Dead Space: Armageddon

Isaac, it’s me…I wish I could talk to you. *sigh* I’m sorry… I’m sorry about everything. *sigh* I wish I could just… talk to someone! It’s all falling apart here, I can’t believe what’s happening…*sigh*…It’s strange, such a little thing…

Isaac cut off the message and leaned back in his seat. His CEC Class 4 Engineering suit kept him warm, which was as much comfort as he was going to get in the aftermath of the horrific incident which he had just narrowly survived from. He rubbed his forehead and exhaled through his nose before turning his head towards the right. A distorted image of Nicole crouched against the far wall entered his field of vision and everything went black...

Twilight had begun her new duties as Princess, and she quickly learned that she held no liking for it. Politics and bureaucracy were never her thing to begin with, but a royal presence was demanded, and the others unfortunately, were delegating outside of Equestria. So Twilight was stuck with Blueblood and his less than merry band of snobby fools and ignorant hypocrites. As a Princess, she now had equal authority to that of Blueblood, and more than once, she thought of slapping him across the head, but her decency always got the better of her, much to her chagrin.

“Now that the court has gathered here today, presided over by Princess Twilight Perhaps we could all begin?” an elderly Pegasus stallion called over the voices that had begun discussing the day’s topics ahead of schedule. The silence was a welcome relief to Twilight who since learning of her new duties was no longer a morning pony. She knew she would be next to useless in this discussion as she was cranky and more likely to cause a scene than her new cousin (Blueblood).

“Yes, that would be most appreciated.” said a rather bigoted looking Unicorn, roughly the same age as the Pegasus that had spoken up. “Our first order of business relates to an argument over ownership of a block of land. Two noble families have claimed the long strip of vacant land that separates them from each other as their own. Neither one is willing to back down and has asked for Royal intervention. Their sides of the story are as follows…” the Unicorn continued, but was interrupted by the less than enthused princess.

“Turn the strip into a road. If it’s the strip of land I think it is, then it will connect to the main road and the lane behind the warring lands. Next!” she said, her boredom showing in plain sight.

“Pardon me, your highness, but I don’t think the nobles would appreciate that course of action.” the Unicorn, objected.

“Then that’s their problem. I find Nobles to be very similar to spoiled kids; if one gets something that the other doesn’t, then that one will complain and there will be bad blood between them. By taking away the source of their conflict and converting it into something accessible for both parties, the issue is settled and both parties walk away no worse off than they were before. Sometimes I think it would have done you all a bit of good to have read my friendship reports to Celestia.” she replied. The court members failed to come up with a solid argument against her words and moved on to the next order of business.

“Prince Blueblood has placed a formal request to have some offenders executed. As the residing authority of this meeting, the decision is yours, regardless of your equal authority to his.” the Pegasus said.

“What are the charges?” Twilight asked, bored out of her skull.

“Slandering the Prince behind his back. He’s imprisoned the offenders.” the Pegasus replied. Twilight smacked her face with her hoof.

“Release them. There’s no crime in spreading your opinion of your peers amongst friends. If there were, the majority of Equestria would be confined to the prison block. Unless an insurrection occurs among the public, don’t go imprisoning citizens every time my cousin takes a disliking to them. I may have to write a law relating to him.” Twilight was met with a ‘Harrumph’ from the Prince in question. Twilight turned to him. “Every time you exert your authority on mundane things like that, you belittle yourself and disgrace this family. Maybe Celestia allows this, but I will not allow you to humiliate us simply because you overheard somepony whispering things about you.” she declared flatly.

“Need I remind you Twilight, that you are new to this family. How I exert my authority is none of your business. I was born into this family, you were not.” Blueblood argued.

“Nevertheless, I was raised as Celestia’s student and have apparently been raised better than yourself. The past aside, I am family now; and as family, it is my sole duty, as it is yours to uphold a certain modicum of dignity, understanding, love and tolerance. Observing you, you’ve only managed to uphold your dignity, such as it is.” Twilight snapped back. The courtroom was silent for a few moments. Nopony, not even Celestia had spoken to Blueblood this way.

“How dare you–.”

“And need I remind you, that I am an Alicorn, where as you are not. As such, I am also one of your very few peers. And it seems I must remind the Court also that I am not equally ranked with Blueblood, but co-rule the night with Princess Luna, who has graciously given me control of the stars as a result. Therefore, I am ranked above the Prince, which is why I am the leading authority of this meeting, and not my self-centred cousin here.” Blueblood, as well as the rest of the court were rendered speechless in the wake of Twilight’s comments. They knew she was right in every aspect, and Blueblood hated to admit it.

“Next.” Twilight ordered. The Pegasus fumbled around with his list.

“It appears your Student, Spike is waiting outside this courtroom with important information regarding… a pair of rogue stars?” the Pegasus sounded confused. Blueblood took the topic as an opportunity to get back at her.

“So my Aunt gives you control of the stars and you can’t control all of them? How… inspiring a peer you are proving to be, dear cousin.” he teased. Twilight showed no emotion, her poker face mirroring Celestia’s.

“It seems I’ll have to teach you not to jump to conclusions, Blueblood. For the record, they aren't stars that I had Spike investigate. I’m not sure what they are, that’s why they were being investigated. He’s obviously classified them as ‘rogue stars’ for simplicity’s sake. Let him in.” Twilight ordered. Defeated once again, Blueblood sat back in his seat, steaming and ashamed. The doors to the courtroom opened and in came a smallish purple dragon with green spines and frills. He was dressed in a small amount of clothing, which consisted of an astral themed scarf, a pair of goggles with magnifying lenses, white gloves and scale themed pants all designed by Rarity herself. The scarf symbolised Spike’s status as Twilight’s student and acted as Identification.

“Welcome, Spike. What have you found out?” Twilight asked, keeping things formal. Spike took a moment to gather his words.

“Okay, well I have good news and bad news.” the dragon replied. Twilight raised an inquisitive and curious brow.

“What’s the good news?” she asked.

“You were right, they're not stars, but solid objects.” he said. Twilight had hoped for more than that, but she took comfort in the fact that Spike’s diagnosis confirmed her story and argument against Blueblood relating to the phenomenon.

“And the bad news?” she enquired. Spike took another moment to gather his words, and swallow hard.

“They're humongous and they're coming toward us.” he replied with a nervous tone to his voice.