Princess Celesta's Private Chambers
1900 Hours November 17
Five years after Luna's Redemption

It had been a long day at court, with only the patience of an immortal could possess could Celesta have sat through Elder Scroll's two hour long proposal to rewrite property tax on multiple different regions. She had lowered the sun moments earlier to allow her sister to raise the moon and begin her night court. She was about to step into a long and well disserved bubble bath, even an immortal needed a childish delight every so often, when one of Twilight Sparkle's friendship reports flamed into existence.

Smiling, she pick it up with her magic intending to read it while soaking in the bubbly warmth of her bath. After stepping in the soothing water so unfurled the scroll and began reading. She was half way through reading about how friendships were tested by Pinkie experimenting with liquid dragon fire as a hot sauce, which had a rather unfortunate side effect of the imbibers randomly belching fire for three days straight. Thankfully, nothing other than some singed fur and a few burned dresses came of it.

After the bath she used her magic to dry herself before sitting down to purview the foreign relations reports one of her more secretive agents had sent.

C~

I'm glad to report that your concerns over the unusual magic echoes coming from the Griffin Empire have yet to be validated. All leads I've pursued thus far have yet to turn anything usual. My sources within the imperial council shows our relations with the empire are as strong as ever, even behind closed doors.

However, as I mentioned earlier I have not investigated every lead, and some of the one's I have were done more tactfully than normal in the interest of foreign relations if I was caught. I will continue my objective and report back at the scheduled time next month.

Faithfully

SS~

Celesta allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief. "I hope he finds nothing. I may have to correspond with the Emperor himself to make him aware of my concerns if Silver does find something. But for now, I have nothing more than a suspicion." Glad to hear relations with her northern neighbor were as strong as well, Celesta read through several more reports before finally turning in for the night.

Sol Naval Ship Remorah's Oath in low orbit over Barossa Three
Passageway nine B
1100 Hours shipboard time
November 17
2630 C.E.

Commander Daria Barrane was walking side by side with Cie Zhèng. Daria was a sphinx, a being who had feline hindquarters starting just forward of her navel, and that of a human woman for her forward half. Her forelegs resembled human arms just above the elbow, yet below that she had dark blonde fur and paws. Upon her back sprouted large off-white wings which had blue lines crossing the white feathers that strongly resembled arcing lightning. Her neck was slightly longer than a typical human's but not over much, yet it did give her more range of movement. Her ears were longer and had a wisp of fur along the leading edges, but were otherwise humanish. Atop her head sat vibrant blue hair in a pony tail that reached just below her shoulders.

She wore the standard uniform shirt of a Sol tactical officer which was mostly black, with crimson trim. Due to the fur covering their rear half, the vast majority of sphinxes abstained from anything that could be considered pants. Most found clothing covered fur to be rather uncomfortable and largely unnecessary outside of extreme environments. Strapped around her torso was a lightweight flexmetal harness that had a silver finish denoting her mid ranged officer status. The harness had most of its weight centered along her spine and forward flanks, and was designed to not interfere with flight. Upon her head rested a thick computerized circlet.

Cie Zhèng was a human male of average build in a naval blue science officer's uniform with a bronze trim denoting his lower station. He had a holographic projector attached to a pocket that was projecting a semitransparent file in front of him. "As you can see commander, the subject's itineris system is abnormally extensive. She may need to be given an inhibitor until she learns proper control."

Daria did not need to physically look at the hologram, because sphinxes possessed strong physic abilities that were mostly only able to affect technology. An ability they aptly termed: TechNotelePathy. In this instance, Daria was using her TNP to scan the same document that was in her circlet with her mind's eye.

"She'd have to be given one anyway; the sensory overload might end up causing an aneurism, not to mention some serious damage to the ship. Shouldn't you already know this?" She added sternly while gesturing at his uniform.

Cie inwardly cringed at the seemingly insulted glare Daria was giving him. "M-my apologies Sir. But I graduated the academy only last week. I haven't had time to become fully familiar with the process yet."

Her scowl suddenly brightened with a smirk. "Just messing with you kid." A solid hologram of a human styled robotic arm materialized on Daria's side and reached up to slap the scientist on the back before disappearing again. "Honestly, you looked as if you were two seconds from soiling yourself. And don't call me sir, too formal. Barrane is fine."

Cie gave a shuddering breath of expelling stress. He had already been briefed on the commander's near inability to be serious outside of combat or formal events. "Yes Commander Barrane." It was still difficult to address a war heroine in such an informal method. "But to answer your earlier question, the subject will be ready for you at a minimum of oh seven hundred tomorrow, but the chief wants you to wait until eleven hundred until a full physical can be given."

"That can be done planet side. When will she leave the tube though?"

He consulted his other files. "In eight hours."

"I'd like to be there. Its…important that she see another sphinx soon after waking."

Royal Sister's Watchtower
0200 hours

Luna's night court did not occur in one solid block of time like her sister's. Instead, it was broken in two halves; one in the evening and one in the early morning that ended when she was to lower the moon. At the moment, Luna was rather enjoying her duty of guarding ponykind during her nightly vigil. Unlike those despair filled years leading up to her corruption into Nightmare Moon, the night princess found there were far more stargazers and more professional astronomers in modern Equestria. To her immense gratitude, one such active telescope belonged to the element of magic. I owe Twilight Sparkle and her friends much, the least I can do is keep watch over them while they sleep. She reconsidered Twilight's nocturnal actives. If she sleeps at all this night. She added with a quiet chuckle.

Sight alone was not the sole method the night alicorn used to keep watch. Her wards around the side of the mountain to which Canterlot rested upon tingled her magical senses that several presences that was not a pony nor an animal was spying on the city, or more correctly, the castle. Keeping her telescope going along the land, she would occasionally sweep the mountain, but never lingered on the spot her wards had been tripped. The wards go silent when my vision nears that ledge. There is something definitely watching me.

Acting as if she was merely going to the restroom Luna left her perch. Once fully obscured by the tower's walls, her horn lit up and stardust started to gather in a small ball in front of her. The ball grew in size and started to take the shape of its creator. Within two minutes Luna finished creating a doppelganger of herself. When it finished forming she addressed it. "Wait four minutes, then assume my place at the telescope. Act as if everything is normal."

The clone was unable to speak, so it simply bowed its head and wait for the time to elapse. Meanwhile the real Luna cast a spell to dampen her magical presence and raced down the tower to the ground floor where eight of her night guards stood watch, half of them were inside the tower itself. Those four saw their princess descend the stairs and stood at attention. "Attend me brave ones. There is a matter that requires investigation."

The four saluted and spoke as one. "Yes, your majesty."

Sol Naval Ship The Remorah's Oath
Medical Lab Seven
1840 Hours Ship Time

Daria stood on the observation platform watching the nameless subject in a clear glass pod. The liquid within was heavily oxygenated so the sphinx within did not need a breathing mask. For the benefit of the being within, the glass was currently opaque, save for the face. Even so, Daria knew the subject would be furless and her wings lacking feathers, the mental image was not a welcome sight yet her subconscious decided to push it to the forefront to spite her.

"Nerve stimulation sequence beginning now." The shipboard AI announced.

To Daria's side, stood the graying human, Captain Erickson. "The brain gang, says her transformation was a complete success. As if it could actually fail." He added with a grunt.

Despite her willingness to be the future mentor to the sphinx in the tube, Daria was in a sour mood. "I still can't believe Sol Gov, passed this initiative, we can rebuild our numbers just fine without having to resort to transforming humans into sphinxes."

Erickson lowered his head contemplatively. "I'm sure you can, but the Clarions were quite persistent about wiping your race from existence. I am not scared to admit that I was afraid that they would have succeeded if the war had lasted another two years. We've practically shared a symbiotic relationship since the twenty second century. I would rather not see a future where you sphinxes were extinct."

The last comment got a smirk out of her. "This may seem a little bias, but I'd rather not see that future either."

Secret entrance into Canterlot Castle
0235 Hours

Luna stood just inside the secret door, which could only be opened by either alicorn. Taking wing, she silently guided her retinue towards the ledge that her wards still informed her that had a possibly hostile presence. Flying along the opposite side of the mountain Luna and her entourage came up behind the ledge and found two bulky minotaurs and two sleeping manticore mounts. Both minotaurs had telescopes directed at the castle and taking down notes every so often.

Luna didn't want to risk detection just yet and continued to watch them. Must be studying patrol patterns and possible weaknesses. If they were here for just sightseeing, they would need to be so secretive about it. She pulling one of her guards in close. "Wake my sister, and tell her we have minotaur spies upon the mountain."

The guard weighted between doing as commanded, or to insist that he be allowed to stand by her side in the altercation that he was sure was about to unfold. "At once princess." When the guard was clear and away Luna returned her attention to the spies.

Even though she had been in the modern world for five years, Luna had not yet become up-to-date with current magical methods, otherwise she would have been able to detect the cloaked arcane beacon centered on the ledge. Feeling that confronting the spies without rousing the manticores would be the best approach. While relations with Cervidas, the Manticore nation, was cool, it was not yet to the point where open hostilities had begun. With that in mind, Luna thought it best to give the spies a chance to explain themselves. Using a spell to keep the ruffle of feathers silent, she and her guards jumped through the air and landed a few meters away from the spies. "Explain yourselves for spying on my city."

To their credit, both minotaurs turned around slowly, the larger of the two spoke with the trademark loud and somewhat harsh sounding manner. "Princess Luna. It is indeed an honor for you to grant us this chance to eliminate you so easily."

Luna's night guards took an aggressive stance, with one of them facing the manticores incase they awoke. Luna's hoof dug at the ground as her wings flared. "As much as your honesty in the matter is refreshing, you should know that you are no match for me, let alone with three of my elite guards at my side." While they did not show it, the guards took fierce pride in their princess's praise, and doubly resolved themselves to not fail her. All three of them tapped one of their forelegs on their chest plates at a time so that the short daggers could magically attach to their hooves. "I will give you this one chance to surrender yourselves. What say you?"

The older Minotaur let out a bellowing laugh before yelling. "I say, do it now!" The two manticores exploded in a blast of color revealing two disguised unicorns with their horns aglow. Before Luna could react the beacon lit up into a massive magical array that encompassed the entire ledge.

Her eyes widened at the realization. "That’s a mass teleport-" As quickly as it appeared, the array was gone, along with everyone else on the ledge.

Abandoned Hamlet fifty miles from Stalliongrad
0235 Hours

Calgradni paced in front of the summoning altar that stood on what used to be a bakery, and was studying it intently searching for any flaws. Calgradni was a pegasus with an ice blue coat and a silver mane. His cutie mark consisted of two interlinked rings of green and purple. But over top of it were a white and black X mark over top of it. Around his neck he wore three necklaces with five dull clear crystal orbs on each one. The dozen ponies surrounding the altar currently chanting the words of coalition. All bore the same X over their marks as well. He stopped pacing and stared at the currently dormant teleportation array sitting in front of the summoning alter. Good, the array and the altar are flawless. He looked at a timepiece on his hoof. No doubt the bait will be taken shortly.

As if on cue, the array began to activate and started glowing with an eerie green. "Excellent, they'll be arriving soon." He turned his attention to the chanters. "The time comes, open the way for the Maledict."

He opened his wings to be horizontal to the ground and spoke three mantras in an ancient tongue. “You are protected, for they are deflected.” A series of runes appeared in the air in front of him then they were pulled from the air and filled five of the orbs. “By gravity’s might, you will not take flight.” Again the runes were pulled into five orbs. “Censored, silenced, rebuked, denied.” The last five were filled.

By the time he was done the mix of the three pony tribes at the altar went from a low murmuring chant to shouting it. The energy that had been building in the air now surged to ripple time and space above it. Calgradni was about to lend his own voice to the choir when the array when from green to purple. Damn, those idiotic cows signaled the activation too early. The window to keeping a Maledict stable in this world is too narrow for such a foul up. It has to feed on the soul of an immortal within three minutes or else it will return to the abyss.

He turned to face the array just as Luna, her three guards, and his four mercenaries arrived. Luna scanned her surroundings and saw her back was to a dilapidated house with the minotaurs on one side and the two hostile unicorns to the other. In front of her was a large summoning altar with the air above already heaving as the magics around it fought to rip a hole into it. Luna briefly regretted sending the extra guard away. “Take down the unicorns, I’ll handle the minotaurs. Then stop that summoning.”

Nodding their compliance, two of the night guard took to the air with the third charging along the ground. Luna tried to rush the altar but the Minotaurs intercepted her path. With a smirk of contempt, she gave a strong flap of her wings to fly over them. Their reach just was not long enough to grab her as she cleared over their horns.

“Gravity!” Calgradni shouted, one of the orbs dimmed.

Luna let off a yelp of surprise as she suddenly found herself harshly shoved to the ground. The force of it dazed her momentarily, but it was long enough for the smaller and faster minotaur to grab her by the tail and unceremoniously swung her like a weighted rope, up and over his head and back down on the ground behind him. Or at least, that was the plan. Instead, Luna preformed a hasty teleport, blinking her out of the monster’s grip and back on all hoofs a foot away from him. She charged her horn and fired off a kinetic blast that shoved the smaller minotaur off his hoofs and several feet away. The second minotaur moved in to hammer both fists into the princess.

Just as she charged her spelled, Calgradni spoke again. “Rebuked.” Luna’s spell fizzled instantly, only her own fast reflexes allowed her to recognize her spell failed and that she had to physically dodge the attack. In that, she was only partially successful and the hit grazed her ribcage just hard enough to recoil from the impact.

Luna bounced back a bit to zero in on the source of the words that scratched at the back of her head. She made eye contact with Calgradni for but a moment before her younger assailant pressed in to attack. Luna gave a strong flap to dodge a left hook. “Gravity!” And found herself back on the ground with an inch deep indentation. Summoning a quickly push spell Luna's horn flashed too quickly for Calgradni to counter it. Had the spell come from a typical unicorn, the hulking bull would not have even felt it, however that was not the case and the minotaur staggered to a knee.

The larger minotaur moved to flank her, but Luna's guard sergeant came from above and sliced the man-bull's right arm down its length with a hoof dagger. Howling in pain, the injured minotaur used his rage to stomp the guard while its younger counterpart faced off against Luna. The guard easily dodged the clumsy strike and ducked under his opponent's guard to stab his midsection. "Deflect!" A violet barrier formed around the minotaur's body, causing the attack to bounce off. The shield persisted for three seconds before disappearing. But in those three seconds, the enraged bull smashed an uppercut into the guard's chest and sent him flying. "Gravity!" The dazed guard slammed into the ground.

Luna saw her sergeant was in trouble and attempted to buck her opponent. "Deflect!" Her hoofs struck her target as if Newton's third law didn't apply to him. He tried to grab onto her flowing tail, but she opted to just run forward a few meters to get clear enough to cast a spell at the minotaur bearing down on her stunned guard. Before she even finished pointing her horn- "Rebuked!" She half expected her spell to be countered so she sprinted the very short distance and tackled the injured bull away from the sergeant who was just now picking himself out of the depression in the ground. The bull used his good arm to sweep the princess off him and climbed to his feet to find the other two guards had finished dispatching the last unicorn and all three were now ready to keep the minotaurs busy.

This left Calgradni alone to contend with Luna. She did not bother with talk because the portal was nearing complete. She only knew that whatever they were trying to bring into the world, had to be stopped, one way or another. With the guards leading the bulls away from the princess, she had a clear line of attack and charged while readying a spell. "Gravity, Rebuked!"

Her spell evaporated as her face was ground into the cobblestone street. She looked up at the Pegasus who had a sneer plastered over his face. "It’s a shame really. I had hoped you would have made this more interesting, your highness." She spoke the last two words with such revulsion that it stung her a little to hear such hate in one of her subjects.

"Whatever foul deeds you attempt here tonight, you will not succeed." She ran full tilt at him, but he did not attempt to dodge. She saw the trap almost too late. "Deflect!" She bounded over the shielded pegasus and instead ran right for the summoners. "Gravity!"

Luna had expected it as soon as she was half way through the air and had surrounded herself with a counterspell. Calgradni cursed her name. "Rebuked!" erased her wards. "Deflect!" Was shouted just in time to keep the lead chanter from receiving a face full of hooves. Calgradni was not a close range fighter and knew trying to go hoof to hoof with the princess was a death warrant. The portal was on the verge of completion, only the destination remained to be set. Luna saw the shift in the chanters from the earth pony with a grass green mane to the unicorn with a butter yellow coat. She made her move to attack the earth pony. "Deflect!" But it was a feint and she bucked the unicorn cross the side of the neck. The choir came to an almost deafening silence. With the portal's spherical shape seeming to stabilize the summoners thought their work was complete, and bid a hasty withdraw from the alicorn who was busy studying the portal.

It's not perfectly formed yet, I can't close it, but I can redirect it. Luna pointed her horn at the portal and worked to disrupt it.

Calgradni was thrilled by the perfect set up, his followers backed away from the portal as it was about to disgorge the Maledict right on top of the princess. When her horn started glowing his exuberance dimmed. I'll not give you the chance to break it. "Reb-"

The sergeant swooped down from above and planted both fore hooves on Calgradni's head, cutting off his spellwork. "Hoof To Face!" The wordmancer was dazed by the attack. His minions threw themselves at the sergeant who was driven back by sheer weight of numbers. He was having a difficult time of it even when he was no longer using non-lethal force and was forced to retreat away from his target. Luna's face reflected the monumental effort it was taking to redirect the portal. Moments later it solidified and ripped away at what the other side was able to latch onto.

Sol Naval Ship The Remorah's Oath
Medical Lab Seven
1920 Hours Ship Time

The as of yet nameless sphinx was minutes away from leaving the pod. Daria stood several feet away with the captain at her side. "So tell me why you went and changed into full combat gear again?"

Daria looked up at the three spherical drones that rotated around her, each one less than half a foot in diameter. Each one pulsed in every color in every shade of the spectrum as they orbited her in standby mode. She looked up at them and spoke with childish delight. "I like pretty colors."

The graying shipmaster groaned as he pressed two fingers on the bridge of his nose. I swear, once they hit maturity sphinxes age as fast as frozen molasses going uphill. In her that’s doubly true. "I mean, why greet the new girl like that?"

She stopped admiring the lights and refocused on the pod as escaping gasses signaled the moment was almost upon them. "I've already cleared it with orbital control and chief medical. I'm taking the next shuttle to the surface, and she's coming with me. As for while I didn't just pack my routers, it's because every time I let luggage claim handle them, I always need to spend hours recalibrating them. I mean honestly, their meant to handle the toughest grittiest combat possible just fine, but those buffoons handling luggage always manage to throw them off." Her mildly lighthearted rant almost produced a chuckle from the old man. "At any rate, it'd be better if she could get used to her new senses without a limiter on, and that can't happen on this massive tub of tech." She said while pawing the floor to indicate the ship itself. "Planet side has some wide open rural areas for that."

Erickson gave her a flat look with a raised eyebrow. "I can't picture you, or any sphinx for that matter, enjoying time away from any advanced tech."

She huffed at him before facing the pod that was lowering into place. "We'll be fine. Sides, it'll be a good chance to stretch my wings for a while." She added with thinly veiled apprehension. Daria was not looking forward to being on an agricultural world for the next year, but her assignment would make it worth it.

The pod was laid horizontal on the deck and the liquid was rapidly drained. A nozzle moved in from the top of the pod and help remove the liquid from the subject's lungs. The process brought the sphinx to a rude awakening. She started coughing and the nozzle removed itself to allow her to start breathing on her own.

"Subject 777-012A, please remain calm." The ship's AI requested over the pod's speakers. The pod opened and she was grabbed by a hard hologram that picked her up gently and proceeded to wrap a formfitting white fabric completely around her, sparing her feet and face. The material would keep her temperature regulated and protect from abrasions. One of the robotic arms applying the finishing touches to the clothing started moving erratically, causing the subject to panic, which inadvertently caused more of the arms to start going haywire. She started yelling. "Its all whispering, make it stop. Make it stop!"

Daria noticed what was happening and flew over to the figurative newborn and extended her technotelepathy over the robotic appendages and they fell limp. The whispers in the subject's head quieted down and she looked at the commander. "You're alright, nothing is going to hurt you here." Daria pushed as much tranquility through her empathy as possible.

The subject was receptive and slumped back down on the hologram. Daria wordlessly signaled the AI to continue and it slipped a limiter circlet over the subject's head. Suddenly all of the machines and computers in the area were quiet again, and the subject fell asleep. "Man alive, I have never seen a sphinx, natural born or otherwise display that kind of TNP so quickly." The AI lowered the hologram to a hovering stretcher. Daria remained at her side. Moments after she was on the stretcher the air around her started to ripple and squirm.

Yellow warning lights sprung to life. "Alert. Gravimetric and tachyon distortion detected in Medical Lab Seven. Recommend immediate evacuation." The staff exited quickly with the captain waiting at the entrance.

He saw Daria trying to push the stretcher to the exit, but it was as if time was slowing to a crawl for her. "Commander, get out of there!" He attempted to help, but the distortion crackled with energy and hit him square in the chest, pushing back against the wall. His last waking memory was seeing Commander Barrane slow to a stop and then both she and the subject were compressed to a infinitesimal point and were gone.