New Manehatten Medical Wing, Cold Storage:

“E-Easy there!” Stripped said gently as he watched the dark-green changeling’s eyes slowly flutter open, and then Pharynx still clad in a light blue hospital gown stumbled forwards almost in a drunken manner.

Grunting out in pain as the massive Changeling fell into the smaller unicorn’s arms, Stripped murmured: “I got you there, big guy. Question is, what are you doing here? I mean, I would think the medical logs would show you being stored away, or even still alive for that matter…”

It was almost like someone wanted to keep Pharynx’s existence a secret, Stripped mused. But, why would that be?

“Ugh, where am I?” Pharynx muttered before he noticed his current situation. “And who are you?” he asked, pulling himself out of Stripped’s grip.

“Name’s Stripped Gear. Scientist, and might I just say what a pleasure it is to meet you!” Stripped babbled, forgetting his manners and rapidly shaking Pharynx’s hand. “I mean, you’re a friggin’ living legend. You do know that, right? This is absolutely meretricious!”

“Oh great, a fanboy…” Pharynx muttered to himself in a tone that could only be described as complete and utter disgust. “I was warned about ponies like you, the ones who practically strip themselves naked and throw themselves at the object of their… desires,” he grumbled. “Maybe if you were a mare, I’d accept the offer but a buck? No way. This Changeling is quite straight, thank you very much!”

Stripped flushed a bright red at that, realizing what his fanboying over a living legend of old Equestria could have come off as, namely something akin to being stalkerish.

“Oh, if Jabari or Faust forbid, Spada got wind of this, he’d never let me live it down…” the unicorn thought to himself.

“My deepest apologies Lord Pharynx,” Stripped replied, regaining his composure, fixing his lab coat and turning back into Stripped Gear, well refined and dignified scientist from the Marish Isles. “Sorry, just meeting someone so famous is… Well.”

“Yes, yes, I get it,” Pharynx waved him off. “You’re overwhelmed and all that shit.”

“I forgot how rude that Changeling was, at least according to historical records,” Stripped sighed to himself. “Silly me.”

“Not that of course, I’m offended by you calling me a living legend,” Pharynx murmured, scratching his chin. “I’d consider that a compliment. But again, I have to ask, where in the Hivemother’s name am I?”

“New Manehatten, the Medical Wing. Well, at least I think this is the medical wing, last time I checked it didn’t have a cold storage unit.” Stripped murmured, rubbing his chin in thought. “Then again, maybe it did and I just forgot about it. Been so many things on my mind lately that I sorta just… deleted a few of them,” he continued. “Maybe it’s time to up the nicotine patches. Again. This seems like a three patch problem…”

All Pharynx could do was stare in bug-eyed (Pun fully intended) bewilderment as Stripped continued pacing back and forth. The Changeling groaned, realizing what sort of person he had to wake up to.

“...You’re one of those eccentric genius types aren’t you?” he muttered. “Only thing worse than a fanboy…”

“Yes. Do you have a problem with that?” Stripped asked in a confused tone. Since when was being a genius a bad thing?

“Yes, of course, I have a problem with that! I’m just woken up from a Hivemother only knows how long of a nap, and I wake up to a fanboy who probably doesn’t know that Equus doesn’t revolve around the sun because he deleted said information from his mind!” Pharynx shouted in a fury.

“Oh, how, what does that matter? So we go around the sun! If we went round the moon or round and round the garden like a teddy bear, it wouldn't make any difference! And for the record, the Sun collapsed thousands of years ago, so that should tell you how long you’ve been asleep!” Stripped snapped throwing his arms up in the air, quite frustrated by the lack of information he had. He hated not knowing things. Drove him up the wall. “Now will you shutty-shut up so I can work out why you were in cold sleep since before the sun burnt this whole planet to a crisp and then everything froze over?”

Any other person, any other time, Pharynx would have probably grabbed Stripped with his horns and smashed him into the ground several times in classic Changeling warrior fashion for telling him to shut his trap, but he was so caught off guard by how long he exactly he’d been asleep he found himself frozen in shock.

“T-That long?” Pharynx whispered out in shock. “Then that means the P-Princesses a-are…”

Pharynx found himself unable to finish the sentence, tears forming in his eyes. He may not have liked Celestia or Luna for their more pacifistic ways, but even he had to admire how they managed to keep a whole country intact just by sheer friendship alone.

“Dead? Yes, quite,” Stripped said, his tone finally going back into a more sympathetic one, realizing who he was talking to again. Pharynx, whenever he went under and for what reason, everything was all well and good and the sun was shining in the sky. Now, that was hardly the case and everything and everyone he ever knew was dead and gone, just dust in the wind. “If… If you need some time to yourself, I can-”

“No, no point in mourning over something I can’t change. They’re dead, my brother’s dead and I’m just going to have to accept that,” Pharynx murmured, trying very hard to hide his emotions and to his credit, he mostly succeeded, but even Stripped could see the Changeling trying to fight back the tears from behind his violet eyes. So Stripped did the only thing he could do, and pulled Pharynx into a deep hug, and allowed him time to cry.

“Shh, let it out,” Stripped whispered as he heard Pharynx’s muffled heartbroken sobs, and Stripped held the Changeling ever tighter, rubbing his back in a calm, comforting manner. “It’s alright, I’m here for you my little… changeling,” he said awkwardly, not really being the first to know how to comfort somebody, and especially not someone like Pharynx or someone in said Changeling’s situation.

Eventually, tears were spent, and Stripped finally released his hold on Pharynx.

“...Never let anyone know that happened, okay?” Pharynx requested. “I do have a reputation to keep up, after all.”

“Pinkie Promise. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Stripped nodded, and Pharynx let out a groan. Stripped looked confused. “What? That’s not something you break!”

“That cheesy-ass promise is still around?” Pharynx muttered, astounded.

“Hey, Pinkie herself may be gone, but her legacy sure as Faust isn’t,” Stripped replied. “...Pretty sure she has this ancestor around here somewhere now that I think of it.”

“I pity the fool who dated her. For one thing, you’d need to keep up a lot of stamina in the bedroom,” Pharynx remarked in his normal grumpy tone, but with a trace of amusement. “And a set of earbuds and a good amount of patience, for dealing with a mare who is basically… well, a child really,” he said, and Stripped actually laughed at that. Pharynx smiled. “But in all seriousness, I’m glad some things haven’t changed despite everything that’s sure to have happened.”

“Yeah, say what you will about ponies sometimes, but we’re an enduring lot,” Stripped replied. “Marvelous, isn’t it? Now, you’ve asked me a few questions, so I think it’s only a fair deal that I ask you at least one no?”

“Fair enough,” Pharynx admitted.

“Alright then. So, I just have to ask, why were you contained in that cold-sleep pod to begin with? Knowing what I’ve read about you, and heard from a few ponies and Changelings (Pharynx smiled at this, knowing that his species was still quite alive and well) I can only presume that you locked yourself away in that pod so that one day you could return when Equestria was in need of some great warrior right? Working theory, but right now it’s the best I’ve got.”

“It’s a nice thought, but no,” Pharynx corrected. “Sadly, I contracted this frankly rare illness for Changelings after helping my little brother clear out the last of Discord’s Chaos-Spawn near the First Hive deep within Equestria’s jungles. They called it by a simple name, the Black Plague. Thankfully rare, as it’s almost always fatal. At the time, it looked like I was dead in the water.”

Stripped nodded, he’d read of the infamous disease. Rare in Celestia’s time, it had been killed thousands during the times of Princess Platinum. Contemporary signs of the plague, varied and rather imprecise. As one pony put it: “In men and women alike it first betrayed itself by the emergence of certain tumours in the groin or armpits, some of which grew as large as a common apple, others as an egg… From the two said parts of the body this deadly gavocciolo soon began to propagate and spread itself in all directions indifferently; after which the form of the malady began to change, black spots or livid making their appearance in many cases on the arm or the thigh or elsewhere, now few and large, now minute and numerous. As the gavocciolo had been and still was an infallible token of approaching death, such also were these spots on whomsoever they showed themselves.” Nowadays, the cause is known to come from rats carrying the germ known as Yersinia pestis, but before then it was an unknown agent.

“So how did you…?”

“Survive?” Pharynx asked. “Radical new treatment, proposed by Nurse Redheart in Canterlot. Lock me in that cold-sleep pod, and then pump it full of various cleansing agents. I had to be watched around the clock by trained medics. Didn’t know if it would work, but considering the alternative…”

“Yeah,” Stripped swallowed. “Guess someone forgot to let anyone know when it was time to wake you, right?” he joked lightly and Pharynx laughed in return. Stripped then rubbed his chin once more. “Still, it’s a very good question as to why nobody told anyone you were in that pod for all this time…”

The sound of a cough was heard, someone clearing their throat to speak. Both Stripped and Pharynx whirled around to see Prince Stardust, clad in a dark purple nightgown complete with a gold shooting star sewn into the material. Pharynx raised an eyebrow at this, but then noticed the coloring of the Prince’s mane and his coat. It didn’t take long for him to figure out who the Alicorn was related to.

“Huh, so what do you know? Celestia and Twilight finally pulled their heads out of their asses, stopped dancing around each other and rutted like rabbits!” he thought.

“Um yes, I must apologize for that Lord Pharynx,” Stardust sighed as he leaned on his cane, two of the faceless red guardsmen at his side holding long pronged staves which crackled with electricity. “I really must. No excuse.”

“I should say so…” Pharynx hissed, a snake-like tongue briefly emerging from his mouth. One of the few remaining traits of his original pre-metamorphosed form. “Left me to gather dust, your parents did!”

“And you have every right to be angry with them, Faust rest their souls. Hell, I can bring up their AIs so you can shout at them if it makes you feel any better,” Stardust said kindly, “May not be the real thing, at least if you ask my aunt Flurry for her opinion on the matter but-”

“AIs?” Pharynx asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.

“Yes, I said AIs,” Stardust replied. “My parents, they managed to save their personalities to databanks before the sun went nuclear and burnt Equus to a crisp. They did this in order to help out future generations and imbue them with their wisdom to make sure Equus never forget where it came from.”

“A wise choice, I admit,” Pharynx sighed. “Doesn’t stop me from being angry at them, trust me on that, but I’m not going to take it out on them, considering there’d be no point in yelling at somepony for something they can’t change.”

“Surprisingly mature of you, Lord Pharynx,” Stardust replied, thanking the stars. His gratitude would be short-lived.

Mind you, doesn’t mean I can’t do this.” Pharynx stated, before drawing back his fist and socking the Prince soundly across the jaw.

Groaning out in pain as he rubbed his bleeding mouth, Stardust watched as his two guards pointed their staves at Pharynx. He quickly raised his hand to stop them.

“No. Now, there’s no need for that. I suppose I deserved that,” the Prince admitted, calming them. That was a curious trait about Stardust. Despite all his quirkiness, he always had this strange ability to calm others with just simple words. It was like he never seemed to get angry enough to raise his voice. These two traits, Stripped had to figure, Stardust had probably inherited from Celestia. He was just glad Luna wasn’t one of his mothers, otherwise, Stardust probably wouldn’t have been quite so calm and well-mannered. “I probably got off lucky, really.” the Prince shrugged.

“Damn right…” Pharynx muttered to himself. “If I’d hit you any harder, you’d probably get a broken jaw at the very least!”

Stripped winced at that. Yep, it seemed some things would never change.

We later find Pharynx along with Stripped and Princess Flurry Heart walking over the hanger bay of the Voyagers via catwalk. Pharynx, in interest, observed the various ponies and other assorted species set to work on the various fighter craft, amongst the larger colony ships. Over the radio, a rather cheery (Well, somewhat) song played as sparks flew and metal was grafted to ships to armor them further.

“Another day o' cloudy skies
feelin' low an' I don't know why, I
guess it shouldn't be news to me now
it's been this way for centuries, but I'm holding out

“I heard from legends and crystal balls
sun gave warmth to the great and small
I saw the smiles good ol' Ray put on their face
It ain't too much to want gentle grace

“This pessimism brings my brain a schism,
splittin' up my mind
But I know before too soon I’ll find
Footsteps on my porch of ultraviolet kind…” a feminine voice song, (Velvet Remedy was her name as Pharynx would later learn) and Pharynx noted Stripped bobbing his head to the music. Pharynx, to his disgust, noted he himself was tapping his hoof to it as well. Damned thing was much too sappy for his tastes.

I suppose a minute or two should be diverted to the colony ships themselves, which I haven’t I admit, described all that well.

Streamlined and curved, these ships were a masterwork of engineering. Having taken over twenty years to complete for each one, these ships were truly gigantic compared to the Voyagers. (And those could combine into a mecha!) Sporting a half-saucer shape at the back that curved into a more straight shape as you went further back, with three massive thrusters completing the whole creation. Covered in a bronze metallic hue, these ships could carry 20,000 of the Equus population, easily. Five of them in total, not counting the flagship which was a different matter entirely.

The flagship, the Orion? This was a ship, that if possible, was even more of a masterwork of engineering than the colony ships. It was a massive dagger-shaped ship armed to the tooth and supporting a crew of 20,000 also. It was easily dwarfing everything else and was meant to be the personal craft of Prince Stardust. It also supported hanger bays for each of the created Voyagers so far, six in total. There were rumors there was a seventh, hidden hanger for the Draco Voyager as well as one presumed it must have existed in Stardust's theories long before it had been discovered in the Ghastly Gorge.

“So these are how you plan to escape this barren husk?” the Warrior-King noted in interest. “I must admit, I am… intrigued on how the technology has developed during my very long nap.” Pharynx remarked.

“Well, not like we have much choice. Stay, and we freeze,” the Twilight-AI spoke up, her hologram walking up to Pharynx’s side. Her expression grew softer as she looked at him. “It’s good to see you again, my old friend. You had no idea how happy I was when I heard you were awake.”

“Tell me,” Pharynx asked in his usual gruff tone. No sense in, like he said before, in getting angry over something that couldn’t be changed now. “I know some of the Changelings have survived, but has my hive…?” he trailed off, not daring to think of the alternative.

“Yes, you have a few descendants,” Twilight replied. “One of which is a member of the Paladins I’m sure Stardust or Flurry has told you about. One Spada Venture. Good cook, from what I’ve heard.”

“Trust me, man is a master in the kitchen,” Stripped chipped in. “His cooking? To die for! You should see what he does with a Colcannon! Faust, if I didn’t know better, I’d swear he was from the Marish Isles!” he sighed wistfully.

“We’ll get to him in a minute,” Pharynx butted in, putting a stop to Stripped’s drooling. “Actually, no Princess, nobody’s told me a single thing about these ‘Paladins’.”

“Hand-picked from a single species, the best of Equestria’s best,” Flurry put in. “You’ve already met one in Stripped here, and your relation Spada is another. Meant to guard the larger colony ships with those Voyagers you see below and meant to engage in first contact with alien species. Something, which I embarrassingly admit, has not gone well so far.” she flushed, and Pharynx raised an eyebrow.

“How so?” he asked.

“Well, had a encounter a few days back. This massive alien ship crash-landed out near where the Empire used to be, and it’s pilot engaged in combat with three of the Paladins. It was just barely contained. The wreckage is being studied now, but we have a much larger problem,” Flurry continued.

“I’m listening,”

“Well,” Flurry replied to him. “Apparently, this robot was the first line assault force against an empire known as Dark Matter. We’ve, as in the Paladins, engaged one of what they call Karō in combat already, and as of right now we’ve only managed to drive him back in temporary retreat. Even now, his flagship and Faust knows what else hovers above our atmosphere in stationary orbit.”

Pharynx’s fists clenched, and his amaranth-colored wings fluttered in agitation. “And you can’t just go and attack, why?” he hissed out, forked tongue once more making an appearance.

“This is why.” the Twilight-AI spoke up, and gestured to Stripped who simply lit up his horn and brought up a small holographic screen of the flagship of Lupus’ fleet. It was a peculiar design to say the least, but Pharynx did note the two massive cannons on the bottom of the uppermost ‘spike’ that was aimed directly at the planet.

“Those two cannons you see?” Stripped asked. “One shot from them, and boom, could bring the whole place crashing down on top of us. While we could, in theory, evade detection and send up small snub fighters like the Voyagers to destroy them as they’d be too small to register on the sensors, as of right now they’re in the shop. Took a little too much damage from our last battle with Lupus, when he sent his pet Deathworm after us.”

“Deathworm?” Pharynx asked quizzically.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know,” Stripped replied with a small shudder. “But to put it simply, we’re screwed right now.”

Pharynx slammed a hand on one of the metal railings of the catwalk, denting it. “And to think, I used to be a warrior who would be able to take on almost any foe! And now, here I am, sitting around unable to do a thing just because I don’t have the ability to pilot a Voyager! Look at me, a warrior and former captain of the guard who basically has to sit around doing nothing while his kingdom -his kingdom!- is under threat! In essence, I’ve been laid low!” he snarled, both Flurry and Stripped visibly backing away from Pharynx and his frustrations. His head then whirled around to face Flurry, and he stepped dangerously close to her.

“If you had woken me sooner, maybe, just maybe I might have been able to have been chosen by your precious Prince Stardust to become a Paladin! I mean, who decides who is Equestria’s best? Yes, Equestria’s best! Don’t think I didn’t miss that! Not Equus’ best, Equestria’s best!” he roared.

“You think I like this either?” Flurry snapped. “I didn’t even know you were even in the city! Because someone, namely Prince Stardust decided to keep that information from all of us, -Faust knows why- and let you sleep. I thought you dead long ago! I considered at the time, the possibility of checking, just checking to see if your body had somehow survived in that tank and not rotted to just a skeleton, but Equestria burning to a crisp and then icing over put a hold on that!” she continued, her massive white wings flaring out in anger. “Hell, a lot of us had to stay in sleep pods ourselves while Equestria cooled down, and in those first few years, it was chaos as I was the only one old enough at the time to try and get everyone in order, as Stardust was just only ten years old! He didn’t know how to rule, so I had to do it in his stead while his tutors -Namely the AI versions of his parents once we finally got them up and running- taught him everything he needed to know!” she finished, panting and breathing hard from her little rant. Pharynx, he looked quite quayed and backed off.

“I’m… I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” he whispered, hanging his head in shame. “It must have been hard…”

“Oh gee, you think?” she snapped, before storming off in a huff and vanishing in a teleportation flash of light yellow magic.

Stripped, during all of this, had stayed quite silent in fear of getting either Pharynx or Flurry’s rage directed at him. Nervously, he reached out to touch Pharynx’s shoulder.

“Come on, let’s get you something to eat. Food always helps to ease the mind. A good hearty meal, that’s what you need.” he said, patting the Changeling on the shoulder.

A loud rumble was heard beneath their feet, and both Stripped and Pharynx shared a look.

“What was that?” Pharynx asked cautiously.

“Part of me wants to think it’s just a minor earthquake, we get them from time to time, but…”

“But what?” Pharynx asked.

“Well, considering Lupus is hardly the stupid sort, one must wonder. I, in his position, would figure that we would find some way around our little problem and that assumes he knows our Voyagers are damaged so even if he had those cannons to rain Hell from above, he’d have a backup plan in place. You would, wouldn’t you?” Stripped inquired.

“Yes, quite.”

“Exactly,” Stripped replied. “Listen, I’ll run some simulations and some models, just to see if I’m being paranoid and these earthquakes are natural, or something otherworldly’s the cause of them. You, you just get something to eat okay?” he asked, not as a Paladin of Equestria but as a friend. “Might just help calm the nerves.”

“S-Suppose you’re right. Maybe that’s all I need, just a good meal or two…” Pharynx murmured. Eventually, with the help of the Twilight-AI, he found himself in the large cafeteria where most of Equestria’s military regiment ate. For the most part, it was a stark white in wall color, lined with green detailings conforming to the minimalist style of the rest of the city’s interior design.

At one table, a certain pink parrot named Fågel sat, idly picking away at her food with a spork. It was a traditional dish from her homeland, called Raggmunk. It was basically a potato pancake served with the traditional lingonberries.

Pharynx sighed, noting her loneliness -His brother must have been laughing at him from above, seeing him try to make nice with someone- and pulled up a chair next to her. The parrot looked up at him, giving him a warning look.

“If you’re here to flirt, don’t bother. Not remotely interested,” she stated coldly.

“Yeah, wasn’t going to do that,” Pharynx reassured, biting back a snappy comment. “Just looked like you needed someone to talk to, that’s all.”

Fågel sighed to herself. “Well, you’re certainly braver than most, that’s for sure.”

“You do realize I was once someone suicidal enough to fend off a maulwurf alone?” Pharynx asked, in a deadpan tone. “So I doubt talking to some parrot is going to be decremental to my health.”

Fågel tried to hide her laughter of course. To her credit, she mostly succeeded and just made it look like she was laughing softly to the point where it made things seem she was laughing at him. After a while though she stopped herself.

“Look I am not some parrot that is the best to speak to by yourself. I did so many things in the past that would make others scream and blush in horror. It’s moving on with life that you learn that you might be more than you think,” she replied, in that thick Icelandic accent of hers. Pharynx somehow got the feeling standard Equestrian wasn’t her first language. He bit back a laugh.

“And yet, here you are. A Paladin. Don’t think I didn’t notice that gauntlet on your arm, Stripped Gear had one as well. Inquired to Twilight about them, all the Paladins have one or the other, makes them be able to change into this squad called the Kyurangers, whatever that’s supposed to be. Frankly, a rather brash title if you ask me really.” Pharynx remarked in return.

Fågel sighed nodding as she did so, and held up her Taurus Kyutama before placing it on the table in front of Pharynx.

“One would think being what I am would make me feel better about my life. Sadly no I wasn’t there for my half-brother. I wasn’t there for my family. So, he has to grow up in the system, feeling nobody gives a damn about him except for that adopted big brother of his in Flashfire AKA Cerberus Seagreen. There is more to my life that most don’t know about. The fact I was even given this thing makes me feel like I must… I must forget the past or doom myself to repeat it.”

“You might want to explain this to your half-brother then,” Pharynx replied. “He’d probably love to know about all of this. Hivemother knows if I grew up in the system, and found out I had a half-sister who could have been there but wasn’t? I’d be pissed. You’re lucky I was raised with a decent amount of respect for women otherwise I’d be punching you in the beak ‘bout now.”

Fågel laughed weakly.

“Yes tell him that I murdered someone then I was placed in jail for half my life. It turned out it wasn’t murder but the ponies family used his death to punish me. I was hired at a young age to steal something from this guy, named Cold Steel. I scared him he backed up and he fell out of the window. I was accused of murder and that was that. Prince Stardust’s guards chucked me in the bin. He told me I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He said don’t hate me for protecting my families image by destroying yours,” she’d lowered her voice by this point, not wanting anyone to overhear that their precious Prince Stardust was in fact, a bastard and not this wise, all seeing if not slightly eccentric Prince who’d lead everyone to safety.

Pharynx’s fists clenched, and he let out a growl. “Knew there was something off about that pony. Far too nice, nobody’s that nice unless they have something to hide,” he muttered.

“For years Pharynx, I felt I deserved it. I still feel I do. The fact is if I didn’t get hired to steal I would still be with my half-brother. That’s something I can’t control now. The fact I am in the eyes of some, just a hardened murderer. Even though I did this the Prince has been very respectful to me. Even though I don’t trust him.”

“Can’t say I blame you. What’s that old phrase? Keep your friends close, and keep your enemies closer. Gotta say, guy’s got balls, making someone he framed for a crime a defender for Equus.” Pharynx admitted, in a slightly admiring but more disgusted tone of voice.

“I feel this was bound to happen. The ponies of this land were too... I don’t want to be too rude although I might have to be. They were too weak. I knew sooner or later if something like this happened, they wouldn’t be able to handle it because it’s not the Power of Friendship they need to fight this. I feel the ponies relied too much on that Princess of theirs.”

“Seemed to work for them, till the sun went nuclear and burnt everything to ashes.” Pharynx shrugged. “I mean, when I went into cold sleep, Twilight’s school was thriving and relations with the rest of the planet were at an all-time high. And look at everyone now, collaborating to find a way off this icy rock. Hell, these Paladins, they’re each a member of one of Equestria’s species. Changelings, griffons, ponies and… well, whatever you are. Wouldn’t be surprised if there was a dragon in there somewhere. Doubtful, given they’re cold-blooded creatures, but today’s been full of surprises.

Fågel sighed.

“I never saw the old world if I did I would ask what caused it? Of course, I forgot when I asked this once. That the sun was magic, and I wish I knew what type of magic. So I could understand why it blew up like that. But I doubt I will ever learn what type of magic it was. Maybe the magic is what caused it. Or maybe everything just has it's time,” She shrugged. “If I knew magic I would understand it more. But I am just a simple creature. Just saying though, the Elements of Harmony, wielded by those six mares, may not have been the end-all solution at times. I mean, they certainly didn’t stop the sun from broiling Equestria right?” Fågel asked,

Pharynx sighed, and rubbed his temples. “Maybe you’re right, and maybe I’m wrong. Still doesn’t change the fact that I’m pretty much useless right now. I mean, I’m a warrior and here I am, sitting at a table eating…” Pharynx checked his plate and shrugged. “Don’t know what this is, while there’s a warship hanging miles above our heads, with it’s cannons pointed directly down at us, and I can’t do a single thing about it because I wasn’t singled out to be one of these Paladins of Equus!” he ranted throwing his arms up in the air in frustration.

“Oh I don’t know you could do a lot you’re still a changeling you know. Can’t you change form? I know that is not much but you could do so much for the ponies of this place. You could shapeshift into something that gives them laughter, hope, something to want to prance about with and be happy for once. Being a Paladin is not the main thing, you know.”

On any other creature, that might have worked.

Pharynx simply lifted an eyebrow at her. “I hardly think I’m a comedian. You do realize who I am, right?” Pharynx, the Changeling who was captain of Thorax’s personal hive guard, a warrior born and raised. I don’t have a hive anymore, so I’ll have to take on what’s left of the old world as my kingdom. And right now, my kingdom’s under threat by something I can’t pretend to understand, but I have to do something about!”

“I don’t know the best way. But...” Fågel said and when she stood up, she dropped a set of Kyutamas, including the skill variant of the Chameleon Kyutama. “Maybe it will come to you and you can fly with the wind,” she said with a wink, and Pharynx smirked, grabbing the Kyutamas and pocketing them before dashing out the door.

Pharynx quickly found himself situated in the cockpit of the Chameleon Voyager, working out the control scheme to the ship, pressing buttons until the whole cockpit began to light up with a humming sound as consoles came to life all around him.

“Figured you might do something stupid,” Stripped Gear’s voice said as it crackled over the comms.

“Stupid?” Pharynx asked as he placed the skill version of the Chameleon Kyutama on a little slot on the central console. “That’s one word for it. Suicidally reckless would be another. Downright crazy, another choice. There are a few other ways of describing this, take your pick.” he deadpanned.

“I’d choose brave,” Stripped replied. “That’s why I’m transferring the Twilight-AI to your… Well, not your ship but you know what I mean right? She’ll be able to walk you through piloting the ship undetected, as once you breach the atmosphere I’ll be out of contact with you.”

“It’s Twilight,” Pharynx corrected. “May be just bits of lines of data and code, but to me, she’s the Princess of Friendship I made friends with. So keep that in mind.”

“I… I see,” Stripped murmured, feeling rather ashamed of himself. “Sorry, I tend to forget that.”

“Well, don’t. Understand?” Pharynx reminded sharply.

“Yes… Um, anyways. I’ve been making upgrades to the Chameleon Voyager in my spare time, gave it the Perseus Kyutama’s cloaking abilities. Now, it really is a like a proper chameleon. Now, that skill Kyutama, I don’t know how you got it, but unlike the Legendary variant, you won’t be able to morph with it. However, it and any other Kyutamas you may have, you can still use. Check the side compartment, to your left. Should be a spare Kyuchanger in it. Always keep on in every Voyager, in case someone loses one.” Stripped informed.

Sure enough, when he checked, he found a spare Kyuchanger just as Stripped had said he would that refitted itself to the size of Pharynx’s arm.

“Okay, brace yourself,” Stripped informed. “Launching in five, four, three, two, ONE!”

Then Pharynx found himself pushed back into his seat as his ship was launched forwards, like being shot out of a cannon. Icy caverns passed by in a blur, and quickly turned to snow and then stars as Pharynx found himself out amongst the cold, unforgiving blackness of space. In front of him, looming ominously was Lupus’ flagship.

“I like to dream yes, yes, right between my sound machine
On a cloud of sound I drift in the night
Any place it goes is right
Goes far, flies near, to the stars away from here

“Well, you don't know what we can find
Why don't you come with me little girl
On a magic carpet ride…” an old song played over the speakers -Spada had this personal mixtape installed in his Voyager- as Pharynx locked the Perseus Kyutama into place on his gauntlet, and the Voyager faded into the night.

“Powering off all non-essential systems,” the Twilight-AI informed. “Less risk of us being detected that way.”

Pharynx really wasn’t sure if he wanted to know what Twilight meant by non-essential systems.

“Good to see you’re following in Rainbow Dash’s hoofsteps,” Twilight replied as she set a course for the flagship. Pharynx raised an eyebrow at that, and Twilight clarified as she brought up a screen of a rainbow-maned mare with wing feathers of varying shades of the rainbow as well reaching all the way from red down to green. She was wearing a bright orange jumpsuit as she stepped into an almost pure white rocketship. “Sometime after you… well, went under for lack of a better term, Rainbow decided to get really daring, and not just be the first pony to perform a Sonic Rainboom but be the first pony to breach the heavens as well.”

“Yeah, that sounds like her…” Pharynx muttered. “Exactly like her. That ship of hers? Definitely her design choices I suspect. How far did she get?”

“She breached the atmosphere before… before we lost contact.” Twilight whispered sadly.

“I’m… I’m sorry.” Pharynx whispered, wishing he could give a comforting hug to Twilight.

“No time to dwell on the past,” Twilight stated, removing herself from ‘her’ memories. “Preparing to dock with the Moraimars in 3, 2, 1.”

Pharynx soon found himself outside the Voyager, which was still under cloaking and looking into deep, yawning dark hallways illuminated only by purple light. How long he had till the Dark Matter empire or at least the commander in charge of this ship detected him, he didn’t know. So Pharynx knew he had to set to work at once.

“Okay, so what do I…?” Pharynx muttered to himself. “Yeah, real smart Phar, get onboard a ship and expect yourself to disable it’s weaponry even if you don’t know how anything works!” he grumbled.

“Sounds like you need a Doctor, then.” a Trottingham-accented voice said from behind him, and Pharynx whirled around with a scythe in hand only to find himself face to face with a rather foxy looking man clad in a blue suit and a brown coat. A small, cylindrical silver device with a blue tip stuck out of one of the coat pockets.

“Doctor who?” Pharynx glared. “I don’t need a Doctor, just a hands-on manual for disabling important systems, and a map.”

“Well, you’re in luck, because you’re getting a Doctor anyways, and as for that map…?” the strange man trailed off, before revealing he too wore a device that looked suspiciously like a Kyuchanger. Next, the oddball of a man pulled out what looked to be a gold Kyutama depicting a compass. “Say hello to the Pyxis Kyutama, points you to anything, anywhere.”

He set it into his Kyuchanger, flicked it and next thing Pharynx knew, a small gold map of the entire ship was in front of him. A small red dot flickered in a part of the ship, and the ‘Doctor’ put a finger into his mouth and then held it up as if he was checking which way the wind was blowing. Pharynx didn't bother telling him that there couldn't possibly be any wind, as he knew it was futile.

“Mhmm, I say… that way!” he exclaimed before dashing off down a hall. “Now come along, got a bit of work to do, and not a lot of time to do it! Allons-Y!”

“Great, so I’m stuck with a certified lunatic.” Pharynx muttered even as he for reasons unknown to him, followed. But as he did so, little did he notice the Chameleon Skill Kyutama began to glow a bright silver and depict a snake instead...

Author's Notes:

Okay, so your first proper introductions to Pharynx, the Doctor, and Fågel. Now, I apologize if Fågel's demeanor put you off her as a hero, she's just cynical and frankly rather jaded. Now, I contacted Megaskullmon, or Malla as I better know him to help me get a solid baseline for writing her, and that's just what he happened to come up with. If you don't like her, just tell me why and I'll see what I can do to work around her personality and make her more... relatable at least.

Now, as ever, comments, thoughts, and critique are welcomed as ever.