It's a new story.
BEGIN NOU
STUDIES OF AN ANCIENT RACE
Since the founding of Equestria, strange caverns could be found littering the mountains surrounding Canterlot and in the valley below, along with various sites in different areas. In early times it was told that these caverns held curses and monsters, thus they were left unexplored. It wasn't until a few years ago that one of these caverns was explored by some brave scientists. Upon entering, they found that they had stumbled into the biggest discovery in history.
An ancient race, which we call the Precursors, seemed to have inhabited these lands eons before us. From what our scientists could uncover, they were an extremely advanced race. They had interstellar travel capabilities, and their space vehicles ranged from small to large. The largest known vehicle is the Manehatten catacombs, a series of "tunnels' that stretch beneath the entire city.
From what we've gathered, the Precursors were bipedal, and appeared to be a warrior race due to most of the artifacts being armor. Although we have uncovered many vessels and artifacts, we are unable to activate any of the machinery because of the extremely advanced technology, but we believe these vessels are still capable of activation.
"STOP!" screamed a horrified Fluttershy.
"What's wrong? I was just reading out loud." Twilight groaned as she put the book down.
"It is pretty creepy Twilight." Spike mumbled as he built a house of cards.
"How? It's only a record of an ancient race with futuristic technology." Twilight said as she put the book into a bag.
"That's just it. What if they come back? They were warriors, what if they attack?" Spike yelled, causing Fluttershy to whimper in fear.
"Stop it Spike, you're scaring Fluttershy. There's absolutely no way they could come back. The book said their ships are eons old, even older than the Princesses. If they were still out there we would have encountered them by now." Twilight explained.
"I hope so." Fluttershy whispered as she slowly regained her composure.
"Yeah, I just wish there were some artifacts near here. I really want to study all this advanced technology. I went out in the forest a couple times even, but I never found anything." Twilight said.
"Oh! I just remembered, I have to help some birds find nest building materials! See you later Twilight!" Fluttershy called as she quickly retreated to the door. She was still genuinely freaked out. Twilight had been all over that book for weeks, and Fluttershy finally asked what it was about. Shivers went down her spine as she remembered Twilight reading. The thought of tunnels and ancient beings possibly being located right under her feet scared her the most.
Either way, she promised earlier she would help build some nests. She casually trotted into the forest, walking along her usual path until she came across the birds. She started helping the birds look for materials, as she did every spring. The one thing she never got was why they avoided one part of the forest. She knew that there was a fairly large rock pit in that area, but she never ventured that way before.
"I bet there's something over there, being we haven't looked yet." She said aloud. Slowly, she inched her way through the thick brush. Eventually, she came across a large open area. The grass was very tall, and there were huge piles of boulders and evidence of rock slides. She cautiously inspected the sides of the small canyon she stumbled into as she pressed further on, making sure she wasn't walking into a new rockslide.
After countless minutes of looking around the strange new place, she saw something. A small rabbit was sitting at the edge of the tall grass.
"Oh hello Mr. Bunny, what are you doing way out here?" Fluttershy cooed as she walked up to the rabbit. The rabbit simply looked at her and then ran away.
"Oh no, don't be scared, I just wanted to say hi." Fluttershy explained as she slowly gave chase, trying to not look like a threat. She followed the rabbit to a large rocky cliff that was covered in vines. The rabbit retreated into the vines, and Fluttershy followed without hesitation.
She entered a dark cave. The light from outside was almost completely blocked from the vines, but Fluttershy could still somewhat see the general shape of the cave.
"Come out Mr. Bunny, this is definitely no place for us to be." She said as she slowly advanced into the cave. She stopped suddenly when she heard a strange metallic noise. She looked down, and realized that the cave had turned into a hallway made of a strange metal. She started to feel fear rise inside her.
She was inside one of those creepy ancient vessels.
She hesitated for a moment, but then caught a faint glimpse of a shadow. She recognized it as the rabbit, so she decided to get it out with her. She didn't want a woodland creature to be stuck in a scary cave.
"Mr. Bunny, where'd you go?" She called quietly as she walked slowly down the hall. Every so often she had to step over some wreckage, or go around a heap of twisted metal. Eventually, she entered a room that emitted a light red glow. Curious as to what the glow was, she decided to look. She walked across the room, which was still really dark, and made her way to something that looked like a small metal pedestal. The top was glowing red, and there was a small button on the side that said "AI activation".
"I wonder if this is the light switch." Fluttershy mumbled. She cautiously pressed the button. At first, nothing happened. Suddenly, a panel on the other side of the small pedestal lit up bright blue. Fluttershy carefully looked at the panel. Strangely, she could read what was on it.
/:LAST TRANSMISSION – LOG 385633:/
1011011001011011
[DECRYPTION REQUEST ACCEPTED]
:-BEGIN DECRYPTION-:
[QoB]- Overlord three this is class C destroyer 'Queen of Battle', requesting immediate reinforcements.
[HQ]- Queen of Battle, Overlord Three is unable to send reinforcements at this time. All other sectors are under attack.
[QoB]- Sector 9 is getting hit hard. We need backup.
[HQ]- Negative Queen of Battle, all sectors are near overrun. We are initiating operation 'Alamo' as of now.
[QoB]- Confirm, did you say 'Alamo'?
[HQ]- Roger.
[QoB]- God help us.
[HQ]- Set your team and crew in the cryo tubes and wait for the initial wave to pass. Anyone still awake will be destroyed.
[QoB]- Roger, see you in ten minutes.
/:TRANSMISSION INTERFERENCE - TWENTY MINUTE GAP OF UNKOWN SILIENCE:/
[QoB]- Overlord three come in.
[QoB]- Overlord three respond.
.
[HQ]- Qu3en of Batt1e, emergency pr0toc0l 101101 act1vate, c0mms systems are fai1ing.
[QoB]- Queen of Battle is hit, damages severe. Setting down on planet 01337-P.
[HQ]- Negat1ve, all rema1ning vessels are to h0ld that area at all c0sts.
[QoB]- WILCO Overlord, systems are down and most crew are down. Landing, will assist in any ground conflicts, Queen of Battle out.
/:TRANSMISSION END:/
Fluttershy had no idea what she just read, but she knew it wasn't good. She was about to leave when she saw another light. It was another button, but it read. 'TB 3 open'. She had no idea what it did, but she pressed it anyway. As soon as she pressed it, a loud hissing started. Fluttershy whipped around to see exactly what it was.
She saw another dull red light turn on inside a tube looking thing, and the tube opened. At first, she didn't realize what happened. Then, a large figure appeared when the steam faded from inside the tube. Fluttershy practically jumped out of her skin when the large bulky figure fell forward out of the tube and landed on the floor with a loud bang.
Needless to say, Fluttershy got the fuck outta there. She sprinted as fast as she could out of the cave and flew as fast as she could back to Ponyville.
-TWILIGHT'S LIBRARY-
Twilight was once again into that same book about the 'Precursors'. She couldn't get over how interesting it was. Suddenly, she heard her door open and slam shut.
"Hello? Who's there?" She called from her room. No answer. Twilight rolled her eyes and walked down the stairs to see who it was. She soon came across a shaking Fluttershy, who was curled up in the corner.
"Fluttershy, what's wrong?" Twilight asked in concern as she ran over to the shaking heap in the corner.
"Twilight… forest… cave…. monster….." Fluttershy squeaked.
"What the hay are you talking about?" Twilight asked in frustration.
"Those ancient things, one is in the forest, it's too scary to talk about!" Fluttershy cried as she remembered the large creature she found.
"Can you show me?" Twilight asked with a hint of excitement in her tone.
"I d-don't know if I can go back." Fluttershy whimpered.
"I'll get the others to come with, that way we have each other for support, alright?" Twilight promised.
"O-ok." Fluttershy reluctantly agreed.
TWO HOURS LATER
"So, you're telling me there are aliens in that cave?" Rainbow Dash asked as they stood outside the cave.
"Y-yes, and they speak our language too! I read something in there." Fluttershy managed to say. She really didn't want to go back in.
"Interesting. Alright, let's go see what's inside." Twilight said as she walked into the cave. They walked the same path Fluttershy took, avoiding the same piles of burnt and twisted wreckage. Fluttershy looked in awe at the hallway. It stretched on for a long way, and it was unlike anything she'd ever seen. Eventually they came across the room Fluttershy went in. Twilight went over to the pedestal and read the transmission.
"Whatever this is, it's not good. It looks to me like they were in the middle of a war when this was made. This vessel seems to have made a crash landing here." Twilight explained as she further inspected the room.
"Hey Fluttershy, didn't you say there was one of those old Precursor things in here?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Yes, it was r-right over… there?" Fluttershy stuttered as she pointed to the open cryo tube. Fluttershy could feel the fear rising inside her again as she looked at the floor where the creature used to be.
"Ah don't see anything." Applejack said as she walked right over the spot.
"I think they had names, look, this says SFC. Young." Pinkie Pie pointed out.
"Interesting, but I don't see it here, Fluttershy." Twilight said.
"It left! The thing is still alive!" Fluttershy screamed as she ran out, with the others following close behind.
AN HOUR EARLIER
Blackness. Utter silence. Then, a small blue blinking light, and then a blue flash as the HUD lit up. The creature clumsily got to its feet and looked around the dark room. It spotted the pedestal and stumbled over to it. It fumbled with some controls before a small object popped out of a compartment. It placed the object in the back of its helmet.
"Sgt. Aaron Young, it's nice to be back in your company." Said a calm voice.
"Good to be back, Calvin. How long has it been?" Asked Aaron.
"About 40,000 years. Remarkable, I think." Calvin said.
"40,000 fucking years are you serious." Aaron said in an annoyed tone.
"After the ship landed, all systems went down, locking everyone in their tubes. I'm surprised I'm even still functioning correctly. Must be the lockdown system that we got prior to our deployment." Calvin explained.
"Or a technical error, being we were shot to shit." Aaron mumbled.
"Possible, I was offline during re-entry, and my system failed to reactivate me upon landing." Calvin replied.
"Are the other tubes capable of opening?" Aaron asked.
"Negative, power supplies were drained of all power from your tube opening. We'll need to find another power core to open the others." Calvin said.
Aaron shrugged his shoulders and exited the room. He turned his HUD's night vision on so he could see. The silence in the ship was deafening. Every single step he took echoed loudly, as his armored feet clanked loudly against the metal floor.
'It couldn't have been 40,000 years, could it?' Aaron thought. He had his doubts, but then again he could never keep a sense of time when in the cryo tubes….
FLASHBACK TO 40,000 YEARS AGO
BRIDGE OF THE QUEEN OF BATTLE
"Captain, Sgt. Young and his team are back." An officer said to the older Captain.
"Good, send them to the arms deck, they'll need to resupply quickly." The Captain said grimly.
It was a dark time in the galaxy. Several years ago, a savage race of aliens swept through several colonies. They went from planet to planet, murdering countless people for no known reason. The humans had them evenly matched with weapons, but they were severely outclassed when it came to numbers. After the last colony in the seventh sector was overrun, mass crowds of extremists arose on Earth and other planets, fighting their own military because they believed the alien extermination crusade was their 'rapture'.
ARMS DECK – QUEEN OF BATTLE
"Whooo! We ran through them bitches!" Specialist Justin Will shouted as he grounded his large chaingun. Justin was an outgoing kind of guy, and he was BIG. He towered over most of the other troops, and was strong enough to carry the largest of weapons thanks to his strength augmentations.
"That pylon never stood a chance." Specialist Corey Gunderson boasted as he restocked his supply of explosives. Corey, or 'Fuse' as he is known, is the team's sapper. He usually keeps quite when in serious scenarios, but under his tough shell he turns into a fun loving party animal.
The team had just returned to the Queen of Battle from a secret mission to destroy an assembly area on their nest planet, which was a larger version of Earth, and was supposed to be a secret. They were discovered only a week ago, and the enemy keeps trying to sneak onto the planet.
"Keep it together team, we have another objective." SFC. (Sergeant First Class) Aaron Young said as he entered the room and set his assault rifle down. SFC Aaron was the team leader. He is mainly serious, but sometimes shows a lighter side when the pressure is off. He is one of the youngest men in the military to achieve Sergeant First Class, being only 23. He had his parents to thank for that, forcing him into the super-soldier program at the young age of 13.
"It's only going to be a quick strafing run, I don't see why we have to gear up so much." Specialist Chase Boldt whined. Chase is the team's vehicle expert. He is trained to pilot everything from trucks to tanks, and from helicopters to fighter jets, and even space class fighters.
"Hey Chase, would you prefer I leave the enemy's anti-air defenses un-hacked?" PFC (Private First Class) Tim Callsworth joked. Tim was the team's hacker. He was undoubtedly the smartest person around when it came to technology. He was well known for hacking an entire enemy's ships systems, causing it to crash and burn.
"There's not even a high value target. I need one more HVT kill before I get my award." PFC Ted Allen grumbled. Ted was the sniper. He was good at two things- stealth and killing.
Together, they were Crusader Team 1, the most skilled and deadly team in the galaxy.
As they conversed about the mission they were about to go on, the ship shook violently. Aaron ran over to an intercom system on the wall.
"Bridge, what the hell just happened?" He shouted.
"…. South side is hit… fire teams deploying. We are currently contacting Overlord three for reinforcements." The bridge responded.
"Alright everyone, get your shit together and get ready to defend against boarding parties. If they know what cargo we have, they'll definitely be boarding us." Aaron said as he grabbed his assault rifle. The team followed suit and rushed to the main defense point, which was the core room, where the AI of the ship is located.
"Calvin, I'm going to upload you into the ship's main AI, I want you to lock everything down just in case they access from a different area. We can't let them have any info." Aaron ordered as he entered the room and put his AI chip into the control pedestal.
"Roger that Aaron. All systems and information files will be on lockdown until further notice." Calvin replied. Just as Calvin locked all important files down, the Captain came over the loud speaker.
"Attention all crew, attention all crew! Overlord three has confirmed the initiation of operation 'Alamo'. You have five minutes to prepare yourselves."
"Fucking a, Alamo? I thought that was a last-ditch effort thing!" Corey said.
"It is. That means the enemy is overwhelming our defenses all over this sector, including Earth." Tim explained.
"Well, you heard the Captain, get your asses in the tubes before they set off the weapons!" Aaron ordered.
They all entered the tubes and started their sleep cycles of ten minutes. They all awoke at the same time, but to a completely different scene. The ship was being hit repeatedly by long range weapons that weren't hacked, meaning the Alamo weapons didn't take out computerized weapons.
"Shit, they may all be dead, but their AI's are still kicking." Tim yelled as the ship rocked from a direct hit.
"Attention crew, attention crew! We are descending to the surface. The Alamo weapons failed to eliminate all forces on the surface. Be prepared to make a perimeter." Rang the Captain's voice on the speakers.
"Alright, the ship is way too damaged to enter the atmosphere. There's a 60% chance we'll break up in re-entry." Tim calculated.
"Everyone into the tubes. They're heat shielded, so if we break up we'll basically be in drop pods." Aaron said. They all went back to their assigned tubes and closed them, not knowing that they wouldn't wake any time soon…
END FLASHBACK
ABOUT TWO HOURS AFTER THE MANE 6 RUSH OUT OF THE QUEEN OF BATTLE…
Aaron powered his way through the thick brush, using his retractable arm sword as a machete.
"Calvin, can you access any kind of GPS or guidance system?" Aaron asked.
"Negative sir, all systems are down, but I can reboot your HUD compass." Calvin answered.
"Well, it's better than nothing." Aaron said as he continued to make his way through the forest.
"Calvin, are there any transmissions, and what's the status on our cargo?" Aaron asked as he stepped over a downed tree.
"There are no transmissions, friend or foe, and our cargo was lost in re-entry. That is classified as a failed main objective." Calvin answered in a sad tone.
"Fuck! Well, I guess we'll have to just find someone and get some supplies, aka a fucking power source and a map." Aaron grumbled angrily.
"Well, I am picking up a large heat source to the North. Quickest route is over that small mountain." Calvin directed.
"Suit, maximum strength." Aaron ordered.
"Maximum strength" The suit replied in a deep but quiet voice. Aaron felt the suit tense up for a moment before becoming relaxed again, and then he leaped 50ft up a steep cliff. He successfully climbed up most of the mountain before he miscalculated his footing.
"Shit!" Was all Aaron could say before Calvin automatically locked the armor up….
RANDOM WALKWAY
Fluttershy walked along the path going back to Ponyville with her pet Angel. She'd finally calmed down from the incident in the mysterious vessel, and she was continuing her daily routine. Suddenly, a loud thud was heard from behind her. She whipped around, only to see a large cloud of dust on the path.
"Angel bunny, stay here." She commanded. She cautiously approached the impact site, not knowing why she suddenly so curious as to walk up to an unknown object. She carefully peeked into a small depression in the ground, only to find a strange looking metal creature lying there. Strangely, she didn't feel fear like she did before. She looked up and saw that it fell from high up, and was suddenly feeling worry for the creature, even if it was unknown to her.
She carefully observed the creature from the edge of the depression. She noted that it wore armor, and she was curious as to what its face looked like. She leaned in a little closer and strained to look into its eyes, but couldn't see through the reflective orange-red visor of the helmet. She slowly tried to see if she could move the creature's arm, but the armor felt so heavy and stiff. She decided she would hurry and tell Twilight before the creature woke up. Before she could turn around, the creature started to stir…
AARON'S POV
Aaron regained consciousness after hitting the ground. He used a telepathic control to unlock his armor, which undoubtedly saved his life. As he started to sit up, a strange sight caught his eye. A yellow creature, which strongly resembled a pony, stood only a few feet away from him. He noticed that the creature seemed to be afraid, severely shaking and taking an occasional step back.
Aaron simply grunted and got up. Another telepathic order to his suit and he heard,
"Stealth engage"
And with that, he was completely invisible and quickly ran off in a different direction.
FLUTTERSHY'S POV
Utter shock. That's all Fluttershy felt. The creature just looked at her and then disappeared into thin air. She had some relief, it didn't seem hostile. Either way, the first thing she did was fly as fast as she could to Twilight's.
"TWILIGHT!" She yelled as she practically broke the library door down.
"Yes Fluttershy, this better be important for you to bust down my door like that." Twilight said with some annoyance.
"I-I saw the t-thing!" Fluttershy yelled.
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.
"I was walking on a dirt path by a cliff and it just fell. I walked right up to it. The thing looked right at me and then disappeared!" Fluttershy hollered.
"Hmm, what did it look like?" Twilight asked as she got a piece of paper and a quill.
"Well, it was really big, and looked like a metal monkey. It was made of metal, and when I tried to move its arm, it was too heavy and stiff." Fluttershy explained as she finally started to calm down.
"You just described a robot. I highly doubt you saw a robot." Twilight groaned.
"Come look for yourself, there's a big crater where it hit the ground." Fluttershy suggested.
"Alright, let's go check it out." Twilight said happily.
SEVERAL MINUTES LATER…..
Fluttershy took Twilight to the spot of second contact, and Twilight instantly showed interest in the crater.
"Hmm, it must have fallen from quite a long ways up. It surprises me that it was still able to move. A robot would have been damaged, and a living creature would have been severely injured or dead." Twilight mumbled to herself. "Fluttershy, I'm going to write some notes back at the library, do you want to teleport with me?"
"No, I still have a few things to do before tonight. I have to finish before that scheduled storm arrives. They always end up developing over the forest and getting out of control." Fluttershy said as she walked away. Twilight nodded and then disappeared.
ABOUT TWO HOURS LATER…
Fluttershy was in trouble. Not only did the storm start early, but she also somehow managed to lose control of a Manticore, which was currently chasing her. She knew that once a Manticore was angry, you were pretty much done unless you could escape, which wasn't very common. She ran as fast as she could through the trees until she became trapped by brush too thick to get through. She was too scared to use her wings and the stare didn't work, so the only thing she could do was cower in fear and let out a loud scream….
ELSEWHERE IN THE FOREST…..
Aaron sat atop a small hill that peeked above the trees. He travelled all day, but his compass seemed to be defective. He was travelling in circles. As he pondered what to do next, his advanced hearing tech picked up a scream of terror, which was just a short distance away.
"There's someone over there! I bet they could help my ass out!" Aaron shouted as he started sprinting to the noise.
"Aaron, keep in mind that there is a storm developing. I recommend you find shelter before it picks up." Calving suggested.
"Yeah sure, AFTER I find out who's out here with us." Aaron responded. He set his suit to maximum speed and went full force to the noise. He neared the location, and before he arrived, he saw a strange beast attacking something. He rushed in and attacked…
FLUTTERSHY'S POV….
Pain swept through her body as the beast hit her with its deadly claws , cutting deep wounds into her side. Fluttershy skidded across the ground before coming to a stop. She weakly looked up and saw the Manticore approach, ready to finish her off. As the beast prepared to attack, Fluttershy noticed the sound of fast, heavy footsteps. Suddenly, a dark figure blasted out of the tree line. Lightning struck, lighting up the dark scene. Time slowed as she watched the scene develop.
The creature she saw earlier was soaring through the air, heading to the Manticore's head. The light from the lightning made the creature's armor glow, but that's not what caught Fluttershy's attention the most.
In the bright light, the color of the creature's visor was lightened. She could see its eyes. They seemed to be at ease, calm, like nothing was happening. Just then, time sped back up. The creature slammed its fist into the Manticore's head, sending it flying into the trees. The creature recovered from the devastating blow it dealt, and started looking for something.
"Hello?" Fluttershy heard the creature say, in a strange low voice that was somewhat distorted by the helmet It wore and by the now bad storm. Fluttershy let out a small cry, and the creature noticed. She gave the creature a look of pain and fear, and then started to black out. The last thing she saw and heard was the creature running up to her and saying,
"Don't worry, I gotcha."
Whoo it's been awhile.
My excuse?
Work, Army shit, more work.
Savior Rising 2 is being overhauled and edited right now, so I decided to publish this. I started it in training, so hopefully you all like the shit out of this as much as Savior Rising.
Once Savior 2 is done being dumbass proofed, I will begin uploading.
Quote of the Day- "I should call Lee and tell him I fell, broke my leg, started on fire, blew up twice and then contracted supercaids, a mixture of super cancer and extreme aids. Oh yea and that I also have nuclear diarrhea." – Me telling Stan my idea for an excuse to skip work.