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.