ship shook briefly, leading to the officers on the bridge to devote all of their focus on their consoles to investigate what happened. She gave them a few moments to examine their screens. “Report!”

“Ma’am, readings indicate that we encountered an energy wave that crashed into us,” one officer said.

“Why was this not brought to my attention sooner? I thought our sensors were state of the art?”

“They are ma’am! The reason we didn’t get a reading sooner was because the energy wave was nearly completely decayed in potency that it barely registered on our sensors while still having enough force to jar us.”

Sophia nodded, “Alright, let’s get some readings on that energy and find out where it came from. If it’s an enemy attack I want us to be ready.”

After a couple of minutes of scans and data gathering, the officers came to her with their reports. One had reported that there were no enemy vessels nearby. Even if the enemy was using cloaking technology the scanners would have still picked them up. Others went on to scan the energy.

“Ma’am, the energy doesn’t appear to be psionic or void based but it isn’t anything humans could be capable of at this time either,” a Protoss officer reported.

“Does it bear any resemblance to known energy forms, however minor?” Sophia asked.

“It possesses some similarities to psionic energy, but the signature overall appears to be unlike anything we have ever encountered.”

“Hierarch, I have my report ready,” a human officer offered. “I ran some calculations on the energy magnitude and it was rounded up to one point two when it hit us. I suspect we got the tail end of it.”

“One point two is the magnitude of an ion cannon used by Protoss starfighters,” Sophia pointed out. “The range of such energy wouldn’t travel far. What about the radius of the energy wave?”

“Unknown, hierarch, even with our long-range scans we couldn’t pick up the whole thing. It must have traveled a long distance to reach this far. I’d estimate that the point of origin could be in another sector of the Milky Way.”

“What about the arc of the energy wave? Can we make some estimates of its point of origin through that?”

“Just finished the calculations now, ma’am. Rough estimations put the point of origin in the Delta Quadrant.”

“Seriously?!” Sophia loudly stated in shock. Thinking about it, for energy to reach them in the adjacent Beta Quadrant, the energy magnitude would have to be immense.

When comparing other energy sources, Protoss energy weapons ranged from one point two for their starfighters to two for their capital ships which were capable of causing widespread desolation of a planet’s surface over the length of a continent. The energy magnitude system was such that the magnitude from one to two was an exponential difference. Two was the highest for any known starship. Magnitude three was exponentially greater than two and would be the minimum amount of energy required to travel into adjacent quadrants; less if the point of origin was around the border between quadrants. Even then the energy would have to be at least two point eight to reach here.

“This definitely warrants investigation,” Sophia voiced. “Assign the Delta Fleet to continue the hunt for Schezar. Plot the estimated locations on the star map and set course for the general vicinity. I want all non-essential crewmen to take this time off to rest, though be ready at a moment’s notice if we run into trouble.”

Most of the officers stood from their chairs and saluted their leader, “Yes, hierarch!” They filed out the door out of the bridge. The navigational crew members plotted the course then joined the others.

Sophia could have simply opened a rift and been there immediately, but she was aware that the crew had been working hard during this mission and figured that a week of rest would do them good. She could handle most things herself but her officers would get upset with her if she put all of the burdens on herself so she let them do what they wanted.

Since she wasn’t needed on the bridge, Sophia decided to go find something to do while they were en route.

One week ago…

As a certain cyan-coated filly with rainbow mane and tail celebrated her victory against a trio of bullies who often picked on her foalhood friend, whom she didn’t notice that she had knocked out of the clouds and had to be saved by a swarm of butterflies, her actions this day would not only tie her destiny to others, but so much more.

The power of the filly’s Sonic Rainboom didn’t simply travel across the countryside and be observed by half the world. This energy would travel beyond the world of Equus itself and expand throughout a large portion of the galaxy. Of course, the filly’s power alone wouldn’t have nearly been enough to have that effect.

As the rainbow waves surged outward, the Spirit of Harmony itself saw an opportunity to save the land from the thousand years of stagnation that ponykind had wrought upon themselves. Using the rainbow energy, the Tree of Harmony amplified it to extend beyond this world in hopes that someone beyond the stars was listening and will come to restore the balance of order and chaos that will allow ponykind to move forward once more.

While the boost had drained the tree of most of its energy, which it would slowly recover in time while the Elements were dormant, the energy also had the effect of changing the destiny of a certain filly within the town of Sire’s Hollow with a lilac coat and deep purple mane and tail with an aqua stripe.

It was around this time that she and her foalhood friend were playing a game of stacking books when the stack nearly fell on the filly and the colt’s telekinesis saved her, a cutie mark appearing on his flanks afterward.

What changed that day was a tremor that shook the house and overcharged the filly’s horn, sending her into a magic surge that brought the books to life and turned the colt into a book. Thankfully the filly was able to regain her senses once the wave passed. The living books stopped moving once the magic wore off but the magic affecting the colt persisted.

Upon seeing what she did to her foalhood friend, the filly wrapped her hooves around the book that was once the colt and bawled for several minutes until her father rushed into the room to see what happened. When the filly explained what happened, the father was uncertain about what to do until a reddish orange mare with pale green hooves and a mane and tail of three shades of scarlet entered the house to check on her son.

Seeing the state of things, the mare quickly recommended that they take a trip to Canterlot and hope that Princess Celestia could fix her son.

Thankfully, the princess was able to reverse Sunburst’s affliction. Though when Celestia asked the two families about how this came to pass, the explanation left her impressed in the two young ones. However, her attention was more focused on the filly who she could tell possessed tremendous magical potential, just like a certain lavender filly she admitted as her personal student only a few hours ago.

Celestia had a feeling that her protege, Twilight Sparkle, and this filly, Starlight Glimmer, had a great destiny ahead of them.

Author's Note

First of all, welcome to my latest fic. Secondly, while this fic is going to involve my OCs that I introduced in my Seekers series, that has no bearing on this story. This one is completely stand alone. Thirdly, while this story will loosely follow the FiM timeline, there will be major changes. First sign of this is that Starlight does not go to create Our Town. There will be something else for that.

Finally, at least 2 members of the Mane 6 will have slightly different cutie marks which will give one of them a slightly altered behavior while the other will have a complete career change in order to fit my future plans. Care to guess which ones they would be?

Until next time! :twilightsmile:

Data Gathering

Even with the best technology available it still took about a week to reach the sector where the ship’s crew estimated the energy wave came from. Sophia contemplated asking her engineering genius nephew if he had any upgrades for the ship’s engines later. Regardless, they had arrived and it was time to examine the nearby star systems.

The crew was refreshed after a week of R and R and ready to return to their duties. Sophia watched as everyone returned to their stations and performed their duties with renewed vigor.

The scans of nearby star systems didn’t show anything out of the ordinary and after hours of scans the crew was beginning to wonder if they had miscalculated the general area the energy wave came from.

That was until one last scan for the current crew’s shift caught their attention. “Hierarch, my scan has detected a world with an anomalous configuration,” said a female Protoss officer. “The system is composed of a planet as the centralized celestial body with a small star and a single moon.”

“A planet with its star orbiting it? That is certainly unusual,” Sophia commented. “Is there any sign that the energy wave may have originated from this world?”

“Unsure, however the energy readouts are picking up a reading that doesn’t match the magnitude but the signature is similar in parts to the energy wave. There is a fairly high chance that the energy originated from this planet.”

“Very well, let us investigate this planet then. The anomalous configuration alone deems this world worth a look.”

“Permission to speak freely, ma’am?” one male human officer requested.

“Granted.”

“Why are we bothering with this matter? Shouldn’t we be using our resources hunting Schezar?”

“It’s not every day that you get an energy readout that greatly surpasses what a starship is capable of. For all we know it could be some super powerful entity showing off or some civilization developed some kind of super weapon capable of destroying planets.”

“You’re a super powerful entity…” another officer muttered in amusement.

Unfortunately for her, Sophia heard that. “I’ll let that slide once, lieutenant, just because it’s true. Please remember your training.” She turned back to address the previous officer. “Energy like that is going to draw the attention of intergalactic powers such as ourselves and depending on who finds this world, they will either want to mine it of its resources or enslave a species if the energy comes from living beings. That’s why I want to investigate this planet before I make a decision on what to do with it. If this world can produce an energy wave that can travel to another quadrant of the galaxy, we can’t leave this matter alone or it could be a potential threat to us.”

The officer nodded, satisfied with her answer. “Orders, ma’am?”

Sophia smiled as she saw her crew returning their attention to the terminals as they resumed their duties. “First, let’s check the atmosphere. Let’s see if the air is breathable.”

“The atmosphere has a composition similar to most inhabited worlds in the Koprulu Sector,” a male Protoss officer replied. “There is a slightly higher composition of argon though.”

“Alright, I’m not even going to bother asking about the climate. We can’t make any proper estimates because of the celestial configuration.”

“Hierarch, I’m picking up an energy reaction coming from the planet’s surface heading directly for the planet’s star!” one officer loudly reported. “It’s registering at magnitude two point two.”

“Let’s see what happens,” Sophia thought out loud.

The next few minutes were fascinating and shocking as the energy reaction wrapped around the star and moved it around to the other side of the planet. The next thing they saw was the lunar satellite being exposed to a second reaction and moved to where the solar satellite was before.

“Where did that signature originate?” Sophia asked. After a few moments, a holographic display of the planet appeared in the center of the room. A red point flashed on the map.

“The observer drones we deployed around the planet gave us this image,” one officer said before indicating the point as a red dot. “Our sensors place the point of origin at this point.”

“Send some observers down planetside, we need to know what we are dealing with,” Sophia ordered.

This task took the rest of the day for the crew, or night as they soon realized from the location of interest. They spotted what appeared to be equine creatures of a wide variety of colors and symbols on their flanks. Because of the time of night, however, there were very few around since most were in their homes. They would need to wait for another energy reaction to return the celestial bodies back to their original configuration before they could reach any conclusions on the population.

They also examined the settlements around the world and witnessed a wide variety of cultures. Using a system of comparing structures to the chronological development of Earth, Sophia concluded that the equine civilization varied from eighteenth century to twentieth century, the latter showing along the eastern coast cities of the region of interest. However, while motorized vehicles were non-existent there were still train tracks which suggested that they may have developed locomotives.

“I see…” Sophia mused. “This scan alone tells me that this world credits the phrase ‘Necessity is the mother of invention.’ They certainly didn’t develop the way humanity did. No airports, few military bases, and train stations follow a design similar to the American Wild West. Looking at other countries, some might have better military than the equine lands but not by much. One country in the far south seems to have the best military and could potentially conquer the world one day.”

“What now, hierarch?” a Protoss officer asked.

“We wait for the next shift in the celestial bodies.”

A couple of hours passed and Sophia had the crew end their shifts while the next set, rested and ready to go, entered the bridge and took their stations. Sophia briefed the new staff on what they had discovered so far.

It wasn’t long before the same energy reaction that moved the star and moon was detected and just as Sophia figured, the celestial orbs moved back to their original position.

“Time for another scan, I want to know if these equine creatures are the civilized species on that part of the continent.”

A few hours passed and the crew found that the equine creatures were going about their days like civilized people. Other countries also had their share of civilized creatures, all of them were of mythological creatures from human legends. She spotted griffons, dragons, hippogryphs, cat people, zebras (not mythical but Sophia noted that their behavior mirrored ancient African tribes), and minotaurs. They also spotted a species of insect-like equines in a region northwest of the equine lands.

Focusing on the lands the energy reaction came from, the crew examined the equines in more detail. They noted that they came in four types: those with horns on their foreheads, those with feathered wings, those with bat wings (Sophia noted that they didn’t mingle with the other types and seemed to keep to themselves), and those without.

One important thing that Sophia noted was that every species in the world radiated energy in subtle amounts, leading to the conclusion that there was something about the planet itself that appeared to guide their evolution.

One observer scanned what appeared to be a garden around the castle in a city built into a mountain. It spotted what appeared to be a fairly large specimen of the equines, taller than any of the others. The equine appeared to have a light fuchsia coat that could be mistaken for white along with a mane that emulated an aurora of cerulean, turquoise, heliotrope and cobalt, that appeared to billow in a non-existent breeze. A mark of a sun flaring in eight directions was on her flank. A crown on her head indicated that she may be a leader. It also gave the crew the impression that the equines lived under a monarchist government.

Other things of note were the large wings and long horn, a combination not found from any other equines. This gave the impression that the combination could be a status symbol, given the adornments and the uniqueness of the creature. More importantly, the crew measured her energy emissions and found that the magnitude exceeded anything else they found on this world. While there were a handful of readings that were well above what could be established as an average, this one gave off the most energy by far.

“I think we found the source of the energy that’s been moving the star and moon,” Sophia noted.

“Orders, ma’am? I think we have learned all we can from remote observations.”

“Indeed,” Sophia agreed. “The energies emitted from this world could have attracted others besides us. I don’t know when, but I am certain that those with ill intent will visit this world. Since we can’t go on protecting this world forever, we will need to implement a permanent solution: destroy the planet or uplift the people so they can protect themselves.”

“Are you sure we can accomplish that?” one officer asked, knowing that the former option was not actually on the table, given how Sophia was. “Those creatures are still technologically medieval and militarily primitive. They seem to still be using swords and spears. Even if they were infused with energy it wouldn’t make them very effective when facing gauss guns and combat walkers.”

“Which is why I am going to be performing a field study before I start drafting plans to uplift them. I have no doubt that it will be a long term project though.”

“You are bringing some bodyguards with you, right?” another officer asked, a tone that allowed no negotiation.”

Sophia chuckled awkwardly while rubbing the back of her head. “Ehehe…right.” As much as she was their leader, the other officers were still allowed to make sure Sophia had protection even if she wouldn’t need it. The last time she went off and did things on her own, her adjutants dumped a literal mountain of paperwork on her desk and had her deal with it without using illusionary clones like she usually did. She was lucky her Zerg biology prevented her from getting carpal tunnel.

Sophia cleared her throat and voiced her decision, “Since these creatures are not ready for extraterrestrial interaction, this will have to be a stealth observation. Me and the two bodyguards of my choice will be going incognito for this. Therefore I have decided on the two to come with me. It’s about time I let those two out of the freezer anyway.”

“‘Those two?’ Hierarch, you don’t mean…”

Sophia nodded, “Yep, they’ve been very useful to me over the centuries but I think it’s time for them to begin acclimating to civilian life before I have them retire. And who knows, maybe they might find someone down there who they are willing to pass down their skills.”

One officer looked at the info on the creatures and looked at her as if she just ordered the whole universe to be compressed into a marble. “With all due respect, ma’am, I can’t imagine these creatures having that kind of potential.”

Sophia chuckled at the officer’s comment, “Look past the biology and see what they have done for themselves. Despite being quadrupeds without grasping limbs, these creatures built an entire civilization with impressive structures. They even built skyscrapers! There is more to them than meets the eye and I want to see where this potential takes them.”

Author's Note

This chapter and the next few chapters are going to be dedicated toward Sophia and her people learning as much about the ponies as she can. Since the information is something most readers on this site already know about I've decided to release a few chapters at once to speed things along.

Nova and Tosh

Sophia strolled into the cryo storage chamber aboard the Aquaelie where anything that was to be cryogenically preserved was stored.

It was a dimly lit chamber with a number of cells that were large enough to fit people and that was what most of the cells contained. While some were frozen as a form of punishment for some past crime, there were also some cells where Sophia kept those who have served her well preserved until a later time when she would need their skills again. These people volunteered, of course. Though she was also disappointed that some of the crew used some of the cells like they were freezers to store their food until they felt like eating it later. She would need to talk to them about that at some point.

Regardless, her attention was drawn to two individuals who had served her well in the past, though one of them also made a nuisance of himself a few times.

Accessing a terminal, Sophia activated the two cells that she wanted and peered inside the windows. One was a human female with blonde hair done in a ponytail and, from what she remembered since her eyes were closed, green eyes. She wore a sleek gray suit with thin armor plating. The other was a human male with dark skin and black hair done in dreadlocks and milky white eyes. He wore a black suit with slightly thicker armor plating than the other.

Satisfied with her selection, Sophia began the process of activating the two cells to release the two occupants from their stasis. The process of thawing the two took a few minutes plus a few more for the two to regain cognizance after being frozen for so long.

The female was the first to speak, “W-where are we? How long have I been frozen?”

“Hello Nova Terra and Gabriel Tosh,” Sophia greeted. “You are currently aboard the SFS Aquaelie holding orbit over a planet that we will be investigating once you two have recovered from your cryo hibernation.”

Sophia led Nova and Tosh to a cabin and let them recover, offering cryo-stim supplements to speed their recovery. The drugs shortened their recovery time to a couple of hours before they were mentally ready for their briefing.

The briefing took a few minutes where Sophia went over the information they had gained from the planet they were orbiting. “I am also informing you that this mission may be a long term one and will be the last one before I hand you two your retirement papers.”

“With all due respect, hierarch, I still have plenty of years in me to serve,” Nova protested.

“Heh, a workaholic as ever, woman,” Tosh pointed out.

“At least I didn’t waste most of my career being a scummy pirate!” Nova snapped.

“Don’t start, you two,” Sophia admonished. “My word on this is final, so I suggest you get used to the idea. Who knows, maybe you will find something to catch your interest there. Anyways, I am not expecting significant hostilities yet, especially from the natives. Though we might have others show up at some point.”

“I doubt we have anything to fear from something out of a little girl’s fantasy,” Tosh remarked.

“Regardless, I want to see what we have to work with before I formulate my plans to uplift these creatures. We are going incognito using the genetic morpher. The observers have already scanned the DNA of the various species of the world and I have chosen templates for both of you.”

“Wait, we are going in looking like the natives?” Nova questioned. “You mentioned that they were quadrupeds, but I’ve never fought with an altered center of gravity before and I doubt Tosh has either.”

Tosh shrugged, “It’s true, but I have been known to adapt. I wonder if you are even capable of doing the same given how inflexible you tend to be.”

“Let’s get going,” Sophia interrupted, heading off another argument.

The two agents remained quiet as they made the trip to another room where they figured that they would be transformed into the natives for the mission. Sophia explained that the morpher would transform them and send them down to the surface as long as there was a warp conduit there. Thankfully, one of the observers planted a crystal shard at the intended transport location.

Sophia’s transport system relied on her special crystals which she would plant in strategic locations. By putting a little of her psionic power into a shard, she would be able to nearly instantaneously travel to another shard. These crystals acted as her warp conduits and took her centuries to master it to the extent that she would only need a tiny shard at point A and point B. Until then, it took her an entire crystal formation to properly travel.

Once the three of them were ready for the process, they entered a small chamber as the process started up. A minute of wait was all that was needed for the three of them to be exposed to a blinding light. They closed their eyes and used their arms to block as much of the light as they could. Sophia held up one of her shards as the system reacted to it.

Everything happened within a few seconds. When they lowered their arms, or rather their forelegs, they soon found themselves in a meadow just outside of a dark forest.

As soon as her vision recovered, Nova took the time to gaze upon her hooves, sky blue in color. She found that she could twist her body enough that she could look upon her flank. The image of a familiar skull-shaped mask, like the ones Ghost agents were known to wear, was engraved onto her flank. Her tail looked platinum blonde.

She also noticed something that was missing which immediately made her feel self-conscious. “Wait, where is my suit? Why am I naked?!”

“Relax Nova, from what I could tell from investigating the natives, clothing is optional. You will fit in without your suit. As for where it is, I had your suit placed in a dimensional storage until it’s needed.”

Nova looked around to find Sophia which took her a few seconds until she looked down. Her already large eyes widened while her pupils shrank as she looked at her leader.

She was looking at a rabbit in her feral state. The only unusual thing that would set her apart from other known species of rabbits was the fact that her fur was blue. She also had a white nose and her eyes were amber. Sophia was now half Nova’s size which did make her slightly larger than the average rabbit.

“So how come I was allowed to keep my suit?” Tosh asked. Nova looked at her counterpart and spotted a male equine who had a light gray coat with dark gray stripes around his head. The rest of his body was covered by the equine version of his armor. His dreadlocks were now draped down to the base of his neck. “And why are you a small animal?”

“First, since I didn’t want to complicate things, I turned Nova into one of the wingless and hornless variants. As your bodies acclimate to the environment, I’d like a report on what changes you experience. I turned Tosh into a zebra because I don’t have a lot of data on their kind and I’d like to know what they can do. Second, I wanted the rabbit look because I love selling the adorable but deadly look. It tricks my prey into thinking I’m prey up until they find out I’m higher up on the food chain than they are. Third, I want Tosh to remain in stealth until further notice. Since he’s a zebra and their kind hasn't been seen on this continent, I don’t want to take chances until I can understand why that’s the case.”

“So what’s our mission?” Nova asked.

“We’re still investigating the natives so I want you two to investigate the culture around here. See what you can learn about the characteristics of the various types of natives and how they use the energy of this world. Tosh will be studying remotely while Nova will be trying to mingle with the natives. The nearby town should work for this.”

“And what about you, little rabbit?” Tosh asked, a bit of teasing in his voice.

Sophia didn’t rise to the bait, “I need to explore the lands and set up conduits in places that might be necessary to visit later. After that I plan to learn what I can about the high energy source.”

Sophia lingered to watch in amusement as she saw Nova try to walk away only to trip and fall on her face. “Ow! How do these creatures walk like this?”

“I can’t really help you there, that’s something you will have to learn for yourself. Though I’d advise you to learn before you two are discovered by the natives. I’d rather not let on that we are not from around here too soon.”

Sophia stayed to watch Nova and Tosh struggle to learn how to walk on four legs. The rabbit had no problems moving normally since she had spent time in quadruped forms, including the zergling which kind of moved like a rabbit. Of course, she found that she could give the two some advice on how to move which helped to speed up the learning process.

The three were at it for several hours as Nova and Tosh worked to build muscle memory that would aid them in learning how to walk. However, learning how to trot, canter and gallop would require more practice and they needed to get the mission underway.

Once they were able to walk around without making fools of themselves Sophia bid the two farewell before she raced off at a speed just below what was needed to break the sound barrier since she didn’t want to be causing damage through sonic booms.

Nova and Tosh glanced at one another before the latter gave an amused smirk that made the earth pony glare at him in annoyance. The zebra activated his suit’s personal cloaking while Nova figured that he was moving toward the town.

Sighing in resignation, Nova began walking toward the nearby town as she tried to prepare herself for something her ghost training had never prepared her for…

Socializing.

Author's Note

For those who question the way I used cryogenics as a means of making sure people live for thousands of years please remember that this is a sci-fi story and for the case of this story cryo stasis will keep the subject in perfect stasis. I really don't want my writing to slow down because of scientific research nor do I want to throw Nova and Tosh out of the story because scientific facts would make it nearly impossible for them to survive for centuries.

Exploration

Nova arrived in the nearby town an hour after her mission started. During that time she became more confident in her walking that she had started to trot her way there.

She spotted a number of the equines wandering around with the highest density being in what she figured was a marketplace where they set up stalls to sell their wares. She probably shouldn’t have been surprised that the food items appeared just like what humans grew. In fact, the general behavior of these creatures mirrored humanity in the nineteenth century.

The townsfolk didn’t seem to pay much attention to Nova at first which meant that her appearance was convincing. Of course, there were a few who gave her odd looks. She glanced at one stallion who quickly looked away and continued walking.

She received more strange looks over the next few minutes until one of them finally worked up the nerve to talk to her. “Excuse me, I’m sorry for staring. It’s just that you have such an exotic cutie mark.” The voice sounded like she was one of the females, a mare if she remembered her biology classes.

“Cutie mark?” Nova questioned. She looked at where the mare was staring and realized that she was looking at the mask icon on her flank. “What about it?”

“Does this mean that you have a talent for making masks?”

Nova really didn’t want to be placed into a role she was ill equipped to back up since there was a chance that she might make the natives suspicious. Instead, she tried to create a profile for herself that was a little closer to the truth without giving anything away. “Actually, I am talented at concealing myself. It doesn’t make me good at making masks though.”

Thankfully the mare seemed to buy the explanation as she nodded. “I see, so what brings you to Ponyville? I’ve never seen your face before.”

“Uhh, actually I just travel a lot.”

“Really? Where are your saddlebags? Surely you don’t travel without any supplies.”

“I umm…lost them in the nearby forest,” Nova lied. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable with the mare’s prodding questions. “I’m hoping to find a replacement here.”

“I can point you in the direction of a store where you can buy a replacement,” the mare offered.

“I can’t afford it I’m afraid; everything I owned was in those saddlebags.”

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry dear. I wish that I could help you retrieve your saddlebags but if they were lost in the Everfree Forest then they may be gone forever.” Nova did her best to look sad at the mare’s comment, realizing that she could lower her ears which the natives took as an expression of distress. “If you are looking to earn some bits I’ve heard that the Apple family at Sweet Apple Acres is looking for part-time help. The Apple family over there is stretched thin because of the coming harvest season and Pear Butter is still recovering from delivering her third foal. I’m sure a well-traveled earth pony like you would be a big help there.”

“Thanks for the advice, I’ll consider it an option. For now I need to get moving,” Nova offered, trying to get away from the mare.

“The farm is on the other end of town if you’re interested.” The mare then walked away.

Despite the discomfort she was feeling trying to talk with that mare, she did pick up on a number of terms that expanded her knowledge of these creatures. She learned that the currency of this country was called the bit and she learned that she was known as an earth pony. What that meant though she would have to learn as she went. They also used equine terms for their kind, such as foal when they likely referred to babies.

Nova was beginning to wonder if it was safe to assume that these creatures reflected horses, or rather ponies, from Earth, given their sizes. She had to wonder how many commonalities these ponies had with Earth equines.

With the exception of the colors and the marks on their flanks she considered that they also had a mainly vegetarian diet while requiring a minimal amount of meat for protein. She did notice one pony eating a sandwich with flowers inside.

That was when another thought occurred to her, Sophia had likely not only altered her form but she had likely also altered her dietary requirements. This meant that there was a good chance that her body was going to reject excessive consumption of meat and will find plants that her old body would have rejected to be appetizing to her new body. That was one thing she was not looking forward to.

Nova continued going over her thoughts as she explored the town.

Tosh was doing his own exploring of the town to pick up on the things that his partner missed. While his cloaking device was active he was confident about not being found. He was also glad that his personal suit carried its own generator so he didn’t have to maintain his invisible state with his psionic power.

Looking up, Tosh noticed the winged variants of the creatures, which he came to the same conclusion as Nova that they were ponies, flying around and physically touching clouds, even moving them around. He even spotted two of them actually standing on one and having a conversation.

He came to the conclusion that this was what the winged variants were capable of, yet for Sophia to take an interest in these creatures there had to be more to it than mere cloud manipulation.

Tosh made sure to study the other two types in town. However, he was unable to make any discoveries about the capabilities of the ones without wings or horns. Since his partner had become one of them he would leave the matter of their study to her.

The horned variants were much easier to study. After watching a young light gray filly with a deep purple mane and tail for a time he noticed that her horn glowed and objects that appeared to be in her focus also glowed the same color. He concluded that the horned variants used a basic form of telekinesis which indicated the possibility that they were naturally psychically gifted, though he would need to observe more of them before he could draw conclusions. However, like with the winged variants he couldn’t help but feel that they should be capable of more than telekinesis.

He continued looking at the scene with the filly for a little longer and saw that her parents watched as their daughter was fixing up a broken appliance for one of the townsponies. For one so young to be fixing machines like that, he could tell that she had a future in electrical engineering. It would be a useful skill to have for the future that Sophia envisioned.

Unfortunately the town seemed to be mainly inhabited by the non-appendaged variants while the winged ones had the second highest density here while the horned ones he could count with one hand, if he still had them. He would need to explore another town to find a better sample size.

For now, Tosh would have to be content with gathering what little information he could while he waited for further orders from Sophia.

Sophia continued racing tirelessly from town to town while planting shards for her future transit system. Sure, she could just use rifts to get around but that carried its own risks such as creating spatial distortions that she would have to repair and that would be a pain to do. Because of that she mainly used them for interplanetary or interdimensional travel. Equus, as the name of the planet she casually picked up from reading the mind of one of the ponies, was just one world and she was focused on a part of it so a warp network of crystal shards would work.

She made sure to leave the shards in places that the ponies would seldom, if ever, visit. If no safe place existed in that settlement then she would have to make the shard invisible with her power.

During her travels, Sophia’s mind drifted to Nova and Tosh. She didn’t tell them that there was another reason why she chose them for this mission.

Nova was twenty-eight years old now, not counting the centuries she spent in cryo stasis. She had spent five years in active service outside of a cryo cell after the End War against the Fallen One. She was one of the most talented and skilled ghosts in Sophia’s organization. The problem was that Nova refused to train new recruits after each mission so her unique skills were left to herself. Sophia refused to allow Nova’s skills to falter by age until she trained at least one apprentice. Given the psionic nature of some of these ponies, she had her hopes that Nova would show interest in one of them.

Sophia’s concerns for the ghost, despite her young age, also stemmed from the sadness she felt for her. The Ghost Program was a cruel one back then. Children such as Nova were forced against their will to participate in the program once the government found out that the child was gifted with psychic powers. Such people were rare so their participation was made mandatory.

Those children were robbed of their childhood and trained as deadly assassins while having implants surgically placed into them to control their powers. Some even had their eyes replaced with mechanical ones to improve their sight and receive mission data.

Nova’s soldier life left her disinterested and unable to have a normal life, not to mention the memory wipes she subjected herself to after each mission, which Sophia discontinued after the End War.

Sophia wanted Nova to experience what it’s like to live a normal life, away from the missions and the political intrigue and maybe try to make some real friends who weren’t coworkers who limited their interactions to professionalism.

On a side note, Sophia was glad that she was able to somehow curb Nova’s aggressive behavior toward spectres like Tosh. She once viewed their kind as psychotic time bombs who needed to be put down but Sophia made the two work together long enough for Nova to soften her opinion of them. The acrimony between the two had been worn down to a passive aggressive relationship at worst. She hoped that this would improve over their time here and the two would form an actual friendship.

Tosh wasn’t much better though he avoided the government longer than Nova did. He was raised on the streets by his grandmother on a world that didn’t have a training facility to hone his powers. The doll around his neck was a final gift from his grandmother. He was only a few years older than Nova. His problem was that he spent most of his life either serving the government or rebelling against it. He at least once had comrades once which he did call his friends though.

Sophia shook herself from her thoughts and continued her race all over the Equestria, which was what she learned was the name of the pony lands from overhearing a conversation. By the time the day turned to evening she had nearly finished setting up. All that remained was the city built into the mountain where the being with the high energy signature resided.

Canterlot

From the appearance of the sun and assuming that the one who moved it kept its cycle to a strict schedule, Sophia had spent the rest of the day planting her crystal shards for her future use. She had just arrived at the foot of the mountain where a city was built upon it.

She didn’t want to be spotted on the roads because she wasn’t sure if a blue rabbit would be seen as odd and didn’t want to test that out. Instead, she levitated herself up the mountain and landed at the outer edge of the city.

She took a few moments to admire the city. The architecture was certainly unlike anything she had seen outside of a fairy tale book. The gold, white and purple colorings gave an extravagant appearance to the city though the fact that it was hanging off the side of the mountain made her wonder how strong the supports were to hold up such a city. Many ivory towers were built into the city while a number of rivers and waterfalls ran through it, giving the city a magical vibe to it.

That was when Sophia realized the nature of the energy these ponies used. She wouldn’t be surprised if they called it magic. Magic was a highly versatile form of energy that could be used to alter the fabric of reality in any number of ways. It was definitely more versatile than psionics which carried many similarities to magic, such as telekinesis, illusions and energy discharge. Magic could also be used to tamper with a mind like psionics could. About the only thing that separated psionics and magic was the source of where the two energies were generated from. For magic users, they had a wellspring of mana to draw that power from while psychics got their power from their minds.

Filing that thought away for later, Sophia hopped into the city and began her exploration, taking note of the interesting architecture.

With the sun beginning to set, Sophia saw the streets were becoming less dense with ponies. She observed the streets from a rooftop, taking in the variety of colors for pony coats and the marks on their flanks that appear to be nearly as unique as individual snowflakes.

Of course, she didn’t expect to go unnoticed forever as a winged pony, or pegasus as they were known in Earth mythology, with gold armor spotted her. It was rather medieval-looking but she guessed that it was enchanted to offer some protection. How it compared to the unenchanted marine corps suits her rank and file human soldiers wore she would have to test at some point.

“How did you get up here?” the guard wondered out loud as he flew in to try and grab Sophia.

However, Sophia wasn’t going to make this easy for him as she jumped over his grab and off his helm and landed on the street before rushing off. It was getting darker but she decided to give the local guard some sport before night fell.

The guard began to give chase from the air while Sophia stayed on the street, doing her best to act like a typical rabbit evading capture. She knew the guard intended to relocate her to the palace gardens since she read his mind a little but she was going to make him work for it.

While the guard was doing well in keeping up with her while she wasn’t using her powers, he became increasingly frustrated when she repeatedly evaded his attempts to grab her in his hooves. “Motherbucker!” he mumbled after the fifth attempt to grab her.

His eighth attempt was met with him crashing into a unicorn guard. Sophia turned into an alleyway and overheard a heated conversation between the two. “Private Shining Armor, did you see where the animal went?”

“Sir! What animal, sergeant, sir?” the private asked while quickly standing at attention.

“The blue rabbit that should have been in front of you just before I crashed into you. Grrr! At ease, private. Help me find this critter, they have to be around here somewhere.”

Sophia decided the short break was over and resumed the chase as she left the alley and blew a raspberry at the two of them, prompting them to resume the chase.

However, just as she was about to run off again, she found herself being lifted telekinetically by the new player in their game, Shining Armor if she heard right. She quickly discovered the source of the field when she saw the unicorn’s horn lighting up. Well, she wasn’t about to be caught so easily, even if she had to cheat a little. Using a tiny amount of her psionic power, she emitted a pulse that caught Shining off guard and disrupted his spell, causing him to raise a hoof to his head as a brief sharp pain made itself known in his horn.

“Private, are you alright?” the sergeant asked.

“I’m fine, sir. Let’s keep going.”

The next fifteen minutes were much more interesting as more guards joined in on the chase. Still, she kept the chase going for a while. At one point she spotted a unicorn mare in an alley getting mugged by an earth pony (based on the info that Nova telepathically sent to her) stallion. She had a few seconds to spare so she bicycle kicked the stallion in the chin, sending him flipping on his back. She was glad to see that Shining Armor was not so incompetent that he ignored the mugging scene and he made sure to check on the victim. Though it did disappoint her that he was the only one who focused on the scene and was forced to handle the suspect on his own while everyone else was focused on her.

She saw the sun quickly dip below the horizon and the moon quickly rose into the sky, giving the bunny a glimpse of a silhouette of a unicorn’s head on the lunar surface. She would have to think about that later.

For now, with the night begun it was time to bring her little game to an end as she raced back to where she felt Shining Armor’s mind. She saw the stallion walk out of the guard post, likely after placing the mugger in a cell. She stood in front of him long enough for him to spot her and wrap his hoof around her. “Gotcha!” he cried. Sophia didn’t struggle and waited for the other guards to arrive.

The sergeant from before glared at the bunny for a moment before he gave a nod to Shining. “Good work, private. See that it gets back to the gardens and make sure it doesn’t try to escape again.”

“Yes, sir!” Shining saluted. He then headed for the castle grounds in a three-legged gait as he didn’t want to risk using his magic to hold the creature and getting another headache for his efforts.

After some time the two entered the gardens where she noticed the hedge mazes in the area. As Shining entered the animal sanctuary of the garden a thought suddenly popped into his head. “Wait, you let me catch you, didn’t you?” Sophia smirked at him in approval of his deduction though she still had to take points away for the slow realization. Still, the stallion showed some promise, unlike the others who chased her earlier. Overall she gave him a passing grade. “What are you thinking?” he wondered. Sophia shrugged which prompted an exasperated sigh from the unicorn.

“Anyway, please don’t leave the garden, the citizens don’t like seeing animals in the streets.” He then turned away and left to return to his duties.

Sophia felt like this was probably a good time to call it a night. There wasn’t much information to be gained from the night scene at this time so she found a place that was not likely to be hit by the morning sun rays and curled up to go to sleep. Despite how she normally slept in a bed on a ship, Sophia was no stranger to roughing it. It kept her instincts sharp.

Sophia awoke an hour before sunrise, about when ponies began to get up and prepare to go about their day. Of course, this was going by Earth time so there was no telling what schedule the sun raiser kept when performing her daily task.

She found herself being stared at by a couple of squirrels and a few birds. It didn’t take a mind reader to know that she appeared odd to them. She owed them no explanation though and decided to leave the critters to their devices.

Today she decided on a little stealth to investigate the palace that served as this country’s seat of power. She needed to get a better look at the one who could use magic powerful enough to move the celestial bodies.

Weaving the shadows around herself, Sophia created a cloak that allowed her to avoid detection by the palace guards. She couldn’t blame them for their lack of means of passively detecting hidden intruders since she figured that such enemies were probably rare around here.

Not long after she entered the palace the rays of sunlight filled the alabaster halls. This didn’t deter her from continuing her exploration.

During her exploration she spotted an amber unicorn with a mane and tail with streaks of crimson and bright yellow racing down the hall with her eyes closed. She had a mark of a flaring star with a balanced mix of red and yellow that matched her mane. She noticed the tears flying onto the carpet. Curious about where the unicorn was going Sophia followed her up until she found a room that contained a mirror. The unicorn looked around as she stood before the mirror before she jumped into it as if the glass was actually water, much to Sophia’s surprise. Huh, must be a magic portal or something, I guess.

With that detour concluded Sophia proceeded to continue her exploration. There wasn’t much else of interest, short of a pair of fillies, one lavender and one lilac, walking around like they belonged here. The lavender one had a navy blue mane and tail with a purple and raspberry stripe and was walking around with her muzzle in a book. She had a magenta six-pointed star over a smaller white six-pointed star with five even smaller white stars around it on her flank. The lilac one had a royal purple mane and tail with an aqua stripe and she appeared to be trying to memorize the layout of the palace like a tourist. On her flank was a purple four-pointed star over an equal-sized white four-pointed star with a pair of vapor trails in two shades of turquoise.

She followed the two fillies until they met with the one she was looking for. Sophia noticed right away that the large mare, who was nearly twice the size of the average pony, appeared distraught.

“I am sorry, my beloved students, but I am afraid that our lesson today will have to be postponed. Recent matters have occurred that require my utmost attention.”

“Princess Celestia? What happened?” the lavender filly asked. “This was supposed to be our first lesson with you.”

“I am sorry for this, Twilight. I will make sure to have time for your lesson tomorrow. I ask that you and Starlight study together and review your knowledge of telekinesis until then.”

The two fillies, Twilight and Starlight, left the chamber, the former with a disappointed look on her face and the latter indifferent as it gave her more time to look around.

The larger mare, Celestia, was left alone in her study. Feeling that she was alone, she gave an exasperated sigh. “Where did I go wrong with Sunset? All I wanted to do was steer her away from dark magic and its corrupting properties. I couldn’t risk another Sombra rising up to torment my little ponies.”

Sophia took a small glimpse into Celestia’s mind and the image of the amber mare from earlier appeared at the forefront. This made her suspect that Celestia had a falling out with that Sunset pony from earlier.

Regardless, it seemed about as good of a time as any for first contact.

Life in Ponyville

Taking the mare’s advice, Nova decided to take that job at the apple orchard. She was going to need the local currency if she and Tosh were going to be staying on this world for an extended period of time.

Nova acquainted herself with the Apple family who seemed too numerous for their small household of six so there was no way they were going to be able to offer her shelter. There was the oldest generation, Granny Smith, a lime green earth pony mare who appeared to be in her autumn years, then there was the middle generation composed of Bright Macintosh and his wife, Buttercup, who also went by Pear Butter. The former had a pale olive goat and a bright amaranth mane and tail while the latter had a bright gamboge coat and a darker gamboge mane and tail. The youngest generation was composed of a colt and two fillies with the youngest of them being born a few days ago.

The colt looked scrawny but his father believed that he looked like the way his son did at his age so he was sure he would have the same build as him when he grew up. He was also a bit taller for his age which was why the colt was named Big Macintosh. The colt’s coat had a similar color to Bright Mac’s mane while his mane had a similar color to his mother.

The older filly was named Applejack. She had a coat that looked the same color as her mother’s mane and her mane was the same color as her father’s coat. She had recently received her cutie mark which looked like three apples lined up and wrapped around a conveyor belt. Nova had a strange feeling that the mark wasn’t a conveyor belt though. Her suspicions were reinforced when she learned that Applejack was a natural at driving a tractor.

The youngest filly had the same coat, mane and tail color as her father while her eyes had an eye color resembling her mother’s mane. She was named Apple Bloom. Even someone as hardened as Nova couldn’t resist the heart-melting cuteness of the newborn filly. She was wearing a large pink bow in her mane which was a present her parents gave her for her birthday.

While Nova was happy to see such a close family, which made her feel a little envious when she thought about it, she had her own problems to deal with. The large household only had so much room which meant that they didn’t have room for her. She went into town where she asked around for the location of the town hall. The friendly townsponies led her to the circular building in the middle of town.

Inside the town hall, Nova requested a meeting with the mayor to the aide who informed her that she was in her office. The operative went inside and spotted a mare with a pale amber coat with a graying pink mane and wearing a pair of half moon glasses. Nova spotted the name plate of Mayor Mare on her desk. Not a very original name, but maybe it’s just something the ponies of this planet do I guess. Nova thought.

“May I help you?” Mayor Mare asked, putting on a friendly smile.

“I’d like to ask about finding a place to rent,” Nova responded. “I’m afraid that I’m lacking in bits right now after losing my saddlebags to the Everfree Forest.”

“Oh! So you’re the one I heard about; the wanderer who came into town after losing her possessions. I can help you find a place to rent and we can hold off on any rent fees until you can start earning some bits. You are planning on staying in Ponyville for a while, aren’t you?”

Nova nodded, “I will be in town for the foreseeable future.”

Mayor Mare nodded in response as she looked through her cabinets until she pulled out the appropriate paperwork while muttering to herself. “Ah, here we are!” She then laid the papers on her desk before Nova before moving a quill and inkwell toward her. “This residence is owned by an earth pony and pegasus couple who are looking for somepony to look after the house while they are away.” Although given how often they are away from the place you would think they would just sell the house, she thought to herself. “Sign on the line and I will arrange a letter to the owners.”

The next few moments were probably the most awkward ones of Nova’s life since she had no experience whatsoever writing with her hoof and her signature agreed with that sentiment. What was worse was that the written language was unlike anything she had seen before. This was going to cause her and her comrades trouble later on if they didn’t learn the ponies’ written language.

Regardless of how embarrassing that matter was, she now had a place to rent. Though that also likely meant that she would have to share a house with Tosh and that was not going to be fun.

Speaking of fun, that night turned out to be an exciting one as Nova heard the sound of wolves howling from the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Her instincts told her that she should look into it. It was a good thing that Sophia left her with her psi blade.

Heading to the farm, Nova didn’t see any wolves though when she checked the residents, she found that Bright Mac and Pear Butter were missing. Using her psionic implants, she released a wave of psychic energy to locate the missing couple. To her shock, her senses pointed them toward the Everfree Forest.

Rushing into the forest as quickly as she could, she soon found the pair under attack by a large creature made of many pieces of wood in the shape of a wolf. Nova was not amused by this literal representation of a timberwolf nor would she be later when she discovered that it was actually called that.

Thankfully for the couple Nova was able to reach them in time to deliver a slash at the beast’s muzzle with her energy blade, slicing it off. The timberwolf backed away and glared at its new prey. Nova slowly moved around the wolf to get it to turn away from the wounded couple which worked for a moment until it caught on to what she was doing. However, as it turned back to the others Nova was quick to capitalize on the timberwolf’s decision to go after the easier prey by rushing in and slicing off its right hind leg, leaving the beast off balance for a time.

Much to Nova’s frustration, the timberwolf reassembled itself to continue the fight. Even worse was that the beast decided to ignore her for later while it focused on the couple. The ghost had to be careful but she also had to be quick to save them.

Suddenly the beast yelped as a powerful invisible blast struck it and caused its body to fall apart. Nova had an idea how this happened so she wasted no time reaching the couple and placed Pear Butter on her back while she telepathically dominated Bright Mac to get him to follow her out of danger. She didn’t want the stallion to waste time asking questions right now.

As she was heading back to the farm, the timberwolf recovered from the stunning blast and began reassembling itself. However, a certain zebra spectre noticed what was likely the core of the beast. Before the timberwolf reassembled its protective wood around it, Tosh pulled out his rifle, thankful that Sophia gave him a model that was friendly for hooves, and fired a few rounds into the core, shattering it. As a result, the timberwolf collapsed again while being rendered as nothing more than a pile of wood in the forest.

Chuckling to himself, Tosh reengaged his cloaking device.

Bright Mac and Pear Butter were both admitted to Ponyville General Hospital to be treated for their wounds while Nova returned home to get some sleep.

The next day offered a new surprise, though unlike last night this was a pleasant one. After finishing her day with the Apple family and getting tired from doing extra work while Bright Mac and Pear Butter were in the hospital, she decided to take a walk around town to see what other things she could see or do. If she was going to be living on a peaceful pony planet for an undetermined amount of time, she might as well see what was available since her combat skills were not going to be useful at this time.

While she was wandering the market, Nova discovered a family with the parents being led around by one of their daughters. The father was a light gray unicorn with a brown mane and tail as well as a moustache which looked odd on a pony in Nova’s mind. His cutie mark was three American footballs. The mother had a fuschia coat and two tones of purple for her mane and tail. She wore earrings and a yellow scarf and her cutie mark was three cookies, two of which were bitten into. She was also wearing a harness holding a foal with a light gray coat and a mane that was both fuschia and purple colors and looked like it was curling. All of them were unicorns.

The parents were being led by a light gray filly with a deep purple mane tied into a ponytail and her tail had slight curls. Her cutie mark looked like three crystalline gears interlocking.

Nova overheard their conversation as she walked near them, “Rarity dear, I know you have chosen this path and all, but are you really sure you really want to do something so labor intensive?” the mother asked.

“Maybe she wants to build up a physique and join a hoofball team someday?” the father offered.

The mother glared at her husband, “Really dear, must you bring up hoofball at every opportunity? Your daughter wants to deal in oil and machinery as her chosen career path!”

“It could help her build her muscles.”

“Really Mama, Papa, I’ll be fine,” the older filly said. “I am aware that working with machines can be a filthy task at times, but it can also be rewarding if I am able to build something amazing and file a patent on it. In fact, one idea I had came to me in a dream recently. First I need to build a smelter and since that is quite expensive I need to try and find the parts I need and hope that I can find them at the best prices.”

“And where do you expect to build such a thing, young lady?” the mother asked warily. “Certainly not in our house I hope.”

“No Mama, I will keep the parts in storage until I am old enough to own my own workshop and build it there. I know you wouldn’t want the thing in the house.”

“So, what do you plan to do with a smelter?” the father asked.

“I’m not certain, but I have this feeling that I might be able to do something with gemstones, though the dream did include some things that didn’t make sense; like it was saying that I could create some sort of metal by smelting gemstones.”

Nova stopped listening to the conversation after that. Metal out of gemstones? It seemed crazy but if the gems carried similar properties to mineral crystals, the abundant resource of the Koprulu Sector that the Terrans used to construct their armor, vehicles and star vessels, then this might be a movement in the right direction for Sophia’s plan to uplift the ponies. Of course, this was provided that this Rarity filly was inspired to construct a primitive equivalent to a mineral refinery.

Nova decided to make a note of it and inform Sophia later.

Author's Note

I have my reasons for these events in this chapter and now you know which of the mane 6 I altered and to what extent.

Applejack will still be harvesting apples and helping at the farm like canon, it's just that she will have some changes since her parents will still be in the picture. Plus her talent for vehicles will come in handy later on.

On the other hand, I have Rarity set up as a sort of spark for Sophia's technological revolution. While she still deals in gemstones like canon, it will be for a completely different reason. If you wonder why I chose Rarity of all the ponies of the mane 6, it is partially to do with the fact that minerals in Starcraft are crystals that somehow convert to metal in the game. It also has to do with the fact that a fashionista doesn't really have a place in the events to come and because I want to bring a certain fanmade character that has been in plenty of fics on this site into this story and her skills are just what is needed to make it happen.

I'll leave it to the readers to guess who that is.

PS: Who can guess which house Nova and Tosh are renting? The clue is in the mayor's comment.

The Meeting Resumes

Sophia spent the next few weeks exploring the planet to learn more about the other races. From what she found out from the zebras, they didn’t have an issue with the ponies though they mentioned that the ponies of Equestria were often wary of outside races. Of course, they were still initially surprised to see a talking rabbit.

The same was said from the bipedal cat people of Abyssinia. They did occasionally trade with Equestria but they couldn’t help but feel a slightly tense atmosphere from the citizens. The same was said from other races such as the griffons, hippogryphs and minotaurs. Of course, Sophia couldn’t help but feel disappointed in the former as they appeared to be consumed by their greed and paranoia and couldn’t see them as a good example in regard to Equestria’s apparent xenophobia since they didn’t seem trustworthy to begin with. She had to give a few dragons a beatdown before they respected her enough to talk about anything.

Returning to Equestria, Sophia decided to continue her impromptu meeting with the solar monarch that was interrupted by her crew members. She spotted Celestia having tea in a garden room. She placed herself where her imminent conversation partner could easily spot her. In response, Celestia summoned a couple of cushions and placed them in a chair opposite her to which Sophia levitated herself onto the seat. Celestia then poured a cup of tea for her before shrinking the cup to better accommodate Sophia and her small size. Sophia thanked the mare before she began her conversation.

“I have been around the world and I have seen that they seem a little apprehensive about trading with Equestria, why is that?”

Celestia sighed, she knew the reason and she wished that her little ponies didn’t behave that way. “My little ponies have grown used to centuries of an undisturbed status quo and feel that introducing new elements, such as other races to this land, could potentially incite chaos. While we still trade with other countries, the parliamentary council continues to act against my attempts to push for an immigration policy.”

“I suppose that will have to be on the list of things to address eventually. What about the military? For as long as your nation has stood, I would have thought it would have moved away from swords and spears by now. Certainly you must have anticipated the possibility of some warmonger coming to claim your lands from you?”

Celestia said nothing for a few moments as a brief memory surfaced. “My ponies are peaceful, though sadly none of them have distinguished themselves among the Royal Guard. They have been trained the same way for centuries without ever considering coming up with ways to improve their training. If my sister were here things would have been different.”

Sophia tilted her head, “I did find another like yourself; one with wings and a horn. She isn’t your sister I take it?”

“You are referring to Mi Amore Cadenza. She is an alicorn like myself but she was born a pegasus, having ascended a few years ago. She is still untrained in using her magic. She isn’t my sister. My sister, Luna, is…far away right now.” Sophia gave Celestia a deadpan look while pointing at her own head, reminding the solar monarch of what the bunny could do. Celestia sighed, “I will explain what happened. Please don’t let knowledge of her existence leave this room. I don’t want to risk anypony learning about her return and trying to find a way to get rid of her. I’ve waited nearly a thousand years for her return.”

Sophia closed her eyes in contemplation as she considered what she said. “I see, though perhaps we can make things fair for both of us. I believe an exchange of information would be beneficial?”

Celestia considered this for a moment, moving a hoof to her chin before nodding to the rabbit. “Since I have already given some information, I believe that it is your turn.”

Sophia took a sip of her tea. “That’s fair. If you are willing to indulge me, I can tell you the truth, or at least enough that I won’t end up overwhelming you.” Celestia considered for a moment and nodded for her to continue. “The fact is that I do come from a highly advanced civilization, though not from this world. That rainbow shockwave traveled much farther than you most likely believed; it traveled beyond this world and into the depths of the void of outer space. The energy was nearly completely decayed by the time it reached us but for something to extend that far would have taken a vast amount of energy which prompted me to investigate.”

Sophia continued her explanation while omitting unnecessary details involving advanced technology since that would still be too much for the ancient mare. She also mentioned that the energy, or magic, could be harnessed with the right equipment which would draw others to this world and Equestria may find themselves at war against people, fueled by greed, with technology advanced enough to counter their magic.

“Which brings me to my intentions. I am actually impressed by your ponies and their ability to construct an entire civilization with hooves which makes me wonder what they could contribute if they became a spacefaring race. This is why I am here, I want to uplift your ponies technologically to help them reach the stars.”

“Hmm…” Celestia took a sip of her tea. “And what would you get out of all this? I can’t imagine you being so generous as to do this for nothing.”

A grin formed on the bunny’s face, “Why the ultimate fusion of magic and machine, of course! I have a nephew who lives for inventing machines and seeking ways to improve it with magic but he has been unable to locate a source to conduct his research. He will, of course, be assisting with this project later.”

Celestia continued to ponder on Sophia’s words before a resigned sigh escaped her lips. “If only it were that simple. Like you have noticed, my ponies have stagnated as a culture and have become xenophobic over the centuries. I fear that it may require something drastic to motivate them into moving forward again and I can’t put my ponies through something like that.”

Sounds like I will have to wait until something threatens their utopia before I can enact the plan. “Perhaps I should take the time to get to know your ponies more,” Sophia considered.

“What about your duties to your people?”

“I have psionic clones for that. Sure, they aren’t very durable but they still carry my intellect and are capable of inspecting and signing papers on my behalf as well as giving speeches. Plus, if there is a situation that requires my physical presence I am a rift tear away. My people know this, which is why I am allowed to have my adventures…even though they still want me to be accompanied by bodyguards.”

“And where are your bodyguards now?” Celestia asked with a raised brow.

“Getting acquainted with ponies in some small town. It was the nearest we could find to our point of arrival. They are gathering information for me about your ponies and what they can do with magic. Bodyguards are a formality for me and if I were to visit you in an official way then they would accompany me.

“As for the information gathering, I need all the info I can get before I can formulate a more long term plan on accomplishing my goal of getting your ponies to explore the worlds beyond this one.”

Celestia giggled as a thought appeared in her mind, “You remind me of one of my students. She loves learning everything she can. So, how do you plan to get around my little ponies’ paranoid mentality?”

“Nothing I can do about that for the time being and this is the biggest hurdle at this time. I don’t have much choice but to wait for something to turn up that will motivate your citizens into action. In the meantime, I should look for something to do while I am in between missions.”

“I wish I could take you on as a military advisor but as you mentioned, nopony would take you seriously.”

Sophia shrugged, “I don’t mind offering my ideas in private. As for my bodyguards, I’ve been hoping that continued exposure to civilian life would help them to acclimate better. One of them didn’t get to have a childhood before she was raised as an assassin while the other was raised on the streets to avoid the same fate, even though he still faced the same training.”

The two discussed more topics until Celestia decided to entrust the bunny with the secret of her sister. She mentioned that her sister, Luna, was in charge of Equestria’s military and was a progressive-minded mare who sought new ways to improve the lives of the ponies and the military. However, the paranoia of the ponies took its toll on Luna where they began to outright reject her ideas no matter how beneficial they could have been and pleaded with Celestia to revoke some of her rights as a princess, sometimes under the threat of rebellion. The solar monarch, however, refused to give in to their demands and threatened to have Luna restructure the government however she deemed fit. The protestors backed down and didn’t bring the matter up again. Celestia had hoped that this was the end of the matter.

However, it wasn’t the end as a clandestine group of ponies had stolen a series of artifacts called the Elements of Harmony and found a way to bend their powers to their will. Acting behind Celestia’s back, this group infiltrated Luna’s bedroom and used the artifacts against her while her guard was down. The group had intended to use them to kill her but they banished her to the moon instead, not realizing that the Elements were not capable of taking lives. When Celestia found out what happened she had the group executed for treason while her own network of spies rooted out the other members of the group. The stolen Elements were relocated and placed behind many protective wards that would prevent anypony short of an alicorn from detecting them until the time came when they were needed to protect Equestria again.

However, the damage was done and Celestia found that the spell was going to last for a thousand years before the seal would weaken for her sister to return home. However, she had a sinking feeling that her sister was going to be on the warpath when she got back and it would be up to her to try to calm her down.

Sophia sighed with exasperation once the tale reached its end, “Great, so I’ll be dealing with a civilization of technophobes who let their fears dictate their actions.”

“Unfortunately, my ponies haven’t changed that much since then so there is still a chance she may be assaulted by assassins after she returns. The banishment spell on my sister won’t weaken for another ten years so I will have to plan for what comes after in the meantime.”

Sophia nodded sagely before she looked toward the sky in contemplation. “If your sister is going to be an issue upon her return, then if necessary, I know someone who can help suppress her if she proves hostile. I also have other members of my family who are willing to assist if I call on them. There is one I would rather not call upon, given her nature.”

“Is she that dangerous?” Celestia asked.

“Only when she isn’t on duty. She knows better than to meddle against the affairs of family members, it’s just that her methods are…well…it’s better that you don’t know for the sake of your sanity.”

“I’ll take your word for it. So what are you going to do now?”

“I’m going to live in Ponyville for a while. One of my bodyguards let me know that one of your ponies could be very close to devising a way to convert gems into metal and I want to make sure this filly is supported in her endeavors. This filly may be an important part of my plans.”

“In that case, may I ask a favor?” Celestia asked. “I have heard reports from Ponyville about a number of incidents that have occurred there, most of them involve creatures leaving the Everfree Forest and causing problems for the residents. The guards at the post set up there have done their best to keep the creatures at bay. Though that’s not what I want to ask of you. I have a feeling that town will be at the center of my future plans as well as yours. May I ask for a weekly report on what goes on there? I suspect that the greatest changes that will happen to Equestria will come from that town in the future.”

“I can do that. I hope that our collaboration will bear fruit one day.” With that Sophia left the garden and raced off to Ponyville.

As she was leaving, Sophia smirked as her gaze briefly turned toward one of the garden pillars where she had sensed one of Celestia’s students hiding. She had felt her presence during the entire meeting. If her memory of the filly’s psychic signature was correct, it was none other than Starlight Glimmer. Sophia didn’t care that the filly overheard, what did matter was what the filly was going to do with that information.

Feeling a bit lazy she decided to ride atop a train heading there. She couldn’t purchase a ticket since ponies still viewed her as a mere animal. Once the train came to a halt in Ponyville, Sophia sought Nova’s psionic signature and found that she was in a house with Tosh, likely the residence that Nova had procured for the mission. Once she reached the residence, she was greeted by her two bodyguards.

“How was your exploration?” Nova asked.

Sophia shrugged, “Sort of a good news, bad news deal. I did contact this country’s ruler and she doesn’t seem to be against us. Plus this planet is officially the richest planet in minerals that we have found so far. Your report on the filly who might be trying to invent a mineral refinery is also a plus.”

“And now the bad news…” Tosh lamented.

Sophia rolled her eyes, “Turns out that the ponies of this country are limited to primitive weapons and spellcasting as their primary means of combat and appear to be hesitant to move beyond that. Apparently this time of peace has left the ponies complacent and lacking in any real military talent, something Celestia is hoping to alleviate when her sister returns from her banishment. I will need someone to work with her when she gets back. A thousand years of isolation is a lot to recover from, though I think Umbra is up to the task. She may be the youngest of the family but her intellect and cunning make her a force to be reckoned with. Her magic is the stuff of legends, even by my standards, and I believe that she may be able to befriend Celestia’s sister.”

“What are our orders?” Nova asked.

“We remain on standby. This will most likely be the longest assignment you have ever been on so I suggest getting friendly with the locals. There’s no telling when Schezar will get here. He was the only other one I know who could have picked up on that energy wave since this part of the galaxy is unexplored. There is no way he will ignore the allure of Equestria’s magic since he will likely believe that he can get an edge over me with the resources of this world.

“We also need to help Tosh establish a relationship with the locals. We can’t have him sneaking around the place for years; someone would eventually find him. You will help with that.” The ghost looked like she was about to protest but was met with a glare that gave no room for discussion. “I will be sending the Aquaelie away tomorrow since I wouldn’t want them to hang around here for years while being away from their families. Also, there will be missions on other worlds to be conducted during our stay here so your skills don’t get rusty. Now, any questions?” Silence was her answer. “Then let’s do our best to get through this.”

Author's Note

For this story, Luna didn't go Nightmare Moon but was still banished. I figure this would be a better reason reason for her fury instead of her having a hissy fit over the ponies loving her sister more than her.

A Tragic Filly

True to her word, Sophia composed letters of her inspections of the goings on in Ponyville. Since she lacked a means of quick delivery and she didn’t trust the postal system to deliver a letter without it getting lost in the system, she personally delivered her letters to Celestia. As fast as she was she could deliver the letter and be back at the house within a minute.

As time passed in the town, there were plenty of things to note. Nova had found that the ponies were very friendly to her and helped her to understand their customs without her letting on that she wasn’t originally a pony. It would later help her to avoid any social faux pas that would have gotten her into various kinds of trouble such as that one time she accidentally bumped another mare’s flank with her own which told the mare that Nova was interested in her. Nova ended up apologizing repeatedly when she made that mistake.

There was the occasional incursion from the Everfree Forest that involved hungry beasts which were repelled when the bunny unleashed a loud beastly roar that frightened the creatures back into the forest. She may have been small but she could still roar like a colossal Ultralisk and that struck fear into the hearts of many predators. The townsponies never figured out where the roar was coming from. The bunny figured that it was better to scare the predators off since the ponies would freak out if they saw dead bodies.

In time more residents moved into the small town. One of them was a young yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail with a cutie mark of three butterflies. She seemed shy and reserved and a look into her mind revealed that she had been the victim of bullying from her peers which left her with little to no confidence. However, she was completely comfortable around creatures who lacked the means to properly communicate but the filly seemed to have a talent for communicating with them.

Sophia could see potential within the filly named Fluttershy who had a knack for patching up wounded animals. If she could apply those skills to ponies she would make for a good medic on the battlefield. However before that could happen Sophia needed to consider ways to boost her confidence.

Another filly moved into town not long after Fluttershy did. Sophia had a feeling that this one followed her friend here out of a sense of guilt. This one was a pegasus with a cyan coat and a multi-colored mane and tail in the colors of the rainbow with a mark of a cloud unleashing a bolt of tri-colored lightning. This one had ambition and a desire to show off her greatness to everypony which gave rise to an uncontrolled ego. However, further analysis of her psyche told Sophia that this behavior was a means to conceal how insecure she was about herself.

With proper discipline and military training, this pony, Rainbow Dash, could become a fine soldier and with the amount of power she noticed being released by her flying, perhaps an ace in a starfighter one day.

A third arrival was a truly strange one and one she would need to be careful–

“Hi there!”

Sophia could believe that she jumped over the pink pony’s head when she was startled by her sudden appearance. Sophia, the rabbit who could sense any mind coming from a mile away, didn’t sense the presence of the pink one.

This was why she needed to be careful of this one. Pinkie Pie had a very uncanny power that Sophia equated to Toon Force, a powerful and dangerous ability that manipulated the laws of the universe for comedic effect. This earth pony could use this power all she wanted as long as it was meant to be funny. Sophia had seen cartoons before and this pony behaved just like a cartoon character.

If Pinkie could utilize the darker form of comedy on her enemies she could devastate entire armies with her power.

In response to her surprise greeting, Sophia went into a series of angry squeaks and other rabbit sounds to show how upset she was. She wasn’t going to show the ponies she could talk just yet.

“So, whatcha thinkin’ about? Are you planning on attending Gummy’s adoption party tomorrow at six PM?” Sophia thought about Pinkie’s question and decided it was better for her to attend than get the filly upset. With a nod, Sophia received a tiny invitation card before the pink pony pronked off.

The bunny had a feeling that Pinkie knew that she could talk but seemed intent on keeping her secret. She decided to put that out of her mind and focus on other matters.

While the ponies lacked vehicles that were not powered by themselves, the Apples had a tractor that didn’t have a motor but it appeared to be powered by their own magic. The middle of the three siblings, Applejack, appeared to move the vehicle by planting her rear hooves on a floor plate that appeared to conduct the magic in the mare’s hooves while her front hooves were operating the steering wheel. She had seen the other family members try their hooves at driving the tractor but were either unable to power it properly or couldn’t steer it properly. Sophia concluded that the filly had a talent for driving vehicles; a skill that she.hoped could be baseline for ponykind someday.

Sophia’s thoughts turned to the light gray filly with a purple mane. She had heard rumors that Rarity was the one who built the tractor for Applejack. It was clear that this filly had a knack for mechanical engineering and building machinery. With enough investment, this filly could be the key to her plans. She considered getting her nephew out of his workshop; a feat that takes an effort short of miraculous to pull off sometimes since he pretty much ate and slept in there as well. He may consider taking on an apprentice.

One other pony that caught Sophia’s attention was an orange pegasus filly with a magenta mane and tail. She appeared to be living with her aunts since her parents were always busy with their work and were seldom ever in Ponyville. The filly appeared to be about the same age as Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. Though what really caught her attention was something she discovered from the minds of her aunts.

Apparently, the doctors had diagnosed the filly, Scootaloo, with having undeveloped mana channels in her wings which screamed ‘birth defect’ in Sophia’s mind. It was a particularly harsh one as well for a pegasus as it meant that flight may not be possible for her as it was likely that she would have to live with stunted wings her whole life.

Still, the filly had spirit and a determination to make do with what she had. Sophia decided to keep an eye on Scootaloo as well in case she had potential as well.

Sophia continued her observations to see if there were other ponies with potential.

A few months later Sophia paid her weekly visit to Canterlot. This time she stayed to observe Celestia’s two apprentices. The lavender one, going by Twilight Sparkle, was an inquisitive one who desired to learn all she could from books though she also spent time playing with her baby dragon, Spike, and her best friend, Starlight Glimmer.

It was easy to tell that the two fillies knew a great deal of spells though Twilight appeared to be a jack-of-all-trades type when it came to the various forms of magic. Celestia appeared to be steering the filly away from the darker arts of magic though. That would have worked if Starlight hadn’t found out where the ruler kept the books.

Speaking of the lilac filly, Sophia noticed that Starlight took an interest in watching military training drills. A look into the filly’s mind made the bunny’s eyes glisten with pride as she noticed that Starlight was noting the lack of efficiency in the soldier’s movements and considered ideas to improve on that. Many of them were bad ones but if these thoughts could be properly nurtured there might be hope for this country’s train wreck of a military.

As for her magical studies, Starlight did learn many spells but she appeared to lean toward combat spells. The bunny templar mentally applauded the filly taking initiative.

Time marched on as the months soon turned into years with the three visitors getting acclimated to the world.

Every now and then Sophia had to leave Equus to take care of matters such as stamping out an evil galactic empire that threatened her federation but she was never gone for more than a week. She would often bring Nova and Tosh along to make sure their skills don’t rust.

Nova eventually introduced the ponies to Tosh, who had his armor and weapons taken by Sophia at the time. Naturally the ponies were nervous around the zebra and prepared to hide in their homes but Nova mentioned that Tosh was the one who defeated the timberwolf that nearly killed Bright Mac and Pear Butter. One pony got it into their head that Nova and Tosh were special someponies and that led to some rumors spreading and ponies eventually warming up to the Spectre Zebra. For the sake of Tosh’s relationship with the community, they decided not to dispel the rumors. Plus, Sophia agreed to let the rumors spread.

The years in Equestria had their ups and downs and one tragedy did occur during their time there. A hydra attacked Ponyville one day and caused a lot of damage. This was during a time Sophia was away on business. The hydra caused a lot of property damage before Nova and Tosh were able to drive it off with the Spectre frightening the creature with a painful Psionic Lash that left it greatly wounded.

Unfortunately, while there were no fatalities, there was one casualty during this incident where one filly was trampled by the hydra. With her body so badly mangled the doctors gave little hope that she would ever be able to walk again. Even worse, the attack also left her with a broken horn. She was currently on life support after suffering numerous fractures to her ribs and legs along with heavy internal bleeding and a severely damaged spine. She was lucky to even be alive right now.

That filly’s name was Sweetie Belle.

When Sophia heard about this it made her frustrated that her duties drew her away at the worst time. Even more so was the fact that while she did have a method to restore the filly’s body, it wouldn’t have worked in this case. Her body was so badly damaged that using regenerative Zerg cells would run the risk of infesting the poor filly, leaving her in an even worse state.

While Sweetie was staying in the hospital, Sophia decided to check on Rarity who had opened up a workshop in the carousel-like building and had constructed her refinery.

While the filly was overjoyed when her theory finally bore fruit when she used a few sapphires for her experiment and was shocked when the refinery produced liquid metal that poured into the prepared crucible, Sophia could tell that Rarity was also using work to mask her pain after the incident. She appeared to blame herself for leaving her sister alone during a time when she needed her most.

Quickly searching through her shop for an ingot mold, she found one and poured the liquid metal inside. Rarity went to her bedroom to rest while the ingot was cooling.

Sophia snuck into the workshop to examine the ingot that was still sitting where Rarity left it. Once it was cool enough she touched it to feel its texture and durability. She was also able to get a read on its molecular composition with her power which left the bunny shocked when she realized what she was looking at.

“What’s the verdict?” Nova asked telepathically.

“It’s definitely the kind of stuff you could forge a starship from but the quality is much better than anything found in the Koprulu sector. She forged this from a couple of sapphires. If this stuff can be mass produced, Equestria could one day become a powerful ally or a dangerous foe on the intergalactic stage.”

“Then we better make sure it’s the former when the time comes,” Tosh commented.

“Agreed, now that I have a better glimpse at this filly’s potential, I think it’s time to give her something more challenging.”

Opening a rift, Sophia went through and appeared in her headquarters, a space colony vessel that housed an autonomous civilization under her rule. Using her Zerg morphing ability, she altered her form back to her anthro rabbit state with her uniform reforming around her.

Back in her normal state, she proceeded to her nephew’s workshop which was nearby. She knocked on the workshop door which was met with no response. A second knock hit the door harder and threatened destruction to the resident if he didn’t open soon.

The door opened a few seconds later to reveal a disheveled human with a look that gave the impression that he disregarded the concept of a sleep schedule. Despite that he wore his victorian era suit and coat while wearing a monocle over his left eye and a top hat.

Sophia gave her nephew a deadpan look, “Still haven’t let go of your obsession with steampunk, Ingram? You know the things you make would put such things to shame.”

Ingram met Sophia’s look with a glare of his own, “Really love? You threaten to smash my door down and then you critique my fashion sense? Bloody, is this another ploy to get me out of my workshop, or are you just in that foul of a mood that you would choose me to vent your frustrations upon? Besides, cyberpunk never agreed with me.”

Sophia rolled her eyes. It did irk her a little that her nephew had such a wonderful British accent and he was still a loner. “As much as I really want you to get out and get some fresh air, maybe meet someone to spend their lifetime with, I am here on another matter.”

“You are here for the schematic, aren’t you? If you are, then my precognition device has had a successful test.” Ingram smirked when his aunt nodded. He then tossed the rolled up schematics into her hands. “If that filly you have taken an interest in can improve upon this schematic then I may consider taking her on as an apprentice. For now, good day, Auntie Sophia.” He then closed his door.

Sophia sighed as she turned away from the door. She opened a rift back to Equestria but gave one last glance at the door. “You better keep your word this time.”

The Sun was nearly out of sight when Sophia returned. Returning to her feral form then heading to Rarity’s workshop, Sophia planted the schematics where she would find them. It was a few minutes later that Rarity came down from her room to continue her work on the strange metal.

Rarity picked up the metal ingot and stared at it for a time. “Hmm, what shall I do with you?” As she put the ingot away she went to her desk where she spotted a rolled up scroll. “What’s this? I never put this here.” She unrolled the scroll before her eyes became so wide that they nearly flew out of their sockets. “By Celestia’s horn, where did this blueprint come from?” As she looked it over a faint sense of hope rose from within her as her thoughts drifted toward her sister.

That was when an idea came to her. It was risky and never been done before but she was willing to give it a try since her sister’s life was at stake and even if she recovered she wouldn’t have much of a future if she were unable to use her hooves or her horn. A number of worries flooded her mind about how she was going to handle the key issues that would arise from such a procedure.

Rarity was drawn from her musings by a knock at the door. Strangely, the knock sounded lower to the ground than usual. Even stranger was that her shop was supposed to be closed so there shouldn’t be any customers tonight. These strange occurrences put the near adult filly on edge as she suspected an unwanted guest at the other end of the door.

More knocking was heard as Rarity walked toward the door. “Who could be out there at this time of night?” she wondered out loud.

“Open up Miss Rarity, we need to discuss a few things about your inventions,” called out the voice from outside.

Rarity finally decided to open the door to see who could be outside at this time, expecting some filly or a customer whom she forgot to return an appliance to.

She was not expecting to see a blue rabbit looking up at her with an impatient look in her posture.

Author's Note

Time for a time skip. 2 more chapters until FiM begins.

Those of you who figured out that I was bringing in Sweetie Bot gets a 🍪. Yes, I am going the injury route with her. Why? Because of another Starcraft concept that I leave to you to figure out.

Rise of The Cyber Filly

Rarity stared dumbfounded at the blue rabbit standing at her hooves while trying to make sense of what was going on. The rabbit had her arms crossed while tapping her foot waiting for something.

“Let me know when you’re done processing all this so we can get down to business,” Sophia said. “And to try and move this along, yes, I am talking and yes, I am blue, and no this is not a product of your overly stressed mind which has come about because of Sweetie Belle’s predicament.”

Rarity finally shook herself out of her entranced state as something the rabbit just said caught her attention. “You know about Sweetie?”

“Yes, and if there is any chance of saving her then we will need to work together on this project. I left those schematics on your desk for you to find. Don’t worry about how they got there, that’s not important right now. I will provide what assistance I can and I know some others who can help with other aspects of this project. If everything goes well you will have a bright future ahead of you.”

Rarity looked at Sophia in surprise, “You?! But…but how? You’re just a–.”

“Don’t judge by appearances Miss Rarity, by logical accounts that hunk of metal you just made should not have come from sapphires, but it did.”

“Fair point. So how are you planning on helping me?”

“Let’s go inside and discuss this first.” Rarity narrowed her eyes at the rabbit for a few moments before she moved aside to allow her entry. Once the filly closed the door the two sat at table, Rarity giving a cushion to Sophia to use as a booster seat. Sophia continued, “First of all, that ingot, do you know what it is?”

“Afraid not, all I know is that the idea came to me in a dream; the concept of turning gems to metal and the means to do so. I didn’t think it would actually work.”

“Then you need to file some patents tomorrow. Make sure to claim ownership rights to the invention of your refinery and the process of turning gems to metal. Last thing you need is somepony stealing your idea and profiting off of it. You will need those bits to improve upon the design of your refinery and to make improvements to your workshop.”

“Yes, this dreary place could use some touching up and I do need the bits..”

Sophia nodded, “Second, submit that ingot to whatever place you ponies count as a research institute.”

“Well…that may be a problem…umm…” Sophia quickly introduced herself with an apology for the late introduction. “Sophia, there isn’t really a research institute. I mean there is one in Canterlot but I’ve heard that it’s heavily underfunded because the nobles felt that there were better things for the bits to flow toward. I would be better off bringing this metal to Princess Celestia herself.”

Sophia’s paw met her face before she let it slide down. “Right, I almost forgot how you ponies are averse to progress…”

“Not all of us!” Rarity defended with a scandalized look on her face. “Ponyville is far less restrictive to innovators like myself. It’s one of the reasons I moved here.”

Sophia paused for a moment before she decided that it was time to get back to the main topic. “We can worry about presenting the metal to the Princess later. For now, let’s go over the schematics that I want you to see.”

Rarity led Sophia to her drafting table where she unrolled the schematics which revealed a blueprint to designing a robotic filly. The engineer looked over the plans while a pencil was being held in her telekinetic grip. Using the writing utensil, she wrote down a few notes while erasing a few areas she deemed unimportant. She didn’t realize that Sophia was levitating herself over the filly to look over her shoulder.

After a couple of hours of looking over everything as well as pulling out another schematic from a nearby drawer, Rarity got out of her seat and placed the plans in her drawer. She appeared ready to drop from exhaustion but she still had enough energy to explain her changes.

She didn’t want to risk losing parts of the subject’s mentality by trying something like converting neural information into an electronic form so it was better to take the whole brain and wire it up to the systems in the machine. Sophia pointed out that the brain needed constant nutrition to keep the cells from dying out.

Then there was the issue of the subject’s magic. Even if the brain could be maintained and become able to use the mechanical body, Rarity wanted to use the body as a means of giving her sister a second chance at life and since she was a unicorn she wanted to find a way to have Sweetie use magic in her new body.

There were also the medical and ethical aspects of this procedure since this was something completely unheard of and it was going to involve transferring a pony’s brain into a robot body.

However, that would have to wait for tomorrow since Rarity was now at her limit and was proceeding up the stairs to her bedroom. She offered the couch to Sophia for the night which she accepted.

The next morning with Rarity rested up, Sophia went over her own suggestions to the plans. For one, she knew the formula to create a compound designed to preserve brain tissue. Of course, Rarity was an engineer, not a chemist so she simply accepted her suggestion. As far as the procedure would go, Sophia offered the services of one of her cousins to perform it, assuring her that she was top notch for this. Sophia gave every assurance to the young mare that she had everything covered and that all she had to do was get to work constructing the body.

The construction took several months which was due to the fact that Rarity had never done this before though Sophia was certain that the engineer could make it better as her skills and confidence improved. The process also involved numerous visits to nearby gem deposits for the material and the refining process.

Rarity did file the patents for the refinery and the processing of gems to metal and she did show the metal to Princess Celestia who was intrigued by the material. Of course, it would be a while before any bits could come of this venture since ponies were generally slow to adapt to new things. In the meantime, she still got her bits from appliance repairs or building replacement appliances.

After several months of hard work she was finished with the construction of the robotic filly. Sophia put her own modifications to it which included a Jorium crystal encased in the horn. She told Rarity that the crystal was known for its resonance with brain waves so it might be a good conductor for magic channeling. Though Sophia didn’t tell her that the crystal would also be part of a fallback plan in case it wasn’t possible for Sweetie to use magic in her new body.

The next step involved summoning the doctor who would perform the operation. Sophia had contacted her prior so it was only a matter of drawing the summoning circle and placing a few ritual items before activating it.

The doctor who appeared was a pale white mare with a snow white mane and tail wearing dark armor with numerous skull motifs. Most notable was the tip of a sword with runes on it poking out of her forehead where a unicorn’s horn would be. A quick illusion spell made the blade look like a unicorn horn. Knowing what she was going to be doing she also turned her armor into a lab coat.

“Hey Thanatas,” Sophia greeted, giving a wide, fanged smile. “Ready to perform some brain surgery?”

The mare looked down at her cousin with a raised eyebrow, “I didn’t think you could get any deadlier, now you give me the impression of a meat grinder that lures her victims in with cuteness.”

“Exactly what I am going for!” Sophia cheekily replied.

Thanatas chuckled as she shook her head. “If we are going to be doing this legally then you will need to get her parents to sign the consent forms. I am confident in my ability to perform the procedure but I have to know if it will only be the brain?”

Sophia thought about that for a moment before she considered something. “I have some knowledge of magic but I have heard that ponies have something called wellsprings that seem to be a sort of natural storage and possibly a means of producing their magical energy. Is there a way to transfer that as well?”

“It shouldn’t be a problem but we should make sure we know exactly what a wellspring is so that I can prepare accordingly. However, I am concerned that the organ might be underdeveloped, given the age of the subject. Unless that engineer filly has a solution to that problem, the subject may have to live the rest of her days with weak magic.”

Sophia had considered that possibility. It was unfortunate that the seven year old filly didn’t have a few more years for her wellspring to properly develop but this was the hand that had been dealt to her. However, she did have a workaround if that scenario came to pass, but she would have to wait a few more years before she could consider that plan of action.

Once the two finished their discussion Sophia had a brief discussion with Rarity about what a wellspring was which she relayed to her cousin who was preparing for the surgery. The medical staff at Ponyville General Hospital were surprised by her arrival and her application to work there, presenting all of the necessary degrees to the staff.

Thanatas had to use the cover story of being a doctor from a foreign land to make the doctors and nurses less skeptical of her while informing them that she intended on performing a procedure on Sweetie Belle that could give her a chance at living a life, even if it would take an artificial body to do so. Naturally, the staff gave questioning looks to Thanatas.

The parents were contacted the next day and quickly headed to the hospital where Thanatas gave her intentions on transferring their daughter’s mind to an artificial body that their other daughter had built.

“Do you honestly think we would trust some stranger like you with our daughter? If you do that then she will be seen as an abomination to society!” Hondo Flanks, the father, shouted.

“So you believe that it would be preferable to have your daughter being pushed around in a wheelchair all her life while having to have everything done for her while the only things that she would be able to do would be to feel and speak?” Thanatas countered. “Her damaged spine has made her tetraplegic and a broken horn will make things worse for her going forward. Not to mention the psychological issues that will eventually spring up, especially severe depression.”

“B-but…” Cookie Crumbles, the mother, stammered. “This just doesn’t seem natural. And what if the doctors could repair her spine?” She knew that she was grasping at straws, but she held onto that tiny hope for some way to save their daughter without something that seemed insane.

“Maybe if medical technology was centuries ahead than it is right now, but I have studied a number of medical journals from renowned doctors and found that none of them had proven that Equestria was capable of such a feat. How long are you willing to wait for a doctor to appear who could repair severe spinal damage?”

The parents remained silent while their heads lowered in defeat while Thanatas pressed on, “This procedure can give your daughter a chance of living a foalhood. It will not be a normal one, but it’s better than living like somepony’s dress-up doll for the rest of her life.”

The three continued to argue over this until a high-pitched voice called out to them, “Mommy? Daddy?” The three turned around to find Sweetie Belle in a wheelchair being pushed by a white mare with a pink mane and tail wearing a nurse’s cap with a cutie mark of a red cross with four small hearts at four corners. “What’s going on?”

After the parents made a doting display on their daughter in front of the whole lobby, Thanatas went on to explain what she intended to do with her, which pretty much amounted to telling her that she intended on putting her brain in a robot body without going into technical terms that she wasn’t certain the filly would understand.

“Me in a robot body? Sounds kinda cool, actually,” Sweetie responded.

“Sweetie, this wouldn’t be something you would experience for a time. If you go through with this, you will live in that body for the rest of your life,” Cookie warned.

“Fine by me, I don’t want to live like this. I want to be able to go out and make friends and do neat stuff with them without them looking at me with pity.”

With those final words, Hondo and Cookie finally gave up their resistance while Thanatas levitated the two a clipboard holding the consent papers. The two quietly signed the papers and found their seats in the lobby where they began to hold each other trying to console the other.

The next twelve hours were the longest for the parents. The hours felt like days as they worried themselves to exhaustion. About halfway through that time Rarity was called to the hospital where the doctors allowed her into the surgical ward. Hondo and Cookie were uncertain what this meant so they did their best to remain optimistic that their daughter’s presence was a good sign.

By the end of the twelve hours it was well into the night. The couple fell asleep in the waiting room so the nurses provided them with blankets. They were stirred from their restless slumber when a nurse called for them. “Mr. Flanks, Mrs. Crumbles, she is ready to accept visitors.”

“Tell me nurse, is Sweetie Belle alright?” Cookie asked, desperation in her tone.

Nurse Redheart hesitated for a moment as she considered her words carefully. “I am not sure how this procedure actually worked, but it did. Right now Ms. Rarity is working on the final calibrations to make sure the nerves are connected to the correct wires. Other than that she seems to be functioning properly, I think.”

Redheart led the parents to their daughter’s room where they spotted Rarity instructing her to use different parts of her body from raising her hooves to walking around. Sweetie was growing impatient.

“Are we done yet? I wanna show mom and dad my new look.” Sweetie complained.

“In a moment, just a few more things. Can you move your tail?” Sweetie did as asked.

Rarity was in awe of the pink and purple fibers that made up her mane and tail. They almost looked like real pony hair. There were some areas that she would have to address with the next model such as the joints being very apparent and her casing was all metal and no fur. She wanted her sister to look as much like her old self as possible. For a first attempt it wasn’t bad but her mind was flooded with ideas on how to improve the design.

For this model Rarity had to settle on making sure Sweetie’s brain could be properly maintained without her constant input. Thanks to the formula proposed by Thanatas, the brain would be preserved and receive nutrition needed for proper growth. An invention of Rarity’s, called an alchemical converter, would make it so any water and food consumed would be transmuted into formula to replace what had been consumed while the waste was disposed of in a way ponies normally disposed of waste in their bodies to give Sweetie some illusion of still being an organic being.

“Sweetie? Is that you?” Hondo asked.

Sweetie looked in her parents’ direction, smiling and waving a hoof. “Hi mom, dad. What do you think?”

At that moment the couple had reached the limits of how much stress they could take and passed out. Sweetie looked at the two in confusion, “Was it something I said?”

Author's Note

As I was writing and editing this I was reminded of a certain episode of Sealab 2021.

Anywho, those of you who know what Jorium is will have a glimpse of what I plan to do with Sweetie Bot.

Next time: More time skip and we will finally get FiM underway.

Moondancer's Party

Following Sweetie Belle’s surgery, the days became less eventful as Ponyville gradually got used to the fact that they had a robotic filly living among them.

Sophia was glad that the citizens of Ponyville were more adaptable than other towns and cities in Equestria. She suspected that the threat of the nearby forest had contributed to their need to adapt to protect themselves. Because of that she made sure Tosh and Nova only got involved if things got out of control while the town took measures to protect themselves.

The idea of a zebra like Tosh living among them was starting to grow on the citizens as they learned more about him. They found that he was a spiritualistic zebra who could communicate with ponies beyond the mortal plane. To that end, Tosh ended up making a living as a medium.

Nova, being the soldier that she was, quit her job at the farm and worked as a bodyguard for the mayor who sometimes received visits from belligerent ponies complaining about her policies only for Nova to throw them out of Town Hall on their faces.

Back to Sweetie, there were some obvious issues to overcome for the cyborg filly, such as learning how her body worked and the social aspects of being a machine. Fillies and colts her age were either nervous around her or fascinated by her. There were those who became envious of her newfound popularity, such as a certain pink filly with a pale purple and white mane and tail wearing a small tiara.

There were times when Diamond Tiara made fun of her for being a blank flank and likely to be forever a blank flank. This did leave her sad for a time but Rarity assured her that there will come a time when she will have her cutie mark which she promised would come in a future model upgrade.

It was a year after the operation that Sweetie had her first transfer to a new and upgraded body. Rarity installed receptors throughout Sweetie’s body to send external information to her brain and simulate a pony’s basic senses. It meant that her sister could feel pain, but it also helped her sister to feel like she was still alive.

Over the next few years Rarity had been building new models of Sweetie where she altered the shape somewhat according to where Sweetie should be based on the average filly’s size for her age. She worked with Thanatas to make sure her brain was growing properly and the engineer mare made sure to have larger sizes of Sweetie’s head ready in case the brain became too large for the container. She would save any nuances in the body’s shape for when Sweetie was in her teens.

Life in Ponyville continued.

As the day that Celestia foretold of her sister’s return drew near, Sophia received more letters from the monarch. She could sense the growing anxiety in the letters. The latest one mentioned sending Twilight and Starlight to oversee the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration. Apparently while the two were pretty close, Starlight and Twilight’s dragon assistant, Spike, had to work together to make sure the bookworm interacted with more ponies aside from her.

Meanwhile, Twilight was looking over a book of ancient stories and found one about the two sisters.

Twilight read the text, “Once upon a time in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled the land together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for the kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies. But as time went on, fear and paranoia rose among the subjects as the younger sister strengthened the kingdom’s military with her radical ideas. Fearing that she may attempt to overthrow the elder, a group of six ponies infiltrated her tower and harnessed the most powerful magic in all of ponydom: the Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, they banished the younger sister permanently in the moon. The elder sister was forced to take on the responsibility for both the sun and moon and harmony had been maintained in Equestria for generations since.”

Twilight looked at the book in confusion, “Huh? That’s strange, shouldn’t those ponies be referred to as heroes if they stopped an attempted coup? Though the tone at the end sounded like the elder sister wasn’t happy about what happened. Then there was mention of the Elements of Harmony. They sound familiar, where have I heard about them before…?”

As the young mare left her spot under a tree she ran down the road toward her tower residence. She was stopped partway when three of her friends from school appeared in her path. One was a cornflower blue mare with a dark blue and gray mane and tail with an hourglass cutie mark, one was a yellow mare with a curly cerulean mane and tail and three cerulean hearts, one more faded than the others, for a cutie mark. The third was a cream colored mare with a curly pink mane and tail with three stars on her flank. They were known as Minuette, Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine respectively.

Twinkleshine greeted their lavender friend, “There you are, Twilight! Moondancer is having a little get-together in the west castle courtyard. Starlight said you’d be there and she brought Spike there as well.”

That halted Twilight in her tracks. When her friend mentioned Starlight and the way she worded it she knew she had to pay attention. Vivid memories were dredged up from the last time she made a liar out of Starlight. She shuddered when she remembered her friend hitting her with a dyslexia spell that made her unable to read anything for a whole day. Since then she vowed to never do anything that would set her off like that again.

This meant that she had to attend this party no matter what.

“Sure, lead the way,” Twilight responded.

Twilight met up with Moondancer, Starlight and Spike, a baby dragon with purple scales and green underbelly and fins, at the party where the latter was about to present Moondancer, a young mare with a yellowish gray coat and a mane and tail of amaranth with two tones of purple stripes, her presents from him and Twilight. Twilight’s gift was one of Starswirl the Bearded’s manuscripts which the mare adored. Spike gave her a sci-fi novel which didn’t interest her very much though they did make her wonder if there was any truth to them or if they were just made up. Sadly, she had nopony to confirm this with. Starlight’s gift was a copy of Predictions and Prophecies from the castle library.

Moondancer raised an eyebrow when she noticed a bookmark in the book which she opened to that page which mentioned the Mare in the Moon. “Why was this old mare’s tale marked?” Moondancer asked.

“I suspect that it might not be just a tale,” Starlight responded. “I overheard a conversation Celestia had a few years ago about a sister she had but the records do not show her anywhere. When I read the Tale of the Two Sisters it described the elder sister as having the power to move the sun and then the moon at the end of the tale, just like Celestia.”

“So you think that Celestia might have a younger sister who was banished to the moon by a group of ponies?”

“Actually, I just read that tale myself,” Twilight said. “I was on my way to my tower to look for a book like the one in your hooves. Though I was more curious about the Elements of Harmony.”

Moondancer looked at the marked page and read what it said about the Mare in the Moon. “It says that she was a powerful pony who once co-ruled Equestria with Princess Celestia and wanted to bring about a renaissance period for ponykind. However, paranoia and fear gripped the hearts of their subjects and they accused her of attempting to overthrow her sister to rule Equestria solely so they had a group of ponies use the Elements of Harmony to banish her in the moon. It also says that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape and she will return to seek vengeance against the descendents of the ponies who wronged her.”

“We need to warn the Princess!” Twilight loudly stated. “Spike, take a letter.” The dragon pulled out a sheet of paper and a ready quill from his backpack that he often carried around whenever Twilight was out and about. Once ready, Twilight began to voice the contents of her letter, “My dearest teacher, my continuing studies of pony magic have led me to discover that we are on the precipice of disaster!”

“Preci…preci…” Spike tried to figure out the word but he had no idea what half the words Twilight said meant.

Starlight rolled her eyes, “We need to work on your vocabulary, Spike. Though I still wish we could have him attend school, even if it wouldn’t be in Canterlot.” Of course, she knew that the schools of Canterlot would have rejected him outright because he was a dragon. In fact, most schools in Equestria would have either rejected him or accepted him while subjecting him to toxic conditions. She blamed such unfair treatment on the outdated rules and guidelines written by the Equestrian Education Association. Because of this, she and Twilight were forced to homeschool him.

After finding a synonym for ‘precipice’, Twilight continued with the letter, “For you see, I suspect that the Mare in the Moon might be your younger sister who will soon return to seek vengeance upon us all. Something must be done to make sure this terrible prophecy does not come true. I await your quick response. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”

Once the dictation was complete, the lavender mare had him send it to Celestia. After doing so, Spike voiced his doubts, “I dunno Twilight, Princess Celestia will be pretty busy with the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration and it’s, like, the day after tomorrow.”

“That’s just it, Spike. The day after tomorrow is the thousandth year of the Summer Sun Celebration! It’s imperative that the Princess is told right away!”

“Impera…”

Twilight sighed, “Important. Other than this whole business of Princess Celestia’s sister, I really wish something could be done about the E.E.A.”

A few moments later, Spike had a familiar sensation in his belly that told him that he was about to belch up a letter from the Princess. It was never a pleasant sensation but he lived with it. He caught the resulting scroll and unrolled it, reading the contents, “My dearest, most faithful student Twilight. You know that I value your diligence and that I trust you completely.” Twilight nodded proudly... “...but you simply must stop reading those dusty old books.” The mare’s expression quickly turned to shock. “I am glad that Starlight is around to make sure you don’t stay cooped up in your room and has helped you make some friends here, but I think it is time for you to make more friends from different walks of life than your own. This is why I am sending you and Starlight to Ponyville to supervise the preparations for this year’s Summer Sun Celebration. While you are there, I have one more essential task for you: make some friends from among the locals.”

Twilight was completely shocked that her claims had been outright dismissed by the teacher she had placed all of her faith in and she had no idea what to think right now. She already had friends in Moondancer, Starlight, Minuette, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine and Lyra Heartstrings, why would she need more? Sure, they were all unicorns and the Princess probably wanted her to befriend some earth ponies and pegasi too, but why would she need to do so?

While Twilight was having her issues, Starlight had a feeling that this was all part of Celestia’s plan. If she hadn’t been privy to that meeting between the Princess and that strange blue rabbit she might have been thinking the same thing as her friend. There was no way Celestia would dismiss the thought of her sister’s return so this had to be her setting whatever plan she had in mind in motion. She could only hope that they could emerge from the next couple of days unscathed.

Twilight, Starlight and Spike stayed at Moondancer’s party for a half hour longer before they were picked up by the guards to escort them to a chariot that would carry the three to the small town.

Author's Note

Time for season 1 to kick off. While there isn't going to be a Nightmare Moon I do have plans for how that scenario is going to go down that will require the Elements of Harmony. You will find out why in the next chapter.

Summer Sun Celebration

Twilight leaned over the side of the chariot that was flying toward Ponyville. Though Starlight and Spike couldn’t see her face it was obvious that she was moping about the letter from Celestia.

“Look on the bright side, Twilight,” Spike assuaged. “Princess Celestia arranged for you to stay in a library. Doesn’t that make you happy?”

Twilight turned around to face her friend and assistant with a growing look of determination on her face, “Yes, yes it does. You know why? Because I’m right! We will check on the preparations as fast as possible, then get to the library so we can do more research on the return of the Princess’s sister.”

“I don’t think we are supposed to stop her return, Twilight, nor do I think Princess Celestia wants her return to be prevented,” Starlight said.

“Why? If she returns then she will exact her revenge on all of Equestria!”

“Have you ever thought about how you would behave if Shining Armor was wrongfully banished from Equestria because ponies were afraid of his ideas toward improving the military?”

Twilight opened her mouth to say something but no sound came out as she gave her friend’s words some consideration. She opened and closed her mouth several times before a sigh came out. “I guess I would be looking for revenge against them too. He’s my brother and he has done nothing wrong.”

Starlight nodded, “Which is why I think that Princess Celestia doesn’t want us to stop her but to make sure her return isn’t followed up by a vengeful alicorn. To that end, I believe she wants us to make friends with the locals since they are likely more virtuous than the ponies of Canterlot.”

“What makes you say that?” Spike asked.

“Because Canterlot is full of snooty ponies who can’t think beyond their own self interests. Mind you, I don’t think of Moondancer and the others that way but they are in the minority over there.”

“True.” Spike nodded sagely. “Though Twilight doesn’t know the first thing about making friends. The reason she’s friends with Moondancer and the others is because you made her hang out with them.”

“Hey!” Twilight cried out, offended. “I can make friends if I want.”

“Which is why I am going to let you take the lead on this so you can figure out how to make friends yourself,” Starlight offered.

The rest of the ride was spent with Twilight overthinking about how to make friends while drawing up a number of plans and making charts and writing up a number of flash cards. Starlight quickly set those on fire before her friend filled the chariot with those, much to Twilight’s annoyance.

Once the chariot landed the trio disembarked while Twilight continued to mope about her incinerated charts and plans.

“Come on Twilight, you don’t need to make a plan to make friends, just talk to somepony,” Spike offered.

“Fine…” Taking the dragon’s advice, Twilight walked up to a pink pony with a curly hot pink mane and tail and greeted her. The pink mare gave a prolonged gasp in response and ran off.

“That was unexpected…” Spike mused. Even Starlight found that behavior strange.

“Let’s just get on with the inspection so we can get to the library,” Twilight grumbled.

Spike pulled out the checklist and unrolled it. “First up, banquet preparations at Sweet Apple Acres.”

While the trio was headed toward the farm, they didn’t realize that they were being watched by a certain blue rabbit. She had received a letter from Celestia yesterday requesting that she look after Twilight, Starlight and Spike and make sure they didn’t come to serious harm in case Luna proved hostile.

The trio soon reached the large apple orchard where they spotted two mares, two stallions and a filly preparing a large variety of apple-based dishes.

One of the mares, the one with a gamboge coat with an olive mane and tail, was driving a tractor giving a hay ride to other ponies. She cut the engine upon spotting the newcomers, and prompting the passengers to disembark, before leaving the tractor to approach them. “Howdy there, ah ain’t seen you three around town. Ya new?”

Twilight stepped forward to greet the mare, “Greetings, my name is Twilight Sparkle and this is Starlight Glimmer and our assistant Spike.” She pointed to each pony and dragon respectively. “We are here to supervise preparations for the Summer Sun Celebrations. I take it that you are in charge of the food?”

“Sure as sugar,” she replied. “Name’s Applejack, nice to meet ya!” She then vigorously shook Twilight’s hoof which left her shaking even after the earth pony let her go. Twilight was reminded that earth ponies were naturally strong. “So, while y’all’re here, why not sample our products.”

“As long as it doesn’t take too long…”

Applejack then called on the rest of her family to join her before she introduced her extended family to them. It became apparent that this event coincided with the Apple family’s reunion.

“Well, I can see that you have the food situation handled so we should be on our way,” Twilight nervously stated. Starlight and Spike looked at the scene with amused expressions.

However, the three of them were startled when they heard a voice from behind them, “Aren’t y’all gonna stay for brunch?” They had no idea that someone had snuck up behind them until they made themselves known. Turning around, they noticed a filly with the same coat color as Applejack’s mane though this filly had a mane of brilliant amaranth and a pink bow in her mane. She had a sad look in her eyes.

“When did you get behind us?” Spike asked.

“Since y’all got here,” the filly replied.

Still, Twilight and Starlight couldn’t resist the charms of the filly and ended up staying for brunch. The three agreed to share the offered samples between them so as not to overeat.

Sophia observed the trio leaving the farm looking like they just had an entire meal though not so much that they became sluggish. She noticed Spike pulling out his checklist and mentioned the weather which was supposed to be monitored by Rainbow Dash.

It disappointed the rabbit that the mare was lacking in diligence to her duties which was a clear sign that the mare lacked discipline. She would need to come down hard on her to mold her into a true soldier. She had much more power within her than most pegasi but such power had led her to be cocky. Of course, Sophia was no stranger to talented and cocky recruits.

The mare in question ended up losing control of her flight from performing one of her stunts and barreled toward a nearby mud puddle that Twilight, Starlight and Spike were near. Starlight reacted quickly and put up a shield while Spike placed himself behind the shield. Twilight was not so lucky and the cyan mare’s impact left the lavender mare caked in mud.

Sophia couldn’t help but facepaw as the rainbow-maned mare made things worse by drenching Twilight in rainwater and used her wings to blow dry her, leaving the lavender mare a frizzy mess. Thankfully Starlight had a refresh spell to get her friend’s fur and mane back in order.

“Thank you Starlight. Now…” Twilight’s grateful expression turned to annoyance when she turned back to Rainbow Dash. “You’re Rainbow Dash, correct?”

“The one and only,” Rainbow cocksurely stated. “Why, you heard of me?”

“I heard that you were supposed to be keeping the sky clear. I’m Twilight Sparkle and the Princess sent me to check on the weather.”

Sophia watched the conversation continue as Rainbow practically admitted to shirking her duties for the sake of practicing her stunt flying because she wanted the Wonderbolts to notice her. It took Twilight baiting the mare into doing her job to see the sky cleared. The bunny was going to enjoy breaking that mare when the time came.

For now she followed the three after Rainbow flew off. Spike listed that the decorations were handled by Pinkie Pie. However, they noticed that the decorations were already in working order though they never found the mare in question so they decided to move on to town hall.

“Next is stage preparations which are being handled by…so cool…” Spike said, right as he spotted a mechanical filly with a light gray shell with a mane of pink and lavender being accompanied by a light gray mare with her violet mane done in a bun. The three noticed the three crystalline gears on her flank.

“I wouldn’t call stage props cool, Spike,” Twilight said. “Though they would bring out the Princess’s best features.”

“Not that, her…” He pointed at Sweetie Belle.

Rarity had just finished installing the lighting for the stage in the town hall while she had Sweetie Belle adjusting the angles of the lights for optimum lighting. A pair of extendable grappling arms from her back were being used for the task. “Another eight degrees to the right and that should do it,” Rarity instructed.

“You got it!” The arms retracted once the task was complete. With everything finished, the sisters prepared to leave town hall before they spotted the trio.

“Is that a mechanical filly?” Twilight asked.

“Sort of, Sweetie is, what has come to my attention, a cyborg filly. While nearly her entire body is mechanical her brain is completely organic which is the brain of my little sister, Sweetie Belle.”

“A mechanical filly with organic parts?! Amazing! Where did you get the idea for such a fascinating invention? How is the brain still functional after being removed from the body? How is–?”

Seeing that this conversation could distract Twilight for a while, Starlight decided to temporarily freeze her friend in a block of magic crystal and take control of the conversation. “Sorry about that, as you saw my friend can get a little too excited when it comes to machines. She has been interested in them for years but Canterlot leaves no opportunity to see mechanical marvels.”

“Understandable, darling,” Rarity nodded. “It’s one reason I moved to Ponyville since the ponies here are much more accepting of mechanical engineers like myself. I’m Rarity, by the way, and this is my sister, Sweetie Belle.” The cyborg filly waved her hoof at them which left the dragon starstruck. Rarity looked at the dragon in concern, “Is something the matter with him?”

“Spike? He likes machines like Twilight does, except for different reasons,” Starlight explained.

“Well yeah, she has a metallic exterior, which is so awesome! I’ve read comics about robot ponies from the future coming to take over Equestria but I always thought it was more propaganda since Equestria in general hates machines. I never thought I would get to meet a robot pony though, let alone a cyborg filly.” Spike continued to gush over Sweetie Belle which made her react as if she were blushing. Thankfully he stopped a few moments before Starlight considered freezing him too.

“Anywho, my name is Starlight Glimmer and this is Spike and my frozen friend is Twilight Sparkle. We were sent here to check on the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration.”

“Oh, then don’t let me keep you three. Sweetie and I have another engagement to attend so we shall see you later.” Rarity then left as the spell holding Twilight wore off, the latter giving her friend an irritated glare.

After an apology and a promise to teach her that spell later, the three were off again to check on the music which was handled by Fluttershy who lived in a cottage at the edge of the Everfree Forest.

Fluttershy was one of the ponies Sophia had her eye on for the future though she also never expected to see a mare short of an alicorn who could grow their mane and tail out as long as she had. Nevertheless, her skills as a veterinarian were impressive, even though she never studied at a university or went for a proper license due to her social anxiety. However, that didn’t mean she never studied at all since Sophia often snuck textbooks into Fluttershy’s cottage, bought of course.

There was one annoyance of being around the mare though and that had everything to do with her pet rabbit. Angel Bunny was often a fussy one who Fluttershy had often spoiled to where he often behaved like a brat. Even worse was the fact that he often attempted to woo Sophia only to get shot down each time. The critter was quite the persistent one and Sophia was extremely adamant about her rejections.

Fluttershy was also one of the few ponies in Ponyville that Sophia talked to with words but that was because Fluttershy believed that her ability to communicate with animals was the reason. Sophia felt a little guilty about deceiving the poor mare that way but it wasn’t time for her to publicly come out as a talking animal just yet.

Fluttershy was currently tending to a chorus of birds that were supposed to sing for the upcoming festivities. She had to call out one of them for being a little off on the timing just before Twilight made herself known which caused the shy mare to yelp and jump into a 180 to see them before curling up into a ball. Twilight apologized for the intrusion and introduced herself to which Fluttershy responded with an extremely quiet introduction which had to be repeated several times.

Starlight watched the scene unfold and felt sorry for the shy pegasus since her friend wasn’t reading the room. Though she was surprised when the pegasus suddenly came out of her ball and rushed over to lift spike into the air with her forelegs. After that she began asking the baby dragon a bunch of questions about his kind and completely forgot the other two existed.

Twilight carried Spike on her back while Starlight and Fluttershy followed. She led the two mares to the Golden Oaks Library where Celestia arranged for Starlight, Spike and herself to stay in Ponyville. While Twilight tried to get the pegasus to leave, she went inside where it was completely dark due to the lights being off and that the sun had set. It was when she turned the lights on that the purple trio received a scare that made them almost believe that their hearts stopped briefly.

“SURPRISE!!!” yelled a large number of ponies inside the library, followed by confetti, streamers and the sound of kazoos going off at the same time.

Once the three recovered a familiar pink pony came up to them to tell them that this was their “Welcome to Ponyville” party.

At first Twilight wanted to get every pony out of the library so she could learn more about the Elements of Harmony in case she needed to find them to stop Celestia’s sister from enacting her revenge. However, when she saw Starlight and Spike heading into the crowd to enjoy the festivities, she sighed in defeat and joined them, remembering that Starlight’s interpretation of Celestia’s instructions involved making friends and as much as she hated to admit it, her friend had hardly ever steered her wrong.

It was nearly time for Celestia to raise the sun as part of the festivities so the party moved over to town hall where they were supposed to meet the Princess. Everypony was excited to see their ruler in the flesh.

Sophia looked at everything from the rafters of the town hall while cloaked in shadows. Nova and Tosh were in attendance in case things took a very bad turn, especially since Sophia also had a very bad feeling about what was about to happen.

Perched next to Sophia was a crow. The bird was able to see her through her cloak and gave her a knowing look. Sophia gave a nod in return.

The mayor stepped onto the stage to begin the big announcement while everypony else was waiting with bated breath. “Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration! In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise! And now, it is my great honor to introduce you to the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all Equestria…”

Fluttershy prepared the chorus.

“Princess Celestia!”

When the curtain opened, nothing appeared, to the shock of every pony in the room.

Sophia was shocked as well but for a different reason. “Prepare for battle, you two!” she telepathically warned Nova and Tosh.

Moments later, a large mare appeared on the stage, except something was very wrong. Sophia heard the description of Luna from Celestia but this mare looked almost nothing like her. She had a raven black coat and bluish silver shoes, peytral and helm, but that wasn’t what the rabbit was paying attention to. Her mane looked like the night sky…if they were in the void where the universe creators called Xel’naga went when they were killed. It was a transparent crimson with scarlet stars. Her wings appeared to end in solid, blood red, razor sharp feathers and her eyes glowed crimson. Spider web cracks of the same color covered much of her body. Her crimson, sharp teeth completed her nightmarish visage.

As she gazed upon this horrifying form, Sophia had one thought racing through her mind: How in the name of the Xel’naga did she contract Void Corruption!?

Author's Note

Before anyone tries to say I contradicted myself I want to point out that this isn't Nightmare Moon. My intention was to have the main characters face a version of Luna in a form out of a nightmare. For you Starcraft fans it's more like if Luna were a Protoss still connected to the Khala at the start of the End War when Amon took control of it and those connected to it, except in this case there isn't a malevolent intelligence controlling Luna's actions, just a lot of rage and malice with no means to focus it.

What does it mean? Find out next time.

Trusting in Friendship

Everypony in the town hall, Sophia included, looked at the terrifying figure in shock as the black and red alicorn stared at them with an expression full of malice and savagery. Sophia couldn’t detect a conscious mind within the nightmarish figure which told her that the alicorn was in a berserk state.

Further proving this fact, Luna let out an otherworldly roar that sounded a bit distorted before a sinister red glow was seen on her horn. Realizing what was about to happen, Sophia’s eyes widened in horror and knew that this was not the time for subtlety anymore.

Of course, she had planned on Luna being aggressive, even if not to this level. Sophia decided to put that plan into action as she looked at the crow that was perched next to her. “Umbra, protect the ponies!”

Just as Luna fired a powerful beam of corrupted magic at the innocent ponies, the beam was met with a magical barrier from Twilight and Starlight. However, the sheer power commanded by the corrupted alicorn slowly overpowered the two and the barrier began to crack.

Suddenly, six black feathers appeared in a hexagonal pattern around the unicorns’ shield to reinforce the barrier. Try as she might, Luna’ beam was now being completely absorbed by the shield.

Once she was no longer able to channel the beam, another black quill was launched and stuck onto Luna’s flank. The alicorn roared in pain as electricity coursed through her body for a few moments before the magic imbued into the quill ran out.

Luna had no idea where the assailant was coming from and was acting on pure instinct. Since she had no idea who she was fighting her mind switched from fight to flight as she turned into a crimson vapor and flew out a nearby window, shattering it.

It took a few moments for the ponies to calm down before Sophia took control of the situation. She first had Umbra go after Luna. The crow flew out the window after the mad alicorn. Sophia then jumped to the railing of the stage over the ponies who were discussing what happened among themselves.

“Your attention, please!” Sophia shouted loudly. Thankfully that got everypony’s attention since she really didn’t want to scare them to attention with an Ultralisk roar. “All citizens please return to your homes until we have sorted this situation out.”

“A talking rabbit?” one of the ponies questioned.

“This is not the time to be discussing my ability to talk,” Sophia shot back. “There is a mad creature on the loose and your loved ones could be in danger right now so everypony calmly get back to your homes and wait for the situation to be resolved.”

The ponies knew she had a point. Most of them had foals who could be in danger right now so they needed to get back home as soon as possible. Of course, Sophia also noticed that Twilight, Spike and Starlight were the first to rush out the door who were followed by Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.

Thankfully, the mayor started taking charge and ushering the ponies out of the town hall so they could return to their homes. This left Sophia to follow the ponies of interest to the town library. She peered into the window and saw Rainbow making accusations to the two unicorns that they led the creature into town but was lassoed into submission by Applejack so they could receive a rational explanation.

“I learned this from a copy of Predictions and Prophecies about a mare who was banished to the moon by six ponies wielding the Elements of Harmony,” Twilight explained. “It was said that the stars would aid in her escape and she would seek vengeance upon the ponies who wronged her. I think that mare might be Princess Celestia’s sister.”

“The Princess has a sister?” Applejack questioned. “Why had she never told us about her?”

“Because Celestia feared that ponies would try to eliminate her this time.”

The ponies turned to the window to see Sophia standing on the windowsill. “Sophia? Other ponies understand you too?” Fluttershy asked.

“Sorry for the deception, but I didn’t want the secret to get out until the time was right. Anyway, that mare was Princess Luna, though I didn’t expect her to be contaminated by Void Corruption.”

“What’s that?” Starlight asked.

“Void energies from the realm beyond the universe. They usually aren’t dangerous unless a host with a lot of malice is found and then the energies enter their body to exponentially amplify those feelings to the point that the bindings of reason are undone, driving the host into a berserk state. The black and scarlet form is a symptom of Void Corruption. Of course, these energies don’t just enter this universe whenever it wants. I suspect that Luna may have opened a small rift into the Void and received an amount of the energy for her efforts.”

“Is there a way to eliminate the corruption?” Twilight asked.

“I’m not sure you can, it looked like the corruption had completely taken over. If she isn’t dealt with, he could cause untold havoc across Equestria.”

“Maybe the Elements of Harmony could help,” Pinkie offered.

“Pinkie, I don’t even know what the Elements are or where to find them. I don’t even know what they do.” The pink mare tossed a book in Twilight’s direction which Starlight caught in her magic since the lavender mare wasn’t ready for that toss. Twilight took the book and looked at it, “‘Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide’? Where did you find this?”

“It was under ‘E’!”

Not having time to question the mare’s antics, Twilight opened the book and quickly looked through the contents like the speed reader she was. “It says here that there are five known Elements: Kindness, Loyalty, Generosity, Honesty and Laughter. A sixth remains in complete mystery. However, in the most obscure of legends, it is said that a seventh exists but that one would only manifest when the world needs it the most. The last known location of five of these Elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters located in…the Everfree Forest…”

With Luna on the loose Twilight and Starlight only gathered a minimal amount of supplies before they ventured toward the forest with the other mares in tow. Starlight made sure her friend understood that they needed all the help they could get so Twilight didn’t protest the others accompanying them. Spike ended up falling asleep during the explanation so Twilight tucked him into bed before setting out.

While the girls were entering the Everfree Forest, they were unaware of the battle taking place above their heads as the void-tainted alicorn engaged in battle against a tall crow-like creature that could stand upright like a minotaur. Luna fired beam after beam of void energy that was blocked by Umbra’s magical shields. The battle persisted for a while.

However, the battle had also caused some collateral damage in the forest. One of Luna’s beams was deflected and struck a cliffside causing the trail to crumble and send Twilight and the others falling toward the forest below. Rainbow and Fluttershy managed to rescue Rarity and Pinkie while Starlight used her self-levitation to take to the air with the pegasi. Twilight, who was desperately clinging to Applejack’s hoof for dear life, ended up having to trust the farm mare’s words that everything would be alright if she let go. Twilight was glad that Rainbow was there to catch her when she fell. Starlight levitated Applejack to the rest of the group at the bottom of the cliff.

The next incident occurred when a stray beam left a lone manticore badly wounded. The creature began to thrash around and by the time the group saw him, they thought it was an attack. As the girls were preparing for a fight, Fluttershy stopped them and moved toward the manticore while avoiding his attacks. Using her skills with animals, she was able to get the creature to calm down. The kind mare was glad she returned to her house briefly to collect her first aid kit before the journey started. Using the medical supplies, she was able to provide some relief to the creature but wouldn’t be able to provide a better treatment until later. She didn’t like leaving a wounded creature to wander on their own but she had no choice. She pointed the manticore in the direction of her house and instructed him to stay there until she could properly treat him later.

Another stray shot infected the woods around the girls with void energy. However, since the forest carried no malice it only turned the trees into terrifying visages, visages that didn’t scare Pinkie at all even though the others were terrified of the evil-looking faces. Pinkie’s optimism and a singing number helped assure the girls that there was nothing to be afraid of.

Once the mares reached a river that was raging, they saw that the source was a sad sea serpent with half of a long moustache. It was quickly discovered through Rarity’s conversation with the creature that he had a very flamboyant personality, Apparently a beam of red magic had burned off half of his moustache. Thankfully Rarity had an invention she wanted to try out where she took a pair of scissors and cut off a significant part of her mane while requesting one of the serpent’s loose follicles before placing them into her new invention. Like magic, the machine soon converted the materials into what was needed to fix the serpent’s moustache where she had him bend down and let the machine do the work. Within seconds the machine had recreated the missing half of his facial hair.

“Oh, what an absolutely darling little device you have!” the serpent praised. “How ever am I going to repay you for this?”

“None of that, sir!” Rarity admonished. “Just the fact that you were a willing tester for my new Mane Restorer is enough for me.”

“In that case, may I ask why you are all here? Oh, How dreadful of me! I have not introduced myself! My name is Steven Magnet.”

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Steven Magnet. We were actually planning on crossing the river actually…” Though as she said that she noticed the broken bridge that seemed to be the only one around.

Steven looked in her direction and gasped. “Oh, please forgive my atrocious behavior earlier, I simply must make it up to you. Here, use my back to get across.” With that, Steven extended his body to both shores so that the ponies could cross.

As they walked away from the river, Twilight had a question for Rarity, “How did that device grow hair? Also, are you going to be alright with your mane cut short?”

“My Mane Restorer? It uses a device that Sophia helped me create called an Alchemical Converter that transforms organic material into other forms of organic material. Using a base, such as the hair, the Converter could turn any organic matter into the base material. I have one installed in Sweetie Belle to convert the food she eats into nutrients for her brain.

“As for my mane, there’s no need to worry about that darling, it’ll grow back. Besides, I won’t have to tie it back for a while when I work.”

Before Twilight could go into nerd mode and ask Rarity for more information, Starlight placed a hoof over her mouth to stem the coming tide of questions. “You can ask your questions at her leisure when we aren’t trying to save Equestria.”

Twilight begrudgingly accepted those conditions and the group continued toward the castle ruins.

The ponies were nearly at the castle, though the way forward was across a huge chasm and the rope bridge was down. Rainbow volunteered to fix the bridge, carrying one end to the other side where she began to tie it up. However, a crimson beam struck the ground nearby and a rift opened, releasing a trio of shadowy constructs before the rift closed. The shadows took the forms of ponies wearing a dark version of the Wonderbolts uniform.

The shadows made Rainbow a tempting offer of becoming part of an organization that would make the Wonderbolts look like a joke. Rainbow was tempted but wanted to get the bridge fixed first. The shadows made her choose between her friends or them. Rainbow chose her friends.

Angered, the shadows tried to lash out at her but a trio of black quills stuck the three in the flanks. The shadows vanished, cast back to the Void they came from.

Once the ponies were across, they entered the castle and began to explore. It wasn’t long before they found the pedestal holding five stone spheres. “Are these them?” Applejack asked.

Twilight nodded, “I think so, they seem to be the Elements.”

“One, two, three, four…there’s only five!” Pinkie counted.

“The book says that a spark will cause the sixth element to be revealed when the other five are together.”

“What the hay is that supposed to mean?” Rainbow questioned.

“I’m not sure. I know that the last ones who handled the Elements was a group of ponies who used them to banish Princess Luna to the moon. Though the strange thing is that these ponies were never particularly mentioned in the history books.”

“What about the seventh?” Fluttershy asked.

“I know even less about that one, the book only said that it would appear in a time when it was needed the most. For now, let’s try figuring out how to activate the ones we have.”

While Twilight and the others were trying to solve the mystery of the Elements, a tall bipedal avian creature appeared in the room with them. The girls turned to look at her with shock. “What the hay is that?!” Applejack asked.

“I have no idea!” Rainbow replied.

“I think I’ve read about them in a book,” Twilight said. “At least, I think she is what I think she is. I know that the harpies don’t leave their lands usually.”

Umbra wasn’t sure what Twilight was talking about but since she was under Sophia’s orders to avoid giving away information of their origins, she decided to go along with it. “Uhh, yes, I am a harpy. Just a very rare one who can use magic. I was banished from my homeland because crow type harpies are considered a bad omen over there.” It was a lie but it appeared that the ponies didn’t have much information on their kind to begin with. She noticed Applejack giving her a look that told her that she saw through the lie but she ignored her. “Anyway, Luna is coming and I need to set up a trap for her fast.”

Umbra spun around and launched eight quills on the floor to form a circle around herself before hopping out of the circle and channeling magic into it. “For this to work I need Luna in the circle to set it off but I need one of you to be the bait.”

Her request was met by a lot of protests. Rainbow and Applejack were the most vocal about their distrust of the avian stranger. Fluttershy shied away while Pinkie looked uncertain. Rarity shamefully lowered her head, unwilling to go along with the plan. “How can you ask this of us? How can we be sure that they would not get attacked by Luna? How do we know that this isn’t a trap made for us?” Twilight asked.

“Would you rather face a void-addled alicorn with enough power to obliterate this castle and a chunk of the forest in one blast?” Umbra replied.

While most of the ponies looked at each other wondering who would make that sacrifice, one of them spoke up, “I’ll do it.”

“Starlight, no! We don’t even know if this will work!” Twilight pleaded.

“You girls figure out how to get the elements working, we will buy you time,” Starlight added. Umbra then directed the unicorn to the center of the magic circle and was instructed to stay there no matter what.

Moments after Starlight was in position, the alicorn barged into the room through one of the windows, roaring like a feral beast. Her gaze locked onto Twilight’s group and fired a blast from her horn. Twilight had to use a lot of her magical reserves for one teleport to get herself and the girls out of the line of fire. However, she didn’t have enough magic to move the stones as well and they were shattered.

“No!” Twilight cried out.

As Luna prepared to fire another blast at where the group ended up but was struck in the flank by a beam from behind her, coming from Starlight. “That’s right, come and get me!” she taunted.

Roaring at the challenger, Luna prepared to fire a beam at her. However, Starlight had been paying attention in her magical combat lessons and used a shield made to deflect beam attacks which she used to send it through the roof and beyond the atmosphere.

Undeterred, Luna prepared to charge at Starlight with her horn pointed at her. Starlight was growing nervous because she wasn’t sure she could repel a charge like that while standing still. However, she trusted that the harpy knew what she was doing.

It was when Luna’s horn was a foot away from Starlight’s face that she felt herself spatially displaced, as if she had been teleported. To Starlight’s surprise, she found herself outside Umbra’s magic circle. Turning back, she saw Luna standing in the circle that glowed furiously as the alicorn’s body was bound in powerful magical chains. “Uh, girls, if you plan on doing something now, this would be the best time,” Starlight called out.

“How? The Elements were destroyed in the first attack.” Rainbow replied.

“Wait, I think I understand,” Twilight realized. “The Elements aren’t just a bunch of artifacts, it’s the spirits that the Elements that matter.”

“What are you talkin’ about, Twi?” Applejack asked.

“Applejack, you reassured me when I was in doubt so you must represent Honesty.” Twilight then turned her head to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, your compassion toward the manticore shows me that you represent Kindness.” Next was Pinkie, “Pinkie, you banished fear by giggling in the face of danger so you represent Laughter.” Then came Rarity’s turn, “Rarity, you calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift so you represent Generosity.” Finally it was Rainbow’s turn. “Rainbow, who could not abandon her friends for her heart’s desire, represents Loyalty.”

The shards of the Elements gathered around the five mares and transformed into golden necklaces, each with a gem embedded in them.

“But what about the other two?” Fluttershy asked.

“It took me some time to realize that I really could not get this far without all of you. The elation and relief that each of you gave me made me realize that you were all my friends. The Elements are ignited by the spark that exists in us all and that creates the sixth Element…Magic.”

The sixth Element manifested in the form of a golden tiara with a magenta gem in the shape of Twilight’s cutie mark which planted itself atop the mare’s head.

The six ponies, minus Starlight who was staring at the whole thing, rose into the air and began glowing with a strong light. A rainbow of light erupted from the ponies and struck the rabid mare. However, to the six’s surprise, Luna was resisting the power with the energies of the void. The power was so strong that the void began pushing back the power of the Elements.

“It’s…not working!” Rainbow cried out.

As the battle continued, Starlight wondered what she could do. She ran a number of scenarios in her mind but came up with nothing. She then thought back to the story of Luna’s banishment and the reason why the ponies involved were never mentioned in detail. She then remembered the meeting and then it all clicked together.

Starlight gasped, “The six ponies who banished Luna were assailants! They were fearful of Luna’s ideas and tried to use the Elements to eliminate her. Fear and distrust runs rampant in our society today and those same feelings are coursing through Luna because of it. Trust is missing from society and Trust in the future of Equinity is needed now, more than ever!”

Upon that revelation, a seventh Element manifested as a tiara atop Starlight’s head with an aqua-colored four-pointed star embedded in it.

Thinking quickly, Starlight added her power to the others while putting her strong beliefs in the future to the forefront of her thoughts. With this boost, the Elements overpowered Luna’s attack and overwhelmed her defenses.

“Is this the place?”

“I believe so, sir. Do you believe that this world’s resources might give us an edge against the Starcraft Federation?”

Alan Schezar was silent for a few moments. The sensors on his ship picked up on the energy signature from ten years ago. However, at the time he couldn’t pursue it while the Federation was investigating each world with surgical precision and forced him to relocate his forces many times over the years. His pirate forces had suffered many defeats and claimed a few victories. He knew that the Federation would pick off his forces little by little and had to replenish his forces from places of ill repute when he had the chance. He held on to hope that wherever the energy came from, it would lead him to something that would turn the tide against his enemies.

Ten years of dogged pursuit of his ambitions, ten years of being hunted relentlessly, would all come to an end now that he had found a world where his ambitions would be made manifest.

A beam of void energy had nearly taken them out then and there but some quick thinking only resulted in the loss of one engine.

After assessing the damage, Schezar left the damages to the engineering crew while he returned his focus toward the planet. “Take us into high orbit and let us examine what this world has in store for us,” Alan ordered.

Author's Note

My decision on Starlight's Element was based on a few factors. One of them being that Empathy is more of a Sunset Shimmer Element. Another is the fact that I made this story take place in an Equestria based on fear and distrust in change. The reason for that will be revealed eventually. Another is that the idea is based on the story "A Witch in Broad Daylight" where Starlight bore the Element of Faith. Of course, the way it was represented in that story felt too religious so I renamed it into something that felt like a real friendship factor, something that was sometimes lacking in the canon series that led to a number of issues (Such as Lesson Zero and A Canterlot Wedding). Therefore I chose to have Starlight become the Element of Trust. If you missed it, her test was when she placed all of her trust into Umbra's plan.

Aftermath

As the swirling multi-colored light faded from the place where the void-tainted alicorn of the night stood, Twilight and her friends, as well as Umbra, stared in the area in anticipation as they awaited the results of their use of the Elements of Harmony.

Once the light faded, a small midnight blue alicorn with a light blue mane and tail emerged, collapsed on the floor.

As the seven slowly approached the small mare, she groaned as if she had woken up from a long sleep. “Ugh, where am I?”

“Princess Luna?” Twilight asked.

Luna nodded, “Indeed. Now, we need to remember that spell that dulls the pain of a headache.”

“Allow me,” Starlight offered as she walked over to her and lit her horn. The next thing the alicorn realized was that the fog within her mind began to clear up. “Better?”

“Much. Now, can somepony tell me where we are? We know we were locked away in the moon by a group of assailants who subverted the Elements of Harmony.”

“You were locked away for a thousand years, Princess Luna,” Twilight offered. “These are the ruins of your former castle.”

Luna looked around and snorted, “A thousand years? Surely thou jest. We would have hoped that Equestria had advanced enough to turn this ruin into a museum at least. Have we finally made use of black powder yet?”

The mares looked at the princess in confusion before Rainbow responded, “What the hay is black powder?”

“Allow me to explain,” spoke a familiar voice. The mares turned around to see Sophia entering the chamber with Princess Celestia. “Apologies for the late arrival, apparently Celestia was late to the Summer Sun Celebration because she was waylaid by a group of protesters in Canterlot who didn’t like the idea of the event being hosted in a town of ‘chaos bringers’.

“Figures…” Starlight grumbled.

“It would appear that ponykind truly has not changed over these thousand years,” Luna commented. “It surprises us that Equestria is still standing despite such rampant technophobia.”

“Actually, there is one town who seems to be embracing change,” Sophia corrected. “A town was founded nearly a century ago by progressive-minded ponies who wanted to get away from the rest of the country. They named it Ponyville.”

“You really can talk…” Luna shook her head and returned to the important topic. “You do not jest? Tell us, what has Ponyville done to set itself apart from the rest of this stagnant nation?”

“I can tell you that Rarity here devised a way to convert gemstones into starship metal, and a highly durable type at that.”

“Starship metal?” the unicorns asked, including Rarity.

Sophia nodded, “Yes, it’s a type of metal that can be used to create powerful armor that can survive the intense heat of atmospheric reentry or withstand high intensity energy attacks. The armor of the Royal Guards is nothing but stage costumes compared to the armor that could be made from that metal.”

“Truly?” Luna asked in awe. “Perhaps there may yet be hope for our ponies after all.”

“We can discuss my long-term plan of turning your medieval ponies to spacefaring ponies in detail later. For now, you must be exhausted and you will want to become acquainted with your new advisor and bodyguard in the meantime.” Sophia pointed a paw at Umbra.

Luna looked at the ‘harpy’ in confusion while Umbra deadpanned at Sophia. “So this is the role you want me to play while I’m here?”

“It shouldn’t be hard to do, you will be my liaison to the Princesses while I am observing events in Ponyville,” Sophia telepathically informed. “Your crows make for an efficient messaging system that beats having to use Twilight’s baby dragon every time I want to send a message to them. Plus you can teach the Princesses a spell or two if you’re interested.”

If there was one thing Sophia knew about Umbra it was her magical prowess. The raven girl had been taught by their great uncle who knew a vast multitude of spells. The way Umbra used her magic was often through either directly casting or by imbuing spells into her quills. Whenever she wanted to make a magic circle she imbued parts of the spell into a number of quills and stuck them into a circular pattern on a surface where the quills dumped their contents into the surface in a preprogrammed pattern. The feathers grew back quickly.

Luna looked at the harpy with suspicion, wondering how she would be of any use to her. Though Sophia headed her off with a little more advertising. “She is a powerful spellcaster who knows more than enough warding spells to ensure that you can always sleep peacefully without assailants bothering you. Plus, she will help you to see what goes on in Ponyville which may give you ideas. Not to mention that she is quite skilled at information gathering.”

Luna looked at Celestia who had been silent the whole time as she watched the conversation unfold. “What do you think, sister?”

“I believe that it might be a good idea for you to have some protection from now on, at least until we can help our little ponies to find the courage to move forward. Sophia says that she has a plan for this but she is also expecting enemies to arrive from beyond the stars at some point, though after ten years I am starting to wonder about that.”

“Frankly, I was expecting them to be here sooner as well,” Sophia agreed. “Unless my people have been hounding them for all this time. I’m relying on our enemies’ tenacity to find a way here. I haven’t received any reports of their capture so they are still out there.”

Luna was perplexed by Sophia’s plan. It seemed like madness to invite her enemies to attack them as part of some crazy plan to make her ponies embrace technology. Though Twilight was the one who voiced Luna’s concerns. “That’s crazy! How can you consider having enemies attack Equestria as part of a plan to help us?”

“Necessity is the mother of invention, Twilight,” Sophia replied. “This long period of peace is becoming a problem for this country and has left the ponies complacent. If an actual war breaks out this nation will be defeated if the enemy has a means to counter your magic. Ponies have grown too reliant on their magic that it has become their only weapon in an age where the sword falls to the cannon.

“In my travels, I discovered a nation that uses weaponized airships to conquer other nations and the soldiers may even be using magic-proof armor. If such a nation came knocking, Equestria may find themselves a conquered nation in days. The thing is, this nation isn’t anywhere near as advanced as the enemy from beyond the stars so you can imagine why Equestria needs to shape up, fast. Your world has resources that will be highly coveted by intergalactic powers in the future and you ponies need to be ready to protect yourselves.”

“But…but there has to be another way than this! Lives could be lost with this plan!” Twilight protested.

“If you have a better way of motivating a culture of technophobic ponies into acting against their fears, I’m all ears. The facts are that ponies acted against Luna and subverted the Elements you now wear to do it because of that fear. Ponies are likely to do so again once they remember who Luna is, except they will use a more surefire way of getting rid of her, permanently. Celestia tried to get the ponies to not act on that fear for a thousand years and failed. The gentle diplomatic method isn’t working so the extreme method, it is.”

“Do we at least know when they’re going to attack?”

“Nope. I do know that his forces are beginning to gather in high orbit around this world but it will take him some time before his forces will be ready to try anything. I would suggest not worrying about this until it happens or you will just end up a nervous wreck. When he takes action that will warrant your attention I will let you know. If it’s any reassurance I am keeping tabs on him so I will know when he tries something. Until then, have some fun with your new friends and spend some time with your old ones as well to take your mind off this.”

While Sophia and Twilight were discussing the morality of the former’s plan, Celestia walked up to her sister with a worried look in her eyes. “Are you alright, sister? I heard what happened from Sophia.”

“I honestly don’t know what happened, Tia,” Luna replied. “After I was banished into the moon, I tried coming up with a number of ways to try and escape from my captivity. The last one I remember trying was opening a portal to Equestria but it opened to a strange place that made me shudder just looking at it. The last thing I remember was a red fog and the bitter memories of our little ponies acting me at every turn. The memory of that treacherous attack in my bedroom was the strongest. I was filled with anger which turned to hatred toward those ponies and then…nothing. Next thing I remember is being here with you and these ponies and creatures.”

“You must have been corrupted by void energies for a long time, Princess,” Sophia explained. “It latched onto your malice toward your betrayers and disabled the reasoning part of your mind until you were akin to a savage beast ready to murder anything in sight. Thankfully you didn’t hurt anypony. Void energy is usually harmless unless you have a lot of pent up malice.”

“That is true. Tia, what happened to my assailants?”

“I had them executed for treason, theft of a national treasure and illegal use of said national treasure. I also rooted out those who conspired with them and exiled them from Equestria, sending them as far east as possible.”

“Personally I would have had them all executed but I also understand that it would present a bad image for ourselves if we were too quick to resort to hanging. At any rate. that just leaves the matter of what happens now.”

Celestia smiled and sat next to her sister. It felt awkward that her sister was now half her size instead of being nearly as tall as she was but that would change over time once Luna recovered. “For now we need to let Equestria know of your return while you work with Ponyville in secret. We can’t have the country catching on to our true intentions until Sophia’s plan is ready to be executed. I will be reintroducing you to the nobles during the Grand Galloping Gala next spring.”

Luna groaned, “I hate such formal arrangements. I doubt they have changed much from a thousand years ago.”

“We will get through it together, Lulu.”

Once everyone was ready to leave, Umbra offered to show off some of her magical prowess by having Sophia and the ponies gather near for before she teleported everyone to Ponyville. From there the townsponies were gathered again where Celestia raised the sun as per the tradition of the Summer Sun Celebration. She then made her announcement about the return of her sister and co-ruler before she called on a few guards to arrange a chariot for the two of them to return to Canterlot.

Twilight had grown to enjoy the company of her new friends and decided to stay with them while Celestia wanted her to write weekly reports on what she learned about friendship. Starlight decided to stay with Twilight in order to make sure she didn’t forget her other friends while also wanting to learn more about the potential of the town Celestia had her eye on.

The girls returned to their homes to rest after the eventful night they had. However, as Starlight followed her friend back to their new home, she was stopped when Sophia appeared in front of her looking like she wanted to tell her something. “I’d like this conversation to be private.”

Starlight nodded, lighting her horn before a teal bubble formed around the two of them. The mare’s concentration lasted a few more seconds before she turned her attention to the bunny. “So, what did you want to say?”

“I want your opinion on the state of the Royal Guards and whatever else passes as military in this country. Keep in mind that I knew you were there during that conversation I had with Celestia ten years ago.”

Starlight fell on her rump as she stared wide-eyed at the rabbit in shock. “Y-you knew?!”

“I could sense your mind from far away. I was curious as to how you would react to that information so I let you listen in. I want to know what you think.”

Starlight took a few moments to regain herself while using some breathing exercises Twilight’s foalsitter taught them. “It’s pretty bad. I looked over a guard training manual that one of them let me borrow, which could be dangerous in itself if they had given it to one of their enemies. I looked into older manuals and each one was worded slightly differently but still the same. How can it be possible that the Guard hasn’t learned any new procedures for centuries?”

“A peace that lasts too long gives one the impression that there is no more need to change. It eventually leaves them weak so that they fall easily to a future enemy.”

Starlight snorted. “I could probably kick their flanks with a little combat training.”

A smirk grew on Sophia’s face, “Oh really, how about you put your bits where your mouth is? I can schedule some training sessions with me and my bodyguards and arrange a date with Celestia to show her and Luna how effective our training methods are. What do you say?”

Starlight narrowed her eyes at Sophia, “This is part of your plan, isn’t it?”

“Not at first, but I can see the defiant spark in your eyes and I can sense your determination. A demonstration could help, but I leave it up to you to decide if you want to be a part of the plan.”

It took a few moments for Starlight to think it over. While some part of her was a little annoyed at the thought of being used as a pawn, there were benefits as well. Plus, some small part of her relished the thought of exerting her dominance over the pitiful Royal Guard. She locked that part away under a heavy security door in her mind.

“Alright, I think we can arrange something in a few days once everypony’s rested and Twilight and I are acclimated to Ponyville.”

Sophia smiled, “Excellent! With you helping it betters the chances of reforming the Guard into an actual fighting force.”

Starlight dismissed the bubble and headed for the library while Sophia headed back to her house.

Author's Note

This concludes the first 2 episodes of Season 1. The rest of this season will involve either small to moderate fixes or completely altering episodes while making some changes to some of the characters.

Marine: "Lookin' forward to it." :rainbowdetermined2:

The Ticket Master

“Ow…” Starlight groaned as she fell on her face for the seventh time today. Bruises were forming all over her body.

The lilac unicorn began training to fight under Sophia’s tutelage a few days after the Void Luna incident after she decided that she wanted to train how to fight in order to show the Royal Guard how their current training regimen was woefully lacking.

When the first day of their training began, Sophia had Starlight sparring with Nova to see what she had to work with. Needless to say, Starlight had no hoof to hoof combat training whatsoever. Her magical prowess was still very impressive but Nova quickly discovered the weakness of unicorns and was able to counter that. Whenever Starlight tried attacking from a distance Nova closed the gap with her psionic abilities through the use of illusions and physical enhancements, much to the amazement of the unicorn.

“I’ve never seen an earth pony use that kind of magic before,” Starlight remarked as she shakily got back on her hooves.

“Any pony can do what I did if their psychic abilities were awakened,” Nova replied. “Psychic power doesn’t come from a pony’s magical wellspring but from their very minds. I’ve been training my abilities since I was a chi…foal. Tosh is similar to me except his own powers were enhanced by drugs.”

“Drugs?” Starlight questioned. “Like with zebra alchemy?”

“Not quite, it’s more like a substance extracted from another world made into a hallucinogenic drug made to enhance psychic abilities. It’s an illegal substance since it has a tendency to cause psychosis with highly aggressive behavior, making them a danger to themselves and everycreature around them; a psychotic timebomb.”

“But if Tosh uses that stuff why isn’t he going crazy?”

“Because he claims that he disciplines his mind to keep himself in control during the hallucinations. He instills strict discipline in others like him to keep them from going off the rails. Personally, I think he’s just a rare case since those like him have been known for being very eccentric.”

“Does that mean he outmatches you?”

Nova snorted, “He wishes. He may be a psychic powerhouse but my ways are more surgical and have better utility. Though he still finds a way to outwit me sometimes. I begrudgingly admit that Tosh and I are about evenly matched as our sparring records show. Two hundred thirty two wins, two hundred thirty losses and fifty draws from whenever our attacks knock both of us out or we collapse from exhaustion.”

“Wow, that’s quite the rivalry you two have going,” Starlight noted before she took up a combative stance. “I think this will be the last one for today, I’m already going to be sore in the morning so one more round isn’t going to change anything.”

Nova responded in kind to Starlight’s stance though both agreed to have this round be hooves only.

Two weeks after the Void Luna incident, Twilight was assisting Applejack with harvesting part of the orchard while Spike was on Twilight’s back examining apples. While the dragon helped himself to one of Applejack’s apples, he ended up belching out a letter from Celestia. Spike read the letter dramatically to announce the upcoming Grand Galloping Gala next spring. The letter also came with three golden tickets.

Applejack stared in awe at the three tickets. “Whoa, three? You and Spike, but who else are ya bringin’?”

“Probably Starlight since she’s my fellow student,” Twilight replied.

“Aww, but why do I have to go to such a frou-frou event?” Spike complained.

“Because you know you want to, no need to be all macho about it,” whispered a familiar voice an inch from the right side of Spike’s head, causing the dragon to scream and jump, nearly hitting his head on a tree branch. Sophia giggled at his reaction.

Applejack ignored the antics and sighed in disappointment, “So it’s gonna be you two and Starlight, huh? Darn shame, ah wanted to set up an apple stand there so ponies could be chowin’ our tasty vittles. Ah could drum up a lotta business for the farm that way.”

“Hate to burst your bubble Applejack, but I can’t imagine you would be able to sell much of anything at an event like that,” Sophia explained. “A formal event like the Gala is most likely to be catered by the high class chefs of Canterlot and funded by the crown. That means free food for the guests. Ponies will be drawn to the free food more than the food they have to buy, no matter the quality. Not to mention the nobility hate almost everything made by low class ponies. You would be lucky to sell anything.”

Applejack scowled at the rabbit. She knew Sophia was being honest about what she said, but it was still painful to hear. “And how would you know about how formal event’s work?”

“Because where I came from I’ve hosted my fair share of formal events and each one I paid a catering company to provide food for each one. You don’t draw in guests without the promise of free food.”

Applejack sighed in defeat, “Guess ah wouldn’t need the ticket after all.”

“I didn’t say that you couldn’t profit off of the event, I only pointed out the flaw in your delivery. If Twilight is willing, she can make a request to the Princess to add Sweet Apple Acres to the list of caterers where the crown will pay for the food you provide and the farm gets a hefty sum for the effort. It doesn’t guarantee that ponies will eat the apple products but you still get paid in the end.”

Applejack’s ears perked up as she heard Sophia’s idea. It intrigued her to say the least. “Ah didn’t think of it that way.” She looked at Twilight with a pleading expression. “Please Twi, mah farm needs this.”

Twilight gently smiled, “Of course I’ll help, Applejack.” She was then squeezed tight enough by the farm mare that she could hear her bones popping. “Painful…need air!”

She was quickly released with an apology from Applejack.

“What’s going on? Why is Applejack suddenly getting all huggy?” asked a scratchy voice from above. Rainbow had a confused look on her face as she asked that.

“Twi is gonna get the Princess to allow mah family to provide food for the Gala.” Applejack then frowned. “And quit nappin’ in mah trees!”

“The Gala? The Grand Galloping Gala?! The Wonderbolts perform at the Gala every year! This is the perfect chance for me to show my stuff to them.” Rainbow went on to voice her fantasy about the moves she would show off to impress her idols.

“Actually Rainbow, I’d recommend against causing a scene at the Gala,” Sophia warned. “The event is not the place to show off. Doing so will only make you look like an attention-seeking foal to them. Besides, I’ve met the Wonderbolts and they know me. Spitfire respects my ability and military acumen. I’ve dropped your name among others on her desk and given her my analysis of your strengths and weaknesses.”

“Psh! I have no weaknesses!” Rainbow scoffed.

“Because you blind yourself with your ego that you can’t recognize the areas where you need work,” Sophia countered. “A Wonderbolt is more than just a bunch of ponies who know fancy stunts, Rainbow. A Wonderbolt works to improve themselves every day and understands their limits. They are a team for a reason because they work together and use their strengths to make up for the weaknesses of their teammates. They are a unit that works with each other instead of trying to hold the spotlight. Before you can hope to be a Wonderbolt, you need to know yourself first.”

“Tch! Whatever.” Rainbow then flew off. Sophia rolled her eyes as she saw the pegasus leave. She would get the mare to listen to her soon enough.

Twilight sighed before turning to Applejack, “So are we finished here? The chores I mean.”

“Ah, yeah, ah can handle the rest from here. Go and get yourself somethin’ to eat.”

With a small smile, Twilight made sure Spike was on her back before leaving the farm. On her way to a nearby restaurant, she was stopped by Pinkie. “Hey Twilight, I heard Dashie say that you’re going to the Gala with Starlight?”

“Yeah, I take it that you have thoughts about it too?”

A vigorous nod answered that. This was followed by a song and dance number that featured her idea of what the Gala was: the biggest party of all with everything that Pinkie used for her parties and then some.

“I’m gonna have to stop you there, Pinkie.” Sophia interrupted. “The Gala is not that kind of party.”

“It’s not? Then what kind of party is it?”

“It’s a formal event that is intentionally stuffy because that’s how nobles like their parties. It’s no place for foals to play around and it’s also a place where the nobles get together to talk politics.”

Pinkie had a disturbed look on her face when she heard that, “That doesn’t sound fun at all. Maybe I could help jazz it up?”

“And wind up getting the nobles angry at you while treating you with contempt and condescension. The nobility don’t think like the ponies you’re used to catering to. They like their parties to be calm and stuffy because it makes them feel like they are flaunting their superiority over others.”

“That’s because they don’t know what a good party is.”

“Maybe, but with the way they were raised they aren’t about to show you any gratitude for causing chaos at one of their parties.” Sophia paused as she thought about something. “But then again, I don’t have a single ounce of respect for such ponies who are content to stick to their outdated traditions and the status quo they would fight hard to maintain is detrimental to my plans. My advice would be to attend the Gala and give them the shake up they desperately need.”

Pinkie gave a cartoonishly serious face as she considered the bunny’s words before an idea popped into her head and a broad smile on her face. “I’ve got it! I’m gonna do my best to make those boring, stuffy nobles smile. I have a lotta planning to do! Bye!” With that the crazy pink mare raced off and left a temporary dust cloud in the shape of herself in its place.

Twilight gave Sophia a confused look, “Did you just encourage Pinkie to cause chaos at the Gala?”

Sophia shrugged, “Part of bringing about change is to break apart the stagnation and Pinkie is good at that.”

Twilight would have thought more about that but was too hungry to do so at this time. Instead she continued her path toward the local restaurant. There she ordered a daisy and daffodil sandwich and Spike ordered hay fries, complaining that there needed to be a place that served gemstones to dragons.

“Mind if we sit with you?” Rarity and Fluttershy joined Twilight and Spike at the table, with the lavender mare’s permission, where the two newcomers quickly ordered what they usually ordered.

“So I heard from the grapevine that you and Starlight are going to the Gala next spring?” Rarity asked. Twilight nodded in affirmation. “I hope you make the most of your time there. I, personally, cannot stand Canterlot and their stubborn ways. Inventors like myself are seen as pariahs there.”

Twilight felt sorry for Rarity, partly because there weren’t any schools in Equestria that could have helped her to hone her skills and because she was right in how ponies in other cities in Equestria would treat somepony like her. Twilight was a forward-thinking pony herself but the only reason she could pursue her own scientific exploits was because she was protected by Princess Celestia. However, despite not having the same protections, Twilight couldn’t help but be awestruck by what her friend had accomplished. Between the refining process of turning gemstones to metal and creating a mechanical body for her sister, Twilight couldn’t help but be a bit jealous.

However, when Spike found out about the refining process and the fact that the product was inedible by dragons, he didn’t have a very good opinion of Rarity, who had created something that would turn his favorite food into an inedible material.

“By the way Spike, would you mind testing something for me?” Rarity asked.

“Huh? What is it?” Spike was then given a crucible that the mare held in her magic because it was too hot for her hooves to touch. Inside the container was what appeared to be a glittering blue substance that looked thick. Given his dragon nature, Spike could hold the crucible in his claws without worrying about the heat.

“It’s a byproduct of the gem refining process; something that was extracted when the gems were refined into metal. I want to know if it could be used for something.”

“Rarity, don’t give Spike waste material!” Twilight admonished. However, Spike was surprised when he smelled the appetizing aroma coming from it. He dipped a claw in it then stuck it in his mouth.

The moment the substance reached his tongue his eyes widened in shock. “What the hay!? This is amazing!” That was about the time when the food arrived. Spike quickly got the idea to dip the hay fries into the substance and tuned out the world while the mares stared at him. The substance made the fries taste much better like it was a condiment that was made just for him. “It tastes like gemstones but the flavor is ten times better than any gem I’ve ever tasted.”

“Really?” Twilight questioned. “Hmm…perhaps the process separated the ‘starship metal’, as Sophia called it, from the part dragons like, as if removing impurities.” As Spike considered chugging down the rest of the substance, Twilight took the crucible away from him with her magic. “I think we should be careful about how much you consume. It seems to be a liquid concentrated form of gemstones and could lead to excessive weight gain if you consume too much of it.”

“Aww…” Spike pouted.

Twilight gave a motherly smile in response. “Don’t worry Spike, I’ll work on a way to make this stuff healthier for you so you can put it on all of your food in the future.”

“Well, alright Twilight. If anypony can do it, I know you can.”

With that out of the way, Twilight turned her attention to the mare who hasn’t said anything the whole time. “So what are your thoughts on the Gala, Fluttershy?”

The mare in question was not paying attention to the conversation so she was startled when her name was called. “Uh um, me? W-well, I…I don’t really care about the Gala, though I would like to see the gated garden that surrounds the dance.” She then went on to talk about the flora that bloomed only on that night and fauna of the garden.

“I see, though if you could go, would you?”

“I…I don’t know. As nice as the gardens are, I don’t want to go there if any of my friends miss out.”

“Fluttershy, you shouldn’t deprive yourself of the experience simply because I’d rather not be there,” Rarity chided.

“I’m sorry Rarity, but the answer is no.”

Despite Fluttershy’s unwillingness to go to the Gala if given the opportunity Twilight had a feeling that she might change her mind some time between now and the Gala. Now that she had food in her belly she could see that her friends have their own desires to see the Gala.

After leaving the restaurant, Twilight had Spike send her latest friendship report and a request for more tickets for her friends and for the Apple family to provide some of the catering. Though she decided to hold on to the tickets until her friends were certain about going, locking them in her desk drawer while making Spike promise not to tell anypony about them.

After that she wrote a letter to Moondancer and the others about Starlight, Spike and herself going to the Gala along with an offer to ask the Princess to send them each a ticket if they wish to attend too.

Just as Twilight sent the last of her letters, Starlight came into the library looking like she just came back from a brawl. Numerous bruises could be seen through her fur and her lip was bleeding. “Starlight, what happened?”

“Sparring…with…Nova…is…painful!” she gasped. Right now it hurt to talk so she said no more as she limped over to the sofa and passed out once her body landed on it.

Twilight quickly ran a medical scan on her friend and was glad she didn’t get a concussion. Thankfully Nova was precise enough with her strikes that she spared Starlight of that issue. However it was still going to be a few days before she recovered from this.

Twilight could only hope that this wasn’t going to be a recurring theme for her.

Author's Note

Hope you enjoyed my redone version of The Ticket Master. Season 1 will not be in order of appearance because of the seasonal episodes and I felt gala preparations should take place near the event itself so don't fret if you notice that I seemingly skipped episodes.

New Potential

Life in Ponyville continued its usual routine of ponies wandering the town, performing their jobs and earning their bits before heading back home with their loved ones.

The week after Twilight received the tickets, there was a slight development at Sweet Apple Acres. The orchard had experienced a huge bumper crop and right around the time Big Mac had received an injury and was unable to work for a while.

With the enormity of the task Bright Mac decided that they needed to ask for help from the townsponies to harvest this crop. Applejack protested that they would be able to handle it themselves but parental authority overruled her opinion so she had no choice but to accept defeat.

As Applejack was heading to town to request help from her friends she spotted a herd of cows stampeding toward Ponyville. Reacting quickly, she called on her dog, Winona, and the two proceeded to divert the bovine herd back to their pen.

After that incident Applejack then asked her friends to meet her at her farm to help her with the harvest. Twilight and Starlight used their magic to levitate the apples from the trees while Rainbow swiftly collected them from the air. Fluttershy had her animals search the ground for any apples that might have missed Rainbow’s sweep. Rarity made a few upgrades to Applejack’s tractor so that it could pull a trailer holding many buckets of apples that Pinkie seemed intent on stacking as high as she could put them. Sophia helped out by keeping Pinkie’s stack stable with her telekinesis.

Surprising to the group of friends, the Ponyville weather team and other Ponyville residents came to the orchard to help out once they heard that the Apples had a bumper crop that was too large for them to handle. Sophia couldn’t help but smile as she found that Ponyville fostered a sense of community. Within hours the entire orchard was harvested.

In Twilight’s friendship report, she not only mentioned how it was okay to ask for help and to give help in return, she also mentioned that a sense of community was as good as having an entire town’s worth of friends.

Weeks after the harvest, Sophia noticed a change in the dynamic between Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. At first the pegasus seemed to be avoiding her for some reason until she realized that the pink mare wanted her help with a prank on Spike.

Rainbow ended up scaring the dragon into getting the hiccups while he was carrying scrolls which caused him to breathe fire on all of them. Sophia giggled at the thought of Celestia having scrolls raining down on her head.

The two started pulling more pranks on their friends while Pinkie forbade Rainbow from planning anything on Fluttershy since she was too sensitive for pranks.

The pranking duo even tried pulling some pranks on Sophia which ended up with the two of them playing the metaphorical role of villains in a classic cartoon where the villain would end up outsmarted and often humiliated at the same time.

Sophia had to wonder why they thought a classic rabbit trap set up as a carrot under a small box with a stick and rope holding it up would work. Instead she flipped the script by quickly replacing the carrot with a delicious cupcake which tricked the pink mare into going for it. She ended up caught in her own trap. When the mare struggled to get out, Sophia sat on the box while increasing her own weight to make it hard for her to escape without crushing the crate.

Rainbow bellowed in laughter as she saw her friend falling for her own prank to which the bunny looked at the pegasus with a wicked smirk. “Lightning rod says ‘what’?”

“What?” came the mare’s words on instinct. That was when she was struck in the flank by a bolt of psionic lightning. She only used a tiny amount of power so that the bolt would only sting a little. “Ow…:” She rubbed the afflicted area with a hoof.

“If you two are going to go around pranking others, you better be prepared to get pranked in return,” Sophia warned.

It was then that Pinkie emerged from the ground outside of the box. Sophia figured that she tunneled her way out. She was an earth pony after all. The pink mare was in a fit of giggles, “That was a good one. I’d better up my game with you.”

“I look forward to seeing you try,” Sophia challenged with a smirk.

The rest of the day was uneventful. It was the next day where things became a little rowdy with the arrival of one of Rainbow’s old friends from flight camp.

Despite her initial opinion of them, Sophia was curious about the ways of griffons, though she found this griffon’s behavior to be deplorable. Although this griffon who Rainbow introduced as Gilda did seem to have some respect for her friend, that courtesy didn’t extend to any other creature in this town.

Sophia frowned as she observed Gilda trying to drive a wedge between Rainbow and Pinkie by threatening the pink mare and causing her primitive helicopter that she used to reach her friend to crash.

The griffon’s behavior only worsened from there as she scared off Applejack’s elderly grandmother to steal one of the apples she was selling. This was followed up by her disrespecting Fluttershy who was trying to protect a family of ducks crossing the street.

Having enough, Sophia decided to intervene. She could see in the griffon’s mind that she believed herself a superior species to them so she could do as she pleased. Just as the griffon was about to roar in the shy mare’s face, Gilda suddenly felt a weight on her back. She turned her head back to see the blue rabbit giving her an innocent smile and a wave of her paw. “What in Maar’s hell is this thing?” Gilda asked.

“Sophia? What are you doing here?” Fluttershy asked.

“I’m just making sure there isn’t any trouble around here. You should probably make sure those ducks make it to their destination.”

“Oh, right!” Fluttershy then began to go after the ducks. However, she looked back with a concerned expression on her face. “Will you be alright?”

“Don’t worry about me, Fluttershy. I’m just going to straighten out a misunderstanding,” Sophia assured. Fluttershy nodded and raced off after the duck family.

Gilda turned her head to look at Sophia again only to find she wasn’t on her back anymore but the sound of a clearing throat made her look straight downward to find Sophia standing in front of her. “And what are you supposed to be? Her protector?”

“In a sense. Are all griffons this petty?”

“You tryin’ to start something, dweeb?” Gilda growled.

“I could ask you the same thing, what with you being disrespectful to every pony you come across.”

“And what are you gonna do about it?”

“I have some advice for you: don’t push your luck or you are likely to end up biting off more than you can chew. I have ways of humbling insubordinate cubs…or chicks…like you, whatever you call your young.”

“Oh that’s it! You are my prey now!”

Gilda tried to reach for Sophia with her claws only for her to grab air before she felt a pull on her tail which resulted in her being lifted into the air and slammed onto the ground on her back. “Wha?! How are you strong enough to throw me?!”

Gilda felt a surprisingly heavy weight on her barrel as she stared at Sophia in shock. That shock was further intensified when the bunny grinned at her, revealing sets of razor-sharp teeth. The griffon then saw her eyes and sensed something primal in them that made her feel like she was the prey and it terrified her.

“Now that I have your attention, I believe you have a few ponies to apologize to. It’s apparent that flight camp didn’t teach you discipline, an oversight that I intend to rectify before I allow you to leave Ponyville. Meet me on the outskirts this evening. I’ll shine a light to lead you to me.”

“And why should I?” Gilda stated defiantly, though that came out weak as her mind reeled from Sophia’s display of dominance.

Sophia put on an innocent smile that belied her sadistic thoughts. “You seem to believe that you have a choice. Well…I suppose you do have a choice. You will be going through my boot camp, it’s just a matter of whether you go through it with broken legs or not.”

That statement took the last bit of defiance from the griffon. Reluctantly, Gilda acquiesced to Sophia’s orders though she still had to get one thing out, “Just what kind of monster are you?”

With an innocent smile Sophia replied, “The kind that you really don’t want to make an enemy of if you value not being their chicken dinner.”

Gilda gulped and nodded numbly before flying off. The rest of the week was spent with Gilda hanging out with Rainbow and her friends while being subjected to a torturous boot camp in the evening by Drill Instructor Sophia with the intention of instilling a soldier’s mentality into the griffon. She also subjected her to a series of obstacle courses that she ran with the griffon without using her powers. Gilda was surprised that Sophia performed the training exercises with her and did them better than she could which made the griffon feel her competitive urges take over.

Gilda also apologized to Pinkie for coming between her and Rainbow Dash, then to Granny Smith for scaring her and stealing an apple. The elderly mare had her pay for the apple. Finally she apologized to Fluttershy for being rude to her earlier.

Sophia showed that she could levitate herself and move at fast speeds which had them competing in flight races. However, Sophia beat her every time. Though this frustrated Gilda, Sophia encouraged her to use this as an opportunity to push herself further.

By the end of the week Gilda was too tired to cause trouble. Though Gilda didn’t complete the training, since a week was hardly enough time for a proper training regimen, she had learned a hard lesson about where her behavior would lead her. However she was also inspired to better herself as a result of Sophia’s words and actions.

Unfortunately she couldn’t stay in Ponyville any longer since she had other places to be. She said her farewells to Rainbow and her friends before flying off.

In the end Sophia got the information she needed about the griffons. She found them to be a proud race, though too much so for their own good. When something shattered that pride it left them wearing their insecurity on their proverbial sleeves. Fixing this issue would not be an easy one since they wouldn’t accept help from any non-griffon. Though with Gilda, it was possible that Sophia may have given their species a nudge in the right direction.

Only time would tell if that was enough.

Author's Note

One little bit of wisdom I've learned is that fear is one way of gaining someone's respect for a time but loyalty can be gained by being an inspiration to others. This chapter was my attempt at showing that.

Ponyville Days

“The Great and Powerful Trixie thanks you for the new caravan, mayor. Your town is truly one of the most hospitable ones she…I have ever known. How can…I be able to repay you?” Trixie struggled to use first person talk, even though it made her uncomfortable to use it.

“Don’t you worry about that, miss Trixie. You helped save our town by carrying that Ursa Major back to its cave,” Mayor Mare responded.

“Actually that was an Ursa Minor, a baby,” Twilight corrected. “Still, I didn’t know that ponies could be capable of psychic powers without using their horn.”

“I wasn’t sure about that either until I met Trixie when she came into town,” Sophia admitted. “It’s possible that there are more ponies out there who could become psychics one day.”

“But that doesn’t answer how she awakened to that power in the first place.”

“I think it’s because for some reason magic and psychic energy tend to compete against each other and magic usually ends up suppressing the psychic power. It may be that Trixie’s magic was average or it could be that her psychic power was exceptional to begin with when I detected signs of it within her. I can’t say for certain.”

“Still, Trixie thanks you for helping her to bring out that power. Perhaps Trixie can truly become great and powerful one day.”

“You’re free to come to Tosh, Nova and myself if you wish to train your power. If you ever feel the need to step up to protect Equestria with that power then we can help you to become a terror on a battlefield,” Sophia offered.

“Trixie will consider it. For now, Trixie needs to return to the road. Most of Trixie’s stage supplies were salvaged from the wreckage but will need to put on a few more shows to recoup her losses. Farewell everypony, Trixie shall make her return someday.”

With that Trixie hitched herself up to her new caravan and proceeded down the road out of town.

It was a week after Trixie left that Fluttershy somehow found herself ignoring her usual anxieties while patching up a large dragon atop a mountain. Sophia could tell that she was running on adrenaline and her motherly mentality was active.

Earlier Twilight received a missive from Celestia that explained a cloud of smoke covering Equestria was coming from a dragon and they had a mission to convince them to take their nap somewhere else.

The trek up the mountain was a difficult one, partially because Fluttershy was completely frozen up and adamant about not wanting to meet the dragon. Because of this Sophia had to telekinetically carry her up the mountain against her will.

Once they reached the peak where the dragon was sleeping, Twilight and her friends each tried their own ways of getting the dragon to acknowledge them but the creature couldn’t see them as anything less than pests buzzing around his lair.

When Rainbow decided to try the violent approach the dragon reacted in kind and nearly burnt the ponies to a crisp with his fire breath. Sophia intervened and prevented the dragon from breathing which ended up with the two getting into a fight. The dragon was surprised that a creature smaller than a pony could be strong enough to slam him against a wall, let alone fly without wings. The dragon tried swiping at her with his claws but Sophia was too small and too fast for him to make any effective hits and she continued to dodge him.

Fluttershy pleaded for the two to stop fighting but her timid, soft voice was heard by no creature, not even her friends. Rainbow was cheering for Sophia to tear his scales up which left her timid friend feeling disturbed that her friend would think of such a violent act. She began to feel bad for the dragon who was getting utterly thrashed by the bunny. Pinkie was calling for Sophia to use her sharp, pointy teeth.

After another minute of watching the one-sided fight, Fluttershy had enough and ignored her fears and flew between the two while holding her hooves toward them and screaming for them to stop with everything her voice could put out. This surprised everyone around her since this was the first time she had ever raised her voice to such a level.

Even when all eyes were on her, Fluttershy seemed to forget to care at that moment. She then proceeded to scold the dragon for being a jerk to her friends and then proceeded to scold Sophia for being mean to the dragon. Not wanting to let the mare lose her nerve at this time, Sophia pretended to look mollified.

In reality, Sophia had no intention of causing any real harm to the dragon but she saw this as an opportunity to bring out Fluttershy’s courageous side. She actually wanted the mare to intervene with their fight. The dragon provided an opportunity for the exercise in self-confidence. Dragons were made of tougher stuff than most creatures in this world so she knew he could take a few light hits.

Once they were sure the dragon was not going to cause trouble for anypony, Sophia had Twilight and the others, except Fluttershy, leave the mountain while giving them every assurance that their friend was safe with her around and given the fight they saw, the others believed her.

Fluttershy was tending to the damaged scales and bruised areas on the dragon when Sophia walked up to the pegasus with a smile on her face. The mare heard her approaching and gave a sidelong glance. “What is it?” she asked in a gentle tone.

“I simply want to point out that what you did was a very courageous act. You faced your fears of large dragons and now you are trying to mend him as if you don’t care what he is.”

Fluttershy remained silent for a moment while she thought about how to respond to that. However, Sophia’s comment did leave her feeling abashed. “I…I couldn’t just let you beat the poor dragon to death.”

“He wasn’t in any danger,” Sophia assured. “Dragons can take a beating and I held back. I wanted to show you that you are capable of facing your fears. The fact that you are here taking care of his injuries shows that you have taken a big step toward overcoming your fears.”

“That or she realized that there was something scarier than me,” the dragon chuckled, though winced when he felt his bruised ribs. “You held back against me? Just how strong are you?”

Sophia shrugged, “Let’s just say that if I fought you seriously things would have gotten ugly for you.”

“Does this mean you and this dragon…?” Fluttershy questioned but was quickly cut off by Sophia.

“Oh no, the dragon coming here was just a coincidence. I simply saw a teaching opportunity for you and took it.”

“It’s true,” the dragon agreed. “I came here of my own accord. Although now that I think about it I do remember a rabbit a few years ago beating up a few dragons and impressing the Dragon Lord. Lord Torch said that we should stay away from wherever the rabbit declared her territory. If you are that rabbit then please accept my humble apologies. I will be out of here once this kind pony is done playing doctor.” He chuckled and got a blush from Fluttershy.

More time passed as life in Ponyville continued. At one point there was a large storm scheduled since the weather pegasi accidentally skipped a scheduled shower the previous week, possibly because of the smoke cloud from the dragon.

Applejack and Rarity proceeded to prune a few trees that were too close to houses with the farm mare being impressed with the engineering mare’s ingenuity as she was able to craft a chainsaw that was powered by her magic and cut down any branches that would pose a threat to property.

However, while they managed to complete their task the two weren’t able to finish before the rain arrived. Twilight was nearby to offer them shelter which the two gratefully accepted. Since the storm wasn’t going to let up for a while and Twilight was going to be otherwise lonely since Spike and Starlight were in Canterlot on business, the three decided to have a slumber party. The three made some good memories together.

A few weeks after the storm, Tosh decided to take a walk around Ponyville where he soon discovered Apple Bloom speaking with a zebra mare who was wearing a brown cloak. Using his ability to cloak himself without his cloaking device thanks to Sophia’s tutelage, he moved close enough to hear the two.

“This has been quite the experience. The friendly nature of you ponies has given my herb hunting a positive expedience,” the zebra beamed.

“Glad we could help, Zecora,” Apple Bloom replied. “Ever since Tosh moved into town the folks have warmed up to you zebras.”

“Another zebra you say? Perhaps I will have an opportunity to meet him someday.”

“Maybe, are ya sure Sophia is alright? Those blue flowers you mentioned seemed to have really messed with her head.”

Hearing the filly’s words, Tosh decided to drop the observation and approach them while deactivating his invisibility. “What’s this about something happening to Sophia?” The two females were startled by his entrance.

“Tosh? What’re ya doin’ here?” Apple Bloom asked.

“The reports didn’t mention another zebra living in this part of the world. You must either be an explorer or an exile.”

Zecora gave a wary look at the zebra stallion. “My exile is self-imposed. What about you? Why are you here?”

“Zecora? Ya didn’t rhyme that time?” Apple Bloom asked.

Zecora’s gaze softened as she glanced at the filly, “My rhymes are a friendly evoke meant only for you pony folk.”

Tosh chuckled at the zebra’s antics. “I mean you no hostility, Miss Zecora. I simply wish to know what happened to my commanding officer, Sophia.”

Zecora gave the stallion a confused look. She had never imagined that a rabbit would be commanding a zebra. However she decided to leave it be and answered his inquiry. “If you are referring to the rabbit, then she is at my hut being treated after she was exposed to a plant in the Everfree.”

“Yeah, it made her behave really weird like she was three ponies all wrapped into one,” Apple Bloom described. “One was actin’ like a Royal Guard officer, one was constantly talkin’ into our heads and another was sayin’ some real scary things.”

“There is no need to worry, young Bloom, your friend will be better soon,” Zecora assured.

Zecora then escorted Apple Bloom and Tosh to her hut in the forest. Tosh quickly felt a spiritual presence in a way that felt familiar to him. It felt like the spirits were warding off any danger on the path. “The protective spirits on this path, is this your doing?”

“You can sense them as well? Even among my own kind it is rare to meet a zebra in tune to the spirit world,” Zecora noted.

Tosh’s hoof reached for the doll around his neck as he looked at it. “I learned about the spirit world a long time ago from my grandmother. She gave a part of her spirit to this doll so that it would protect me until the end of my days.”

“That’s why ya go around wearin’ that thing…” Apple Bloom realized.

The three continued talking until they arrived at Zecora’s hut. Tosh never expected to be hit by a wave of nostalgia when he saw the masks decorating the hut as they reminded him of his grandmother when she kept a collection of masks she had made herself. He held a lot of respect for his grandmother who did her best to remind others of the old ways that were once thought abandoned after their ancestors were exiled from Earth.

Once inside the hut, Tosh spotted Sophia in a small tub, which was more like a bucket, of water that had a fragrant smell to it. His commanding officer had a grumpy look on her face. “Seems like you had an exciting day,” he joked.

“Tosh…” Sophia began, trying to keep herself from violently expressing how embarrassed she felt from her ordeal, “When we get back, we need to make sure we gather all data on the flora of this forest before setting paw or hoof here again. I do not want to get blindsided by plants again.”

Tosh gave a mock salute, “We shall see it done, ma’am,” he chuckled. He then looked at the filly and wondered why she followed them here. “So what’s the little filly doing here anyway?”

“Zecora’s been teachin’ me how to make potions. Mah parents know but Applejack and Mac don’t. Ah’d rather not have sis gettin’ overprotective.”

Tosh and Sophia, who was now cured of the effects of the flower that she came to know as Poison Joke, stayed in Zecora’s hut for a while until the zebra mare finished today’s lesson with the filly who seemed to follow instructions well. Afterward, they escorted the filly back to Ponyville while making sure her siblings were none the wiser about where she had been.

Alan Schezar observed the planet impatiently as he waited for his crew to finish analyzing the planet. Since they were pirates who were on the run from the Federation, it was difficult to obtain anything close to cutting edge technology, even from the black market. Because of this the analysis of the planet took weeks to finish.

“So you’re saying that there’s some powerful psionic signatures on the surface?”

“Yes sir, three of them. One of them is off the scale.”

“So, either this is where Kerrigan made her new home or the leader of the Starcraft Federation is checking the planet out too,” Schezar noted. Though if he were a betting man, it was probably the latter. “No matter, she’s still one person. She can’t be everywhere on this world. I am not giving up this treasure trove of minerals and energy to her.”

“What are your orders, sir?”

“We need to establish ourselves on this planet. But first we need to have our pets ready to go. We still have that Cerebrate, right? Have it set itself up on the planet’s moon. And be careful that it doesn’t get harmed. Last I checked it’s the last of its kind. As for a landing zone, we will need a place far from the psionic signatures so we can establish a base of operations without much trouble. The continent southeast of the target continent will have to do. Once we are established we can begin planning our attack on the target continent. Now, let’s get started.”

“Aye aye, sir!” the crew called out in unison.

Reality and Reconciliation

The guards in front of the castle were perplexed and spent a few minutes staring between each other and the blue rabbit who was standing before them waiting impatiently for them to go through the motions. Since this was Canterlot, Sophia figured she was going to wait for a while so she rushed off for a moment to borrow a book from the Canterlot Library while she waited.

Seeing a blue rabbit reading a book confused the guards further but Sophia could wait them out. However, she really didn’t feel like it. In the end, she used the shadows to turn invisible and moved past the guards who decided that the rabbit was a figment of their imaginations and left it at that.

Nopony could say that Sophia didn’t try to use the legal channels to get into the castle.

Sophia’s destination was Luna’s bedchambers as the lunar princess had finally decided that she had enough of being silent and requested a meeting with her.

The hallway dedicated to Luna was decorated with dark colors with onyx chandeliers that gave a dim lighting that gave ponies just enough light to see where they were going. The walls had navy blue wallpaper and black marble. Some of Luna’s artwork from a thousand years ago was hung on the walls like a gallery.

Sophia stood before the indigo doors to the princess’s room where she removed her shadowy cloak. The guards at the door stared at the rabbit in shock but were warned to expect a small blue rabbit to visit her. Since Sophia fit the description one guard knocked on the door to announce the princess’s guest. “Enter,” Luna requested. The guards opened the doors and let her inside.

The theme of Luna’s bedroom matched the theme of the hallway except the floor was violet with a patterned blue rug in the center. A large queen-sized bed stood on one side of the room and more of Luna’s art decorated the walls.

Luna was at her desk, or workbench as it appeared to be since there were all sorts of tools on it. She appeared to be inspecting what appeared to be a flintlock pistol. The princess appeared to have a giddy look on her face.

As far as Luna’s appearance went, she did appear to be recovering from her ordeal months ago. She was slowly regaining her original stature and her azure mane appeared transparent at the tips.

Satisfied with her work, Luna got out of her chair and turned to face Sophia with a cheerful smile on her face. “We are grateful for your arrival, Sophia! It has been so long since we have had another to share our inventions with.”

“Sorry it took so long, the guards at the entrance couldn’t cope with seeing a talking blue rabbit so I had to sneak my way past them,” Sophia replied.

Luna’s smile faded as she let out an exasperated sigh, “Yes, the Royal Guards are worse than we remember. Back then the guards had the discipline to not stand around questioning strange appearances because they were trained by the very best that we scouted. We heard that our commanders went into exile after our banishment for fear that the conspirators would target them next.”

“Any idea where they went?”

Luna shook her head sadly, “It may be some time before we discover the whereabouts of their descendants. They fled with the entire Night Guard which was composed mainly of bat ponies, though there were other tribes within as well. We can only think of two places where they could have fled: the colonies of southeast Equestria or across the sea to Chiropterra. We will not be able to do anything if they have fled across the sea.”

“We can worry about that another time. What did you need?”

“Ah! I wanted to show you this.” Luna then showed the flintlock pistol that lacked a trigger guard to protect against accidental discharges. It made sense since ponies were lacking in thin appendages, though. It would be useless against the coming threat but it was a start. “What do you think?”

“You want my honest opinion?” Sophia asked. Luna nodded. “Very well, it’s nice that the firearm has finally been invented and with pony society as it is now it can be quite formidable. However, against Schezar and his pirates it would be the equivalent of a unicorn hurling stones at a fortified vault door with their hooves. Mind you, we need to train ponies to use firearms but they will also need to quickly learn how to wield more advanced firearms.”

To demonstrate her point, Sophia opened a rift into her personal pocket dimension and pulled out a large rectangular metal block that had a chain of small metal cylinders attached to it. The object was about the length of Celestia’s body. Sophia held the object in her telekinesis while pointing it upward to avoid having Luna or herself in the line of fire.

“This is one of the weapons that the enemy will bring against us. This weapon is standard issue to the most basic rank and file of their army. It’s called a Gauss Rifle and it fires thirty rounds a second though it has a capacitor that limits fire to short, controlled bursts. A few rounds of this is more than enough to turn a pony into pulp.”

Luna gulped, “Mayhap our shields may be able to block such a destructive force?” she offered weakly.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a private training area we could use, would you?”

Luna quietly nodded and teleported both of them and the rifle to a deserted training area for the Royal Guard. Since it was nighttime, there were no guards training at this time. “You wish to give a demonstration?” Luna asked.

Sophia nodded, “Let me show you just a taste of what you ponies will be up against.” She then pointed the business end at one of the training dummies and fired a burst of rounds at it. Only the base remained. “Now try to shield the next one.” Luna nodded and lit her horn. Not taking any chances she poured a significant amount of magic into her shield spell. Sophia took aim and fired another burst. To Luna’s dismay the bullets quickly destroyed the shield and turned the dummy into swiss cheese and the lunar monarch was now left with a small headache.

“These bullets can punch through two inches of steel plating and the heaviest armor your guards wear is barely an inch thick. While the bullets still use gunpowder, the metal casings are also propelled through magnetic induction. This means that these bullets can break the sound barrier. While this also causes the weapon to have a very high recoil, this recoil is suppressed by the enemy’s armored suits which utilize mechanical strength to keep the rifles from kicking and ensuring the bullets fly straight.”

Luna began showing signs of hyperventilating which prompted Sophia to send soothing psionic waves to the lunar monarch. “By the stars, this is what we’re up against? An army of armored soldiers who wield these terrifying weapons?”

“They have even deadlier weapons at their disposal. This is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.”

“This is dire news indeed. Tia must be informed of this. Do you know of a way we can defend against such an assault?”

“Thankfully, you ponies have the resources to improve your protection from these weapons. The starship metal that Rarity is producing can be used to make armor that will protect against a few bursts. The same metal can be used to produce similar weapons, but your ponies have to be on board for this war before we can work on increasing production.”

“I see. We thank you for this demonstration, Sophia, you have given us much to think about.”

“I am glad to open your eyes to the situation. By the way, how is Umbra doing as your advisor?”

“She has been most helpful in assisting us with becoming accustomed to modern times. Her magic is truly impressive as well. She may even surpass Tia and I.”

“Glad to hear it. Speaking of your sister, I heard that she was planning a visit to Ponyville.”

“She was, but decided to cut it short while making up an excuse such as an ‘infestation in Fillydelphia’ to spare Twilight the humiliation.”

“Yes, I heard that a fair portion of the town was eaten by a swarm of tiny ravenous pests and it was thanks to the quick thinking of Pinkie and Starlight that prevented the situation from becoming worse than it could have been.”

“Indeed. However, now it is time for us to perform our royal duties so we must bid each other farewell for now.”

“Alright, see you another time, Luna.”

“Pleasant dreams.”

Much to Twilight’s and Starlight’s surprise and delight, the mare in charge of teaching the foals in town, Miss Cheerilee, didn’t care much for some of the rules and guidelines set out by the E.E.A. Because of this, they were able to admit Spike into school. The teacher was happy to have a new student in class, despite his species.

Once the school year started, Spike was given all of the supplies he needed and led him to the schoolhouse. The dragon nervously entered the building where Cheerilee smiled when she saw him. “Ah, there you are. Class, please welcome our newest student. Would you please come up here to introduce yourself?”

Spike felt a little self conscious with so many eyes on him. His years of being homeschooled had not done wonders for his social skills and Canterlot was a hotbed of racism. Nothing he could have done would have prepared him for this day.

“Uh hi…M-my n-name is S-Spike. I’ve um…I’ve been homeschooled by Twilight and Starlight until now. Umm…”

“Ha! For a dragon you sure are timid,” mocked a certain filly from the back of the classroom.

“Shut it, Diamond Tiara!” Apple Bloom barked. “Nopony asked for yer opinion.”

“That’s enough Apple Bloom,” Cheerilee chided. “There’s an empty desk for you to use Spike.”

Spike nodded and proceeded to his seat.

The lesson that day was on the concept of cutie marks, a topic that held no relevance to Spike since dragons didn’t get cutie marks. However, he did notice that Apple Bloom seemed depressed for some reason though he guessed that it had to do with the fact that she hadn’t found her cutie mark yet. He also noticed Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were the same way.

During recess, Diamond Tiara showed off her tiara cutie mark and bragged about it, mostly to the three without cutie marks. However, her next words threatened to destroy her only friendship.

“I still can’t believe you blank flanks hadn’t gotten your cutie marks yet. You’re all eleven and you’re still blank. Talk about pathetic. Though I guess that will always be the case for Sweetie Belle. She will never get one since she threw her real body away.”

Upon hearing that, Sweetie looked down at the table looking like she was about to cry if she was capable of that.

“Hey! That’s low!” Spike snarled. “Where do you get off saying things like that?”

“Yeah, what did she ever do to you,” Apple Bloom shouted.

“Definitely a new low for you,” Scootaloo agreed.

“As much as I hate to say this DT, theyre right. That was just cruel,” Silver Spoon remarked, shocking the fillies.

“Whose side are you on?” Diamond barked in outrage.

“Yours, I was all for messing with them until they got their cutie marks but that one about Sweetie was taking things too far. You should apologize for that one.”

Feeling betrayed, Diamond’s tears flowed down her cheeks. Not caring who heard her anymore she screamed at those before her, “Fine! None of you are invited to my cutecenera!” She then ran back into the school just as Cheerilee came out to announce that recess was over.

Sophia was nearby to observe the conversation since she was originally there to see if Spike would be able to fit in with the class and it appeared that he was quickly becoming friends with Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Even Silver Spoon appeared to be hanging out with them, even if she was only doing so until Diamond Tiara cooled off.

Speaking of the angry filly, Sophia was curious about the circumstances of her behavior. From what information she gathered, Diamond Tiara came from a wealthy family with a successful business entrepreneur for a father and a mother who was the head of the school board. However, wealthy families also came with their own set of troubles such as parents who were never home enough to spend time with their daughter. Chances were that Diamond’s condescending behavior came from how she was being raised. It was time for some investigating.

“Nova, what can you tell me about Diamond Tiara’s living environment?” Sophia asked telepathically.

“The Rich household is your typical wealthy family living in a small town. The father, Filthy Rich, likes to dote on his daughter but is away a lot to manage his franchises. This has left Diamond Tiara in the care of her mother and the servants. The mother, Spoiled Rich, never made a name for herself and chose to marry into money. She seeks for her daughter to become what she wants her to become and subjects Diamond Tiara to the manipulation tactics typical in an overbearing parent.”

“So if things continue like this, Diamond Tiara’s nasty disposition will only worsen in time,” Sophia concluded.

“It’s unfortunate, but there’s nothing we can really do. Matters of a family’s household aren’t something that can be meddled with.”

“Actually, I think I might know someone who can help in this matter. I can only hope that his schedule is open.”

A week later at the Rich estate, Diamond Tiara was quietly eating her breakfast at the table while Spoiled Rich was carefully observing her to make sure she was eating it like a proper lady.

Her cutecenera came and went and the four fillies she was upset with were barred from attending as she wanted.

Diamond was still upset with Silver Spoon for betraying her, though once she had calmed down she had realized that what she said to Sweetie Belle was out of line. But what could she do? When she told her mother about what happened she told her that Silver Spoon would either come back to her pleading for forgiveness or she wasn’t worth being friends with in the first place. Diamond was at a loss about what she wanted to do because if she went against her mother then she wouldn’t have any parents who wanted to spend time with her and she really would be alone. That thought frightened her more than she would have wanted.

To the surprise of the mother and daughter, the door to the dining room opened and Filthy Rich strode into the room with a blue rabbit on his back. However, this rabbit was male and had white tufts of fur on the tips of his ears which were a bit spikey and his eyes were green, unlike Sophia’s eyes. Strangely, he also wore a tiny white business shirt and blazer with a green tie.

As the head of the family was seated by the servants, Filthy had another bring a cushion for the chair to his left for his new partner to sit in.

“Filthy, I thought you would be gone for a few more days,” Spoiled questioned. “And why did you bring vermin into the house?”

Filthy gave his wife a stern glare that completely mollified her, “Honey, please refrain from speaking that way to my newest business partner. It’s thanks to him that I am here now and I’ll be here a lot more from now on thanks to his investments and advice.” His gaze softened as he turned his head to Diamond and gave her a gentle smile. “And it means that I now have a lot more time to spend with you, my little princess.” Diamond’s mood suddenly b
ecame much lighter as she heard that.

“Happy to be of assistance to your franchise, Rich. I simply saw potential in your chain but I also saw how inefficient it was to go around the country to manage each store. Thanks to my investments, your stores will be outfitted with magical messaging systems where the managers will send you their financial statements along with annual reports so that you can monitor the stores from your own home.” The rabbit then turned to the females in the room. “My apologies for the lack of introduction. My name is Sigmund, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintances.”

“Just how is it possible for you to invest in my husband’s businesses?” Spoiled asked, being careful not to irritate her husband further. “And could you be related to that other blue rabbit doing as she pleases in Ponyville?”

Sigmund chuckled, “Despite appearances, I am a financially powerful entrepreneur and I have my paws in countless businesses in Equestria and beyond. And yes, Sophia is my sister. She’s been performing small changes to Equestria as a whole. However, she has no idea how to handle the financial sector. That’s where I come in.”

Filthy nodded before he lowered his tone and darkened his expression, “Since I am going to be staying home a lot more now, there are going to be some changes around here, especially in how our daughter is raised.” The two females gulped before Filthy lightened up his expression, looking at Diamond. “Diamond, I expect you to offer a sincere apology for those you’ve offended. Not just because it’s the right thing to do but you never know if those around you might become one of the greatest minds or influential voices in Equestria. It’s best that you befriend them now rather than later if they actually do become great.”

Diamond nodded eagerly, “Yes, daddy!”

Filthy’s cheerful expression returned, “Good, now let’s enjoy our breakfast.”

Later at the school house, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Spike noticed a change in Diamond Tiara’s demeanor. She seemed nervous for some reason. However, they decided to leave her alone and focus on the lesson.

The three fillies and dragon had formed a close bond in the week they had been together. After Diamond had hurt Sweetie’s feelings with her harsh comment the other three comforted her and promised that they would work together to find their cutie marks, eventually calling themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They allowed Spike into their group despite being unable to have a cutie mark.

During lunch, Silver Spoon decided to hang out with the Crusaders which wasn’t a surprise to them since she had sometimes hung out with them since the incident.

What was surprising was that they saw Diamond Tiara come to their table and prostrate herself before them. “I’m really sorry!” she cried. “I’m sorry about what I said to you, Sweetie Belle and I’m sorry for all those times I made fun of you for being blank flanks!”

The five were flabbergasted by their bully’s sudden change and wondered what happened to her. The strangest thing was that they could sense the sincerity in her tone. Before Apple Bloom could ask what happened, Sweetie Belle left the table and walked up to Diamond. The upset filly looked into the robotic filly’s eyes and saw a gentle smile on her metallic lips. “Why don’t you come sit with us? We can have a full table this way.”

Diamond returned the smile and accepted the invitation. The six spent some time trading their food while the items that Spike settled on ended up covered in the gem-based condiment that Rarity made for him.

However, Scootaloo wasn’t convinced of Diamond’s sincerity yet so she had to ask the question that’s been on their minds. “What brought this on, Diamond Tiara? Why are you suddenly being nice to us?”

“Well, to be honest, things at home have changed this morning, and it’s a big one,” Diamond replied.

“Changed? What’s your mother done this time?” Silver Spoon asked. She was aware of Diamond’s mother’s overbearing nature but chose to stay by her side because she really needed a friend. Silver still considered Diamond her friend despite what happened, but she also felt that her friend needed to understand that there were lines that shouldn’t be crossed.

“My father returned home early and announced that he was going to be playing a bigger role in our lives. He usually isn’t like that but whatever happened to him, I think I want it to stay that way since it means that mom has less say in how I live my life. And, I’m actually happy about that.”

Diamond Tiara suddenly found herself with a pair of gray hooves wrapped around her moments before more hooves wrapped around her, including metallic and draconic appendages. The group hug lasted several minutes until the hug started to become uncomfortable. They continued their lunch and spoke about various things until lunch period was over.

History books would show that this day was the day Equestria’s legendary unit came together.

Author's Note

I ended up with this one getting longer than usual because I kept adding more detail to some parts. I wanted to try to do more justice for this chapter so this was the result.

Pinkie Sense and Sonic Rainbooms

Today had been a strange, but amusing, chain of events. Unfortunately, it all came at Twilight’s expense.

Naturally, the mare was skeptical about things that couldn’t be scientifically explained and Sophia would have agreed with the sentiment if it weren’t for the fact that Pinkie’s ability to predict the future using bodily spasms was tied to her Toon Force ability.

When Sophia mentioned this to Twilight, the mare raised an eyebrow as her skeptical side was running on all cylinders. “Just what the hay is Toon Force?”

“It’s difficult to explain to a culture who has not discovered artistic animation yet. Let’s say that you draw a pony on a piece of paper and have it come to life on that paper. Then you can have this pony do whatever you please, limited only by your imagination, so long as you can do so on that piece of paper. You can commit unspeakable acts of violence against this pony, even disassemble it and it will always reassemble itself as if it were part of its function. You can have this pony flattened by a boulder and it will return to normal as if its body were akin to a rubber ball.”

“Okay, gruesome examples…but what does that have to do with Pinkie?”

“Let’s say that the world around Pinkie is that piece of paper but only she can become the artist’s drawing. That would explain why Pinkie can do things that normal ponies can’t.” Sophia paused for a moment as she chose her next words. “My theory is that Toon Force is a form of chaos magic that can’t really be controlled but it can act when there is an opportunity for comedy nearby, even if it can sometimes come at another pony’s expense.”

“Are you saying that all these bad things that have been happening to me today is because Pinkie’s strange powers think it’s funny?” Twilight asked.

“That’s my best theory. At some point I want to see if it’s possible to harness her powers against the coming threat.”

“So how do I stop it from targeting me?”

“Just take the fun out of it. I told you what I know about Toon Force as best as I could. Her Pinkie Sense seems to be tied to her cartoonish powers. It seems to work by altering reality in a way that nopony notices in order to make events line up with the joke. You were subjected to what is known in the entertainment world as a running gag, a repetition of the same joke in the most impactful of moments in order to remain funny. Her bodily spasms could be a reaction to her Toon Force acting on reality. Every detail, even the order the various spasms occur, could have its own meaning, like a language that nopony really knows how to translate properly, not even Pinkie.”

“Huh, I guess it does make sense in a nonsensical way. Chaos magic has always been unpredictable but I suppose Pinkie’s body has developed a way to bring a little harmony to this chaos through her Pinkie Sense.”

“So, do you feel better now?” Sophia asked.

Twilight nodded, “Yep, I may not be able to fully understand how it works but it does. I suppose that will have to be good enough.”

After that Twilight began to take Pinkie’s twitches seriously. Since Twilight was on to Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense, her chain of painful accidents came to an end.

On a side note, Twilight placed a spell on the hinges of all of the doors in her house so that they would open slowly since Spike had an annoying habit of throwing doors open with reckless abandon. It would be inconvenient for everypony, but she wanted to break the dragon of that habit before somepony really got hurt.

“Louder!” Rainbow shouted.

Fluttershy took a deep breath and let out her best cheer, “Yaaay.” There was next to no energy in that cheer.

“Ugh…” Rainbow groaned as she fell on her back in disappointment.

“Is she trying to put together a one-pony cheering squad?” Sophia asked as she approached Fluttershy.

“She needs me to be there for her for the upcoming Best Young Flyer competition. Since it takes place in Cloudsdale, the other girls can’t come since they can’t walk on clouds.”

“I’m sure Twilight knows a spell or two that could get the others up there.”

Speaking of the librarian, Rainbow’s latest attempt at a stunt that she was performing while Sophia and Fluttershy were talking ended up with her crashing through Twilight’s window and littering the floor in books. Sophia entered the library through the window that Rainbow crashed through and lent her assistance by levitating the books back on the shelves.

“Thanks for that, Sophia,” Twilight said. “You really have one of the most impressive telekinetic abilities I’ve ever seen.” She then gave a searing look at the intruder who buried her and the rest of her friends, including Moondancer who decided to pay her a visit today, in books. “May I ask what that was about?”

“Heh. Sorry,” Rainbow weakly stated. “I’m taking part in the Best Young Flyers competition in Cloudsdale. I wish you girls could come with me to cheer me on. Fluttershy’s great support but her cheering leaves something to be desired.”

“The Best Young Flyers competition?” Twilight inquired.

As Pinkie gave her very animated description of the competition, she also mentioned her hopes on Rainbow performing a Sonic Rainboom which she described as a sonic boom and a rainbow at the same time.

“So it’s a magic-infused sonic boom?” Sophia asked.

“Yep, and I even managed to pull it off once…when I was a filly,” Rainbow explained.

“And you are currently having trouble repeating the stunt?”

Rainbow snorted, “I can pull it off in my sleep, I’m the greatest flyer to ever come out of Cloudsdale.”

Sophia didn’t need to be a mind reader to know that Rainbow was putting on airs to make herself look impressive but she also considered that this might be an opportunity to work through some of her ego. She gave a challenging smirk, “Oh, then how about a competition, Miss Greatest flyer to ever come out of Cloudsdale. Here to Mount Canterhorn?”

Just like Sophia expected, Rainbow took the bait. “You’re on!”

A few minutes later, the two were lined up while facing Canterlot in the distance. Fluttershy was designated as the starter. She nervously raised a wing while the two were in their starting positions, muscles tensed. “Three…Two…One…” She then waved her wing, “Go!”

The two took off faster than the others could blink. Rainbow was pumping her wings and pushing herself as hard as she could while Sophia kept her face forward and her limbs pinned back to make herself as aerodynamic as a missile. Rainbow left a contrail of multiple colors while Sophia left a contrail of blue light.

Rainbow noticed that Sophia was keeping up with her. She had no idea how she was doing it since she had never seen unicorns move things with their horns anywhere near as fast as Sophia was moving.

Still, Rainbow wasn’t about to lose to a rabbit. “That the best you got?” Rainbow taunted. “I can still go faster.”

“Then let’s perform a sonic boom together.” Sophia offered.

“A…a sonic boom?” Rainbow nervously questioned.

Sophia smirked, “If you are so confident in your abilities then this should be no problem.”

“Uh…yeah, sure. No problem.” Rainbow nervously stated.

“Here we go! Three…two…one…!”

Rainbow then pushed herself as hard as she could to try to quickly pull off her Sonic Rainboom but the air resistance won that battle and sent her flying backwards. She saw herself flying uncontrollably toward a tree and knew that this was going to hurt a lot so she covered her face with her wings and braced for impact.

Only the impact never came.

It took a few moments for Rainbow to notice that she was being held in Sophia’s telekinetic hold. Even though Rainbow was saved from a visit to the hospital, she was still upset that she failed to perform her legendary stunt yet again.

“You allowed your doubt to become shackles to prevent you from breaking the sound barrier,” Sophia pointed out. “That stunt has to be performed with absolute certainty that you can pull it off. I know you are capable of it but you have to convince yourself of that as well. You can have your friends cheering for you all you want but the most important pony who needs to be cheering for you is yourself.”

“Pff, cool speech and all, but I am Rainbow Dash. I don’t have any doubt.”

Sophia gave a deadpan look at the stubborn mare. It appeared that it was time to hit her ego a little harder. “Did you think I was lying when I said I had connections with the Wonderbolts? You think I haven’t met Spitfire and her squad? I could dare you to find her right now and ask her if she knew me. She knows about you because I dropped your name on her desk and I volunteered to observe you and your development as a flyer and as a pony. You want to know what she wanted me to do? She wanted me to try and break you of your bad habits. She told me that the Wonderbolts don’t allow mavericks to be part of their team and that is how you are behaving. The Wonderbolts may be a team of stunt flyers but they are also the aerial branch of the Equestrian military and, in my opinion, in better shape than the rest of Equestria’s train wreck of a military. If you want to be a part of Equestria’s air force, then let me help you; coach you.”

“How could somecreature like you teach me anything?” Rainbow asked. Despite that, Sophia knew that she had the mare’s attention now. She could sense the intrigue in the pegasus’ mind.

“Remember your friend Gilda? She was a menace the day she came to visit. She wanted to get Pinkie away from you because she wanted you all to herself like you were her property. She also frightened Applejack’s grandmother away from her stall so Gilda could steal an apple. She would have screamed at, and possibly traumatized, Fluttershy had I not intervened. I subjected her to my own personal boot camp and it worked wonders in changing her behavior. You noticed that she started acting friendly toward your friends since that day, didn’t you?”

“Wait, you’re the reason she’s been nice to my friends?” Rainbow asked.

“If you had noticed her behaving like a shameless jerk toward your friends, would you have stayed friends with her?”

“I…I don’t know…” Rainbow seemed uncertain but Sophia could tell that another part of her knew that she didn’t want to be friends with somegriff who mistreated her friends. Another part was grateful that Gilda was straightened out.

“I want to help you recreate the Sonic Rainboom, for starters. If you let me train you, the Best Young Flyers competition will be the beginning of your steady rise to greatness. I will even help you to realize your full potential.” Sophia stuck her paw out. “So, do we have a deal?”

Rainbow raised a hoof hesitantly. She wasn’t certain if this would go well for her, but something in the rabbit’s eyes told her that this was her best chance to become the pony she had always wanted to be. She finally decided to take a chance and placed her hoof on Sophia’s paw. “Deal! Now, can you show me that sonic boom you were about to make?”

With a smirk, Sophia nodded. Once she was in the air again, she continued toward Canterlot at an incredible speed which made Rainbow awestruck. A moment later, she felt the explosive force that she was expecting from her new coach which made her feel more confident that she had made the right decision.

A few days later the Best Young Flyers competition kicked off. Twilight and the others were in the stands waiting for their friend’s performance.

Thanks to some reminders from Starlight and Moondancer, Twilight remembered the cloudwalking spell that they learned in school so there was no need for any complex spells like one that would give fragile wings to a pony.

During the time leading up to the competition, Twilight also found out that another of her friends, Lyra Heartstrings, had moved to Ponyville so they spent some time together. Lyra was with them in the stands.

Once it came to be Rainbow’s turn, Twilight was surprised to see a determined look on her friend’s face instead of her usual cocky expression. Her performance also showed how hard she worked on her routine and when it came time for the Sonic Rainboom, her expression never faded as if she were concentrating on putting everything she had into her efforts to punch through the sound barrier.

Her efforts were rewarded when she punched through and her magic mixed in with the shockwave, creating a dazzling display of colors that flew outward into the distance.

Seeing this for the first time, Sophia quickly analyzed the magic in the shockwave and determined that there were some similarities to the energy that she read ten years ago. It wasn’t the same nor was it anywhere near as powerful. She had to guess that if this pony did produce the original shockwave, then something had to have amplified it to reach beyond this world. She would look into this at some point.

For now, she enjoyed the performance and Fluttershy’s uncharacteristically energetic cheer.

Author's Note

A little late, but to be fair I'm alternating between this and my collab story.

The Crusaders

As the weeks passed, Sophia noticed that Starlight’s combat training was proving fruitful as she noticed that Nova was beginning to put in significant effort to defeat her. The unicorn was still suffering bruises but Nova’s attacks were being blocked more often so her injuries were less.

At this point Sophia believed that Starlight could mop the floor with the guards but the mare appeared to be wanting more than that. Even though she stated her intent of not wanting to join the Guard, she was still studying military tactics while under her watch. Sophia had no idea why Starlight was being driven like this but it didn’t warrant a peer into her mind so she let the matter lie and decided to watch it play out.

Turning her attention to other matters, Sophia decided to see how Fluttershy was doing. She found the shy pegasus carrying Rarity’s cat, Opalescence, to her house. Apparently the cat was due for grooming and Fluttershy was the one to do it. Why Ponyville didn’t have a proper pet salon she would never know.

Opalescence learned quickly not to mess with Sophia when the two met eyes for the first time. Sophia’s stare instilled a primal fear into her so the cat kept her distance from her ever since.

Sophia was intrigued when Rarity mentioned something called “The Stare” to Fluttershy. Sophia decided to approach the two and inquire about that. “What is this ‘Stare’ you’re talking about?”

“Oh, it’s, um, it’s something I can do. I can’t control it, it just sort of happens,” Fluttershy explained.

“Okay, but what does it do?”

“Well, when my animal friends start acting unruly, I sometimes use ‘The Stare’ to get them to behave.”

“A look that makes animals behave themselves?” Sophia thought. “It sounds similar to my Primal Glare that I use to get hostile enemies to back down. This ability may be a lesser version of that. Uncivilized creatures would be affected the most while sapient creatures could be affected to a lesser extent.”

Sophia’s glare was also a psychic ability which made her suspect that the pegasus might have some psychic ability. Though her empathic ability toward animals was also a sign of that. At some point it might be worthwhile to look into it.

Meanwhile it appeared that Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were planning on having a sleepover at Rarity’s place. Unfortunately Rarity had to cancel the sleepover because she was feeling heavily inspired thanks to the latest schematics brought to her by Sophia from her mysterious benefactor who had agreed to take her on as an apprentice as long as she passed a few of his tests. This meant that she was going to have her foundry running and that would be unsafe for the non-metal fillies in the group to be around.

Fluttershy volunteered to look after the three, much to Rarity’s reluctance due to the way they often behaved when together.

Sophia had to admit that Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were quite energetic, which was typical for fillies of their age. However, she also saw that the three were willing to try anything if it meant finding their special talents. She did notice that Apple Bloom was taking to Zecora’s potions lessons well and she seemed to have a knack for sneaking into the Everfree unnoticed by the other ponies. Scootaloo was still fast on the ground with her scooter, despite her underdeveloped wings. With Sweetie Belle having a mechanical body, she was sitting on a lot of potential.

Rarity finally relented and let the Cutie Mark Crusaders spend the night at Fluttershy’s house. Though Sophia decided to help her out since the shy mare would have no idea what to do about taking care of them.

The night was eventful. It started with Twilight telling Fluttershy that she was heading to Zecora’s to pick up that special tea that she enjoys. The energetic fillies then proceed with their cutie mark hunting activities which Sophia had to intervene when they started roughhousing and nearly broke Fluttershy’s furniture. When Fluttershy had them go to bed she also tried to sing them a lullaby to help them sleep. However, Sweetie Belle decided to sing along to Fluttershy’s lullaby too loudly and caused the chickens outside to flee the coop. Fluttershy wrangled all but one using her Stare.

Things got worse from there as the Crusaders noticed the missing chicken and went into the forest after it. This turned into a dangerous situation as Fluttershy searched the forest for the Crusaders only to discover a statue that captured every detail of Twilight in a shocked expression. Sophia soon learned that it was Twilight and she had been petrified as a statue by one of the Everfree denizens known as a cockatrice; a young one, according to Fluttershy. It had the head of a chicken and the body of a reptile.

Sophia was impressed to see the shy mare stepping up to protect the Crusaders and confronting the creature. Using her Stare to force the cockatrice into submission and freeing Twilight and the missing chicken also had the unintended side effect of making the Crusaders respect her. Because of that the rest of the night passed without further incident.

What the ponies didn’t know was that the young cockatrice was followed and he led his stalker to the nesting grounds. That night was filled with a cacophony of pained squawks and hisses as the population was greatly reduced when the stalker devoured a number of the adults and elders. Whenever the creatures tried to use their stone gaze to petrify their attacker she burrowed underground and abducted them from below.

By the end of the massacre, the stalker had a full belly and a useful new ability to try out at some point. She was also feeling glad that she did her part in reducing the cockatrice population so they wouldn’t behave so boldly as to leave their nesting grounds anytime soon.

Sophia spent a few days observing the Crusaders as they went through a number of activities. They invited Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon and Spike to join them. Spike accepted the invitations whenever Twilight or Starlight didn’t have anything for him to do and they cut back on his chores to make sure he had time to hang out with them. Diamond and Silver were reluctant to join them on the more extreme activities at first, given how they were raised, but slowly warmed up to the idea.

The activities the six experienced had been strenuous to the rich fillies but Sophia was confident that they would be able to keep up with the Crusaders as long as they continued hanging out together.

On a side note, it was amusing to see that Sweetie had an aquatic mode to help her propel through the water in the lake when the six went scuba diving with her acting as an air tank for the five of them.

The Crusaders walked away from each activity with a brief look of disappointment on their faces when they found that nothing appeared on their flanks. Then they moved on to the next activity.

Being around the ponies for ten years had given Sophia an idea about how the magic of cutie marks worked and she could see that the Crusaders were going about their attempts the wrong way.

A few days later the Crusaders took part in the talent show and made themselves look like a trio of clowns with their ridiculous outfits and a really off key song that left the audience on their backs laughing helplessly. They won the best comedy act which Sophia knew they weren’t aiming for but gladly accepted anyway.

Once the three got cleaned up and told Twilight what they learned about forcing themselves to do something they weren’t good at being a bad idea, Sophia came up to the three in private and greeted them, “Hello girls!”

“Aren’t you the rabbit living at my parents’ house?” Scootaloo asked.

“She’s also the one who’s been goin’ around helpin’ ponies,” Apple Bloom added.

“I’m also the one who gave your sister the original schematics for your body, Sweetie Belle,” Sophia added.

“Huh, I guess I do look a little too advanced for anything my sister could have come up with on her own,” Sweetie noted.

“Don’t sell your sister short. She certainly does have a talent for inventing machines. She just needed a boost from her benefactor to help her explore the full potential of her talents.”

“Aren’t you her benefactor?” Apple Bloom asked.

“One of them. But that’s not why I’m here. I’d like to discuss your ongoing hunt for your cutie marks.”

“You think we could get cutie marks in inventing things?” Scootaloo asked.

“Not at all. None of you have Rarity’s creative flair to come up with ideas for machines.”

“But I’m a machine,” Sweetie pointed out.

“A machine built by Rarity to house your brain and give you a chance to live a…normal adjacent…life,” Sophia corrected. “Anywho, have you three ever considered what you would do when you finally get your cutie marks?”

“Show them off and display our skills?” Scootaloo offered.

“Let me rephrase that: have you given any thought to your futures after you receive your cutie marks?”

The Crusaders looked at each other for a few moments, seemingly in a silent conversation. Sweetie turned back to Sophia to give her reply, “I guess that all depends on what our cutie marks are.”

“So you’re saying that your lives will be defined by an icon on your flanks?”

“W-well, ah guess it don’t have to be…” Apple Bloom replied with uncertainty.

“That’s right, your lives don’t have to be dictated by your cutie marks. Think about all of the things you three have done recently. Mark or no mark, you are capable of doing so much without it being your special talent. I have seen ponies in workplaces that are happily doing their jobs and their marks had nothing to do with what they do with it. Even if Sweetie Belle had a cutie mark for singing, for example, she can still go into whatever career field that interests her as long as she puts in the effort. The same for the two of you. Even if Scootaloo’s mark was in scooter riding, she can still try out for the Wonderbolts someday.”

Scootaloo looked away with a bitter look on her face as Sophia said that. It seemed that the filly was fully aware of her circumstances.

Sophia continued, “You may not have earned your marks from your various pursuits but they did have the benefit of strengthening your friendships with one another as well as Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon and Spike. I won’t discourage you three from your activities since you’re doing them together and growing closer as friends. It just doesn’t have to be related to your cutie marks. That way, even when you do receive them nothing will change about your dynamic.”

“But we can’t just give up looking for our cutie marks,” Sweetie argued.

“Ah’m tired of bein’ a blank flank,” Apple Bloom added.

“It’s bad enough that my wings are like this, it stinks being blank too,” Scootaloo bitterly added.

“Have you ever asked yourselves what makes you happy?” Sophia asked. “Not each other, I mean. Consider the things in each of your lives that can cheer you up when you’re feeling down. What are the things you enjoy doing whether your friends are with you or not? Think hard about that and perhaps you may find the answer to your problems was staring you in the face the whole time.” Sophia smiled as she saw the thoughtful expressions on the fillies. “Spend some time by yourselves to think about it.”

Once Sophia’s philosophical lesson was over, she bid the Crusaders farewell. However, she stopped Scootaloo before she could leave, having one last thing for the flightless pegasus. “Before you go, I’d like to make a proposition for you, one that could make you a really happy filly as long as you do your part.”

Scootaloo gave a confused look but remained skeptical. “What’s up?”

“I want you to train your body. I want you to improve your muscles through running while improving your endurance. This means without your scooter.”

“Why?”

“Your body holds a ton of pegasus magic that you can’t seem to channel because of your malformed wings. It rivals Rainbow Dash’s magical potential at this point. If I were to fix that problem your body might not be able to handle the resulting surge. My theory is that a trained body will help your magic circulate better once the channels in your wings are properly formed.”

“You can fix my wings?” Scootaloo asked, with a gleam of hope in her eyes.

“I will need some material before I can try the procedure as well as a feather from you. I don’t need your feather right now though. I just want you to focus on training your body for the time being and I will work on the research.”

“Really? You’re not fooling me? Wow! I gotta go tell Aunt Lofty and Aunt Holiday!”

“Just remember to follow my instructions. I will be working with you during your training.”

Sophia wasn’t sure if the filly heard the last part but it didn’t matter. Scootaloo was too excited about the idea that she could become capable of flight someday. It didn’t matter though. Right now, it was time to work on gathering the materials.

The Fashionista of Ponyville

Ever since the talent show the foals put on, Sophia had been personally overseeing Scootaloo’s training in preparation for a procedure that she planned to perform on her. The filly had a lot of pegasus magic trapped within her and her underdeveloped wings were bottlenecking the output.

Though what she didn’t tell the filly was that she was considering her and their friends for a little side project later on. Apple Bloom was a sneaky filly such that only those who had honed their stealth detection skills, such as herself, Nova and Tosh, would be able to track her. Sweetie Belle was a machine that could have any number of modules installed on her to increase her utility. Diamond Tiara had leadership ability. If she could master her talents she could lead her own squad if she had any desire to be part of the military. Silver Spoon was a smart filly with an analytical mind. Turning her into an analyst would improve any squad’s efficiency. As for Spike, Sophia could tell that he was smarter than the rest of his kind but his draconic heritage would mean that he would be very strong later on.

A week after Scootaloo’s training began, Spike came to Sophia in a panic. “Sophia! You gotta help!” he huffed as he struggled to regain his breath. It seemed like the dragon needed to exercise better. “It’s Rarity! She’s been foalnapped by diamond dogs!”

“Diamond dogs? What are they? And please explain what happened.” Sophia asked.

“Tall, brutish dogs that live underground. Rarity invited me on a gem hunt for her latest batch of starship metal when we were suddenly attacked by them. I tried to protect Rarity but they were too strong. They’ve taken her to their underground lair.”

Sophia nodded, “Alright, I’ll go fetch Nova and Tosh and begin a rescue operation. You get Twilight and her friends and meet us there.”

As Sophia began to hop off, Spike asked her to wait. “Wait, don’t I need to tell you where the place is first?”

“No need, I already plucked it from your mind.” As Sophia ran off, Spike stood there confused by that statement. However, he didn’t have time to think about that and went to rally the others.

As it turned out, the rescue was not really necessary. By the time Sophia and her guards reached the lair, with Sophia tunneling into it, they found that the dogs had been temporarily enslaved to dig for gems for the inventor mare.

Apparently, she had crafted a weapon using a flashlight and a gemstone. She had apparently overcharged the flashlight so that the gemstone fired a beam that melted through rock and a guard dog’s shoulder armor. The dog’s shoulder was singed but he would be fine.

Sophia facepawed in disbelief. “Did she seriously just Macgyver a laser weapon? If this doesn’t convince Ingram, I will drag him out of that workshop myself,” she thought.

Twilight and the others arrived soon after and were left dumbfounded by what they saw. Rarity spotted her friends and headed over to greet them. “Girls! I’m glad to see you made it. These diamond dogs were about to finish loading up a large crate of gems and I will need your help carrying this to Ponyville.”

“Uhh, Rarity, what is that you’re holding in your aura?” Twilight asked.

“This? This is something I whipped up using a flashlight I made before and a few gems. Apparently it can imitate a unicorn’s magical beams.”

“More than that, Rarity,” Sophia interrupted. “You seem to have built a makeshift laser weapon. Not bad for a first attempt.”

“Thank you, Sophia,” Rarity beamed. “I already have a few ideas on how to improve the design and with this latest batch of gems, I will have plenty of resources to do so.”

With the crate being a heavy load, Applejack alone couldn’t haul the large crate so Twilight and Starlight had to supply their magic to ease the farm mare’s burden. Rainbow also helped Applejack to carry the crate. Once they had enough assistance, the mares left the caverns while Pinkie somehow managed to find a weak point in a rock wall and hit it to cause a large opening leading outside to form so they could get the crate out. Nopony questioned it. Nova and Tosh provided escort for the mares.

Meanwhile, Sophia decided to find a use for the diamond dogs. Since they lived underground she figured that they were good diggers. “Alright, pups, I need to speak with you all.”

A short dog walked up to her and growled at her while other dogs in the cavern laughed at her. “Hah! Little rabbit think she boss of us?” the short dog mocked. “Dangerous pony gone. We make you slave.”

Rolling her eyes, Sophia stomped the floor hard enough that the caverns trembled, knocking the dogs on their rears. “Do I have your attention now? Perhaps another demonstration of my dominance is in order?” The dogs stared at her with wide eyes and remained silent. “Very good. Now, I need answers. What does your pack want with the gems?”

“We trade for food,” one of the taller dogs, Rover, answered. “Gems valuable. Other packs hunt animals. We get food for gems.”

“How about this, if I give you a few large carcasses for the gems the ponies took, would you be willing to trade gems to the white pony for food from now on?”

The dogs huddled together and whispered among themselves. It was a pointless act when it came to Sophia but the things they said and what went on in their heads weren’t important. Apparently the dogs shared a single brain cell between them.

Rover turned toward her and asked, “How big we talkin’?”

Sophia raised a paw and a rift opened in the air between the two parties. From the rift came the bodies of a cragadile and a bugbear. The combined weight of which equaled the gems the ponies left with.

“Will this feed your pack for a while?” Sophia asked.

Rover moved carefully toward the two creatures and poked at them. After a few more moments of poking, prodding and punching, they realized the creatures were dead. “These could feed our pack for a month.”

“Try to avoid letting the meat rot,” Sophia warned. “I will provide you with food for each exchange we make for your gems.”

“Deal!”

With that, Sophia had struck a deal with a pack of miners. Though she decided to seek more packs like this one in the days to come. A source of resources would serve the ponies well in the coming war.

Twilight and her friends were asked by Applejack to accompany her to a newly settled town called Appleloosa which was in the desert region of southern Equestria. She wanted to deliver an apple tree to her cousin Braeburn for their orchard.

Sophia questioned whether or not an apple tree could thrive in a desert since the climate was not fit for trees. But then again, the town was mostly composed of earth ponies so perhaps their magic could keep the trees healthy. She was no expert on magic.

Starlight didn’t accompany her friends this time because somepony needed to stay behind and keep the town library open. Ponies did visit the library every now and then. Of course, she still kept up with her training after hours.

Sophia contemplated what she was going to do that day when a train pulled up into the station. Her memorization of the train schedule told her that the train had come from Manehattan.

Only one pony disembarked from the train, which was normal since only Ponyville residents or ponies seeking change would come to this town.

The lone earth pony was light amberish gray with a mane and tail of cyan and opal. She wore a folded lavender and white collar with a light red bow tie. A flower of different shades of red adorned her mane. Her cutie mark was a stylish purple sun hat with a long red feather.

The mare was carrying a traveling suitcase which meant that she was taking time away from Manehattan. She also didn’t appear to be waiting for anypony so she was probably on her own.

Having nothing better to do, Sophia decided to play tour guide. She hopped in front of the mare who gave a surprised look before she decided to stroke the bunny’s head. “Oh, hello there. You’re an unusual color. I wonder if the creatures of this region are different here.”

“I can assure you that my fur is unusual for any species of rabbit in this world,” Sophia replied. The mare shrieked and backed away, dropping her suitcase. “Only my brother and I are of this color.”

“Y-you can talk?!”

“Yes, yes, get it out of your system,” Sophia rolled her eyes. “When you’ve regained your wits, you mind telling me why you came to a town most of Equestria avoids like a plague?”

The mare took a few moments to recover. She wasn’t sure about voicing her frustrations to the first creature she saw, but in her eyes she saw somecreature wanting to understand. “W-well, I wanted to get away from Manehattan. Living as a fashionista under my mentor’s watch has been stressing me out. I’ve been wanting to get away from her for some time and open my own clothing store but my mentor kept all of the profits for herself even though she had been selling my designs. She only pays me enough for me to feed myself.” She sighed. “Sorry for venting on you. My name is Coco Pommel.”

“I see, it sounds like she’s been exploiting you for her own gain. I’m Sophia, by the way. Anyway, why Ponyville of all places?”

“I figured a small town where ponies were friendly would be a good change of pace and I could relax here.”

“But you wish you could get away from your mentor, move somewhere else and start over?” Coco nodded. “So why not move here?”

“I only just got here. I’d like to see for myself if this town is worth moving to. Though, even if I wanted to, I can't afford it.”

“What if you had an investor?” Sophia offered.

“Who would invest in me?” Coco asked.

“My brother has ties to countless markets and invests in many things.” Coco looked skeptically at Sophia. “Don’t judge a book by its cover, Coco. If you want to be free from your mentor’s iron hoof, this could be your chance. The only question is: Are you willing to take that risk?”

Coco had to think it over for a time. It seemed ridiculous that a woodland critter would be the one to offer her an out from Suri Polomare’s tyranny. Though looking into the rabbit’s eyes showed the mare that Sophia was more than she seemed. Her eyes reflected a deep wisdom that she could only imagine would be reflected in Princess Celestia’s eyes. Though if this didn’t work out then Suri wouldn’t allow her to leave her side ever again.

Finally, Coco rallied what courage she had and held out a hoof to strike the deal. Sophia met her hoof with a paw and the two shook on it.

Following that, Sophia showed Coco around town where she was greeted by many friendly ponies. The fresh air and friendly atmosphere allowed her the clarity of thought to come up with a new fashion line. In fact, she felt more inspired than ever before which made her realize that life in Manehattan and life under Suri had stifled her creativity. Be it fashionista’s intuition or some other sense, she had a feeling that she needed to be here and that she would find what she was truly looking for in this town.

Once Sophia was certain she had convinced her enough to give the town a chance, she led Coco to the Town Hall where they met with Mayor Mare. Sophia asked about any places where Coco could move in and start a fashion business. The mayor pointed out a new house that was constructed recently but the buyer dropped out, leaving the house without an owner. “There was once a carousel themed building that could have fit your needs as well but Miss Rarity bought it and turned it into her workshop.”

Coco looked at Sophia who gave her a reassuring nod. Coco nodded back before looking back at the mayor. “I’ll take it!”

Sophia paid for the initial deposit before leading Coco to the manor of the Rich family where Sophia sensed her brother’s presence. Sigmund met the two outside where Sophia briefed him on the situation.

“Exploitation? If there was evidence of this we could make a court case out of it but I suspect that finding anything that could convict your mentor would be difficult,” Sigmund offered. “If you mean to open a business here and get away from her I will support it but I can’t do everything for free. If I’m to believe that you’re worth the investment, Coco, I need to see if your work is saleable. I will provide you the funds for clothing supplies. If you could turn a profit from it, you’ll get your investment.”

Coco gave a determined nod, “I’ll do it!”

Once she agreed, Sigmund provided Coco with enough bits to buy the materials she needed. The mare took a trip to Canterlot to buy the materials and brought them to the house she claimed. She was surprised to find her equipment there and while she was wondering how that happened, she decided not to question it as she really needed her tools to get her dresses made within a reasonable timeframe.

It was a task that took her all night, but she was able to create a few dresses that she was satisfied with.

Not long after she finished making the dresses and cleaning up the store, Coco heard a knock at the door. Answering it, she finds an aquamarine unicorn mare standing before her. “Can I help you?” Coco asked.

“I heard that I might be able to find a nice dress to show off to my friends here. Is this the place?”

“Well, I just finished a few of them last night. I didn’t have time to make more though.”

“That’s alright, let me take a look.” The mare, Lyra, was shown inside where she moved to the ponnequins displaying her work. She looked at all of them until her eyes rested on a stunning yellow and white sundress that matched her eyes. She spent several minutes inspecting the dress from every angle. “This dress looks amazing! That blue rabbit guy was right!”

“Blue rabbit guy?” Coco asked. Although she could only imagine that it was Sigmund who had told her about her work. “Oh, him! I had no idea he was helping me with that too. I owe him so much for this!”

“Well, if it’s the same to you, he also told me that this much should cover the dress.” She then produced a small bag of bits for Coco. The fashionista was surprised by the amount given to her. Not only was it more than Suri ever gave her but it covered the material cost of the dress and then some. Coco didn’t have any boxes to wrap the dress in since she was still working with the bare minimum at this time. Knowing this. Lyra had the dress folded in her magic and placed on her back. “I’ve gotta tell Starlight and the others about this place,” Lyra declared as she left the shop.

Coco spent the next few minutes in shock as she realized that things were going so well for her so far. The next few hours gave her more of the same as Starlight and her friends visiting from Canterlot entered the shop and looked at the dresses.

Sadly, Coco didn’t make enough dresses for everypony so Starlight ended up going without a dress while Moondancer, Minuette, Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine left the store satisfied with their purchases.

By the time night came, Coco was visited by Sigmund wearing a tiny backpack with a roll of paper in it. He asked to see the bits she had made and the fashionista showed him the bits. The rabbit gave a satisfied nod, “You did well today, Coco.”

“But, I didn’t do anything. The customers came in as directed by you and bought the dresses at the price you recommended.” Coco refuted.

“Ah, but your sales pitch wasn’t the test, Miss Coco. Customer satisfaction was your true test. I didn’t tell those mares to act satisfied by your work. After they left with your dresses, I surveyed their satisfaction with their purchase and they gave glowing reviews. I wanted to see your work as a fashionista and I can tell you that you passed my test with flying colors and have earned the investment bits you will need to get your store into proper shape.”

“But…but I don’t have much experience selling my clothing. Suri usually does that.”

“The ins and outs of running a business can be taught, my dear. I can’t teach you how to design dresses. That’s on you. I can teach you how to run a store and I can teach you how to make your store flourish. Your big break will come with the upcoming Grand Galloping Gala.”

“The Grand Galloping Gala!?” Coco exclaimed. “But I…I don’t know if my designs are that good.”

Sigmund chuckled, “There’s no need to worry, Miss Coco. I believe you have what it takes to go far in the fashion world. Without Suri to shackle you, you will finally be free to be who you want to be.”

Coco took a deep breath and rallied her determination as she nodded to him, “I won’t let you down, sir!”

Sigmund nodded back as he pulled the paper from his backpack and gave it to Coco. “I will be sending you the investment bits tomorrow. That paper contains a list of the supplies you will need to renovate this place into a proper store. The remainder will be used to buy materials for your next designs. How you go about this will be up to you. The bits you made today will go to your basic living expenses and any remainder of that can go into savings.”

Suddenly, tears started welling up in Coco’s eyes as the day’s events finally became too much for her. “How can I ever repay you for your generosity?”

Sigmund gave a gentle smile, “Your success in this venture will determine my return on investment. Never forget who helped you get started and only give me as much as you are comfortable with giving.”

Sigmund was suddenly swept up in a hug by the earth mare. He learned quickly how strong earth ponies tend to be, especially when they were emotional and unlike his sister, he didn’t have the physical endurance to withstand a bone-crushing hug. “Need…air…”

Coco quickly let him go and apologized for that. The two then bid each other farewell as Sigmund left the store to handle other business.

Author's Note

Someone has to make the dresses for the Grand Galloping Gala and if it's not going to be Rarity...

Birds and Breakdowns

Sophia felt a headache developing.

The day started alright, though apparently Celestia decided to have brunch at Sugarcube Corner with Twilight, Starlight and their friends. Moondancer, Lyra, Minuette, Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine were also in attendance so extra tables had to be used for the event.

However, Celestia didn’t seem to know how to turn off her regal aura and most of the attendants were filled with anxiety trying to impress the princess. The Cake couple who owned the shop were so eager to please that they accidentally overfilled Celestia’s teacup which was due to the princess messing with them a little.

The only ponies who actually did relax around the ruler were Pinkie and Starlight. The former didn’t seem to consider the idea of going out of her way to impress the princess, the latter was one of the few who saw through Celestia’s regality and though it irked Twilight that Starlight could be so casual around their teacher, Sophia approved of her behavior.

It was when Celestia introduced Fluttershy to her pet phoenix, Philomena, that the irritation began. The phoenix was in a sorry state but because Sophia knew about the legend of phoenixes from Earth mythology, the bunny knew that Philomena appeared to be nearing the rebirth period of her continuous life cycle.

However, Fluttershy had the idea to run off with the bird with the intention of trying to treat her “sickness” before returning her to the princess.

Sophia could tell that this was going to be troublesome so she followed the pegasus back to her cottage. She facepawed as the pony tried remedies that worked for normal birds but seemed to have no idea who she was trying to nurse.

“Fluttershy, just stop!” Sophia called out.

The mare stopped in her tracks and stared at the blue rabbit in shock. “Sophia? What are you doing here? I thought you were still at the party.”

“I’m here to save you the embarrassment of pointlessly treating a phoenix who is nearing the rebirth phase of her life cycle.”

Fluttershy glared at Sophia, appalled by what she called pointless. “How can you say that? Philomena is sick and needs treatment or she could–”

“Turn into a pile of ashes and emerge from them good as new,” Sophia interrupted. “I’m the one who should be surprised at you, Fluttershy. For all of your knowledge of caring for animals, you seem to be lacking knowledge of magical animals like phoenixes. What is happening to Philomena is a normal part of her life cycle. She will be back to normal once she rebirths.”

Philomena gave a series of hacks and coughs which sounded suspiciously like laughter at the mare’s expense. Though Sophia wasn’t having it. “And you! Quit leading her on like you are. Fluttershy is not somepony who can take a practical joke well. Rainbow and Pinkie both know to not involve her in such things. So please do us both a favor and rebirth so we can end this cruel joke.”

Philomena pouted before she burst into flames and turned into a pile of ashes. She then emerged a few moments later, looking vibrant and healthy. She then went back to pouting.

Sophia began to levitate the phoenix’s cage to bring it back to Celestia when she noticed a sad look on Fluttershy’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“Is it true? Rainbow and Pinkie don’t involve me in their fun because I can’t take a joke?”

”It’s more like your sense of humor is different than most ponies. Even when they are only trying to be funny you take them too seriously. Before you consider it, don’t. You don’t need to change who you are just to please other ponies. Spending more time with your friends individually can help you to understand them better and their sense of humor and perhaps Rainbow and Pinkie might find a way to prank you that you would find tasteful.”

“I…I suppose…”

“Try to be more proud of yourself, Fluttershy. How many other ponies would say they told off a creature they just saw beat up a fully-grown dragon? How many would say they faced a berserk alicorn without running away? You are the most courageous pony in your friendship circle because you are the most afraid but you don’t flee in the face of terror. You should be terrified of me, given how vicious I could be sometimes but we’re having a conversation.”

“Huh, I guess you’re right. Maybe I should give myself a little more credit.”

“Alright, I think today’s confidence lesson is over. Let’s get this prankster back to her owner.”

Philomena looked away from Sophia with a huff.

Later, Fluttershy borrowed a book on magical creatures so she could learn how to better take care of them in the future.

Weeks passed and the season changed as the leaves began to change color. It would soon be time for an event the Equestrians called the Running of the Leaves, an event where ponies raced around to shake the ground and knock the leaves out of the trees. It was a strange event, but it was their tradition.

Sophia continued to monitor the activities of Alan Schezar and his pirates. It didn’t take long for her to notice that he still had access to a means of controlling Zerg which was going to spell trouble for the ponies later. The pirates had established their base of operations on the zebra continent of Zebrica while their pet Zerg had set up a hive cluster on the moon. Chances were that Schezar probably knew she was here so he was being cautious but it was only a matter of time until he grew bold enough to establish a forward base in Equestria somewhere.

Sophia could only sigh sorrowfully as she knew that the ponies’ days of peace would soon be at an end.

Things had not been too eventful in Equestria lately. She found that Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had not let her lesson sink in and were still trying to find a way to get their cutie marks even though their talents were practically screaming in their faces for them to notice them. They even went around to see Twilight and her friends who discussed the origins of their cutie marks and the event they all had in common.

She was still glad that Scootaloo was taking her training exercises seriously, at least.

Some time after that, Twilight had adopted a pet owl to help her with her nighttime studies while giving Spike more time to focus on his schoolwork. Sophia couldn’t help but giggle as Spike repeatedly fell for Owlowiscious’ routine of repeatedly hooting and annoying him as the dragon interpreted the hooting as the owl saying “Who?”

It was only a few days after Twilight got her new pet that a potentially dangerous situation occurred. It happened on the day after Pinkie invited her friends to attend her baby alligator’s birthday party. The party mare had the idea to throw an after-birthday party for her pet. Her friends refused her invitation and it made her suspicious of her friends.

As the day continued, Sophia noticed Pinkie’s mental state deteriorating as she began to draw wild conclusions. It was beginning to worry the bunny as she remembered a certain someone from her family who she was glad was not around right now.

Sophia’s thought turned to a vial of pitch black fluid in her backpack. Throughout her entire time on Equus, she always had the hope that she would never have to use the vial for any reason. “I will need to fix Pinkie’s mental state quickly. The last thing I need is ‘her’ showing up and preying on the poor pony.”

First, she did some investigating of Pinkie’s friends. It wasn’t hard to determine that they were planning a surprise birthday party for her. It would seem that Pinkie had forgotten that today was her birthday.

By the time Sophia found Pinkie, the mare’s mind was in a precarious position as she was throwing a party with a few inanimate objects and she had a deranged look in her eyes. Even worse was that she was voicing the objects in a disturbing way.

It was time to intervene before she had a full psychotic break. She entered the room and jumped on the table the mare was sitting at. “Hello, Pinkie.”

Seeing Pinkie, her mane had fully straightened out and her coat color had darkened. The mare had a dangerous look on her face.

“Sophia? What are you doing crashing my party?” Pinkie demanded.

“Right now, wondering why you’re behaving like a filly playing tea party with makeshift dolls as if your parents didn’t want you having real ones.”

“Well excuse me for not having friends for my parties anymore,” Pinkie growled.

“Or maybe you’re letting your imagination run too wild and settled on a worst case scenario which, surprisingly, seems against your nature to think given that you’re usually an optimist.”

“I wasn’t always like that. I grew up on a rock farm where things were always so dull but bearable because I had my family with me.”

“Honestly, if your family sold their rocks, specifically the gemstones, they could make a decent amount of bits once the market establishes itself since it’s recently been discovered that they could be refined into starship metal.”

Pinkie sighed, “Maybe, but that’s not who I am anymore. Limestone and Marble handle rocks better than I ever could and Maud is at Canterlot University studying rock science. Here I am doing my best to keep Ponyville happy every day, at least I thought ponies appreciated my efforts.”

“They do and I know your friends do as well.”

“Tch, yeah, sure. If they did then why didn’t they come to my party?”

“Have you given any thought as to what today is?”

“What do you mean? Today is…” Now that she thought about it, Pinkie had to wonder why today’s date felt familiar to her. It took her a couple of minutes before it finally dawned on her why today was so important. “Huh…I guess that would explain why they were avoiding me. I should have known that they were using standard surprise birthday party behavior. It was written all over their faces and I ignored that because I was so focused on Gummy’s after-birthday party.”

“So this is what you look like when you’re serious?” Sophia wondered.

“I have to stay optimistic to keep my friends happy. Twilight and Applejack tend to be a little too serious and they could bum ponies out with logic. Rarity gets uncomfortable when she’s outside Ponyville because most ponies are mean to her, Fluttershy needs somepony to give her that boost of confidence to interact with other ponies, Rainbow Dash is fun but her antics can’t seem to find that sweet spot between fun and irritating so somepony needs to run a distraction to save her from angry ponies. Starlight is a little more fun than Twilight but she worries about the future too much.”

Sophia seemed impressed at how mature Pinkie could be when it was needed. It seemed that the party pony’s mind was stabilizing again which meant that her work was done. “You seem to be okay now, so let’s get out of here. I think the others are ready for you now. I can sense Rainbow coming to get you.”

Pinkie smiled as her mane and coloring gradually returned to normal. “Thanks for clearing up the misunderstanding. And don’t worry, once the time comes those pirates and the other invaders will get a taste of my violent side.”

“Other invaders?” Sophia asked.

“Woopsie!” Pinkie giggled. Sophia chuckled and rolled her eyes.

Just then, Rainbow entered the room and spotted her friend. “Hey Pinkie! I see Sophia’s with you too. Can you two come with me to Applejack’s? She really needs us for something.”

Pinkie giggled, knowing what was going on now. “Okie dokie Dashie, lead the way.”

Changing Seasons and Gala Preparations

The days leading up to the annual Running of the Leaves had some events happening for the ponies of interest. Most notably was the fact that Rainbow Dash and Applejack were showing their competitive natures by challenging each other to a series of competitions in an effort to prove their superiority over one another.

Sophia was all for a little friendly competition but the two mares were acting like winning was all that mattered. That kind of competition would lead to a rivalry which could have a negative impact on their friendships.

However, Sophia decided to let this play out and let them realize for themselves that their hypercompetitive natures would make them lose touch with what really mattered.

Amusingly, this lesson hit them during the Running of the Leaves competition in the form of both of them being so focused on one another that they never realized the other racers had passed them. Their attempts to sabotage one another only led to both of them tying for last place.

Surprisingly, Twilight participated in the event and did fairly well, earning fifth place. Starlight had earned first place, thanking her training with Nova for that. Scootaloo also participated and earned fourth, mainly due to her smaller size not allowing her strides as much reach as adults. Lyra and her friend and roommate, Bon Bon, placed in the top three behind Starlight.

Sophia was still impressed that the bookworm, who didn’t get a lot of exercise, was able to get into the top five out of about fifty ponies. It made her wonder what untapped potential lied within her if she committed more of her time to work on her body.

A few weeks later, shortly before winter was set to begin, Rarity had just finished another batch of starship metal and was working on a few more improvements for Sweetie Belle’s annual birthday upgrade.

“Hmm…maybe I need to start thinking of installing weapons? Sophia did say that Equestria would soon be attacked by ‘space pirates’...whatever those are. I will need to come up with something that would be feasible to fit into her chassis.”

A knock at the door stirred the inventor from her thoughts. She wondered who it could be since she wasn’t expecting Sophia for another couple of days.

Opening the door, she spotted the mailmare, Derpy Hooves, with a letter in her mouth. Rarity used her magic to pull the paper free before looking at her with curiosity. “Miss Hooves, why did you feel the need to personally deliver this to me instead of placing it in my mailbox?”

“Post office policy, Miss Rarity,” Derpy replied. “Somepony paid for the VIP delivery to ensure this was delivered to its recipient. Whoever paid for it really wanted the letter delivered promptly.”

“Very well, thank you for your service, Derpy.”

The mailmare left and Rarity returned to her workstation. At first she was considering placing it on her desk and opening it later, but for somepony to pay extra for the delivery, it seemed like they needed to contact her as soon as possible.

She decided to open the envelope and read its contents. Though what she found was a shock and a sign of change in her life.

Dear Rarity,

I hope that this letter has reached you and not fallen through the gaps of the mailing system like plenty of mail tends to end up. It is important that I speak with you soon.

I have witnessed your potential in mechanical engineering and your work in processing starship metal that goes into your inventions. The mechanical filly schematics I drew up for you appear to have served you well and it impresses me that you continue to improve upon the design. Your alchemical converter invention intrigues me.

Over the year that I have observed your progress through reports brought to me by Sophia, I have witnessed your growth and I have decided that it is time for us to meet.

I am an inventor like yourself who has been designing mechanical wonders for a very long time. Therefore, I would like to offer you an apprenticeship under me. If you choose to accept this offer, I will show you how to make mechanical marvels well beyond your imagination.

I do not require your answer immediately. I would like to hear it myself during the celebration Equestrians refer to as the Grand Galloping Gala. You will find me there on that night. I will be dressed as somepony who looks like they know their way around a wrench. I look forward to your reply then.

Sincerely,
The Mystery Mentor, whose name shall be revealed then

Rarity wasn’t sure if the sender was being cheesy on purpose or not. She had known plenty of ponies who try to act mysteriously through letters, at least in the novels she read in her free time.

Still, whoever the sender of the letter was, they were offering to mentor her and help her expand her knowledge. It would appear that this pony was also the one she would need to thank for the blueprints to Sweetie Belle’s mechanical body.

It seemed that she would need that gala ticket after all, much to her dismay.

It was not unusual for her to be in a waiting room at Ponyville General Hospital, she had been here a few times after being in a few accidents with her scooter, at least the nastier ones where she dislocated a leg. However, if the reason she was here was because of that she wouldn’t be as nervous as she was now. She looked ready to snap at any pony who disturbed the tense silence.

Thankfully she wasn’t alone as her aunts were here with her. Loft and Holiday could tell that Scootaloo was anxious about this appointment as this could have a major impact on her future.

After training her body diligently through the summer and fall and halfway through winter, Sophia had informed her that her body was now fit for the procedure. It didn’t help that Sophia hadn’t informed her about what the procedure would entail, though she had a feeling that she would find out soon. Her aunts were her legal guardians whenever her parents couldn’t be reached, which was nearly always, so they would sign the consent forms.

One thing was certain, this was her best chance for her to be able to take to the skies.

Their attention soon turned to a nearby door that opened to reveal Sophia wearing a tiny lab coat. She hopped over to the three where she took a deep breath and cleared her throat.

“It’s about time for the procedure to begin. I can let you know, first, that this procedure doesn’t involve surgery or any type of sharp object if you have any fear of those. Though I will say that this procedure will be unorthodox by any medical standard.”

“Is it safe?” Holiday asked.

“Will it hurt her?” Lofty asked.

“Yes, it is safe,” Sophia assured. “I can control the progression of the procedure so it shouldn’t cause any unwanted complications. However, I’m not going to say that it won’t hurt, because it will, albeit slightly. Rapidly, yet safely, correcting the genetic defect in her wings is not a painless procedure. There’s a reason creatures take years to physically mature. Accelerating the growth of her wings means enduring the years of growing pains that she missed out on in the span of hours. At least, it would take hours for a fully-grown pony. Since Scootaloo hasn’t entered her growth spurt yet it should only take an hour at most.”

“Didn’t you say that you needed materials for this?” Scootaloo asked.

Sophia nodded, “Indeed, I needed a number of genetic samples from healthy pegasi, mostly feathers, to determine the part I needed to focus on.” She quickly noticed the blank looks on the three’s faces. “Right…I forgot you ponies haven’t discovered the science of genetics yet. Let’s just say the feathers were for research purposes.”

“What is genetics?” Holiday asked.

“It’s a science to study how you appear and how your body functions. It’s the reason Scootaloo is a pegasus with an orange coat and maroon mane, for example. Her colors are inherited from her parents.”

“Really? That’s how it works?” Scootaloo asked.

“You’ve seen Apple Bloom’s parents. Have you ever noticed how her colors made her look like a filly version of her father? However, her eye color comes from one of her mother’s colors.”

“But why are my wings small? My mom’s wings are about average for a pegasus.”

Sophia shrugged, “Could be any number of things. It could be that your genetics couldn’t decide between earth pony or pegasus so it split the difference since your parentage was a mix of two tribes. Who knows. It happens rarely though.

“Anywho, let’s get to the important part. I’m going to apply a special concoction to your wings that will be absorbed through the skin. It’s as simple as that but I’d like for her to stay in the hospital for a few hours while the salve takes effect. It’s going to feel like she pushed herself too hard when exercising which is still far better than if I had to use the salve to regrow a severed limb. You don’t want to know how that would feel.”

Once the explanation concluded, Sophia led Scootaloo to the assigned hospital room that was prepared earlier by Thanatas where she revealed the salve which looked like a glowing green substance in a small cup. Scootaloo could almost swear that she could see it moving.

Truth be told, Sophia had to create the salve with her own body since it was composed of pre-programmed Zerg cells. She had to take the necessary precautions for creating it since it could result in the infestation of the subject if she wasn’t careful. She couldn’t use this method on Sweetie Belle when her body was mangled since there was too much risk for infestation for the level of damage she sustained.

“You’ll have to lay on your belly for the entire time so we don’t get this stuff on the bed,” Sopiha warned. The last thing she needed at this time was to have this hospital end up in a biohazard quarantine. Scootaloo hopped onto the bed and laid on her belly.

Once Scootaloo was in position, with her aunts nearby holding each other, Sophia began applying the substance to her wings. “This stuff is strangely warm,” Scootaloo noted.

A few minutes later, the filly began to feel the effects of the salve. It felt equivalent to pulling several of her muscles and that was never fun. She couldn’t hide the discomfort on her face as her aunts looked at her with worry. As the minutes ticked on, Sophia noticed that her wings grew a couple of millimeters. The filly groaned in pain and as much as she wanted something for it, Sophia recommended against it as any medication could interfere with the process and make her condition worse. Still, she was a tough filly so she willed herself to endure.

To help distract Scootaloo from the pain, Lofty and Holiday talked about various things but mostly had the filly talk about her numerous adventures with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. The funny part was that in most of those adventures they ended up covered in tree sap somehow.

An hour felt like a long time for Scootaloo to be in so much agony but the pain eventually began to fade and she was beginning to relax. As the pain subsided, she was suddenly struck by a powerful wave of fatigue. The land of dreams was calling to her so she answered it. Her aunts were relieved to see that their dear niece was now sleeping peacefully.

Sophia noticed that her wings were now the appropriate size for a filly her age so she used her psionic power to secretly deactivate the Zerg cells then rotating Scootaloo so she was on her back so she could sleep properly on the bed.

The two caretakers were led out of the room so the filly could rest. Sophia then gave them some instructions, “Her wings are properly sized now but now comes the hard part. With her body’s muscles in good condition, she will need to work on her wing muscles as well. Strengthening those should allow the mana channels in her wings to develop quickly. However, the muscles are still underdeveloped so she will need to keep the wing exercises light for the first few weeks then she can gradually push harder after that. After a few months she can begin working on her flying.

“So…she will be able to fly soon?” Lofty asked, a sign of hope in her eyes. Sophia nodded in response which prompted the two mares to cheerfully hug one another while cheering until one of the hospital staff had them quiet down.

“For now, let her have her rest. I will be overseeing her rehabilitation once she is ready.”

Winter soon gave way to spring and Ponyville suffered a nearly disastrous Winter Wrap Up where Twilight tried to find her place in the event since she couldn’t use magic as per tradition. In the end, her organizational skills helped the town clean up the snow in time for the change in seasons. Starlight was part of the lake-thawing team when she showed that she had some grace on the ice that was second to Pinkie.

More importantly, the time was nearly upon them for the event they had waited nearly a year for: the Grand Galloping Gala.

Unfortunately, none of Twilight’s friends had a proper dress for the occasion and the dresses they had were too plain for the event. This included Fluttershy who had decided to go when she found out that Rarity was going as well.

“I know of a place in Ponyville where we can have dresses for the gala made,” Starlight offered. “I was told about the place and checked it out with a few of our friends from Canterlot.”

“Do we really need new dresses for the gala, Starlight?” Twilight questioned. “My old dress should work for me.”

Starlight cringed as she remembered that old yellow dress that Twilight wore on some occasions. “That dress isn’t going to work this time. Besides, it’ll be fun to have all of us showing off new dresses made for us by an actual fashionista.”

“Well, if you say so.”

Once all of their friends were rounded up, Spike as well, they made their way to the boutique that had seen some significant improvements since Starlight last visited. A pair of ponies exited the store with boxes on their backs and smiles on their faces.

Upon entry, they were greeted by an off-white earth pony with a cyan mane who gave a welcoming smile to the group. “Welcome to Coco’s Couture! How may I help you?”

“Hey there, Coco,” Starlight greeted. “We were hoping that you would be able to design dresses for us for the upcoming Grand Galloping Gala.”

“The Grand Galloping Gala?! I had been told that I might end up making gala dresses but I didn’t think I would actually be given such an honor! Give me a moment.” Coco ran into another room and slammed the door. The group felt slightly worried for the mare when they heard the sounds of what seemed to be a panic attack happening. Starlight should know, she had to stop quite a few of Twilight’s panic attacks since she met her.

Thankfully, the fashionista managed to calm down after a few minutes and entered the lobby. She had also taken the time to put her mane in order after her episode which spoke well for her sense of professionalism. “I shall do my best to design formalwear that will bring out your best.”

After that, Coco took the measurements of the entire group and wrote them on a notepad. Her mouthwriting was impressive. She also conducted interviews with each mare to get a feel for their personalities since she didn’t just want to go by their colors.

The week after the order was made, the eight of them returned to see what Coco had made for them. When they saw the dresses, they were uncertain at first since it wasn’t what they envisioned but Coco insisted that they try them on. The mares changed their tune quickly after that.

The ponies and dragon soon realized that their new formalwear was amazing. Starlight was in awe of her royal purple dress with many stars forming swirl patterns with a brooch of a purple four-pointed star and a mane clip to match it. Rarity’s dress was a shimmering sky blue that gave a pony the impression that it was woven with a fusion of thread and crystal. The hemline was lined with the image of interlocking gears. The brooch took the form of a blue gear and the mane clip was two interlocking crystal gears.

“This is a lot better than I had envisioned,” Rarity commented. “This is amazing work, Coco!” The others also voiced their gratitude as well, making the fashionista blush. Coco had never received this much praise for her hard work when she was working for Suri so this had made her the happiest she had felt in a long time.

“How about this, I’ll give you a fifty percent discount for those dresses,” Coco offered. “In exchange, please tell those at the gala who made them so that word of my brand may spread.”

“It’s a deal!” Starlight said. The others agreed as well.

“Status report!” Schezar demanded.

“Sir, we’ve completed our takeover of this small village. We are awaiting the supply teams before we start building the forward base,” a sergeant replied.

“Good. None of the residents escaped, correct?”

“None, sir! They are all present and accounted for.”

“Very well. Once the lab is up and running, start the experiments on the creatures and see if we can find a way to harness the energies of this world. Those zebra-like creatures have given us some data but I’d like an entire collection of the beasts that inhabit this world for study.”

“Sir, are you sure this is humane?”

“We’ve been over this, sergeant. They are animals, no different than the Zerg. Even if they do possess intelligence comparable to us their tech is primitive at best. In the end they’re nothing more than savage beasts pretending to be civilized.”

The sergeant hesitated for a moment but suppressed his reservations and gave a crisp salute to his leader. “Sir!”

“Once we are up and running, get a scouting team together and investigate the power sources to the west,” Schezar instructed. “Pray that the Archon doesn’t know we’re here. If she does, God have mercy on you all.”

The sergeant gulped.

Author's Note

That takes care of the episodes up to the S1 finale. It shouldn't be hard to guess where Schezar set up his newest outpost since it's in a place that's practically a blind spot in Equestria.

Next time: A 2 part chapter and the big trigger that puts Sophia's plans into motion.

The Worst Night Ever, Part 1

The long awaited day had arrived. It would be a time of great celebration where anypony who was somepony would attend. It was an event where the nobility would come together to discuss their plans for the foreseeable future on matters of finance and politics with a little political mudslinging on the side. Such ponies were always clawing at each other to get into Celestia’s good graces.

Back in Ponyville, a certain group of mares were making their preparations for the celebration. At the same time Sophia had an ominous premonition that tonight would be the night that Equestria would be changed forever, especially if their movements were anything to go on. Because of this she had given Nova and Tosh their suits and weapons to make sure they were well prepared for what was to come. The two of them would be brought on to add much needed security for the guests and hosts.

Over the course of the year, Twilight’s friends had changed their minds about their stances about going to the Grand Galloping Gala. Apparently Rarity had somepony she needed to meet there and Rainbow wanted to go to show the Wonderbolts that her discipline had improved since last year. Pinkie wanted to understand why nobles were so interested in boring formal parties. Since the others were going, Fluttershy decided to go as well to check out the garden.

Applejack and her family were working hard to provide enough food for the catering and earn those bits that the crown was paying them. The large order also led to the family calling in more of their family members for the task. The orange mare put her tractor through its paces as she hauled crates of apple products aboard a freight train to Canterlot. Some part of her wondered if they were going overboard with the amount of product being shipped but dismissed the idea as she figured that she was only giving the princess her bits worth in food.

After all, Princess Celestia paid them enough to get the farm some much needed upgrades.

Starlight was in the bathroom brushing her mane and tail in preparation for tonight. She had a few knots that she had a hard time getting out but managed with a little effort. She wasn’t fond of the Gala and the pompous ponies who attend it every year but as one of Celestia’s personal students she had to make an appearance.

A knock at the door that sounded lower to the ground made the mare wonder if it was Spike making a plea to use the bathroom. “What is it?”

“Open up, I have something to tell you,” Sophia called.

The mare used her magic to open the door and let the rabbit inside. She closed the door to allow them some privacy. “What did you need to tell me?”

“Be prepared for tonight and remember your training.”

Starlight froze. She placed her brush on the counter a moment later and turned to Sophia with a grim expression. “It’s them?” Sophia nodded. Starlight took a deep breath and let it out. “This will certainly be a night for everypony to remember. I’ll have my spells prepared then.”

“Nova, Tosh and I will make sure to minimize casualties. I wish I could do more, but I will do what I must to break Equestria free from its stagnation. This is for the sake of Equestria’s awakening.”

Starlight nodded.

With that, Sophia left the mare to her preparations for the coming storm.

Night fell and the girls, as well as Spike, were brought to Canterlot via a pony-drawn carriage made by Twilight transforming an apple. The girls had varying levels of emotion toward the coming festivities. Applejack was looking forward to seeing if anypony was willing to try her farm’s products. Rarity wanted to meet with the mysterious pony who wanted to mentor her so she would brave the event and hope that they were worth the torment she would have to endure from the ignorant nobles.

Each of them were dressed in their Coco Pommel original dresses and suit. Minimal makeup was applied to them since none of them were very interested in fashion but their natural beauty meant that they didn’t need much.

Sophia and her guards made it to Canterlot long before the carriage did. Knowing that an enemy scouting party was in the city somewhere they remained on high alert. Sadly the enemy group would move through the city unnoticed since the gala had led to businesses closing early and ponies remaining in their homes. At best some pony would look out their window and spot them.

She wanted to stop them, she really did. But she knew that Equestria needed to know the extent of this threat that had come for them.

As the girls entered the ballroom, Fluttershy noticed that Starlight was looking nervous about something. She saw the mare looking in every direction as if she were expecting something. “Starlight, what’s wrong?” she whispered.

Starlight’s head snapped toward the shy mare, failing to hide her apprehensive expression. She took a deep breath and tried to regain her nerves. However, in response to Fluttershy’s question, she had placed a privacy bubble around the group. Once she was certain her spell was working properly, she addressed her concerns. “Girls, I just got a message from Sophia. They’re here!”

“Who are you talking about?” Rainbow asked.

“Remember when Sophia warned us about a threat from beyond this world almost a year ago? That threat.”

Most of the girls’ pupils shrank as their panic rose. Rainbow, however, simply blew air past her lips. “So what. As long as we’re together we can handle a bunch of pirates.”

“I hope you’re right, Rainbow. From how Sophia emphasized their threat these guys could be extremely dangerous.”

With the girls alerted to the imminent threat Starlight dispelled her bubble and let the group try to enjoy the festivities while they could.

Twilight had considered spending time with Princess Celestia but there was a long line of nobles awaiting their turn to ingratiate the princess. Though Twilight did notice that she looked a little irritated each time her eyes drifted to another part of the ballroom.

She tried looking in the direction her mentor was looking until she noticed Princess Luna filling her plate with apple fritters. She also had a crow perched on her back for some reason. Since Celestia was going to be busy for a while Twilight decided to spend some time with Luna instead.

The lunar princess quickly spotted one of her saviors approaching her and smiled. “Ah, you must be Twilight Sparkle. My sister had much to say about you. Grab a plate, we can speak while we enjoy these farm fresh products.”

Shrugging, Twilight picked up a plate in her magic and chose her favorites from among what she had tasted at Sweet Apple Acres. Luna had piled a tower of food on her plate somehow but Twilight could never imagine having an appetite like that.

The two walked to a secluded area in the ballroom where Luna began consuming pastry after pastry. The lunar princess could see the look on her friend’s face and decided to explain. “I know you are wondering how I can consume so much in one sitting. There is a valid reason for that. We alicorns bear a lot of magic and food is the easiest way for us to replenish those reserves when we expend a lot of it. In my case I am still trying to restore my reserves after the void energies were purged from me. As my reserves are replenished, so too do I gradually regain my original stature. Alas, it will be some time yet before I am fully restored.”

Twilight listened attentively to Luna as this gave her a better understanding of alicorns. However, like the good student she was, she had her questions. “I can understand why Princess Celestia kept knowledge of your existence under wraps. I just never knew that she would go so far as to inflict capital punishment upon your assailants. Has Princess Celestia ever done something like that before?”

“Only when members of the diarchy are threatened, Twilight Sparkle. Their actions risked complete destabilization of the entire nation if they had succeeded in killing me. When you conspire against one princess you conspire against both.”

“But Princess Celestia wasn’t in any danger from what I know about what happened.”

Luna shook her head. “Oh Twilight, she certainly was in danger from my assassination attempt, just not physically.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s one of the secrets of the alicorns. I’m not sure I should tell you this but I believe you should know how important it is for both Tia and I to continue our existence.” Luna placed a privacy bubble around herself and Twilight. “You see, alicorns have indefinite lifespans. However, that kind of existence can be a lonely one without companionship. Because of that, we are given the ability to link our essence to another pony.”

“Link your essence? What does that do?”

“When a pony gains the power to transcend the mortal realm, they ascend to become an alicorn and gain great power. However, such power must be shared with another or we suffer the consequences of that power.”

“So you and Princess Celestia share this essence link?” Luna nodded. “So both of you did something to transcend the mortal plane and you linked your essences together? Also, what are the consequences of this power?”

“It was Tia who ascended first. However, when an alicorn links her essence to another, that pony also ascends. That is why I am an alicorn, Twilight Sparkle. As for the consequences…” Luna’s expression darkened. “In the case that the ascended refuses to share their essence or the link breaks, as would have been the case should I have died, their minds would be placed under unimaginable stress that would increase over time. Eventually the alicorn’s mind will break, leading to them spiraling into madness.”

Twilight gulped, “Has this happened before?”

“Once. The only stallion on record to ever achieve alicornhood. His name was Golden Apple, an ancestor of the Apple family who never married or had foals. He had a penchant for mischief. When he meddled with artifacts he shouldn’t have been messing with, he triggered a reaction in them and ascended. When he refused to share his essence with another his mind slipped into madness years later, even transforming himself into a grotesque creature who loved to make ponies miserable with his cruel pranks. He never slipped so far as to take lives so Tia and I could take solace in that.”

“What happened to him?” Twilight softly asked.

“Tia and I imprisoned Golden Apple, who went by a different name after his transfiguration, I shall not disclose where though.”

“I understand, but what about Cadance? Isn’t she an alicorn too? Who is she linked with?”

“Cadenza is not linked to anypony, from what my sister tells me. However, Cadenza does have somecreature in mind whom she wishes to link with. She did not disclose who they were or even if they were a pony. I just hope she performs the link soon, I wouldn’t wish what happened to Golden on anypony.”

While Twilight and Luna were having their discussion, Rarity was trying, but failing, to enjoy the party. As she expected, the nobles around her looked at her with disdain. She didn’t need excellent hearing to hear the words “Agent of Chaos” or “Mad Scientist” as she usually heard. She had heard it all before. She ignored their rude comments as she knew that they wouldn’t be laughing when they realized that her work would one day save Equestria.

For now she would focus on finding the mysterious benefactor, find out if they were worth her time, then leave. Whether her friends joined her or not didn’t matter as she wanted to be away from this haven of judgemental ponies as soon as possible.

Her search grew more frustrating with every minute that passed as she failed to locate the mysterious pony. She began to wonder if they were even here or if this was an elaborate prank being played on her.

Suddenly she overheard a conversation nearby between the nobles. Though something about it had piqued her interest. “Must you wear that dreadful hat here, sir? It reeks of chaotic elements,” one mare complained.

“And what is it about machines that represents chaos, dear madam?” a male voice replied.

“How can you not know about that terrible point in our history where the very fabric of our society, neigh, the very future of our nation was threatened by that monster? If it weren’t for the intervention of Princess Celestia, we would have suffered a fate worse than the Crystal Empire that disappeared one day.”

“I fail to see the association between machines and the monster, madam. How does a monster drive ponykind to technophobia?”

The mare growled, “Forget it! You’re just another agent of that monster. I can hardly believe that Princess Celestia even allows fiends like you to exist within this kingdom.” The noble stomped away with the others giving him a wide berth now.

Rarity finally moved close enough to get a good view of the stallion who spoke against the noble. He had a black coat and a pale white mane and tail. He had a dapper appearance with a tan vest and white shirt as well as a tan top hat decorated with bronze gears and a red feather. His vest also had a pocket that appeared to carry a pocket watch as well as wearing a bronze timepiece around his left forehoof. He also wore a monocle over his right eye and unless Rarity was mistaken, there appeared to be tiny dials for adjusting its degree of vision. Strangely, his cutie mark resembled a gear with deep claw marks.

The mark was strange, but Rarity had no doubt that he was the one she was looking for. His style and opinions had certainly made him stand out.

As the mare approached the steampunk stallion, he observed Rarity’s crystalline blue dress and the gear motifs on her dress. He gave a light smile in response. “It’s too bad this isn’t a steampunk themed ball, you would certainly fit in.”

“Wh-What?!” Rarity exclaimed in outrage. “What part of me is a punk?”

“It is a style that I hope shall one day become popular in this country. My outfit is also of that style so please do not take my words as an insult. I believe that you are Miss Rarity?”

Rarity warily nodded, “I am. Who might you be?”

“My name is Ingram, madam. Also, before you ask, I was the one who sent the letter and the one who provided you with the blueprints for your sister’s mechanical body.”

“I figured that you were. You said in that letter that you wish to mentor me?”

Ingram nodded, “Indeed, you certainly possess a talent that could one day bring Sophia’s vision to fruition. However, it is still in need of nurturing and that is where my role lies. Once tonight’s incident is resolved, Sophia will be introducing Equestria to some of the old designs for armor, weapons and vehicles. She and I have high hopes that you will be able to create designs unique to your culture using the old designs as a base.”

Rarity pondered, “I suppose that is an option. You drive a tempting offer, Mr. Ingram. Though I fear that I have little choice but to accept if Sophia’s warning proves real.”

Suddenly, as if to answer Rarity’s question, the sound of rapid gunfire rang through the halls followed by a royal guardspony crashed into a wall near them. The sight of the guard gave her an immense shock as she witnessed his body riddled with holes and leaving a growing puddle of blood under him.

The entire ballroom turned their heads in the direction they heard the shots coming from and saw five metallic bipedal creatures carrying the same weapon that Luna recognized. They then looked at the dead guard and quickly realized what was happening.

The ballroom erupted into panic.

Author's Note

Of course there will be casualties. Wars typically can't go without someone dying. I'll still try to keep the details to a minimum so I won't have to throw in a gore tag.

The Worst Night Ever, Part 2

Countless equine eyes widened in shock at the entrance of five tall bipedal creatures into the ballroom. Each one was colored black but had markings on them, some of them would appear vulgar in human culture but the ponies had no idea what to make of them. The heads appeared amber-colored to the ponies while they each carried large rectangular boxes with the business end pointed at the guests.

Rainbow stood in front of the gathered crowd on one side of the room and spread her wings to their full span in a protective display. She hoped that this would keep the crowd from panicking further. She noticed that Spitfire and the other Wonderbolts were doing the same thing to form a protective line between the guests and the invaders. Rainbow was glad that they didn’t try to attack them because she had a feeling that if they charged in then Equestria would have to train a whole new team of Wonderbolts in the future.

Luna and Celestia recognized the weapons being wielded by the bipedal creatures and had their horns lit and ready for a fight. “What are you doing here?” Celestia demanded.

It was the one in the center of the five who answered her. “Well, our orders were to scout you animals and find out what we needed to know before we invaded but then ah figured we didn’t need to since you don’t look nearly as dangerous as our boss says. We’re just gonna take a few of you with us as test subjects.”

Applejack felt disgusted by the way they talked as it sounded similar to her accent which infuriated her. However, she managed to keep it together and not do or say anything for the time being.

“Test subjects? What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“Why should we explain ourselves to a bunch of savage animals? Sure you can talk like us and you built civilization, but that don’t mean you’re ready to take on the likes of us who have real weapons instead of your primitive swords and spears.”

“I’ll show you what a sword can do!” one foolish pegasus guard shouted as he tried to attack one of the creatures by slashing his legs only for the blade to bounce off. The marine countered by kicking the guard and making a bloody dent in the wall.

“Cute. Anyone else wanna try playin’ hero?” the offending marine asked.

“You will not harm another one of my little ponies, you fiend!” Celestia growled.

“Ya ain’t in any position to be makin’ demands, pony,” the lead marine informed.

Suddenly the lead marine was struck by a beam of amber magic that came from a stocky white unicorn stallion with an amber mane and tail. The blast sent the marine stumbling back a little but quickly regained his balance. “You will leave this place or we will force you to leave!” Blueblood barked.

One of the marines proceeded to open fire on the stallion who raised a shield to block the fire only for the first few rounds to shatter it and the rest to graze his body or go through one of his forelegs. Blueblood screamed in agony as the marine readied another burst. However, this burst was completely blocked by Luna’s shield.

“It seems that the improvements I made to my shield spell proved effective,” Luna noted while breathing a sigh of relief.

“Fine then, let’s see how you handle a whole clip!” The attacking marine then prepared to set his rifle to fully automatic but never had the chance to fire as the sound of a small amount of glass shattering was heard throughout the ballroom. The ponies looked around until they saw the attacking marine had a hole where his head would be. The marine then dropped his weapon and fell onto his back. When the other marines noticed the hole, they started looking around and pointing their rifles all over the room, looking for something.

“Could our intel be wrong? Could they be capable of training Ghosts?” one of the marines asked.

Twilight looked at the group in confusion. “What are you talking about? There’s no such thing as ghosts.”

“Shut up ya filthy farm animal!” another of the marines barked and pointed his weapon at the unicorn which made Twilight wince and back away.

“I was warned of your coming, pirate,” Celestia said. “I will give you one chance to leave Canterlot and never return or we will subdue you.”

“You don’t scare us, pony, Just because you’re the biggest in the room don’t make you a threat to us.” The four then pointed their rifles at Luna. “Though ah wonder how well her shield can stand against all of us firin’ at it.”

“Luna!” Celestia shouted just before the four marines opened fire on her. Luna raised her strongest shield to try to block the shots but she wasn’t sure it would hold. Her head roared in pain as she felt the shield cracking in multiple places and was soon on the verge of shattering while the enemies didn’t look like they were letting up. She looked away and raised a hoof to brace for the inevitable storm of bullets to pierce her body.

However, the impact never came.

Luna braced for a few more moments before she realized that something had stopped the attack. When she looked she saw a familiar blue rabbit standing before her with a glowing paw in the air and a number of bullets frozen in midair.

Sophia had enough of the marines demonstrating their firepower to the ponies and decided that it was time to intervene. “Do you ponies see the threat these pirates pose? They are a threat to your very way of life!”

As the ponies were talking to each other over what they saw, one of the marines heard the voice of the rabbit and suddenly it clicked for him. This realization came with a sense of growing fear. “Uhh, guys, that voice sounds familiar, one that ah’d rather not be on the wrong side of.”

“What are you blabbering about?” another marine asked.

“Ah think she’s the Archon, sir.”

“She don’t look like no goddamn Protoss ya idjit.”

“No ah mean the Archon, the Hierarch of the Starcraft Federation!”

“Is your brain high on Stim Packs? The Archon looks like a humanoid…blue…rabbit…oh shit!”

“Finally recognize me? I swear those Stim Packs destroy your brain cells,” Sophia quipped.

“Ah’m outta here!” one of the marines attempted to flee.

“Nova, hamstring him!” Sophia called out. A moment later two shots rang out and the fleeing marine fell to the floor on his face and two large holes going all the way through his leg armor.

Now the remaining three marines were certain that there was a Ghost lurking in the room. And when Sophia called Nova’s name they were certain that they were screwed. They had heard the tales of Nova Terra as one of the most skilled Ghosts out there.

Now that the marines were fully panicked, they decided to see how many lives they could take before they went down so they began aiming at random ponies. However, Sophia called for Tosh and the next instant the marines were rolling on the floor clutching at their helmets as a powerful psionic blast assaulted their minds and temporarily disabled their senses. They couldn’t hear their own pained screams but the ponies could and their ears drooped as they heard it.

Seeing as they dropped their weapons as well, Starlight took this chance to grab the rifles in her telekinesis. Remembering what Sophia told her about the weapons, she pointed the business ends at the incapacitated marines, glad that the trigger wasn’t hard to pull if they decided to try something stupid.

By the time their senses returned, the marines saw Sophia standing before them with her arms crossed. “Are you done with your episode? If you are, you should know that it’s over for you. Unicorn guards, I hope you have decent binding spells.”

“I do,” came a voice that was familiar to Twilight. Shining Armor, who had been protecting Celestia since a minute after the incident began, approached the marines and lit his horn to prepare a binding spell.

“Hang on, let’s get them out of the armor first,” Sophia interrupted. This was followed by her paws glowing blue before what appeared to be small swords made of pure energy appeared just beyond the tips of her paws. “Stand back.” She then proceeded to use the energy blades to cut through their armor like it was soft butter, taking care not to harm the creature inside the armor. With surgical precision, she tore apart the armors one by one until the humans were exposed to the world. Thankfully they still wore pants.

“What are they?” Starlight asked. “They look like they barely have any hair, save what's on their heads, chests, arms and legs. They look similar to minotaurs.”

“They’re called humans,” Sophia explained. “They’re a race of hairless apes who have intelligence comparable to ponies, though these rank and file soldiers usually aren’t very bright.”

Once they were without their armor, the four humans were bound by magic and taken away.

“What the hay was that?” Rainbow asked, approaching the rabbit while feeling certain that the threat was neutralized. The other Wonderbolts still kept the crowd at bay in case of a new development. “How did you make those cool lightning swords appear like that?”

“One of my many abilities. I’ll reveal more of them as they become necessary. For now, we need to tend to the injured.”

“I’ll have one of my guards send for a couple of stretchers to bring them to the hospital,” Celestia offered. This prompted one of the pegasus guards to get moving.”

“I’ll collect the armor and weapons so that you ponies can analyze them later,” Sophia offered before levitating the armor fragments and weapons and stashing them into a pocket dimension.

With that done, it was time to address the onlookers. “Alright, unless you are still in a partying mood, we can have a ‘Q and A’ session in the throne room. However, the press are to remain outside so that the wrong information doesn’t leak.”

“Agreed,” Celestia declared. This put any protests to rest.

Sophia then escorted the ponies, including the nobles and other partygoers, to the throne room where the princesses took their places in their official seats and Sophia stood before the crowd of nobles while a few spells and psionic barriers prevented outsiders from eavesdropping. “First of all, my name is Sophia and yes I am a talking rabbit. You can process that later. Now that the unimportant matters are out of the way, we can begin.”

The first question came from a white unicorn stallion with an azure mane and wearing a monocle along with his tuxedo. “First, I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss Sophia. My name is Fancy Pants. I would like to open with the question on everyone’s minds. What were those creatures?”

Sophia smiled as she considered that there could be some intelligent nobles after all. “Those creatures are called humans. They are not from this world but are capable of traveling the stars on vessels called starships. They hail from distant worlds far from this one. They are also referred to as Terrans. The ones who attacked you are a part of an army of intergalactic pirates who seek to plunder a world’s resources.”

“So they’re here to plunder our world?” another noble asked.

“That would be correct. Your world possesses resources that have never been discovered before. Now that your world has been discovered, there will be those who will try to take it for themselves, whether it’s these pirates or other enemies beyond this world.”

“Are you going to protect us from them?”

“I have no intention of settling on your world indefinitely and unless you learn how to protect yourselves against technologically superior opponents, they will probably succeed once I’m gone.”

The crowd erupted into chatter among themselves for a couple of minutes before the chatter died down and another noble spoke up, “Is there any way we can convince you to stay and protect us?”

Sophia rolled her eyes. She had no idea how Equestria lasted this long when morons held the majority of the nation’s wealth. “As you have seen, their weapons can punch through a unicorn’s shield easily. Princess Luna’s shield lasted longer because she improved upon the spell after she was given knowledge of their weapons’ firepower beforehoof. However that won’t be enough.

“What you saw in the ballroom was only a few of their lowest ranked soldiers. Private ranks, all of them. The only reason one of them seemed to do the talking was because he had slightly more intelligence than his idiotic comrades. I suspect that they broke away from their commanding officer and tried to attack the ballroom thinking they were invincible. The fact that I had to intervene proves how you ponies are not ready to fight this enemy as you are now.”

“What about the heroes who defeated the monster at the Summer Sun Celebration? Maybe they might have a way to get rid of them?”

Sophia took a deep breath as she did her best to explain why their methods were ineffective. “These pirates are invaders from other worlds. This isn’t a problem that magic alone will solve. They aren’t magically corrupted, they are greedy pirates who view you as a race of inferior savages. And sorry to burst your bubble, but compared to what they have in their arsenal, your weaponry is that of savages.”

The room then erupted into angry shouting at Sophia as they took her comment as an insult. However, Celestia bellowed out in her Royal Canterlot Voice for everyone to be silent, allowing Sophia to continue. “Even if you enchanted your blades to cut through their armor, will you get close enough to kill one of two of them before a hailstorm of bullets turn you into a bloody pulp? Even if you attacked them from range with unicorn magic, could they not equip themselves with reflective armor to send your attacks elsewhere? Even if you attacked from the air with your pegasi, could they not use their own ships to blast you out of the sky with their explosive ordinances? The answer to these questions is ‘yes’.

“So what must be done for us to bring an end to their threat?” Fancy Pants asked.

“Finally, the important question has been asked,” Sophia dramatically called out. “In order to meet their technological superiority, you must advance your military technology by leaps and bounds before they decide to send everything they have against you. You must embrace technology!”

“Embrace technology? Are you mad?” one noble cried. “The whole reason we had stopped advancing our technology was because the ancient tyrant Discord had plotted to turn it against us.”

“How so?”

“According to what had been passed down, Discord had shown us a world where we were hooked up to pods and had our minds placed into a fake world while the machines we made used our magic to power them.”

Sophia processed what the noble said and her thoughts turned to an old movie she once saw. Given how ponykind had likely never known the concept of a fictional movie it did seem possible that they ended up getting spooked by a movie and mistook it as a vision of the future. She facepawed. “Seriously? Please tell me you’re joking.”

“We’re serious, He used this strange box that displayed visions over a flat surface where he explained that this was the future.”

One facepaw wasn’t enough. Sophia repeatedly bashed her face into the floor until it cracked. “This kingdom is an idiocracy…” she thought.

Ingram also facehooved, “These ponies became technophobic over a ponified edition of ‘The Matrix’? Bloody hell…”

“This Discord and I are going to have words about this…” Sophia mumbled while her face was still planted in the floor. She then returned to a standing position and took a deep breath to calm herself. “This session is over. Return to your homes. We will proceed to debunk your technological paranoia at another time.”

With that, the enchantments and barrier were removed. The ponies filed out, leaving the princesses, Twilight and her friends as well as Sophia and Ingram.

“I can’t believe a piece of media entertainment spooked ponykind into stagnation,” Sophia moaned. “They still have a long way to go before they’re ready to face Schezar’s pirates.”

“Modernizing this country will take much effort and we have very little time to do so,” Ingram added. “We must be vigilant to prevent him from expanding his territory further into the country.”

Suddenly, two equine figures appeared at Sophia’s left and right side, startling the other ponies in the room. “Lady Sophia, are you alright?” Nova asked.

“I’m fine, I just received an unexpected shot of idiocy to my brain. I will need to check later to make sure I didn’t lose any brain cells over this.”

“I certainly got a kick out of it,” Tosh laughed.

Sophia turned to the crow perched on Luna’s mane. “Umbra, can you confirm this?”

Umbra flew off of Luna’s back, landed on the floor and transformed into her harpy form, stunning Twilight’s group and giving said mare and Starlight a ton of questions that flowed through their minds at that time.

Channeling her magic, Umbra’s feathers turned bronze and her eyes glowed blue. She stayed silent for a few minutes while the ponies watched. Soon the feathers returned to their normal black color. “This Discord seems to have a sick sense of humor. Apparently he forced the ponies of the past to be a part of his ‘movie night’ and made them watch a movie about machines taking over the world while giving his own narration to make it more impactful. Apparently the ponies took it too seriously and started fearing technology.”

“Why did your feathers turn bronze?” Starlight asked.

“It’s a side effect of accessing my temporal magic,” Umbra explained. “Luna should know about how my dream magic turns my feathers green.”

Luna nodded, “It’s true. I asked her about it and she explained how certain magic she has access to can alter the color of her plumage temporarily.”

With that matter settled, the room was quiet until Rainbow broke the silence. “So, what now?”

“Ooh, I know! Who wants donuts?” Pinkie offered. Welcoming the distraction, the group decided to end the discussion there while Celestia teleported everycreature to Donut Joe’s.

Celestia was especially glad for the distraction because tomorrow was going to be a headache for her as she would have to hold a press conference to address tonight’s events and begin the slow process of moving Equestria to a wartime status.

Author's Note

I know that this chapter is late. I've been distracted by other things.

Yes, I know that the reason for their technophobia seems silly, but imagine Earth as it was 1000 years ago. Could you imagine how you would react if you watched 'The Matrix' with an 11th century mentality?

End of a Dark Age

As a result of last night’s events, the trains were not running so rooms were prepared for Twilight and her friends to spend the night in the castle while the rest of the guests hurried home.

Celestia was not looking forward to the imminent press conference but she couldn’t put it off lest the populace be thrown into a panic. She would then need to consult with Sophia about the next course of action.

The attacking humans, the four who didn’t get shot in the head by Nova, were placed into the dungeon to await interrogation. Sophia had assured her that without their armor they were only about as strong as the average earth pony at best so their prison cells would hold them.

Celestia sighed as she considered her earlier desires for a gala that wasn’t so boring and stuffy only for the night to become terrifying and deadly. She endeavored to be careful of what she wished for in the future.

Those weapons were certainly as terrifying as Luna described. For such a thing to drive her to seek advice from Shining Armor to improve her shield spells, there was truly merit in that decision after what she saw last night. If what Sophia had said about the pirates having a terrifying arsenal was true, Equestria would need to change fast or her ponies could face oblivion.

While the press conference was meant to stave off panic, she would need to bring Equestria’s most influential minds together to get the ball rolling on the much needed changes. These minds would also need to understand how dire the situation was in order to convince them to cooperate.

To that end, these minds, composed of Twilight, her friends, influential nobles and industry leaders, would attend the interrogation of the pirates so they could see for themselves of the threat that loomed over them.

Celestia led the key ponies into a private room with a one-sided mirror. Rarity and the innovators were among those whom Celestia had convinced to come out of hiding while promising them full protection from the citizens.

The room had several rows of chairs with two larger ones in the front for Celestia and Luna to sit in. On the other end of the mirror was a room with a single table and four chairs, though only one was occupied by one of the human invaders who was wearing nothing but his pants. The ponies had been informed ahead of time that the creature was referred to as a human which Nova gave a brief description of his characteristics.

The human had a bored expression on his face. He had been imprisoned plenty of times before for various crimes he had committed in the Koprulu Sector, though the room made him feel like he was in one of those ancient detective movies from Earth. It was humiliating enough to be a prisoner to a bunch of animals, even more so when the civilization looked like something little girls would adore. However, the stone room with the single light was a touch he could live with.

Finally, the door opened and three figures entered the room: one pony, one zebra and one blue rabbit. The two equines took their places at the opposite side of the prisoner while Sophia hopped onto the table.

“So, now I get to be interrogated by two farm animals and a monster?” the guy moaned.

“It would seem that you fail to recognize us,” Nova noted. “Allow me to refresh your memory. Do you remember the top Dominion assassin from centuries ago?”

The man moaned as he remembered the name of one of the deadliest Ghosts from that time. “Figures that the Archon would bring Nova Terra herself out of cryo. Let me guess, the zebra is the former leader of the Shadowblade Spectres, Gabriel Tosh.”

“Got it in one, little boy,” Tosh grinned. “And here I thought you pirates didn’t even know what one plus one equals.”

“Funny coming from you, you used to be a pirate yourself.”

“Once upon a time, but my desire for vengeance has been sated since then so now I work for someone worth working for.”

“How about we get this started,” Sophia urged. “We all know you are part of Schezar’s Scavengers. That pirate lord has been elusive for quite some time and it seems he has set his sights on this world. Why is that?”

“You know why, little miss mind reader. Ah wonder if these ponies know what kind of monster they allow to walk among ‘em. If they knew that you personally took countless lives over the centuries, would they still work with you?”

“I’ll admit that I am quite the monster on the battlefield. Wars tend to be bloody no matter what form they take. If they surrender, they live. If they surrender while trying to deceive me, I’ll know. Like you said, I’m a mind reader. People won’t fool me easily. But enough about me, we’re here to talk about you and your pirate brethren.”

The man shrugged, “Nah, you’re way more interestin’ to talk about.”

“Nova?” Sophia allowed.

Nova then put a makeup kit and a large dress on the table. The man was confused by this at first before he suddenly found himself reaching for the kit and opening it up. He then grabbed the tools and put makeup on his face while placing the dress on himself. Tosh pulled out a video camera and recorded the man dancing around like a ballerina while giving a cheerful smile. This went on for five minutes before he took a rag and wiped the makeup off his face while taking the dress off. He then returned to his seat. Nova put the items away.

“Morons like you are so easy to mentally dominate, makes me wonder how much Nova enjoyed making you do that. Now, what will your buddies think if this leaked into one of their video feeds?” Sophia asked with a gentle smile.

“So your plan is to threaten me with humiliation?” the man growled. “Yer gonna have to do better than that.”

“A threat? No. That was simply your audition tape. You will be going on tour with a ballet group all over Equestria and your performances will be recorded. We even know of a few spells that can get your voice to be just the right octave for whenever you need to be cast as a mare. You will be a star on bridleway and your pirate buddies will watch every show.”

“Alright, alright! Whaddya wanna know?” the man asked, panic in his voice.

Rainbow Dash watched the scene and cringed at the thought of being made to look so frou-frou in front of countless ponies.

“First, is it true that you have a small base in Equestria?”

“Yes, we have one northeast of here. It was a small village in the middle of nowhere that had a few of you ponies livin’ there so we took it over and built an outpost over it.”

“Where is your main base of operations?”

“It’s on another continent southeast of this one. It’s populated mostly by zebras.”

“Zebrica!” Celestia gasped. The walls were soundproof so the prisoner didn’t hear her from the other room.

“And where else have your forces touched?” Sophia continued.

“Not much, though ah heard the boss had his pet cerebrate establish himself on this planet’s moon to build a Zerg hive cluster.”

“You dare defile my moon with your filth!?” Luna shouted, testing the limits of the walls.

“Now let’s get to the most important part.” Sophia paused before she continued. “What are your intentions for this world?”

“Whaddya think we’re here for, Archon? We’re pirates! We are here to plunder the resources of this world and strip mine the planet until nothin’s left so we can sell the minerals to fund a real war against your federation.”

“And what about the lifeforms of this world? You know this is a world populated by sapient creatures. What would you do with them?”

“Who gives a crap about a bunch of sapient animals? At the end of the day they’re just a bunch of savages who still use archaic weapons like metal swords and spears. If they were energy swords like what them Protoss use then we’d take these ponies more seriously. Ain’t our fault these animals didn’t up their tech when they had the chance. They’re sittin’ on some of the richest mineral nodes in the galaxy and they squander it by using it like currency or feedin’ it to those winged lizards.” He then laughed mockingly at the ponies he suspected were on the other side of the mirror in the room.

“These ponies may just surprise you, sir,” Sophia slowly stated.

That only made the man laugh harder for another minute. “Haha…ha…y’all think these animals stand a chance against our firepower? Please. Our Firebats will melt their feeble armor and turn them to charred husks. Even if they made thicker armor our Marauders will blow them away with their grenade launchers. If they want a long range fight by shootin’ beams at us, ah bet our Siege Tanks have longer range. They will blow your army apart before they get anywhere near close enough to the outpost. If they think they can take to the air, they’re dead wrong as our Vikings will tear them apart with their missiles. These ponies don’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell against us.”

Now for the question that should dispel any doubt in the minds of the ponies in the next room. “Is there any way we can resolve this peacefully where you spare this nation and you leave with some of this country’s gems?”

The human laughed again. “We don’t need to negotiate with savage animals. If they want peace then they can submit themselves to be our beasts of burden. Ah can speak for the boss when ah say that we’re here for the whole thing. We will plunder everything in this world for our war against you, Archon. A planet of slaves don’t sound too bad.”

“So if you were Alan Schezar’s official representative, you are certain that what you say are his wishes?” Sophia asked.

“That’s what he told us when he spoke about his vision for this world.”

“I believe that I have everything I need. Thank you for your time.” With that, Sophia, Nova and Tosh left the room and entered a room full of ponies frozen in horror.

A few hours later, Celestia stood before a large crowd of ponies, many of them carrying cameras and notepads filled with questions that they wished to ask. She would get her speech out before she began the question and answer session which she wasn’t looking forward to.

Up on the podium, Celestia took a few moments to gaze at the scared and curious ponies who looked up to her with hope in their eyes. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly followed by a clearing of her throat.

“My little ponies, last night was supposed to be a night of celebration for everypony. The Grand Galloping Gala was supposed to be a time to remember what we had accomplished for this great nation. It celebrated the completion of Canterlot which helped Equestria to become what it is today.

“Sadly, last night was a night of tragedy. We lost one of our valiant guards in the line of duty and several were injured by the new enemy who has made themselves known to us. This foe has shown their intent on viewing us as lesser beings. Though these creatures have been locked away in the dungeons, they are but rank and file soldiers of a much larger army that has invaded not only our lands, but our world.”

The ponies gasped.

“We, as a nation that has stood for over a thousand years, and we shall be tested in the coming days against an unprecedented threat that seeks to conquer us with weapons and armor that our guard is not equipped to deal with.”

Celestia could see that the ponies were now scared. However, the time had come to set aside her facade as a peaceful ruler. It was time to rally the masses and make the necessary steps that will bring her little ponies to war.

“We shall not let this guard’s death be in vain, my little ponies. Let his sacrifice be a wake up call for us. We can no longer afford to stagnate in the face of the adversity that was wrought upon us last night. The time for us to move forward once more is upon us, for our very survival depends on us discarding our ancient fears.

“I will not lie to you, my little ponies. We may be on the brink of a war that this world has never experienced. I can see the scared faces in the crowd. From that fear we shall bring about a new level of determination as we meet this challenge head on. We can no longer afford to fear the future for we could very well witness that world that Discord had shown us firsthoof. However, it wouldn't be the machines that threaten to enslave us, but these invaders.

“For the sake of our future, we must embrace that which we have feared or face oblivion. If you are wondering if there is another way, I have spoken to one of these invaders and they have clearly stated their intent to take everything from us and enslave us all. To that I say that we shall not allow this to happen. This world belongs to us and we shall fight to keep it that way. What say you, my little ponies?”

The ponies began chattering among themselves.

“Is this really happening?”

“The Princess wishes for us to go to war?”

“Are these creatures really here to enslave us all?”

“It’s the Princess! If she says this threat is real then it’s real.”

“We’re really going to war?”

“Is she saying that we need to embrace technology again?”

“But what about the future Discord showed us?”

“I don’t think we have a choice. I definitely don’t want to be enslaved.”

“I don’t know if I can trust technology, but I do trust the Princess.”

The voices became increasingly certain over time until the ponies began to chant “Princess!” repeatedly.

Once the voices died down, Celestia made her announcement. “I shall be instituting a series of policies and reforms over time as we move toward a wartime status. Our greatest minds shall emerge once again to educate the masses of the sciences that will be necessary for the nation to move forward. We must develop our own means to fight against their war machines and show these pirates that this is our world!”

The ponies roared into cheer. With this cheer, the reporters would rush to the presses and spread the news all over Equestria. The cheers would mark the end of an age of stagnation and the beginning of a new age for ponykind and the beginning of Sophia’s plan to send the ponies to the stars.

Author's Note

A time of change begins in Equestria, though change is also a slow process. Life will go on as usual for the main cast as they proceed into the Season 2 content. However, as the story progresses, it also begins to deviate more from the canon.

Next time: A 2 parter that features another of my OCs. Those of you who read my Seekers of the Epitaph stories may have an idea which one. Remember that black vial from four chapters ago? There's your hint.

The Chaotic and the Inevitable, Part 1

A few days after Celestia’s announcement, Luna had announced that she would assume her old role as the Supreme Commander of Equestria’s military and Celestia had publicly given her consent that this was the case. With the threat that the humans posed to Equestria, the political environment had begun to change as fear toward technology had given way to fear toward the humans.

This fear was not ideal in Sophia’s eyes, but it did motivate them to action. She would need to prove later that not all humans were monsters like the ones they captured.

Change was not always easy, and sometimes it required some tough love to make it happen. This was the case when Luna ordered a mock battle between the Royal Guards and Starlight. The lunar princess had known about the unicorn’s training with Nova and Tosh and was impressed with her combat prowess. She once challenged Starlight to a spar in the dreamscape and was surprised when she nearly lost that bout. This was only after a few months of training so Luna had no doubt that she would need to regain her former prowess to defeat her now. She decided to ask Sophia about that when she had the time.

Once the battle began, the guards soon found themselves hopelessly outmatched by one mare who was easily evading their predictable attack patterns where the pegasi tried diving at her from above only for her to teleport above one and buck them into a unicorn guard who looked at the battle above like a deer in headlights.

Starlight’s self-levitation allowed her to stay in the air to play with the winged ponies and took a few out of the air when she froze them in conjured crystal that was solid enough to not shatter when they landed on the floor. Two unfortunate earth ponies were directly below blocks and were flattened. The impact knocked them out. Three unicorn guards tried firing mana beams at Starlight only for her to use another pegasus guard as a meat shield which knocked the guard out of the air which Starlight was nice enough to slow their fall since she could afford to as the guards were not giving her a real challenge.

It was laughable how pathetic the guards were. Starlight read through their training manual and found that the guards didn’t practice coordinating with each other so they recklessly attacked her and hoped that they didn’t hit their comrades. Starlight was slowly getting bored watching them fail at that.

Eventually it was Starlight and one earth pony guardsmare left who gave a bewildered look at the mare. “How are you that strong? It was fifteen against one and we completed the training course at the top of our class.”

Starlight nodded, “This proves my point that the guard manual needs to be redone and all guards need to be retrained. I’ve presented Princess Luna with a detailed report about the flaws in the manual and the changes that your training program desperately needs.”

“And I suppose you’re going to train us?” the mare retorted.

“I’d rather teach ponies who would instruct the next generation of guards. I’m a student of magic, not a soldier.”

“In that case, why don’t you show me?” asked a male voice behind Starlight. She turned around and saw Shining Armor who was dressed in his custom violet and gold armor.

“Sure, you seem like a cut above the others,” Starlight commented before she and Shining proceeded to the center of the training area while the rest of the guards surrounded them.

Shining started with a blast of magic which Starlight easily dodged before she ran around him in an attempt to get behind him. Shining wasn’t having that and aimed a beam ahead of Starlight’s path and struck her. However, the mare vanished in a puff of smoke, revealing that he hit an illusion. Just as he was looking around to find the real Starlight he ended up falling on his plot as his hind legs were bucked from under him. His shock lasted long enough for his mane to be pulled by Starlight’s magic and flipped him on his back and left his belly exposed.

Before Starlight could press her attack, Shining protected his belly with a shield and blocked her attack. Shining got back on his hooves and started using his shields to try and predict Starlight’s next attack angle.

His shield managed to block one of Starlight’s spells which caused his shield to be crystallized. At first Shining thought he could use this against Starlight but he was quickly proven wrong when a second beam caused the crystal shield to shatter explosively, sending him flying back to the ring of spectators.

“Against skilled opponents it’s often wise to consider creative solutions to throw your opponent off guard,” Starlight said. “Our enemies aren’t going to use tactics that we know about so we have to be prepared for anything. Their weapons tore through Princess Luna’s shield and they have far more powerful weapons in their arsenal.”

Shining got back up and scraped his hoof along the floor in challenge. “This spar isn’t over, Starlight.”

“Yes it is,” Starlight confidently stated. Her horn then glowed briefly. Shining then noticed a glowing magic circle under him. The next thing he knew he was encased in a mana crystal. Try as he might, Shining was unable to muster any strength while his body was completely frozen. Once Starlight undid the spell, that was the end of the match.

Starlight walked up to Shining with a smirk on her face. “Congratulations, you just volunteered to be my unicorn combat student. Now I just need an earth pony and a pegasus.”

Things took an interesting turn a few days later when strange phenomena began happening in Equestria such as cotton candy clouds raining chocolate milk, animals with legs many times their body length, trees with overgrown fruit weighing the trees down and other weird happenings.

Sophia found that the area around her was unaffected by the strange phenomena but did feel the chilling presence of the black fluid in the vial she carried. The reaction was stronger than before which meant that the happenings were magical in nature and the fluid was negating the effects around her. It also meant that she had to keep Tosh and Nova near her to protect them.

Sophia decided to head to Canterlot to find out what was happening while the element bearers followed suit.

They arrived at Celestia’s throne room a few hours later so the princesses could explain what was happening. “It seems that a foe that my sister and I once defeated has returned,” Celestia informed. “His name is Discord.”

“Wait, you mean the same Discord who cast Equestria into a technological dark age?” Starlight asked.

“I will admit that one was an accident. It’s not my fault you ponies scare so easily.” came a voice from thin air. It was deep and masculine.

Alarak? Sophia thought. It can’t be! That Protoss died centuries ago.

“I know that voice!” Luna declared. “Discord, show yourself!”

As if by popular demand, the creature revealed himself. In Sophia’s eyes he reminded her of one of Thanatas’ flesh golems, given the mishmash of animal parts. Although his voice sounded like the pragmatic Protoss she met a long time ago, it certainly wasn’t him.

“Oh sweet Luna, finally decided to kick the addiction to void energy? You really shouldn’t touch the stuff. I know I wouldn’t.”

“Discord, we won’t allow you to rule Equestria again!” Celestia shouted.

“Now why would I do that, Tia? You should know that I hate to repeat performances. You two can have your stuffy jobs, I just want to cast this land into glorious chaos.”

“And which brand of chaos is that, Discord?” Sophia asked. “I’ve seen chaos before and it led to many bloody scenes.”

“Oh, if it isn’t Bloody Bunny, blue version. I will say you gave it your best shot to repair the damage I didn’t intend to cause, but your time is over and I suggest you leave this world to its denizens.”

“I suppose you are going to try to make me?”

“How about I send you to another dimension and see if your ship can find you there?” Discord offered. A snapping sound was heard. However, nothing happened. “What?” Three more snaps were heard which led to nothing. Discord then moved within inches of Sophia’s face while repeatedly snapping his lion paw. Aside from the lion paw, Sophia also saw an eagle talon for the other arm as well as a lizard and goat leg with a serpentine body, a pony’s head and two mismatched horns.

“Why is my magic not working on you?” Discord demanded.

“Because your chaos magic is being negated by my vial of black stuff,” Sophia sweetly replied. “This stuff is a kind of force that feeds on madness and since your magic is fueled by your madness…”

Discord attempted to grab the vial away from Sophia but she evaded him easily. The draconequus relied solely on his magic for everything so his physical prowess left much to be desired and he soon found that there was no way he was going to take the vial from her. While Sophia had the vial his chaos magic wouldn’t touch anything in the room.

“Bah! Fine! I will just have my fun elsewhere,” Discord moped.

“Tell me, have you met the other guests on this world?” Sophia asked.

Discord’s frown deepened. “Of course I have!” he snapped. “I was having my fun with those humans until they unleashed those horrid beasts on me. For some reason my magic didn’t affect them either. I was so looking forward to this day but between those creatures and that vial it’s starting to turn into a rather irritating one.”

“It didn’t?!” Sophia was surprised by this so she tried considering a number of possibilities. She came up with one theory and decided to ask him about it. “What things do you know, aside from my vial and those creatures, that are unaffected by your chaos magic?”

Discord thought about that for a moment, “Well, generally anything already chaotic would be resistant to chaos magic because adding chaos to more chaos is redundant. I can affect chaotic things as long as that chaos is part of my handiwork.”

“I’m guessing that those creatures you are referring to are Zerg. It could be that your magic doesn’t affect a race that is pure of essence.”

“Pure of essence?” Twilight asked.

“Consider that galaxies exist that are created by a race that has existed since times unknown. Not all of them, mind you, but some. Whenever they create a galaxy they also observe it and wait for a race to arise from the primordial ooze that fits one of two criteria that they are looking for. One criteria is purity of form, a race of great psionic power. The other is purity of essence, a race with the greatest evolutionary potential. It can also be said to be the most chaotic race to be discovered.

“So these Zerg are creatures of chaos?” Twilight asked.

“In a scientific sense, but not a magical sense. The Zerg are capable of altering themselves on the genetic level through consumption of other species and incorporating the traits they want into their own genetic code.”

“Can we get a translator over here?” Rainbow asked. “Some of us don’t speak egghead.”

Sophia rolled her eyes. “Putting it into an example, the ground bound ones eat enough pegasi and they all grow wings.”

“Pff…then we stay in the sky so they can’t get to us.”

“Their flyers can still consume pegasi from the air and give what they collect to the land runners,” Sophia countered.

“As fascinating as this lecture is, I have a countryside to edit,” Discord said, putting on mismatched office worker clothing and pulling out an electric pencil sharpener and sticking a carrot into it. The sharpener was shredding the carrot vigorously as Discord tossed the device on the floor and walked toward the exit of the throne room.

“You are not going anywhere, Discord!” Celestia declared as her horn lit. While the draconequus could normally make her horn go away, he couldn’t do so while the alicorn was within the proximity of the vial. Because of this, he was forced to dodge Celestia’s attacks before Luna started contributing to the assault.

Discord then conjured a bat and slammed one of Celestia’s beams back at the ponies which they dodged. This led to the beam ricocheting all over the throne room until it struck Sophia and sent the vial flying where it landed on the floor, shattering it.

Discord’s grin widened when he noticed this and began cackling. “Hahahaha! Looks like that takes care of your little defense.”

Sophia looked at the black puddle on the floor. Her expression darkened. She then gave an ominous look toward the draconequus. “I really wish you hadn’t done that…”

“And why is that?”

“That liquid was not just for negating your chaos magic, it was also a means to summon the one being I had hoped to not involve in this matter. The spilling of the black liquid was the summoning method. Now we’re gonna have to put up with her.”

“Dare I ask who you are talking about?” Celestia asked.

“My annoying cousin is coming…”

The ponies and the draconequus stared at Sophia for a few moments then looked toward the black puddle. They wondered what was about to happen.

As they stared into the black abyss of the puddle, A violet eyeball with an orange iris stared back.

The Chaotic and the Inevitable, Part 2

Everyone in the throne room, including Discord, stared at the black puddle on the floor wondering what was going to happen.

While Sophia never considered her cousin as a black sheep in the family, due to her following the family guidelines like everyone else, it was when she was given a little too much freedom that unspeakable things sometimes happened and that was the main reason why Sophia was always reluctant to call upon her. Her methods were unpredictable and could lead anywhere from something tame to orchestrating a global massacre.

Discord had tried to figure out what was going on in his own way which involved several attempted breakings of the fourth wall only to be met with a wall of glitch text that not even he could pierce.

The ponies soon reeled in shock as they spotted a purple slitted eye open and stared at everypony.

“Your annoying cousin?” Celestia inquired. “What does that mean?”

“As long as this world is under my protection she won’t try anything I wouldn’t want her to do. She’s a headache to deal with but she still adheres to my family’s rules,” Sophia assured. “The real issue is that you are all about to be very uncomfortable.”

As she said that a black mass started to rise from the puddle looking like the liquid was trying to take a shape. After several moments the mass appeared to be taking an equine shape except the tail was most certainly not equine. Soon the black liquid around the form began to harden, forming a carapace that seemed akin to a crustacean with plates forming atop one another while the tail fanned out at the end slightly, forming a lobster-like appearance. Where one would normally see eyes on a pony, they opened to reveal the same colors they saw earlier. Her mouth opened to reveal rows of sharp teeth. Finally, a mane began to form that took the form of violet octopus tentacles.

Discord narrowed his eyes at the newcomer as he tried to make heads or tails out of her, literally. However, his magic was nullified around her. “What kind of weird seapony are you?” he wondered.

Discord suddenly found himself surrounded from all angles by the same eyes as the figure. “I’m weird? Have you looked in a mirror?” she scoffed. “You look like something some lazy scientist tried to cobble together. Or maybe you were once made of different doll parts that some unhinged child decided to put together on a whim? Maybe you are that child and wanted to experiment on yourself?”

Discord harrumphed, “Hmph! I am neither, I am Discord, Lord of Chaos and Disharmony and you look like something that should never have been.”

“But if I never was then I wouldn’t get to be here to play with you and that would make you feel so sad, wouldn’t it,” she cackled. “Since we’re doing names, mine’s Violetta, eldritch horror, huntress of that which lurks between and devourer of broken minds.”

Sophia rolled her eyes, “Let’s not forget the Voice of Madness, the Mistress of Mental Maladies, the Keeper of the Gates to Insanity, and the Harbinger of the Inevitable End…not to mention huge pain in my fluffy tail.”

The figure gave a gentle fake smile, “Thank you for that, dear cousin, especially that last part. I do enjoy making my family groan in exasperation.”

The ponies maintained a safe distance from Violetta, afraid that she might try something if they got too close. The horror continued to ignore them and focused on Discord. The two stared at each other though the draconequus was visibly sweating.

Violetta giggled, “Ah, the stench of fear permeates this room. It’s like someone lit some scented candles just for me.”

Sophia rolled her eyes, “Let’s get to the point, Vio. I’d rather not be here all day.”

Violetta shrugged, “Well, I was called here, even if by accident. There’s not much else to do right now since you drummed up a bunch of drama about me. They’re all waiting for me to do something but it seems that you forgot to give me the script, dear cousin.”

“How about you convince the walking Picasso over there not to turn this world into abstract art,” Sophia suggested. “Just don’t kill him, I might have a use for him at some point.”

For a moment, a number of smiling fanged mouths appeared all over Violetta's body, further disturbing the ponies until the mouths disappeared. “Are you saying he gets to be my ‘special friend’ for a while?” Violetta asked gleefully.

“Sure, go right ahead.”

“Hello…don’t I get a say in this?” Discord demanded.

“I did put a suggestion box somewhere but I think whatever goes into it gets lost in a bottomless abyss,” Sophia quipped.

Before Discord could say anything else he felt a pair of inky black hooves wrap around his neck as the horror showed affection for her new toy or pet, whichever she decided him to be. “Let’s go play in a sandbox!” As Violetta said that a black hole opened beneath the two. Discord tried to float away but Violetta continued negating his magic which left him at the mercy of gravity as they disappeared into the hole. The hole closed, leaving Sophia alone with the ponies.

Sophia gave a pained expression which filled the ponies with concern. “What happened to them?” Celestia asked.

“Violetta took Discord to what she would call a ‘sandbox’ which is her way of saying a constructed reality created within her victim’s mind.”

“What does that mean?” Applejack asked.

“It means that the two of them have entered a fake reality where she gets to make her victim watch as she messes around with it while using her vile powers to paint it into a grim world just to torment her victim. The image will be burned into Discord’s mind until Violetta erases it herself. Until then she can use it to further torment him.”

The ponies grew pale upon hearing that. Surprisingly, Fluttershy broke that silence. “That seems so cruel.”

“She can do a whole lot worse, Fluttershy. She can draw out your insecurities, amplify them and use them to drive you into a psychotic break. She normally doesn’t fight physically but she does attack you mentally.”

“I dunno, she seems kinda fun when she isn’t being all scary,” Pinkie noted.

“If you want to try befriending her? Be my guest but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Challenge accepted!” Pinkie shouted with a determined yet silly look on her face.

“Uh, Pinkie, maybe you should think about what you’re gettin’ into,” Applejack warned. “Ya might be bitin’ off more than you can chew.”

“I can handle it,” Pinkie insisted. “Something tells me that I’m the pony for the job.”

Applejack sighed, “At least come to us if she gets to be too much for ya.”

“Okie dokie lokie!”

Sophia and the ponies spent a few more minutes discussing their concerns about Violetta, except Pinkie who went on a rant about root beer for some reason. Afterward they stopped their conversations as a black hole opened up near the entrance of the throne room. Everypony tensed as they awaited whatever would emerge from the hole.

Discord emerged a few moments later but everypony could tell that there was something off about him. The draconequus looked slumped over while a dark cloud literally hung over his head. His head lowered until he was dragging it across the floor and then he collapsed and laid there, not caring that his cloud was making a puddle on the floor.

“What happened to him?” Rainbow asked.

“Guess he’s a little worn out from all the playing we did in the sandbox,” Violetta said as she emerged from the hole.

“Seems like whatever she showed him has depressed him into despair,” Sophia figured.

“Hmph! If only it were just that,” Discord grumbled. “She took me to another version of Equestria and defiled it into a land of chaos and madness. Her dark and dreary Equestria brought about by chaos of all things has completely ruined my mood. She made chaos look boring!”

“Uh, isn’t that kinda your thing?” Rainbow asked, as if she were pointing out the obvious.

“I may be a purveyor of chaos and disharmony, Rainbow Dash, but even I have boundaries that I would never cross. Violetta’s brand of chaos crosses that. It’s a line that separates my fun and disruptive chaos and her chaos that brings about death and destruction in a way that makes the entire world look bleak.”

“Chaos has different flavors, Discy,” Violetta cooed. “Mine is as valid as yours.”

Twilight gulped, “Do we want to know what happened over there?”

Discord sighed as he got up and dismissed his cloud. “Trust me, you don’t want to know what happened over there. But I will say it involved you and your friends as well as seven monstrous manifestations of negative emotions.”

“My Seven Gates to Insanity,” Violetta added. “Doubt, despair, anger, violence, hatred, fear and pride. Through these emotions anypony can end up doing things that they would never dream of doing. A most faithful student doubts her teacher and acts against her in a fit of paranoia while considering ponies around her as agents of her teacher. A pony with a well of ideas suddenly runs dry and gives up trying, eventually believing that nothing matters anymore and acts as if consequences are irrelevant in a fit of nihilism. A pony with a level head loses her cool and acts out of blind rage, lashing out at any pony who gets in her way. A pony who develops a fascination for blood and acts to spill it from many others for no other reason than to see that liquid again. A pony who commits unspeakable atrocities to make others suffer to find a momentary relief from the maddening storm within themselves. A pony who succumbs to paranoia and begins lashing out at everypony around them believing that they are surrounded by enemies from all sides. Finally, a pony who believes themselves above all else and believes that the world is theirs for the taking while those who disagree have no place in this pony’s world and must be removed from it by any means necessary, no matter the cost.”

“In other words, she turned that world into something out of a grimdark story and made Discord watch the carnage,” Sophia summarized.

“What’s grimdark?” Twilight asked.

“You really don’t know what a grimdark story is, Twilight?” Rarity asked. “I thought you read countless books on a daily basis.”

“I do read some stories, but I’ve never come across any of that genre.”

“That’s to be expected since grimdark is an unpopular genre in Equestria,” Celestia pointed out. “What Sophia is saying is that Violetta twisted another Equestria into something dark, twisted and unimaginably horrifying.”

“I’m sure you would have preferred to fight my void-corrupted visage again than to experience such a twisted world,” Luna added.

With his presence no longer noticed, Discord shambled his way to the exit still slumped over. However, it would appear that he couldn’t leave quietly as Celestia noticed him leaving. “Where do you think you’re going, Discord?”

“I’m going home, Celestia. After everything that’s happened today I’m not in the mood to unleash chaos on this land.” He snapped his talons which, while the ponies in the throne room didn’t notice it, caused everything across the land to return to normal. “With all of these invaders running around Equus like they own the place, including the two in this room, there’s already enough chaos in this world without me.”

Celestia looked at Discord with concern. This depressed behavior was unlike Discord who was usually jovial and spontaneous while being annoying and disruptive.

Sophia also seemed concerned for the draconequus. She gave her cousin a pained look. “I think you might have overdone it.”

Violetta shrugged, “I did what I needed to do to stop him from messing up your work. It’ll be up to him to get out of his funk.”

Unbeknownst to everyone, a certain shy pegasus was having conflicting feelings on the whole matter. Her fear of the powerful draconequus who could alter reality on a whim was fighting her desire to try and cheer up the depressed draconequus after everything she had seen and heard. However, one side was quickly losing the battle as what she saw, combined with Sophia’s confidence training, did the losing side no favors. The battle was quickly settled and the mare took action.

To the surprise of everyone, Discord included, he found himself being wrapped by a pair of yellow hooves from behind. It was especially shocking as Fluttershy usually didn’t move as fast as she did to close the distance. “Wow, why was she never that fast at flight camp?” Rainbow wondered.

“What are you doing?” Discord asked.

“You looked like you really needed a hug,” Fluttershy responded.

“Do you realize who you’re hugging right now?”

“A depressed draconequus who really needs a friend right now?”

“I don’t know if you’ve realized this but I am the spirit of disharmony, I don’t do friendship.”

“Well too bad, mister,” Fluttershy sassed, much to the shock of her friends. “I’m not going to stand by and watch you be depressed and alone. Even if not right now, I want you to talk to me.”

“Have you lost your mind?!” Discord snapped. “You have no idea of the trouble you’re borrowing by associating with me.”

“Maybe not, but I don’t care. How could I represent the Element of Kindness if I didn’t show it to somecreature who really needs it?”

Discord growled in frustration as he ripped his huge eyebrows off only for them to instantly regrow for him to rip them out again. After a few more instances of that he got bored and glared at the mare who was weathering his gaze well. “Fine! I’ll find some time to visit you every now and again. Happy?” Fluttershy smiled and nodded in response. She then released him from the hug.

Grumbling, Discord opened a portal to his personal dimension where his home was and went inside.

Once he was gone, Fluttershy went into a full-blown panic while she was tugging at her long mane. “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I can’t believe I just did that! Oh my Celestia! I-I-I…” She then passed out. Thankfully Rarity had a fainting couch ready for her.

“Anypony else think Fluttershy’s been full of surprises today?” Rainbow asked.

“Huh, looks like those confidence lessons I’ve been giving her are paying off,” Sophia noted.

Those who were still conscious were then looking back at Violetta who was on her back laughing helplessly at the antics of the pegasus. Pinkie ended up catching the infectious laughter and joined the eldritch horror in a laughing fit.

“So what do we do about Violetta?” Applejack asked.

“I’ll probably let her do whatever she wants for now,” Sophia shrugged. “She shouldn’t cause too much trouble since she is bound by the family rules here. Even she dreads the consequences of what happens if she breaks them. I’ll take full responsibility for her actions.”

“Alright, I’ll trust your judgement on the matter and I accept your offer of you taking responsibility for her actions,” Celestia decided. “Moving on to the invading humans, however, things will be gradually changing over the year as Luna and I will be pushing for a number of reforms in preparation for the coming war. For now, you should return home and rest. We have averted a crisis but many more will be on the horizon. Enjoy these peaceful times while you can.”

With the situation of Discord resolved for now, Violetta headed into a black portal saying that she will keep in touch. Twilight and her friends headed back to Ponyville to return to their daily lives.

Author's Note

Hope you guys enjoyed the introduction of this product of my disturbed imagination.

Twilight's Therapy Visit

A week had passed since Discord had been released from his stone prison. There hadn’t been a single sighting of the draconequus since then. Sophia had to guess that he was trying to avoid Violetta as much as possible. It was unfortunate for Discord that such a feat would be impossible. Any who knew of her existence would harbor her presence in their minds.

The terrifying part about that was the fact that she could act upon the minds of any who knew of her existence. That meant that she could mold one’s psyche however she wanted, even turn them into murderous psychopaths. Of course, that was one of the things she was forbidden to do unless explicitly ordered to by a family member who was of sound mind.

Speaking of the eldritch horror, there hasn’t been any sign of her either. Sophia could only hope that she wasn’t tormenting the poor draconequus further.

She turned her thoughts to other matters. Starlight and Nova had stayed in Canterlot to help train new instructors for a while so it could be some time before they returned.

Suddenly, Sophia sensed that Twilight’s stress levels were rising. The behavior was still normal for the obsessive-compulsive mare but it still warranted monitoring, especially since Starlight wasn’t around to calm her down right now.

For now, the bunny decided to ask the one creature who always kept an eye on Twilight whenever he wasn’t in school. “Hey Spike!”

“Oh, hey Sophia! What’s up?”

“I noticed Twilight might be having an episode.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Spike grumbled.

“What’s going on?”

“So far it’s been the usual Twilight being Twilight. She sort of messed up an order of cupcakes we got earlier and almost completely removed the icing from them because they didn’t look perfectly proportioned.”

“Yes, she does seem to need to develop flexible thinking skills. Obsessing over every little thing is not a healthy way to behave. So why am I sensing her stress levels rising further?”

Spike shrugged, “I dunno, last thing I mentioned was that we hadn’t written a friendship report to Princess Celestia in about a week and she started freaking out about magic kindergarten. She then ran off to find a friendship problem, I guess.”

Sophia could only hope that she would find a problem because that much stress was bound to attract Violetta’s attention.

Unfortunately, the hours ticked by and Twilight was getting worse as her stress was reaching breakdown levels. None of her friends were having any problems that they couldn’t solve themselves. She also ignored her friends’ council that a late friendship report wasn’t a major issue.

Sophia was now fearing for the unicorn’s life as she could tell that she was going insane from her doubt in others, which made her mind a prime target for Violetta to prey on. She needed to intervene immediately.

However, Sophia realized that she waited too long to act as the moment that Twilight returned to her house, the entire tree the building was composed of was shrouded in a black mist before becoming transparent and intangible.

“Blast it all! I’m too late!” Sophia shouted.

“Too late fer what?” Applejack asked as she, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rainbow and Rarity approached. They then noticed the state of the building, leaving their eyes widened in shock. “What in tarnation happened to Twilight’s house?!”

“Yeah, it’s all dark and weird-looking,” Rainbow added.

“I hope Twilight and Spike are alright in there, she seemed really upset earlier,” Pinkie remarked.

“I guess this whole friendship report thing was really eating at her,” Fluttershy figured.

Suddenly, the phantasmal door to the library opened and Spike flew out the door screaming as he was thrown out. Rainbow managed to catch him. “Hey Spike, what’s going on in there?” the cyan mare asked.

“I don’t know! Twilight’s mane was getting all out of sorts which tends to happen when she’s really stressed out. She said something about making a friendship problem for her to solve but just as her magic grabbed onto that old doll of hers, she dropped it and stopped moving. Her eyes turned completely black, as if they were empty sockets. It was so creepy! Next thing I know, the door opened and I was thrown out of the house as if I got bucked by Applejack.”

Sophia sighed, “Then there’s nothing we can do for Twilight. Her fate is in Violetta’s clutches now.”

Meanwhile, Twilight, in her frazzled state, was trying to enchant her old doll with a spell to make everypony obsessively desire it. However, her horn wasn’t lighting for some reason. She felt like she still had access to her magic but she couldn’t push it out of her horn. She struggled to activate her magic with as much effort as she could muster but that only succeeded in giving her a brief headache.

“Are you finished trying to give yourself an aneurysm?” asked a voice behind her. Twilight quickly turned to see Violetta sitting in a black chair she didn’t remember having in her library.

Except, when she turned around she found that she wasn’t in her library but in a different place completely. Looking around the room she could see the light gray walls of a room that looked like a normal pony’s house. She spotted several bookshelves containing a multitude of books that looked familiar. A few light fixtures gave a soft white glow that reminded Twilight of Princess Celestia for some reason while bright sunlight shone through a small window in the back. A rug in the middle of the floor was lavender with a dark blue outer ring and a raspberry ring inside. The rug smelled like old books and ink which gave Twilight a feeling of comfort for some reason.

However, Twilight still felt the need to be on guard with the horrific mare in the room. “Violetta?! What are you doing here? Where am I? How did I get here?”

“Yes it’s me,” Violetta responded. “You are in your library and you never left.”

“I’m pretty sure my library didn’t look like this.” Twilight waved a hoof at the surroundings.

“True, I had to do some redecorating in order for this place to look like a proper therapist’s office. And no, your library hasn’t changed at all. Sophia warned you about what I can do. I’m sure a smart pony like you can figure out where we are.”

Twilight thought back to what Sophia said about Violetta and how her powers were psychological in nature. She remembered what happened to Discord and how he ended up depressed when she created a grim world within…

“Wait, are we inside my own mind?!” Twilight exclaimed with a louder voice than necessary.

“Correct, my little pony,” Violetta slightly smiled. “I fabricated this room using your mental image of your library as a template. You may have noticed the books here are all ones you have read. They come straight from your memory center so some of the texts might be a little fuzzy if you don’t have them perfectly memorized.”

“That doesn’t explain what you’re doing in my mind.”

“You don’t get it, I exist within any mind who knows of my existence. I exist within your friends, your princesses, my family and Discord. If you tell any creature that I exist, then I will exist within their minds as well.”

“That’s…terrifying to think about.”

“Not really,” Violetta shrugged. “Most of the time I’m nothing more than a benign presence in your mind unless I act upon that presence. But enough about me, this is your therapy session.” Twilight then spotted a framed diploma behind Violetta, reading it was a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. “I can assure you that degree is very real. I wanted to surprise Sophia and my mother with it since they seem to enjoy showing off their skills in their respective scientific fields. You can ask me about my mother later. Right now, it’s time for your therapy session.”

A lavender-colored couch manifested in front of Violetta to which she gestured to Twilight to have a seat. Seeing no harm in it, the unicorn obliged.

“My therapy session? There isn’t anything wrong with me,” Twilight protested.

“So it’s normal to fuss over a weekly friendship report like it’s the end of the world?”

“Wait, that’s right! I need to make a report by the end of the day or I’ll be…tardy!” Twilight fretted, uttering the last word as if she had committed a taboo.

“Perhaps you might, I can’t imagine how many foals are flayed with a whip for being late on an assignment,” Violetta casually remarked.

“Princess Celestia would never do that to me…would she?”

“Maybe. When was the last time she did that to you?”

“Well, never actually,” Twilight remarked.

“So what about Celestia changed that would make her want to do so now?”

“She would never hurt me like that, she would probably send me to magic kindergarten instead.”

Violetta hummed, “I see. So she would send you to take remedial classes in magic because you are struggling with the most basic of spells?”

“What? No, of course not! I always get good grades and Celestia praises my spellwork.”

“Then what’s the point of sending you back to magic kindergarten? How is sending you to remedial magic class with a bunch of foals going to help you learn about friendship?”

Twilight paused for a few moments to consider how to answer the question. She wondered what the point would be to send her to magic kindergarten. Try as she might, she couldn’t think of a practical reason. “I…I don’t know. I’ve never been late on an assignment before. I don’t even know what the consequences would be.”

“Tell me, Twilight, have you ever considered what life is like for the average student? Have you ever witnessed an example of a student who failed to turn in an assignment?” As Violetta asked that, the scene shifted into a classroom that Twilight was familiar with at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Most of the ponies were just equine silhouettes, to Twilight’s horror.

“Remember Twilight, this is still your mindscape,” Violetta explained. “The reason these ponies are silhouettes is because you never took the time to remember them. The ones who look like actual ponies are the ones who have left a significant impression on your memories.”

This made sense to Twilight. Oddly enough, despite Violetta’s presence, she was feeling comfortable. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that she challenged her to attack her concerns with logic; something that helped her to relax. When the world around her made no sense, such as times when Pinkie’s antics infuriated her, she counted on logic to bring her comfort.

She vaguely remembered one student coming into class late though she didn’t hear much else since she was too engrossed in a book at the time. Violetta helped to clear the fog on that conversation, with the help of Twilight’s subconscious, to find that the brief exchange was rather anticlimactic as the teacher only had them go to their seat with nothing more than a reprimand.

“What you observed was a typical student being late to class. They were certainly a common example of a tardy student,” Violetta explained.

“So…they weren’t even punished?” Twilight asked.

“The only real punishment is missing out on a few minutes of class time. It might be important in some circumstances, but negligibly consequential in most cases. Though repeated instances of this in a relatively short amount of time can get on the teacher’s nerves and could lead to punishments to discourage the student from such behavior. Ask yourself this: do you need to be punished in order to remember to turn your assignments in on time?”

Twilight shook her head vigorously, “No, I always do my best to turn in my assignments on time.”

“And this will be the first time you gave Celestia a late assignment?” Twilight nodded. “And because you are giving your teacher your first late assignment, you believe that she will send you to take remedial magic lessons in an environment that is without your friends whom you are learning about friendship from?”

Twilight thought about that for a few moments before she realized something. “Now that you mention it, there doesn’t seem to be a point in sending me to magic kindergarten without my friends when I’m supposed to be learning about friendship from them. I still don’t know what Princess Celestia will do to me when she finds out I didn’t give her a weekly friendship report.”

“Oh yes, she must be thinking about so many other ways to punish you. From what you tell me, she must be quite harsh and unforgiving.”

“Princess Celestia is not like that!” Twilight protested indignantly. “She’s the kindest, wisest, most benevolent pony in all of Equestria.”

“And yet you fear her like she was a tyrant. Your desperate actions to find a friendship problem to write about tells me as much.”

“It’s not that I fear her, I’m afraid of failing her. She tasked me with making weekly friendship reports and I feel like I’m letting her down when I don’t keep up with them.”

“I see,” Violetta hummed. “Let’s consider a different angle. Have you ever considered the purpose behind the weekly reports? Does Celestia grade your reports like school assignments?”

“No, not that I know of. She wanted me to make reports on the magic of friendship but I never received any feedback on that. I figured that she wanted me to learn about friendship to help strengthen the bonds I have with my friends and strengthen the power of the Elements of Harmony.”

“Have you considered the idea that these reports were not meant to be an assignment?”

“It was a task given to me by Princess Celestia herself, what else could they be?”

“Give it some thought. Also consider this, why are you the only one to make these reports on friendship when you have friends who can help you out? Did she say that your friends weren’t allowed to help you with them?”

“Well, no…I guess that was sort of implied.”

“Careful about assumptions, Twilight, they can often lead to misunderstandings and such things can lead to damaging a friendship.”

“Huh, you’re right,” Twilight realized. “I guess I should have asked my friends to help me write a report instead of taking on the burden myself.”

“That or just tell her the truth,” Violetta offered. “If you haven’t found a lesson to write about then you simply don’t have anything to report. Is it truly realistic to expect a lesson every week?”

“I guess not, but I feel like I’m letting her down if I don’t have anything to report.”

“Perhaps we can discuss your fear of failing the princess in another session. Do consider what I said about the nature of these friendship reports. If you think about friendship as an assignment then you might end up missing the whole point of friendship, thus rendering the entire assignment moot.”

“When you put it like that then it seems like making a friendship problem defeats the purpose of the assignment.” Twilight smiled. “Thanks for helping me realize my mistake and…I guess…not preying on my mind like Sophia said you do.”

“Oh, I very well could have. You were ripe for the harvest by the time you were about to enchant that doll and I am quite hungry for a depraved mind. Make of that what you will.”

Twilight gulped.

“Now then, this session is over. Time for you to return to the real world, your friends are worried sick about you. In fact, it seems that they even called in Celestia for help.”

“Princess Celestia?!” Twilight shouted.

Before she could say anything else, the world around her shattered like glass to reveal herself standing in the middle of her library. She looked around to check her surroundings and saw that everything was where she, Starlight or Spike left it. She appeared to be back in reality.

The door suddenly opened and her friends clumsily flooded into the building and ended up in a pile. “Twilight!” they shouted in unison.

“Twilight, are you alright?” Rainbow asked.

“Are you hurt?” Fluttershy asked.

“What in tarnation happened?” Applejack asked.

“Spike said your eyes turned black and empty.” Rarity added.

“It was so creepy. Your library turned all black and ghosty like OoooooOOOOooooOOOOOOOOoooooo…” Pinkie supplied.

Once her friends had finally given her a chance to speak, Twilight explained what happened between her and Violetta which amounted to telling them that the horror gave her a psychological therapy session.

“So she just talked to you?” Rainbow questioned.

Twilight nodded, “Yeah, and she stopped me from making a huge mistake. I was so desperate to make a friendship report that I was about to do something that would have defeated the purpose if I went through with it.”

“Gosh Twi, ah’m awful sorry ah didn’t take your concerns seriously. Ah…we didn’t realize how much this meant to ya.” The others voiced their own apologies after Applejack.

“I apologize as well, my faithful student, I misspoke about what I wanted from you,” Celestia added. “I shouldn’t have added pressure on you by requesting weekly reports. I meant that you could send me a report any time you learn something new about friendship. There never was any real deadline, truth be told.”

“Princess, you don’t have to–” Twilight tried to protest but Celestia raised a hoof to stop her.

“I can make mistakes as well. I am far from perfect, Twilight. Starlight found out a long time ago that I’m as approachable as any pony. I even encouraged her to behave casually toward me whenever I am not doing anything official.”

“Princess, perhaps ah could offer a friendship report in Twilight’s stead?” Applejack offered.

Celestia smiled, “That sounds like a wonderful idea. In fact, I think all of you should write to me about what you learned about friendship, whenever you discover something of course. I’ll extend this to Starlight as well.”

Everypony agreed before Applejack and the others, sans Twilight, gave their report together about taking their friends' worries seriously.

“Thank you for that wonderful report, my little ponies. Now if you will excuse me, I am nearly finished with the first batch of reforms. Umbra and Luna have been quite helpful in drawing up a plan to modernize Equestria.”

With that, the ruler teleported away, leaving the others to continue enjoying their peaceful days that were slowly coming to an end.

Mare Do Well

“It would seem that I was right about you,” Sophia commented. “You’re certainly a talented filly with a lot of potential.”

“Thanks,” the filly blushed. “Though if it weren’t for you I’d probably have never realized my full potential.”

“You’re definitely not there yet. Talent is one thing but you must build upon it with effort. All I can do is open the way there. Remember to practice your skills and take time to relax in between to give your muscles time to rest. It’ll be counterproductive if you overdo it.”

“Do you think you could train us to fight those humans like the ones who attacked the gala?”

“I am considering it, but not before you and your friend get your cutie marks and only if I can get your guardians to approve.”

“I’m still not sure if Sweetie can get a cutie mark with her robot body. Plus, it’ll be hard enough getting our guardians to agree to this since they’re always wanting to protect us. We can’t even train for the guard until we’re fifteen and that won’t be for another three years.”

“Sweetie might get a cutie mark, magic has been known to make the impossible possible. She still has her magic. As for you, Scootaloo, I’d imagine you will get your cutie mark any day now. As for your guardians, you can leave that to me.”

“Honestly, I’d have thought I’d get my cutie mark when I was able to fly, but I’m still blank.”

“Perhaps you should consult your instincts through meditation and think about what you need to do to make it appear?” Sophia guessed. “For all the time I’ve been here I still haven’t figured that out yet.”

“Do you think Rainbow Dash will be impressed by how far I’ve come?” Scootaloo asked.

“She definitely will. Are you planning to show her?”

“Yeah, but I wanna make it a big surprise, and I think I know of somepony who can help with that.”

Recently, ponies in Ponyville had begun to take out insurance policies for their property. A small part had to do with concerns over the pirates potentially attacking their town at some point, but mostly it was because word had spread about Apple Bloom’s cutie mark.

In a related matter, there have been more explosions around town, particularly because the filly had been practicing her explosive-making under Sophia’s guidance. She made sure that anything that might be too dangerous was contained. The last thing she needed was for her apprentice to get blown up, or worse, find a way to develop something similar to a nuke before Equestria was ready for it.

Meanwhile, at Rarity’s workshop, the mare was being introduced to techniques that would improve the efficiency of the refining process of gemstones into metal. Ingram proved to be a strange mentor who was somehow able to interact with objects from a distance without using magic.

When the inventor mare gathered the courage to ask how he was doing that, his response was beyond anything she could have imagined.

“You see Rarity, machines can exist in a vast range of sizes,” Ingram explained. “They can be as colossal as a world, or even bigger than that, or they could be so small that even the fleas on a dog would be bigger. Specialized equipment would be required for anything of such an extreme scale.”

“So your ability to interact with distant objects is because of tiny machines?” Rarity guessed.

“Correct. They are known as nanomachines. They are known to be highly versatile in use. They are too small for the naked eye to perceive unless they gather in a large clump. For example…” Ingram pointed a hoof upward. A small silvery sphere began to form above his frog that appeared to be growing larger until it was the size of a softball. “Believe it or not, this sphere is composed of trillions of nanomachines. Whether for utility purposes, creation or destruction, these nanoscopic machines have a multitude of uses. I could use them to enhance my body so that if a dragon tried to punch me, I would barely take any damage, if any. I could also use them to enhance my offensive capabilities and rival Sophia’s devastating attacks.”

“That is amazing!” Rarity gushed. “Imagine if more ponies had these things strengthening their bodies.”

“Don’t,” Ingram warned. “Do not fall into the trap power brings. The downside of these machines is that they require a central will to control them. Any slip in concentration and the machines could act on their own and cause untold destruction to everything they come across, like a locust swarm. I have spent countless years perfecting my control over these machines.” The orb then seemingly dissolved when they actually went into standby inside and outside Ingram’s body.”

“I see. In that case, perhaps such a dangerous thing is better off in the hooves of somepony responsible enough to handle them.”

Ingram smiled, “In time you will be able to create your own technological wonders. For now, I believe you have a presentation to prepare for.”

“Presentation?” Rarity gasped. “Oh my Celestia! I forgot that today is the presentation I was supposed to give to my fellow inventors. Ever since Princess Celestia started her widespread reforms my fellow innovators have started to come out of hiding. Ohh, if only it wasn’t today though. Twilight’s birthday is today and everypony will be attending, including all of her friends from Canterlot.”

“Don’t worry Rarity, I’ve got this,” came Sweetie Belle’s voice as she entered the room.

“Oh Sweetie, I wish you could, but the process is quite difficult and involves careful calibration of the regulators.”

Sweetie deadpanned, “Sis, I’ve watched you make starship metal for years. I’ve helped you make a few batches. Mr. Ingram even helped me fill in the gaps on what parts I might have missed. I think I can handle it. And besides, Mr. Ingram will be here to help in case I mess up.

“Frankly, I’d rather not see you stress out trying to attend two events at the same time,” Ingram added. “I would say that you should attend the event that you would most regret missing out on.”

Rarity bit her lip. On the one hoof, she was Twilight’s friend and she would feel guilty that she didn’t attend the party. On the other hoof, this was an event that would be the start of a great change in Equestria as the spreading of her refining technique to other engineers would help Equestria prepare more of the material needed for the war ahead.

Sure she could reschedule, but she wasn’t certain when the other engineers would have time to come together like this again. If she did attend the party, could she trust Sweetie Belle to make a good presentation? If she didn’t attend the party, would her friends hold it against her?

Before Rarity began thinking in circles, a black hoof touched her withers which knocked out of her thoughts. She looked at the stallion who gave her a gentle smile, “Just go to the party, Rarity. I will handle the presentation. Sophia has sent me enough of the data of your processes to know how it all works. Sweetie will be assisting me. Have faith in your mentor.”

Rarity took a few calming breaths and gathered her resolve to give him a determined nod. “Alright, I’ll leave everything to you.”

Rarity found herself at Twilight’s birthday party a few hours later. It was agreed to hold the celebration in Ponyville out of respect for Rarity’s disdain toward most of the citizens of Canterlot. The party took place outside the library where Pinkie set up a few tables while using her boundless energy to move between the party and Sugarcube Corner to grab the party supplies and cake.

While everypony seemed to be enjoying the scene, Rarity noticed a couple of things were off, particularly with Twilight and Rainbow Dash. Twilight seemed to be looking toward Spike with concern while Rainbow looked irritated.

Looking at Spike, Rarity noticed that the dragon appeared taller than she last saw him. Though he also seemed to be behaving strangely, as if he were looking for something interesting. For some reason he was keeping a bunch of silverware in his clutches.

“Twilight, what’s the matter with Spike?” Rarity asked.

“I don’t know,” Twilight responded. “Ever since his birthday a few days ago he’s been grabbing whatever he can get his claws on and acting like it belongs to him. I noticed a lot of ponies around down had been giving him presents but I don’t think there’s been any harm in that.”

“It’s worse than you think, Twilight,” Starlight said as she walked up to them. “I just came back from Zecora to ask about Spike’s sudden hoarding habits, which is typical behavior for dragons. She suspects that he might have succumbed to his greed and if we don’t stop him from taking more things his greed will make him grow to the size of that dragon from last year.”

“Why not just let Mare Do Well handle it,” Rainbow bitterly said. “She seems to be handling all the heroic stuff around town lately.”

Rainbow’s mind turned to the past few days. She was proud to be doing so many acts of heroism such as saving lives from danger. She remembered Sophia’s advice to keep herself under control because the Wonderbolts would learn of her exploits. She also confirmed Sophia’s connection to the group from a brief conversation with Spitfire at the gala, before the humans attacked.

However, her heroic streak came to an end when she started competing against a pony wearing a purple and midnight blue costume. The only thing Rainbow knew about the mare was that she was a pegasus because of the wings.

Of course, not all disasters were resolved by Mare Do Well as a nearby dam was fixed by Twilight and a construction team was saved by Pinkie who used her Pinkie Sense to avoid getting hit by metal beams. Rainbow knew her abilities weren’t right for those tasks and she risked injury if she tried.

Rainbow still saved a few lives but the matter turned into a competition between her and Mare Do Well which has left the mare frustrated and determined to find out who her rival was.

Before Rainbow could think more on this, she found herself tacked by the pony in question and sent a fair distance from her table, mere moments before Spike, who had grown much larger since a few minutes ago, trampled the table.

“What the hay!?” Rainbow exclaimed.

“Rainbow, are you okay?” Mare Do Well asked.

Before she could snap on the masked mare, Rainbow suddenly realized that she recognized that voice. But something about the pony’s appearance and who she remembered the voice belonging to didn’t make sense to her. “Scootaloo?” she tried.

“Sorry Rainbow, I wanted to impress you by trying to be as awesome as you are, but I didn’t think things would go this far,” Scootaloo explained as she took her mask off. As that happened, Scootaloo returned to her normal size.

“How did you grow to the size of an adult?”

“Twilight helped me with the illusion. I told her my plan to impress you and she went along with it. I told her not to tell you because I wanted to surprise you.”

Scootaloo took off the costume. Rainbow took note that the filly’s wings looked slightly bigger than she remembered. Actually, they looked slightly bigger than the wings of an average pegasus filly.

Rainbow decided to ask about that later. “We’ll talk later, for now I need to stop Spike.” She then took off after the dragon.

Scootaloo knew what Rainbow meant when she worded what she just said. Her idol was worried about her and didn’t want her to get involved. However, she had a feeling that she needed to help. She knew the adults would get mad at her but she would deal with that later. She also knew that Sophia was out of town for her routine inspection of the troops in the northeast who were keeping watch on the human encampment and would be back soon. For now it was up to the town to keep Spike contained until Sophia returned.

Twilight and Starlight did their best to keep objects away from the klepto dragon and keep him from getting too big. This angered Spike as he tried to reclaim what the unicorns took from him. However, Applejack managed to wrap a lasso around one of the arms of the seven foot dragon. Lyra and Bon Bon helped by grabbing the rope in their teeth and pulled the dragon away from the coveted objects.

Spike fought back against the rope holders who were slowly being dragged. As Spike nearly won the tug of war, he was suddenly grabbed from behind by a bear who performed a suplex where Spike hit his head on the ground fairly hard.

“Spike!” Twilight called out.

“Don’t worry Twilight, he’s a dragon,” Fluttershy assured. “It’ll take more than Harry to cause him any real harm.”

Spike recovered quickly and managed to escape the lasso. He attempted to escape to find more objects to steal only to run into a magical dome powered by Moondancer, Minuette, Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine. The dome was one way and made to contain others. However, the four were uncertain how long they could contain a greed-fueled dragon since they didn’t have exceptional magical power like Twilight and Starlight did.

“Over here Spike!” Pinkie called out. Spike saw the pink mare with her party cannon pointed at him. With his lust for objects he tried to steal the cannon from the pink mare. “Hey! That’s mine!” Pinkie jumped on the cannon which made the dragon glare at her while swinging it around to shake the mare off. However, the barrel was still pointed at him as he tried to shake her off and Pinkie’s hoof accidentally hit the trigger, causing Spike to receive a point blank blast of confetti. The force pushed him back and made him drop the cannon.

Spike tried for the cannon again but felt a bite on his tail. Looking back he saw Rainbow doing her best to hold him back and keep him away from the edge of the barrier. However, Rainbow was lacking in terms of strength since she wasn’t an earth pony so Spike wagged his tail to shake her off.

“Rainbow, head back to the library, Spike’s hoard is there,” Twilight called out. “Return the hoard to their owners and maybe Spike will calm down.”

“Got it!” Rainbow then flew out of the containment barrier courtesy of a hole made for her by Moondancer.

Spike heard what they were planning and was now rushing to the edge of the barrier in desperation to defend his hoard. However, the ponies inside the barrier with him moved to stop him. He placed a foot over a spot where Applejack set a trap with her lasso to snare him. She and the others pulled hard to trip him. The strategy succeeded and Spike fell on his face.

However, the dragon looked at the group with blind fury and was ready to inflict harm if it meant he could get back to his hoard. He got back to his feet and seemed to grow a little more before he roared at the mares in front of him. He chose Lyra as his first victim and rushed toward her with his claws raised. Lyra screamed in fright and ran away, the dragon giving chase.

His pursuit was halted when a strong force struck his face from outside his vision which knocked him to the ground.

The others gasped in shock as they found that the one who committed the act was none other than Scootaloo who had come at him like a bullet. “Leave them alone!” she demanded.

“Scootaloo, what the hay!” Applejack exclaimed. “Get outta here, it’s dangerous!”

Spike got back up and glared balefully at Scootaloo who spread her wings challengingly.

What Scootaloo didn’t notice was that electricity had begun to arc on her wings. The electricity began to spread all over her body. Scootaloo wasn’t a trained fighter. However, her instincts as a pegasus were guiding her movements.

When Spike charged at her again, Scootaloo noticed that Spike was moving very slowly for some reason. Deciding not to question it, she darted forward and easily moved past Spike’s defenses before she slammed a hoof into his gut hard enough to knock the wind out of him and knock him to the ground once again. His body spasmed a few times from the shock.

“What was that?” Twilight asked. “Some form of advanced pegasus magic?”

“I’m not sure,” Fluttershy commented. “Maybe the Wonderbolts or one of the princesses might know.”

“Whatever she did, the attack electrocuted Spike. Maybe we can calm him down now.”

However, Spike still proved defiant as he got back up and used all of his strength to punch the barrier, effectively shattering it. Scootaloo was unable to continue fighting as the attack had completely drained her.

None of that mattered though, as they had succeeded in delaying Spike long enough. He only managed to run a few feet toward the library before his tail was grabbed again. This time he was flung through the air and slammed on his back.

Before Spike could register what happened, a certain blue rabbit jumped onto his chest and gave him a disappointed look. “Calm down and come back to your senses,” Sophia growled. However, Spike was beginning to roll over to try and throw her off. Sophia wasn’t having that so she moved closer to his eyes where she gave her special stare that instilled primal fear into her victims. Not even Spike was immune to the effect as fear overtook his sense of greed.

With his greed suppressed, Spike began to shrink until he returned to his original size. Whether it was from the adrenaline running out combined with the blows he sustained, or the intense fear he felt from Sophia’s gaze, he passed out.

“Spike!” Twilight called out as she ran to her assistant. “Spike, wake up, speak to me!”

“Relax Twilight, he’s still breathing,” Sophia assured. “I can still sense his neural activities and there are no abnormalities. He’s just passed out.”

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good. Let’s get back to the library and put Spike to bed.”

While Twilight and her Canterlot friends returned to the library, some remained to address the other matter. However, it wasn’t until Rainbow Dash returned that the silence was broken. “I’m back, what did I miss?”

“Umm, Dash, you missed Scootaloo using some strange attack,” Fluttershy informed.

“Yeah, she had her wings spread like ‘Bring it on!’ and then she was all like Bzzzzzzzzt! And her whole body was like a storm cloud and punched Spike so hard that he was all…” Pinkie then spasmed like she was having a doozy with her Pinkie Sense.

“Wait, did her body become enveloped in lightning?” Rainbow asked. The mares nodded which made Rainbow’s eyes widen. “She actually performed the lost Storm Charge technique?! The last pony to ever use that was Commander Hurricane himself!”

The others looked at Rainbow as if she grew a second head. Rarity voiced that they were thinking, “Dash? How do you know about that? Did you actually read something?”

Rainbow’s face reddened, “Yeah, so what? I read about it because it sounded cool. Pegasi learn about it in flight school.”

“Oh yeah, I remember learning about it now,” Fluttershy recalled. “It must have slipped my mind.”

“What’s the Storm Charge technique?” Scootaloo asked. The technique had left her drained but she still had enough energy in her to move around, though she wouldn’t be flying for a while.

“Right, you wouldn’t know since you were raised in Ponyville. How about this, I’ll tell you the history behind that technique and you tell me how your wings got bigger. I saw you flying around as Mare Do Well so I’m guessing that wasn’t part of the illusion. In that case, we should go flying together sometime.”

Scootaloo gave a broad grin as if one of her lifelong dreams had just come true.

As they walked away, neither of the two were aware that the image of an electrified wing appeared on the orange filly’s flank.

Sophia watched the two pegasi leave while the others in the area dispersed. After seeing what Apple Bloom could do, and now Scootaloo, Sophia was even more confident that her side project might work.

Her thoughts turned to Spike who she noticed had taken quite a beating but still got back up after each blow. Whether it was instinct or the durability of his body, Spike was tougher than he looked. With proper training, she could turn the dragon into a force to be reckoned with. With the intellect of a pony to boot, Spike could be a cut above the rest of his thuggish race.

However, whether she would commit her effort to this project remained to be seen as she had three more fillies to observe before making the final call.

Author's Note

That's several episodes crammed into this one chapter. Frankly, I like this version of Mare Do Well better than Rainbow's friends showing her up to teach her a lesson.

Also for those who might be confused about Spike's size in regard to his greed growth compared to canon, Spike didn't get that large in this story as his attempts at hoarding were stopped early before things escalated that far. If anything, he grew to be about as big as Garble...maybe a little bigger.

Dragons and Dreams

Following the incident with Spike, life in Ponyville returned to normal. Since that day, the town made sure to keep the dragon’s birthday presents to a minimum in the future as they were told that the incident could have been a lot worse if things had gone differently. Spike couldn’t blame them, he had no idea that he would get like that if he were showered with gifts.

The incident had left him with a realization that he didn’t know himself very well. This caused him to spend the next few days looking for information about dragons from the library. However, pony knowledge of dragons was very limited since they hoarded their secrets like their…well…hoards. Spike was low on options and he grew desperate to learn more about his own kind as time went on.

An opportunity presented itself when Twilight talked about an event called the Dragon Migration that was coming up. He realized that he could follow the dragons to where they rest after their long flight and talk to them.

Spike didn’t want to worry his friends by going off alone, but he really wanted to know more about himself. He was also afraid that Twilight and the others might follow him and put themselves in danger to keep an eye on him. To that end, he realized that he would need to consult a certain somebunny about this.

He could only hope that she wasn’t mad at him for the incident.

Sophia had returned from another patrol around northeastern Equestria and she had driven another patrol of pirates back to their base. She was going to make sure they stayed there long enough for Equestria to get their act together. Schezar was obviously trying to find a blind spot in her watch and she wasn’t about to give him that hope. Any Zerg that Schezar sent out were either sniped by Nova, psionically crushed by Tosh or butchered and devoured by Sophia as she wasn’t about to show the creatures any mercy.

She noticed that Spike was walking up to her with a nervous look on his face, as if he was a child who did something that got his mother very upset with him. “Umm, Sophia? C-Can I ask you for something?”

“Sure, what is it?” Sophia asked.

Spike took a few moments to work up the courage to ask her that question. Ever since the incident last week, Spike felt like Sophia was mad at him about it so it made what he wanted to say more difficult.

Sophia didn’t want to wait all day for the dragon to ask his question so she looked into his mind briefly so she could get the conversation going. She sighed, “Look, I’m not angry or upset in any way at you. You were in a state where you succumbed to your greed. I used my Primal Glare to suppress that urge by replacing it with a sense of fear. I figured that would happen at some point since none of your friends or family were in any position to tell you about that.”

“Oh, so we’re cool?” Spike asked.

“Yep,” Sophia responded. “So, you want to learn more about your kind? I figured that you were planning to follow the migration tomorrow since you came to me today.”

“Yeah, can you come with me? I don’t want Twilight and the others to follow me for my sake, and if it’s you, they’ll know I’m safe.”

“Sure, I have time before my next patrol. Besides, I’m probably the best choice to escort you anyway since those dragons know me and my reputation. They know much of Equestria is my territory and they know better than to roost in my territory, as that one dragon from last year learned.”

Spike chuckled, “Yeah, though I think the dragon found it embarrassing to get his flank kicked by a rabbit a hundredth of his size.”

Sophia shrugged nonchalantly, “Great power, small package. Anyways, I’ll take you there during the migration and let Twilight know. Knowing her, she will probably want me to give her an essay on dragon culture.”

“I’ll make sure to bring plenty of paper and ink,” Spike added. The two shared a laugh before they went their separate ways to prepare for the next day.

That night, Luna was doing her usual nightly patrols through the dreamscape. It brought her no end of frustrations when she had to deal with the nightmares related to what the humans brought upon Equestria, particularly during the Grand Galloping Gala. Ponies ended up traumatized after seeing that dead guard.

Despite such tragedy, Luna continued to look forward and remain hopeful of the future. Despite what happened, something good came of it. It irritated Luna that it took something like that to get ponies to start coming out of their shells and embrace progress again.

Celestia’s reforms were more readily accepted by the general public, at least after last week when she and Celestia helped Sophia to address the nation about the nature of a motion picture and that what Discord showed all those centuries ago was nothing more than a projection of his wild imagination and that any pony could make something like that if they had that kind of technology. After all, they had already invented the camera, and a motion picture was simply thousands of pictures being displayed at such a speed that it looked like the characters were actually alive on the screen.

Sophia ended up sealing the deal when she had Discord help her recreate a movie about ponies fighting in outer space in ships of various sizes as well as wielding swords made of magical energy. Sophia’s context had ultimately made the ponies feel silly for misinterpreting a movie over countless generations.

Luna chuckled to herself when she saw the looks on those ponies’ faces.

Her foray into the dream had brought her to six dream portals near one another, most of them marked by their cutie marks. The proximity of the doors was due to their destinies being interwoven. One was a silver tiara with diamonds embedded in it, one was a spoon with a heart on the handle, one was an apple with a fuse and the last marked one was an electrified wing. Luna knew that one of the unmarked ones belonged to Spike, which she made a note to mark later.

As for the portal that belonged to Sweetie Belle, Luna could make out the faint impression of something trying to form around it, as if her magic was trying to manifest as her mark.

Curious, Luna decided to look into this to see if she could do something to help nudge the robotic filly to her destiny.

Looking inside, Luna sensed that the dream was too solid for her to manipulate. This usually happened when a pony dreamed about a memory, which meant that Sweetie was dreaming about an experience as she remembered it.

Because she was looking at a memory, Luna was shocked by what she saw. Sweetie was performing her sister’s mineral refinement technique while singing to a group of inventors. It seemed that her subconscious had filled in the gaps though as she repeated the process but wasn’t paying any attention to the fact that Rarity’s tools were floating around and hammering the finished metal into a new shape.

The metal was reshaped into parts that would fit on the filly’s body. The audience was amazed by this display. Not only were they captivated by the refinement process and the shaping process, but also by the fact that the filly had a beautiful singing voice to boot.

Luna continued observing until Sweetie’s dreamscape shifted into that of an actual dream where she was strolling through a Ponyville made of chrome. However, as much as Luna wanted Sweetie to enjoy this dream, she needed to do something else first.

Using her power to stabilize the dream, Luna approached Sweetie Belle who was understandably startled by Luna’s presence. Sweetie then looked at her surroundings and quickly concluded that this was a dream. “Princess Luna, what are you doing here?”

“Am I not allowed to check up on the only pony in the world with a robotic body?” Luna teased.

Sweetie giggled, “It does have its advantages.”

“I heard your lovely singing voice earlier, through what I surmised was a memory?”

Sweetie cursed the fact that Rarity had installed small heat generators in the area where her cheeks were supposed to be. “It-it helped me relax when I was giving a presentation to those inventors. I still can’t believe that I am still able to sing when even my vocal cords are mechanical. Rarity always seemed to enjoy my singing, even before the accident.”

“I see, so you must be a talented singer then?”

“Can singing really be considered a talent? I always imagined my destiny to be something cooler, like…”

“Like following your sister’s hoofsteps in being an inventor? Being able to use your mechanical features to do what your sister cannot?” Luna finished for Sweetie.

“Well, yeah! I pay attention to how she makes the metal and how she made those parts out of that metal. I never did figure out how those parts suddenly appeared behind me though.”

“I saw everything, young Sweetie Belle. Strangely, your horn wasn’t lit when those tools floated in the air and neither did they hold your magical aura. However, the tools worked the metal as if following your subconscious command.”

“How can that be?” Sweetie asked. “The doctors said my magic would always be weak because of the accident and whenever I tried to use my magic it took everything I had to lift a pebble. No matter how much I practiced, it never improved.” Sweetie shuddered at the thought that her body had made it so magic was beyond her capabilities.

Luna hummed, “Perhaps you may want to consult Sophia on this one. She may have some insight into this new power of yours.”

“Alright I will, she does seem to have a lot of answers. Maybe Ingram will know something too.”

“I’ll leave you to your dreams then. Just one thing before I leave though, remember that you can be so much more than what your destiny marks you for. Your life doesn’t need to be defined by what appears on your flank.”

“But can I get a cutie mark? I’m only a machine, after all.”

“Even if you don’t it won’t change anything. Only you can define your own future.” With that, Luna left Sweetie’s dream.

As Luna walked away from Sweetie’s dream portal, she chuckled as she noticed the symbol around the portal beginning to take form.

The trip to and from the caldera where the dragons rested took a week and Spike was exhausted, yet he was still restless with excitement after learning about his own kin.

It was funny how an older red dragon named Garble tried messing with him only for an orange young dragoness named Smolder, who looked slightly older than Spike, warned him that Spike came to the caldera with the infamous “Blue Dragon Breaker” Garble didn’t believe that it would be a small blue rabbit, but he changed his tune quickly when he was punched into the rocks on the far side of the caldera by said rabbit.

The rest of Garble’s friends kept a respectful distance from Spike and Sophia while Spike asked Smolder a number of questions about his species while telling her that he was raised by ponies so he had no idea on how to be a dragon.

Thankfully, Smolder turned out to be one of the more helpful dragons as she told him about a number of things about their kind, including matters concerning greed-fueled growth. She also gave him a few signs to watch out for when molting as well as the symptoms and how her kind dealt with them. She also warned that he would be vulnerable to rocs while he was molting and that his wings would develop after his first molt.

That last part made Spike excited at the thought of being able to fly one day as he worried that his lack of wings made flight impossible.

On the day they returned, Sophia gave Twilight the essay which had her grinning from ear to ear. Spike was too tired from the journey and decided to go to bed early. Despite his restless mind, his body overrode his mind and the dragon passed out in his basket.

Sophia was on her way to her house when she heard heavy hoofsteps approaching her. She heard some metal on stone sounds with those steps so it wasn’t hard to guess who it was. “Hi Sweetie Belle,” she greeted.

Sophia noticed something different about Sweetie right away. In particular, she noticed a change in the mechanical filly’s flanks. She wasn’t certain if it was painted on or magically appeared there. Regardless, there was an image of a mechanical heart with an eighth note on her flank.

“Hey Sophia,” Sweetie responded. “Um, could you help me with understanding something? I asked Ingram about it and he said that the original design of this body didn’t support a means to levitate objects with and manipulate them precision so I’m hoping that you might help.”

Before Sophia could voice her confusion, she stopped as she picked up on something that Sweetie said. She needed a little more detail before she could draw the conclusion she was hoping for as this was going to make a huge difference in her plans moving forward.

Sophia put on a serious expression which made the filly nervous, “Listen Sweetie, this is very important. Was this the work of your magic?”

Sweetie shook her head, “No, I tried lifting things with my magic and I could barely lift a pebble. Ingram said that this was because most of my magic was powering my body so there was next to no magic available for anything else. He also said that the more magic I have, the better my systems perform.”

Sophia nodded, “Has there ever been any instances before that where you were able to lift objects without your magic?” Sweetie shook her head. “Any strange headaches? Oh wait, you can’t get those since it’s not the brain that feels pain. Perhaps this should be tested.” She then noticed a random pony walking by looking cheerful.

Suddenly Sweetie reeled in disgust as if she heard something she was too young to hear. “Okay, ew! I could have gone my whole life without hearing what that guy’s saying. And in public?”

“Actually, he didn’t say anything.” Sophia read what was on that pony’s mind as well. She had heard worse, but it was still disgusting. “Some pony’s children…” she thought.

“Yeah, some pony’s children,” Sweetie repeated.

Sophia stared at Sweetie again. A smile grew on the bunny’s face. She had let her mental defenses slip for the sake of one final test to know for certain if her suspicions were correct. There was no doubt now. “No doubt in my mind now, you developed psychic powers.”

“Psychic powers? Like the thing Trixie did last year?”

Sophia nodded, “Yep! What you just displayed was a form of it called telepathy, the power to read minds. Unlike magic users, psychics have a much easier time reading minds without using a spell to do so. I’ve heard that mind reading spells are actually pretty advanced.”

“And the thing about tools moving around without my magic? Was that psychic powers?”

“Correct. That is called telekinesis, just like its magical variant.”

“But how? I never showed any signs of psychic powers until the other day.”

Sophia put a paw to her chin. “I’m not certain either. Honestly, I wasn’t certain that the crystal I used for your horn was going to trigger a psychic awakening or not since it was never tested on ponies before.”

“What’s so special about this crystal?” Sweetie asked.

“It’s called Jorium. It radiates a special energy that resonates with brain wave patterns, often triggering a psychic awakening with enough exposure.

“I am glad to know that the experiment was a success, though I do apologize that I didn’t tell you before. I didn’t want to give you false hope of having the capabilities of a normal unicorn in case the crystal didn’t affect ponies. This was a fallback plan in case there was no way to strengthen your magic. However, it seems that the ways you unicorns strengthen your magic only serves to provide more power to your mechanical body.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that the more you strengthen your magic through magical exercises, the stronger your body becomes. You may even be able to compete against earth ponies in a strength competition if you keep it up. Your psychic powers can be trained as well, I can help with that. Twilight and Starlight can help you with your magical exercises.”

Somehow, despite being a machine, or perhaps it was another of her functions, Sweetie’s eyes seemed to sparkle like stars, “Really?” That faded quickly as Sweetie thought of something else. “But, what would I do with all that power? It won’t really help me with making machines with Rarity.”

“Don’t worry about that, what is important is that you have proven that ponies are affected by Jorium. This means that other ponies can awaken psychic powers with those crystals. This could expand the capabilities of the Royal Guard.”

“Um, glad I could help?” Sweetie said with uncertainty.

“Could I ask you to come to me once a week for training sessions to improve your psychic powers?” Sophia asked. “If you enjoy it we might meet more often.”

“I don’t know, I’m not sure I want to be a soldier like how you made Starlight. Besides, It feels kinda wrong to do this without Apple Bloom and Scootaloo with me.”

“Oh, I don’t intend to leave them out. If they’re up for it, I can train them too. I’m hoping your other three friends will join in as well.”

“Diamond, Silver and Spike? I’m sure Spike will want to join us, but I’m not sure about the other two.”

“Well, give it some thought, get together with your friends, and get back to me when you’ve made a decision.”

Sweetie shrugged, “Well, alright. We’ll be having a meeting tomorrow so I can ask them then. Thanks for helping me to understand what’s happening. And thanks for giving me this alternative to magic, this seems like an amazing gift, minus the part where I can hear ponies’ gross thoughts now.”

“Telepathy can be trained as well so you can choose whose thoughts you want to read,” Sophia pointed out.

Sweetie smiled, now she was more tempted than before to accept. Before that, she needed to consult her friends.

The two parted ways to continue their day.

Author's Note

Anyone else unable to upload their chapters from Google Docs? Whenever I try I keep getting an error that prevents the chapters I've written from filling the list of uploadable chapters. I've been copy/pasting my chapters for a couple of months now.

The Future Adjutant

Today had been a strange one for Diamond Tiara. Her father wanted her to understand the importance of buying limited time products in advance before competitors came to buy them. Diamond could understand that.

The strange part was the methods that the Apple family used to obtain the materials for the limited product. When they found the family, they were in bunny costumes, hopping over watering cans and singing the alphabet.

The father and daughter waited patiently for the family to stop what they were doing. “Best to wait until they are done with this ritual before we talk to them,” Filthy explained. “If we disrupt things it might affect the quality of the product.”

“They’re just jumping around in bunny costumes and singing the alphabet.” Diamond remarked.

“I don’t understand it either, but as long as the zap apples are in prime condition, they can be waving around timberwolf parts for all I care. Plus they seem happy doing it so who am I to disrupt it.”

“So why am I here?”

“Because I wanted to spend time with my precious Diamond and I wanted you to see how your old stallion runs his business.”

After a few more minutes, the family finally finished their ritual and Granny had them take a break before the next step. Apple Bloom noticed the pair and walked over to them. “Hey Diamond, ya here to watch us make zap apple jam?”

“I guess,” Diamond responded. “Does your family always do such strange things for zap apples?”

“Yeah, Granny says that each step is important. She plans to explain why durin’ Family Appreciation Day.”

“I’ll let you two in on a little secret,” Filthy added. “Our two families have had strong connections with one another ever since the days of your great grandfather, Diamond. It was through this bond that Ponyville was founded.”

“Really? So our two families are practically the foundation Ponyville was founded on?” Diamond asked.

“You could say that.”

The next day, both Filthy and Granny Smith gave their speeches together about the founding of Ponyville and explained the meticulous process of making zap apple jam. The story was certainly a hit for the foals.

Ever since Filthy Rich had become a stronger influence on Diamond’s life, she had buckled down on her studying and her grades improved. Since her overbearing mother was on a tight leash, much to Spoiled’s frustration, Diamond was free to live her life as wanted and she couldn’t be happier about it.

Diamond’s grades had improved as well. It wasn’t long before she was within the top five students in class. Even with her tutors she was still behind the two geniuses in the class, Silver Spoon and Sweetie Belle, but she was fine with that. Silver was the smartest filly she knew and Sweetie was practically her intellectual rival. She wasn’t about to compete against them and she didn’t want to.

At some point, Diamond also became the editor in chief of the school newspaper. The articles produced weren’t anything that shocked ponies, but things that the citizens wanted to show off to the rest of the town, such as Golden Harvest wanting to show off her carrot crops or Twilight providing a spell form for a minor spell for the unicorn fillies in the town to practice.

Little did Diamond know, she was being observed by a certain blue rabbit who had taken an interest in the futures of the group of friends. Sophia was curious as to the role that Diamond Tiara would soon play in this group of friends.

Then there was Silver Spoon. She and Diamond Tiara were close friends and made up quickly after Diamond apologized for the incident where she made fun of Sweetie’s robot body. The filly received perfect scores on her assignments and tests which put her at the top of the class. She also had a meticulous mindset where she overanalyzed things almost as much as Twilight. Sophia could see great potential in the filly’s mind.

Using a tiny projection device she always kept on her, Sophia brought up a holographic screen that displayed the images of the five fillies and one dragon whom she had been studying for weeks. The images were accompanied by their profile data.

While it seemed wrong to analyze these children for their combat potential, she did learn that ponies were legally allowed to join the military at the age of fifteen. The six ranged from twelve to fourteen at this point.

The only question would be if they would be willing to take part in the protection of this world when they came of age. That was probably the crucial point in this entire project. If any of them refused, she may have to scrap the whole project.

Sophia continued organizing her data even as she sensed Silver Spoon heading toward her with curious thoughts. Sophia didn’t mind that Silver saw her holographic data organizer. Who knows, perhaps something good may come of this imminent conversation.

“What is that thing?” Silver asked.

“Simply put, it’s a data organizer,” Sophia replied. Truthfully, there was more to it than that but even a smart filly like Silver Spoon might get overwhelmed if she went into more detail about it.

“Really? What data are you organizing?”

“Pretty much the data on you and your friends. I see a lot of potential in you six and I want to see what all of you could become together.”

“Even Spike? Not that I’m knocking him, but though he’s smart for a dragon, he seems to be a little behind in education. Not by much though.”

“You can blame the discriminatory rules of the E.E.A. for that,” Sophia explained. “They seem to favor unicorns to receive the most benefits of education. It has given Twilight and Starlight a lot of grief that they couldn’t give Spike a proper education because of that organization and their outdated rules.”

Silver sighed, “I figured as much. Even DT’s mother was pushing for better educational treatment for other pony tribes, though she was only doing that to get them to show more favor for earth ponies like her daughter. She didn’t actually care about increasing funding for pegasi education. Never worked out in the end since the association is full of unicorn supremacists.”

Sophia nodded, “That’s another matter that needs to be dealt with, education and literacy rates need to improve and that will require a revamp of the entire system. If the E.E.A. resists Celestia’s changes, I may have to step in for that. For now, I need to see if my little side project will work out.”

“Can I help? With your project, I mean,” Silver offered.

“Do you even know what I am trying to accomplish with this?” Sophia asked.

Silver adjusted her glasses, “Well, given that you have been trying to get Equestria to advance technologically while keeping the humans at bay until we can become strong enough to fight them, I’d say that your project involves the six of us either helping to further its advancement, which I doubt since Spike, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo wouldn’t be counted on to help our technological advancement, or you want to turn us into a special unit designed to combat the humans. That seems the most likely option since Apple Bloom can make explosives, Sweetie can be weaponized and Scootaloo is quite courageous in battle, seeing what happened when Spike went on a rampage. However, DT and myself are the least athletic among our group so I can’t say for certain what you would want with us.”

“Good assessment, Silver Spoon,” Sophia complimented. “Though the thing is, I don’t need all six of you to be fighters for this to work. No military unit is worth its salt without somepony gathering, organizing and delivering information and tactical data.”

“So that’s the role you’re considering for me? An adjutant role?” Silver then smirked at Sophia, “Do I get one of those projector things?”

“You do know that this technology is far beyond you, right?” Sophia deadpanned.

“Yes, though it doesn't mean I can’t try to learn how to use it. We still have a few more years before we are all old enough to join the E.U.P. military. I’m sure I can learn how to use it if you teach me.”

Sophia looked at Silver confusedly, “I didn’t think you would consider joining the military.”

“It’s not my first, second, third or even twenty-fifth choice, but it’s as Princess Celestia said, these humans are a threat to our way of life. I don’t want to grow up to a life of slavery, and I’m sure the others feel the same way.

“The only one you need to convince would be Diamond Tiara because she isn’t certain what she wants to do with her life. All she knows about her cutie mark is that it makes her good at bossing other ponies around.”

“I agree,” Sophia said. “But what she gained from her cutie mark is only part of her potential. What she needs is confidence and I can work with her on that. Each one of you six have skills that the others lack. I know that Diamond Tiara has lost some of her fire ever since her mother stopped causing her all sorts of grief, but I have ways to motivate others to action.”

“Just don’t push her too hard,” Silver pleaded. “Diamond’s been through a lot with her family issues and I don’t want to push her into this.”

“Don’t worry Silver Spoon, I can be as subtle as I can be brutal. The role I intend for her is too important to mess this up.”

Silver gave a small thankful smile before it turned back into a smirk, “Now then, what can you tell me about that device of yours?”

Assertiveness

After talking with Silver Spoon, Sophia left the filly to gather more information on her friends while allowing her to tell them that Sophia had a special project in mind for them that would help in the protection of Equestria.

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Spike were excited about the idea of helping to protect Equestria. For Spike, it meant that he had a chance to finally make something of himself instead of being limited to being an assistant to Twilight and Starlight.

The only one who wasn’t feeling enthusiastic about this was Diamond Tiara. While she was happy that her friends had a chance to contribute to Equestria’s defense one day, Diamond wasn’t sure what she could do to help in all of this. Apple Bloom was good with making explosives, Scootaloo had some special pegasus magic that hadn’t been seen in millennia, Sweetie Belle had all sorts of interesting gadgets in her body and she had psychic powers on top of that. Diamond could also see Spike as the muscle of the group if that incident with his greed growth was any indication of his latent strength. With Silver acting as some info gatherer, Diamond could see that everyone had a role in Sophia’s project, except her.

Well, that wasn’t quite true as Diamond had an idea about how she could be a part of this, the only problem would be if they were willing to accept her as such. Her memories of the times she bullied three of them rose to the surface, how she always made fun of them for having no cutie mark so she could feel better about herself after all the times her mother made her feel helpless before her authority. Even if they were friends now, such bad experiences were not so easily forgotten.

With Silver Spoon helping her with her information gathering, Sophia turned her attention to the adults whom she had shown interest.

She didn’t need to watch Rarity for the time being since that was Ingram’s task now. Her nephew reported that the presentation to the pony inventors had gone off without a hitch thanks to Sweetie Belle and that they were preparing to create forges of their own to refine gems into metal.

Unfortunately, Sophia knew that Equestria would be slow to awaken to their wartime potential after centuries of peace. Sophia always believed that a healthy nation needed a healthy balance of peace and conflict. They were two sides of the same coin. A nation needed conflict to make it strong but it also needed peace to keep a nation happy. These ponies have been at peace for so long that they would be vulnerable to invaders.

Celestia never embraced the philosophy of being prepared for the war that she hoped to never fight. Her incredible power acted as a deterrent to invaders until now. However, she never encountered an enemy who valued their greed above their own lives. Even if she could destroy the pirates with her power, the act would change how ponies viewed her. Sophia had to be careful as well, given the powers that she had yet to show the ponies.

Putting her thoughts aside for the time being, Sophia decided to check on the other Element bearers since her progress with her project was going smoothly. She thought about who she should check on today and what they are doing.

Pinkie was going to be busy for a while as the couple who let her live with them had recently given birth to two foals: a male pegasus and a female unicorn, which was strange considering both parents were earth ponies and the foals’ colors didn’t quite match the parents’ colors and this went against the idea that a foal inherited their colors from their parents. However, Sophia wasn’t in the mood to consider the genetics of the foals as she had other matters to deal with.

The point was that Pinkie was going to be foalsitting the twins whenever both parents needed to operate the store or whenever they needed to be away from the foals.

Applejack was getting ready for cider season and would be busy harvesting the apples with her siblings and parents. Whenever this happened, the Apples would often put out help wanted posters around town looking for ponies to help them with the harvest. Bright Mac would keep the help limited to ten ponies to avoid getting swamped by ponies looking for first dibs at the annual cider sale.

Rainbow Dash was always among the first to apply and much to the dismay of other ponies, the Apples felt that her speed was necessary for an efficient harvest so they could convert the apples into cider sooner and that meant plenty of cider the the rest of the town.

Rarity was currently working with Ingram to perfect the refining process while also coming up with potential upgrades to Sweetie Belle’s body and Sophia felt that she didn’t need to be a part of that.

Twilight was receiving weekly therapy sessions with Violetta. Sophia still couldn’t wrap her head around the idea of a harbinger of chaos and madness helping others through their issues with psychoanalysis. The thought still floored her, but at the same time she was happy that her cousin could do something constructive with her life.

The sessions had helped Twilight to think more flexibly instead of clinging to the facts written in a book as if said words were the gospel of the universe. Violetta had helped Twilight to understand that not everything written in a book was true and there would always be a bias by the author which could leave a margin for error. Starlight assured Twilight that she and Moondancer would always find time to hang out and test whether facts written in books were indeed facts which Twilight was happy for.

With the others accounted for, Sophia decided to check on Fluttershy to see what she was up to. When she got there, she spotted Discord leaving the house through the door, probably out of respect for the one pony who actually cared about him.

“See you next week, Fluttershy,” Discord said as he closed the door and prepared to snap his way home. That was until he spotted Sophia in front of him and he frowned. “Oh, it’s you.”

“Rude. So how’s your weekly visits with Fluttershy?”

“Are you sure you want to be having a conversation with me, especially since you don’t have that vial anymore?” Discord playfully asked.

“It’s just a simple question. Plus, you know of Violetta’s existence. That means she’s always watching you no matter where you are. And yes, I know that’s creepy. Everycreature who knows about her knows how creepy she is.”

Discord sighed in defeat as he realized how true that was. He could feel the eldritch horror’s tentacles wiggling around in his mind, mainly because of his nature. To that he could only just do his best to ignore that feeling and continue like usual. “Well, I’m glad that your cousin got rid of that disturbing image she put in my head at least. I’m actually surprised that Fluttershy still wants to hang out with me despite how she’s afraid of me.”

Sophia giggled, “She’s one courageous pony, alright. Anyways, I won’t keep you. I wanted to pay her a visit myself.”

“You mean despite that enamored rabbit of hers?” Discord smirked.

Sophia sighed, “Yes, I have plans for Fluttershy for the coming war and I will tolerate that rabbit for the sake of those plans. I wish he’d take the hint though, he acts like a kit despite his age. Fluttershy spoils him too much.”

“Good luck dealing with that then, ta ta.”

Once Discord snapped himself home, Sophia approached the door to Fluttershy’s cottage and knocked on the door. A few moments later, the door cracked open while the resident peeked outside to see who it was. Once she spotted Sophia, Fluttershy opened the door the rest of the way. She gave a gentle smile toward her new guest. “It’s good to see you again, Sophia. Come in, I was just about to serve lunch to my animal friends.”

Fluttershy closed the door once Sophia was inside before she walked over to her table to grab a box of animal pellets and poured the contents onto the floor. “Lunchtime! Who’s hungry?” That was when she was swarmed by a number of hungry critters who piled themselves into the pile of pellets. One mouse grabbed the box from Fluttershy and gobbled down the remaining contents, eating twice their body mass in pellets which amused Sophia. Much to the mouse’s dismay though, Fluttershy brought out another box of pellets and offered more to the mouse only for him to decline. Sophia could only imagine how much that mouse would regret eating that much food later.

When it came time for Angel to receive his portion, Fluttershy poured it into a bowl only for the rabbit to kick it into the air where it landed on Fluttersh’s head while the contents spilled on the floor around her. Thankfully the animals still had room in their stomachs for a little more so they helped with the cleanup.

Sophia frowned and rolled her eyes at Angel. He appeared to be as disappointing as ever.

However, Fluttershy was willing to compromise with Angel by offering him a salad from the table. Angel responded with an overly dramatic death scene the moment he tasted a cucumber.

“Hmph, what a kit,” Sophia commented.

Angel ended his act and hopped over to Sophia and glared at her. “Hey, I am an adult, you know!” Angel complained in a series of squeaks.

“Could have fooled me with your behavior,” Sophia responded with the same squeaky language. “Fluttershy is trying to ensure you have a healthy diet and you practically spit in her face for it. Only a kit would show the one who truly cares for them such disrespect.”

“Please don’t fight you two,” Fluttershy interjected. “Look Angel, what do you want to eat?” Angel then showed her a book with a recipe for what looked like a fruit salad with lettuce, orange slices, surprisingly cucumbers, a pineapple slice, whipped cream and a cherry on top. “I’m not sure I can make that.”

“I wouldn’t, Looks like there’s too much fruit in that salad to be healthy for Angel. Fruit and root vegetables should only be given as an occasional treat. A proper meal for a rabbit would be mostly hay with some fresh vegetables and a few pellets.”

“Why are you trying to sabotage my attempts for something that’s more suitable for my palate?” Angel squeaked in outrage.

Thankfully, that was when Fluttershy’s training began to kick in. “No, Sophia’s right. I really should have paid more attention to my friends’ nutritional needs. I need to go to the library later and find a few books on animal dietary requirements. Oh, but you said Angel needs plenty of hay? I should go to the market and buy some.”

Once Fluttershy left for the market, Angel continued to give a death stare at Sophia. Sophia gave Angel a look that challenged him to try anything and see what happens.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy arrived at the market looking for bundles of hay and some fresh vegetables. She found the stall that sold hay but she found that the salespony was charging two bits for a bundle which was twice the normal price for it. “Excuse me, why are you overcharging for hay?” Fluttershy asked.

“Price went up because I said so,” the salespony responded.

“That seems rather greedy of you.”

“Too bad! Two bits or get lost.”

“Hmph, you really are a greedy pony,” Fluttershy complained, a little louder than she intended before turning around to walk away.

However, this caused the ponies nearby to overhear where they started discussing their concerns for the hay booth. The salespony could tell that if he didn’t do something quick he was going to have a bad reputation. Sure, he was hoping to use the extra bits to redecorate his house but it wasn’t worth losing his reputation over.

“Alright alright, one bit for a bundle,” the salespony hastily said. Fluttershy gave a gentle smile and gave the pony the coin before using a wing to put the bundle in her saddlebags.

Since then, the ponies at the market developed a newfound respect for Fluttershy, including Pinkie and Rarity who watched the whole thing.

News traveled fast around town which made getting the vegetables a non-issue for Fluttershy as the vendor had a feeling that she wouldn’t be able to get away with overcharging the animal caretaker.

Angel would soon realize that Fluttershy’s new assertive side would mean that he wouldn’t get away with as much as he used to and would have to be content with whatever Fluttershy fed him.

Feeling satisfied with this latest change in Fluttershy, Sophia left the mare to her devices. The cherry on top were the wails of despair she heard from a spoiled rabbit

Soon after, Sophia found a hedge maze and a stage in the center of it manned by a team of goats while the one running the show was a blue minotaur wearing a black tie. The minotaur soon introduced himself as Iron Will and he seemed to have a tendency to speak in the third person. However, unlike Trixie, Iron Will did so as part of a stage persona and could speak normally whenever he wanted.

Iron Will seemed to be giving a seminar on assertiveness which amounted to making someone act bossy to the point of looking like a jerk to others. Of course, some of his lessons could prove useful to help ponies develop the courage needed to face the pirates. However, she didn’t need ponies potentially turning on each other with such behaviors either so she would need to help the minotaur shape his plan into something that would be beneficial for the future.

“Now, to demonstrate that Iron Will's techniques will work for anypony, I'm gonna need a volunteer,” Iron Will requested. However, before he could pick someone, Sophia appeared on stage. One of Iron Will’s goats tried getting in her way but one look into the bunny’s eyes made the goat move aside so she could see the minotaur. “Uhh, that wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“Don’t worry about him, I am on stage because I would like to turn this seminar into a lesson ponies need for the coming days,” Sophia informed. Ponies started chattering amongst one another.

“What lesson are you talking about?” Iron Will asked.

“As all of you know, Equestria is under threat from a force that cannot be defeated so easily, even by the Elements of Harmony. The duty of protecting your friends and loved ones may one day fall upon you and you must be prepared to show them that you won’t back down. Equestria must be prepared to do what is necessary to confront the invaders who seek to take everything from you.

“While I commend Iron Will’s lessons to become more assertive, remember that it is the invaders who deserve nothing but your ire for threatening to take everything away from you. As Princess Celestia prepares Equestria for war, all ponies must find the will necessary to fight for their homes, their families, their friends and their livelihoods, for they will take all of that away from you otherwise.”

The ponies’ chatter became more energetic as Sophia’s rallying speech filled them with determination.

After the speech, Sophia met with Iron Will privately behind the stage where the goats found chairs for the two to sit in. “So, care to tell me why you jumped into my seminar like that?” Iron Will asked.

“It’s simple, I saw your lessons in assertiveness, but I felt that it needed to be adjusted,” Sophia replied. “Ponies will need a sense of camaraderie for what is coming. The lessons you offer seem to take such aggressive feelings toward ponies around them when they need to be focused on a common enemy. However, ponies will also need to learn not to turn such feelings on each other and while that would be much more difficult, giving them something else to focus on that isn’t each other is the best strategy available right now.”

“So you want me to focus on igniting a sense of patriotism in ponies?”

“Would you be able to do it?” Sophia asked.

“How much would I be getting paid?”

Sophia rolled her eyes, “I’ll pay you a commission of a bit per unique pony in your seminars, no repeat customers.” Her tone suddenly turned cold, “I have my ways of finding out if you try that stunt to get more bits out of me.”

Iron Will gulped, “Understood. So, all I have to do is go on a tour around Equestria and rally ponies in the spirit of camaraderie against the invaders?”

“Yep,” Sophia affirmed.

“Alright, Iron Will at your service.”

Sophia gave a light smile as they came to an agreement with the minotaur using his surprisingly small hands to shake Sophia’s paw.

Author's Note

One thing about war is that you need some propaganda to increase war support. The matter of Iron Will's propaganda campaign won't be mentioned much in this story, I just wanted to give the minotaur something to do since he won't be a bad influence on the Element of Kindness.

Hope you enjoyed Angel's treatment. Also, for those who don't know, a kit is also a term for a young rabbit.