Flight of The Avali: Season One

Twilight was the first to enter Derpy’s house. The first thing she saw was an honestly well-rested Luna.

“Coming to torment me some more?” Luna questioned.

“No.” Twilight said.

“Ah, let me guess. The maniac is right behind you, and you want an apology?” Luna said. “Well, you won’t get one. I have nothing to apologize for. Twilight. You’ve barely been ruling, and you haven’t seen half the threats Celestia and I have. And you seem to not be able to register threats when they initially pop up. I believe Starlight’s betrayal was enough to show that.” She said coldly, “Or should I mention Discord as well? It seems so far I haven’t been wrong about betrayal. Now have I?”

“And now, you’re trying to befriend something with the ability to wipe out all life in Equestria with nothing more than the press of a button. What if that fails? What if he decides to hit that button, because there’s something useful under us? Will ‘the magic of friendship’ work on his bomb? Because I have a feeling it won’t care once it’s dropped, or teleported in. I doubt it’ll even be able to be defused, only detonated on touch down, or in the air.”

Einuli clenched his fists.

“He has a sure advantage over us, even with their lack of numbers… they have technology enough to change the physicalities of a pony with little issue. And you haven’t even seen the military hardware they’re harboring? Why have an armory fit for a full army if you’re only a group of eight?” Luna stated, slowly standing up.

Einuli breathed in and out, calming himself down.

“How much do you really know of them?” Luna asked, “How much have you made up?”

“I haven’t made things up about him!” Twilight retorted.

“Oh? But you trusted him enough to leave your friends alone up on his ship I’m guessing. What if he’s more cunning then you’re giving him. And this was all just a ploy to draw the weak in…”

“For what?” Einuli said. “Your baseless claims against me? One of them has lost her home to some organic mass that consumed it. Two more are on the run from their religious cult. I lost everything and BARELY kept my sanity. I spent three years alone in space, after being forced to end my closest friends’ suffering. I know very little about your kind. And your magic. You want to know the outcome of Shining’s time playing around with some of our tech?” He stated. “Well, since your first entrance, I put up an energy and kinetic shield. You teleport right through that. Your shielding magic is capable of stopping energy blasts from our strongest weapons. The best we have is melee. But, oh, what’s this? You can control the moon? Well, what the fuck is getting in close range going to do? And let me tell you something, this anti-matter bomb, it’s now even been produced yet. Suzy stopped it, saying there had to be a better, more sure way of destroying them. But, you jumped to conclusions there, didn’t you? We’re going to storm their ship, and take them out before they can even threaten your PLANET with a biological weapon that’d render any survivors worthless. It’d consume all non-plant life on the planet. I don’t think flying or magic could save you from an airborne spore, could it? Or, did you forget that I swore to make sure they wouldn’t harm a single creature on this planet? I’m sure you did when you decided to start tearing into my things, and then going on to assume I had the worst possible intentions. I’ve never lead a country, I wouldn’t want to. I’m not in the right state of mind for such a thing, and I won’t pretend I am. What I do know, is what I’m going to do, and what I want not to happen. I’m going to protect your planet, regardless of what it costs me, and I’m not going to let any ponies get hurt in the process. Fuck what you think. Because now, right after the engines are fixed, and the pirates are dead, I’m leaving this system and wiping it from my logs. You won’t ever have to worry about me or my friends again.” He scoffed, curling his lip up as he stared at Luna.

“I hope the next group to find you is just as friendly as I tried to be. Though, knowing how horrible the universe can be… I doubt it’ll happen that way.” He turned and walked out of the house.

Twilight was silently staring at Luna.

“Have something more to say? I received what I wanted. His word he’d leave us alone.” Luna stated. “I’m trying to protect you, and the rest of Eques-”

“From what? He’s already shared augmentation with Rainbow Dash. Applejack hasn’t caught him lying yet. Let’s not forget how open he was to your initial invasion, which lead to him trying to befriend us when he was alone. You must have seen something that at least gave you pause or did you just go up there thinking the worst of another species? I think that’s outright horrific if you did. And, what about him befriending Cadance? Sure, she convinced him to sleep with her, which… is bad in it’s own right. But, he didn’t harm her when he was alone for nearly a full day with her. She came back, sure tired and passed out, but right after a few hours of rest, wasn’t she back on her feet and behaving just like always? Or did you have ‘doctors’ check her out and, ‘Oh look!’ She’s been hurt!” Twilight stated coldly. “And don’t you DARE bring up Starlight and Discord. Without Discord’s help, we wouldn’t be here right now. You, Celestia, Cadance, and I would all be locked in Tatarus. The rest of Equestria, and possibly the world would be enslaved. Starlight’s MORE than proven herself to be trustworthy, and willing to make up for past mistakes. You had the ‘grace’ of not being in control when Nightmare did horrible things.”

Luna was silent, unable to fully respond to it.

“Or… gods forbid, you and Celestia having a little spat. Without Starlight, you two wouldn’t have ever returned to speaking terms. You behave like a penchant foal so often, it’s a wonder Celestia even gives you permission to rule.” Twilight scowled. “You gave him one chance, and then shoved that away when you found out he was planning on building something dangerous.”

“Something that co-”

“More so than the power you and Celestia hold? I’m sure if you wanted to, you could just blast his entire ship away, killing him without so much as a second thought. How do you think that makes them feel? We hold magic, flight without anything extra, strength beyond what they can normally achieve. He must be scared when he comes down here, especially with how ponies react to him, yet he tries to show he isn’t bad. And when he tries desperately to prove he doesn’t mean us any harm… you go and force him to leave. I know we’re supposed to protect Equestria, but, look at it like this… if he’s opening up to one of us enough to give them things we could never even dream of. Or letting one of our other leaders in on his armory, and training routines… If we had tried, he may have offered more help. But now, not only have you turned somepony seeking a bit of friendship, in what seems like an utterly horrible, and empty universe, you’ve opened the door right up for others to do the same. I hope you’re pleased with yourself. And I hope that you’ve done enough damage that you feel the need to leave him alone now. My friends and I are going to spend the last bit of time we have with him trying to show him we’re not all going to treat him like a monster.” Twilight’s tone was unusually cold as she glared at Luna. “In time we might be able to forgive you for forcing somepony we’ve begun to care for away. But, until then, you can consider yourself unwelcome in Ponyville. And don’t expect me to speak to you when I’m in Canterlot.”

Twilight walked out without another word.