Chapters The Cosmos. Infinite. Vast. Beautiful. Luna's Domain was something that took Twilight Sparkle in awe every night. With a small but powerful telescope she gazed upon it, ever vigilant and ever curious. Throughout most of Equestrian History the stars were said to be spirits or other supernatural entities, though some suggested they were simply decorative pinpricks of light Luna arranged in aesthetically pleasing formations. Nobody really knew for sure. The princesses had done nothing to discount those stories, so people believed what they believed. However, in recent years new theories had emerged from the greatest scientific minds on Trinity, (homeworld of Ponykind, Dragonkind, Zebrakind, and then some) theories that challenged previous notions and 'facts' that could bring about great scrutiny to those who presented them.
These theories held that each star was like the one that orbited Equestria, and perhaps had their own planets that they circled. Some even insisted that in other solar systems, the planets orbited the stars and not the other way around. A few scientists had dared to even call this natural, and Celestia's tampering with their solar system 'unnatural'. Twilight couldn't help but cringe at the term, but Celestia never denied this and neither had Luna. It seemed the goddesses were content to stay out of tampering with the natural collective thoughts of their people.
These new theories really made Twilight wonder. There were so many stars in the sky, each possibly with their own celestial bodies orbiting or being orbited by them. Could any of these be like Trinity? Could there be ponies or other life living on them? Questions like these boggled the young mare's mind. Who or what exactly was out there?
These usual questions, however, were not on her mind tonight. Different questions were boggling her, and these ones did far more then just intrigue her.
"Uh, Twilight. It's getting pretty late..." Spike called from inside her tree house.
Twilight turned towards the entrance way to the balcony she stood upon and shouted back, "Just a few more minutes, Spike. I'm trying to confirm something."
"Confirm what?" Spike asked, walking out to the balcony and munching on a few rubies.
"Well, I'm not sure but it seems like a few of the stars I had previously charted..." She paused, baffled at what she was about to say. "..Aren't there anymore."
Spike shrugged at that. "Maybe Luna just did some rearranging."
Twilight shook her head. "We've already been through this, Spike. The stars aren't actually controlled by Luna. She really only controls the moon and small bodies within the solar system. At least that's what the latest theories suggest. When Celestia moves the Sun less light pierces the atmosphere and-"
"Yeah, I get it Twilight," Spike chuckled. "I still don't believe in all these new theories."
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Enjoying your new rubies?"
"Oh you bet!" Spike enthused. "I'm so glad me and Rarity had such a good gem hunt the other day. Spoils of work, I say!" He munched down another.
Twilight smiled at that. She knew full well her friend was taking advantage of the young dragon, but at least she was kind enough not to make him work for free, and she knew that he would too if she asked him of it. With that thought, she turned her attention back to her telescope and peered through it and into the night. For the past few days she had been keeping watch on a particular section of the heavens. There were a few stars there, or at least former stars, whose positions had been recorded as the same for thousands of years. However, one by one they seemed to be twinkling out, one vanishing every night, with the stars around them completely untouched, and she had no idea what could be causing this.
"So Twilight, if these stars aren't just spirits or whatever people believe, and are burning balls of gas like you say they are, what do you think could be getting rid of them?" Spike asked.
"I'm not sure, Spike... a few physicists in Canterlot had speculated of the possibility of objects called black holes. These objects are supposedly the remains of dead stars with gravity so powerful that they can pull in any matter, even light."
"Explains the black part."
"Right, and they can also swallow stars," Twilight said.
Spike's eyes shot wide open at this."W-wah?!" He then gazed into the sky nervously. "There's no chance of one eating our star, right?"
Twilight chuckled, "Of course not, and even if there was I think Celestia might be able to do something about it. The chances of one coming and gobbling up our star are just so remote. However, it's not as remote as five stars disappearing due to them in one week." She paused, bringing a hoof to her chin in thought. "No, whatever is causing this must be something else. I know for a fact that they didn't go supernova, though..."
"Super-wah?" Spike asked.
Twilight's threw him a smirk. "Wow Spike, you're not usually this interested in scientific topics."
Spike shrugged. "Heh, I guess this space stuff is just easier to understand. No complicated terminologies and stuff like that. A hole in space that's black? It's called a black hole."
Twilight couldn't help but smile. She was glad her faithful assistant and her seemed to have found a scientific topic they could both enjoy. "I've heard Neigh Degrasse Tyson say the same thing."
"Who?"
"One of the leading Astrophysicists in Canterlot," Twilight explained. "He specializes in..." She paused, trying to find the right words. "Making complicated topics in science easier to understand for the masses."
Spike smiled. "I'm glad someone does it."
"Anyway, when a massive star, one much more massive then our own reaches the end of its life, it detonates in a massive explosion called a supernova. It pretty much spews its guts all over the cosmos."
"That's pretty cool," Spike admitted. "But you think that didn't happen to any of these?"
"No, we would easily be able to tell if they did. Actually, there's evidence to support that these same stars that have been disappearing aren't even stars. Some have postulated that they are actually completely different galaxies, they just look like stars because of the distances involved."
"Galaxies?" Spike asked.
"Basically, whole systems of stars outside of our own system of stars that are quadrillions of miles away."
Spike quirked an eyebrow at that. "Isn't that like..." He paused. "Err... 16 zeros?"
"Mhm."
"So wait, whole groups of them are disappearing?"
"I'm not sure. My first thought was that something was simply blocking their light, but what could be blocking the light from those galaxies specifically? They are spaced pretty far apart from our perspective."
Spike shrugged again before letting out a yawn. "Well, if what you're saying about the distances in space being as large as they are is true, whatever it is is probably too far away to worry over."
Twilight rolled her eyes again. "I know that, it's just... interesting."
"Well, don't let it keep you up all night."
"Hey, you're not trying to call me obsessive are you?" Twilight asked in a sarcastic tone.
Spike smirked slightly. "Well at least you're becoming self-aware. Good night, Twilight."
Twilight smiled at that. "Good night, Spike."
With that, Twilight sighed and tilted her telescope downwards. Spike was right, she was spending a bit too much time with this project. Whatever was causing this most likely wouldn't be bothering Trinity or Equestria. She walked back inside the massive tree that was her home before making her way downstairs to her humble little kitchen. With a small pot she began heating a glass's worth of milk, her ticket to a good night's sleep.
Her mind soon drifted back to the stars as she did so. If what the astronomers in Canterlot were saying was true, that those very same stars were actually entire galaxies, what could be blocking their light and their light alone? They were spaced too far apart for it to be one object, and if it was one object it would have to be truly massive and outside of their own galaxy as to not block the light from nearer, actual stars. Twilight shivered at the thought of some unknown massive object half the size of their galaxy coming careening in towards them.
Then her rational side quickly kicked in. It was probably just pony error that was the problem. Or was it? She had seen those galaxies there one night only to see them gone the next, and she was sure she charted them accurately. She even crossed-checked her findings with star charts she had in her own library. Then again, maybe those galaxies weren't actually galaxies or stars, but planets or smaller objects in their own solar system. After all, no direct observations could be had with current technology to make sure. Most of the theories that postulated what objects in the sky were came from tracking their movements, analyzing their light and complex calculations.
They had discovered a few planets in their solar system already, and observations and calculations had shown that they were actually orbiting their star and not the other way around like with Trinity. However, those planets had different, more sporadic movements compared to the the other pinpoints of light in the sky that were the stars. The five 'galaxies' did not have that, they had been recorded as being in the same position for thousands of years. Besides, the chances of all five of these objects being something then what they had been known as for years was slim.
There was still the possibility that these 'galaxies' were actually just stars, as had always been notioned in the last hundred years. The theory that they were galaxies was still being debated. However, if so, they were still spaced so far apart that if something was blocking their light it would still have to be massive. It would actually be a more rational theory that these stars, galaxies, or planets, whatever they were, were actually removed from the cosmos by something. But all at nearly the same time, and by what? Multiple objects light-years apart simply disappearing in the space of a week due to separate events ... insane.
She then chuckled, a funny thought occurring to her. Perhaps everything Equestria's scientists were saying recently were wrong. Perhaps the stars were just pinpricks of light set up in the sky by Princess Luna and she had simply rearranged the five in question. Or perhaps the Princess had the power to move stars outside their own solar system. Maybe she could even move entire galaxies? No... that was ridiculous. So caught up in thought she was, she barely noticed when steam began rising from her pot. She forgot how quickly time could pass when she was in deep contemplation. Shaking her head in defeat at trying to find an answer to the night's dilemma, she opted to sleep on it and perhaps contact Princess Celestia about the issue in the morning.
She poured her milk into a glass and began sipping on it while making her way up to bed, the feeling of the warm liquid trickling down her throat washing a wave of calm over her. Spike was already fast asleep, and Twilight couldn't help but inwardly coo at how adorable he looked. Sometimes she wished she was like her faithful assistant. It usually took her a good fifteen minutes to fall asleep thanks to all the thoughts that cascaded through her mind. If only she could be more care-free like him, it'd make life so much easier. Perhaps it had something to do with him being practically immortal? Then again, it was her nature that had led her to be one of Celestia's prized pupils, and it had enabled her to lead quite the interesting life so far.
In just the last year she had been an integral part of things that would be written down and told in History classes from now until the end of Equestria. Nightmare Moon's defeat and the freedom of Princess Luna, an immortal princess she had actually helped with social issues and befriended at a later time. Then there was Discord's narrow defeat, and her brother's wedding, her most recent episode of craziness. She cringed at the memory of her beloved teacher cocooned above the royal ballroom, Changelings swarming the city around them while Queen Chrysalis cackled at her victory. Life certainly was interesting lately, and she wondered what would be in store for her next.
Twilight was in a dream world, reliving the moments before she and her friends had defeated Nightmare Moon. Right when she was about to bring about the finishing blow, a large bang emanated out of nowhere, launching her back into reality. Her eyes flung open and she jolted upwards, quickly glancing out of the window near her bed to see if day had come already. It hadn't, but she noticed lights coming on in nearby houses. Whatever had woken her up had woken them up as well.
"Uggggh, why am I awake?" Spike complained, rubbing his eyes. He smiled slightly, his voice turning dreamy as he said, "Mmmmm, I had just gotten done eating with Rarity at this fancy restaurant in Canterlot."
"I'm not sure, Spike, but whatever it was didn't just wake us up," Twilight said, pointing a hoof towards the houses nearby.
"Hey, Twilight!" A voice called from her balcony. She recognized who it was immediately. "Something just crashed into Everfree!"
Groggily, Twilight threw her hooves over the side of her bed and started to stand up. Rainbow Dash made her way inside as she did so.
"I saw it myself!" she said. "Well, barely. It was like two giant metal ovals stitched together. I'm not sure if it started a forest fire but its definitely worth investigating. It could be alien invaders or something!"
"Yeah," Twilight yawned. "Just give me a second." She then quirked an eyebrow, "What were you even doing up this early, anyway?" With that, she realized she didn't even know what hour it was herself. She glanced at the clock near her bed which read 5:00 AM.
The rainbow -maned speedster spread a cocky grin, "Decided to give early-morning workout routines a shot. You have more stamina, ya know? That's when I saw it."
"Two giant ovals?"
"Yeah, I couldn't see many details, but it was huge!" she said, holding two hoofs apart to emphasize a large size. "Like five times the size of your tree-house huge. Flew right over Ponyville and into Everfree." She paused for a second, squinting slightly before saying, "Oh yeah, and there were these.." She paused. "... these jets of flame or something like that coming out of its belly."
"Jets of flame?" Twilight asked, becoming more intrigued by the second.
Rainbow Dash tilted her head to the side, "Any idea what it was?"
Twilight thought for a second before saying, "No clue. I'd say it was probably a meteor or something along those lines."
Rainbow Dash quickly shook her head, "There's no way that thing was a meteor! For one thing, it was coming in way too slow. I'm telling you, it has to be aliens!"
Twilight through her friend a skeptical look. "Rainbow Dash, there's no tangible evidence to suggest life exists on other planets. You've been reading too much of that new Daring Doo novel."
"Ugh,I know what I saw!" Rainbow Dash said, her voice growing increasingly annoyed.
"I dunno Twilight," Spike said."It does sound pretty weird." He paused for a second, "You know, what is it with this town lately? It seems every week there's some crazy event happening."
Twilight shrugged, "Well, we might as well check out what landed in the forest." She smirked slightly, "Don't want to miss a first contact opportunity."
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, "Yeah yeah, you'll see I'm not kidding in a second. And if those aliens mean business, they'd better watch out!" She grinned, flexing one of her foreleg's muscles.
With that, the three made their way out the front door and towards the Everfree Forest. Most of the houses were now dark again, apparently the residents having disregarded whatever woke them up. Despite it being a fairly normal night, a strange smell permeated the air. And to top it all off, high in the sky, a smoke trail was barely visible. Rainbow Dash was quick to point it out.
"See, that's the trail it left!"
"Awww man." Spike said, an excited grin crossing his face, "We're going to meet aliens! We'll be marked down in Equestrian history!"
"Hehehe, that'll be like the fifth time for us." Rainbow Dash said, a grin spreading on her face.
Twilight rolled her eyes in response. "I will say, the prospect of meeting extraterrestrials is pretty interesting... I kind of hope it is some sort of spaceship."
"Unless meteors are shaped like ovals or the military is experimenting with some strange sort of aircraft, I don't see what else it could be," Rainbow Dash said.
"You're sure it wasn't an Airship? A dragon, maybe?"
The rainbow-haired mare shook her head, "Naw, too fast for that. It didn't look like a dragon, either."
A thought suddenly stopped Twilight in her tracks, causing her friends to do so as well, them throwing her looks of confusion. What if they really were running into a first contact situation? Would she really be able to handle it? If they had the technology to travel between stars, it was likely they'd be peaceful, and the language barrier probably would hinder her ability to screw this up too much. But... but what if she did something offensive by accident? No, they'd probably be more understanding then that.....
Still, it was best not to take any chances.
"Maybe it's best we contact the Princess," Twilight said.
"What?!" Rainbow Dash complained "B-But it might take a half an hour for her to get here! What if the aliens pack up and leave by then? Or... or what if they need help? That crash sounded pretty loud."
Twilight sighed. Her friend did have a point. And here she was thinking there were aliens again. What if she had contacted Princess Celestia and it ended up just being a meteor? Her teacher probably wouldn't be that happy about being dragged away from her slumber for that. No, they'd handle this on their own.
"Alright," she said. "But if they are aliens, we're going to need to handle this situation delicately. They could think of us as a savage people and react in self-defense if we make any hostile moves."
"I won't throw any punches if they don't," Rainbow Dash said.
A good ten minutes later, they had reached the edge of Everfree Forest, the domain and sanctuary of everything wild in Equestria. Twilight found it funny that extraterrestrials were the least of her worries in that dark abode. Still, she worried for her friend, Zecora. Hopefully whatever it was didn't land anywhere near her.
"Did I ever tell you guys I really hate going in there?" Spike said, gulping slightly.
"Come on Spike, be a dragon!" Rainbow Dash said, grinning down towards him. Spike threw her a look in response, causing the grin to be replaced by a simpering smile. "Er, sorry, Spike."
Twilight performed a quick spell, causing her horn to begin to glow. She then turned to Rainbow Dash. "Can you fly above the canopy and give us an idea as to where this thing may be?"
Rainbow Dash gave a quick salute before jetting above the tree tops. She scanned about for a moment before pausing, her eyes squinting at something. After a second more, she grinned and flew back down.
"I saw smoke in the distance," she said, landing next to Twilight. She then grinned at her friend, "Rising from a crashed spaceship."
Twilight's eyes flew open wide at that, her mind beginning to race with thoughts. "You could see it? How far away did it look? Are you sure it was a spaceship?"
"Yes, not too far, and it definitely wasn't an airship or a dragon. It looked intact too," Rainbow Dash said. She gestured for Twilight and Spike to follow. Twilight's mind went wild. This was it. This was going to be first contact with a race from another planet. The question that was raised in her mind ever time she gazed into the infinite abyss could soon be answered with a yes.
They made their into the wilderness, and Twilight was soon reminded of just how dark the Everfree Forest really was. The thick canopy above them blocked all light from the stars and the moon, making her horn's glow her only means to see. Outside of her sphere of light, anything could be watching them from the blackness. Occasionally, she could have sworn she saw glowing eyes staring at them with her peripheral, though they would quickly disappear whenever she looked directly at them. The occasional cries of wild animals didn't help with settling her, some recognizable, some not.
The deeper they made their way into the forest, the more this unsettling feeling grew. After a time, Twilight was certain they were being watched.
"Everyone, hang on a second," Twilight said, causing the group to pause.
"What's up, Twilight?" Spike asked.
"I'm not sure... just a feeling," she said in a hushed tone, quickly blackening her horn's light. "I don't think we're alone out here."
"You're just being paranoid, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said dismissively. "I know, the forest makes me feel that way, too. Let's just get some light and kee-"
Before she could finish, a loud zapping sound could be heard followed by streak of light that sailed out of the dark. It flew right over the head of Spike, nearly grazing his upper green rims before slamming into a tree. It dug right through its trunk and kept going, leaving nothing but a burning hole in its wake.
"Woah!" Spike cried.
Rainbow Dash gasped as more zapping sounds could be heard followed by several streaks of light heading right towards the group. She winced as they drew near, closing her eyes and waiting for them to strike. She then heard several loud bangs, and half expected to open her eyes to find parts of her body missing. However, this was not the case. Instead, she found herself inside a pink bubble shield. She looked towards Twilight, who was wincing as she performed the complicated spell. A few more streaks of light struck the shield, followed by more bangs and blinding flashes of light. Twilight then began to sweat, shocking Rainbow Dash. She had never seen Twilight run out of stamina this quickly while performing a spell.
"I c-can't keep this up for long," she gasped. "You guys need to get out of here. I'll distract... whatever these lights are..."
Rainbow Dash threw her the most exasperated expression she could ever muster. "There's no way I'm just going to leave you here!"
"Me neither!" Spike said, his voice filled with determination.
"J-Just go..." Twilight said, her sweat now dripping onto the ground.
"I've got a better idea!" Rainbow Dash said. With that, she grabbed Spike with her wings and threw him onto her back. She then began grabbed an exhausted Twilight with a grunt and struggled to take off. Maybe it was the adrenaline flowing through her, or maybe she had the strength all along, but Rainbow Dash managed to make it into the air. As more of the streaks of light flew into Twilight's shield, she made it above the canopy. She quickly glanced around, panicking, before spotting Ponyville and making her way towards it.
"H-Hurry Rainbow," Twilight wheezed, her shield continuing to take a pounding. "Can't... can't..."
Rainbow Dash huffed as she drew nearer to Ponyville and after about thirty seconds noticed Twilight's shield was no longer there. She panicked at the sight, but soon calmed when she noticed the lights had stopped attacking them as well. Twilight was out of commission, though. She had passed out from the exertion.
"What in Trinity were those lights?!" Spike yelled.
"I've never seen anything like them," Rainbow Dash said, her voice then turning to a growl when she added, "They must be the aliens!" She paused again. "And you're pretty heavy for such a small fry, you know that?"
"Sorry, I've been eating too much gems lately," Spike said, embarrassed, before letting out a sigh. "So much for a peaceful first contact."
"I don't get it... we didn't even do anything!" Rainbow Dash said before narrowing her eyes. "Unless... unless they meant to invade us all along!"
"Then we need to get to the library so I can get a letter to the princess!" Spike announced. "She'll know what to do." His voice was lacking in confidence. "Right?"
It had been three weeks since the Changeling attack on Canterlot, and Ponyville was still in a paranoid state of hysteria. It was somewhat justified, as Changelings had actually been uncovered hiding among the population in recent days, most the scattered remains of the Canterlot invasion force. Unsettling as this may be, the main source of fear came from sightings of swarms of them in the wild. It was believed small towns like Ponyville could easily be vulnerable to a raids, with the intention of the Changelings to perform mass abductions. The captured ponies would then be taken back to their hive-clusters and sucked dry. This fear wasn't entirely unjustified either, as the attack on Canterlot had proven the Changelings were willing to take more aggressive measures to secure their food-source in recent days.
In response to this fear, a retired army colt named Iron Hooves opted to form a militia to combat the growing threat as well as any others (Stories of creatures in Everfree acting more aggressive then usual were beginning to spread.). He was quick to find volunteers, and soon enough he had procured a shipment of weapons. These included spears, crossbows, iron horseshoes for earth ponies, and even a few combat magic spellbooks.
Rainbow Dash was reluctant to join them at first, her not being much of a fighter nor having the time to train four hours a day. However, when Ponyville faced a Manticore attack that even Fluttershy wasn't able to solve with her usual kindness, she began to feel that maybe one more defender couldn't hurt. Now, here she was standing at attention in the ever-expansive planes outside of town, in line with about thirty volunteers of both sexes and all three races. They were waiting for an army adviser to arrive, a Colonel of some standing. Though Iron Hooves was a good soldier, many were beginning to doubt his leadership capabilities, and he himself admitted he lacked knowledge in newer weapons such as crossbows in addition lack of knowledge in newer tactics tactics, including ones meant against newer threats such as the Changelings.
After about ten more minutes, Rainbow Dash was beginning to grow impatient. It was a cloudless day, and the summer sun was taking a beating on her. She had to hold back the urge to complain several times. Right when she thought she beginning to doubt if the colt was even coming, she saw a figure in the distance heading their way from Ponyville. As he grew closer, she could make out his features. He was a white, middle-aged, black-maned unicorn with a cutie-mark that resembled a ball of fire.
"Militia!" Iron Hooves called. "May I present to you the honorable Colonel Royce Mustang!"
"The honor is mine," he said, walking before the line of militia and scrutinizing them. Rainbow Dash was quick to gaze back into his withered eyes, the windows into his soul. She could tell that they had seen many horrors in the colt's lifetime, and many sacrifices. He halted after a round of pacing in front of the column, his eyes glancing at each of them as he spoke, "I have learned many things in my day, many in particular about the psychology of soldiers. We may say it's for honor, we may say it's for a longing to serve our country, but in reality most heed the call to arms to protect what is dear to us personally; our homes, our families, and our friends. For that, I can respect anypony willing to fight, army or militia. Therefore, I will do whatever it takes to turn you into a capable combat force. Ponyville will never be without guardians."
It was a bit of a dramatic speech, but Rainbow Dash couldn't help but feel slightly inspired from it.
"All pegasi to the shooting range for crossbow practice," Iron Hooves ordered. "Earth ponies, I want see more weight pushing. Your hind-leg strength could use a bit of development. Unicorns, you'll be with Colonel Mustang. He's going to teach you some defensive spells."
The ponies threw him a salute before moving to their respected practice areas. On her way, Rainbow Dash couldn't help but notice the Colonel was staring at her.
She mentally gasped as crazy thought entered her mind.
Had she done something wrong? Offended him by some off chance?
A beat.
She shook her head with a silly smile. Naw, she was too awesome for that.
What could he really want? She shrugged it off before picking up a crossbow at the firing range and loading a bolt. She had become pretty familiar with its use, and actually found herself enjoying handling it. She knew every shot she made would improve her aim, and in a small way help Ponyville in its time of need, and of course the ego boost learning and subsequently kicking flank at something was always welcoming. It felt more fulfilling than even flight practice though she hated to admit it. She aimed down the sights of it, adjusted for the light breeze, and took a shot at the target. It glided as gracefully as a Thunderbolt before smacking into it near the bullseye. She grunted to herself at the slight error before loading another bolt, only to pause when a voice called to her.
"You're a decent shot for a rookie," Royce Mustange said. Rainbow Dash turned about to face him. "How long have you practiced with that thing?" He pointed a hoof at her crossbow.
"Heh? This? Oh not too long," she said, a slightly sheepish smile spreading across her face for some strange reason. "Few days, maybe?"
He nodded, before glancing at her wings, "Strong wings too, I'm guessing you fly alot?" He paused, before smiling sightly, "Well, more than normal pegasi of course."
"Oh you bet!" she said gleefully. She always loved when people were interested in her past-time. "Fastest flyer in Equestria, and soon-to-be Wonderbolt."
He nodded at that with a bemused smile before asking, "You're not the one who created that Sonic Rainboom after the Canterlot incident, are you? You look familiar."
"Yep, that was me! Tell me it wasn't awesome!" she said with a grin. Here a Colonel was giving her a compliment. The only thing better was if it were coming from a Wonderbolt.
"I was impressed. The last reported Rainboom was over ten years ago."
"And you're looking at the source!" she said, her cocky grin not fading.
He nodded again, this time with an impressed look on his face. He paused for a second before saying, "The Air Guard is always looking for young, passionate troops. Have you ever considered it?"
Rainbow Dash paused. She hadn't really ever considered joining the military before. She was as loyal to Equestria as anypony, perhaps even more so, but her own somewhat selfish goals and passions had always always taken precedence over serving it directly. She wasn't too keen on having to kill anypony or anything either. One of the other reasons she was training to be so good at the crossbow was so should could wound and not slay her target without risk. Shooting a Changeling in the leg had to be able to put them out of commission.That may not cut it in the Air Guard.
"I... haven't really thought of it before," she said slowly. "I don't really think it's my thing."
She half expected the Colonel to throw her a dissapointed glance, but instead he simply smiled. "That's fine, Rainbow Dash, and that doesn't make me think any less of you by the way. Just let me know if you change your mind and I'll throw in a recommendation. Now, I really need to get to training those pegasi."
With that, Rainbow Dash threw him a friendly smile and nod before he turned and left her to target practice.
..
Twilight was waving back and forth between consciousness and her mind's vast, deep recesses. The latter overtook her the most, but occasionally she was allowed fleeting glimpses of the real world.
Her first sight of it was her being carried on Rainbow Dash's back away from the Everfree Forest. Apparently, the rainbow-haired mare had given up on flying for the time being. She could hear the muffled voices of her and Spike, and though she couldn't make out what they were saying, she could definitely sense a mix of panic and fear in their tones.
The sun was just meeting the horizon, and the morning would soon be upon them. Despite its beckoning for her to wake, Twilight was quick to fall back asleep.
..
She then caught another glimpse. They were now inside the library's commons. She gazed groggily at one of the windows and noted was now bright out. Again, Rainbow Dash and Spike were speaking. However, this time she could vaguely make out what they were saying.
"Can you get her up to her bed?" Spike said. "I really want to get this letter off."
"Yeah, I think I can do it..." she said groggily. Apparently the flight from Everfree had taken a lot out of her. However, her tone quickly grew more confident. "I mean, you've got it!"
Twilight felt herself being tugged downwards, and she soon realized Rainbow Dash was flying her upwards towards her bedroom. As she was set into her bed, the sensation of flying continued. She was now flying high above a dreamscape, no longer in her library. Her glimpse was over.
..
Voices woke her for her third glance after a bit of time of flying. It was Rainbow Dash and Spike again, as well as a third one now. All three seemed somewhat tense.
"I-Is she going be alright?" Fluttershy's warm and caring tone echoed from below.
"Yeah, I think so. I've seen Twilight pass out from overexertion before when she first started learning magic, but she always came out of it fine," Spike said. He let forth a somewhat forced chuckle. "You know how she is."
"Did you get a letter back from the Princess, yet?" Rainbow Dash asked impatiently.
"She may have already left without bothering with it," Spike said.
"Well, I'm going to go rally the town militia." Rainbow Dash said.
"W-wah? N-No... we should wait for the Princess," Fluttershy squeaked.
"Fluttershy has a point," Spike said. "The militia was just formed a month or so ago. They've never seen any actual combat. And either way, what are they supposed to do against those lights?"
Twilight could vaguely remember the day when a somewhat paranoid colt named Iron Hooves rallied the town together. He announced his intention to form a militia to combat the potential Changeling threat. With everypony spooked about the attack on Canterlot, he was quick to find volunteers. They managed to procure a shipment of weapons from the army, (though Twilight later found out Celestia was most displeased about this) and began to train. After a few weeks, they were actually shaping up to be a decent combat force.
Rainbow Dash had begged Twilight to join them, but she declined. She had absolutely no desire to learn any sort of combat magic. She didn't believe in using it that way, and learning it, she thought, may take something away from her she would never get back. It just felt... unnatural to her. Rainbow Dash then argued that she could provide defensive magic, but again Twilight declined.
Not only did she not want to learn combat magic, but she also didn't want to be part of a group who were going to use lethal force to deal with their foes. It was true that the Manticore that attacked Ponyville a few weeks ago was resistant to even Fluttership's attempts to calm it, but the militia didn't even give her and Twilight a second or two to come up with another way to deal with it before they attacked, mortally wounded it, and drove it back into the woods. She had comforted a weeping Fluttershy for hours after this. Nonetheless, Twilight was still willing to lend a hand to Ponyville whenever it needed her... if only she could do it now.
Twilight turned her head and gazed down at the three, barely able to keep open her eyes. She wished she could join the conversation, but she simply didn't have the strength to say anything.
"We have to do something. If the aliens attack before the princess gets here..." Rainbow Dash paused, fear evident in her features. She quickly shook her head and regained her composure, "We just need to be ready," she said sternly. "We do have unicorns in the group, maybe they can do something about those lights? Besides, something tells me they weren't the aliens themselves. I think they came from weapons of some sort."
"What makes you say that?" Spike asked. "And how do we know the aliens weren't just acting territorially, anyway? You know, trying to keep people away from their ship. Maybe they were just as spooked of us as we are of them now."
"Then why not just fire warning shots? Why shoot directly at us? True, that doesn't mean they're going to attack the town but it's better to be safe then sorry, right? Anyway, to answer your first question, I've been getting into more series then just Daring-Do lately. One of the books I've been reading, the Luke Skyhooves Adventures, described a weapon called a blaster. It shot a bolt of light that had a similar effect to what we saw in Everfree."
"B-But that's just science fiction!" Spike cried.
Rainbow Dash's look of determination did not fade. "Science fiction is often based on Science fact," she said sternly while pointing a hoof up at her friend. "Twilight told me that once."
Twilight wished she could smile at that. Rainbow Dash was a creature of impulse, and though she wasn't usually one to underestimated the Pegasus' intelligence, she couldn't help but marvel at the unusual amount of logic she was displaying. Perhaps her time in the Militia had actually done her some good. Still though, her logic wasn't completely... logical, and Spike was quick to point that out.
"Yeah but a lot is still made up!" He argued.
Fluttershy quickly nodded in agreement. "S-Spike's right."
Rainbow Dash threw them both an annoyed look. "We're wasting time here arguing! I'm going to rally the militia. While I'm doing that, you two should go around and tell everypony to keep indoors."
Spike's eyes widened. "But what if they don't listen?!"
Rainbow Dash brought a hoof to her forehead. Twilight knew the gears up there were starting to turn, neurons and synapses firing in a desperate bid to come up with an answer. "Then-" she stammered, "Then- I don't know, OK? Just don't sugarcoat it. Make sure to let them know if they step outside their lives could be in danger." She then turned and began walking towards the door. Before she exited, however, she halted and then turned back towards Fluttershy and Spike, "One more thing. Don't tell anypony that we're up against aliens.They'd probably just call you crazy."
Twilight could vouch for that. If it wasn't for her skepticism earlier Rainbow Dash may have never brought that up.
"What should we say then?"
"You two can figure that out. I need to get a move on."
She quickly made her leave.
Before Twilight entered her dreamworld again, she heard Spike mutter one last thing, "Bows and arrows against the lightning... this is going to turn out great."
Ten minutes later, Spike had made it to the most densely packed area of town, right by town hall. It was now about 6:30, and already the morning hustle and bustle was beginning. He had sent a somewhat reluctant Fluttershy (who wasn't keen on leaving Twilight) off to gather the rest of their friends, more voices to help spread the message. He then gathered his composure, stood on the steps to town hall, and with a slightly meekish and wannabe-authoritative voice yelled, "Everypony! Can I get your attention please."
A few ponies turned their attention towards him, but many others seemed content to go about their business.
Alright, no more messing around. He drew a deep breath before shouting as loud as he possibly could, "I said, can I get your attention please!"
This time, everypony stopped dead in their tracks. Spike couldn't help but snap a quick, satisfied smile at it. He then regained a serious composure before announcing, "As of this moment, the princess is on her way to deal with a threat to the town. A Changeling swarm has been sighted moving through Everfree." A series of gasps and cries could be heard from the crowd. Soon, panicked chatter was springing up everywhere. Spike threw them all an annoyed glance, "Hold on! Jeez...." He groaned. They returned their attention to him. "They may or may not have the intention of hitting Ponyville, but it would be best for everpony to stay in doors for now. The Changeling swarm probably won't be here by the time the princess arrives, but it's best to stay cautious."
Spike could hear murmurs of agreement and a few head nods at this. Before long, everypony was making their way home at a quick, but not panicked pace.
"Spike, you are one awesome public speaker," he said with a grin.
Ten minutes later, the militia had assembled on the outskirts of town near Everfree. They stood in a line at attention, with slightly nervous but nonetheless affirmed expressions. Each was already equipped with their respective weapons, pegasi with crossbows and earth ponies with their iron horse shoes, them having previously raided the armory. The unicorns didn't really need any weapons. Rainbow Dash, Iron Hooves, and Royce Mustang stood before them.
"Alright Rainbow Dash, can you tell us a little more about what could be coming at us?" Iron Hooves asked, turning towards her.
She glanced back at him, anxious and apprehensive as a mare could be before turning towards the crowd. How was she supposed to explain that aliens were about to attack? Wait a minute... she probably didn't even need to mention it. She quickly constructed a short speech in her mind before saying, "This morning, me and two friends went to go check out a disturbance in the Everfree forest."
"What kind of disturbance?" some colt asked.
Rainbow Dash gazed at him, but didn't recognize who he was personally, "It was a large bang early in the morning. Many of you may have been woken up by it." A few nods and chuckles followed that. "Anyway, we made our way in and about an hour later we were attacked. We couldn't see who was responsible for it, but whoever it was had access to advanced weaponry or magic. A shot from them burned right through a tree. Even Twilight couldn't keep a shield up against them for long."
A few gasps followed that, however one colt in the audience kept a stoic expression. "Are you sure whoever this was is a threat to the town?" He asked skeptically.
Rainbow Dash shook her head. "No, I'm not not sure, but it's better to be safe then sorry."
"Could they have to do with that big shiny metal thing that landed in the forest?" the voice of Ditzy Hooves asked. Rainbow Dash's eyes widened at that. She quickly twirled around towards the woods. There was still a smoke cloud rising from it, and it must have caught the attention of curious pegasi. She had to resist the urge of taking a look at the spaceship in broad daylight herself. She then inwardly smiled, this would make things a lot easier.
"Truth be told, I think they did come from that," Rainbow Dash admitted. "I saw it go down myself in the morning, it's what caused the loud bang. It seemed to be some sort of advanced airship... or spacecraft."
Someone laughed out loud at that, "Are you saying we're going up against aliens?"
Even Royce Mustang and Iron Hooves threw Rainbow Dash a skeptical glance.
She sighed at that. "Yes, I am. I can't think of any other explanation for what that thing is, and if you had seen it flying through the air earlier..."
"This is ridiculous," the abrasive voice, originating from a white mare, said again. "Did you seriously drag us out of bed just to get attention?"
"I believe her," another voice spoke up, this one with a strange, but recognizable accent. Rainbow Dash and the entire line broke attention to gaze upon its origin. Dr. Whooves, as everyone called him, sweat dropped. "Well, for bloody sakes! Plenty of other crazy things happen in this town!"
The white mare smirked. "Yeah, but aliens?"
"Rainbow Dash wouldn't lie about this!" Ditzy Hooves said sternly, standing besides Dr. Whooves.The doctor threw her an approving smile, and Rainbow Dash couldn't help but do so as well.
When Ditzy had first joined the militia (soon followed by a clearly agitated and disapproving Dr. Whooves), Rainbow Dash couldn't help but worry that her ditzy behavior and clumsiness would be nothing short of a pain, and perhaps even be dangerous. However, Ditzy quickly proved that when she REALLY wanted to, she could handle herself well. She had even become quite proficient with the crossbow despite her strange eyes. Despite all this, what Rainbow Dash was really impressed with was the cock-eyed mare's loyalty to an old friend from flight camp.
"She's right," another pony said. "Rainbow Dash wouldn't just lie for attention like that." He turned towards the white mare with an annoyed expression. "What's gotten into you?"
"You said you didn't know what these aliens looked like?" Dr. Whooves asked, a look of worry upon his face.
Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow at this, but nonetheless quickly lowered it and said, "No, I didn't." She threw them all a serious expression, before turning to Iron Hooves. "May I give a battle plan? I know their weapon capabilities best."
He nodded, a slight hint of approval in his eyes.
Rainbow Dash then turned back to the crowd. "Alright, the plan is simple. We stay out of the forest and keep watch on it from about a hundred yards away. Space out to cover as much of the tree-line as we can and make sure to stay behind solid cover. No trees, obviously, use the rocks and boulders littering the area and stuff like that. If they attack in one area in particular, we'll send reinforcements to it."
"We could send scouts into Everfree," Iron Hooves suggested. "See what they might be planning."
Colonel Mustang shook his head, "It's too risky for the scouts, and there may not be time now."
"I agree. They seemed to be fairly accurate with their weapons and as I've said, trees aren't good cover," Rainbow Dash said. "Unicorns, your roll is support and artillery. Stay in the back and use your respected magics to the best of your capabilities. Make shields for anyone caught in the open, though be advised weapon fire from them will make them difficult to maintain. Teleport anyone out of harms way who looks in trouble, and-"
She paused a second. Was fear going to get the best of her? Was she about to order them to do whatever it takes to keep the town safe, even if it meant killing what could be sentient opponents? They were a powerful foe, with ranged weapons unlike the Changelings. Trying to target their legs, or whatever they had, to take every one of them out in a nonlethal manner could be impossible. She sighed inwardly. Never before had her element pained her so. She then turned back towards the crowd,
"Use your offensive magic to take out as many as you can. You might have to go all the way."
A unicorn opened her mouth. "By that you mean-"
Rainbow Dash nodded solemnly. "This is likely an opponent that won't show mercy. Trust me on this, they aren't Changelings, and they seem quite powerful."
She then turned to the pegasi, "Same goes for crossbow users." The earth ponies were next to meet her gaze, "Earth ponies, this is likely going to be a ranged fight. You might have to stay out of this one."
"We could try to get in close!" Big Mac complained. The rest of the earth ponies murmured in agreement.
Rainbow Dash sighed. "You can still help. Bring water and ammo to those who need it and help out with the wounded."
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Dr. Whooves sighing in relief.
"Alright, Rainbow Dash," Big Mac said, "Whatever you think is best."
The rainbow-haired mare nodded. "Alright everyone, the princess will be here any second. We might not even have to do any fighting, but if we do, remember that Ponyville is depending on us."
"Prepare for battle!" Iron Hooves barked.
Rainbow Dash loaded another crossbow bolt. She then lined up her target, but neglected to shoot. Instead, she found herself lost in thought. She had always respected the military, but taking lives just... wasn't her. She quickly snapped out of it, turning her attention back to target practice.
She took aim at the bullseye, this time making sure to adjust for the breeze more accurately.
Rainbow Dash, Air Guardian. She chuckled slightly.
The young flier then fired a shot at the the target. It whizzed threw the air at untrackable speeds.
What a crazy thought.
A poing-like sound filled the air as the arrow hit the target dead-center. She grinned widely at it, loaded another bolt, fired another shot....
... And again, made another bullseye.
She let out a silent cheer. She had this down pat! Now all she needed to do is test out her skills in combat! She could totally sink one under pressu-
The thought was halted.
A gust of wind blew by, ruffling her mane, and it whispered to her a self-revelation.
She glanced at her crossbow, observing its features, design and purpose. And though she cringed at the latter, she still respected what else it represented.
Her... a soldier. Why could she see it so well?
Rainbow Dash gazed at the forest's edge, using the top of a large rock to support her crossbow as she held it with her wings. Behind her, Ponyville was silent. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie had passed by a second ago, saying they were still in the midst of trying to convey the word that everypony was to stay in doors. Apparantely, they had done their job. Still, she wished Twilight wasn't sleeping. If there was anyone the town looked towards for leadership in times of crisis, it wasn't the mayor or Rainbow Dash, it was her. Things always went smoother with her around, and her magical abilities would have come in handy in this situation.
The aliens had still neglected to show themselves, and Rainbow Dash was beginning to wonder if she let fear get the best of her. What if the aliens really were just trying to keep them away from their ship? She paused, and then shook her head at that. No, why try to kill them... There were other ways to deal with that situation then that.
A beat.
Kill them.
It then hit her. She was actually in a life or death situation. She had gone up against monsters and even the Spirit of Chaos, but this was the first time she knew her life actually in danger. Sure, she had come close to meeting the reaper before, but they usually came out of nowhere and passed quickly. She never had the sense of dread she did now. She was really beginning to hope the aliens weren't actually planning on attacking the town and were just acting defensively.
Another minute passed, but seconds were beginning to turn into hours for her. She glanced around. The Pegasi militia were spread out along the forest edge about fifty yards apart from each other. The earth ponies had taken their positions a bit further towards the town, ready to assist when needed, and the unicorns were both hanging back or on the front lines with the pegasi. It then struck her, the pegasi were pretty much the bulk of the defense. It couldn't have been more proper, they were once a mighty race of warriors after all. She smiled slightly at the role she once played as Commander Hurricane, leader of the ancient tribe of her people.
Nearest to her were Ditzy Hooves and Colonel Mustang, and if there was ever a morale booster it was that. Mustang was the text-book definition of disciplined, professional soldier. He didn't know as many spells as Twilight, but he was far more capable in combat. His battle spells, the most impressive of which consisted of flinging an exploding ball of flame, were something to be reckoned with. Hopefully, the aliens would be susceptible to it if nothing else, though a small part of her hoped they wouldn't be. Rainbow Dash herself had a few tricks of her sleeve, though. She wasn't going to be completely reliant on her crossbow.
She gazed back at the treeline. "Where are you..." she whispered hoarsely.
As if to answer her, a flock of birds flew out from the tree canopy a few meters into the woods. Afterwards, a few frightened dear galloped out. Squinting, she could barely see dark figures moving towards the edge of the trees out of the deep. This was it.
The line of militia remained silent, as they were under orders not to make a peep until the order to fire came. Iron Hooves wanted to 'Catch the bastards by surprise'. Rainbow Dash double-checked one last time to make sure her crossbow was loaded properly before squinting down its sights.
However, it seemed the aliens had other plans then to be caught off guard. A fury of the same lights Rainbow Dash had seen before came screaming out of the woods from all ends along with their familiar loud zapping sounds. Panicked, many a pony shrieked at the sight before ducking as they slammed into their cover with a thunderous chorus of bangs. One came flying towards Rainbow Dash's own cover, and reacting on impulse she ducked herself, praying that the weapon-fire wouldn't be able to eat through it. Fortunately, this wasn't the case.
She glanced up after a second only to notice another lance of light coming right for her. However, this time she caught a brief glimpse of its origin. Though she couldn't take in much details, what she saw was enough. Standing at the edge of the forest and holding a strange looking narrow rectangular-device with its wings was none other then a black pegasi. She was so shocked she nearly forgot to duck.
What in the name of Celestia was going on? When she pictured an alien she had always seen them as some sort of strange tentacle monster or other untrinity like sight, but here was an alien, a hostile alien at that, who looked just like herself. Were they even aliens after all? If they weren't, where did they come from? Where did they get that ship, those weapons? She shook her head, trying to break her chain of thought. No matter what the alien ponies were they still meant them all harm. But when she had rallied the militia, she had never expected to be fighting fellow ponies. She never wanted to hurt any of her own kind.
She popped up out of cover after the light-bolt whizzed over her mane. None of the militia were opening fire, apparently just as shocked as her about their opponents identities, but the aliens, or whatever they were, were certainly not so concerned about them. She could see more of them now, earth ponies with a small gray boxes attached to sides of their heads with a glowing red lights in the middle of their fronts. They also had some sort of thin, semi-transparent circular disks held in front of their one of their eyes each by a small contraptions attached to the other side of their heads.
She could clearly see the boxes were made for producing those strange lights, but whatever the disk was for was beyond her. She saw more pegasi as well, and was now certain that the strange rectangular objects they were holding were also capable of producing the same thing as the earth pony devices.
Unicorns were amongst them too. They wore a jagged set of coal-black armor with a strange symbol on it she had never seen before, and from it stemmed a wire that seemed to actually be attached to their horns. They were not producing the lights as she had seen with the other two races, but were instead using magic, magic more powerful then she had ever seen before save for Celestia's. To her horror, she saw one produce a solid red beam that blew apart the solid rock Ditzy Hooves was behind. The cock-eyed pegasi shrieked, flew backwards, and tumbled a few feet before standing up and then limping back towards the militia earth ponies.
Dr. Whooves' yell could be heard even from her position. "Ditzy!"
Her eyes flew open wide when she saw a few of the aliens take aim at the defenseless pony. This couldn't be happening. Nonono... this couldn't be happening. Ditzy was going to die. They were all going to-
"Rainbow Dash! Fire your weapon!" Colonel Mustang yelled.
With that, she snapped out of it and glared at the alien ponies. This was no time for doubt, she had to try to protect Ditzy. She was going to protect Ditzy. With new found determination, she took aim at the nearest alien.
It was here when she noticed their eyes. If there was anything alien about these ponies, it was them. They were as coal black as their hearts and featureless. It was like they had been gouged out and replaced with black ink. Rising from them were two streams of smoke, the same color as their origins. If she didn't see their spaceship, she would have thought they were dealing with demons. Perhaps they actually were.
Demons or not, their strangeness wasn't going to distract her any longer. With a growl, she fired her crossbow, not even bothering trying to hit her new enemies in the legs. Mustang joined in with a jet of flames whose heat she could feel even from her position. Her crossbow bolt struck the wing of the pegasi she was aiming at and caused it to drop its weapon, and the sound that emanated from its mouth when it did so nearly gave Rainbow Dash a heart attack. It was as hideous as their eyes, the shriek of a banshee. What in the name of all that was holy had they gone up against?
Around the same time, Mustang's spell had made torches out of the two others who were about to shoot at Ditzy. Their shrieks combined with the one Rainbow Dash had hit nearly deafened her. However, to her shock, and to her horror, they didn't even bother to retreat into the woods or try to put out the flames. Instead, they looked as if they were still trying to aim their weapons, but their bodies just wouldn't let them.
It was a sickening sight to say the least, one that she was sure would haunt her nightmares for the rest of her life. Nothing deserved that kind of death, nothing. She wasn't even sure she could ever look Mustang in the eye again if they survived this. How many people had he done this to in the past? How many living fireballs had he created in his time? She wanted to puke. She wanted to do anything but continue to watch them burn, but she couldn't take her eyes off of it. That's when she remembered Ditzy.
Panicking, she gazed back towards where she last saw the cock-eyed mare. She never inwardly sighed so hard in her life when she saw her behind a helpful unicorn's shield. Fortunately, the aliens didn't seem to be giving her their attention anymore. Instead, they were now turning to attack the two ponies who had caused their first casualties. She ducked as a barrage of lights flew towards her and struck her cover. Sweat dripped off the young mare's face as she wondered if her rock was going to be able to hold up much longer.
She heard a few cries from some ways down the line, cries she never wanted to hear again in her life. Ponies were beginning to die. Her friends. Her comrades. She hoped to god that Fluttershy and the rest of soul companions were safely in town. She wanted to punch herself for making them stay indoors and not evacuating. She didn't want her friends to be watching this, but if they were, she hoped they wouldn't come to her rescue. Please let them run. Even when her mind wasn't in panic mode, she faced the very real fact that they could very well lose this battle. The aliens were everything they were and then some. They were superior. If Celestia didn't show up soon, there may not be a Ponyville left to sav-
-NO, she couldn't think like that. She was Rainbow Freaking Dash, and no aliens, or demons, or anything were about to take down Ponyville with her protecting it.
At this point she was beginning to feel something rising inside of her... something primal. She felt the sudden, unexpected urge to sink another crossbow bolt into another alien, this desire not coming from anything her conscious mind could demand, but from deep within, and she did nothing to stop herself. Gritting her teeth in grim determination, she snapped another bolt into place, popped out of her cover, and fired. If this was the feeling a mother bear had when she was protecting her cubs, she never wanted to run into one in her life.
In town, Applejack watched the battle from the balcony of the library. She was joined by the rest of her friends including Spike. Fluttershy was weeping, while the rest gazed on with a mix between solemn and horrified expressions. Other then the former and a few gasps and cries, nobody had spoken a peep since the beginning. Finally, it was Applejack who broke the silence, her disgust at the whole situation finally driving her to it.
“They’re down there fighting while we just sit here and watch, it just aint right,” she growled. “We need to do something.”
“I know,” Spike said, “But what can we do? We don’t know how to fight!"
“Big Mac’s down there givin’ support. We can do the same thing.” She shook her head with a sigh, “I can’t believe I left him down there alone.”
Rarity gave Applejack a gentle nuzzle with a sympathetic smile. “I’ll go with you. I’m sure I can make myself useful somehow. Rainbow Dash and Big Mac would do the same for us.”
Applejack smiled at her, “Thanks, Rarity.” She really meant it. Despite her somewhat prissy nature, something that had sometimes driven Applejack off the wall at times, Rarity would never let her friends down just to keep her hooves clean. If there was anything to admire about the generous pony, it was that. She then turned to Fluttershy. “What about you, Fluttershy?”
The shy pony silenced her weeping at the mention of her name, and then gazed out at the battlefield. A moment went by before she turned back to Applejack, her eyes no longer filled with just sorrow and fright, but determination. “I-I can help with the wounded.”
Applejack then turned to Pinkie Pie. Her normal bouncy attitude was gone for now, and her mane had lost its usual curl. Applejack could tell this was hitting her almost as hard as Fluttershy. She would be losing a few of her friends this day.
“Pinkie Pie?”
Pinkie Pie remained silent for a moment, before saying, “I’ll do what I can,” without even gazing at the farm pony.
Spike sighed. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, but I can’t just sit here.”
Applejack gazed at him with a determined smile. “Then let’s help our militia kick some alien tail.”
Rainbow Dash was pinned down. Every time she tried to rise to shoot another streak of light came her way. Around her, the militia line was starting to crumble as the aliens advanced. Panicking, some of the militia had turned tail and ran, the lucky ones being protected by unicorns but the unlucky ones.... she cringed at the thought. Mustang held his ground however, and he and her were now the only two left in this sector. She counted five aliens nearby, and she was almost certain they were trying to circle the two. Luckily, Mustang had managed to hit the alien unicorn that had blown apart Ditzy's cover, leaving the rest to have to do things the old fashioned way.
She was actually somewhat surprised they had held out this long. The alien's had weapon technology ponies could only dream of, yet the battle had lasted more then five minutes and not five seconds. However, more and more aliens were arriving from their ship, and it would only be a matter of time before they were overrun. She silently thanked Celestia that their vessel was disabled, because if it wasn't there would likely be nothing to stop the extraterrestrial menace. Hopefully it was the only one they had near their planet.
"Rainbow Dash! To your right!" Mustang barked. Rainbow Dash quickly turned to where he was pointing, and to her horror she saw an alien pegasi aiming at her. The damned thing had circumnavigated her cover. As fast as lightning, and gritting her teeth, she brought her loaded crossbow to bear on the menace. They both fired at once. Rainbow Dash rolled to the left, making sure she was still behind cover, while the alien stood motionless. If she had more time to aim and adjust for the wind, she was sure she would have made the shot, but to her misfortune the crossbow bolt did not strike the alien, she had missed. Meanwhile, the jet of light sailed right through where she just was. The alien adjusted its aim, its black, soulless eyes gazing upon her as it gave her a cat-like grin
Rainbow Dash braced herself for impact, as she wouldn't have time to roll again. Her element had led her to her death. She would die for her friends. Her eyes flew wide as the alien pushed what she guessed was the firing button on her weapon-
-but it never made it down. Rainbow Dash's eyes flew wide as Applejack entered from nowhere and sent two muscle propelled hooves into the alien's side. It toppled over, letting out its banshee-like shriek.
"APPLEJACK! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" She screeched. Panicking, and not thinking, she lifted her head above her cover and noticed the other four aliens were now aiming at her exposed friend.
It was at this time she heard a ferocious growl. She turned her head and noticed Colonel Mustang had broken cover. He was now charging the aliens, wind kicking through his long, red mane. "Get the hell out of here, kid!" he growled, looking towards her one last time. He turned his head back towards the aliens and began mustering a spell. Rainbow Dash could barely hear his last words. A solemn, silent and stoic, "For Equestria."
In his last act, Colonel Mustang roasted two of the extraterrestrial menaces. He attempted to jet to the left when he was sure the aliens were going to fire, but they seemed to anticipate the move and adjusted their aim at the last second. Rainbow Dash could not bare her gaze elsewhere when the familiar zapping sound of their weapons filled the air.
"Come on, Sugarcube!" Applejack yelled, biting down on Rainbow Dash's wing and attempting to drag her away, but Rainbow Dash could not avert her gaze until Applejack threw a hoof at her cheek.
That got her attention.
She turned her head towards Applejack, her eyes filled with anguish and rage.
Applejack then took a deep breath. "Come on," she said solemnly.
As fast as they could, they began making their way back towards Ponyville. The unicorn support and and earth ponies had fallen back now along with the rest of the militia. The two friends were now completely alone. However, they didn't make it too far before streaks of light were streaming over their heads. She took a quick glance behind her. The alien ponies were advancing on them. It wouldn't be long before one of their shots meant their bodies.
"Combat is something to be as feared as it is to be respected. You will gain things from it, but you will also lose things from it. Whether its more of the former or more of the latter is up to the individual. Never forget that, kid." Mustang had said to her.
She was beginning to wonder if she would lose it all this day.
Authors note: Thanks Firefinder for the idea about the Pegasus :). I never considered that before as part of her motivation and I hope you don't mind me throwing that in.
Torrents of deadly streaks of light flew by Rainbow Dash and Applejack as they made a mad run towards Ponyville, being chased by the five aliens who had previously killed Colonel Mustang. One blast flew into the dirt right behind Applejack, sending a flood of soil every which way. Ahead of them was a small creek they would need to wade through, the bridge being too far off. Out of the corners of her eyes, she could see the rest of the aliens were nearly within the town's reach.
Rainbow Dash turned towards the farm pony as she ran. "K-Keep moving! I've got this." She threw her a somewhat forced cocky grin. Applejack saw right through it.
"A crossbow aint gonna make a lick of a difference against five of em'."
"You forget who you're talking to."
She threw Rainbow Dash a stern look. "A pony who's about to get herself killed. Common, we're nearly there."
When they closed in on the river, Rainbow Dash turned towards Applejack. "Why don't I just fly us across?"
"It'd just make ourselves a target. Plus, I think it might just give us the edge."
"Huh?"
They hit the creek with a splash, and lucky for them it happened to be one of the more shallow sections. They then began trotting across, forced to a slower speed than before. A few more light blasts flew over their heads and into the creek around them. The heat from them boiled the water where they struck, kicking up a multitude of steam. Applejack smiled, the aliens had just unintentionally given them an advantage. She then tugged at Rainbow Dash to strafe right, and the rainbow-haired mare complied with a nod. Concealed by the steam, the aliens continued to shoot where they thought the ponies still were, only for their fire to fly far from where that actually was. After about thirty seconds of crossing, they made it to the other side, Applejack sighing in relief when they did so.
The relief did not last, however, for the main alien force was beginning to form a line that extended around the perimeter of the town nearest to Everfree. Applejack knew immediately what they were about to do. They didn't even need to go from house to house, slaughtering everypony. All they had to do was sit there and blast the town until it was rubble.
She then heard a loud shriek from one of the aliens. A cascade of the familiar zapping noises their weaponry made followed. With wide eyes, Applejack watched as a torrent of weapon fire slammed into the buildings on the outskirts of town, their wooden structures not doing any good against it. She could hear screams as the denizens of them began to evacuate, looking for any safer place to go to.
She then heard a splashing sound, and realized the five aliens pursuing them were beginning to make their way across the creek.
Applejack began to turn to Rainbow Dash. "Common, we've got to get to-" However, she was no longer there.
Rainbow Dash hadn't flapped her wings so fast since the the wedding in Canterlot. She flew high in an arc, gaining the attention of not only the five aliens previously chasing her, but also that of some of the aliens surrounding the town. Soon the sky was being filled with weapon fire and magical blasts, though they could barely keep up with her. She smiled at this. Despite their technology they still seemed to be limited by their own shooting abilities. When she was high enough in the air that her mane grazed low flying clouds, she began arcing downwards. There were about fifty aliens below surrounding the southern area of the town. She aimed for the densest pocket of them and sailed towards them, her eyes beginning to tear after a second.
She could have swore she saw one of the alien pegasi gasp before she struck the ground right besides it, kicking up a magnificent mushroom cloud of rainbow. About ten aliens were sent flying in all directions. Exhausted, she gasped for air as the mushroom cloud settled, and to her shock more aliens were already beginning to surround her. They aimed their weapons at her and fired, but their hits didn't strike her. Another shield had surrounded her yet again, only this time it was blue. The aliens continued to fire at it, but despite all their efforts they could not break through.
Twilight awoke to the sound of a loud bang. A million different questions then entered her mind, and most were answered when she stepped out onto the balcony of her bedroom. A large rainbow-colored mushroom cloud was dissipating among a group of ponies with strange looking devices attached to their bodies. She knew immediately what had caused it but could not see its originator, the dust still being a bit thick. However, something else soon caught her attention, it descending from the skies above the town. A slight smile crept on her face.
Fluttershy was inside Sugarcube Corner, it serving as a temporary medical ward. Pinkie Pie was busy serving whatever food she could to wounded militia with Rarity helping out. The shy young pony had just finished fixing a broken leg when she heard a loud bang. She cowered at it, earning an odd look from the militia member, though she soon regained her composure. Following it came the shriek of another alien. The familiar zapping sound of alien weapons then filled the air.
Applejack had made it further into town. She twirled around when she heard the shriek of an alien and prepared for the worst. The line of aliens surrounding the town fired again, but this time their lasers did not strike any buildings. Instead, they struck a magnificent blue shield that encased the entire town. She gazed up, wide-eyed, and saw Princess Celestia descending from the heavens. The calvary, no pun intended, had finally arrived.
"Stay away from her, foul spawn of the void!" a very loud, very angry, and very royal Canterlot voice shouted from nearby Rainbow Dash. She spun within the shield to face fuming Princess Luna. The aliens turned their attention towards her, but before they could fire at the angry lord of the night she had made a split second teleport to inside her own shield.
"Princess Luna!" Rainbow Dash practically squeaked with a smile, "Man am I glad to see you!"
"The feeling is mutual," she said, returning the smile. Her face then quickly regained a serious composure. She turned and glared at the alien menaces nearby, "You have risked much to trifle with Equestria. Be gone from here and never return!"
They merely glared back. One actually shot her a grin and stuck its tongue out.
"Hmph!" Luna said. "Very well, we shall not pity you when the time for reckoning has come!" She narrowed her eyes. "And that time is soon at hand."
With a flash, the two teleported away and back to town. They arrived atop Town Hall, gazing at the beating Celestia's shield was taking by continuous alien weapon fire. Rainbow Dash couldn't help but think it looked somewhat pretty, as every portion hit flared with a brilliant light. They gazed up at the sun princess, who didn't seem to be overly exerted. Luna then turned towards Rainbow Dash. "Stay here, my friend. My sister and I shall deal with these beasts." She began to take off, but she was soon interrupted by her mortal friend.
"Wait, Princess. Do you know who these guys are?" she asked curiously.
Luna paused for a second, before glancing at Rainbow Dash and saying, "It's not something that would be prudent for discussion."
Rainbow Dash looked at her oddly as she flew to join her sister. It was obvious now that the royalty knew something of these aliens, but what exactly was it? Had they made contact before, only for it to be covered up from the public eye? If so, why? She shrugged the question off, gazing at the royal pair intently.
Celestia nodded towards Luna as she joined her side. Her face was calm but a bit anxious. She gazed out towards the woodlands, where a large, white earth pony was making its way towards the shield. It wore a golden set of armor with an ornate helmet, though its eyes were still as coal-black as the rest of its kin. It looked at Celestia with a blank expression on its face before letting out a small shriek. Immediately, the rest of the aliens held their fire.
Luna turned towards her sister, a shocked expression on her face, "Oh my... is that-"
Celestia shook her head sorrowfully, "It is..."
The pony in golden armor beckoned for the two to come towards it. Celestia and Luna gazed at each other warily before making their way down to the edge of the shield. The golden-armored alien made its towards them as well, and him and the two princesses stared each other down, both parties separated by the shimmering wall. Princess Celestia made a quick glance around her to see if nopony was near before turning her attention back to the alien who stood before her.
Twilight Sparkle watched intently as her beloved mentor, and her key to answers began walking towards what she assumed were the 'aliens' surrounding the town, one wearing golden armor in particular. How these aliens looked anything like ponies was beyond her, though she assumed that creationist ponies would be able to answer that question right away. They believed that pony life was created by a higher power, and if that was true perhaps whatever had created life on Trinity may have created life on other worlds. For once, Twilight shrugged off her desire to debate herself as to what the explanation for the alien's forms were. Instead, she turned her attention back to her beloved mentor.
Eager to find out what they were about to discuss, Twilight made a rather sloppy teleport down to the ground below outside of her treehouse, her still a bit weak from earlier. Nonetheless, she quickly trotted over towards where the two Princesses stood. As she drew near, she was beginning to make out the start of a conversation.
"Princess Celestia." the alien spoke, its voice a hoarse, winded sound. "We thought this would get your attention."
The princess glared at it. "What are you doing here, Wraith? Why have you taken those bodies of all things? Did you hope to infiltrate us?"
Twilight cocked an eyebrow at this. Princess Celestia knew who they were? From the sound of it, they appeared to be some sort of parasitical entities, which could help explain the unusual eyes the alien ponies had. However, they had only crashed a few hours ago, or so she thought. She was still a bit disoriented after passing out and couldn't exactly make out how long ago that was, exactly. The aliens obviously hadn't taken anyone from Ponyville, or she would have been able to recognize the 'hosts', and there weren't any other settlements nearby. Would they have had time to taken hosts from somewhere else?
Despite her urge to ask Princess Celestia for answers, she soon surmised that maybe it was best for her to keep quiet. If the princess knew who they were and never had spoken of them to Twilight in all her studies with her, nor had she ever had her knowledge of them recorded down for the archives in Canterlot, perhaps the Princess didn't want most ponies to know about them. She gazed about for a hiding spot, and soon found it in, sadly, the rubble of a wooden home that had taken the brunt of the aliens' 'blaster' barrage, as Rainbow Dash had called them. She made her way into it, making sure to check for anyone hurt. Fortunately, it seemed whoever was in it had left. She then perked an ear up for the rest of the conversation.
"We took them by chance, and we just happened to be the ones who were selected to undertake this task."
"How unfortunate for you," Luna growled. "You probably did not realize there was a Terran starship in system, did you? It's only a shame they weren't able to finish you off." Celestia shot her a look for that, but Luna held her ground, the anger in her voice ever apparent. "For the lives you have taken here today, we will be sure to purge you from your hosts and-"
"Spare us the idle threats," he snapped. "We're here for the Orb of Trinity. Bring it to us or we will lay waste to Canterlot and kill anything in our way." In the taunting tone of a child he continued with, "We know it's there."
Twilight's ears perked at the last two remarks. She knew full well what the Orb of Trinity was. It was a transparent, weightless, and forever hovering sphere that occupied a space in Canterlot's Museum of Oddities. It was said to be older then Celestia herself, older then even Ponykind, a relic of some forgotten people who had turned to dust long ago. When she was younger and ready to tackle the mysteries of the world, she spent a lot of her time ogling over it and trying to ascertain its purpose. However, like many who she assumed came before her, she never was able to figure that out.
Terrans, however, was a new term to her. Were they another race of aliens Celestia knew about, perhaps enemies of these Wraith? She now had another thing to ask Princess Celest-
She paused, her eyes flinging open at a horrible thought. What if Princess Celestia was determined to keep the existence of alien life a secret? What if she performed a memory wipe spell on the entire town?! She dreaded that outcome of the situation. Despite the horrible things that happened that day, she was sure that learning about alien life would be one of the most interesting study topics in her life. She shrugged off the thought and returned to paying attention to the conversation.
"What do you want that for?" Celestia asked, a hint of suspicion on her tone.
The alien's face became blank, it paused for a second before saying, "It, along with other objects of its kind are releasing a particular kind of magical energy across the cosmos that is harmful our kind."
Celestia raised an eyebrow with an unconvinced expression. "Is that so? Why didn't you try to make peaceful contact with us, then? If you know of me and my sister, you would know we wouldn't wish harm upon anyone."
Luna glared at the alien. "Except for people who screw with my loyal subjects!"
Twilight cocked an eyebrow at that. Luna had picked up some colorful language in her time back.
"Luna!" Celestia snapped.
Luna quickly twirled towards her sister. "Did you see the corpses lying in the fields near Everfree?!" Luna spat. "These creatures are as ruthless as they are callous!"
Twilight nearly died inside when she heard that. She knew some sort of battle had taken place, but despite the voice in the back of her head saying otherwise, she had managed to convince herself that everyone in the militia had made it away safely. Apparently, that wasn't the case. She worried for her friends, especially Rainbow Dash. She had seen the Sonic Rainboom she had created earlier, right in the midst of the extraterrestrial's ranks. She could only pray that the aliens took prisoners. Celestia opened her mouth as if to say something, but quickly shut it. Twilight threw her a sympathetic glance. She knew how much her mentor cared about her subjects. Any deaths today would pain her as much as they pained Twilight.
The creature stared at them blankly once again, "Amusing. We did not contact you because we did not know if you'd listen. Tell me, if your entire being was throbbing with agony, would you not do whatever it took to-"
Before it could finish, the pony paused, a confused look spreading upon its face. Without warning, its coal-black eyes returned to those of a normal pony's, startling the princesses, his expression changed to one of panic. He glanced at Celestia with pleading eyes. "P-Princesses!" he gasped.
Twilight did the same. The sheer horror in his voice chilled her to the bone. Had this poor pony been trapped within his own body?
"Prince White Lancer?" Celestia said, her voice filled with a mix of relief and sorrow. "What happened?! When did these Wraith-"
Twilight's cocked eyebrow cocked even further. Who was this prince she had never heard of? Was Celestia keeping some strange secret star fleet that he was in charge of?
"N-No time." He said. "Do not let it have the Orb! Him and his kind are planning to-"
"It's not very prince-like to interrupt like that." the Wraith said, glaring at nobody in particular. Twilight couldn't help but feel a bit of rare hate for the parasite at that. It then turned towards the princesses. "I suppose you won't be bringing it to us, then?"
"Not in your life," Luna spat. "And now there's new business to discuss. We had always believed the mind of a Wraith's host was rendered null. However, this changes things. You and your kin are to leave their Dragan hosts immediately!"
Another new term for Twilight to wonder about. Were the Dragan what these 'host' ponies called themselves?
"Then who shall be our new ones?" he said, before turning towards Ponyville and grinning wickedly, "Them?"
Twilight's eyes widened at this.
"You wouldn't dare!" Celestia barked.
It chuckled darkly, "I wouldn't waste my time with pathetic, worthless, backwater hosts like them unless I was on my last limb."
"That can be arranged," Luna growled menacingly.
"I'm sure it could. Now then, let's see just how long you can maintain that shield of yours..."
"Light it up!" the golden armored colt barked, backing away from the shield. "Bring that thing down!"
The alien ponies quickly complied, unicorns shooting beams of energy at it and the rest firing their laser weaponry. The shield was once again bathed in fire. The golden-armored pony gazed coldly at it. The magic possessed by the creatures on this world had proven to be weak so far, likely because they didn't augment it like their own hosts did, the ones whose cruiser they had taken over. Just a few shots from their weapons were able to bring down Trinity ponies' shields, and only one of their Unicorns had been able to lay a scratch on them offensively.
However, he doubted that their leadership's magical abilities would even draw close to the pitiful abilities of their subjects, him having previously extracted from his host's mind information about them. Apparently, they were divine, immortal entities who had taken it upon themselves to lead a peace-loving nation on ponies on this world. However, if they were powerful enough to hold up a shield against them, why were the royal ponies simply not going on the offensive? What were they waiting for? Perhaps they weren't all that powerful and were relying on reinforcements arriving soon. He smiled at this. If they feared taking them on, then they could be killed.
The Wraith soon quickly devised a plan, grinning as it did so. They would take down the shield, kill those who powered it, and with them out of the way easily be able lay waste to Canterlot. Though they didn't stand a chance at taking on a larger military force, they might still be able to conduct a raid and complete their mission before they were all killed. They had only lost three of their kind and had killed over fifteen of the natives after all. Casualties were not a problem as their hosts were expendable and their parasites wouldn't mind spending months paralyzed to complete their mission. If they could pull it off successfully, they need not risk another ship.
He then formed a contingency plan. If the native's reinforcements arrived before then, they would retreat into the woods and use their ship's point-defense weapons to deal with them. Fortunately, those systems were still operational. Hopefully, that would not be necessary.
The flashes of light from weapon fire hitting the shield nearly blinded Twilight, though her eyes soon adjusted. The first thing she made out when sight returned to her was her two princesses working together to keep up the shield, their expressions surprisingly calm. She leapt out of her cover and made her way over to her mentor, hoping there was something she could help with. Celestia's eyes widened at the sight of her prized pupil, but nonetheless Twilight could still sense relief in them.
"Twilight! I'm so glad you're alright!" she said. "Spike told me you had fainted."
"It was a close call, but Rainbow Dash saved me in the nick of time," she said, smiling slightly.
Luna then chimed in with, "I am glad to see you unharmed as well!"
"It's been a while, Princess Luna," Twilight said, before sorrowfully adding, "I just wish you could have seen Ponyville again without it looking like this...." She gestured solemnly towards some of the ruined houses around her.
The Princess of the night shot her a sympathetic smile, "A month's worth of effort from the Royal Canterlot engineering corps and a new coat of paint and your town will look as good as new."
Celestia nodded, "However, before that can happen, we're going to need you and your friends to wield the Elements of Harmony once again."
Twilight threw her mentor a puzzled expression, "Why do we need the Elements?"
Celestia sighed at that, "I have a lot to explain to you." She then gestured towards the aggressors. "You see the ponies out there? Their strange eyes? I've known of them for a while. They are infected by strange, parasitical beings of dark mystical energy called Wraith."
"The foulest beasts of the cosmos!" Luna chimed in with a growl.
Twilight sighed, throwing Celestia a guilty look, her ears retreating behind her head., "I-I know."
Surprisingly, Celestia did not answer with a look of anger or even disappointment, she merely said, "I suspected you were ease dropping."
"Y-You did?" Twilight stammered.
Celestia took a deep breath, "I was going to explain many of the things I know when you were older anyway, and the reasons why they must be kept secret, but it seems that fate has forced my hand," she said. "The universe is more then just Trinity and Equestria, Twilight Sparkle. There are horrors and wonders in it beyond either of our comprehension. Now, it seems that former has opted to pay us a visit, and I do not know exactly why."
"The Orb of Trinity..."
Celestia nodded, "Yes, they claim that it is harmful to them, but they seem to have more sinister reasons for wanting to be rid of it. The Orb dates back to an ancient race that once occupied this planet millions of years ago, so long ago that even I do not know of its true purpose."
"How do the Elements fit into all of this?" Twilight asked.
"The kind of creature that once infected myself and the ones who infected these ponies before you are similar." Luna said solemnly.
Twilight's eyes widened, "You want my friends and I to free their hosts, don't you?"
Celestia nodded with a mix of a solemn yet approving expression on her face, "You are ever astute, Twilight."
"Who are these ponies, exactly?" Twilight asked. "The Dragan you called them?"
Celestia took another, deeper breath, "Thousands of years ago, before the civil war between myself and Nightmare Moon..." Luna threw her sister a guilty look at that, but Celestia nonetheless continued, "...a group of five great adventurers discovered ruins of the ancient raced I mentioned before. There, they discovered a map leading to an artifact of immense importance to their culture. Gathering the greatest minds of their generation, as well as a small force of soldiers for their protection led none other by a distant relative of Commander Hurricane herself, they set out to find it and eventually made their way to the land of the Zebras."
"It was that far away?"
Celestia nodded, "You must understand, Twilight. This race occupied the entire planet, not just a nation. And they had more then one; thousands from what I know."
Twilight's eyes widened at that. Thousands of planets?
"What happened to this race?" she asked, her voice growing more curious by the second. Despite the fact aliens were currently besieging Ponyville, she could not focus on anything else but the conversation at hand.
"Nobody knows for sure. All I know was that the expedition eventually disappeared as well. Saddened, I set out to find out what had happened, but I found nothing. The Zebras seemed to be as baffled as I. However, I did eventually find the artifact they had sought after, but appeared to be inert. It was nothing but a small, blue sphere sitting atop a decaying pedestal. Only many centuries later did I find out what it truly was, a quantum transporter."
Twilight lowered her eyebrows in confusion, a quantum wah?
Celestia seemed to notice this, and replied with, "A quantum transporter is a device this ancient race used to travel between the worlds in their-"
"Hey Twilight!" A very perky voice called out from behind her, forcing Celestia to shut her mouth.
"Pinkie?!" She said in a releived tone. She turned around to not only see her, but Rainbow Dash and the rest of her friends. "Rainbow Dash!" She cried, running over to her with a joyful grin on her face. She gave her a quick nuzzle while saying, "By Celestia am I glad to see you!"
Celestia smirked in amusement.
Rainbow Dash returned her friend's smile with her own while rolling her eyes slightly, "Good to see you too, Twi, but uh... you know hugs and kisses aren't really my thing."
Twilight chuckled slightly before backing away from her, "I'm sorry, I just didn't know what happened to you out on the field. I'm just glad you made it out safely."
Rainbow Dash sighed, gazing out into the empty fields beyond the shield with eyes set in the past, "Not everyone did..."
Twilight frowned sorrowfully, along with the rest of her friends. There would be a lot of mourning to do after this was all over. But for now, they had each other, and that was all they needed. They could ignore things for now, and Pinkie Pie was always a decent distraction.
"That shield is soooo pretty!" she beamed. "It's like a giant blue bubble!"
Applejack chuckled at that, smiling affectionately at the pink pony, "Glad to see you back to normal, sugarcube." Applejack then turned towards the princesses, "So, uh... your highness, these aliens..."
Celestia gazed at Applejack warily before saying, "I'm sorry, I know you must have a lot of questions, but I cannot reveal much."
Twilight shot her a somewhat disappointed look, but nonetheless remained silent. She then turned to Fluttershy, "How are the wounded doing?"
Fluttershy stroked a shy hoof on the ground before saying, "Well... we patched up most of the them but... there weren't that many in the first place..."
Twilight knew what she meant. The alien weaponry wasn't likely designed to simply disable their targets...
Rainbow Dash sighed deeply at that, looking away from the loving pony. She then regained her composure before turning to her friends, "Well, let's not let their sacrifices be in vain. Let's get out there and kick some alien ass!"
Luna quickly turned towards her, a stern but sympathetic look on her face, still maintaining the shield as she did so, "Your chance will come soon, Rainbow Dash. We will need you to wield the Elements of Harmony once again."
Fluttershy gazed out of the shield warily, "Y-You want us to go up against them?"
Rainbow Dash brought a hoof to her face, "Ugh, common Fluttershy, not this again. We're going to be fine, the Princesses will have our backs."
The shy pony gulped before turning towards Rainbow Dash, "B-But we've never taken on anything like these things before. Even the dragon... at least he was willing to talk. He didn't just come out and try to-" a few tears formed in her eyes, "-try to-"
Rainbow Dash's face contorted into a mix between guilt and sorrow at this. She quickly made her way over to Fluttershy and hugged her, "Hey, it's alright," she sighed, gazing back out onto the battlefield she had previously fought on, "Besides, on second thought, after this I think I'm done fighting."
Fluttershy sniffled before gazing at her friend with hopeful eyes, "You mean it?"
She nodded, "Yeah."
Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight could see smile creep on Celestia's face with the warmth of the sun. "Very well," she turned towards Luna, "Can you hold up the shield for a second?"
Luna nodded, and Celestia soon mustered a spell, her horn growing blightly. In all their glroy, the Elements of Harmony appeared before her hooves, the saviors of Equestria and the single most powerful objects on Trinity, and Twilight was about to use them once again.
Celestia then turned to Fluttershy, "Do not worry. You should be able to use them behind the shield. No harm will come to you."
Fluttershy smiled slightly at that.
Twilight gazed at the Elements. She sighed deeply before lifting up her crown-thingy with telekinesis."Well, let's get this over with."
The golden-armored pony watched with grim apprehension as six of the Trinity ponies began to don strange trinkets that not even his host's mind knew of... either that or he was hiding it from him. He growled, hating to be in the dark information wise. Was this some sort of weapon? If only the auxilery cargo bay of the Dragan cruiser wasn't damaged. If it wasn't, they would be able to bring out the mechs and other heavy ordinance the Dragan kept. He was sure it would make short work of the royal pony's shields. Before he could think further, something interrupted his chain of thought.
"Your time is up, Wraith." A voice chirped inside his head. It was White Lancer, his host.
"Keep your annoying mouth shut, Dragan" The Wraith growled.
"I'm not saying anything with my mouth. No worries, though, you won't have to deal with me much longer." The voice taunted. "You really should have done your homework before you decided to take our ship on a little visit to the true homeworld."
"Chide all you want, but in the end no matter what happens oblivion awaits this world along with the rest."
"Always so dramatic."
The Wraith shrugged. "It's what I do, but nonetheless it's the truth."
"You still have many orbs to go." The voice growled..
The Wraith chuckled darkly, "And only this backwater world knows we're hunting them."
"They could contact my people...."
"Probably not, because everyone who knows we're hunting the orb will soon be dead.."
The Wraith could practically 'feel' the voice smirking, "For one it's everypony, and for two you're about to let your arrogance get the best of you..."
"Oh shut up with your bastardization of the Terran's language alread-"
"Hey Wraith!" one of the ponies called from behind the shield. It was the annoying cyan one who had been a pain-in-the-ass to his forces earlier. He glared at her before making his way forward. She and the rest of her five friends were now all wielding the strange trinkets.
"Have you come to reconsider not giving us the orb?" he sneered. One of her friends, a yellow pegasi cowered at his voice. He smiled inwardly at that... she would make a decent host. Weak. Frightened. Vulnerable...
"Not in your life, you freaky space ghost!" the cyan pony spat. "We're just willing to give you one last to get out of those poor pony's bodies!"
"My kind cannot live in this galaxy without hosts." he growled, "We won't be leaving, and unless you want to die I hope you have a plan to stop us." he then smirked at what they were wearing, "Do you plan on throwing me a fashion show?"
The cyan pony struck a hoof into the dirt at that, "These aren't for any-"
The lavender pony threw her a look. He smirked at that, the cyan pony had just given him information. They were some sort of weapon, or so it seemed, though he did not know of what type. Hopefully, whatever it was would have to be used outside of the shield where his kind could take a shot at them.
"Well, go ahead then. Strike me down. The host will feel everything I do before we both kick it."
The cyan pony smiled at that and nodded towards her friends with a confident smirk. Soon afterwards, the lavender one's horn began to glow brilliantly, and white sheet of light soon began covering the six. He could see a smile creeping on the purple pony's lips as well. What exactly was she doing?
"Time to say goodbye, Wraith. I can't say it's been fun...." White Lancer chided.
"What are you talking about? You'll be gone and I'll enjoy paralysis for a few months. Big deal." he said inwardly.
"Actually, it'll just be the latter."
The Wraith's coal-black eyes shot open wide at that as the six ponies before him's eyes began to glow a brilliant white. Soon afterwards, White Lancer revealed to him a memory....
The young prince stood in the middle of the circular bridge of the Dragan cruiser Holy Winter , it holding steady somewhere in interstellar space. Crewmen of all three races of ponies stood around him, standing near various computer consoles lined against the walls with neural interface devices attached to their heads. With them, they could control the ship without even needing to raise a hoof. Out the helm viewscreen a brilliant blue nebula shined before him. He smiled, somewhere within that nebula was the adopted homeworld of the Dragan, Mariok, the capital of the Dragan Monarchy. However, being captain meant it didn't take long for something to ruin a good mood.
"Sir," a comms officer reported. "We've just received interesting news from Equestria."
Equestria. That was a word he never wanted to here. It was a land ruled by their coward of a goddess who wouldn't lift a finger to help her lost subjects in need. If he had it his way, he'd take every ship in the fleet to conquer the world and claim its resources.
"Let's hear it." he grumbled.
The comms officer cleared his throat, "Our mole in Canterlot has reported that Princcess Luna of all people has returned to the throne."
White Lancer lifted an eyebrow at that. Princess Luna? He had heard of that name in only myths. She was his 'goddess'' banished sister, the one who had tried to shroud Equestria in eternal night, as unnatural and strange as that sounded to him. Why his former goddess, or goddesses now it seemed, saw it fit to manually control their solar system was beyond him. He soon hrugged off the thought and began to ponder the implications of her return.
"Perhaps she can persuade her sister to come to our aid..." he said before grinning slightly. If the princesses were only willing to join into their war against the Terrans, the Dragan could give them the technology they would need to utilize their vast resources and population to create and crew a star fleet. They would also gain the rest of the magnificent wonders the Dragan had at their disposal. It would take a few years, but in time it would be well worth it to both parties.
The vast amount of magical artifacts and advanced magic users on Trinity could also come in handy. Over time, the Dragan had begun augmenting their magical abilities with technology. They still didn't understand how it worked exactly, magic that is, but they could enhance a unicorn's horn's ability to channel it. Unfortunately, this usage of technology was beginning to dampen natural magic ability. If they could augment some of the Equestrian's users with it.... magical users who would be more powerful then a Dragan without technology.... He smiled, the Terrans were always soft against it.
"No sir, that doesn't seem to be the case." And once again, his mood was darkened. "On an interesting note, it appears that the Elements of Harmony were used to return Princess Luna to normal."
"So they aren't myths either?"
"Aye, Captain. It appears they were able to actually rid her body of some sort of curse, possibly a parasite."
The memory had only lasted a second for him, but it was all it took for the Wraith to be put into a state of shock. So it was those stupid little trinkets that had rid Princess Luna of the rogue agent of their kind. And if they could rid Nightmare Moon....
A beat.
He gazed upon the Element Bearers in horror. They were now hovering in the air and surrounded by a brilliant orb of white. Their weapon was about to activate... The irony of it sickened him. Nothing he had previously known of had been able to free a host from his kind's presence, not even the advanced technology of the Terrans, and now these backwater little ponies were about to do just that.
"It appears you know what this weapon is capable of," Princess Celestia said. "I offer you one last chance."
The Wraith glared at her, but after a second he began to chuckle. Celestia cocked an eyebrow at this.
"Hehehe, but you still don't know anything about me. White Lancer was a fool for revealing the information he did.
"What are you-." The voice paused in horror, "N-No!"
The Wraith led out a piercing howl, one intended for all of its kind to hear. It wasn't about to let any information of its plans be spread to these ponies. While they didn't have time to leave their hosts, they did have time to kill them, sending themselves into a state of paralysis. It may take them a few months to recover, but it was better then nothing.
The Wraith smiled smugly at Celestia, "You're only delaying the inevitable, you know. We are legion, for we are many. The song of the stars in this galaxy shall soon be squelched.
Immediately afterwards, every Wraith-infected pony began shrieking. Their coal-black eyes soon faded back to normal before they rolled to the backs of their heads. Soon after, every former pony on the field began to fall over, their breathing having stopped. Twilight Sparkle's jaw hit the ground. The Elements powered down.
Even the birds in the forest seemed to grow silent at this.
..
...
....
.....
.......
On the edge of the forest, a single Wraith invisibly floated above his former host's pegasi body. It had been clipped by two crossbow bolts, rendering it useless, and while his brothers had begun pounding the the energy shield that had come up around the nearby town, he was busy demerging from the creature as it slowly died. However, it seemed to not make much of a difference. He heard the call for the mass 'suicide', but having just gotten out of his former host's body as it died, he did not need to join them, and now he was all alone. He looked towards the town. The black wisps (that only he could see) that were his kind's forms hovered above their former hosts, scattered before the great magical shield, inert and paralyzed, the shock from their host's death being too much for them. They would be stuck like that for several months.
Their mission was now a failure, but not all was lost. He soon struck out towards the nearby village. There was bound to be a good host around somewhere...
Canterlot
Three Days Later
For Twilight, the train ride from Ponyville had been nothing but a giant interview session. The line, "Oh my gosh! Is that Twilight Sparke?!" had become the number one greeting for her, with "Hey! Weren't you the one who fought against those aliens?!" coming in second. That's all every conversation had been about. Aliens, aliens, and guess what? More freaking aliens. It was driving Twilight nuts. While any other time she would have been happy to talk about it, she had just gotten done helping to bury about thirty alien corpses, catalogue their technology, and bury and mourn for fifteen militia members all while dealing with the abrassive army ass who was in charge of the whole process. She would give anything to have her mind off the whole situation for just one second.
True, Luna was also there helping out in Ponyville, but she was only the night shift. The poor princesses weary eyes told her that she was giving more then just that though. In the meantime, Celestia had shut herself in her castle, dealing with some sort of secret business and refusing to address the many questions that were being thrown at her, such as where in the heavens did aliens come from that looked just like ponies on Trinity. What a big coincidence! She almost wished the army had been able to cover up the incident, but word had gotten out to fast. The fact that an alien ship now rested in the Everfree Forest was all over her nation now.
Twilight was about on her way to meet with Celestia about the topic, and though she was extremely interested in what her mentor had to say, that meant more discussion... of freaking aliens. She felt slightly guilty about this. Her friends were back in Ponyville already helping with reconstruction while she was about to be exposed to the universe, in all its glory, and apparently, all of its horror.
Twilight had decided to read a book on mythical creatures on the way, what she thought would keep her mind off the situation. About halfway through, Spike, who was sitting next to her in the main car spoke up, "Hey Twilight, we're here!"
Twilight took a deep breath. It was time to find out what exactly had fallen out of the sky on that fateful night three days ago. When she stepped out of the train, it was midday. Despite what had happened in Ponyville, Canterlot was pretty much its normal busy self save for all the chatter she heard about their extraterrestrial visitors. As she made her way to the palace, it seemed like on every street corner there was a paperfoal shouting about it.
"Extra extra! Canterlot Science Society to hold special meeting on the implications of alien life! Skies being carefully searched for more signs of invaders!"
"Princess Celestia continues to withhold comment on the situation! Read all about it! Princess Luna asks for populace to remain calm!"
Sir Fancypants and Princess Cadence to hold a fundraiser in the Royal Gardens for the victims of the space pony attack!"
"General Warfield releases official statement on chances of withstanding a full invasion! Get your Canterlot Times here!"
Twilight sighed at that. She really was in the dark as much as everyone else. She had no idea if the parasites controlled more ships or if they were going to strike again soon. She didn't even know how their first ship was shot down except for the fact that 'Terrans' had something to do with it. She wished Celestia had more time to elaborate about who they were, as well as more on the Dragan, but as soon as the attack ended she believed it was urgent to return to Canterlot, and Luna didn't seem to think it was right to reveal information without her sister's consent. She could only hope that if there were more of these Wraith on the way Celestia could do something about it.
Unfortunately for Twilight, people seemed to think she had the answers. Twenty terse conversations with people on the street about what she knew and her roll in the defense of Ponyville later and she and Spike had made it to the Royal Palace. She had sent a message to her brother to see if he could meet her, but unfortunately he said he had to be at some sort of important meeting of military minds. Gee, what could that be about?
On that note, military presence in Canterlot certainly wasn't lax. There were as many soldiers and guards posted at every corner as there were right after the Changeling invasion. She wondered what their purpose was, as spears and swords certainly couldn't thwart an alien ship.
"It kind of sucks Shining Armor can't meet us," Spike commented as they made their way up the great stairs to the palace's entrance. "You haven't seen him since the wedding, have you?"
Twilight frowned and shook her head, "No, unfortunately not. It seems Cadence is busy tonight with that fundraiser as well."
"There's probably going to a ton of Canterlot elite there!" Spike said, "If only I could have escorted fair lady Rarity to it... she would have loved it." Twilight could practically see hearts forming in his eyes, forcing her to roll her own.
When they reached the door, two guards quickly slung pointed spears downwards in a cross position, blocking their path. "Halt, nobody is to enter the royal palace until it is confirmed they are... uncompromised."
Twilight raised an eyebrow, "Are you searching for Changelings?"
"Not just Changelings." He then gazed at her intently. After a second, his expression laxed. "Hey, wait. Aren't you Twilight Sparke?"
Twilight forced a smile. Great, more people in her fan club. "Yep, that's me."
"I thought so too!" the other guard said. "Hey, was it true what's being said? Did the Elements really take them out?"
Twilight sighed, gazing away from him, "Not exactly."
The guard threw her a sympathetic glance, "My apologies miss, I won't talk about it if you don't want to. I know what happened there must be tough."
Twilight nodded. At least someone understood that it wasn't something she wanted to just blab about.
"We'll let you in in a second, we just need to scan ya really quick," the first guard, a unicorn said. His horn soon began to glow brightly, and soon after it a sheet of blue light shot out of it. It ran over Twilight's body, and after it was finished the guard nodded, "All clean." He then turned towards Spike and scanned him as well. "Dragon's clean too."
Spike shot him an annoyed glance, "The name's Spike."
The guard simpered, "My apologies. Anyway, you guys can go through." They lifted their spears at that. "If your looking for Celestia though, nobody really knows where she is."
Twilight raised her eyebrows, "What! You mean she's missing?"
The guard shook his head, "Nono, she's in the palace, we know that. However, she seems to be spending her time in some sort of hidden section not even we know about. Occasionally she'll pop up for food and to walk the grounds, but that's all we see of her." He paused before adding, "I've never seen her so tense. You're her student right? Hopefully seeing you will relax her a bit."
Twilight sighed, "I hope seeing her will relax both of us, thanks for the information. I think she knows we'd be here around this time so hopefully she'll find us."
The guard nodded, "Hopefully. Good day, miss."
Twilight nodded at him before her and Spike made their way into the Palace's extravagant commons. Scattered about it were many different creatures, most not even ponies. She saw a medium-sized dragon, a few zebras dressed in extravagant foreign robes, a stressed out looking gryphon, and that was just the start. She guessed they might be foreign dignitaries here to discuss the alien issue. Obviously, they weren't just a threat to Equestria alone.
She then made her way to the throne room, and Celestia was nowhere to be seen.
"I hope Celestia remembered we were coming." Spike said.
Twilight turned to him. "With all that's going on, I wouldn't be surprised if she forgot. I mean, it's not like giving me information is the most important thing she has to deal with right now." She sighed, "If she did forget and is in some secret area of the palace though, there's no way we're going to find her. I hope this trip wasn't a waste of time."
"Well, at least there's Doughnut Joe's to look forward to." Spike said. Twilight shot him a look. "Hey, at least it's better then coming here for nothing." he grinned.
Twilight sighed, "What do you think, Spike. Do you think there are more alien ships on the way? Those Wraith seemed pretty intent on taking out the orb..."
Spike raised an eyebrow, "I thought you didn't want to talk about aliens."
Twilight shrugged, "Might as well, it's what everyone else is doing."
Spike shrugged, "I dunno Twilight. I'm in the dark just as much as you are. I'm actually sort of surprised Celestia is willing to trust me with information."
Twilight smiled at him, "She's known you just as long as me. You're a trustworthy little guy, Spike."
Spike blushed slightly, "Yeah, I guess."
As if on cue, Celestia suddenly teleported before them. Gazing her over, Twilight decided the guard wasn't lying about her being tense lately. Celestia's eyes seemed to be somewhat bloodshot, and her fur was unkempt. Despite this, she could still afford her favorite student one of her care-free, warm-as-the-sun smiles. "My faithful student. Welcome back to Canterlot."
"Thanks for having me princess," Twilight smiled, "But like I said in my letter, if you have other things you need to do... don't waste your time on me."
"Nonsense, no time with you is time wasted." She said.
Twilight's smile widened at that.
Spike simpered slightly, "Um princess, I wasn't exactly sure if-"
"My faithful student's assistant is more then welcome to share in the knowledge I'm about to give." Celestia said. "Now, if you two could stand by me."
The two nodded before each standing on the opposite side of the princess. After a second, her horn began to glow. With a flash, they teleported out of the throne room. Another flash of light later, and Twilight found herself standing in a small square room with no noticeable entrance. It was bathed in a strange blue light of unknown origin, the gray walls glinting the same color. The only feature of the room was a small pyramid attached to the ceiling and a strange, rectangular device on the other side of the room lined with small cubes.
Twilight gazed at the device curious before turning towards her mentor, "Where are we, princess?" she said.
"A room meant for communications and information." Celestia said. She then smiled, turning towards her pupil and her young assistant, "You'll probably get a kick out of this. I always do."
Her horn began to glow again, and soon enough she was manipulating the cubes on the rectangular device. Twilight surmised they were actually buttons. Soon after, she could hear a small whirring sound coming from the pyramid on the ceiling and she turned her attention to it. After a second, the room became completely black. However, it didn't stay that way for long.
All around the young mare, small, transparent, and brightly lit orbs of various colors, mainly blue, red, and yellow popped into existence. There were fifty in all, all spaced a bit of a distance from each other. Twilight stared at them in awe before she approached one curiously. Squinting, she could see small, barely visible tinier orbs orbiting the larger ones. It suddenly hit her what she was looking at. Apparently the theories of the astrophysicists in Canterlot were correct.
"Princess, are these-"
"Stars, Twilight." The princess said. "These particular ones belong to our local cluster."
Twilight continued to gaze upon them all dumbfounded before turning back towards her mentor, "H-How are you showing me this? I've never heard of this kind of magic before."
Celestia shook her head with a slight smile, "It's not magic, Twilight. What you see before you were created by a piece of technology called a hologram projector. It's somewhat like an advanced film projector."
The young mare was taken aback by this. How in the world did a film projector create three dimensional images?She shrugged off the question for now. Hopefully her mentor would let her analyze the device. She then continued to look about the room with the wonder of a filly. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Spike was taken aback as well. After a moment of ogling, she noticed something unusual about one of the orbs. "Princess, why is this one moving?"
The princess gazed at it, "That is our own star, Twilight. Out of all in the heaven's it is the one that means the most to me, for it and I are forever bound."
Well, she wasn't the goddess of the sun for nothing. Still, Twilight wondered what made their own star so special, and why it was manually controlled. She wondered if she should ask the princess that question, but soon turned against it. Twilight moved closer to the particular orb, and gazed at another tiny one it seemed to be orbiting. Celestia then manipulated the buttons on the gray box once again. The orb their star was orbitting began to grow in size. Their star grew in size as well and was pushed backwards towards the walls of the room before it disapeared entirely. They had zoomed in on the smaller orb from what it seemed.
Immediately, more details on it became apparent. She noticed brilliant blue oceans on it and great continents of green, swirling clouds of white obscuring parts of them. So much for the theories on Trinity being flat.
"I-is that us?" Spike asked, pointing at it in disbelief.
Celestia nodded her head, "That is Trinity, home to billions of forms of life, as well as home to us, our friends and family, and the the place where their ancestors have lived and died. I myself have enjoyed it for thousands of years. I've watched it shape itself, and I've watched us shape it. This small pinpoint of light in a sea of nothing. Our oasis in the desert, and something worth caring for. Remember that, my loving student." The star map zoomed out again, this time much much further then last time. "However, it isn't the only thing of value in the universe." It then zoomed out so far that thousands of orbs appeared, then millions.
Billions.
Finally, it zoomed out far enough that a very familiar shape could be seen. It was a spiral galaxy. Twilight had seen concept images of them in her astronomy books, and she was astonished to find out that they seemed to be very realistic in depiction.
Celestia walked away from her keyboard and gestured to the magnificent formation before her, "This is the Milky Way Galaxy. Home of home. It is approximately one-hundred thousand light years in diameter, a light year being nearly six million miles. Over two hundred billion stars inhabit it.
Spike's eyes widened, "So... many... zeroes."
Celestia chuckled before pointing to a particular section, "Our solar system is located in this section." She then pointed away from it to the other side of the galaxy, "Remember the Dragan I was talking about? The quantum transporter brought them here."
The star map zoomed in on a planet, or a moon in this case, orbiting a larger planet of swirling red clouds. Twilight recognized it as well; it was a gas giant. Their own solar system had one in it, and it had been observed by telescopes before. However, she never thought she'd see one in such detail.
"This moon was once the pinnacle of those who built the transporter's civilization, and it happens to have the right conditions to sustain pony life, as was fortunate for the expedition. However, it wasn't the only gift fate had in store for them. After generations they began to tap into the technology that was left there by the ancient ones. Within five hundred years, with the help of it, they actually developed the means to emulate some of the former race's glory. Twisting the universe's laws to their will, they became able to travel between stars quickly by the means of a device called a hyperdrive."
Twilight's jaw nearly dropped at this, Spike's jaw as well. All this time, ponies had been living across the galaxy, had been travelling the stars. Why had she never known of this? Why wasn't this public knowledge? And better yet, why had their fellow ponies not shared their technology?
"They searched for Trinity for many years, but before they could find us... they found someone else."
The star map zoomed in on another planet a distance away, orbiting a bright yellow star.
"This is Earth, the homeworld of the Terrans, or humans as they sometimes call themselves. As many great wars and sacrifices have happened here as have many magnificent acts of good will and charity, its inhabitants being one of the most complex creatures there are. Some are as ferocious as a thorn beast, while others as placid and kind as your friend Fluttershy. Unfortunately, this means many among them have an affinity for war, some believing it is the means to their survival. Sometimes they are right, sometimes they are wrong."
"So... the Terrans made contact with the Dragan?"
Celestia nodded, "Correct. Five hundred years ago in fact. At first relations between them were peaceful, but as the Dragan analyzed the Terrans they began to grow paranoid of their warlike nature. After a small border war occurred, peaceful relations had all but been shattered. Eventually, both races discovered another planet formally belonging to the ancients filled with a treasure trove of technology. Both sides claimed the planet, and both sides feared the other having it and gaining a technological edge."
The star map zoomed over to this particular planet. Various other, much smaller, geometric shapes orbited the world. Rectangular shapes and smoother circular shapes seemed to be shooting at each other with similar lights Twilight had seen the aliens used before, laser fire as it was soon called by the scientific minds of Canterlot.
"It was here the Great War began, a war that lasts to this day."
Twilight eyes widened, "How is that possible?!"
"I wish it weren't, but the thing about interstellar war is that it tends to spawn more casualties then regular warfare. Sometimes it spawns enough terror that both sides back down, but other times it spawns enough hate that it never ends. Territories were lost and recaptured, ships destroyed and rebuilt, and lives lost and replaced by vengeance-filled children of fathers and mothers who fell to war. The cycle of war can take time to begin spinning, but once it is it can be hard, if not impossible to halt."
The star map zoomed into yet another planet. "The Terrans did manage to gain the upper hand three hundred years ago, and were a few planets away from being able to invade the adopted homeworld of the Dragans. However, instead of wishing to send millions of troops to their deaths trying to capture it, they decided to send the Dragan a bloody message. Orbitting this Dragan colony, a fleet of Terran ships bombarded the planet from orbit, killing everypony on it."
"W-What?!" Twilight cried.
"No way... nopony could be that evil." Spike growled.
"Do not judge the Terrans so harshly. They would have lost as many troops trying to conquer the Dragan homeworld as ponies lost on the colony."
Twilight's eyebrows narrowed in anger, "No! They could have found another way. They could have signed an armistice! Anything!"
Celestia nodded in agreement, "Perhaps, or perhaps they believed it wouldn't work. It's in the past now. However, what is certain is that this act didn't work, the Dragan did not surrender and it ensured that the two races will likely be at war until they run out of troops to fight with. It was such a heinous act in the Dragan's eyes that they actually renamed their people to that; 'Dragan', which in an older tongue means 'Spirits of Vengeance.'"
Twilight gazed at her mentor with still horrified, but eager eyes. With the tone of a child receiving a good bed time story she asked, "What happened next?"
"Two hundred years ago, the Dragan finally found us. Wisely, they didn't try to contact me in any flashy manner. We were a still somewhat primitive society at the time."
Two unicorns without cutie-marks bowed before Celestia in her throne room, them dressed no different from the rest of the ponies in Canterlot at the time, that being not dressed at all.
"Princess Celestia, it is our honor to once again gaze upon our home nation's throne."
Celestia smiled at them, "Please, bowing is not necessary. You speak as you've been on away on some long trip.Tell me of your travels."
One smiled, "Farther then you could guess, your highness."
"They took me into the woods beyond Canterlot and revealed to me a cloaked starship. I must say, I was quite impressed... unfortunately though it wasn't the first time I had dealt with 'extratrinestrials.' What the Dragan didn't know was that I had known of them for some time. You see, I've been in contact with the Terrans long before them, and through them I learned of the Dragan."
The young mare's eyes widened, "You've been dealing with those... those murderers!?" she practically screamed, forgetting for a second who she was talking to. Celestia actually shot her a stern look, forcing her to back down.
"And it was them that the Dragan begged me for help against! At that point in time Equestria had a population of nearly fifteen million ponies, four times as much as the average Dragan colony, many that could be used in battle. We also had and still have access to magical artifacts our technologically advanced counterparts could only dream of, as well as other types of resources. They were also interested in our magical abilities themselves, there own having been dampened, as well as my own abilities. In exchange they would help upgrade our technology into the space age within five years, but they would need our resources, troops, and other assets immediately. They even offered to allow me to lead our people under one body of rule. If I had accepted, we would be travelling among the stars now, and we would have likely have crushed the Terrans under our hooves."
"We have lost on several fronts, princess! The Terrans are at our doorstep. We cannot hold out much longer! Please! We're begging you!" one of the same unicorns from before pleaded.
Celestia could barely keep her guilt-filled eyes on him, "I'm sorry, but I cannot accept this offer," she said slowly, sorrowfully...
Painfully
"P-Please relay my sympathies to King Hurricane."
The unicorn growled before turning and storming out of the throne room. However, before he left, he stopped at the door and twirled about towards his former princess with a betrayed expression, "You doom us all, you damned coward! I can't believe I ever once worshiped you as my goddess! May you live forever with the blood of millions on your hooves!"
Twilight stood silent. Only after a moment did she choose to break it. "Why didn't you accept the offer?"
"The same reason I didn't accept the Terran's same offer. I wanted our technological advancements to be natural, and most importantly...." she sighed, a small cluster of tears forming in her eyes, "I didn't want the same thing that happened to them to happen to you, my precious subjects..." Her voice then began to tremble, "Equestria hadn't been in a large war in thousands of years, and I would not allow it again! I did not want you to be twisted into creatures of vengeance like the Dragan! I didn't want anypony to watch as entire fleets were wiped out, thousands of lives going with them, or see entire colonies being snuffed out as if they were nothing! I didn't want hatred festering in your hearts when mothers and fathers never came home from the front, only for you to follow in their footsteps to the gates of hell!"
She wiped a tear away as Twilight stepped forward to give her a sympathetic nuzzle. Celestia took a deep breath at that.
"Ponies are such a beautiful, peace-loving people. It was why I found them to be worth saving from Discord, and I didn't want all of that being thrown away, even if it meant me having to turn my back on my former subjects."
"You did what you had to do. However... why did you never tell anypony about the Dragan or Terrans? About what's happening in the galaxy?" Twilight asked.
Celestia sighed, "I sometimes wonder that myself, though I still believe my reasoning is sound. I did not want ponies to sympathize with the Dragan and demand we enter the war to fight alongside their brothers." she paused, before adding "It was for there own good," as if she wasn't trying to convince Twilight of anything. "I also did not think our people had advanced enough intellectually wise in order to be exposed to the bigger picture just yet, nor did I wish to shatter the perceptions of reality many held at the time. It just didn't seem... necessary that they know."
Twilight nodded solemnly, "I think I understand, however I'm still wondering why you wanted to reveal this to me now?" She gazed again at the princesses unkempt mane and weary eyes. "You seem like you're very busy."
Celestia paused a second as if she were weighing something over before manipulating the cubes again with her magic. The star map quickly faded, and the room returned to its normal blue hue. Celestia then manipulated them again.
In the middle of the room, the transparent torso and head of a humanoid creature appeared. Another hologram. She examined it curiously, It looked vaguely like the apes who resided in the lands of the zebras Twilight had read about, only it didn't seem to be covered in fur, except for what sat upon the top its head, though that resembled a short mane more then anything. Covering its torso was a black metallic looking substance, almost as if it were a light set of armor. She guessed it was their version of clothes. She had thought it was simply another image, but the young mare was soon proven wrong when it began to animate, its mouth in particular, as a somewhat deep voice filled the room. She nearly lept back in fright at this.
"Bout freakin' time you called back!" it said, grinning slightly, "Who's the little purple thing? That your student?"
Celestia turned to Twilight, whose eyes were still wide open in shock, "Twilight, this is Emperor Ventus of the Terran Empire... my brother."
Twilight jaw dropped at the sight of the Terran's torso hovering before her, "B-But you- you're- how?!"
"Yeah, I'm starting to think I'm hallucinating all of this." Spike muttered, as dumbfounded as Twilight.
"It's not a dream, kid. Deities are just weird like that. Just talk to my brother and you'll find that out pretty quickly." He laughed at his own joke, causing his sister to roll her eyes.
Celestia turned towards her bewildered student, "We can take the forms of what we need to. However, you're probably wishing for more details then that. The reason why my brother, or brothers actually are leading the Terrans is similar to the reason why my sister and I are leading ponykind. You see, the Discord that my sister and I slew and the one you and your friends slew wasn't really the Spirit of Chaos, it was just a fragment of him."
Twilight's eyes widened at that, "What?! So you mean the real Discord is even more powerful?"
"Yes, but he is no threat to Trinity, not usually. Since the beginning of time the Spirit of Harmony and the Spirit of Chaos have battled on a level of the Astral Planes, the realm where I came from."
Ventus then chimed in with, "Yeah, and every once and a while one manages to score a critical blow against the other. Sometimes it's powerful enough to send a..." He paused a moment, thinking about sometihng before shrugging, "Eh, let's call it a body part of their opponent into the mortal realm." He then paused again, thinking a bit more, "Actually, a body part really isn't the right word it's sort of-"
Celestia sighed before interrupting, "A chunk of the spirit is sent into the mortal realm. Once in a great while that mass intercepts a planet. Anyway, whenever something enters and exits the Astral Planes, those residing in it will know about it. When a fragment of Discord was deemed to be on an intercept path with Trinity, my sister and I were selected to watch it closely and to intervene in the Mortal Planes if things began to look bad. As you know, things did indeed grow bad, so my sister and were forced to intervene on Trinity..."
On the great rolling planes that would one day become the outskirts of Canterlot, two Alicorns confronted the spirit of chaos himself.
"Oh, how nice, visitors from the Astral Plane. Here to see me off?" Discord said smirking. "Well, go ahead then, take me from my beloved chaos. I must say, while it would be fun to mess with a more... hostile species, relativity makes things so much more enjoyable. Taking harmony from these peaceful ponies and turning them on their heads is all the sweeter."
"Spare us the chatter, Discord." Celestia growled. "You are to either leave this world or face oblivion."
Discord grolled his eyes at that. "Oh you're worse then the Spirit of Harmony. I wonder why you never intervene when fragments of him fall to planets."
Luna grinned at that, "Because you haven't wounded him nearly enough for that to happen frequently."
Discord shot her a death glare, "Oh for that you are going to wish you never came to this planet." With a great telekinetic power, Discord literally picked up an entire nearby mountain. "I do hope your stay in the mortal realms has been invigorating," He then grinned wickedly. "...because your trip is about to be cut short."
With a grunt, Discord actually tossed the mountain across the planes and towards Celestia and Luna. He then quickly teleported away. Luna and Celestia raised their eyebrows and mimicked his move by teleporting to safety a mile away, the mountain crashing down upon where they previously stood, shaking the very foundations of the world. Within a moment, Discord had teleported to their new location, throwing them a baffled look, "Wah?! You should be ground horse!"
"Yeah, we can teleport too you know," Luna smirked. The two sisters then looked upon each other and smiled before gazing back at Discord. "Unfortunately for you, Discord, I may have lied about the fact that fragments of Harmony rarely enter the mortal realms. In fact, one of him fell here long ago, though he never saw the need to interfere on this world. Instead, he decided to reside inside six artifacts, allowing him to be summoned when needed. They are called the Elements of Harmony, and we happen to have them on us."
With that, Celestia horn began to glow. Six small rocks with symbols of harmony upon them appeared before her, spinning in the air in a circular formation.
"What is this?" Discord growled, a hint of fear in his voice.
Suddenly, the two Alicorn's eyes began to glow, both of them still smiling. A sudden burst of light then emanated from them before striking the strange looking being that was the Spirit of Chaos.
"Oh that rotten bastard! NO!!" Discord screamed as his body began to turn to stone.
"Unfortunately, this trip was one way for us. We're now stuck on the Mortal Planes for many hundreds of thousands of years. However, it's not so bad. Ponykind needed help getting back on its feet, and my sister and I soon fell in love our precious new subjects. Unfortunately, ours wasn't the only planet a fragment of him has ever fallen to..."
In the blackness of space, a mass of throbbing red energy hovered in the void. However, it was not alone. A planet moved towards it on an intercept path; Earth. Despite the planet's thick atmosphere, the blob of energy seemed to fall through it relatively unscathed before it slammed into the ocean.
Days later, a strange, red, satanic looking figure walked out the sea and onto a beach adjacent to a massive city. He grinned wickedly as his yellow, glowing eyes gazed upon the metropolis before him, eager to wreak chaos upon an unsuspecting populace.
"Yeah, so then it was my brother and I's turn to step up to plate." Ventus said, a cocky grin on his face. Twilight shot him a confused look. Ventus paused for a second before throwing her an embarrassed glance, "Oh, doh,... it's a uh... human term. It has to do with a sport called baseball. Anyway, by the time my brother, Ignis, and I arrived on Earth Discord had already really screwed them over..."
On the streets of New York, chaos was everywhere (more then usual that is). Cars slammed into each other on a secondly basis while fist fights, gun fights, and all manner of other fights erupted on the streets. Across the globe, similar happenings were taking place. Nations had turned on nations, and even brothers had turned on brothers.
Two figures with long, flowing white hair stood upon the Empire State Building with wary expressions, Ventus' eyes glowing blue, and Ignis' a solid black.
"We tried fighting him directly but..." He winced slightly, "Well that didn't work very nicely...."
A glowing, magic sword flew through the air at the satanic figure on the streets of New York, it being held by Ventus, his long white hair flowing in a furious wind. Discord easily dodged the blow before sending a sideways kick at the former god which sent him flying into a nearby building's side. Ignis then took a swing at Discord with his own sword... only for the same thing to happen to him.
"Yeah, like that was going to work," Discord cackled. "Welcome to Earth, by the way. You're just in time for the greatest show in the universe!"
"Then we tried using human weapons against him, their most powerful one being called a fusion bomb, or nuke, it being capable of releasing a tremendous amount of energy. We lured Discord out into the middle of some desert and...."
A massive mushroom cloud of fire and dust erupted from the ground of the Gobi desert, completely enveloping the satanic figure. The two brothers watched from a distance utilizing two pairs of human binoculars, their expressions hopeful. However, as the flames settled, to their horror, the figure of Discord could still be seen. He actually cocked an eyebrow at them.
"Yeah, that didn't work very well either."
Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight could see Celestia facehoofing, causing Twilight to smile slightly. Spike, in the meantime, maintained an incredulous expression on his face.
Twilight then thought of something before raising an eyebrow and turned towards Celestia, "Not to sound imputent, your highness, but why didn't you help them out?"
"A good enough question," Celestia admitted. "Once we entered the Mortal Planes we lost many of our abilities we had in the higher ones such as being able to see anywhere at any time. While we did sense a fragment of Discord entering the Mortal Planes, as well as sense our brothers entering it, we had no idea where they were. On top of that, we were and still are completely reliant on local transportation aside from our teleportation powers, and that has a limited a range."
Twilight nodded at that before turning back towards Ventus. "So how did you manage to defeat Discord without the Elements?"
Ventus sighed, looking slightly away from the young mare, "We didn't...well not until... let's just say he did more damage to himself than we did..."
Nuclear-tipped missiles streaked through the upper-atmosphere of Earth before cascading out of the heavens. Mushroom clouds soon enveloped every city on the globe. As fire rained from the skies around him, Discord laughed manically.
"I'm not going to lie. Some humans can be fairly aggressive, and those aggressive humans sometimes drag other humans into war. Fortunately though, they had managed to hold off using fusion bombs on each other out of fear since their invention nearly a hundred years before." He paused for a second, before saying, "Well for the most part, there was that thing with Japan, but I won't get into that." Twilight raised an eyebrow at that, though she opted to keep her mouth shut to allow Ventus to continue. "Anyway, with Discord's influence it didn't take long for some general to turn the keys. After that, it was all over. Discord pretty much drove the human race, and a hell of a lot of flora and fauna, into near-extinction."
Twilight's jaw nearly dropped, "Discord wiped them out?! How could any weapon be so powerful?!"
Ventus shook his head, "Nukes don't kill billions, it's the dust and crap they kick up into a planet's atmosphere that does it. It blocks out the sun's light and... well... think of the coldest winter you have ever experienced, and then think of it lasting for years."
Twilight shook her head incredulously. "I can't believe it. I'm not sure if I even want to believe it."
"Try being there," Ventus sighed, "However, as horrible as it sounds it wasn't all bad. While Discord got a major power surge from all that, it didn't take long for that power to dwindle once there weren't any humans around for him to force to fight each other. Eventually, he weakened enough for my brother and I to feel we could challenge him directly again."
Radioactive snow fell as the two brothers approached Discord once again, this time in a lonely farmer's field, their swords set firmly in their grasps. Discord threw them a curious expression, brandishing a demonic, jagged looking sword of his own. The Spirit of Chaos then smiled at the two brothers before gazing at the snow falling before him.
"Isn't it beautiful?" Discord said, his voice saturated in child-like wonder. "Chaos is such a lovely thing. Even the universe itself heeds to its call. One day, even the atoms that make up the planet we stand upon will fall to the power of entropy, along with everything else in the universe." He then threw a serious gaze at the two brothers, his voice deepening, "Only then will I truly be defeated."
Ventus rolled his eyes, "Yeah, that or I can send a magic sword up your red ass!" He grinned, "And it's about time if I do say so myself."
"Let's just end him already." Ignis growled.
Discord smirked at that. "Well by all means, 'end' me, though shouldn't you be somewhere scraping chunks of plaster out of you from the last time?"
Ventus threw him an annoyed look, "OK, you're going to need to shut up now."
With that, the two brothers charged towards the demonic figure before them, their blades howling in the wind. They struck at two angles, giving Discord barely enough time to react. A sword clang rang out through the empty field as Ventus' sword was blocked, causing Discord to smirk. However, it was soon cut short. A strange, red mist began to flow upwards in front of his face. He looked down for its source, and soon found that Ignis' sword was sticking through his waist. To his horror, his body began to turn to stone, from foot to head, him screaming all the way.
Ventus smiled at the sight before Ignis comically began attempting to yank his sword from the demonic-looking statue before him. Ventus then sheathed his sword and wiped his palms off with each other before putting a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Hey, just let it go. You probably won't need it again anyway."
"I really liked this sword..." Ignis grunted, attempting to yank it out one last time. He then sighed, giving up on the process before standing up and facing Ventus.
"Common, let's go drop the statue in one of Earth's deepest oceans or something." Ventus said. "We can't afford him ever getting loose. Humans can be a bit... aggressive."
Spike turned towards Twilight with a smirk. "Heh, and you beat Discord with the power of friendship," he chuckled. Both Celestia and Twilight threw him glares, causing him to simper. "Er, I mean... go Harmony?"
Ventus chuckled at that, "Yeah, I guess it was pretty cool. I just wish I had time to come up with a more badass one-liner befor-" Celestia shot him a glance as well, "Right, right. Serious meeting. Anyway, following that my brother and I began rallying the remaining humans together. We uh... hid our true eye color for this. My brother's better with political stuff, so he handled most of this."
As construction crews worked tirelessly to restore Kansas City, one of the least hit urban center's in the world, Ignis stood before a crowd of tens of thousands in the middle of a large park atop a platform behind a microphone, his eyes indeed looking like a normal human's.
"Fellow citizens of the world! Though many of you may still hold hatreds in your hearts thanks to all we have lost, this is not the time for vengeance!"
The crowd let out a large cheer at that.
"The sheer will to survive has brought many of us together, some of you whom just months ago were at each other's throats thanks to the spirit of anarchy that suddenly befell the world! We must not shatter once more! Now is the time to rebuild! Now is the time to progress! All of us as one, less the sins of thy fathers follow us into the future!"
And the crowd roared in approval.
"My brother continued along the same lines in many other cities. Surprisingly, he got pretty awesome results. Fear's kind of weird like that. It can create as peace as easily as it can create war."
Twilight glared at Ventus, "You used fear to take control of them, though, didn't you? You are Emperor after all."
Ventus shook his head, throwing Twilight an annoyed look, "We used fear to unite them, not to take power. Our task was to help the Terrans, and that's what we did, and a freaking good job we did too. Within about twenty years the concept of nations disapeared entirely as the humanity began to merge together under one body of rule. However, I guess we helped too much because the world wanted us to be that body. My brother and I figured two immortal beings could do some good for them, so we accepted. Isn't that the same thing that happened here?"
Twilight turned towards Celestia, who nodded, "More or less. My subjects asked me and Luna to lead them, and so we did and still do."
Twilight sighed, "Well, maybe it was for their own good."
Ventus nodded, "I still have my doubts sometimes if it's right, but hey, we've tried for Democracy before and... nope didn't work. They didn't want it. I'd say it's my good looks and charm, but honestly I think the humans had just gotten used to us. Anyway, about fifty years after the United Earth movement ended successfully, the humans picked up on the fact that me and my brother didn't seem that interested in lady friends in order to spawn a few mini-uses. That and dying. Naturally, some people began to think we were some sort of demons or what they called the 'Anti-Christ.'" Twilight threw him a confused glance, "He's a big baddy in one of their religions," he explained.
"Ah," Twilight said.
"Now ironically the big thing that confused these people was that there were two of us. The main theory that went around was that Ignis was the Anti-Christ and I was his assistant or something. I really really really wanted to screw with them all and reveal my big-ole glowing blue eyes, but yeah... Ignis wouldn't let me."
Celestia shook her head again, facehoofing.
"But yeah, about twenty years and hundreds of assassination attempts later, it seemed most humans finally realized that we weren't interested in bringing about the apocalypse, that was Discord's job. So we went on ruling. A few religions and stuff popped up around us, but we tried to explain we weren't gods. Well, I mean we were demigods but... weren't really at the time. Still aren't. Eventually though they got comfortable enough that I could whip out these baby-blue's once again."
Ventus pointed at his glowing eyes. Twilight blinked.
"Well I think they're cool."
Celestia sighed, "Ventus, I need to remind you that the clock is ticking."
Ventus put on an embarrassed expression again, "Oh right, I'll try to spare the details. So on we went into the future. Ignis handled most things while I helped out where I could. I even got to make a few awesome decrees from time to time, or 'suggestions' in some cases."
Ventus' faced appeared on every television on Earth, him holding a press conference.
"Righto. Uhhh, public speaking really isn't my thing so let's just get this over with. Anyway, I know this is going to come out of the blue but... uhh I would like to issue a new... request. From this day forward, I would like every first-born male to be given a Roman name, because Roman names are really freaking cool sounding. It's not an order, cus that'd be a dick move, but if you do it, I will totally... love you forever. Alright, that's pretty much it. Uhh.... how do I turn this thing off?"
Ventus finished up his story, holding a goofy smile on his face, "Good times."
Twilight gazed at Celestia, who didn't seem very amused.
"Brother, I love you..." She said, "...but do I need to tell them the story?"
"Right, right, no more distractions. Anyway, two hundred years later we had spread out into the Terran's solar system... colonizing pretty much every planet, and we were about to expand farther...."
Before a massive colony ship Ignis stood, his black eyes as dark as any night. A crowd had once again assembled before the Terran leader.
"We stand here today, looking at the ticket to the future. No longer shall the human race look up into the stars and wonder what is out there. Soon, we will know just that, and the answer will be our brothers and sisters! From this day forth, the gates to the galaxy are open! May we go forth into the void!"
And the crowd went wild.
"And so we began colonizing the galaxy," Ventus explained. "It wasn't an easy task, mind you. We meant a few hostile races out there, but they were pushovers compared to the Dragan, not that they were initially hostile...."
Celestia chimed in at that, her voice tense, "I've already told them about the Dragan,"
"And what you did to their colony!" Twilight spat, glaring at Ventus. While Ventus seemed like a decent person, she still couldn't get over the tiny little fact that he had a hand in essentially committing genocide.
Ventus grew silent at that, glancing away from Twilight.
"What, no comment on that?!" Twilight growled.
A beat.
Spike glanced her way worriedly, "Twili-"
"NO!" She snapped, a boiling anger rising inside her. "I want to hear his explanation for this! How could any deity not find another solution to the problem besides a massacre?!" She then glared at him suspiciously, "Or are you as stupid as you sound?"
"Enough, Twilight!" Celestia barked.
Twilight snapped towards her beloved teacher, glaring daggers even at her. She opened her mouth, as if wishing to say something, but soon shut it. She then took a deep breath, wishing she were anywhere but here right now. What had gotten into her? "I-I'm sorry princess, for insulting your brother."
Celestia sighed, before saying, "We can discuss it later."
Ventus then turned towards his sister before slowing saying, "I think this conversation is over for now."
"What about the mission?" Celestia asked.
Ventus sighed, "Well my ship's still shot to hell, so we're going to have to wait for the gunboat to arrive.That battle with the Drag- er, I mean Wraith cruiser really did a number on us."
Twilight eyes widened slightly, turning back towards Ventus, her curiosity overtaking her continuing anger, "Wait, you mean you're the one who shot down the ship that landed here?"
Ventus then gazed at Twilight warily, as if he was afraid of her lashing out at him again, "Yep, that was me."
On the bridge of the Terran Dreadnaught Infinity, Emperor Ventus sat in a rather ordained-looking captain's chair, gazing out of his viewscreen. Before him was the familiar star of his sister's solar system, though he could barely see through the swirling blue, semi-transparent vortex that was hyperspace. He turned to one of his many helmsman, this one who sat in a chair to his right while operating an advanced computer terminal. "Status on the Dragan cruiser?"
"They've just entered Trinity's system. They've still not responded to our hails."
Ventus sighed, "Great, well they wouldn't have taken a cruiser for a friendly visit. Let's see what they're up to."
"Aye sir, dropping us out of hyperspace."
With that, the Terran Dreadnaught dropped into normal space on the edge of the system, Trinity just a small dot in the distance. It was a massive vessel, somewhat rectangular in shape, bristling with missile-tubes and cannons, its hull glinting off the light of the massive star in the distance, the star of its Captain's sister. Its impulse drives flared to life and it began accelerating towards the Dragan ship, now uncomfortably close to Trinity.
The helmsman turned towards Ventus once again, his face with an expression riddled with confusion, "Sir, they've powered up weapons. They seem to be targeting the capital of Equestria. Canterlot, is it?"
"What?!" Ventus practically spat, "Hail those jackasses again!"
The helmsman complied, but again, there was no response, "Sir..."
Ventus glared out the viewscreen. "Power plasma weapons. Target their main cannons and any missile tubes they have. After they're gone target their engines. Fire up point-defenses to take out any missiles that are launched. Make no mistake, protecting Equestria is now our primary objective. Hopefully they'll turn-tail once they see what they're up against."
"Sir, enemy vessel is turning towards us." A helmsman said, practically chuckling, "Looks like they want a fight."
"They're either suicidal or led by the biggest idiot in the Dragan fleet. Fire at will! Plasma first then MAC cannons, you guys know the drill!"
With that, two twin plasma cannons on the bow of the Infinity whirred to life. Particles of light began to gather around their heads before they released their deadly ordinance into the void. Across millions of miles of space the burning projectiles of superheated blue matter flew before they struck the invisible wall that was the Dragan cruiser's shields.
"Minimal damage!" A helmsman shouted.
Ventus' eyes flew open wide, "That shot can take out a battlecruiser's shields! How in the- what the- this is just-" He sighed, composing himself as his bridge crews began to give him looks. "Er, right. Keep shooting then."
The ship complied. Wave after wave of plasma bombarded the Dragan cruiser's shields, them refusing to buckle as they did. In the mean time, the Dragan cruiser began to return fire with its own weapons, ion cannons, blue beams of light that crossed the void to the Terran Flagship in mere minutes. With a ferocious intensity, the ion beams struck the Terran's shields with brilliant flashes of light, rocking the entire ship, and forcing Ventus to catch himself from flying out of his chair. "I thought we fixed the problems with the freaking internal freaking dampeners!" He growled.
"Woah!" A helmsman yelled, gazing at his console in disbelief, "They just took our shields down 10%" The bridge shook again, and the helmsman gazed at the readings with as equal shock as before, "20%!"
"Oh that's just great," Ventus growled, exasperated. "A freaking cruiser on steroids! Alright, begin accelerating towards them at 60% the speed of light. We can't afford to be picky, we're going to have to sink that boat. As soon as their shields are down fire both MAC cannons."
"Aye, sir!"
Ventus smiled at this. Magnetic Accelerator Rounds were worthless against shields, them being designed to repel fast moving matter, which made them practically needed on all ships to prevent the eventual erosion of the hull via small particles when travelling in normal space. Of course, without them the hull was also susceptible to super-heated fast-moving slugs of metal shot out of a coil gun, even more so then they were to plasma. And the faster a ship was moving, the faster the rounds accelerated would be. The only risk to this was that an enemy's MAC round could screw them as easily as theirs could screw them.
The Infinity continued to pound the Dragan shield's, with the cruiser returning the favor with equal ferocity. As the Infinity closed the gap, the expressions of the bridge crew became more and more tense as the Infinity's shields gradually became depleted.
"Sir, the next hit is going to take down our shields!" A helmsman shouted.
Another smirked towards his Emperor, "And our next one will take down there's."
Ventus nodded, "Righto, fire the MAC cannons. Their shields should be down by the time they hit. After that, kindly perform evasive maneuvers so we don't crash into Trinity. Be advised, we're probably going to be hit, but that won't kill us."
"Aye sir, new course plotted."
"MAC rounds away!"
Ventus watched as two streams of molten metal flew across space from the bow of his ship. However, at the same time his eyes widened as two streaks of yellow light flew towards him.
"Looks like they had the same plan, sir! Enemy MAC rounds incoming!"
"Vector?" Ventus asked.
"They're going to hit the bottom of the bow, twenty meters from bottomside."
Ventus nodded, "Right, activate bottomside emergency thrusters, we'll try to dodge the shot."
The helmsman complied, and Ventus felt himself being pushed downwards as the ship accelerated 'upwards.' It wasn't uncomfortable physically... (well it was a little), but it was slightly nauseating. Nonetheless, Ventus quickly shrugged it off before a final ion round struck their shields, sending them into a flickering spasm.
"Shields offline!" A crewman yelled.
"Yeah, we can see that!" Another snarktastic crewman yelled back.
Ventus rolled his eyes, humans and their snark. However, his eye-rolling was cut short as a massive explosion rang out through the ship, sending the bridge shaking again and almost sending him flying out of his chair... again. When he was done with this fight, he was sooo going to chew out the crewman responsible for fixing the dampeners.
"Sir, their MAC rounds just took out our primary weapons! We've also lost the tractor beam and hyperdrive!"
Ventus growled in frustration at this, the thrusters didn't move them quickly enough. However, he was soon distracted by a flash of light in the viewscreen. Their own MAC round had just struck the Dragan ship.
Another crewman turned towards him with, his voice saturated in an ecstatic glee, "Same thing for them, sir! Both their engines and their weapons are offline! They're also leaking atmosphere."
"Awesome!" Ventus shouted, before simpering as his bridge crew once again gave him looks, "Er, I mean, well done everyone."
Ventus turned his gaze back to the viewscreen and watched as the alien vessel, who's orbit was incredibly low, began to be pulled into the planet's atmosphere by the tremendous gravitational pull below. His eyes widened at this, "Uh-oh. Celestia's going to be pissed about this."
"And that's how I saved Trinity from the Wraith!" Ventus said, grinning like an idiot.
Twilight rolled her eyes at that, "Yeah, it was definitely only you. And if you were up there the whole time, why didn't you come down and help?"
"That was my doing." Celestia said. "Him sending Terran troops or coming down in Alicorn form would have complicated an already complicated situation. They might not have even made it in time."
Twilight shot her a disappointed glance at this. If her mentor wasn't so obsessed with preserving her secret, the Terran troops could have saved the militia who had fallen. Celestia seemed to notice this glance and added in, "I'm sorry, my faithful student."
Twilight sighed at this, "It's fine, princess... and again I'm sorry for earlier."
Celestia threw her a warm smile, "I could never be mad at you for long, my faithful student."
"I just wish our weapons had been online at the time. Three words. Pinpoint. Orbital. Freaking. EMP-strike."
Spike lifted a finger, "That was uh... five words."
"Hey, the last one was a conjunction, and it just sounds better with freaking."
Twilight turned towards Ventus. She was still slightly angry at him, but perhaps there was more then there seemed to the planetary bombardment of the Dragan colony. She shrugged off the though before saying, "So, you mentioned a mission. What exactly do you want me to do?"
Ventus smiled at this, "Well, word at the interstellar water cooler seems to be that the Wraith have some sort of evil plan for the galaxy, and their hosts may be able to tap into their minds to learn what this plan is. It just so happens that us Terrans have a captured Wraith in one of our research stations. We'd like you to use those Elements of yours to free him."
The Enemy Within - Part 1
Author's Notes: Before I begin, I just want to thank everyone who's been sticking by this fic since the start. Your support through your comments makes my enjoyment in writing it all the sweeter :). Sorry about the unusually short chapter.
At Battle's End
Ponyville
Fifteen minutes out of a host is all it took. Unimaginable pain.. Need a new host... Need a new host....
Six ponies ahead. Princesses with them....
No. They were too powerful... he needed a weaker host. The six near her... the keepers of some sort of weapon. If he took one of them... he could learn more about it.
By the void the pain!
Not as bad as before... not as bad as before... still not tolerable.
No more of this. No more. Picking now. Yellow pony. Pegasus, like his old host. She would do... would do... would do...
Losing his mind. Going to take her. Forget tactical analysis.
Anything to stop the pain.
Days Later
The last four days of the reconstruction of Ponyville had been hard on Fluttershy. While it was true she had faced death in the path, her animal friends being far from immortal, it didn't make her walks through Ponyville any easier these days. She couldn't help but see the ghosts of the fallen militia who had fallen stood in their usual spots, their usual jobs, only to dissipate into dust when looked upon directly. Those fifteen loving souls had died for their humble town, and Royce Mustang who had died for his country. Not only that, but they had died for her.
Before they had begun using the Elements, Princess Celestia told her and her friends what they were up against. Beings called Wraith, creatures of anger and spite. Celestia than made them swear to keep the information she had shared a secret, and Fluttershy had no issues with that. It was sad, really. She had thoroughly believed throughout her life that a there was warmth in the coldest of hearts, but these Wraith had tested that like never before. She began to wonder about them. Were they always as cold as the void they had come from, or had something twisted them to be that way?
She sighed, standing inside her cottage and preparing give her pet Angel Bunny a carrot to nibble on, "There you go, Angel," she said, forcing a smile before handing it to him.
Angel accepted the carrot with a thankful smile, unusual for the usually picky creature. Fluttershy was a bit thankful for that. Angel always seemed to know when to act kindly when Fluttershy needed him to. She then gazed out the window, the long gone over the horizon. With all that was going on, at least Celestia could still keep up with that. On the table lay a newspaper, a Canterlot Times she hadn't gotten around to reading yet. Snatching it, she made her way to her bed, preparing for a good night's slumber. As she lay the covers on herself, she began to read.
Speculation about the origin of the mysterious visitors has continued to grow, and it seems the Royal Duo knows nothing of their identities. Today, before a crowd of thousands of curious and anxious onlookers, Princess Luna had this to say:
"Neither I, my sister, or anyone else in the Equestrian government has had any contact with alien beings. The identities of these aliens are as unknown to us as they are to everypony. As for why life on other planets may look similar to us, not even the two of us can provide an explanation. As announced before, we ask you to remain calm and not to panic of the possibility of an alien invasion. The alien vessel has been thoroughly examined and it as been determined that it had undergone severe damage before crashing here. Therefore, it is possible it wasn't even their intention to come here at all. It's possible the aliens reacted out of fear when they attacked Ponyville, though nothing can be determined. In addition, no sightings of other alien vessels have been reported nor have our astronomers picked up anything in their telescopes."
In other news on the astronomy end, scientists are still baffled over the apparent disappearance of five celestial objects....
Fluttershy dropped the paper at the last line, falling fast asleep.
...
....
.....
......
.......
.......
"Fluttershy."
With that, the young pony's eyes shot open. She found herself in a dark woodland surrounded by swirling black mist. It seemed similar to Everfree, its trees looking as old as life itself.
"W-Who's there?" her voice echoed.
As she said that, the mist began to congregate into an area behind her. She turned towards where it was moving instinctively, and before formed a creature completely made out of the mist, vaguely pony shaped. On its back and scalp danced black 'flames' of the same substance. With two glowing eyes, it gazed upon her.
"Someone who needs your help," it said, its voice a hoarse whisper.
"Who are you?" Fluttershy squeaked.
"You can probably already tell by my voice."
Fluttershy's eyes widened. "Y-You're a Wraith! W-What do you want with me!?"
The Wraith sighed. "The unfortunate thing about my kind is that we require hosts in this galaxy. Unfortunately, you were the only one I could get to before... well... I'm sorry. Just don't resist, it'll make it easier for the both of us."
With that, mist began to fly off the creature's back. Like an agile viper, it quickly began wrapping around Fluttershy's body. The shy pony screeched at this. This thing was about to take control of her! She was going to become one of them... And he might use her to hurt her friends. Her eyes opened wide as she gasped at that horrible prospect. "No! This is my body, and I have the right to keep it!" she screeched, and a second later her eyes began to glow a brilliant white. A flash of light then emanated from her that shredded and dissipated the viper of mist.
The Wraith shot her an annoyed look, apparently not that impressed. "Hmmm, and judging from some of your memories I thought you'd submit more easily than this," it said, its voice deepening. "This isn't over."
Fluttershy's eyes opened wide with shock. She then shot up in bed with a gasp, gazing around at her surroundings. She then sighed with relief, she was back in her normal room. No Wraith in sight. A second later, she squeaked at the thought of something and quickly made her way to a mirror and... nope, no black souless eyes. She smiled at this, she wasn't a Wraith. It must have all just had been a horrible dream. The stress of the whole situation lately must have been getting to her lately.
A knock came from her window, startling her. She twirled towards it to face Rainbow Dash. The speedster quickly lifted an eyebrow at that. "Woah, jumpy much? What happened, did you have a bad dream or something?"
Fluttershy sighed at this before making her way towards the window and opening it up, "N-No I'm fine." she said, not wishing to put her burdens on anyone.
Rainbow Dash looked at her suspiciously. "You sure? I talk to you about my crazy dreams all the time."
Fluttershy shook her head with a simpered smile. "N-No really, I-I'm fine."
The speedster sighed. "Well, alright. Anyway, Doughnut Joe is in town giving away free coffee to all the workers! We should head over to town square before it's all gone!"
A smile perked on Fluttershy's face, her eyes shimmering in eager anticipation. "Free coffee?"
Rainbow Dash grinned at this before saying, "Free. Coffee. "
For the past few days the Royal Engineering Corps had been in town vigorously working to restore it to its former glory. The Wraith had done a number on nearly half of the town's buildings, but they guesstimated that they'd be fully restored within a month. However, they weren't the only ones helping. The entire town was pitching in a hand. She wondered if Doughnut Joe knew what he was getting into.
With that, two blurs that were Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy sped from Fluttershy's cottage, their persons barely able to be seen at the speed they traveled. Coffee had become an essential commodity in Ponyville since the alien attack. Everyone was working so tirelessly at restoring the town in addition to their own jobs that something had to be sacrificed, and that something was sleep. Fluttershy was barely getting five hours a day recently.
At town square, Doughnut Joe could be seen behind a line of nearly one hundred ponies. Next to him were two gigantic tanks filled with his famous delicious coffee. Rainbow Dash sighed as she made her way to the back of it. "Every time there's something awesome in town, why do I always end up being in the back of the line?"
"Oh dear!" A voice called from behind her. A very weary Rarity entered the scene and made her way towards the two pegasi. "Sugarcube corner is beginning to look lovely right now..." she muttered.
"Oooh! I'm so glad you guys are here!" Pinkie Pie squealed, bouncing up to the trio. She seemed significantly less tired than the rest of them. "Lines are always so boring! But with you guys here it'll be like 20% less boring! And that's totally awesome!"
Rainbow Dash quirked an eyebrow, "Pinkie Pie, have you had your coffee alread-" She nearly facepalmed herself at that. "Nevermind."
"Well lookie here, aint that nice." Applejack said, joining her friends.
Rainbow Dash smirked. "Thought I'd see you at the front of the line."
"Eh, well. Had some work to do on the farm before I came over." Her face then turned serious. "Has anyone read the new Canterlot Times?"
Fluttershy nodded "Y-Yes."
Applejack narrowed her eyebrows at that before whispering, "I can't believe Princess Luna would lie about this. She knew who those Wraith were just as much as Celestia did."
Fluttershy glanced away from Applejack nervously at the mention of them.
"She might be trying to prevent a panic," Rarity commented. "Perhaps she knows they're more of a threat then what the princesses let on."
"Yeah, maybe... but why didn't they say anything about those ponies the Wraith were usin'? They couldn't have been a threat. They didn't even tell us about them!"
"I bet Twilight will give us the sit rep when she gets back," Rainbow Dash said.
"The sit-wah?"
Rainbow Dash sweat-dropped. "Oh, it's a military term. Means she'll give us information. That was what she went to Cantterlot for, right? Hopefully Celestia spilled the beans."
With that, three voices chimed from nearby.
"Hey, Rarity!"
"Hey Applejack!"
"Hey Rainbow Dash!"
The five mares cocked eyebrows and turned towards the easily recognizable voices.
"Sweetie Bell?" Rarity chimed. "What are you- oh no."
The three Cutie Mark Crusaders appeared to have on militia helmets that seemed two sizes their size.
"Cutie Mark Crusader ALIEN HUNTERS!" they beamed.
All five mares sweat-dropped.
"Oh girls..." Rarity sighed. "Where in the world did you get those helmets?"
"Rainbow Dash gave them to us!"
Both Applejack and Rarity shot glares at the young speedster, causing her to simper. "They wouldn't stop bugging me though... besides, it's not like there's any aliens left for them to hunt."
"Oh but there will be!" Sweetie Bell said.
"I betchu that's not their only ship. They probably have a whole fleet coming for us!" Applebloom chimed in.
"And when they do come." Scootaloo put on a cocky grin, "They'll have to get through us to ever touch Ponyville again!" With that, the three Crusaders put on a surprisingly impressive show of martial arts manuevers.
Applejack shook her head in annoyance, "Ugh, girls. You aint huntin no aliens. If they ever do come back, they aint anything three fillies should be messin' with."
"Common Applejack! This is the coolest special talent anyone could ask for!" Apple Bloom said with pleading eyes.
"How can you even gain the special talent without any aliens around to hunt?" Rarity asked.
"Like we said, they'll be back! And when we kick a few alien butts we'll get our Cutie Marks!"
Applejack grunted at that. "No, no ya want. I want yall to take off those helmets and find something else to do."
"And so would I," Rarity said sternly.
"B-But-" Scootaloo cried, turning towards Rainbow Dash. "Don't you think we could make it out as alien hunters, Rainbow Dash?!"
Rainbow Dash simpered again. "Girls uh..."
The three Crusaders gave her puppy-dog eyes. Resistance was now futile.
Rainbow Dash sighed. "When you're older, maybe. Most of us in the militia have our special talent in other things besides... our side job, after all. When you grow up a bit maybe you can join up. However, I just don't think you're at the right age to be practicing... incapacitating aliens."
"Dawwwwwwwwww," the three cried.
"Now, go give those helmets to whoever is watching the armory," Rarity said.
"Fine...." the three grumbled, beginning a disheartened trot away from the scene.
A beat.
Applejack turned towards Rarity, "How much do you want to bet they're not going to turn in those helmets?"
"Mph, I hope they do. I don't want to see my Sweetie Bell practicing to... to kill anything."
"Don't worry, sugarcube. I'm sure they'll be practicing the non-lethal variety of things," Applejack said reassuringly. "I'm more worried about them getting the idea into their heads that they can take on those folks..."
The Enemy Within - Part 2
On the edge of the Trinity system, a great flash of light emanated in the normally dark void as the Terran gunboat Stalingrad exited from hyperspace. On her bridge, Captain Julius Dougan sat, gazing somewhat anxiously at his viewscreen. Normally, Trinity was a system off-limits for Terran ships due to a neutral faction of equines that resided there, a faction with very important connection to his Emperors' sisters, and the last thing anyone wanted to do was piss their Emperors off. However, today something very special was going to take place.
For the first time since there was peace between the Dragan and the Terrans, equines were about to come aboard a Terran starship. Six equines and a dragon for that matter, apparently the latter being a smaller, pint-sized variety. He chuckled at this prospect. Dragons were supposed to be creatures of myth, something made up to scare kids in medieval times on Earth, but apparantely on Trinity them and other mythological creatures were all too real. Why they looked so similar to Earth's mythological creatures was beyond him.
"Sir, we're about five minutes away from Trinity," Navigator Avitus Finch announced, standing at a console perpendicular to the captain, somewhat uncomfortably close.
Gunboats were one of the smallest ships in the Terran fleet, and the bridge's size reflected the ship's size. It was somewhat box-like in shape, nothing special really. His chair sat in the middle of it, a viewscreen stood in front of him, and about five computer terminals lined the walls with crewmen operating them. Luckily, the small the size of ship meant there didn't need to be that many operators cramped in the small twenty by twenty foot space.
"Hail the Infinity . Let's let them know we're here." Julius ordered.
"Aye, sir," Communications Officer Abigail Williams said, quickly typing in a few commands on her console. Immediately, the bridge of Emperor Ventus' Flagship appeared on screen, the Emperor himself sitting in the captain's chair. Despite the fact that Ventus was the more casual, laid-back, and approachable of the two leaders, his presence still sent a chill up the Captain's back.
"What took you, Stalingrad?" Ventus asked, his normal care-free attitude ever apparent in his voice.
"Subspace eddy near the Centauri system," Julius reported. "Sorry sir, our sensors didn't detect it in time to navigate around."
"Nothing you could have done about it," Ventus said, sending a wave of relief through the Captain. "However, this puts us a bit behind schedule. We need to find out what the Wraith are up to, and your package is going to do just that."
"With all due respect, sir, why couldn't we just bring the Wraith here?" Julius asked.
"Too risky. The research facility contains a special cell that can keep the Wraith from leaving even if it's not in a host. It requires a lot of power to maintain, more power than most ships can give. Without that cell the Wraith could jump from its host, and the last thing we need is it transmitting the location of your ship to the other Wraith. I'm willing to guess they don't particularly like being captured. Call it a gut feeling."
Julius smiled at this. "Aye sir, I think I understand."
"Good. As you know this mission is a sensitive matter. Loose lips sink ships and all that."
Julius nodded. "Right, sir."
Ventus then began to type in a few commands on a datapad attached to his chair's arm rest. "I'm transmitting landing coordinates to you as well as an approach vector. Whatever you do don't deviate or you're going to to scare the pants off of a lot of ponies..." He squinted in thought for a second. "Well if they wore pants.... you know what I mean."
Julius stifled another chuckle. "Right sir, we won't."
"Make this happen, Captain," Ventus said, an unusually serious look on his features. "Ventus out."
With that, the viewscreen once again switched back to a view of space, Trinity an ever-growing dot in the distance. Julius sighed at this. It was time to inform the crew what they were doing here, the information of the mission having been restricted to a few trusted officers at this point. He moved his hand to the small datapad resting on his arm rest and typed in a few commands, activating the ship's comm system.
"Attention everyone. By now you're probably all curious as to why we're in the Trinity system, and I'm willing to bet there are about five different rumors floating around about it. It's time to put them to rest. Our mission is to pick up six equines and an escort and transport them to a research station in the Javis system. If you've done your homework, you'll know these ponies are not Dragan and do not want any part in the war or any part in any racist bullshit you may have in store for them. Keep your comments to yourselves, please. Julius out."
The Captain then flipped off the comms system. By the time he had finished his message, they were in high orbit over Trinity. He sighed at that. It was time to get the ball rolling. He then turned to his pilot Jacob 'Joker' Mureau.
"Take us in, Mr. Mureau. Let's see if we can keep silent."
Joker grinned in response. "Right, should I tell ensign Kelly to stop blaring that heavy metal stuff in the cargo hold than?"
"Well I'm not going to ask her to take away her one source of stress relief," Julius said with a slight smirk.
"Yeah, but won't it hurt the pony's ears? I mean, they can hear better than us, right?" Joker asked, bringing the ship into Trinity's atmosphere as he did so. A slight shutter was all that could be felt from it.
"I still can't believe we're playing shuttle-bus to a bunch of equines..." Avitus Finch muttered.
Julius shot him a look. "What did I just say about racism?"
"I'm sorry sir, but I just don't like this at all. Everything about those equines are unnatural," he growled. "Half the crew thinks this way."
"Can we even trust them?" Williams asked. "I mean, what if they feel loyal to their distant cousins or something? This is the first time they've even heard of them, right? And now they're expected to be shipped out with their cousin's enemies? Who knows how they'll react."
"In the past, human existed in factions, and some were neutral towards each other while others were at war. Would you pick up a rifle to shoot at someone who just shot at a neighbor you don't really feel anything about?" Joker said.
"This is different. If there was ever an alien attack on Earth in the distant past, even if it was a single nation, you could probably expect everyone to unite together to fight against them for the sake of their species' honor."
"That's a pretty optimistic way of thinking," Avitus grumbled.
"Even so, ponies are different from humans," Abigail said. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but they seem to be closer to each other; more loyal."
"Everyone just calm down," Julius sighed. "We'll be keeping watch on them at all times. Oh, and by the way, one of the six equines coming aboard is the Emperor's sister's 'prized pupil'. The rest are apparently very loyal to her as well. I don't think we'll have to worry about any sort of incident."
"You know what this means though, right?" Joker said, smirking. "If anything happens to said pupil, Emperor Ignis is going to have our heads."
The Captain folded his arms. "Then consider that extra incentive to keeping them all safe."
"It's here! It's here!" Pinkie beamed excitedely as the Friendship Express came into sight from the distance.
"Finally!" Rainbow Dash said, smiling.
A few minutes later, Equestria's fastest locomotive rolled into station and passengers began streaming out, Twilight and Spike among them. Immediately, her friends were upon her.
"Hey Twilight!"
"Oh my gosh it feels like you've been gone forever!"
"Did you learn anything in Canterlot?! Are the aliens really aliens or are they really some secret underground-"
Applejack immediately threw a hoof over Pinkie's mouth at that. "Not in public, sugarcube," she whispered.
Twilight smiled at her friends. "It's good to see you too, girls. Now.. let's head to the library. We have a lot to discuss."
A few minutes later, they had made it to Twilight's library and were huddled in the commons. Twilight then began to explain everything Celestia and Ventus had said to her. She was meant with a chorus of questions as well as general sense of awe. It was a somewhat frustrating task, as she found everything more difficult to elaborate on without Celestia's visual aid. She also suspected that without her scientific background her friends might not be able to grasp everything she was saying. Nonetheless, after about an hour they seemed to have a decent idea as to what was going on.
"This is all too unreal," Applejack said, bewilderment lacing her voice. "I can't believe after all this time there's been some massive war happenin' right under our noses."
"And they want us to help the Terrans out!" Rainbow Dash growled. "We should be helping our own people!"
"Even I have to admit this whole situation seems really daft." Rarity chimed in.
Twilight sighed. "We're not helping the Terrans fight the Dragan. We're going to help the Terrans fight the Wraith, and for that they're going to need information. Helping them will help us in the long run. You saw how ruthless those aliens were. They'll come back to Trinity eventually to try to finish what they started."
"So basically, you want us to hop aboard the ship of aliens we've never meant, aliens who seem to not have a likin' for ponykind, fly fifty-bajillion miles away to another solar system and use the Elements of Harmony on one of those creepy Wraith?" Applejack said.
Twilight nodded, "Yeah, pretty much."
Rainbow Dash threw two hoofs together in a punch. "You know what? The Terrans never messed with us, and if this means we'll be protecting Equestria...." she put a smile on. "I'm in! This actually sounds kind of awesome. It's like the Luke Skyhooves adventures! We're going to be space heroes," she then grew serious. "And we'll be able to get a little payback against those parasitical little-"
"Oooh! Oooh!" Pinkie bounced. "We'll be like ambassadors too! I wonder if the Terrans know how to party Ponyville style?!"
"I will say the idea is intriguing," Rarity said, a hoof on her chin. "I wonder what these Terrans will be like?"
"Well, Ventus seemed nice... but he wasn't exactly a Terran as I've said," Twilight said.
Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, nice for a guy who ordered the extermination of an entire planet! On second thought, I'm not sure if I like the idea of hanging around with these guys."
"N-Neither do I," Fluttershy squeaked.
"Hold on there, sugarcube, we don't even know if he's the one who pulled the trigger. From what your saying, Twilight, Ventus seems more of a figurehead than anything. It could have been his brother who made the call," Applejack reasoned.
"Well, I'm not sure what Ignis is like or how Terran politics work. Both of them may have to agree on a decision in order for it to be made for all we know," Twilight said.
"Yeah, and the Terran military just went along with it!" Rainbow Dash growled. "That 'just following orders' crap doesn't cut it with me."
"Well, we can't just sit around while the Wraith might be planning something."
Rainbow Dash raised a hoof. "I never said I wouldn't go, but I'm not going to trust these Terrans worth anything."
"We can't just judge a book by its cover," Applejack said. "After all, who knows what kind of skeletons these Dragan have in their own closets?"
"What?!" Rainbow Dash barked. "They're ponies! Ponies don't keep anything in their closets except pony shoes!"
"Ponies who named themselves 'Spirits of Vengeance'," Rarity noted. "I'm not sure if I trust either side to be honest. I mean really, how could two people be at war for hundreds of years? That's simply barbaric."
A second later, everyone's attention was turned to Spike, who coughed out a letter. He quickly snatched it and handed it to Twilight.
"I think it's time." He said, his voice filled with apprehension.
Twilight quickly ripped open the letter and scanned it. She then nodded. "Yeah, it's time. Princess Celestia says there is a cloaked ship on its way for us. They're going to land at the old castle in Everfree."
"Cloaked?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"It means it's invisible."
Rainbow Dash's eyes flew wide in excitement. "That's awesome!" She beamed, before throwing her friends an embarrassed simper. "Er, I mean. That's pretty cool, I guess."
Rarity smirked at that. "Well, I suppose this is it. How long is this trip going to take, by the way?"
Twilight thought for a moment. "Well, the system we're heading to is thirty light years away, and Ventus said Terran ships can travel two thousand times the speed of light so..." She quickly did some math in her head. "Ten days round trip."
The rest of her friends stared at her wide-eyed.
Twilight put on an embarrassed smile. "What? I practice math a lot in my head."
"Well, I'll need to go make the proper arrangements for house-sitting and pack than," Rarity said. "I wonder if they'll mind me bringing a few supplies for stitching aboard... hmph, wouldn't that be interesting? Perhaps I learn how to stitch Terran clothes and become the first interplanetary dress maker!"
Twilight sweat-dropped, "Well, if you want. We'll have plenty of time on our hooves after all."
"I gotta get going too, then. I need to let the family know I'll be gone for a few days," Applejack said, before muttering, "I gotta tell Big Mac to keep an eye on Applebloom n' her friends too..."
Pinkie Pie frowned, "Daw, I'm going to miss out on babysitting this weekend... ah well. I guess I should let the Cakes know I'll be away for a few days... and grab my party cannon! We gotta show the Terrans how it's done!"
"Well, try to meet back here in an hour or so, OK?"
"Will do, Twi!"
With that, the three exited the treehouse, leaving the remaining four alone.
"Um, Twilight," Fluttershy said, her voice slightly nervous. "Did Princess Celestia mention anything more about the Wraith?"
Twilight shook her head. "Not much more than what we already know, though apparently the Terrans have been running into them frequently near the edges of the galaxy." Twilight paused, thinking for a minute. "Now that I think of it, I never did ask Celestia about the disappearance of those five stars... or galaxies. I'm still not sure what they are."
"If it was important I'm sure she would have mentioned it," Spike said.
"So.. she didn't mention anything else about the Wraith? No details...?" Fluttershy interrupted.
Twilight quirked an eyebrow. "You seem oftly curious about them."
Rainbow Dash grinned. "She's just taking the initiative! Knowing your enemy is half the battle, right Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy drew a hoof across the floor. "Well, it's not that... it's just... I just wanted to know more about them is all."
"I'm sure the Terrans will fill us in on some of the details if we ask nicely enough," Twilight said optimistically.
"Speaking of that, do they even speak pony?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Apparently pony is their language, or actually our language is their's. Around 800 years ago, Celestia began to grow fond of her brother's tongue, English, and opted for ponykind to adopt it."
Rainbow Dash's eyes widened. "That is so weird." She then put on a serious expression. "But that means we're speaking the language of a bunch of murderers, though, doesn't it?"
Twilight sighed. "This is the first chance anypony will get to show what ponies are truly all about to a generation of Terrans. Let's not let our judgments get in the way."
"Meh... we'll see," Rainbow Dash mumbled. "I wonder if they wouldn't mind me bringing my crossbo-"
"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight groaned.
"Kidding, kidding."
Twilight then sighed again. "I will say this; I don't trust them either, but maybe Applejack's right. Maybe there's more to them than meets the eye."
"Well! I guess there's more to this planet than meets the eye!" Joker said, piloting the Terran gunboat in stealth mode high over Equestria. "Jesus, I think we almost hit a dragon!"
"Watch your sensors from now on, Joker," Julius ordered.
"Aye, sorry sir. But for real? A freaking dragon? Is this like some sort of fairy-tale planet or something? Did Walt Disney have a hand in terraforming it?"
Julius shrugged. "No, he's still frozen I think. Nobody knows much about this planet since scout ships have been denied entry to this system. To be honest, I think we might be the first humans to ever visit."
Joker shook his head, exasperated. "Dragons, unicorns.... what's next? Elves? If I see an elf I'm totally freaking."
Julius sighed. "Concentrate on piloting, Joker."
"So, the Emperor's sister. Is she hot?" Weapons Officer Augustus Jacobson asked.
"Really, August?" Abigail said.
"What? Just asking."
"Well, I'm not really big on horses so..."
August's eyes widened. "Wait, she's a horse?"
Abigail rolled her eyes. "What did you expect, genius? Why would an immortal deity who can morph forms be ruling ponies in a human body?"
"Oh right, I forgot the Emperors could do that." August said, his cheeks turning red.
"Well, you can learn more about your love interest in a second, August. We're heeeereee."
With that, the ship descended through unnaturally low-lying clouds and towards an old castle below.
"I'm picking up seven life signs below," Abigail said. "I think it's them."
The Enemy Within - Part 3
Twilight and her friends stood in awe as the massive ship that was their ride descended to the ground before them, finally resting upon it on a series of long, metal stilts, it kicking up a multitude of dust as it did so. It made a tremendous amount of noise as it landed, though Twilight couldn't exactly tell where that noise was coming from. She worried for a second that this might attract the unwanted attention of the army soldiers stationed around the Dragan ship's crash sight or even the town, but she soon shrugged it off. They would likely be long gone by the time anyone got there.
Steadily, she and her friends made their way over to the ship, gazing warily at its menacing exterior. Hanging off the sides of it were small, roundish platforms that twin pairs of tubes sat parallel to each other upon. Twilight took a guess that these were some sort of weapons. At the back of it, or what she assumed was the rear, was a rectangular box, its means of propulsion. A shiver went up her spine when she realized it could probably easily burn down her entire treehouse if activated nearby it.
Unsure where to go, she began to make her way around the vessel, looking for any signs of the Terrans or an entry-way. However, it seemed the Terrans didn't believe in the concept of windows, and she couldn't tell what were doors and what were not. After a moment of confusion, a mechanical hum began sounding near the rear of the ship. Curious, Twilight began making her way over to it, her friends following her, them keeping a steady watch on the propulsion systems to make sure that wasn't what the sound was. Luckily, that didn't seem to be the case.
When she came to the end, she saw a ramp descending from the rear belly of the vessel and towards the ground. Five Terrans stood upon it, them gazing as uneasily at her as she was at them. In their hands there appeared to be rectangular devices of some sort with small triggers attached to their backsides. Their fingers seemed to be resting upon them. Every one of them wore odd black clothing that extended around their torsos save for the one in the middle who seemed to be wearing a light gray uniform of some sort that was decorated with a few ribbons and medals.
She took a look at her friends. All save for Fluttershy seemed to be gazing at the Terrans with more curiosity than fear. After a second or so, the Terrans seemed to put on the same expressions, and she could see them move their fingers off the triggers of their strange rectangular devices. She noticed one in particular, who she somehow knew was a female, seemed to be gazing at Spike with an adoring expression on her face. Spike seemed to take notice of this after a moment and blushed.
After a second more, the one wearing the gray uniform broke the silence, clearing his throat slightly before saying, "Um... hello there! Is one of you Twilight Sparkle?" His expression seemed to change to one of slight amusement at saying her name.
"That's me!" Twilight said. "Are you... Captain Julius?"
"That's right," he said.
A beat.
Well, this meeting was turning out to be a bit more awkward than she expected.
"We're here to take you to the Javis system," he said, pausing for a moment afterwards as if not really knowing what else to say. "Are you and your friends ready?"
"Ready as ever!" Pinkie Pie beamed, bouncing over towards a somewhat disturbed Terran. Twilight noticed the four Terrans near him seemed to fidget their rectangular devices slightly, though Julius seemed to remain calm. "Man! Your big metal box thingy is so huge! Like bigger than my house huge!"
The Captain coughed slightly before forcing a smile. "Heh, it's actually one of our smaller ships, not to brag or anything. Not the biggest or best in the fleet but we love her."
"Woah?! You mean you have bigger flying metal boxes?! That is so crazy!"
"Yeah, you should see our dreadnoughts." He winced slightly. "Er you know what that is, right?"
Pinkie shook her head. "Nope, but I can't wait to see one! This is going to be so cool! I bet we'll all be super best friends after a day or so!"
Every single person and pony at the gathering sweat-dropped.
"By the way, these are my friends! That's Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Spike, and Rainbow Dash," she said, pointing to each. Rainbow Dash glancing away from the Terrans when Pinkie's hoof fell upon her.
"Well, howdy there," Applejack said, smiling slightly. "Sorry for keeping so silent, we're just kind of new to.... aliens and all that."
"Don't worry about it, It's a bit... awkward for us too, to be honest. We don't usually deal with aliens either on a personal basis."
Twilight nodded at that. At least the Captain was trying to break the ice. However, she knew the real reason for their awkwardness was that these Terrans were probably used to fighting ponies and not interacting with them. However, she still held hope that a new relationship could bloom from this. The more Terrans they could befriend and show ponies weren't something to be hated, the better. Perhaps word would spread around the human fleet that their enemy wasn't as bad as she suspected they felt they were. She just hoped it wasn't the Terran's nature to hate. She didn't expect to end the war, but she did want to open the Terran's eyes a bit. Unfortunately, the back of her mind that had come forth in anger when she was talking with Ventus still held a great amount of mistrust for the Terrans. Perhaps she should learn a bit more about them first to silence it.... unless the voice was right.
"We have a few supplies we need to bring aboard," Twilight said, telekinetically moving a few wooden crates over towards the edge of the ramp from where she was standing before. "I wasn't sure if we could eat your food, so I packed two week's worth for us. Do you have room?"
After what she suspected was the initial shock of seeing her moving the supplies, the Captain nodded. "We have plenty of room in the cargo hold. However, I'm not sure if its necessary. Us humans eat apples too, you know. I did a little research on Trinity before we came."
"Wah?!" Twilight said, shocked at this. "Wait, are you sure? Maybe we just have the same word for two different fruits." With that, she telekinetically lifted the lid off of one of the nearby wooden crates before lifting one of the many apples within.
Twilight began hovering it over to the Captain, him gazing at it warily as she did. She could see the other human's tiwtch their rectangular devices once again at this. She then realized what exactly they were, remembering the Dragan had similar weapon their Pegasi used. Her eyes widened slightly at this. Those were laser weapons. She shook her head inwardly, trying to put the thought to the back of her mind. No need complaining about it, they were just being cautious. The Captain, in the meantime, looked over the apple briefly before saying, "Yep, that's an apple alright."
"Whelp, shucks," Applejack sighed. "Did all that work gathering em up for nothing."
The Captain lifted one of the five strange tendrils hanging off the end of its hands. She couldn't think of a word for them, though she knew they weren't claws. They seemed somewhat similar, though. The humans seemed to have had something in common with Spike at the very least. "Actually, we are a bit low on food at the moment... if you bring them aboard it could save time in the trip since we won't need to make a supply pickup on the way. I'd understand if you didn't want to, however."
Applejack smiled. "No problem, partner." The Captain lifted an eye at the last word. "We don't mind sharin'. Plus, I bet ya haven't eaten apples as good as we got for a long time," she said, a hint of pride in her voice.
"Can we just get this over with," Rainbow Dash groaned.
"My thoughts exactly," one of the humans holding a laser rifle replied. Julius shot him a look, Twilight doing the same to Rainbow Dash who simply huffed.
"As... delicately as my crewman put it," Julius said. "We are a bit behind schedule. You and your friends are welcome aboard." He then turned to the same Terran female who was glancing at Spike earlier before saying, "Ensign Kelly here will show you where to put your supplies."
"Thank you, Captain. Rarity, would you mind handling them?"
"Of course, darling. You dragged them this far, after all."
At that, Twilight could detect a hint of approval in Julius' eyes. She smiled inwardly at this, the Captain seemed to appreciate generosity despite what species presented it. The little mistrusting voice in the back of her head's words became a little more hollow.
With that, the fashionista lifted the numerous crates, impressing Twilight slightly. She didn't know Rarity had this much raw telekinetic power.
Ensign Kelly looked towards her at that, gazing at Rarity's magic as curiously as she had with Twilight's. "If you could follow me, miss."
Rarity nodded before walking towards the ramp, slightly nervous but nonetheless but nonetheless confident. With that, Kelly gestured for her to move to a certain area in the cargo hold. "Thank you, miss... Kelly is it?"
"That's right. And you're.... Rarity?"
Rarity nodded before following the Ensign into the hold. Twilight could see a number of large crates within it lined up in rows. On the cieling was a massive three-thronged claw attached to a wire of some sort. Its size suggested it was for moving said crates.
"I do say, you are wearing a most interesting outfit," Rarity said. "Would you mind telling me a bit about it?"
The crewman glanced down at her own outfit before looking towards Rarity, "Oh this? It's just standard Imperial medium armor."
"But it looks so comfortable and light! How could that ever be armor..." With that, Rarity's voice began to trail off into the distance as they made their way to the back of the hold.
The Captain turned back towards Twilight and the rest of her friends, him having been gazing at Rarity's ability curiously, or what she hoped was curiosity and not some sort of tactical analysis. She held hope the Terrans wouldn't take advantage of the opportunity to learn the capabilities of their enemies, though she supposed it couldn't be helped. It might be an automatic sort of thing to them at this point, though she was no soldier.
"If the rest of you could follow Ensign Felix, he'll show you to your quarters."
"Oooh! Oooh! Will mine have a window?! I totally want to see what space looks like!" Pinkie Pie beamed.
"Heh, I just realized that. I'm going to get to see what my planet looks like, aren't I?" Applejack said, smiling.
"Yeah, the first time you seen it's the best," Felix said, a nostalgic smile crossing his lips. "We actually have holo-windows though, not real ones. They're a structural weakness."
"Holo-wah?"
"Heh, you'll see."
It suddenly hit Twilight as well. They were going to be the first Equestrians in space. She'd finally be able to see the universe in all its glory, though she only wished they weren't going to be so confined to one route. She wanted her own ship, her own freedom to go where no pony had gone before.
With that, Twilight and her six remaining friends began walking up the ramp and into the cargo hold, following Ensign Felix as the other two Terrans beside Captain Julius gazed at them warily. She could see Rainbow Dash doing the same. Before they made it too far, however, Julius caught Twilight's attention.
"Actually, Twilight. I'd like to speak with you before you get settled in; about the mission in particular."
Twilight halted at that, turning towards him. "No problem, Captain." She then turned back towards the rest of her friends. "I guess I'll catch up with you guys later?"
"Sure, Twi. We can check the ship out together," Applejack said. She simpered slightly, turning back towards Julius, "If that's alright?"
The Captain shrugged. "I don't see why not," he said, gaining a few wary looks from his company.
"Well, alright then," Applejack said, smiling.
"See you, Twilight!" Spike called, and with that they began to follow Ensign Felix once again.
"If you'll follow me, Twilight," Julius said, gesturing for Twilight to do so. Twilight nodded and began to follow him to door on a perpendicular side of the cargo to where her friends had exited. Along the way, Twilight noticed a few curiosities within the massive room, such as wheeled, somewhat rectangular objects in the back. They were massive looking, twice the size of a horse-carriage. On the tops of them were another disk-shaped object with two tubes similar to the weapons she had seen attached to the Terran starship, she supposed they shared the same purpose.
When they reached the door, Twilight let out a small gasp as it divided into two sections, them retracting into the walls. She turned towards the Captain curiously.
"Automatic doors," he said. "You'll get used to them."
Twilight nodded slowly at this. The wonders of this ship were truly taking her in awe. She had been told the Terrans were technologically advanced, and examining the alien weapons from the battle had brought her a great deal of understanding, but seeing an entire ship was something else. It amazed her that something that large could make it into the air, let alone travel two thousand times the speed of light. Her kind may have had magic, but this technological innovation more than made up for it.
With that, they made their way into the hallway. She found it odd how high their ceilings were. It made sense though, the Terrans were simply taller creatures while she was about half their height, but it was still going to take a bit of getting used to. Along the ceiling stretched a series of wires and pipes unceremoniously with no particular pattern. Obviously this ship wasn't built with aesthetics in mind.
"So, I'm told you know your own ruler, personally?" he asked, trying to make small talk. "Her prized student."
Twilight nodded, trying her best to hold back a prideful smile. "Well, prized is a matter of opinion, but I am her student."
The Captain shot her an approving smile at this before gazing ahead of him. "Must be quite an honor." He then looked towards Twilight. "So your rulers... are sisters with our own?"
Twilight nodded. "Yeah, pretty strange isn't it?"
"Heh, no more strange than everything else about our Emperors. Don't get me wrong though, I really appreciate their dedication to us. I've gotta admit, sometimes I think we're not even worth the effort, like we're below them."
Twilight sighed. "I feel that way too sometimes. However, Princess Celestia does make every effort to be close to her subjects. She's very approachable."
The Captain nodded, contemplating something for a second before saying, "I wish ours were the same way, at least the one who handles most of the politics. Emperor Ventus, who you've met I believe can be pretty open, though Ignis, his brother, on the other hand..."
A moment of silence followed as they walked on, the Captain seemingly lost in deep thought. They passed by a pair of two humans dressed similarly to the Captain, though their uniforms seemed a bit less elegant. She saw one of them shoot Twilight a suspicious glance as he passed, though the other seemed to hold a curious, perhaps even bemused expression on his face.
"My apologies, I was just thinking about something," the Captain finally said as they turned into a hall perpendicular to the one they moved down.
"No problem, Captain. That happens to me all the time too," Twilight said. It was odd, really. She never expected to make any sort of connection to an alien so soon. Then again, this was an odd circumstance. The Terrans and Equestrians were already connected together in more ways than one.
Finally, about halfway down the hall the Captain halted before turning towards a double-door nearby. It shot open the same way as the one in the cargo hold revealing nothing but darkness. However, after a second a light of some sort of the ceiling blared to life, revealing what was inside. She noticed a bed, strangely reminiscent to the ones the ponies used, as well as a small couch nearby facing a thin black-screened rectangle on the wall. A few paintings lined the walls, various pictures of what she assumed were Terran starships on them as well as a painting of what she assumed was a space battle, various geometric shapes trading laser-fire in the void above some distant world. However, the most personal thing in the room was on the far wall near a 'window' that showed the Everfree forest outside. It was a portrait of a blond, female Terran, her hair flowing elegantly from her scalp with a beautiful, blue star shining in the background.
She saw the Captain glance it briefly as they entered, not really making any particular expression as he did so. However, she noticed something in his eyes as he did so, a small hint of pain. Perhaps she'd learn more about it later.
"Door close," he said, and the door complied with a wooshing sound. "Sorry for the personal setting, but privacy isn't usually something needed on this ship."
"It's alright, Captain. What do we need to discuss?"
The Captain paused for a second, a bemused smile coming upon his face. Twilight glanced at him curiously. "Sorry, I just never thought I'd be speaking with an equine..." He winced slightly. "Er pony one on one like this."
"It's alright. I sort of feel the same way. My planet has many different creatures on it, but speaking with someone from a different planet... I just have so many questions to ask."
"If there's anything you need to know, I'll help as much as I can," he offered.
Twilight shook her head at that, "Thank you, but I don't want to take up your time. You must be oftly busy. Being the Captain of an entire ship must be a tall order."
He tilted his head slightly to the side and back. "It can be, but there's nothing I'd rather do than that." He paused for a second before saying, "Anyway, what I brought you here for was to explain the... position of my crew."
"You think there's going to be tension between us?"
The Captain sighed, turning towards the window showing Everfree. "Many of my crew are open to the possibilities of interacting with a people that we haven't had the opportunity to do so with for a long time," he said.
"What about the others, though?"
The Captain then turned back towards Twilight, looking away from her slightly. "Others have... experienced many losses in the past. This war has been hard on all of us," He took a short glance at the portrait of the human female. "It can do things to the mind. Hatreds flare up and never are extinguished." He then paused again. "What I'm trying to say is this: this trip isn't going to be easy for many. Try to stay clear of those who don't seem like they're willing to... smooth relations." He then looked directly into Twilight's eyes. "I can tell you're an intellectual, Twilight. I'm not one myself, but I know them. I know you're going to try to to try to change opinions on this ship by simply talking with people, trying to show you're not as bad as they perceive the Dragan to be." He paused again before sighing slightly. "Not everyone aboard is going to be open to change or even interaction. Many will be the way they are until they die."
Twilight looked away from him slightly at this. The Captain had read her like a book. However, she refused to believe his words. Any pony could change, their minds were never set in stone no matter what they had seen in the past. The same had to be true with the Terrans. They just seemed so... similar.
"Thank you for the advice, Captain," she said, not gazing directly into his eyes. "I'll try to keep that in mind."
The Captain nodded, though Twilight could tell he wasn't fully convinced. "Now, do you have any questions about the mission?"
"Princess Celestia filled me in on the details. We're to free the Dragan from the Wraith before you interrogate him." She paused for a second. "I do want to know what will become of the Dragan."
The Captain glanced away from her again. "He will be interrogated for whatever information he has about his own people's fleet positions and other tactical information. He will then be given a choice to return to Equestria with you or stay in one of our prisons."
Twilight's eyes widened at this. She fully didn't expect that the Terrans would be so willing to release him. The suspicious voice was beginning to fade.
"You weren't expecting that, were you?"
Again, the Captain read her like a book.
Twilight shook her head, not knowing what to say except, "No, I wasn't."
The Captain smiled slightly. "Despite what I said earlier, I'm sure there's much the two of us at least can learn about each other."
The Enemy Within - Part 4
Twilight and her friends had gathered in her quarters. She had asked to remain on the bridge for the take-off, but Captain Julius had denied her that privilege, saying something about how it would arouse too much suspicion from his crew and it wasn't personal. It seemed reasonable, Twilight didn't want to spur paranoia among them for no good reason, though she was very curious as to how the ship was operated. Nonetheless, she would still have a good view of the takeoff. Julius had given her one of the best guest quarters. It wasn't very ordain, no flowers or pictures or anything in it, but it did have a comfortable bed as well as one of those strange rectangular boxes she had seen in Julius' quarters. It also was complete with a holographic window that could show a view pointing outwards from any place on the ship, meaning she could actually see what the bridge was seeing if need be.
"So, how long until takeoff, Twi?" Spike asked, sitting comfortably on a small cot one of the Terrans had dragged in for him.
"It should be pretty soon," Twilight said. "Captain Julius said we'd be taking off an hour after we finished talking, and that was fifty or so minutes ago."
"I really just want to get this over with," Rainbow Dash grumbled, sitting on Twilight's bed and folding her arms. "The Terrans keep giving me looks."
Applejack glanced at her skeptically. "Are you sure you're not just seeing what you expect to see from em'?"
Rainbow Dash lowered her eyebrows at this. "I'm telling you, those Terrans do not trust us one bit, and the feeling's mutual."
Twilight sighed at this. "I'm afraid she's right, Applejack. Well, somewhat. Captain Julius said there's been quite a bit of concern about bringing us aboard. It's only natural, I suppose. Remember, they've been fighting ponies for over five centuries."
Rarity shook her head incredulously. "I still can't believe a war could last that long."
"Celestia told me intergalactic wars tend to be... more brutal then most. She said it spurs tremendous amount of hate that can drive them on for a very long time."
"The only hatred is probably coming from the Terrans!" Rainbow Dash growled. "They're the ones keeping the war going! They bombed that planet, after all!"
"Enough of the cynicism, already, Rainbow Dash," Applejack said, her tone growing more and more annoyed. "A lot of the Terrans have been ripe friendly to us. There's good apples among em."
Rarity nodded in agreement. "Ensign Kelly seemed very polite. She even asked me to help move a few things around the cargo hold for her, a decent sign of trust, and was very grateful for it." She chuckled slightly. "However, her sense of music... well let's just say Vynil Scratch would die for it."
Spike turned towards Twilight at that. "Yeah but... did you ever ask Julius what the whole orbital bombardment thing was about?"
Twilight shook her head. "I didn't think it was the best time. I do intend to find out more about it while we're here."
Suddenly, the announcement speaker blared to life.
"This is Captain Julius. We're engaging the stealth drive and preparing for liftoff. All hands brace for atmospheric exit."
"This is it!" Twilight beamed excitedly. She then pointed at a snoozing Fluttershy, curled up into a ball on her bed. "Somepony wake up Fluttershy!"
Fluttershy was once again in a dark shadow world as soon as she nodded off. This one, however, seemed to look like the cargo room of the Terran starship they were staying on then the Everfree forest. She stood between two large cargo containers in it, a somewhat cramped environment. Not wishing to be trapped there, she wondered towards the end of them, shivering slightly...
When she reached it, she peered around the corner to the right curiously. She saw two of the Terran wheeled metal boxes and sighed in relief. Shen then peered to the left and-
"Fluttershy!"
Her eyes widened. There before her stood the pony of black mist. Eeping, she quickly ducked back between the two cargo containers and ran to the other end. She managed to make it to the end only for-
"There's no where to run this time, Fluttershy!"
-the pony of black mist to jet in front of her.
"This is the end of the line. Submit yourself to me!"
"Never!" Fluttershy screamed defiantly.
"I've been in your memories," the Wraith announced. "You will not hold out much longer."
"You've been in my memories?!" Fluttershy squeaked, blushing slightly.
The Wraith sweat-dropped, "I haven't been looking at anything too... private. Well there was one-" The Wraith cleared its throat. "Errr, but I didn't look it into that deeply though. Most of the memories I have access to are the ones spawned in moments of great emotion. Your more... potent ones you could say."
"Those are still private!" she growled, though of course her being her it came out like a kitten's.
"I needed to learn more about my host. We are going to be spending a lot of time together after all."
Fluttershy narrowed her eyes, "No we're not!" she said sternly. "I saw what you did to those poor militia ponies, what you almost did to my friends! And NOPONY hurts my friends!" she said with a glare. "We didn't want to fight you, so why did you attack us?! Why did you take those poor ponies as hosts?! Who taught you to behave that way!?! Either way you're not somepony I want in my head so just GET OUT!!!!"
The Wraith's eyes flew open wide as Fluttershy began to glare at him, her hoping her patented Stare would somehow work within her own dreams. The Wraith did appear paralyzed, the black flaming mist that rose off its back having frozen in place, though she couldn't tell if she would actually be able to control it, its facial expressions hidden to her.
"W-What the h-hell is t-this?" the Wraith stuttered.
"I want you to leave," Fluttershy ordered.
"N-No!" it growled. "P-Please, don't make me do it!"
Fluttershy narrowed her eyes. Though the desperation in its voice disturbed her slightly, she continued to press on, her stare seemingly working. "LEAVE!"
"And then what?!" the Wraith growled. "I-I'll just find another host!"
Fluttershy continued to glare. "And if you do, my friends and I will find you and set them free!"
"I-ll find someone far away! You'll never be able to find me! T-The ship hasn't taken off yet!"
Fluttershy shook her head, her glaring intensifying. "If you could do that you would have found another host besides me. Someone stronger, somepony in the government perhaps. Somepony you could have used to gain access to the orb you wanted." Her eyes then flew open, a hint of sympathy and realization within them.
A beat.
"You really need a host, don't you?"
"Y-Yes," it admitted shamefully. It then sighed before looking slightly away from the shy pony. "The pain I experience being in my true form.. it's unbearable..." it said. "It's those damned orbs. Even in here it still hurts, though the reason I chose you as my host is because it's even worse out there!" It took a deep breath before saying, "If you're truly the Element of Kindness, please find some mercy even for me."
The Wraith's words put Fluttershy at a pause. They may had been evil creatures, and it may have wished to take control of Fluttershy for its own nefarious purposes a second ago, but something inside her just couldn't bring her to kick it out into the cold.
"I-I can help you with some of your emotional baggage," the Wraith offered, causing Fluttershy to quirk an eyebrow. "I know you've had somewhat of a rough past, bullied and picked on with few standing up to you. And then there was your parents... I can't get rid of those memories, but I can help you repress them."
Fluttershy threw it a look mixed with confusion and suspicion. "I would have let you stayed anyway."
"I insist we make it a fair trade."
With that, Fluttershy raised here eyebrows slightly, a calmer expression beginning to form on her. She then began to reevaluate the situation. Perhaps the Wraith weren't all evil after all. Perhaps Celestia was wrong and they really wanted to destroy the orb because it pained them. "You would help me, even after you tried t-to..."
"I was just following orders," the Wraith said. "Our primary, that being our commander, can be... brutal. Some of us advocated to try to make peaceful contact."
Fluttershy stood silent for a second, continuing to scrutinize the creature. "And you won't try to take control again?"
"Never."
A beat.
Fluttershy then continued to contemplate the situation. The Wraith seemed to be honest, and she could always use the Stare if the it tried to take control again. It seemed that it could only do it when she was asleep, and she was always made aware when it did. Perhaps this could work out. Finally, a hint of a smile then formed on Fluttershy's face. "Alright."
If the Wraith had eyes, it would be blinking them. "Huh?"
"You can stay."
The Wraith coughed a her words. Apparantely, it was not expecting this at all. "Well uh- what do you organics generally say when someone gives you something?"
Fluttershy chuckled slightly at this. "'Thank you' would be appropriate."
"Well then...." it paused. "T-Thank you."
"Fluttershy!" a voice reminiscent of Rainbow Dash's echoed from nowhere.
"I think your friends want you to wake up," the Wraith said. "I'll be around..." It then began to float away, but before it grew out of sight, it swiveled and turned towards Fluttershy. "T-Thanks again, really."
Fluttershy simply nodded at it. After that, it was back to reality.
"Hey, Fluttershy! Wake up, the ship's about to take off!" Rainbow Dash said jubilantly as she prodded her friend.
Fluttershy groaned quietly before letting out an adorable little yawn. "Time to leave already?" she asked.
Twilight smirked towards Rainbow Dash. "Well that's an unexpected burst of enthusiasm."
The rainbow-maned mare quickly tried to force a look of apathy. "Pffft, I just want to see if these Terrans can fly as fast as I can."
Twilight threw her a deadpan look. "They can fly over five hundred times the speed of light with their hyperdrives."
"Yeah, but the way you explained it it sounds like they're entering another dimension that's sort of like a miniature one of our own that's somehow bound to it. They aren't flying any faster, space is simply compressed more tightly there relative to our own universe. Because these two dimensions are connected in some way, it allows them to travel a short distance there only to drop out of it at a much farther point in our own universe from where they entered." She then took a deep breath, a grin forming on her face. "And that means I could still fly faster than them!"
The lavender mare's eyes flew wide open at this. That was... about how much she understood of it as well, though she was sure both of them were barely grasping the surface of how it truly worked. Still, had Rainbow Dash gone on a fish diet? She knew Rainbow Dash was smart, but this....
"Er, Rainbow Dash. When did you start studying physics?" Applejack asked with an eyebrow quirk.
"I read a lot of Luke Skyhooves adventures," Rainbow Dash explained. "I already knew a bit about the concept of hyperspace from it."
"So you're saying this science fiction book had it right?" Twilight asked skeptically.
"Sort of," Rainbow Dash said, "It's a little different, but similar enough that I could pick up what you were talking about pretty easily."
"Ooooh..." Twilight said. She was still quite impressed, however.
Suddenly, the ship began to shake, rattling everything in Twilight's quarters. She could hear a quiet hum begin coming from the back of the ship that gradually grew louder. She then heard a great roar from underneath her. Her and her six friends watched in awe as the ship lifted off from the Everfree forest and slowly made its way into the heavens.
"Quick! Can you bring up an image of Ponyville?!" Pinkie Pie beamed. "I want to see how small it'll get!"
Twilight nodded and fiddled with the controls to the holo-window. Soon enough, a view of Ponyville came up. The details of it were still very apparent, and Twilight hoped to Celestia that the Terran's stealth drive was working properly. She could see the Carousel Botique, Sugarcube Corner and...
Her library. Home.
Rainbow Dash smiled warmly at the sight. The little town below was what she had fought for a few days ago. It was what they were going on this long mission for as well. This reminded her of something someone had once said to her. The ghostly voice of a short-known, but very influential person oh her life echoed in her head.
"I have learned many things in my day, many in particular about the psychology of soldiers. We may say it's for honor, we may say it's for a longing to serve our country, but in reality most heed the call to arms to protect what is dear to us personally; our homes, our families, and our friends."
Her friends. She gazed upon the six of her soul mates, six friends who seemed destined for each other, and probably were. They were the Elements of Harmony after all. There was a literal magical, spiritual bond between them that she couldn't explain, but knew was there. The Terrans were murdering bastards, but the Wraiths were the ones threatening those who she cared deep about. If she had to work with the king of Tartarus himself to keep them safe, she would.
The ship continued to fly higher and higher, long having cut through the lower Pegasi-controlled cloud layer. Ponyville was the size of a coin as Canterlot came into view. A few seconds more and both it and Ponyville became dots as whips of upper-stratospheric clouds began shooting downwards, those never touched by Pegasi. It then hit her. This was near the the spot where the record was set for the highest flying Pegasi, though unfortunately the record ended in tragedy. The Pegasi who attempted it fell unconscious after flying too high and plummeted down back to Trinity. Nobody was quick enough to save her. It angered her slightly that there were some things that just couldn't be accomplished with body alone. Crutches like this ship were needed....
Various oos and awes filled Twilight's cabin as they graced the upper-reached of the atmosphere. She could see entire continents now, vast beautiful lands of green. They looked nearly identical to maps she had seen. Whoever the cartographers were behind them had done a great job for being forced to map them via land and sea.
Finally, they grew so high that she saw... it. A sphere of blue, shimmering seas, white streaks of clouds, brown, expansive deserts and brilliant yellow and green planes and forests. Her planet. Her home. Home to everything. It appeared Canterlot's scientists were right. The world was round, and it was beautiful. Oh so very beautiful. A small tear crept into her eye at the sight. Now that was something worth fighting for.
With that, her eyes widened.
She glanced at her crossbow, observing its features, design and purpose. And though she cringed at the latter, she still respected what else it represented.
Her... a soldier. Why could she see it so well?
At this point she was beginning to feel something rising inside of her... something primal. She felt the sudden, unexpected urge to sink another crossbow bolt into another alien, this desire not coming from anything her conscious mind could demand, but from deep within, and she did nothing to stop herself. Gritting her teeth in grim determination, she snapped another bolt into place, popped out of her cover, and fired. If this was the feeling a mother bear had when she was protecting her cubs, she never wanted to run into one in her life.
Now that was something worth fighting for.
All of her thoughts... they were always focused on one thing. She wanted to protect what she cared about. And the best way for her to do that was what her race called for, the elimination of those who would threaten them. She was destined to become a soldier after all.
The ship drew further and further away from Equestria. It passed by Luna's moon, the barren rocky planes the poor Princess has been trapped on for a thousand years. Twilight grew sad at the thought. One thousand years in a place of nothing... how was Luna even sane? The ship didn't stop there, though. It kept travelling and travelling as her world shrank and shrank. Eventually, everything she cared about was just one small dot in the distance.
"That is Trinity, home to billions of forms of life, as well as home to us, our friends and family, and the the place where their ancestors have lived and died. I myself have enjoyed it for thousands of years. I've watched it shape itself, and I've watched us shape it. This small pinpoint of light in a sea of nothing. Our oasis in the desert, and something worth caring for. Remember that, my loving student."
Huh. One small pinpoint of light...
A warm smile crept on her face, though she didn't know why.
