Chapter 22: Not Alone

Several hours later, Celestia stood in the warm evening air on her penthouse balcony, looking out over the dark, alien Earth jungle. She could hear the buzzing of insects and the cries of birds and animals unseen. Out in the distance beyond the beach, she could just barely see the ocean shimmering under the moonlight. Although she was motionless, her hair flowed and sparkled as always, framing her somber expression. Insects buzzed nearby but did not approach the balcony; Jeff had mentioned something about an ultrasonic barrier that disrupted the air so their tiny wings could not navigate it if they came too close.

She looked up at the unfamiliar moon hanging on the horizon, so far out of her reach across a gulf of emptiness, and beyond it the stars, twinkling points in the vast blackness of space. This world felt vast, and for the first time in many years she felt truly small and alone. A shiver ran down her spine, at odds with the gently temperate breeze.

It had been a busy day, and she had not had sufficient time in the rush to mull over recent events. Now, sitting here alone, her unease grew by the moment.

She had fought and defeated so many enemies, most of them having great magical power and physical prowess. But this unknown antagonist was something new. Something that sent the oppressive sense of impending evil through the warm night. Something that disturbed the fabric of the world itself, something so timelessly wrong and terrifying that the mere thought of it filled her heart with icy dread.

She acknowledged her fear and refused to hide from it, pushing her chin up a little.

"I am a guardian. I am a princess. I am an Alicorn. I have the power to protect this world and mine." Her voice was a whisper, scarcely audible even to her.

She did not believe her own brave words for a moment.

But she would do her best to make them true. And she would never back down from her promise to her own ponies, or to these humans.

Even if it killed her.

Or worse.

She shivered again. A chill hung in the air around her. The night sounds faded, and where she stood felt very still.

In the depths of her mind, a voice whispered, small, almost imperceptible, but still possessing an overwhelming power.

You are nothing. You are weak. You will die in agony.

A chill in her stomach. She replied with something she had heard from the humans.

Fear not they who can destroy the body, but they who can destroy the soul.

The small voice responded.

First the body. So slowly. So much pain. A hundred years, a thousand years. Every moment a lifetime. Then the soul. Suffering beyond your worst nightmares. Alone. Forever.

She tossed her mane defiantly, and the pressure of the silence pushed back against her.

Better me than my friends.

An echo of faraway laughter, a bubbling sound as black as pitch and thick as boiling tar..

Why not both?

The balcony was gone, the moon was gone, and darkness ate her soul, sucking her consciousness downward to a place that shouldn't exist. A vision of shadows, of something that hung on the edge of the world between imagination and reality, Blackness, evil, great tentacles thousands of miles in length. A planetary monstrosity that burned her spirit, tearing at the threads of her sanity as it's image defiled her mind's eye. She screamed soundlessly, and the sight was gone so swiftly that only the nauseating impression of wrongness remained.

The intensity of the vision overwhelmed her, and she fell forwards on the balcony, her heart hammering in her chest, so hard it felt like a knife stabbing her. She retched and almost pissed herself, barely containing the urge to vomit as her stomach did somersaults inside her belly.

You are my prey.

Celestia groaned and strained, pushing hard in her mind, using all her strength to force the darkness out and slam the door behind it. The voice faded within her in a final bout of distant, taunting laughter, and she was alone, the night warm again around her as she knelt on the balcony shaking in terror.

"I won't give up," she said to the night as she forced herself to stand with an effort of will. Her legs wobbled beneath her while she wiped away a thin ribbon of blood that leaked from her nose, but her eyes were defiant. "I will never give up."

Her communicator beeped.

Jeff's voice. "Celestia? Are you alright? Do you need a medical team?"

She spoke carefully, trying to keep the panic out of her voice. "Jeff. No. I... I'm okay, I don't need a medic. But we need to talk. Now."

***

It was less than a minute when her door notification chirped.

She opened the door and let Jeff in, breathing slightly harder than normal.

"Thanks for coming."

"Anytime. You know my suite is right down the hall. What's going on?"

"Can we sit down?"

They move across the room to the couch, and Celestia sat. Jeff sat nearby on the love seat, and leaned towards her.

"How did you know I was... upset?" Celestia asked.

Jeff pointed at her wristband. "Your heart rate jumped so drastically that the computer alerted me of a potential emergency. I called you immediately."

"Oh. Thank you."

Jeff leaned closer, "Are you sure you're okay? There's something..."

Celestia sighed. "Yes. Something odd happened. I think something out there threatened me."

She told him what had happened to her, leaving out the details of her replies.

He listened silently as she spoke, his hands clasped on his knees. When she finished, he leaned back in the chair. "Wow. Just wow. How are you so calm right now?"

"Calm? To be honest, just between you and I, I don't feel calm at all. I've had many years of practice making myself look calm no matter how afraid I really am. Can't you see my heart rate right now with your machine?"

"No. We don't spy on people like that. It's an invasion of privacy. The central computer just monitors for anything extreme and only notifies us if there is a potential emergency."

"Oh, I see. Well here, feel it." She extended her hoof towards him.

He hesitated a moment, then gently put his hand on her foreleg just above her intricately gold-shod hoof. He could easily feel the rapid thumping of her pulse through her short, soft fur.

"Even now," he said, looking into her eyes, and finally seeing the shadow of fear inside them.

"Yes. The feeling hasn't left me yet."

Jeff frowned. "I haven't felt anything."

"Perhaps you would not. I am a magical being, and although the others are as well, even Twilight's magic is not so powerful as mine. I must shine like a beacon to any creature that could sense such a thing."

"Hmmm." Jeff leaned back in his seat. "The next logical step would be wondering if something may come here to find you. But we are watching the island perimeter. Satellite, long-range recon drones, some unmanned subs and surface boats. If anything leaves the island, the computer will notify us. So far nothing has left. That we can see, anyway. Do you think it will attack you again like it did tonight?"

"I don't believe so. It was feeling out the territory. Next time it will be more direct."

Jeff could hear the faintest tremor in her voice. He stood.

"Just sit here for a moment, okay? I'm going to make some hot tea."

"That sounds nice."

Jeff walked to the open bar/kitchen and put some water in the electric teapot. While it heated, he got cups and saucers, still mulling over what Celestia had told him. As he prepared the tea, Celestia watched him from the couch. Even now, as she slumped uncharacteristically under the weight of her vision, she was a beautiful sight. Her enormous, expressive pink eyes were shaded with worry, and she was nervously pushing her gilded hooves together.

Jeff found that the seeing her this way filled him with not only with foreboding, but with deep anger as well. He wanted to crush the vile entity that had dared to threaten this angelic creature.

They're intelligent. The bastards will pay.

He walked back to his seat carrying the tea tray, and poured out two cups of Earl Gray with milk and sugar.

Celestia accepted one gratefully and took a sip of the steaming beverage.

"That's much better," she said, relaxing visibly. Then she gasped. "Oh dear. I should check and see if the others are okay."

"There have been no other medical anomalies like yours reported," Jeff said.

"I need to check with Twilight."

Jeff stared into space a moment. "Well she's on the group chat right now."

"The what?"

"The group chat... on your ARHUD, do you see an icon on the lower left?"

"It looks like... a word balloon?"

"Yes. Activate that."

A transparent text box unrolled at the edge of her vision.

-Twilight Sparkle has invited you to to a chat party. (6 hours ago)

"So do I just..."

-Celestia has joined the chat.
-Rainbow Dash: Welcome!
-Twilight Sparkle: Greetings!
-Celestia: Hello? Does this work?
-Marky: It certainly does. Good to see you on here.
-Celestia: This is actually kind of nice.
-Fluttershy: Isn't it though?
-Dave Hamilton: Sure is.
-Miguel Sanchez: Guys, get down to the theater. We're gonna watch Star Wars!

"You should go with them," Jeff said to her out loud. "It would help take your mind off things for awhile."

"I agree. But... I am enjoying your company right now." Her voice had the slightest tinge of need to it. The attack had left her with a dark feeling that still haunted her soul, like the aftertaste of a nightmare. "Also, doesn't what happened... change things?"

Jeff cocked his head slightly. "I don't exactly know. If the others are going to be downstairs, we can ask them if they've noticed anything. They're watching Star Wars. I guarantee you Dr. Hardy will be there. We can talk to him as well."

Celestia nodded and forced a smile, glad to not be left alone with the uneasy darkness in the pit of her stomach.. "Then let's go."

***

Dr. Hardy stood at the entrance to the first floor theater/briefing room, grinning cheerfully at the Equestrians gathered around him. "Ready to see something cool?"

"Doesn't anypony go to bed anymore?" Applejack asked.

"You can go to bed if you want to sleepy head," Rainbow Dash said. "I'm going to see something cool, and I'll just tell you how much you missed later!"

"Well now I'm not tired just yet, I reckon I'll see something just as cool as you before I turn in for the night," Applejack replied hastily.

"Good evening everypony."

"Celestia! So glad you could join us!"

"Actually," Jeff said, walking up beside Celestia, "Can we have a word with you, doc?"

"Of course. Why don't the rest of you guys get some popcorn and head inside?"

"FIRST!" Rainbow Dash squawked, gliding over to the snack counter "I LOVE popcorn."

Jeff, Celestia, and Dr. Hardy conferred in a corner in low tones.

"I don't like to keep things secret," Celestia said. "But I don't want to damage morale any more than I have to, and everypony seems so relaxed right now." She quickly outlines the recent events to Dr. Hardy.

"Hmm," he said afterwards, folding his arms over his ancient Jedi Knight II T-Shirt. "Well, I don't see how this changes anything as of now, but it does seem to confirm my theory. There is definitely something intelligent controlling the attack on our facility, and it appears it can reach out and touch us even here."

"I think it could reach out and touch me. Not just anypony," Celestia said. "My magical signature provided the target. It gave me the message, trying to frighten us. To ruin our resolve. And I shut it out. I don't believe it will be bothering us in that way again."

"Very well. For now, I would say nothing changes in my recommendations, but tomorrow for certain we must retrieve those crystals and hope we can use them to augment our weapons. Honestly, I would go want to send a team to do it now, but experience has taught me that high morale is more effective at getting things done than simply working one's people into the ground."

"Right you are," Jeff agreed. "And this is why we're all here to introduce these ponies to a classic movie. Try to relax some. I sent a lot of messages tonight. Things are being put into motion as we speak."

Despite her unease, Celestia felt a growing curiosity about the movie. "Might I have some popcorn too, please?"

Marky, carrying two, overheard her as he walked past. "Got one right here for you, ma'am!"

"Why, thank you so much!"

Together the group of humans and extraterrestrials entered the theater, popcorn and sodas in hand, hoof, and floating telekinetically in the air.