Year 5 Month 4 Day 16

"I couldn't have been more wrong, quite literally what was I thinking? I put together the optic sensor, then I attempted to install it. Luckily I stopped before I caused too much damage to my eye. I don't even have any pain killers of any kind, I was going to install it dry. What I need is Jim's inventory of pony biology, or some pony willing to test out my sensor. But who in the name of Twilight would do something like that? Oh and I switched profits, makes sense since my last one tried to kill me."

Proto was sitting on the floor of the cave, she set down the pen and parchment. A rough prototype of her 'optic analyzer' sat beside her made out of a camera lens, a vision circuit, a target circuit, and an optical cord which would connect to her optic nerve. She looked at it and then took her hoof heald mirror to look at her eye. It was bloodshot from her failed attempt to remove it.

Proto, "Canterlot is out of the question, they'd be looking for me like Celestia finding a piece of cake, in other words, too freaking much, thats how much they'd be looking for me."

Proto slumped her head and pondered how she would test her optic sensor.

Proto, "Might as well see if there are any towns nearby, I teleported here not knowing where here is."

Proto was about to leave the cave but then looked at her prosthetics, realizing that a pony with robotic legs would stand out more than an alicorn in a field of earth ponies, she grabbed her jar of nanites. Even though it was risky to use them for camouflage after the incident with Celestia, she believed it was worth the risk. she opened the jar and the cloud expanded around the room, Her magic aura shined through the cloud and they slowly began to surround her prosthetics. The cloud dissipated and she walked out of the cave. The entrance to the cavern was in the top of a small hill, Proto looked around and saw a small settlement in the distance. With her saddlebag in tow holding her optic sensor and the remaining electronics, she set off.

Seize, "you need to let us in, I'm the lead investigator for this case"

Royal Guard, "I'm sorry, Celestia isn't seeing any pony at the moment, its going to have to wait"

Seize, "this is pointless"

Seize and jim walked away from the main entrance to Canterlot Castle and they proceeded towards the center of town.

Jim, "so what now?"

Seize, "what we need is a place to think"

Jim and Seize sit down at a table inside of Canterlot Cakes, Seize's eyes are darting left and right trying to think of a possible solution to this epidemic. Jim's elbow rests on the table, his paw supporting his head, his eyes were at half mast as he slowly ate a cupcake.

Seize, "What we need is an alicorn willing to help us."

Jim, " *munch* *munch* well you've got 4 to choose from, make that 5 if you count Cadence's baby.

Seize, "Celesita is out, mary sue's filly is out, Mary sue herself is too far away"

Jim, "That leaves Luna and Twilight, Luna would be ideal, any idea where she is?"

Seize, "Sweet Celestia if I know, but you're right, Luna is the one we really need for this."

Jim, "Too bad we don't know where she is, so then that leaves Twilight in merry little Ponyville."

Seize, "Yeah, okay then, right lets go talk to her"

Jim, "why do we need an alicorn in the first place?"

Seize, "do you plan on taking on Proto by yourself, cause I don't."

Jim, "good point."

Jim leaves a few bits on the table and the two walk out of the store. As they round the corner to head to the train station, Luna comes and enters the store.

Luna, "BRING ME YOUR BEST SWEET BREADS MY LOYAL SUBJECTS!"

The ponies in the store cover their ears from the sheer volume of her voice.

Luna, "YOU THERE" she points to the pony behind the register "WHAT KIND OF SWEET BREAD WOULD YOU RECOMMEND TO ME, LUNA!"

Cashier, "well, uhh, I suggest the…"

Luna, "I SHALL TAKE THEM, BRING ME THE BREADS!"

Seize and Jim arrive in Ponyville, Jim pulls out a map to see where Twilighs castle is.

Jim, "according to this, Twilights castle is in this direction"

Seize, "I know, its pretty hard to miss"

Jim looks up from the map, the large purple crystal towers over all the other buildings surrounding it.

Jim, "well theres that."

They arrive at the main doors of the castle, Seize walked up and knocks.

Seize, "hello?, Princess Twilight? My name is Captain Seize, I'm an associate of Princess Celestia, could we have a word please?"

After a moment of silence, they hear hoof steps behind the door, the door cracks open and a purple unicorn stood in the doorway.

Jim, "Uhh, is Twilight here?"

Starlight Glimmer, "Sorry, she's off on a friendship mission over in southern Equestria, can I do anything for you?"

Seize looks closely at Starlight, "Hmm, horn, no wings. Nope, your useless to us, c'mon Jim, if were quick maybe we can catch the next train to the Crystal Empire"

Starlight, "Hey, hold up a second, you can't just gloss over me like that"

Seize turns around and looks at Starlight, "really? give me a reason why."

Starlight, "well for starters, i'm just as powerful as Twilight"

Seize, "doubtful"

Starlight's horn begins to glow with her aura, she then quickly fired a beam and encased Seize in crystal.

Jim, "Okay you got my attention, anything else"

Starlight, "just because I don't have wings doesn't mean I can't fly"

Starlight surrounds herself in her aura and begins to float above the ground. Jim see's this and raises an eyebrow then nods his head in approval.

Jim, "well you pass my test, one last thing though"

Jim points at Seize, still encased in crystal, Starlight uses her magic and fires a second beam breaking Seize free of his crystal prison.

Seize, "okay, you got my attention, but can you, SURPRISE!"

Seize fires a beam off his magic at starlight, she uses a shield spell and easily blocks the attack.

Starlight, "anything else?"

Jim and Seize look at each other, Seize shrugs, Jim nods.

Seize, "alright your in"

Starlight, "cool, so, what is it i'm doing?"

Upon arriving at the settlement, Proto notices how sad the ponies around her were, they sat outside of raggedy shacks, she couldn't find one pony in the town with a smile on their face. Proto walks up to a sales pony.

Proto, "What happened here?"

Sales pony, "our crops are all but withered away, we've been hungry and without work for a few months now what we have here is the last of our crop, they were the best pears around, now their all but gone. care for one?"

she looked at the pears, they were rotting from the outside in, but out of sympathy, she bought one

Proto, "I know this sounds like a ridiculous question, but where is here?"

Sales pony, "your in the town of Peardale, most of the residence have all but left to find work over in Ponyville, the closest town over. Us few that remain are just waiting in hope that something will change."

Seize, "ma'am, today might just be your lucky day, I just have one question for you"

The sales pony, who Proto found was named Sugar Fuzz, lead her to a shack near the outskirts of town, they walked up to the door and Sugar knocked. Two ponies stood at the doorway both with very glum looks on their faces, between them stood a pear green colt with an eyepatch on.

Parent Mare, "Sugar, its nice to see you"

Sugar Fuzz, "Hello Mable, this here is Proto, she says that she can help out the trees."

Mable Pear, "Really? you'd help us, Oh thank you."

Sugar, "she just has one request"

Mable, "I'm sorry miss, but after our crop died, we lost all our bits to try and feed our fillies and colts."

Proto, "I don't want money, I just want to help"

Mable, "well, then what's your request?"

Proto steps forward and stoops down to look at the half blind colt.

Proto, "how would you like to see again?"

Starlight, Jim, and Seize were sitting at a table at Sugarcane Corner, Mrs. cake came out with a tray of cupcakes.

Starlight, "so, this Proto actually fought Celestia, and didn't die instantly?"

Seize, "I know right? crazy stuff"

Jim, "will you focus, okay starlight, we need your help in order to catch her"

Starlight, "so I'm gonna be your work horse while you grab and bag her and get all the credit, in which way does this benefit me? As far as I can tell this mares not one to mess with"

Seize, "okay fine, what do you want?"

Starlight gains a big smile across her face, "I'm gonna need unrestricted access to the Canterlot archives, I'm gonna need spell books, potion recipes, the works, also I want a General rank in the Royal Guard with full benefits"

Seize pauses for a moment to review his options, "I'll give you access to the main spell vault for 20 minutes, the inner vault is off limits, no potions. You'll be ranked a Squad leader, you'll have 10 guards at your disposal, but no military benefits."

Starlight, "well this was a fat waste of my time"

Seize, "what we could also do is report directly to Celestia that you refused a Draft command from a Captain in the Royal Guard, the minimum sentence is 5 years in the crystal keep beneath the castle. But I think I could work my magic and get you to stay longer"

Starlight stops in her tracks, she turns around and gets right in Seize's face

Seize, "you think your tough punk, you have no idea what I'm capable of, forget me, i'll keep you in a crystal ball for the rest off your natural life, i'll hang you above the chandelier in Twilights castle, it'll do wonders in the summer when the sun shines through and hits your frozen flesh"

Seize takes the threat in, He sees no hesitation from her to actually do it.

Seize, "unrestricted access to the main magic vault"

Starlight, "both, inner and outer vaults"

Seize, "fine, both. Rank of lieutenant, 2 spots above squad leader"

Starlight, "no, make me a captain"

Seize, "forget you, I'm outta here"

Starlight uses her magic and surrounds Seize's hoof in solid crystal causing it to stick to the ground

Starlight, "theres a lot more where that came from"

Jim, "just do it."

Seize grunts in anger, "fine, Captain Glimmer it is"

Starlight, "and…"

Seize, "and you'll receive full military benefits with your ranking"

Starlight, "there" she fires another beam of magic at the crystal freeing Seize, "was that so hard?"

Jim, "I like her"

Seize, "I hate you both"

At that moment a large white glow appeared far in the distance in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, it continues for about 30 seconds and the slowly dissipates.

Seize, "okay captain, heres your first assignment, catch us a cyborg."

The 3 run into the town of Peardale, besides the shacks, everything else in the town was lush and green. Bright pair trees were all around the shacks, ponies were harvesting them left and right, and all of them had large grins on their faces. In the center of the town was a family, between them was a pear green colt with two bright green eyes. The 3 walk up to the family.

Seize, "What happened here?"

Mable Pear, "a miracle is what happened here, after nearly 3 months of no crops, the trees came back to life, we owe it all to that kind yellow unicorn"

Jim, "yellow unicorn?"

Parent Stallion, "oh yes, she used a spell on our trees and they all srang back to life, it was incredible"

Mable, "and lets not forget the best miracle of all" She looks down at her son, his eyes glistening in the sun and with a massive smile on his face."

Starlight, "she gave you a kid?"

Mable, "what, no she helped him see again"

Seize, "pardon?"

Mable, "show them sweetie"

The green colt stepped forward and turned his left eye towards the 3 of them, he opened his eye as wide as he could, the then took his hoof an pressed it to the side of his face. The colts pupil began decaying, it just started disappearing, ore and more up it until his entire eye disappeared away like a shell cracking. Underneath was a large camera lens, it focused in and out as it took in light, he turned away and showed the entire eye, it moves with his other eye and it focused on objects just like a norma eye. He then took his hoof away from the side of his face and the shell reformed around his eye, after a few seconds, both his eyes looked identical.

Starlight just stood in absolute shock, her jaw wide open. Jim and Seize, having seen far worse, walked up to the parents.

Seize, "did you see where that pony went, its crucial that we find her"

Jim, "were with the royal guard, any information you have would be very much appreciated"

Starlight, "his eye just imploded, then reploded, I… what"

Mable, "She didn't tell us where she was off to, but she can't be too far."

Parent stallion "Last we saw she was headed up the road towards the next town, most likely to perform the same miracle she did here"

Seize, "thank you sir, ma'am, your input is very much appreciated"

They begin to run farther up the road, starlight was still frozen in the shock that was the colts eye, Jim looks back and sees her, he runs back

Jim, "lets go"

Jim grabs her for hoof and starts dragging her down the path, her hooves making very distinct trails in the dirt.

Starlight, "eye, it caved in, then out"

Jim, "great, I think we broke her"

The parent ponies see them run down the road until they are out of sight, they then go over to their shack and open the door.

Proto, "is it clear?"

Mable, "yep their gone, you were right, they said they were with the royal guard, what did you do?"

Proto, "thats just the thing, I didn't do anything"

Mable, "and their still looking for you?"

Proto, "clearly"

Proto gets her saddle bag and begins to walk towards the door

Mable, "where will you go, we won't tell we swear, not after all you've done to help us"

Proto, "I believe you, but I'm afraid its just too much of a risk, but I can tell you this, I'm headed to the one place in this world where I know I'll be accepted for who I am"

Mable, "then may Celestia aid you in your journey miss"

Proto, "thank you for your kindness, but i'm afraid thats not going to be of any use to me"

Proto's nanite skin morphed from her legs and horn to her abdomen, her horn outstretched to its full length, the nanites shifted then former a large pair of wings, she aimed them up into the air and in one fair swoop she took off at an incredible speed. The parent ponies looked up in amazement. In the distance Starlight, Jim, and Seize are oblivious to the pony flying behind them, they were too focused on running to see her. Proto looks down and sees them running, she grins and faces the opposite direction that they were running and flew off into the sky. Underneath her cities and fields of land whizzed by as she flew on, soon she hit the ocean and she continued off into the open waters. She was free.

Year 5 month 5 day 1

"Its been two weeks and I already have a massive following behind me, the Empress herself has even taken interest in my personal modifications, I have an entire industry at my disposal the intelligence agency here had intel on me, at first I didn't understand because I had never been here prior, but then they revealed to me my true past, Celestia will pay for tampering with my life, She will be crushed, and the Empire will reign victorious."

Proto sets down her pen and parchment, she walked over to a large window and looks out at a Massive city. Her window was the Penthouse suite of a massive hotel skyscraper, the lights from the streets below caused the clouds to glow different colors. Proto stood tall looking at her reflection in the mirror, Her eye then slowly began to collapse in on itself revealing a bright white optic sensor, In comparison to the design she made for the colt in Peardale, this eye was a Supersonic jet, and the colts was a snail drawn cart. She picked up a toy Celestia that sat on the table next to her with her magic, and decintegrated it. She had a massive grin on her face from the knowledge of what was about to happen to Equestria, and she began to laugh.

END CHAPTER 1