Galactic Gamble

Chapters

Chapter 1 - Lost
Chapter 2 - Captured
Chapter 3 - Found
Chapter 4 - The prize

Chapter 1 - Lost

The sun shined on a distant world, its rays reflecting off the waves of an infinite ocean. The sky was a familiar blue and the water was much the same. One could mistake this place for the vast oceans we already know, but if it was night, you’d see colours and constellations you’ve never seen before. And if you tried to search for land, you’d soon find that this vast ocean has no end.

Then, a star appeared above. It moved rapidly across the bright blue sky, not unlike a meteor burning up in the atmosphere. But it was not a chunk of rock formerly drifting through space; it was Fluttershy’s lifepod, hurtling across this solar system.

“If anyone can hear me,” she cried her message into the distress signal, “I’m crashing into a planet at-” She was interrupted by a thruster forcefully getting ripped off the pod by the thick atmosphere. She tried sending the coordinates again, but the signal has been lost by then.

She was plummeting helplessly into this alien ocean. The hull was badly damaged and the generators shut down from the remaining thrusters’ desperate attempt at slowing down the fall. The impact came violently. A tall pillar of water shot up as Fluttershy crashed into the ocean. Her lifepod bounced back onto the surface and was thrown around by the rapidly shifting waters. The pod finally settled and Fluttershy was in massive pain.

That’s when she realized, that she was laying inside a puddle. And that puddle was growing at an alarming rate. The pod’s damaged hull has let the water in through the cracks and it began sinking.

“I don’t think this is part of the plan!” She said to no one in particular.

Fluttershy tried pushing every single button she could find, but there came nothing. She tried prying the doors open, but to no avail. She tried kicking the window, but it was built for the harsh conditions of outer space and was not going to give in to a horse’s buck. The pod was sinking into the depths and there was nothing she could do about it.

The water slowly filled the entire pod and all Fluttershy could do is try to reach for the last rays of sunlight, as unconsciousness slowly enveloped her.

And for a moment, that could have been eternity, there was only darkness and lungs slowly being filled with water.

...

Then there was the sound of breathing. Fluttershy opened her eyes ever so slightly. As if she woke up from hibernation, she did not know anything. She did not feel anything. Her body was awake, she just hasn’t realized it yet.

A series of colours flashed erratically before her barely open eyes, accompanied by strange bleeping. Suddenly, sensations started rushing back to her. Falling. Crashing. Water. Drowning. As if waking from a horrible dream, her eyes darted open and she flailed around wildly. The realization came slowly: She was still alive.

As consciousness came back to her, she examined her new situation. She was in a well-lit room, surrounded with unfamiliar devices. There were holes inside the wall and something flew into each of them, when she woke up. She herself was floating inside a spherical bubble, with several tubes hooked up to her. And the sound of breathing came from a curious device attached to her muzzle. She was still under the water, but breathing. The erratic colours flashed again, this time she could tell that they came from a small screen in front of her bubble.

Soon, strange creatures emerged from the holes in the walls. They looked like a cross between sea angels and butterflies, except they were neither. They emitted high-pitched squealing, not unlike the songs of whales. With their soft boneless appendages, they took the tubes off her. They surrounded her for a brief moment, before taking off into the distance, through a membrane on the wall.

Fluttershy went after them. She put one hoof through the bubble surrounding her and it just went through. She then put her whole body through it. The bubble was fully intact, it was just vibrating like jelly. She followed the creatures through the membrane on the wall. It went around her shape and returned to its original position. She then looked around and saw a vast underwater city. But this city looked so much different from Seaquestria. This looked like a city made out of jellyfish and soft corals and other cnidarians. It looked almost frighteningly strange, but at the same time, it was beautiful.

It appears she crash-landed on a planet inhabited by sapient sea slugs. And said sea slugs have helped her. But how or why, she may never know; they spoke in a way she never heard anything talk before and they didn’t understand her either. But it’s not like her breathing apparatus allowed her to talk anyway. It seems these benevolent sapient sea slugs understand Fluttershy’s biology, but not Fluttershy herself.

She was fine, but who knows what happened to the others?

Somewhere else, the scene was much less vibrant. There was a blizzard and grey darkness enveloped the area. A light poked through the thick storm; it was another lifepod, trying to make a soft landing. It tried to spin in the right direction, but its thrusters gave in, the wind spun it around and it crashed upside-down, right into the deep snow. The hull was severely damaged; not even the door could keep itself closed.

Inside there was Rarity. She was still recovering from the rough landing, as the freezing cold burst through the door. She has already sent a distress signal in the air, multiple times, but she tried again. It was not working anymore. The lifepod’s last bit of energy has been frozen away by the blizzard. Rarity had to get out, before the snow would bury her in completely. She took a piece of cloth that was laying around and improvised a scarf out of it.

When she stepped out, a choking stench has hit her. It was the smell of sulphur. And the snow wasn’t snow. It was ash. She seemed to have caught herself in some sort of ash-storm. Perhaps there was a volcanic eruption nearby? Whatever it was, she decided to turn her improvised scarf into an improvised mask instead.

The wreck of her lifepod was already half-buried in the ash; she decided to take to the storm. But the air was hard to breath and the cold unbearable. She could barely walk a few meters before her whole body began to feel numb. She took one last look at the lifepod. It already had layers upon layers of white ash all over it. Rarity took a few painful steps forward, but her frozen legs gave in and she collapsed. Even keeping her eyes open took immense amount of energy. And with her last glances, she saw a large figure approaching. Rarity could do nothing, but leave herself to its whims.

When it arrived, it was nothing but a towering ball of fur, with its face obscured by a mask. It gently picked her up and cradled her in its soft woolly arms. An odd sort of warmth emanated from the creature, almost like a cozy fireplace. It put a mask over Rarity’s face, just like the one it was wearing, and she could finally breathe again. She was so exhausted from those few minutes spent in the relentlessly cold and suffocating ash-storm, she couldn’t help, but be lulled to sleep by the sudden comfort the creature provided.

When she woke up, she was still surrounded by the massive fur, but now she had a familiar creature before her. It was Applejack.

“Applejack?” She called out to her, barely aware of where she was.

“Oh, finally you’re awake!” Applejack answered. She was also buried inside a creature’s warm fuzz.

“What happened?”

“One of these creatures has found you and brought you here. That’s what happened to me too.”

Rarity looked around and saw even more of the furry beings, all huddled together, not unlike a colony of penguins, probably to protect themselves from the cold. Their pig-like faces were now visible, as none of them had a mask on. The ash-storm was nothing but muffled rumbling now, overpowered by the quiet murmuring of the colony and a small one playing with a piece of junk that probably use to be a machine at some point. There was also an odd fiery glow emanating from under their fur. Almost like they all had a fireplace hidden inside themselves.

“What do you think why did Twilight send us here?” Rarity asked.

“I don’t know.” Applejack responded. “She’s the one, who read the entire database on the ship; I’m sure she knew what she was doing.”

“I wish I did.” Rarity snuggled deep into the creature’s fur, as if trying to find comfort in it. “Did you send the distress signal as she asked?”

“I did. I did everything the way she told me.”

“Do you think she expects somebody to find us?”

“I know just as much as you do, Rarity.”

What a disappointing situation. This is what happens when somebody sends you away but doesn’t have the time to tell you why.

“Twilight told us to wait,” Applejack continued, “I’m sure she knows something we don’t.”

“Honestly, I’m not entirely sure about that anymore.” Rarity said as she buried herself even deeper inside the creature’s fur. “I’m not even sure she’s still alive.”

“Don’t say that, I’m sure she manages to escape somehow.”

Applejack could have said all the positive comforting things she could, but she wasn’t going to get through Rarity’s mood. This was not a time for hope.

“At least we could get comfortable while we wait.” Rarity grumbled.

“You do look like you could fall asleep in that big fluff.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do.” Said Rarity as she closed her eyes. “I hear sleeping is a good way to avoid going crazy.”

A few moments have passed, the only sound to be heard was the distant muffled rumbling of the ash-storm, along with quiet murmuring coming from the creatures. Applejack laid down as well. The faint fiery light coming from under the creatures’ fur was very comforting. With eyes closed, it felt just like staying inside in a cold winter’s night, trying to sleep next to the fireplace. But the comfort of having your family nearby, replaced with the subtle terror of being lost among strangers. Hopefully, they didn’t need to spend enough time around the creatures to start considering them family.

Chapter 2 - Captured

All lifepods have been deployed, but the main ship was still going. Twilight Sparkle was the only one on it and she piloted it as clumsily as one would expect. Clumsiness was a death sentence in a situation like this, but she had to eject everypony else to save them from the menace. It was still after Twilight, patiently chasing her at a steady pace, waiting for her to drop from exhaustion.

It was bound to end at some point. Twilight’s pursuer was going just fast enough to not exert itself, but still be way too quick for Twilight. Her thrusters went from bright red to white and even blue. And in that moment they overheated and broke down. The enemy ship sped up slightly and flew over Twilight’s drifting ship. It deployed several flexible grabbing arms and attached itself to the ship and the attackers were inside in no time.

Twilight launched her own lifepod as a last ditch attempt to save herself, but the enemy was quick. With one of its arms, the enemy ship reached out and ripped up the lifepod’s backside with a single strike, turning it into space debris. Another arm hurried to collect the helpless capsule.

A squad of alien warriors were waiting for Twilight in the hangar. Silent tension fell on them once the grabber arm pulled the lifepod inside. They slowly and cautiously took their steps towards it, with shields held up and electric staffs ready. They approached the lifepod’s door and waited. After a long minute of no response, one of them ran up to the door and cut it open with a large mechanical saw.

From the fountain of sparks, a purple laserbeam tore through the metal and knocked back everyone standing in its way. A few more fired out, so the aliens raised their shields and stood in a tactical formation, allowing the engineers to remove the door. Twilight tried to hold them all back, but they knew what to do. They only needed to land one strike and all muscles in Twilight’s body tensed up and threw her on the ground. She tried to buck them back, but a few more shocks of electricity prevented her from doing so. The next time she got up from the ground, she has been all chained up, from hooves to horn, with the end of the fetters in the hands of a strong alien. It dragged her violently out of the ruins of the lifepod, into the middle of the hangar.

A seemingly very high-ranking alien approached the now chained-up Twilight. It was using a long staff with a bright gem embedded in it, to walk and wore no helmet, letting its hair-like tendrils reach into the air like gangly claws. It growled something to Twilight’s captors, through its horrible toothy maw and they all put away their weapons. It then turned to Twilight and pushed a button on a device on its neck.

“Forgive me princess for the rough treatment we have inflicted upon you,” it spoke with a surprisingly dignified voice, most likely a product of its translator, “but we can never be too careful with that biological plasma discharger of yours.”

“What do you want from us?” Twilight asked between two painful gasps for air.

“Now, now princess, let’s talk this over somewhere more fit for your rank. Come along now; let me escort you to your residence.”

The strong alien holding the fetters was now far more reluctant to pull on Twilight’s chains, but it did hiss at her commandingly. Twilight got to her hooves slowly and followed the presumed leader of the aliens. They arrived in a room that was well decorated with vibrant colours, contrasting the oppressive dark metallic reds of the rest of the ship. It almost looked like something Twilight would see back at home, but built by somebody who clearly doesn’t belong there. And the air was way colder than comfortable; the sweat that poured during her struggles, clinged to her fur like it was all tiny icicles. In the middle of the room was a large table full of unidentifiable food.

“Please, feel free to spend your last dinner as you want, princess!” The alien declared as it walked into the room, knocking on the ground with its staff. It was clearly a symbol of power, because it didn’t need any support for its upright posture.

It then turned off its elegant voice and made a few disgusting slurping noises at the one holding the chains. The guard removed the chains from Twilight’s hooves and left the room, leaving the horn-restraint on and left the two of them alone.

“I must apologize for the low temperature, but we don’t have the privilege of sweating, lest we lose our skin.” It emitted a weird sound that probably served as a chuckle. “Further apologies if the food doesn’t taste right; making plant-based food for such an unfamiliar herbivorous organism such as yourself was not a simple task. Not even for our highly skilled cooks.”

Twilight sat down in front of the table, already shivering because of the cold air. The shivering was definitely not because of the food, because that smelled nice and looked appetizing in its own bizarre way. There were large cabbage-looking balls covered in an orange sauce, strips of purple vegetables, a still steaming stew and many other assorted delectables made of plants that she probably wouldn’t even be able to pronounce the name of.

The alien leader sat down at the other end of the table.

“My name is nigh unpronounceable with your tongue, you can just call me Oolkom. I am the captain of this ship and we are the species you may know as the trealitt. I shall accompany your meal, by answering all questions you have, as it is proper for the soon to be dead.” Its voice was friendly, but what it said was ominous.

“Why?” Twilight reiterated her sentiments. “What do you have against us?”

“We have nothing against your species, princess, nor you for that matter...”

“Then what do you want from me?!”

“That is simple. We want your power, princess. According to our scientists, your magic might be just enough to bring our master back to the physical world.”

“Just enough?” She reiterated, but realized that asking for an explanation would lead to a far more complicated set of questions and answers. And it’s not like she didn’t read the database anyway; she knows just enough about the trealitt, to know who this “master” was. So she moved onto far more important matters.

“What did you do to my friends?”

“We let them go.” The alien said dismissively. “It would not have been honourable to harm them, for they cannot harm us.”

Twilight had an idea. “You said you want my magic, is that correct?”

“That is correct.”

“Then you made a terrible mistake by letting my friends go.”

“What do you mean?”

“You might find great raw power in me, but it is nothing without the magic of friendship.”

The alien stared in silence for a moment. “Was that your attempt at misleading me?”

“No. In my world, the bonds that we form between each-other strengthen the magic inside us and make us capable of things alone we would never be able to do. That is the magic of friendship! And I know this power will set me free as well!”

The alien stared for a moment. It was thinking. “So you managed to turn your animalistic herding instinct into a source of power?”

“That is one way to say it, yes. Consider it a psychic bond of sorts. I know you’re not unfamiliar with that.”

The alien stared at her for a second. “I see.” It said and walked over to a panel on the wall. It pushed a button, then commandingly slurped and growled into it, then turned back to Twilight. “We still have the coordinates of where your friends’ lifepods have been last detected. Perhaps we can calculate their trajectory and deliver them to you post-haste.”

Twilight sighed with relief. For a moment it seemed like she wouldn’t live for too long.

The creature then stepped over to her and leaned in very close. “And when we do, I will make sure to slaughter each and every one of them right in front your eyes. I’m sure the sorrow will make this power of friendship grow stronger.” It took its time to see the relief turn to fear in Twilight’s eyes. After savouring that moment, it left the room. “Enjoy your last meal, princess.” Its voice completely changed from its previous friendly manner of speaking, to a sinister, even hateful one.

Those last things it said have killed all sense of hope, but Twilight did not intend to give up. She made sure that nobody was in the room and no camera could see what she was looking at under her wing. It was a small device designed for situations just like this. It was constantly sending out a distress signal, without being detected by her captors.

“Not if they find me first...” She grumbled back to the alien who was no longer there.

Chapter 3 - Found

Two lifepods were barrelling across space in a relatively organized fashion, directly towards this one planet. They ripped through the atmosphere with ease and made their descent. One of them made a quick steady recovery, made a few adjustments in the air and touched the ground safely. The door swung open and Rainbow Dash stepped out of it, with her glass headgear on. She looked into the distance and watched the other capsule tumble all over in the air, make a few clumsy loops and then plummet to the ground.

“Oh, Pinkie!” She groaned and took off into the distance.

She tried to observe her environment a little bit, while on the way. The ground was muddy all over, the sky had a greenish tinge to it, that gradually became pink towards the horizon. The wildlife was full of strange noises, but most of the animals themselves were too well camouflaged to be seen. She looked at her hoofheld radar and saw Pinkie’s location. She also double checked if she was on the right planet. And she was.

Eventually, the muddy wastes turned into a forest. Rainbow descended down under the trees’ brownish canopy, where the radar said Pinkie was. The ground was just as soft as it was before. It was more like a swamp, but one where all the water has been turned to soft mud. The foliage was thick and very little sunlight seeped through. Thankfully, the crash left a big hole among the trees and left enough light in for Rainbow to see Pinkie’s capsule. But Pinkie was nowhere.

The lifepod might have plummeted violently, but there were many holes in its hull, that were clearly not caused by atmospheric pressure, or just awkward handling. The pod has been thrown and bashed all over. Pinkie’s hoofheld radar was sunk into the mud, but Pinkie was nowhere to be seen.

Rainbow called out to her, hoping to get an answer, but there were only the strange noises of the local wildlife. But soon, she could see a lead; a line of confetti on top of the mud, clearly shot out from Pinkie’s party cannon. It seems, she tried to use it to escape whatever attacked her. Rainbow followed the confetti line, which ended at the top of a waterfall. She called out her name again. This time, she actually got an answer.

“Down here!” It could just barely be heard, through the sound of rumbling muddy water.

Rainbow looked down at the waterfall and there was Pinkie safely hanging from a large tree’s branch, munching on some local fruit.

“There you are!” Rainbow exclaimed. “What happened?”

“You gotta try this weird-smelling fruit, it’s delicious!”

“What are you doing? You don’t know what you’re eating!”

“Oh please, my stomach had worse before. Remember those horrible muffins from Starlight’s village?”

“And why aren’t you wearing your headgear?”

“Why are you wearing it?”

Rainbow was ready to answer, but she realized that Pinkie had a point. They wouldn’t be having this conversation if the helmet was necessary. She opened up her helmet and could breathe just fine.

“Huh...” She acknowledged her minor mistake. “You still haven’t answered my question though.” She got back on track. “What happened? I saw your capsule in ruins.”

“Oh, I was attacked.”

“By whom?”

And just as Rainbow finished that sentence, a large machine appeared right in front of them. A tank-like contraption with boosters under its caterpillars, so it could float on the same level as them. It had a torso and two arms, almost like a tank-centaur and it was staring them down with its empty, greyed-out glass window.

“That thing!” Pinkie pointed at the machine.

Rainbow immediately shot up at it, cracking its glass “face” with a swift swing of the back hooves. It stumbled a bit and was clearly struggling to stay in the air. It reached out with one arm and launched a missile at the tree Pinkie was resting on, sending her down into the deep. Rainbow forgot about the malicious machine instantly and went after her friend, but the machine reached out and trapped her firmly in its hand. It then flew down after Pinkie and grabbed her with its other arm.

The machine carried them away into the distance. Soon, they were in front of a large building. A small bug-like creature was pacing back and forth in the entrance. The machine dropped both ponies in front of it, but it was too focused on the machine itself. It chirped angrily towards it, as if it was berating it for breaking its glass window.

In the meantime, Rainbow tried to fly away with Pinkie. The creature flew after them and blocked their way.

“Back off pal, you ain’t taking us anywhere!” She shouted.

The bug-creature simply pulled out a small rod and hit her with it, completely immobilizing her and sending both her and Pinkie on the ground.

They fell into the mud below with a splat. “Okay, you can carry on, I guess.” She forced out a defeated remark.

It dragged them both towards the middle of the garage, while it chirped commands at nearby similar bug creatures, who quickly chained the ponies up. One of them chirped back and sent out a small flying television towards the commander, which flew with such recklessness, that it nailed it straight in the face. While the commander got its balance back and chirped angrily to itself, the screen turned on. The two ponies just watched in bewilderment.

Bewilderment soon turned to fear, as the captain of the attacking aliens appeared on the flying television screen.

“Hey, it’s the guy who attacked us!” Pinkie pointed out.

“They’re in cahoots!” Rainbow Dash responded.

The bug creature showed Pinkie and Rainbow to the alien on the screen, before exchanging some more strange noises. After a short conversation that consisted of nothing but chirping and slurping, the screen turned off and flew away, whacking the bug in the face a second time. It chirped to itself in displeasure, then “shouted” at the others.

“I don’t think this is what Twilight was planning...” Rainbow Dash remarked.

“I think she expected us to land nearer to the friendly ones.” Pinkie replied.

“The friendly ones?”

“Yes, the ones who gave up centuries of warring, after almost destroying the ecosystem.”

“Wait, you actually read the database?”

“Well, duh! You gotta know where you travel.”

Soon, a large metal door opened and there came about five more bug-creatures, rolling a huge metal ball towards the middle of the hangar. They almost went a bit too far, because their commander started panicking at the rapidly approaching wrecking ball. But it quickly deployed its legs and managed to stop just in time. But the commander had no time to regain its composure, because the ball’s door swung open and smashed it right into the ground.

“Boy, how did these things build that robot?” Said Rainbow Dash. “They can barely follow commands properly.”

“They might be brilliant engineers,” Pinkie Pie responded, “but they sure are not competent.”

Without even waiting for the commander to get out from under the door, three more bug creatures ran out of the metal ball and without hesitation bashed both ponies with their very own immobilizing rods. And then they dragged them both aboard.

The door closed, the commander flew away and the ground opened right under the ball. It retracted its legs and fell into the hole under itself. The ceiling opened up with such speed and power that the entire hangar shook noticeably. And through the opening, the ball shot out as if it was launched from a cannon. And in a matter of minutes it was in outer space. Heading to rendezvous with the trealitt most likely.

The last lifepod was heading to its destination: A small barren planet with an atmosphere so thin, the lifepod barely even got heated. So the landing was relatively safe. Thrusters worked fine, the parachute deployed as intended. Only problem, the pilot wasn’t good, so the pod landed on its side. But something was up with the ground as well, because the pod sank right into what previously looked like solid rock.

The door burst open and Spike emerged with a loud gasp. He forgot to wear his helmet and was trying to breathe the thin atmosphere. Just as he was about to go back inside, the ground cracked and the whole lifepod fell straight under the ground into a tunnel. Now Spike had a headache as well.

When he got up, the helmet turned out to be not necessary anymore; somehow the atmosphere was a lot thicker inside the tunnel. And more interestingly, the underground tunnel was the exact opposite of the barren surface. It was vibrant with different animalistic noises around and the walls adorned all over with bioluminescent fungi.

Spike, of course, had his eyes on something else: A large crystal that was glowing brighter than the lights in a spaceship. He approached it like it was the most delicious thing he’s ever seen.

“Rock is rock,” he thought, “alien food could be poisonous, but this is rock.”

He prepared to grab onto it and chow it down like he would a gem, but just as he touched it, it sent an electric shock that threw him on the ground.

He groaned. “Right, better keep focus.”

He walked through the tunnels, observing the myriads of colours covering the walls. Life seemed more and more abundant the deeper he went. The colours become more vibrant, small creatures emerged from between the fungi, fist-sized beetles rolled past him. Even the air seemed to have become thicker and thicker. He reached a small stream of water and with cupped claws, he drank from it. The water had an odd sweet taste to it. What a strange paradise! He followed the stream and found himself in a large hall, with multiple waterfalls pouring from the ceiling, into a small lake on the bottom. Spike took a dive in it, scaring several odd-shaped animals that were drinking from it, and felt like he was on vacation. But duty was calling, so he had to make it brief.

But as soon as he got out of the water, before he even got to dry himself completely, he suddenly stopped moving. It was like his muscles disobeyed the orders of his brain.

“Well, what do we have here?” Said a high-pitched metallic voice. It wasn’t coming from anywhere, Spike could just hear it. “Not often do I get to find edible brainwaves down here.”

Spike tried to answer the voice or search for its source, but not even his eyes could move. All he could do is make vague moaning noises that only tried to be words. Soon, a lanky green figure emerged from one of the tunnels, staring intensely at Spike, without ever blinking.

“Don’t worry little one,” it talked without moving its lips, “you won’t feel a thing. Soon you’ll forget what feelings even are.” The words didn’t even come from the creature’s mouth; they were coming directly from inside Spike’s head.

The creature leaned in very close to Spike, its mouth slowly opened unnaturally wide and hissed, almost as if it was trying to suck in something. Its eyes and the back of its throat glowed bright green.

Suddenly Spike could move. But instead of screaming or running, the first thing he did is blast the creature with an enormous cone of fire. It made an ear-splitting high-pitched shriek and stumbled away. Spike turned around to run, but he saw another creature like that standing at the entrance of another tunnel. He could hear the creature he previously burned approach him quickly. But as if compelled by an outside force, he turned around and blasted it with fire again. At that point, the hostile creature decided to leg it through another tunnel, its wailing still echoing through the caves.

Spike turned to the other creature. It was standing upright, almost like an ancient statue. It also had a glowing crystal embedded in its forehead. It was a stranger, but Spike somehow felt safe under its unblinking gaze.

“Did you do that?” Spike asked, since he didn’t feel like his movements were his own.

“No,” this creature talked in much the same way the other one, with its lips not moving and voice coming from directly inside Spike’s head, except it had a monotone voice, “it was all you. I merely helped you unlock your potential.”

Spike wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

“Follow me Spike,” it said, “I might have something that interests you.”

Spike followed. Sure, stranger danger and all that, but something about this creature felt comforting. Of course, its uncanny knowledge of Spike’s name and talking without its lips moving was still unnerving to him.

“How do you know my name?” Spike asked.

“Terms of identification are among the easiest to gather from other creatures’ brainwaves.” It answered.

“Brainwaves? Are you some sort of psychic?”

“Yes. We all possess this ability.”

“And how do you talk without opening your mouth?”

“I’m not talking. I am implanting my own thoughts into your brainwaves, so you understand me.”

Spike said nothing.

“Yes, it works the other way around as well.” The creature responded to Spike’s unsaid thoughts.

Spike shivered. “Freaky...” He said.

They arrived at a chamber of sorts. Natural looking, but it was clearly designed with functionality in mind. The ceiling had a hole in it and the stars poked through the thin atmosphere outside. And along the walls there were several techno-magical devices, powered by glowing crystals that were suspended in the air above them. The creature stepped up to a control panel, which had no buttons on it, only glowing screens that switched around erratically.

“I received this distress signal from one of my allies’ planet. I suspect they have already taken care of it. But you might know how to translate it.”

“Can’t you just telepathically tell what it means?” Spike questioned.

“Brainwaves aren’t transmitted through signals like this,” the creature explained, “I can only hear the sound, but I don’t understand what it means.”

“Fair enough.” Spike said. “Let me hear it then.”

The audio started playing.

It was faint and was constantly cut-off by white-noise. But it was still partly audible. “If anyone... hear me... I’m crashing... at...” That’s all that could be heard, before it cut off completely.

Spike recognized that voice. That gentle panic was unmistakable. He blurted out his answer without thinking.

“That’s Fluttershy!”

Chapter 4 - The prize

The door to Twilight’s cell has opened and two trealitt guards walked in. They were both holding leashes, just like the one she was held with previously. And on the end of the leashes were Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash had to be held with a stiff pole as well; she was growling almost like an animal and had clear signs of struggle on her. The guard threw her into the room, then pressed her head against the floor with its foot to remove the leash.

“Hey!” Twilight shouted at the aggressive guard. “Don’t forget that she’s at the same rank as I am!”

The guard briefly looked up to her, but kept its foot on Rainbow Dash’s head. After removing the leash, it bowed as an apology. Pinkie Pie has already been released by this time.

“I apologize for the rough handling of your friend Princess,” Oolkom stepped into the room, “I’ll make sure that the guard will be harshly reprimanded.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Twilight replied.

“Awfully forgiving there, Princess.” The captain commented.

“So?! What About it?!” Rainbow Dash shouted into the face of the captain.

The guards fired up their electric sticks and the sharp sizzle they emitted made Rainbow step back.

The captain did not flinch at all during this exchange. It kept a commanding posture throughout, with its hands resting on the gem inside its staff. After an ominous pause it said: “We’re headed towards Planet Galbiam, where we’ve found the distress signal of other friends of yours. They should be here shortly, just like you requested.” After saying that it left and closed the door behind it.

Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight. “Just like you requested?!” She echoed the captain’s words.

“There’s more to that statement than that.” Twilight clarified.

“Why did you send us to that planet anyway?” She demanded an answer.

“I was hoping the Tinus could help us.” Twilight answered. “Their weapons could be great use for us.”

“Well, they were the ones who brought us right into the hands of the enemy!”

“Hmm, that does change the plan a little bit.”

“The plan?! Just what the hay are you planning?! First you send us into hostile territories, then you bring the enemy right to us?!”

“Calm down Rainbow Dash, the others are safe, I know!”

“Safe until they’re captured, that is. Just like you requested!”

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight now raised her voice. “Do you really think I’d intentionally lead the enemy to all of you?!”

Rainbow Dash said nothing.

“I sent all of you to those planets with a purpose.” Twilight explained. “And if I didn’t lead the trealitt to you and the others, then they would have killed me. And there would be no way to get back home either.”

Rainbow kept her silence for a moment longer. “So we’re just going to wait then, huh?”

“Yes... There’s not much we can do... For now...”

“While we wait,” Pinkie interjected, “we can always have a good meal.” She was having a go at the large table of alien food. “I highly recommend this purple stuff. Delicious!”

Some time has passed. Who knows how much? For a while the only thing that could be heard was the quiet rumbling of the spaceship, Rainbow’s shivering and Pinkie’s delighted chewing, which stopped eventually, as she laid down for an after meal nap. Rainbow Dash looked at the crude decorations in disgust. It was clear that whoever put them up, did not know anything about cheer; they were just there as a pitiful attempt at making the ponies feel at home. Twilight tucked Pinkie in with a blanket. She gave one to Rainbow Dash as well.

“Here,” she said, “the spaceship is cold. You’ll need this.”

Rainbow took the blanket. “I’m sorry for assuming the worst about you earlier.” She said.

“Don’t worry,” Twilight replied, “you went through a lot. And Oolkom did distort what I said.”

“What do they want with you anyway? Why do they want to kill you?”

Twilight was just about to answer but the spaceship interrupted with a continuous violent shake. The air briefly turned even colder, as the cooling systems kicked in automatically. That went on for good ten minutes, before the spaceship stopped and the temperature went back to its just uncomfortable state.

“I think we landed.” Rainbow Dash commented.

“Oh I hope this works.” Twilight said.

“Hope what works? Unless-“ She was cut off by a huge thud that shook the entire ship. “What was that?”

Twilight couldn’t answer; She has been distracted by a strange voice. It was talking to her from directly inside her head.

“Do not worry. We are here.” The voice said.

“Who’s that?” She asked the voice.

“I have someone here, who might interest you.”

“Twilight is that you?” Spike’s voice emerged inside her mind.

“Spike!” She answered.

“Oh Twilight,” it was Fluttershy’s voice now, “I am so glad you’re okay!”

“I’m using an alien’s head as a communicator,” Spike said, “pretty cool, huh?”

“Okay Spike,” said Twilight, “stay on track.”

“Don’t worry,” he answered, “we have a plan.”

“I knew, I could count on you!”

Suddenly the door burst open and several alien warriors stormed into the cell and with fired up electric staffs, they hit Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, immobilizing the both of them.

“You were leading us into a trap, weren’t you?” Their captain has stepped into the room. “No matter, your trap is but a mild inconvenience.”

Both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie have been chained up at this point and the guards were approaching Twilight, with their electric staffs. She could do nothing, but let her be put on a leash again. Soon, the three of them have been dragged outside the ship and they could finally see what was going on. They have touched ground on the planet where the ashstorm was still going. But there was a sort of energy field surrounding them, which came from a larger spaceship from above. The trealitt have been trapped. Two other trealitt were standing outside the energy sphere and they were holding Rarity and Applejack.

Twilight, along with Rainbow and Pinkie were dragged outside the ship, so everyone could clearly see them. Oolkom raised an amplifier to its translator and started talking.

“We have your princess and the rest of your friends! Lift the shield and give yourselves up and they shall remain fine! Or else...”

The guards have grabbed their electric staffs and with a loud display, the staffs turned into massive axes and they prepared to strike the ponies down, if their demands weren’t met.

For a moment, silence lingered over the scene. After several agonizingly quiet seconds, the energy sphere retracted back into the spaceship, allowing the ashstorm in, which was significantly colder than the inside of the trealitt spaceship. A beam shot down in front of them. Spike and Fluttershy appeared where the beam touched the ground.

“Spike! Fluttershy!” Twilight shouted at them. “Don’t do this, it’s a... Ugh!” Her leash was yanked so hard she stopped talking.

Spike and Fluttershy stepped up to the trealitt quietly. Spike stared indignantly at the alien captain, then looked into Twilight’s eyes. Rarity and Applejack looked on, as they were dragged onto the scene as well. Twilight looked back at Spike, with intense worry. Then unexpectedly, a grin appeared on Spike’s face. He flew up into the air and blasted the enemy captain with a huge burst of fire. It let out an ear-splitting scream and collapsed onto its knees. The guards, instead of striking with their weapons, brought up their shields to protect themselves from the flames. Fluttershy hopped up to Rainbow and Pinkie, and with a strange pronged device attempted to free them. The guards could do nothing; they were busy hiding from Spike’s flaming breath.

And suddenly, large furry creatures emerged from under the ash. A very intense fiery glow emanated from under their fur. Most of them emerged around Rarity and Applejack. They grabbed onto the guards holding them and the guards liquefied almost instantly.

While Spike was distracted with saving Rainbow and Pinkie, something pulled violently on Twilight’s leash and she came face to face with Oolkom, who was ready to strike her down, right then and there. At that point, its previously displayed decorum was all gone and it was shrieking like a vicious animal, with its face looking like the side of a heavily used candle. Spike tried to get her out of the alien’s grasp, but two guards jumped in front of him and blocked his flames with their shields.

The captain lifted its staff and a huge shiny blade emerged from it. It attempted to strike Twilight down, but Twilight struggled and the blade ended up cutting her chain in half. Oolkom swung its bladed weapon around in such a way, that it prevented Twilight from quickly getting away. She could do nothing, but jump out of the erratic strikes’ way, since her horn restraint has not been removed.

Rainbow Dash quickly flew to Twilight’s aid, but Oolkom stepped out of her way. And just as she passed, it grabbed her tail and threw her on the ground. It then stomped on her and raised its weapon to strike her down. And that’s when Applejack appeared with a forceful kick to the alien’s half melted face. Rarity rushed past the distracted guards and freed Twilight with Fluttershy’s device. Fluttershy was already under the spaceship she came from and motioned her friendly aliens to activate the beam.

“Quickly, we can escape!” She shouted to the rest of the ponies.

Meanwhile, Oolkom started getting the upper hand against Rainbow and Applejack and has managed to pin them both against the ground. But in just the right moment Pinkie jumped in and saved them both with a party cannon blast to the alien’s face. The rage inside the captain rose visibly. It grabbed Pinkie by the throat and lifted her in the air. And that’s when Twilight was finally able to blast Oolkom with a massive laser beam.

Oolkom could not fight further, The fiery furry creatures were now really close, with their bodies glowing white hot. Not even the guards could hold them back any longer with their shields, so they started retreating back into the ship, with a few questioning looks to their captain. The captain itself tried to reach after the escaping ponies, even that slight movement towards the heat was far too much. It screamed desperately as if that was going to stop them, but the unbearable heat got closer, while the ponies effortlessly ran up to the beam and escaped. The trealitt lost this battle and were forced to retreat back into their ship.

The ponies were now inside the allied spaceship. They found themselves in a small spherical room with membranous walls and there was water all around them. The aquatic aliens Fluttershy met were there, along with the telepathic one Spike met. But there was no time for introductions; Through the large windows, they could see the trealitt spaceship preparing for a take-off as well. Fluttershy donned her underwater breathing gear and jumped through the membrane into the water. She gently pushed two aliens away from a control panel and she briefly took control herself.

The spaceship deployed its energy field once again and trapped the trealitt close to the ground, allowing the blazing creatures to grab onto their spaceship. At that point, they were glowing with such heat, that the hull of the trealitt ship began to melt and get slowly ripped apart. The thrusters were the first to go. They managed to get in and start taking the spaceship apart from the inside. Once the trealitt have been immobilized, Fluttershy retracted the shield and gave control back to her alien friends. She quietly apologized to them with a blush.

Soon, they were all in outer space, safe from the trealitt menace. They cheered, as they finally had a reason to cheer.

“Was this your plan all along?” Rainbow poke Twilight in the side.

“Kind of...“ Twilight replied.

“Just how did you know this was going to happen?” Rarity asked.

“Seriously?” Pinkie jumped in. “Have none of you read the database?”

“Not really.” Applejack answered.

“Well, if you did,” Pinkie began, “then you’d know that the trealitt are sensitive to heat and they melt like ice cream!”

“And there lives a creature on this planet,” Twilight added, “with its own special brand of pyromancy, that allows it to radiate heat from its own body, with no upper limit.”

“I get it now,” said Rainbow Dash, “you just needed everybody to be at one place.”

Fluttershy jumped back in through the membrane and took off her breathing apparatus. “All that matters,” she said, “that it all worked out in the end. And now we can go home.”

“I still have one question,” Spike stepped in, “just what did those guys want?”

Twilight prepared to answer, but Pinkie was quicker. “They want to summon their god, but they need a lot of power to summon it and they needed Twilight’s power for that.”

“And I guess you told them about the power of friendship, huh?” Rainbow commented. “You needed to buy time.”

“Wait, hold the phone,” Spike interjected, “their god?”

“Shouldn’t we be worried about that?” Rarity asked.

“We can worry about that later.” Said Twilight. “We aren’t usually on their radars, they just happened to take an easy opportunity. And besides, we might get a few more allies after this.”

“And considering Celestia controls the sun...” Pinkie added.

“Right!” Twilight nodded.

“Well, I don’t know about you guys,” Rainbow Dash interjected, “but I am going to start reading that database while we’re on the way home.”

“That does sound like a good idea.” Said Fluttershy.

“Oh, I can’t wait to show you the things inside it!” Twilight exclaimed. “Did you know that there’s a creature with such vast knowledge of magic that they made an entire sapient species? I’m so excited to make first contact with the whole galaxy!”

“Calm down Twilight,” said Applejack, “let’s get home first instead.”

“Right.” Twilight blushed.

And so they headed back to Equestria, aboard the water-filled alien spaceship, wondering just how are they going to introduce their new friends to the ponies of Equestria.