Chapters Terra: Battle for Equestria
"Sir! You're gonna want to see this."
General Hemmer, commander of the military wing of the Ark, walked across the bridge towards the operator on the scanner. "What is it?"
A hologram appeared over the desk, projecting a multicolored sphere, resembling a planet that could easily be mistaken for Earth. Well, Earth before it was augmented, and later decimated in an inferno. Gruesome memories flashed across his mind before being quickly shut away.
"Our planetary scanners picked up a possibly habitable planet. Reports show a stable atmosphere, oceans of water, it's multiple biomes suggest the planet has seasons, which include forests of plant life similar to Earth's. We're still searching for animal life forms and alien species."
The general kept a straight face hearing the news.
"Take us into orbit. Alert the Council and await further orders. Continue scanning the planet."
"Should we name the planet, sir?"
The general thought for a moment.
"Terra Prime. Log it in."
Soon, it shall be ours.. . The general said in his mind.
And I can finally sink my boots into Earth once again... He smiled.
"Twilight, are you sure it's going to work?" Rainbow Dash said, watching Twilight make her final preparations on her newly built flying contraption of some sort. It was made of wood, and had wings that seemed to resemble a dragon's, with a bunch of ropes and gears that would make it slowly flap, along with two propellers adjacent to where Twilight would be laying down, piloting it. The so-called "plane" also had a tail about as long as one of the wings, with three fins that were perpendicular to each other. It was a sad, ugly excuse of a bird. But she had to admit, it was pretty awesome.
"Probably. My calculations predict a 75 percent chance of working, but i'm going to be optimistic and hope it doesn't end up in the 25 percent side. Besides, that's why your here, Rainbow Dash! When I start going out of control, you can pull me back up!" Twilight smiled at her.
"Well, if you say so. But don't blame me if you end up in the hospital!"
"Heh, fair enough. Alright, let's go!" Twilight climbed into her machine, and with a glow of her horn, the propellers mounted in what she called 'engines' began to spin, making a sort of whirring sound.
"You ready?" Rainbow Dashed called. Twilight snapped on her flight goggles, and gave her a hoofs up. Rainbow Dash grabbed the rope connected to the plane, and began to pull with all of her might. The thing began to roll down the grass, and as the wings began to slowly flap, the air started to lift it into the air, and the craft began to take into the skies.
"OH MY GOSH, IT'S WORKING!!! I'M FLYING!!!" Twilight screamed as she saw the ground fall beneath her belly, and the clouds rushing past her face.
Rainbow Dashed looked behind her, seeing Twilight beaming with joy in her working contraption. She spat out the rope as it was winded back to the plane. "Yeah, you go Twilight!" She gave a woop as she threw her hoof into the air, cheering her on.
After a while of circling around, Twilight decided not to waste her daring mood with just flying around the town, and thought of challenging her skills.
"Hey Rainbow Dash, guess what i'm thinking?"
"What?" Rainbow Dash asked. She saw Twilight nod towards a peculiar looking land mark: A large open cut in the ground stretching for a good few miles.
"Uuuh, Twilight? Are you sure about that? It's your first time flying!"
"Yeah, and?"
"I don't think it's really safe, don't you think?"
"And did that ever stop us?"
Rainbow Dash grinned, and dived after Twilight as she began her decent towards the mouth of the Ghastly Gorge.
Twilight reached the mouth, and saw the lush green grass go above her as she continued her decent, gaining more and more speed. She felt her heart pumping faster than ever before, her adrenaline kicking in as she swerved past a few stone pillars. She felt the wind ripple across her face and whistle through her mane, like laying in a cool river on a hot summer day. Everything seemed to slow down, and instead of feeling nervous, it gave her the opportunity to take in everything, amplifying the experience and making her live it even longer. She looked to her side to see Rainbow Dash flying by her side, her face telling her that she knew what she was experiencing.
So this is what it's like to REALLY fly Twilight thought, and continued to maneuver through the canyon with determination that rivaled Rainbow Dash's.
Further into the canyon, Twilight sees a hard turn, and banks to the side. Once she rounds the corner, she sees rather large, deep holes lining the walls. She instantly knew what they were, even before Rainbow Dash screamed.
"QUARRAY EELS!!!"
"Oh buck me..." Twilight said under her breath, and yelled with effort as she began to perform evasive maneuvers around the giant eels popping out of their holes, constantly pulling up and down, rolling and turning from their mouths and necks. The G-forces were crushing her, for she had never experienced flight before, and pulling hard turns were really taking a lot out of her. She found it hard to expand her lungs to breath, and grunted as her arms were straining from constant use, yet still had to retain precision if she wanted to get out of this alive.
The world around her was a giant blur, and all the noise seemed to be muffled out, only hearing her heart hammering in her chest, the panicked breathing rushing through her head. Her adrenaline was pumping like crazy, and it made time seem to slow down even further. Except this time, it was like making a nightmare last longer; She wanted out. Yet, it was probably also the only thing keeping her alive.
Finally, just as she saw a chance to pull out of the canyon, her craft jolted to a halt, which knocked the air out of her lungs, only managing an "Umph!!!". She turned around, and saw the head of an eel craning it's neck around one of the holes, biting the horizontal stabilizer on the portside. Her propellers sputtered, and she desperately put more magic into them to keep them running. She felt the craft slowly be pulled into the hole by the eel, it's hungry eyes glaring at her.
She began to panic, and quickly searched for anything that could help. She saw Rainbow Dash hovering above the canyon, saying something to her. As she darted her eyes around, she spotted her hook tied to the wheel, bolted to the craft.
"RAINBOW, CATCH!!!
As soon as Twilight was about to be exhausted of her magic, she heard a thundering roar from behind her. The eel opened it's mouth, releasing the craft out into the sky. Twilight gave a surprised yelp, and immediately retook control of her plane. Rainbow Dash released the rope, watching it be winded back.
Twilight gasped for breath, attempting to slow down her body from it's excessive use. She looked behind her, and saw the eel retract into it's hole, the canyon once again silent. She examined her craft, and saw the left horizontal stabilizer full of cracks and holes, along with a chunk of it missing. It didn't respond to her stick, but the right stabilizer did. The craft was wiggling from instability, but was still able to fly just fine.
"You OK, Twi?" Rainbow Dash said as she glided over next to her.
"Heh...yeah, I guess i'm ok..."
They gave a chuckle, attempting to nullify their minds of what just happened, but to no avail.
What just happened back there was real...VERY real. I could have died. I could have been eaten. Rainbow would have seen me be torn apart alive, my friends and family would never see me again... These thoughts scrambled through her head, and she attempted to shake them off, focusing on what she was going to do once she got back. She couldn't imagine anything worse than this.
Unknowing to her, though, things were going to get worse...
A lot worse.
Terra: Battle for Equestria
"Sir?"
Hemmer walked over to the operator once again, expecting to hear some interesting news as he listened intently.
"Further scans show that the planetary cycle of Terra Prime is rather...abnormal to standard solar systems."
"Explain."
"Normal systems often have a host star surrounded by orbiting planetary bodies. This system is different. Instead of having a host star, it seems to have a host PLANET. Specifically Terra Prime."
A hologram appears, showing the Earth-like planet stay completely stationary as ball of flame circles the planet along with a barren rock. A dotted line connects the two bodies between the planet, showing that they are completely symmetrical to each other at all times as the revolve around the planet.
"What the hell...?"
"The sun that orbits the planet seems to be much smaller than our own sun, yet still manages to retain a yellow-orange color in the spectrum while being able to give off much less heat and radiation. It's orbit is exactly the same distance from the planet's core as it's moon, about zero point zero seven AU's. Atmospheric temperature averages around 76 degrees Fahrenheit, or 24.5 degrees Celsius."
"Anything else I need to hear?"
"There seems to be some form of strange exotic radiation readings around the planet , primarily in dense groups. We're still trying to find the cause of them, but the seem to be coming from...civilized settlements."
Hemmer didn't react at all, his face still retaining a stone hard look.
"There seems to be a leading dominant species. Considered highly intelligent. Settlements are located around the landscape, along with some urbanized cities. Evaluations estimate their technologies to be mixed around the 18th and 19th centuries of the human time period. We are still determining what species they are."
This was going to be a problem to him. He didn't like it one bit.
And it was a problem that was going to be dealt with.
It was a beautiful day in Ponyville. The skies were clear of any clouds, which Celestia took full advantage of, letting the glowing sun warm the lush, green landscape with it's rays of life. The birds chirped, the animals were lively, the ponies were greeting each other as they passed by, exchanging words of conversation as they went about doing their usual business. Everything was perfect...except for two ponies who were flying in the sky. Specifically a cyan pegasus along with a lavender unicorn.
Twilight didn't notice any of it. Had it not been for what just happened moments ago, she would spent the day doing everything she could under Celestia's sun. She hooves were still shaking slightly from shock, which didn't help the already unbalanced aircraft with a damaged fin. Her mind was still racing, yet there was so little to think of, which resulted in her staring into space.
Rainbow Dash saw this, looking at her with great concern. "Twilight, are you sure your alright?"
She didn't respond. "Twilight? Hey, Twi!" Rainbow Dash flew next to Twilight, and waved her hoof in front of her eyes.
Twilight jolted, and gave a yelp as she lost control for a moment, quickly recomposing herself from the surprise.
"Yeah, i'm fine Rainbow. Just a little...shaken up." Twilight feigned a smile, which didn't help convince Rainbow Dash a single bit.
"Once you land that thing, you need to take a long, nice nap like me. You're really gonna need it."
"That's sounds like a plan. Sad waste of a good day though..." Twilight said, and looked at the beautiful sun floating in the sky.
Suddenly, something dark seemed to have blurred her eye. She rubbed her eyes with her hoof, and squinted to make sure her mind wasn't fooling her. It's only the shock. My mind's not right as of now...
She looked at Rainbow Dash, who was also focusing hard on examining the sun. Twilight did the same, and sure enough, something dark was definitely moving. And it was BIG. So big in fact, it literally began to advance OVER the sun. It was like a bunch of giant serpents circling around the sun, attempting to block it out.
"What...IS that?" Twilight muttered to herself.
Twilight looked ahead, and saw a colossal shadow stretching from one horizon to the other, quickly rushing towards them and the town. The shadow first covered the mountain ranges of Canterlot, and within the span of a few seconds, blanketed Ponyville, then herself and Rainbow Dash.
"What the hay?!" Rainbow Dash yelled, craning her neck around to watch the shadow continue to spread across the landscape.
"C'mon, Twilight! Let's go find our friends and see whats up!" Rainbow Dash sped off towards the town, and Twilight followed in pursuit. She had a bad feeling of what was to come. And she had no idea what to do, which bugged her very much, because she always knew what to do, and how to handle something with her vast wealth of knowledge. It was one of her best and favorite traits. The fact that that trait was useless right now frustrated her.
She pronounced today to be the worst day ever. And it was a problem she was going to have to deal with.
Terra: Battle for Equestria
What is that thing? Is it Nightmare Moon? Could Discord have done this? All these thoughts rushed through Twilight's mind as they race back to Ponyville. The object appeared to have stopped at where the sun was, making sure the shadow still blanketed the land. Things seemed to feel more colder, and the forest definitely got much quieter. The animals seemed to have scurried into hiding, afraid of whatever the thing was.
At Ponyville, it was a much different story. Ponies were scrambling about, trying to get back to the safety of their homes. Some were looking at the sky to identify the object. A few were screaming in fear, preaching that it was doomsday. Several were simply just going about their day, only curious about what that thing was. There were already rumors saying that it was the return of Nightmare Moon, threatening to bring eternal night once again by clogging up the sunlight. Whatever the thing was, they all agreed that it wasn't a good thing at all.
Twilight's craft skidded over the grass with it's flat skis, the suspensions and flexible wood absorbing the shock. It was a little bonus Twilight considered a luxury, and she cheerfully hopped down from the surprisingly smooth first landing. Though, here celebration was cut short when she focused back on the task at hand.
"You sure your gonna be fine Twilight? I'm gonna go into the town and see what's up, K'?"
"Yes, i'm sure i'll be fine, you go ahead and find out as much as you can, i'm gonna be busy!"
She gave the sky another glance, then began to walk towards the tail of her craft to examine the extent of it's damage. Other than what she saw before, the wires connecting the left horizontal stabilizer seemed to have snapped from the strain of being suddenly pulled apart. The fin itself was an absolute mess, and required a new replacement. She mentally drew herself a list of supplies she needed, then began to think about what she was going to do.
She ran towards her library door, which was only a couple meters away, and called to Spike.
"Spike! Are you in there?"
"TWILIGHT!" He bolted down the stairs as fast as his short legs could allow him.
"I just received a letter from Princess Celestia! I haven't read it yet, but i'm sure it's about that big shadowy thing in the sky."
All thoughts suddenly shoved aside, she snatched the scroll from his paws with her magic, and ripped apart the seal, quickly unrolling the scroll it to read the contents.
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
I'm sure you are aware with the strange object floating in the sky, as it currently is obstructing the sun from Equestria and more. I have no possible idea of what it may be, for I have never seen such a thing for all my eternal life, neither has my sister. She has knows her night sky and stars much more than I do, and she has no clue what it is. Now before you start wondering, no it is not the wrong-doing of my sister becoming Nightmare Moon once again. Neither is it Discord and his magic. Whatever it may be, I sense that it will not bring any good to us.
I trust that you have successfully flown the flying contraption that you have built, and would like it if you personally piloted the craft to Canterlot, for I am curious to see it. The square in between the palace and gardens will do just fine as a runway. Royal Equestrian Pegasus Guards will escort you.
I will tasking you with the responsibility of identifying what it may be. I already have Equestria's best scientists researching the unidentified object, and so far we have come up with nothing but guesses. I hope you will have a better chance of success than we have had. Have a safe flight, my faithful student!
~Princess Celestia
"How did she know what I thought that thing was?" She muttered to herself, and immediately got back on topic.
"Spike, i'm gonna need your help fixing the plane's horizontal stabilizer on the portside! I need to use it to get to Canterlot now! I'm going to need reinforced cables, a six by eight foot plank of wood, and-"
Before she could list off anything more, somepony called out from behind her.
"Don't worry, Twi! I already got the whateveryoucalledthisthing fixed all handy-dandy!" Pinkie Pie stood next to her craft, gesturing a hoof to it.
Twilight turned her head, and saw that Pinkie Pie indeed fixed her plane from top to bottom, and even looked cleaner than when she finished constructing it. The fins were completely symmetrical, the cables seemed to be in the perfect place, and the propellers no longer seemed worn out. She bet if she looked under the landing skis, the bottom wouldn't have a single scratch.
"B-But...how did you, wh-wha...?" Twilight babbled. How in Equestria did she repair something only she really knew the anatomy of in less than a minute without making a single sound?
"My Pinkie senses were telling me that Twilight was in trouble, and that she was going to need help in front of her library because she was going to do something super-duper important!"
That specific? "What? B-But...er...wh-why?" It wasn't exactly the question she wanted to say, but Pinkie replied anyways.
"Because were FRIENDS!!! Right? That's what friends do: Help friends out! And you are one super-awesome friend that needed some help!" Pinkie proceeded to give a bone-crushing hug, then said something about going to sugarcube corner incredibly fast before zooming away, leaving a long trail of pink, and a dust cloud that had a slight scent of cotton candy.
A unicorn flying in wood, almost getting eaten by Quarray Eels, a UFO blotting out the sun, an urgent letter from the Princess, and now this. Can today get any weirder? Twilight shook her head, and went inside to get ready.
Terra: Battle for Equestria
Twilight, for the second time in her life, took to the skies. But this time, it was much different than before. Instead of making sure that everything worked, enjoying the fresh air, or seeing the beautiful landscape before her in a perspective she never dreamed of seeing it in, she was focused on something else entirely.
She was on her way to Canterlot to meet Equestria's smartest ponies to examine the 'thing' that was interfering with the world. It was a chance of a lifetime! Her heart was pumping with excitement, impatient to work with the greatest minds of a generation. But at the same time, she was afraid of what was being examined. She had no idea what it was, and she had a feeling that it wasn't good. Sometimes, the truth didn't help anypony, but in fact, made things worse. She hoped that it wouldn't be the case.
It didn't take long to reach the grand city using the craft. The ponies on the streets stared in awe as the princess's personal student, not to mention also being one of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, flying in some contraption overhead. First, the giant thing in the sky and now this . Everypony gave up on thinking what else to expect for today. There could be another Alicorn for all they cared.
Soon enough, she spotted the makeshift runway next to the gardens. Two thin lines of Royal Guards in golden armor stood next to the road, as well as a unicorn with a flashing horn, casting glowing lights that made a straight line to guide her landing. Twilight flew through the lights accordingly, and gently landed on the paved gravel, skidding to a halt. The guards couldn't help but stare at the complex machine as Twilight got out of her cockpit. One of them trotted up to her.
"Miss Sparkle, we have been expecting you. The princess wishes you to meet with her at the Observatory. Please, follow me."
She followed the guard through the large wooden doors, and entered the halls of the grand palace. Their hoofsteps echoed through the endless corridors of red carpet, as well as the hoofsteps of many others. The ponies seemed to be in more of a rush, no doubt caused by the strange 'thing'. She payed no attention to all of this, only focusing on what tasks lie ahead of her.
They seemingly walked aimlessly in the colossal structure, as if taking random turns to find their wanted location. Suddenly, she found herself in a rather sudden change of her surroundings, no longer walking through the noble red carpet and white marble, but instead in a completely white hallway, labeled "Science & Research". White doors named with letters and numbers lined the blank walls. Unicorns in clean labcoats passed through the halls, some carrying clipboards or messages.
They made a turn, and saw a large door with the label "Observatory". They entered, and Twilight took everything in. The room was a giant dome, with one large, rectangular opening in it. An enormous telescope poked through the opening, pointed towards the shadowy sky. There were at least a dozen unicorn scientists, as well as a few pegasi in labcoats doing their work. While the floor of the observatory was filled with tables of paper and instruments, parts of the dome had large drawing boards that the pegasi occasionally flew up to to make calculations, as well as levitated sticks of chalk from the unicorns.
A group of the scientists surrounded not one, but two rather large, iconic figures, engaged in discussion and debate. One was pure white with a flowing, multicolored abstract mane, while the other was dark blue, with a blue mane that portrayed a beautiful night sky. Both wore crowns and some pieces of jewelry. The white one looked up from the conversation, and acknowledged Twilight's presence.
"Twilight, your here!" She called.
"Princess Celestia!"
Twilight ran down towards the group.
"Hello, my faithful student. I'm so glad to see you here safe and sound. I take it the flight was well?"
The scientists raised an eyebrow in confusion. Twilight? Flying? Dafuq?
"Oh yes, the aircraft performed excellently. It was amazing!"
The scientists finally understood, and nodded their head in approval. Twilight an Alicorn? Psh, like that's ever gonna happen.
"That's very good news. I'm currently here with my sister Luna to examine the situation before us, but so far we haven't made any effective progress. Luna has no idea what such a 'monstrosity of her night sky' could be, and neither do I. That is why all of us are here today. Hopefully, your luck will fair better than ours."
"Don't worry princess! You can count on me to get to the bottom of this!" Twilight said confidently.
"Wonderful! If you will excuse us, my sister and I must tend to other issues regarding this event. A large object blocking out the ponies' sun isn't exactly going to make them relaxed. Good luck!"
And with that, they left the observatory, and the scientists resumed their activities.
"Miss Sparkle?" One of them called, and she turned to him.
"It's an honor to be working with you. Everything here and more is at your disposal, and you are authorized to use any of the equipment in the wing as well as our research. If you need any help, or have any questions, feel free to speak to us."
"Thank you! Mister..."
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! Please, call me Doctor Whooves!"
"Doctor Whooves. The pleasure is all mine. Oh, and please call me Twilight if you may."
"Of course, Twilight. Good luck with your work! Hopefully we can crack this thing down!"