Second Sun

Chapters

Episode 1: Aboard the Second Sun
Episode 2: Test Drive
Episode 3: Cause and Effect
Episode 4: Under Her Wing
Episode 5: Ingentibus Res

Episode 1: Aboard the Second Sun

“Since, in the long run, every planetary civilization will be endangered by impacts from space, every surviving civilization is obliged to become spacefaring--not because of exploratory or romantic zeal, but for the most practical reason imaginable: staying alive...” –Carl Sagan

It began with, what some would consider, the biggest shitstorm to ever hit. Fires and earthquakes spread across Ponyville as the skies reddened, the sun nowhere in sight. Buildings began to crumble and burn under the might of this unknown force of nature. People were running and screaming, heading out of town and towards the massive spaceship that laid just outside of Ponyville. Twilight stood completely still while in complete and utter shock of what was happening. She couldn’t believe her eyes, even though it was happening right in front of her. It was gone. The boutique, the bakery, the forest, the library. The town she once knew and loved. It was all gone. This wasn’t just happening in Ponyville either. It was all of Equestria.

Behind her, Twilight could hear the cries of her friends as they begged for her to retreat back to the ship. But, she continued to just stand there, watching as everything fell apart. She looked up at the sky. She could make out some of the ships that were already taking off amidst the turmoil and it was high time Ponyville’s ship did the same. She then looked by to where her friends were. The Second Sun was ready and able. All it needed was its captain.

Twilight ran towards the ship as fast as she could, trying hard not to look back. When she made it to the set of stairs leading into the ship, her friends helped her make it inside. Once she made it in, she leaned against the wall, looked down, and began to close her eyes. She needed to keep the tears from escaping her eyes. She couldn’t cry. Not now. As the last few people made it out of the fires and onto the ship, the stairs retracted and the door slid closed.

“Come on, Twilight. They’re waiting for you.” Spike placed his hand on her shoulder. She looked back up to notice everyone was giving concerned looks towards her. “I’m alright, you guys. I’ll be okay.” Twilight tried to convince her friends, but it wasn’t working. “Honestly, guys. I’ll be fine. Let’s just get to the bridge, okay?” She got up and began to journey down the corridor with her friends following her. She hoped that she remembered the way to her destination.

As they squeezed through thousands of scared civilians, one happened to grab Twilight’s arm violently. She was a middle-aged woman with tears flowing down her cheeks. “Have you seen my son?” she begged, “I can’t find him anywhere. Please, I beg of you, help me find my son.” Twilight raised her free arm towards the crying individual, forming a purple aura around her hand and the woman’s, which pushed the scared mother away softly, causing the woman to let go. “I’m sorry,” said Twilight. “I haven’t seen him. But, I’ll let you know if I do, okay?” The woman ran off, grabbing other people and asking the same question. Twilight and her friends continued on.

They had arrived to two doors with two guards on either side. They saluted Twilight as the doors automatically opened like curtains revealing the bridge. The room was full of computers and a huge window that showcased what could easily be summed up as Hell. In the back, the captain’s chair sat there, awaiting Twilight. The crew was standing in formation and saluting Twilight as she entered the room. One crew member jogged up towards Twilight and saluted her personally, then turned to a tablet he had held in his hands. “The board is green, ma’am. Engines are up and running and the Striders are set. Awaiting your orders, ma’am.” Twilight had her order in mind, but struggled to get her sentence out. She didn’t want to leave, yet she had to. Eventually, she uttered, “Raise the ship. Let’s get out of here.” The man saluted once again, “Yes, ma’am.”

The rest of the crew scrambled to their positions and began The Second Sun’s takeoff. Twilight went to her seat in the far back and sat down, watching out the window as The Second Sun began to rise. The room shook a little, but not enough to throw anyone off balance. The ship began to point diagonally towards the sky. Twilight swallowed her sadness once again. This was it. The moment had finally arrived. The ship moved forward with a semi-high velocity. When the ship rose above the sea of clouds, it was the only peaceful moment Twilight would have this day. She could see the stars as they left the atmosphere, every constellation she ever learned.

Home was now behind her, and she could never go back.

Episode 1
Aboard The Second Sun

The ship cruised smoothly along the sea of stars. It was quite calm and peaceful as deep space could ever be. Inside, everyone was out and about, doing jobs, attending school, much like life back home. It had been 4 years since The Day of Departure and everyone seemed to be adjusted to their new lives amongst the galaxy.

A young man, about 19 years of age, silver hair, and wearing a brown windbreaker, had begun repainting the wall next to the entrance of the mess hall after someone happened to spray paint “We will never find home! The captain lies!” in red lettering. He was mostly quiet about his job. In fact, he would always keep to himself for most of the 4 years he’s been on this ship.

His ears were plugged in by earbuds connected to a tape player playing some old jazz music from Canterlot that he nabbed from the archive room, a place where he would spend most of his days when he wasn’t working.

Back in Ponyville, he worked as a janitor in his family’s business started by his late great-grandfather. He would usually go out cleaning windows and mopping floors with his father. When he wasn’t though, he just hid in his room reading action/adventure and sci-fi books and tended to stay away from a social life. He wasn’t much of a scholar, and he definitely wasn’t much of a jock. But when he worked, it showed. For a janitor, he was pretty damn good. Most of the customers would request personally if he could come over and wash the place. His parents didn’t call him Silver Wash for nothing.

“Yo, Silver!”

Silver pulled out his earbuds and pressed pause on the tape player. He looked to his left to notice a familiar girl with navy and sky blue hair was waving him over. “What’s going on, good buddy?”

Silver never considered him and local DJ Vinyl Scratch, or “The Beast with the Beats” as she would prefer, ‘good buddies’. He’d like to consider them ‘good acquaintances that usually met up from time to time.’ Since they both lived 12 rooms apart from each other, they would occasionally bump into each other time to time. After the 8th time, Vinyl had gotten tired of Silver not saying anything and introduced herself. Now she just won’t leave him alone.

“Oh, you know. Same ol’ same ol’,” he replied. Vinyl laughed, “Man, you have to be the most boring person I know.” She then pointed back towards the mess hall. “You wanna grab a bite to eat real quick? I’ve got something really cool to tell you.”

“Sure, I’m pretty much done here anyway. I could use something to eat.” Silver put his paint brush back into the bucket and carried it with him as he followed Vinyl into the mess hall.

***

Twilight opened her eyes groggily and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds. It’s been 4 years and she still never got used to that ceiling. When she got up, she rubbed her eyes with her hands then began her usual morning routine. Showering, breakfast, the usual. She put on her uniform and her hat with The Second Sun’s insignia, an insignia that closely resembled Celestia’s symbol that she had plastered throughout almost the entire castle back in Canterlot. As she made her way to the bridge, she was stopped by Applejack, her first officer, who was catching up to her. “Twilight! Wait up!” she cried.

“Is something wrong, Applejack?” asked Twilight.

“Nah, nothing’s wrong. Ah just needed to chat with you, that’s all.”

“Alright then. Can you walk and talk at the same time?”

“Sure, Ah can try.”

Twilight resumed her walk with Applejack by her side. “Any news today?”

“We got another riot down in Sector D-7.”

“Same group of people?”

“Looks like it.”

“They just don’t get it, do they?” Twilight sighed. She had been dealing with this group of rioters at least 10 times now, all in the course of 2 years. “I swear, they’re out to get me. Get security on it. I want an end to this foolishness today.”

“Don’t worry, Twilight. They’ll get it done.”

“I sure hope so. What’s the status on Poseidon?”

“All we need to do is send it out for a test run and everything will be good to go…”

“Good.”

“…all we need is a pilot.”

“Don’t worry, Applejack. We’ll find one eventually. Anything else?”

“Nothin’ that really matters much. Other than that, it seems to be pretty much a peaceful day.”

“Good. It’s been 6 months since we’ve been attacked and I’m not looking to lose that streak. I’ll talk to you later, Applejack.”

Applejack tipped her cowgirl hat to Twilight and headed off in the opposite direction. Twilight arrived at the bridge, only to be greeted by her assistant, Spike, a few seconds later. Twilight took her seat in her captain’s chair with Spike standing beside her. “You okay there, Twilight. You seem stressed about something.” Twilight responded with another sigh.

“The rioters again?” Spike asked.

Twilight simply nodded. “I just have a lot on my mind right now, that’s all. But, it’s not just that, though.”

“Oh?” said Spike, cocking an eyebrow, “What else could it be then?”

Twilight stared out the window showcasing the utter beauty of space for all to see. “I’m also a bit cautious.” Twilight continued to stare out the window, giving a more concerned look this time. “It’s been 6 months. 6 months since the pirates last attacked us. I don’t think they would give up that easily. They’re up to something. I just know it.”

“Well, let’s enjoy it while we can. Who knows when we’ll ever get a peaceful time such as this ever again?” Spike finished his sentence with a little chuckle. “Anyway, just let me know if you need anything, alright?”

Twilight began to rub her forehead. “Some aspirin would be nice.”

“Got it.” Spike began to take a mental note. Twilight gave a faint smile. “Oh, Spike. After all these years, you’re still my number one assistant, huh?”

Spike smiled back, “…and always will be. I’ll be right back.”

“Thank you, Spike.” Spike nodded then left the bridge, on the hunt for some aspirin for Twilight. As he left, Twilight faced forward and continued to stare out the window again.

“Thank you.”

***

Silver and Vinyl grabbed their trays of lunch and found a table nearby. They sat across each other and began to eat. Silver took a bite out of his sandwich while Vinyl scarfed hers down. “What’s the hurry?” Silver asked.

Vinyl stopped and glanced at Silver. “Nothing. I’m just really hungry, right now.” She continued to pig out, causing Silver to almost lose his appetite entirely. He looked to his left where there was a television hooked up to the wall. It was a news program talking about a recent riot down in Sector D-7.

‘Another riot?’ he thought. ‘No doubt the boss will send me down there to clean that mess up.’ But the more he watched the footage, the less safe he felt. Of course, the riot was probably over by now, and Sector D-7 wasn’t anywhere near where Silver was at the moment. But the thought of people like them in a ship like this scared him stiff. He looked back at Vinyl, who was still eating.

“So, Vinyl, you wanted to tell me something?” Vinyl held up a finger as she finished chewing and swallowed her meal. She then looked left and right to check if no one was around for whatever she wanted to tell him. She leaned forward towards Silver, beckoning him to lean forward as well.

“I heard they finished production on that new strider. What did they call it again? Possum? Parcel. It started with a P…P-P-P-P. Oh yeah, now I remember! Poseidon!...I think.” Vinyl still wasn’t sure but was confident in the intel she had. Silver sat back in his chair, rolled his eyes, and facepalmed.

“Vinyl, don’t tell me you’ve been snoop-“ Vinyl suddenly placed her hand over Silver’s mouth and put a finger on hers.

“SHHHHHH! Keep it down, will ya? I don’t want security after us. Or worse, the captain. You know how tightly she runs this ship. We could get life in the brig for having this kind of information.” She looked around again to make sure no one heard them. Turns out, they were in luck. No one seemed to care.

“Then why are you telling me this?”

She shrugged. “‘Cause it’s cool. Besides, I know how much you love striders.”

For once, Vinyl was actually right. Silver did happen to have a certain fascination for the mechs that defended the Second Sun from oncoming attacks. He always wanted to pilot one when he first saw one of them as they were loaded onto the ship three days before The Day of Departure. One night, up in his cabin, he watched 2 striders flying around outside his window. The pilots made it look so easy, it was almost as if it were dancing among the stars.

“So, you doing any plans after work today?” Vinyl asked

“Not really, no.”

“Hold up. You’re not planning on going down to the archives again, are you?”

“N-No.” He lied.

Vinyl groaned. “Oh come on, dude. You know how boring that place is. Why do you still even go there?”

“I don’t know. It’s just my preference, I guess.” Silver looked down at the table, furrowing his eyebrows. He knew Vinyl wouldn’t understand, but he sometimes wish she did.

Vinyl cocked an eyebrow, “Your preference, huh? Ugh, you do this all the time.” Suddenly, an idea popped inside Vinyl’s head. “Tell you what. 10 bits says you’ll have a fun time with me at the arcade, deal?”

Silver sighed in defeat. He could tell there was no convincing her this time. “Alright, fine.” As they got up and put their trays away, the room suddenly shook violently. Silver managed to keep his balance as Vinyl fell over. He went over and extended his hand towards Vinyl. “Are you okay?” he asked. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Hurt my ass, though.” She got up, rubbing her bottom to sooth the pain away. “What the hell was that?” she asked. Silver looked back at the television that managed to stay on the wall in one piece. Once he saw the news program, he finally figured out what was happening.

‘Figures,’ he thought. ‘Pirates.’

***

“Rarity! What in Equestria is going on?” yelled Twilight. The alarms blared as the whole bridge had been tinted red.

“Oh, this is dreadful! We have 5, maybe 6 pirate ships that just warped in! They’re opening fire!

Twilight sat back down. ‘So, this is what they were planning all this time? To bring more than one ship to attack this time? Not much of a plan. Then again, these are pirates we’re talking about. ’ “Damage Report!”

Rarity swiped at a hologram that depicted the ship. Parts of it glowing red with the word ‘DANGER’ flashing. “Shields are down to 88%. At this rate, we’ll be killed in a matter of minutes.” Outside, a huge firefight had broken out. 5 battleships were firing non-stop while the Second Sun’s cannons fired back, only doing about average damage to its enemies.

Later, they had begun to send out their own striders. Pirate striders were more generic looking, not having any special features or designs, with grey armor and a red cyclopean eye. They weren’t advanced as Equestria’s own striders however, but for the pirates, they got the job done. They fired the cannons placed upon their arms at the Second Sun’s engines. No one knew why the pirates had such a grudge against the lost Equestrians. Perhaps, they just thought of it has good sport.

“They’re trying to take out the engines!” Rarity exclaimed. Twilight needed to act quickly. Luckily for her, fast decisions came naturally after being the captain for 4 years. “Get all non-combatants to the shelters.” Twilight put her hand to her ear piece. “Spike, you there? I need you to-”

“I’m already on it!” Spike was already rushing through corridors, trying desperately to get down to the hangar where the striders lay in waiting. Spike tapped his earpiece slightly so he could get in contact. “Rainbow? Rainbow, are you there?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here,” she yawned. “What the hell’s going on?”

Spike stopped. “Don’t tell me you just got up.”

“Maybe.”

Spike sighed then continued onwards. “Ok, never mind that. We’ve got pirates to deal with.”

“How many?” she asked.

“About 5, 6 ships total.”

“Well, it’s about time we got some action.” Rainbow’s tone was that of excitement. Spending 6 months doing absolutely nothing in a ship out in the middle of nowhere wasn’t exactly her idea of fun.

“Just hurry up, would ya? I’d rather not die today.”

Twilight stayed at the bridge, giving out orders. Applejack was pointing a few things out with some of the crew members. The Second Sun’s cannons helped fend off the pirates but not by much. Shields were still decreasing gradually over time. If anything, it only saved them an hour at least. However, she knew Spike and Rainbow Dash wouldn’t be enough. They needed at least one more out in the field of battle.

Twilight pressed a button on the arm of her chair. A projection depicting a girl with pink, poofy hair and black smudges scattered across her face popped up in front of the captain. “Pinkie?”

“HI, TWILY!!”

Twilight sighed. “Pinkie, we’ve been over this before. I’ve told you too many times to not call me that.”

“Oops, sorry.”

“Are Spike and Rainbow Dash there?”

“They already launched a few minutes ago, why?”

“Those two won’t be enough. We need to launch Poseidon now.”

Another engineer appeared next to Twilight. “What? Of all times, you want to launch it now? Poseidon isn’t ready yet. We don’t know if-“

“Enough,” Twilight interrupted him. “Spike and Rainbow Dash are in enough trouble as it already is.”

“But we still don’t have a pilot. It’s not like we can bring back the last pilot from the dead. If we could, that’d be preeetty freaky.” Pinkie did have a point. In the last attack, the last pilot had been overrun and killed almost instantly, which is why they even started construction on Poseidon in the first place. Regulations clearly stated that each Equestrian ship needed 3 striders. No more, no less.

“You let me handle that. Just get Poseidon ready, ok?”

“Okie-dokie-lokie.” Pinkie’s projection disappeared in a flash. Twilight pressed another button, causing the projection of a light pink haired girl in a doctor’s lab coat to appear. The girl turned around and gave a short but rather loud yelp.

“Oh, Twilight! You startled me for a second there.”

“Sorry, Fluttershy. I didn’t mean to. Listen, I need you to do something for me.”

“Ok, what is it?”

“I need you to find someone willing enough to pilot Poseidon.”

“Poseidon? But isn’t that-“

“Yes, I know. But, you know what they say. Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

“Understood.” And with that, Fluttershy’s projection disappeared.

Twilight seemed confident that her plan might just work. All she needed was someone with enough will to pilot.

She clasped her hands together in front of her face, ‘Celestia, if you’re out there. Please, let this work.’

***

Vinyl and Silver got lost in the crowds as they rushed to their nearest emergency shelter. The feeling of panic and fear was everywhere amongst everyone. Everyone was rushing disorderly, pushing and shoving others out of their way. Silver looked around, desperately trying to find Vinyl.

“Dude!” Vinyl cried out, waving her arms above the crowd. “Over here! Come on!” Vinyl luckily managed to grab Silver’s attention despite the screams. When they caught up with each other, Vinyl lead Silver through a secluded alley way.

“Come on, I know a shortcut.” She took one look at Silver, who seemed terrified out of his mind. “You okay, dude?”

Silver looked up at Vinyl. “Huh? Oh, um, yeah. I’ll be fine.” Vinyl nodded, but was still unsure of her friend. As they made it out of the alley, they had made it to one of the emergency shelters that wasn’t crowded by too many people. As they went inside, the door had shut behind. A few others were standing around and pacing in circles. Others were sitting on the floor, praying that it would all be over soon. Vinyl pointed out to a corner in the back. “There’s a shelter over there. Come on.”

Vinyl grabbed Silver’s arm and led him to an empty spot. Vinyl sat down and leaned back against her hands. Silver sat against the wall, hiding his face in his chest.

“I don’t wanna die. I don’t wanna die. I don’t wanna die. I don’t wanna die.” Silver repeated those words over and over.

Vinyl became even more worried than she was before. Before she could say anything though, a knock was heard on the door. People stared at each other, wondering who it was. Could it be one of the crew, telling everyone that it was safe? Or was it the pirates, who had managed to board the Second Sun and were killing everyone on sight? A voice could be heard from the other side.

“Hello? Is anyone in there? Please, open up.” It sounded feminine, with a hint of fear in her voice. One of the citizens put his hand against the wall, opening the door. A girl walked in, a medic to be precise. She had long, light pink hair and was wearing a doctor’s lab coat. “Oh, um, thank you. If…if any of you don’t know, m-my name is…Fluttershy. I’m one of the medics aboard the ship. I’ve been sent…by the captain…to inform…that we need a new pilot.”

The crowd murmured once more. Most of them had refused, stating that they didn’t want to die, or that all of this was madness. Fluttershy had begun to lose hope. Silver kept repeating the same words under his breath.

“I don’t wanna die.”

‘They need a pilot.’

“I don’t wanna die.”

‘No one’s helping.’

“I don’t wanna die.”

‘Someone’s got to do something.’

“I don’t wanna die.”

‘Everyone’s going to die! ‘

“I don’t wanna die.”

‘Do something!’

“I’ll do it.” A voice was heard from the back. Everyone turned heads to see who this mysterious volunteer was. It was Silver, who tried to show no fear of dying. Vinyl took a double-take and grabbed his arm.

“Are you crazy?” she protested. “You can’t pilot something like a strider! You’ll get yourself killed out there!”

Silver looked back at Vinyl. “And what if no one else pilots it? Everyone would be killed. I can help.” He looked back at Fluttershy. “Let me help,” he begged. “Let me pilot the strider.”

つづく

予告

The pilot is chosen and Poseidon is launched.

Silver must learn to pilot whilst in the middle of a raging battle.

He goes face to face with certain death.

The Second Sun must be defended at all costs. But, is Silver willing to go through with his choice?

Next time:

Episode 2
Test Drive

Episode 2: Test Drive

Silver was led by Fluttershy through a couple of empty corridors and hallways until they eventually made it to the elevator. As they entered, Fluttershy pushed a button that would lead down to the hangar and they soon began their descent. As the elevator traveled down, Silver and Fluttershy just stood there. After a few seconds of silence, Silver finally decided to try and start a conversation. “So, how have you been?” It wasn’t the best question to ask at the moment, given the situation, but it was a start.

Fluttershy glanced at him for a quick second. “Oh, um, I-I’ve been alright, I suppose.” She quickly turned back around. The rest of the elevator ride could only be described as awkward. Every time Silver tried to talk to her, she would always either give one-word answers or not even respond at all. By the 8th time Silver tried to get her to at least say something, he sighed in defeat and gave up. He had only his thoughts to keep him company now.

‘What was I even thinking? I’ve always wanted to pilot a strider but not like this. Not when the whole ship is at stake.’ Fear began to take hold of Silver. To go out in the strider with no proper training or knowledge of the situation, it began to not sit well with him. He began to think of little scenarios in his head. One thought was that everyone would praise him as a hero for what he did. Another was that he became too careless and got himself. After that, he immediately tried to not think at all. Fluttershy took notice of how worried Silver had become. “I-I’m scared too, you know.”

Silver looked towards her, surprised that she finally said something. “Yeah, but you have nothing to worry about. I’m the one that has to actually go out there. I’m the one that has to fight. And if I fail, you and everyone else on this ship would die because of me.”

“But, isn’t that why you volunteered in the first place? To protect everyone when no one else would?” she asked. “I-I mean, that’s what you told that other girl.”

“Yeah,” he uttered. Silver realized that she had a point. If he had volunteered to pilot the strider only to back out almost instantly, than all of this would have clearly been for nothing. “I’m sorry. It’s just, I’m just a little on edge, that’s all.”

Fluttershy took notice of the elevator’s position. The elevator came to stop and emitted a ‘ding’ sound. Its doors opened to reveal the hangar bay, a huge area showcasing the gigantic robot that Silver would be soon piloting. “Ah,” Fluttershy said. “We’re here.”

Episode 2
Test Drive

Fluttershy and Silver both stepped out of the elevator as it closed behind them. Silver leaned over the catwalks he was walking on and looked down at the floor. He certainly didn’t want to slip and fall here. He continued to look around the hangar. Engineers were running around, putting the finishing touches on the strider. Silver stared in amazement at the robotic behemoth before him. For him, it truly was a spectacle to behold. It wore blue and red armor, with a V-shaped visor for eyes. It also had a cockpit resembling that of a fighter jet, pointing out of the strider’s chest and a ladder next to it. He noticed something odd however. This strider was…different. Its right arm wasn’t even an arm at all. It was more of a cannon of some sort. It seemed more advanced than the other ones he’s seen before.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Silver jumped when he heard a certain voice from his left. He quickly turned around to notice the captain standing right next to him. Silver couldn’t stand straight and had a lump in his throat. The captain was standing right there. Right next to him. He tried to not make a complete fool of himself, but most of the time he stammered when trying to speak. “You can return to your post now, Fluttershy. I’ll handle it from here.” Twilight said. Fluttershy nodded and went back towards the elevator. Twilight held out her hand, a purple aura forming around it. A file detailing Silver levitated towards her hand. She grabbed it and began to read it out loud.

“Name: Silver Wash. Age: 19. Hair: Silver. Eyes: Blue. Wings or Magic? Wings. Height: 5”9. Weight: 170 lbs. Occupation: Janitor. No known criminal record before or after Day of Departure.”

“I do tend to keep myself out of trouble.” Silver said, rubbing the back of his neck. Twilight glanced at him. “Sorry.”

Twilight put the file down and stared towards the strider. “Do you know what this is?”

“No, can’t say I do.” Silver tried his best to look as unknowing as he could. He couldn’t let them know about Vinyl’s snooping and his knowledge of something as top secret as this.

“You’re staring at Strider Model EC-032. Designation: Poseidon. Class R. The first of its kind.”

Silver continued to stare in amazement. He clearly wasn’t ready for something like this, yet he was going to pilot it anyway. If it weren’t for a pirate attack, this would’ve been the best day of his life. Before he could completely fall in love with it, everything shook again. Everyone grabbed on to the railings, desperately trying to keep their balance and not falling over to their deaths.

“Ugh,” Twilight groaned, “They don’t give up, do they?” She turned back towards Silver. “Alright, listen up. We need this ship defended long enough for the warp to activate. We only need a few more minutes so it shouldn’t be much longer.”

“Wait,” said Silver. “Why can’t you just activate them now?”

“Because somebody thought it was a good idea to have a ‘We Finished Construction on the Second Sun’ party and got cake frosting and ice cream all over the warp drive.”

All of a sudden, a pink-haired engineer in a grey jumpsuit appeared seemingly out of thin air. “Oh, come on, Twilight. It didn’t take that long to get out.”

“It took 5 agonizing weeks, Pinkie.”

Pinkie shrugged her shoulders. “Sorry.” She noticed Silver next to Twilight and suddenly gasped. She rushed over and shook his hand violently, causing Silver to shake as well. “Hi! My name’s Pinkie, what’s yours?”

Silver had no idea what was going on. First, the ship he lives in is getting attacked and now a hyperactive poofy haired girl was ecstatic to meet him. “Uh, My name’s Silver Wash.”

Pinkie gasped again, this time for much longer than the last.

“ohmygoshsilverwashareyoulikesomekindofjanitororsomethingcauseonetimeiknewthisonejanitorithinkhisnamewasestabanorsomethinghewasreallyoldandsmellybuthewaskindanicesoanywayonedayiofferedhimacupcakeandheateitandheslikeohnoesimallergictocupcakesandimlikeohjanitorguyyouresosillyandthenhe-“

Pinkie’s rant was suddenly cut off by Twilight. “Pinkie! I know how excited you get around new people, but now isn’t the time.” Twilight turned back towards Silver. “Are you ready to begin?”

Silver’s palms became sweaty, his thoughts and worries racing. He swallowed his fear the best he could and was able to issue his response. “I’m ready.”

The voice of Rainbow Dash suddenly buzzed in Twilight’s ear. “Twilight! We kind of need help out here! There’s too many of them!”

“Hang in there, Rainbow. I just sent out another. He’s on his way.”

“Another? You don’t mean…”

“Just hang on a little longer.” She tapped her ear, hanging up on Rainbow. She looked at Silver once more. ”Here, you’ll need this.” She held out her hand to reveal an earpiece. “It’s for communications.” Silver took the object and placed it inside his own ear. “Good luck. We’re counting on you.”

Twilight’s words somewhat brought back some confidence in Silver, if only by a little. He began making his way towards the cockpit of the strider. His heartbeat went faster and faster, pounding at his chest. By the time he made it to the ladder, it was ready to explode. He got in the seat and took a look at the controls. “Only two joysticks?” he asked.

“Is that a bad thing?” Twilight asked.

“Well, no. It’s just…I’d thought the controls for a giant robot would be a bit more complex.”

Sitting in the cockpit was extremely comfortable due to the leather seat, and the smell was rather metallic, which would take some getting used to. He also noticed a few other things. A few buttons here and there, and a seat ejector between his legs underneath. In an instant, everything lit up. The window above him began to lower and seal Silver in, making the cockpit a bit more cramped than before but nothing he couldn’t handle. As the window finally lowered, the catwalks began to separate, clearing the way for Poseidon. The wall in front of him began to separate as well, a blue force field keeping everyone from getting sucked out into the cold reaches of space.

“You might wanna hang on for this next bit.” Pinkie said.

“Wait, whaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!” Just like that, Poseidon was shot out into space the same way someone would be kicked out of a bar. The wall behind him had closed, as he simply floated through the stars. Explosions were all around him with plasma fire whizzing by. Silver caught his breath after the sudden maneuver and grabbed hold of the controls. Silver looked around and counted 6 battleships, more than he thought there would be. He pulled the left joystick back, causing Poseidon to fly backwards toward the ship. ‘This might be easier than I thought.’ It did seem rather simple enough. In time he learned that left joystick caused the strider to move and strafe while the right joystick made it change directions.

He noticed a trigger on each control column with a few extra buttons on the right. He had no idea what those were for but he had a feeling he’d soon find out. Right now, he had to keep moving, dodging anything that might potentially kill him. An unrecognizable voice that sounded much like a young man began to speak. “Twilight! Is that what I think it is?”

“It’s your support, Spike,” said Twilight. “Now keep holding them off. We’re at 86%. It shouldn’t be long now.” Another unrecognizable voice was heard, this time it was female. “Well, let’s hope this guy knows what he’s doing.”

Truth is, Silver had no idea what he was doing. He just stood there most of the time doing absolutely nothing. He kept flying around, avoiding any potential dangers. Pinkie’s voice rang in. “Hey! Come on, dude! Shoot some bad guys!”

“Um, okay. How do I do that, exactly?”

“You see that little nub on the right joystick?”

“Y-yeah?”

“Use that to aim, center in on the target, and pull the trigger.”

Silver placed his thumb on said nub and moved it around a bit. He noticed a green circle that popped up and moved around in front of him. He took aim at one of the ships and tapped the trigger. A few plasma bursts shot out of Poseidon’s cannon and hit the ship, doing nothing. A strider wearing rainbow colored armor and a pair of mechanical wings on its back flew up to Poseidon. “Really? Shoot the striders, you moron!” said the unknown female.

Another strider, this time wearing purple and green armor with a tail and spikes running along the back, flew up to him as well. “Hey, ease up on him, Rainbow,” said the unknown male. “He’s new to this sort of thing.”

“Our lives are at stake, Spike, and you want me to ease up on the new guy?” she yelled.

Spike’s voice lowered, “It was just a suggestion.”

Rainbow groaned as her strider flew away to deal with more enemies. Spike’s strider waved towards Poseidon. “Hey,” Spike said. “Follow me. Let’s take care of a few of these guys.” Poseidon followed Spike’s strider towards one of the other battleships. As one pirate strider flew up to Spike, his strider grabbed the pirate with both hands and ripped it in half. He dropped one and threw the other half towards another pirate strider causing an explosion. Silver was impressed and terrified of Spike at the same time.

“Woah.” Silver didn’t really have much to say after that little demonstration.

“Cool, huh? It’s one of the main things I like about Ares. He's one of those berserker types. ” Ares then pointed out to 3 other striders. “Look out, dude. Here come some more.” Silver became terrified as the pirates moved closer and closer. He moved the crosshair everywhere, desperately trying to regain control of his trembling hand. As soon as he saw the circle center in on one of them for a split second, he pulled the trigger. The pirate’s head was blown clean off as the rest of the body just floated away. Ares moved ahead, grabbed the other two, and slammed both of their heads together.

Silver remained silent when their little quarrel was finished. He breathed heavily as his heart began pounding harder and harder. He had just taken a life and he wasn’t taking it well.

“You okay?” Spike asked.

Silver swallowed. “Y-y-yeah. I’m alright.”

“Well, come on. We’re not out of the woods just yet.” As Ares flew away, Poseidon followed. Silver was still shaken. He vowed he wouldn’t let his fear of death get in the way, but he felt as though he had betrayed that promise.

‘You’re doing well. You’re helping to protect these people. That’s got to count for something, right?’ he thought. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for him to keep moving as he continued following Ares.

“Rainbow,” said Spike. “How are things on your end?”

“A little busy over here.” Rainbow’s strider could be seen flying around, a couple of pirates trailing right behind her. She flew around left to right, dodging all of the heavy fire being thrown at her. She turned over and aimed the minigun attached to her right arm. It began to spin, and later fired a rain of plasma toward the group of pirates, hitting and disabling them. Suddenly the minigun had overheated once she had finished the others off. “Oh come on, not now!” She hit her gun repeatedly.

“You have to give that thing a break,” Spike laughed.

“Oh thanks, Spike. I’ll remember that the next time I get chased by a bunch of bad guys that are shooting at me.”

“I’m just sayin’”

Rainbow’s strider, the Artemis, turned towards Poseidon. “Where did Twilight find this guy?”

“Can we worry about that later? We’ve got bad guys, 12 o’ clock.” Ares pointed towards yet another group of pirates, about 6, headed straight for them, planning to attack head on. Artemis boosted on ahead towards two of them, and whacked one away with her minigun. She took the other one by the head and slammed it on her knee. Ares grabbed one pirate with two hands and held it over his head. He then tore it in two and kept hold of the remaining upper torso by the arm and repeatedly bashed it with another pirate until it was nothing but a pile of junk.

Poseidon meanwhile was frantically shooting blindly without even hitting a single target. As he desperately tried to aim correctly, he suddenly remembered the trigger on the left joystick, for he still had no idea what that did. When he pulled the left trigger, a blade immediately shot out of Poseidon’s left arm. He pulled the trigger again which caused Poseidon to swing his left arm which luckily sliced one of the pirates that had lunged straight towards him.

Twilight remained in her chair, watching the events unfolded outside. “He’s doing it,” she said. “I can’t believe he’s actually doing it.”

Applejack stood beside her. “He may be of some actual use for us. But, should we even hire him? He doesn’t look like he’s a part of the crew.” Applejack put her hand over her chin and started to ponder. “Ya know Fluttershy could’ve gotten Thunderlane or maybe even Spitfire. But instead, she brings this kid. Why?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight said. “But whatever it is, I feel like I can trust this guy. He’ll suffice.”

“The warp engines are ready, captain! I can set a course for a less pirate infested sector.” Rarity announced.

Twilight got up from her chair. “Alright, you three, fall back! We’re getting out of here!”

“Well, it’s about time!” Spike said. Artemis, Ares, and Poseidon all began to fly back towards the ship until suddenly, like a bolt of lightning, one pirate managed to pounce on Poseidon and slam him on the side of the ship. The pirate began bashing Poseidon in the head causing Silver to close his eyes and brace himself by holding on the joysticks, unaware that he was holding down the right trigger causing the cannon to start humming. Poseidon tried to push away the attacker, his cannon up against the pirate’s chest, but the strider had an extremely good grip on Silver’s robot.

“Help! Please!” He cried, the cannon humming even louder. Rainbow thankfully took notice. “Ugh,” she groaned. “Hold on!” Rainbow made up to the two and grabbed the pilot and pulled the pirate away. Without a moment’s notice, a bright beam shot out of Poseidon’s cannon. Rainbow managed to dodge the beam in the nick of time and watched as the beam blew a hole through the pirate and take out a chunk of the pirate’s armor. The beam continued until it came in contact with one of the battleships, completely obliterating it. As the beam vanished, the battleship went down in flames hitting another ship causing a huge, bright explosion.

Everything went silent. The explosions and crossfire stopped as debris and pieces of pirate striders floated around. The remaining 3 battleships began to turn away from The Second Sun and warped out of the temporary battlefield. “What just happened?” Rainbow asked.

“They ran,” Spike said, astonished by what had happened. He turned towards Poseidon. “How did you do even do that?”

“I-I-I don’t know. It just…happened.” Silver was speechless. So was everyone else who had seen what he had accomplished.

“Ok, you guys, head on back. We’re about to warp,” said Twilight. They flew back towards the hangar when Silver noticed that it wasn’t him controlling the strider. “Hey. What’s going on? I can’t seem to-“

“Relax, dude. It’s just the autopilot. It helps us dock.” Spike interrupted. As the three made it inside, the ship vanished, warping to a quieter sector.

Silver found himself in the hangar again, in the same position he was before he launched. The catwalks reattached as Ares and Artemis docked to his right. The window opened up as Silver began to step down on to the catwalks. “HEY!”
Rainbow yelled behind him. He turned around only to be smacked upside the head. “What the fuck were you even thinking? Were you looking to be killed?”

Silver reeled back from the hit and looked at her. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t-“

Rainbow cut him off. “You didn’t know what the hell you were doing, is that it?”

“Well, yeah. But-“

“You could’ve killed me back there, too!”

“I-I didn’t know.” Silver tried his best not to show his sobbing.

Spike walked up to all the commotion. “Calm down, Rainbow. He didn’t know that would happen. And besides, we won, didn’t we?”

“That doesn’t explain how useless he was back there!”

“Stand down, Rainbow.” Twilight appeared behind them all with Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy standing beside her.

Rainbow groaned once more. “Twilight! Where did you even find this guy?”

“I didn’t. Fluttershy did.”

Everyone turned towards the Chief Medical Officer. She squeaked in fear from all the sudden attention.

“Well?” Rainbow asked, anticipating Fluttershy’s response.

“Um, Well…He volunteered when I…” Fluttershy began explaining, her voice becoming quieter and quieter as she
continued her sentence, “asked a couple of people…down in…the shelters.”

“You WHAT?!?!” Rainbow became furious than ever before. “You let a random civilian, with no knowledge of striders whatsoever, come waltzing down here and piloting something that wasn’t even tested?! Why don’t we let everyone else come down here, too? Let’s let them see what a fun time we’re having!”

Pinkie jumped up. “Ooh, Ooh. I’ll get the decorations!”

“I was being sarcastic, Pinkie!”

“That’s enough, Rainbow.” Twilight said, her voice becoming more severe. “We’ll talk about this later. Rarity, escort Silver here back to his cabin.”

Rarity walked up to Silver and kindly took his hand. “Come along. Let’s get away from all this.” Silver nodded and followed her back to the elevator.

“I’m sorry.” Fluttershy apologized sadly. “I didn’t mean to. It’s just that, when I asked the crew, no one would pilot it.”

“It’s alright, Fluttershy. I realize now that I wasn’t specific enough.” Twilight turned towards Rainbow Dash. “As for you, Rainbow. I think you need to lie down.”

Rainbow stormed off and headed back to her cabin. As everyone began to go their separate ways, Applejack went towards Twilight. “For a citizen, he learns fast. He might be a good candidate for Poseidon considering what Fluttershy said about the crew.” Twilight began to take Fluttershy and Applejack’s statements into account and thought over them for a quick second.

She then made her final decision. “You may be right. I’ll see what I can do.”

***

Rarity and Silver made it back to Silver’s cabin, Room #935. Everyone else was already out and about, conversing over recent events and rumors about what they had just heard. They stood in front of the door as it slid opened. Silver began to walk inside until he was stopped by Rarity.

“Hey, before you go, “I just wanted to tell you that you did a good thing today.” She walked up and gave him a kiss upon his cheek. “Don’t let anyone tell you different, okay?” He turned around and watched as she walked away until the door automatically closed on him. Silver finally decided that he needed some rest and began getting ready for bed.

Before he could get to sleep, a knock was heard on his door. He got up to answer it, only to be greeted by Vinyl and another slap to the face. Silver rubbed his cheek so the pain could go away but got cut off as Vinyl immediately gave him a loving hug and began to sob. “Don’t. You ever. Do anything that stupid, again,” she said amongst her tears. Silver returned the hug and held her close.

As Vinyl kept crying, her face buried in Silver’s chest, he couldn’t help but think about what had happened. Somehow, even after everything that’s happened, he somehow knew that the others would need him again and that no matter what, he needed to be ready.

つづく

予告

Silver has nightmares after almost facing his death

Spike attempts to help Silver back on his feet

Twilight offers the chance to become a full-time pilot

However, Vinyl refuses to let Silver go.

In the end, Silver must make the decision that will change the lives of everyone aboard.

Next Time

Episode 3
Cause and Effect

Episode 3: Cause and Effect

Silver woke up sitting in a chair with no knowledge of how he got there. He tried to look around but couldn’t due to the pitch black darkness surrounding him. Suddenly, a bright light shined down upon his face. He moved his hand to block the light from blinding his eyes. An unfamiliar voice spoke to him out of nowhere.

Why did you do it?

“Do what?”

Pilot the Strider

“B-Because I had to or else everyone would have died.”

Are you sure?

“What are you talking about? Who are you?”

You wanted to be rewarded, didn’t you?

“W-well, no…I mean, yeah, but…”

You’re afraid of being hated by others.

“B-but I…”

You’re afraid of dying alone.

“Leave me alone.”

You’re afraid of dying.

“LEAVE ME ALONE!”

Black and white images from Silver’s experience in the strider flashed before his eyes. He closed his eyes and covered his ears, hoping everything would go away. However, the images were still there appearing before him. They wouldn’t go away no matter how hard Silver wanted them to.

“What the fuck were you thinking?”

“You didn’t know what the hell you were doing…”

“Help! Please!”

Silver was back where he was before, being held down tightly by an enemy strider. Poseidon struggled with all its strength but to no avail. Before Spike or Rainbow could act, the pirate raised its blade and stabbed it through Poseidon’s chest and began slicing it open. Poseidon began to float lifelessly. Static was the only thing left that could be heard…

Silver woke up again laying on the floor, his blankets hanging on his leg. He was in his cabin, safe and sound, with only silence keeping him company. His eyes remained wide open with his nightmare still fresh in his mind. Silver curled up while covering his blankets over him. ‘You’re okay. You’re alive. It was just a dream. It didn’t really happen.’ Silver got up and looked at his alarm clock which stood on his small bookcase. 2:14 AM. 5 more hours until he had to get up and ready for work. He took a closer look at the color of the numbers. Red. The color of blood.

“It didn’t really happen.”

Episode 3
Cause and Effect

Silver wandered the empty halls as quietly as he could, making sure he wouldn’t wake anyone else up. He walked all the way to a lounging room which was nothing but a couple of lounge chairs, a minibar off to the side, and a huge window which showcased the darkness of space. Silver took his seat and began to stare into the galaxy. He attempted to get everything out of his head but with no such use. Closing his eyes and trying to drift off to sleep didn’t seem to work either.

Everything about what had happened seemed to come back to haunt him in the worst way possible. He continued to stare out the window, watching the stars and nebulas that drifted by until a voice was heard behind him.

“It seems I’m not the only one that’s staying up late tonight.” Silver turned around and noticed Spike standing at the entrance with a peaceful look across his face. “Trouble sleeping?”

“Um, yeah. What are you doing here?”

“I like coming here when everything’s all calm and quiet. Helps me relax.” Spike went up and laid his green/purple jacket on the seat next to Silver. He then sat down and looked out the window.

“So, you’re Spike, right?” Silver asked.

“Yeah. And I’m guessing you’re Silver?"

Silver nodded his head slightly.

“Oh yeah, I think I’ve heard about you before. Didn’t you run a cleaning business back in Ponyville?”

“My Dad did. I just helped out.”

Silver and Spike continued to stare out the window. The silence actually helped soothe Silver a bit. Spike put his hands behind his head closed his eyes and sighed in relaxation. “It’s nice, huh?”

“Yeah, it kind of is.” Silver’s mind went blank for a few seconds as he stared out into the stars once more.

Spike turned towards Silver. “You still thinking about what happened?”

Silver sighed. “I’ve been trying not to.”

“Hey, Everyone’s been there, trust me,” Spike turned back towards the window. “When I piloted Ares, I was scared out of my mind. When I got my first kill, I completely lost it.”

“And what about the other one?”

“Rainbow? She wouldn’t come out of her room for 3 days.”

“I guess she wasn’t as tough as she seems.”

“Well, no. Back then, killing wasn’t really in their nature. They usually went down the ‘friendship’ route. But then, The Day of Departure happened. They went through some extreme circumstances. They were forced to adapt. They learned that love and tolerance couldn’t solve everything.”

Silver became confused. “They?”

“The elements, of course.”

Silver wasn’t stupid. He had heard about the Elements of Harmony and their endeavors, albeit a long time ago. He would always overhear stories overwork about how they saved Equestria from eternal night, defeated and even reformed the embodiment of chaos, stopped the captain of the royal guard from marrying the queen of the changelings, and even saving an entire empire from its former conqueror.

“Well, most of the time, they preferred to call themselves the mane 6,” Spike continued.

“The what?”

“M-A-N-E 6. It’s something they came up with when they hung out.”

“Oh. Wait, what about you? What did you do?”

“I was Twilight’s assistant. Usually I’d help her with organization and stuff. Other than that, I usually stood off to the side and let Twilight and her friends do the heroism.”

“What about now? Do you still help her?”

“Well, yeah, but only sometimes now. Applejack tends to go over things with Twilight now since she became Twilight’s first officer. But I still help her out with other things. What I wouldn’t give to go back to the way things were…” Spike closed his eyes again.

Silver sighed and laid back in his chair, Spike’s words still in his mind. ‘Maybe he was right. Maybe it was just some sort of phase,’ he thought. ‘If they could get over it…’

“So, would you pilot it again?” Spike asked.

Silver remained quiet, hesitantly answering the question. He was unsure. Out of all things, piloting the strider again had never crossed his mind. He began to fell tired.

“Hey, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” said Spike. “Just know that a lot of people thank you for what you did.”

“Thanks.” And with that, Silver eyelids became heavy. He closed his eyes and finally drifted off to sleep.

***

Silver woke up to notice that he was in the same spot has before. He looked to the seat next to him to find out that it was empty. Spike had already left. He looked at the clock on the wall. 8:14.

‘Shit’

Silver got up and began to run down towards his job as fast as he could, dodging the numerous people walking around the hallways. When he made it to his work station, a large, portly man stood beside him.

“Silver!”

He started to sweat as the deep, baritone voice called him out. He had been tardy before, but not for this long.

“This is the seventh time you’ve been late. Not only that, but you should have been here an hour and a half ago.”

Silver looked down and began his apology. “Sorry, sir. I-I-I must have overslept.”

The man became furious. “That’s the same thing you said the last 3 times.” He calmed down and sighed, his face of anger turning into a face of pity. “I’m sorry, Silver, but you know I can’t let you off the hook this time. You’re fired.”

As the man walked away to attend to other duties, Silver hit his head against the wall.‘You idiot.’
Silver got his things together and left towards the mess hall.

***

Twilight was down in the hangar with Pinkie by her side, observing some other engineers repairing the damage dealt to the striders after the attack. She looked over the blueprints that she held in her hand. “Pinkie, I’ve got to ask. That blast.

How did Silver manage to take out two battleships with a single shot? It’s not explained in the blueprints anywhere.”
Pinkie turned to Twilight, a smile spread across her face. “Well, I looked at the blueprints and it looked soooooooo boring. So, I made a few design changes.”

“A few? What other changes did you make?”

“That’s up for Shiver and the others to find out.”

“Um, Pinkie? His name is…” Twilight paused for a brief moment. “…Silver.” The captain had suddenly remembered of
the task she needed to complete. She needed to find a pilot for Poseidon before another attack. She had considered Silver as her number one candidate, however, she then recalled Silver’s face during the aftermath. A face of fear. How could she have him pilot it after what he’s been through? Pinkie waved in front of Twilight’s face, bringing the ship’s captain back to attention.

“Hello? Twilight, you in there?” Pinkie asked.

“Oh, um, I’m fine, Pinkie,” Twilight stammered. “I-I was just thinking, that’s all.”

“Oki-Doki-Loki, then! Hey, you wanna go to Sugarcube Corner with me?”

Twilight closed her eyes and sighed. “Not right now, Pinkie. I’ve got things to do. Maybe later, okay?”

“Oh, ok then. Ooh, maybe I’ll get Dashie to come with me!” And with that, Pinkie skipped off, out of Twilight’s sight. Twilight returned to her thoughts, going over what measures she needed to take next in regards to the new pilot. When she came to her decision, she sighed again. Whatever was in her head, she was highly skeptical that it would work.

***

Silver sat at the usual table with no sign of his friend in sight. The last time he saw Vinyl was when she came into his room crying. After that, they talked a bit and then left. ‘That’s odd,’ he thought. ‘She’s usually here by now.’ Soon after, a wall-eyed woman with a pair of gray wings behind her back walked up to Silver’s table with a small bright yellow haired girl holding her hand. As they went up to Silver, the woman placed a fresh muffin before him upon a napkin. The girl began to hold the woman’s leg as tight as she could.

“Um, t-thank you.” She began to walk off with the girl running after her. Silver watched as the two left his sight.

“A lot of people are grateful for what you did.” Silver turned to find Vinyl holding her tray of assorted foods.

“V-Vinyl! I was beginning to think you wouldn’t come.” Silver tried his best to be in a joking mood. Vinyl took her seat across from him as usual. Silver became worried. “You’re not still mad at me, are you?”

“A little bit.”

“Look, I said I was sorry. But, I saved the ship didn’t I? And you said it yourself; a lot of people seem to be grateful for what I did.”

Vinyl slammed her hands down against the table. “You could have died out there! Hell, you almost did.” Silver shrank down in his seat as Vinyl continued to tear into him. “I was worried about you during all that. I looked ridiculous!”

As she crossed her arms and refused to make eye contact, Silver managed to speak up. “I-I’m sorry. I just wanted to help, that’s all.” Silver wanted to state his defense but couldn’t due to the two men In security uniform that had entered the mess hall. Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at the two guards that walked up to Silver’s table.

“Are you Silver Wash?” one of them asked. Silver looked up at them. He was more intimidated by their voice, let alone their body structure.

“Y-Yeah,” Silver stammered, swallowing his fear the best he could. “That’s me.”

“The captain wishes to speak with you.” Silver now had every reason to be terrified. Even Vinyl started to give a worried look, although Silver didn’t notice it. The two men helped Silver out of his seat as he was led out of the mess hall. As everyone else who wasn’t important went back to what they were doing, Vinyl couldn’t help but watch as Silver left. She looked down and noticed the lone muffin that Silver left on the table.

“You’re such an idiot,” she uttered to herself

***

Silver quietly followed the two officers down the crew quarters, a hallway with numbered doors on each side, each leading to someone’s cabin. They stopped at Room #1. The words “Captain Twilight Sparkle” were etched under the room number on the door. The officer to Silver’s left put his ID against the wall, causing the door to slide open.

“Who is it?” Twilight’s voice called out.

“Silver Wash is here to see you, ma’am,” the other officer replied.

“Send him in.”

Silver felt a hand on his back as he was pushed lightly by the officer to his right, causing his feet to shuffle himself into the room. The guards stepped out and the door closed behind him. Silver got sweaty again, almost as bad as when he entered the strider. His heart pounded faster and faster with each beat. He repeatedly clenched his fist over and over, hoping his little hand gesture would calm him down, but there was no such luck.

Twilight stepped out into view in her casual wear; her dark purple hair let down, touching her shoulders. She went to a small dining table next to her and pulled out a chair from under it. “Have a seat,” she said. Silver nodded slightly and made his way to the table, heavily breathing through his mouth. He sat down as Twilight took her seat across from him. He looked around the cabin and noticed that it wasn’t very different as he thought it was. It was about the same size as everyone else’s and the only things that were different was the king sized bed in her bedroom and the huge bookshelf next to it.

“Ok,” she began. “We know that picking a civilian like you to pilot Poseidon wasn’t Fluttershy’s best intention. But, from what we heard from her testimony, she had no other choice.” She levitated a file towards her and placed it on the center of the table. She opened it and read through the papers that depicted the previous battle. “And judging by your performance, you seemed to handle it quite well.”

“Am I in trouble?” Silver asked nervously.

“No.”

Silver looked at Twilight not with fear, but with confusion. If he wasn’t in trouble, then why did she send him here in the first place? He decided to continue following along with what Twilight was saying, hoping to find a reason for all this.

“What I’m saying is,” Twilight said. “No one else will take the job; and we need another pilot.”

“And you want me, is that it?” Silver finished Twilight’s statement perfectly.

“Yes,” she replied. She wasn’t sure if Silver would take the job, but it was the last bit of hope she had left.

Silver sighed and thought it out, his thoughts racing through his head. Multiple questions were asked all at once. Was he sure about this? What happens if he doesn't accept? What happens if he does? What would Vinyl say? The more questions he thought, the more his head would hurt.

“Now, I know this may not be easy for you,” Twilight continued. “But, I understand if you wish to refuse the offer.”
Silver lost his train of thought once Twilight spoke up. “Wait, you’re giving me a choice?” he asked.
Twilight nodded. “I’ll give you 24 hours to make your decision. If you accept, you’ll get new accommodations and become part of the crew. If you decline-“Twilight pointed at the document, “We burn this, decommission Poseidon, and pretend any of this ever happened.

Silver was left speechless, not knowing what to think. However, he still managed to understand Twilight’s offer and nodded.

“But for now…” Twilight took a VIP pass from her pocket and handed it to Silver. “…take this with you. Applejack will give you a small tour. Consider it a token of our appreciation.”

Silver took the pass and clipped it to his jacket. Twilight took notice of this.

“I’m sorry if this sounds odd to you, but haven’t you worn that already?” Twilight asked. “Don’t you think you should have that thing washed?”

“It gets washed.” Silver replied. “I wear it because…it’s my father’s.”

“Oh, is he aboard the ship as well? If so, we should notify him about-“

Silver cut her off. “No. He died when I was 14.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay. Um, I think I should get going now.”

“Oh, yes. You probably should.” As Silver got up and headed towards the door, Twilight went with him as well. “And remember, you have up to 24 hours to make your decision.”

“Got it.” The door slid open, allowing Silver to leave the room. As he left, Twilight turned around and went to her bedroom. Beside her bed laid two picture frames; one of her and her friends together in Ponyville, the other of a man with light blue hair and white armor. She picked up the second picture and looked at it teary-eyed. She wiped her eyes and put the picture back down, deciding the maybe it was time for a well-deserved nap.

***

Silver made it up to the bridge with the pass clipped to his chest and was met by a girl with a cowboy hat and a white uniform. “Well, hey there,” she greeted happily. She took his hand and shook it violently, shaking Silver along as well.

“Name’s Applejack. I reckon you must be the one Twilight’s told me about. Er, Wash, right?”

“Um, yes, ma’am,” replied Silver. As Applejack finally let go of Silver, he put his hand close to his chest and caressed it, soothing away the pain from Applejack’s incredibly strong grip.

“Come on, let me show you ‘round,” said Applejack. “We got some cool stuff here.” But before they could leave, someone started to cry out Applejack’s name.

“APPLEJACK!” A woman with purple, curled hair appeared in front of them, the very woman that took Silver back to his cabin yesterday. “I thought you were going to help me out.”

Applejack applied her palm to her face and sighed in annoyance. “Rarity, you’re the navigator. You know this stuff better than I do. Why do you even need my help, anyway?”

“I needed to be at the spa 2 hours ago and you were supposed to cover for me,” she complained. “And here you are, escorting him around an area that’s supposed to be off-limits.”

“Rarity, Silver’s allowed to be up here for a while. Twilight said I should give him a look around.”

Rarity suddenly realized what was going on. “Oh, If that’s the case then. My apologies, Silver. I tend to get a bit…moody during situations like these.” She then performed a curtsy with her dress, showing just how proper she could be. “My name is Rarity. Like Applejack here said, I’m the navigator for the ship.”

Applejack cleared her throat, regaining the other two’s attention. “Listen, Rarity. I’ve yet to show him around. I’ll talk to you later and see what I can do, alright?”

Rarity huffed and blew her hair upwards. She stormed off mumbling something unintelligible under her breath. Applejack rolled her eyes and turned back towards Silver. “You’ll have to forgive Rarity. She can be a bit…prissy.”

“I heard that!” Rarity yelled.

“Come on, let’s get to it then.” Silver followed Applejack as they quickly left the bridge. As they continued walking down the hallway, they soon ended up at a huge circular room with a round desk sitting in the middle and doors leading down to more hallways.

“This here’s the main lobby,” she pointed out. “It’s how most of us get around.” Applejack went down another door leading into another corridor. After a few more seconds of walking, they entered another room full of plants and dirt. Silver almost thought was a greenhouse until he saw the numerous tombstones put in an organized order.

“I’m sorry. There’s something I gotta take care of first. Could you wait here a moment?” she asked.

“Um, sure.” Even though he was confused, Silver stood as he watched Applejack approach one of the tombstones.

Silver couldn't make out the name for most of it was covered in moss and mold. She kneeled in front of it and closed her eyes, whispering something Silver couldn't make out, yet he figured out what was going on. A few moments later, she got up and walked back.

“Eh, sorry about that,” she said.

“It’s alright. I understand.”

“Thanks. Let’s get going.”

They left the cemetery, officially beginning the tour.

***

“And finally, we have our rec room. We usually come here to relieve some stress from work.” As Applejack introduced the final part of the tour, Silver looked around to notice a few arcade cabinets here and there, a pool table, a punching bag, some bean bags placed around a small round table, and next to it, a huge TV connected to the wall. As Silver continued looking, beeping could be heard from Applejack’s pocket. She pulled out a small tablet and sighed in irritation.

“Ah, geez. Rarity’s bugging me again.” She put the tablet back in her pocket. “Listen, think you can you stay here for a while? I need to go set Rarity straight.”

“ Ok.” Silver went and stood beside the table as Applejack took her leave. He stood there twiddling his thumbs until he heard some footsteps from down the hallway. The rainbow haired girl from yesterday entered the rec room and stopped when she noticed Silver. He felt fear once more as he stood there frozen, not knowing Rainbow’s next move.
They stared at each other for only a few moments. Rainbow’s menacing gaze pierced right through Silver until she stormed off, her footsteps louder than before. Silver took a sigh of relief as she left the room. Another pair of footsteps was heard, not very far behind. This one happened to be more of a friendlier face as Spike went through the doorway the next minute after Rainbow had left.

“Oh! Hey.” Spike said, surprised. “ Didn't expect to see you here.”

“Uh, I’m on tour.”

“Ah.” Spike went towards one of the bean bag chairs, grabbed the remote on the table, and turned on the TV, watching some old cartoons.

“Can I ask you something?” Silver asked.

Spike turned his attention away from the TV and towards Silver. “Sure. What’s up?”

“Why do you pilot the strider?”

Spike pressed mute as the sound coming from the television cut off. “I pilot it because…” He stopped and thought it over. “I pilot it because…I want everyone to be happy. I want to protect the people I care about, Twilight and the others.” He got up and leaned against the wall, staring at the fan. “Everyone here’s doing the best they can and I just want to do my part.” He looked back at Silver, who was looking at the ground, taking what Spike had said into account. “Twilight asked you, didn't she?”

“I want to help, but I don’t want to die either. And there’s nothing else I can do that would benefit.” Silver took a breath. “I just don’t know what to do.”

“Hey, you do whatever you feel is right. Either way, we wouldn’t think any different of you.”

“But you don’t know me at all!” Silver rose his voice. “I’m a freak, a liar, and a coward. I can’t do anything right. Hell, I can’t do anything at all! All of you are protecting everybody, getting praise for what you people do. Yet, here I am with my thumb up my ass, not knowing what to do with my life!”

Silver turned around and headed for the door. “I’m sorry, Spike. I just can’t.”

When he left, Applejack came back through the door. “Alright, now that that’s settled, we can-” She looked around to find that Silver was already gone. “Where’d he go?”

***

Silver headed back to his cabin, doing his best not to get lost. When he arrived at the bridge, Twilight just happened to be there sitting in her chair. “Ah, Silver!” she exclaimed. “Have you happened to make your decision yet?”

Silver took another breath and turned towards the captain. “I’m sorry, ma’am. But, I refuse to pilot.”

Twilight closed her eyes and sighed in disappointment. “So be it. I understand. Be on your way, then.”

Silver violently grabbed the pass, unclipped it from his jacket, and tossed it on the floor. Twilight stared at it with a sad face and called Applejack on her earpiece.

“Twilight! Have you seen Silver? He-”

“Never mind that. Tell engineering to decommission Poseidon; and burn all records of Silver Wash’s actions since yesterday.”

Applejack’s tone turned to disappointment as well. “So, it’s not happening, I take it?”

“I’m afraid not. Return to your post.” She tapped her earpiece and sighed once more. “That was it, our last shot. And we lost it.”

***

Silver lay on his bed for a few hours, his eyes still open. He said what he wanted, and that was enough. But he still couldn't get the thoughts of recent events out of his head. Did he do the right thing?

"What the fuck were you thinking?"

You're afraid of being hated by others.

"You could have died out there!"

You're afraid of being hated by others.

"You just didn't know what the hell you were doing."

You're afraid of being hated by others.

He turned to his side and slowly closed his eyes, trying desperately to at least get some sleep. A knock was heard on his door, causing Silver to open his eyes.

“Who is it?” he asked, hoping it wasn't one of the crew.

“It’s me.” Silver immediately got out of his bed and opened the door. Vinyl stood there with her hands behind her back. “Can I come in?”

Silver stood there motionless for a few seconds and later snapped back to reality. “Uh, yeah, sure.” He moved out of the way so that Vinyl could step inside. He closed the door behind her and put his hands in his back pockets. “So, why’d you come?”

“I, uh, heard what happened.”

“You were snooping again, weren't you?”

“Shut up! That’s not important right now.”

“Sorry.”

“Anyway, I came here because I wanted to apologize for this morning.”

Silver gave a sly smile. “It’s okay. You don’t have to. I already told them I wasn’t going to pilot.”

“Well, yeah, but still. I was acting like a complete jerk and I’m sorry.”

“Thanks, Vinyl.”

Vinyl smiled and almost turned out the door but suddenly stopped in her tracks when she forgot another reason why she was there in Silver’s cabin.

“Oh, yeah! Before I forget…” She held out her hands to reveal the muffin Silver had left at the mess hall. “You left this. I didn't wanna feel like a hog and saved it for you when you got back.”

Silver took the muffin from her hands and stared at it with eyes wide open. He flashed back to this morning.

“Um, t-thank you.”

“Silver? You okay?” Vinyl tilted her head, curious of Silver’s look. “It’s just a muffin.”

“A woman gave this to me.” He turned his head back towards Vinyl. “A mother and her child. They thanked me. Because of what I did.”

“You’re not thinking of going back there, are you?”

“It’s like you said. A lot of people are grateful for what I did.”’

Vinyl gave up and sighed in defeat. “Fine. Go.”

Silver became confused. “Really? Just like that?”

“Yeah. Just promise me something.”

“What?”

“Don’t ever change.”

Silver smiled and chuckled. “Thanks, Vinyl.”

“If you do get the job, IF they let you get the job, you’ll still come and see me, right?”

Silver hugged Vinyl as tight as he could. “Of course.”

Silver let go of her and put the muffin on a nearby table and ran out the door. He ran through the numerous hallways and corridors that led him to the main bridge. When he made it to the entrance, he was stopped by two guards.

“Halt.” They said sternly.

“I *huff* need to *huff* see the captain.” Silver put his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. He clearly never ran that far in a long time. “Please. Let me see her.”

“I’m afraid we can’t do that.”

Silver quickly looked and pointed to the side. “Look, someone’s stealing!” The guards gave a quick glance to where Silver had pointed. He immediately made a break through the entrance, but not without catching the attention of the guards.

“HEY, STOP!” Silver had made it through put had his arm pulled by one of the guards. Silver saw Twilight standing in the middle of the room and tried to get her attention.

“Captain!” he yelled, desperately trying to get her to turn the other way. Everyone else was already watching including Rainbow who also happened to be there, surprised to see him of all people. “Twilight! I changed my mind! I’ll do it!” Twilight looked at Silver with open eyes.

“Guards, cease! Let him go!” The guards stopped pulling and released Silver’s arm. Silver took his arm back and started to rub it.

Twilight then approached him. “Are you sure about this?”

Silver nodded. “I’m positive.”

Twilight gave a faint smile. “Well, then.” She extended her hand towards him. Silver grabbed it as they shook. “Welcome aboard, Silver Wash.”

つづく

予告

Silver becomes part of the crew

Rainbow Dash becomes his mentor

Despite their many differences, they begin to form a new bond

Many obstacles lie ahead for Silver Wash, but will he be ready for them when they come?

Next Time

Episode 4
Under Her Wing

Episode 4: Under Her Wing

7 friends were each sitting around in a circle, sitting in what looked to be lounge chairs, in a dark empty room. Everything would be pitch black if it weren't for the lights lights on the floor that put each of the friends in some kind of spotlight. The Mane 6 and Spike were all going over damage reports, crew inspections, and a certain recent event that took place on the bridge. Rarity was going over the file on one Silver Wash.

"He may look odd," she stated with an intrigued tone, "but he seems adorable."

"Hold up now," Applejack turned towards Rarity, "Don't tell me you're gettin' feelings for him."

"I most certainly am not!" Rarity seemed appalled by Applejack's accusation. "I'm just taking pity on him, that's all."

"That probably means you like him." Applejack began to have a smug look across her face.

"Shut Up."

"Ahem" Twilight interrupted, annoyed by the other two's bickering, "Can we please get back to the subject at hand?"

Applejack and Rarity quickly apologized, allowing Twilight to continue. "Now then, everything is set for Silver, I assume?" Fluttershy spoke up, "The arrangements have been made. He'll get room number #17 down in the crew quarters. His ID and uniform will be issued to him once he moves in. Everything looks good to go."

"Very well, then. Alright everyone, listen up. I want all of you to treat Silver Wash as you would with anyone else, got it? That goes double for you, Rainbow Dash." Twilight turned towards Rainbow who had just woken up from a nap she took since the meeting started.

"Eh, wha?" She said groggily, her eyes half-open. "What were we talking about again?"

"We were talking about the new guy, sleepyhead." Pinkie responded, happy as she could be. Rainbow began to roll her eyes, "Oh right. Him." She was still angered and annoyed by the fact that Silver Wash would be joining the team. She then shut her eyes, trying to continue on with her nap. Twilight ignored her and continued on.

"He will need some training in Poseidon," said the captain.

"I'll take him." said Spike, "He and I get along pretty well, I'd be happy to train him."

"Actually, I was thinking Rainbow Dash would do it."

Rainbow Dash suddenly opened her eyes, shocked by the news. "What?! Why me? Why do I have to train the twerp?"

"Because I'm sick of hearing you whine about how much he sucks." Twilight's voice grew more stern towards Rainbow. She later calmed down a bit and continued. "Besides, who knows? Maybe you two might end up being friends." Rainbow crossed her arms and turned her head the other way, like a little child that doesn't get what they want. "20 bits says you're wrong."

"That's an order, Rainbow."

Rainbow huffed as she mumbled under her breath, "All right, fine. I'll do it."

"Great. With that said and done, meeting adjourned. All of you, dismissed."

Episode 4
Under Her Wing

"Well, well, well, Private First Class Silver Wash. Still getting grub from the ordinary people's Mess Hall, I see. Looking pretty sharp too." Vinyl was snickering constantly about Silver's newfound status. However, Silver felt neutral about everything that had taken place in the last two days. He had received an new ID, room, and rank. He was also issued a blue suit, black tie, and white undershirt as his new uniform.. But he decided to only wear the tie and undershirt while still wearing his father's old windbreaker. Plus, he still talked to Vinyl and he still ate at the civilian's mess hall.

"Well, the other mess hall is pretty much the same thing, only fancier and stuff." Silver turned towards her friend, holding a tray of pancakes, bacon, and orange juice. "The only cool place they have is the rec room. Besides, if I didn't still come here, you wouldn't have anyone to talk to about music and stuff."

"That's not true!" she lied, she then pointed to the food, "You're gonna share that, right?"

Silver sighed, "Only one, okay?" Vinyl took a pancake and took a bite as the two friends began to sit down at a nearby table. They sat across from each other and began talking about the things friends usually talk about. They would talk about music, movies and new stuff happening around the ship. All the while, Silver seemed a bit more calm and composed than the other day. He would still get nightmares occasionally, but he would always think back to his discussion with Spike. That would usually help him sleep better.

"So do you still go to the archives like you used to?" Vinyl asked.

"Not anymore, really. I'd like to, though."

"Well, don't. To be honest, you were kind of boring when you were down there." Silver knew this was true. As interesting as the archives were to him, he was pretty much alone the entire time. In fact, when they first met, Silver invited Vinyl to come with him to look around, but to no avail.

"Yeah, well, who else didn't think that?"

"Hmm, that is true. So, I take it they're treating you well over there?"

"Actually, they kind of are, believe it or not. I don't know if it's just because I'm the new guy or anything, but I actually think I'm starting to like these people. Well, most of them anyway." Silver scratched the back of his head as he remembered the one that absolutely hates him.

Vinyl was confused by his last remark. "'Most of them'? What do you mean 'most of them'?" Silver sighed as he began to tell her about Rainbow Dash and how much she hates him for not knowing what was going on during his venture in Poseidon. "Man, she sounds like a bitch."

"Well, she kind of does, yeah. I just wish she wasn't so harsh, you know? She looks less angry with everyone else, but I just don't get why she's projecting all her hate towards me, though." Vinyl pondered for a bit until she came up with somewhat of an idea. "Maybe she just doesn't like new guys?" Silver's head leaned against hand, his elbow leaning against the table, as he looked off into the distance. "Maybe. Or maybe it's just because I piloted the Strider. Then again, who knows other than her?"

"Ah, there you are!" Silver immediately sat up straight and turned around to notice that Spike was standing near the entrance. Silver was taken by surprise by his unexpected showing. "Spike! What are you doing here? I though you were with the others." Spike chuckled as he pulled a chair up to the table and began to sit down. "Well, we are friends, aren't we? Besides, the other mess hall is pretty boring, so i thought I'd chat with you for a few minutes." Vinyl was probably the most confused. "Um, Silver? Who is this guy, exactly?"

Silver almost forgot that Vinyl was still sitting there. "Oh, um, Vinyl, this is Spike. He's another pilot I work with." Vinyl leaned back against her chair. a sly smile across her face. "Oh, another friend of yours? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were abandoning me for your co-workers." Silver chuckled nervously. "What? No. It's nothing like that, honest." Spike couldn't help but to chuckle along with Vinyl. Spike suddenly snapped his fingers as he had just remembered why he actually came. "Oh, that reminds me, Silver. They need you on the bridge. Something about training, I think."

"Oh, okay cool." Silver complied as he got up from his chair and began to take his tray to the top of the trash can, where it would wait for being cleaned and re-used for someone else's meal. As he began to make his way out of the mess hall, Spike whistled causing Silver to turn around. "And please don't get lost again. I don't want to end up looking for again like last time, okay?" Silver chuckled nervously again, "I'll try." As he continued on his away, he looked back one last time to see that Spike and Vinyl actually looked like they were getting along with each other. Silver continued to stare for a few milliseconds before Vinyl moved her hand, as if she were telling him to 'shoo'. Silver then began to make way for the bridge. 'He's getting along so well with her', he thought, 'Is he really that good at making friends?'

***

When Silver made it to the bridge, he saw Twilight standing watch over everyone else at work before she turned towards his direction. "Ah, Silver. You made it." Silver gave a salute, albeit rather clumsily, causing Twilight to grow a faint smile. "At ease, Silver," she said. Silver put his hand down. He actually did feel at ease around these people. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something made him feel like he could actually hang out with them, while disregarding their ranks. Silver and Twilight began to walk out of the bridge and down a hallway. Twilight began to debrief Silver as they walked, "Now, Silver, starting tomorrow, we're going to be putting you through some training exercises with the Strider so you can be more better prepared for what's to come." It all seemed simple to Silver. All he had to do was to learn how to pilot properly so he can be a bigger help when it came to defending the ship from attacks. It seemed incredibly simple. At first.

They walked into the rec room where a girl was sitting on one of the bean bag chairs watching a movie on the TV attached to the wall. Twilight whistled, gaining the girl's attention. Silver immediately found out who it was, much to his discretion. "Rainbow Dash here will be your mentor."

Silver looked at Twilight as if she was crazy. But he knew she wasn't. She was dead serious and was intent on having Rainbow train him, despite their current relationship. "Well, I'll leave you two to chat for a while. Your training starts tomorrow." Silver's eyes opened as wide as they could. 'She wants me to chat? With her?' As Silver watched Twilight exit the room, he turned back towards Rainbow, who was already making her way back to her bean bag chair to finish her movie.

"Well don't just stand there," she called out, "Have a seat." Silver made his way over and plopped another bean bag chair next to Rainbow's. He sat down, watching the movie next to her. "So," he said hesitantly, with a dash of fear in his voice, "What are we watching?" Rainbow sighed and replied, "Daring Do and the Mountain of the Damned. It's based off one of the books." Silver could only reply with an 'Oh' and continued to watch the movie as a girl in an adventurer's outfit ran through a corridor and fought a bunch of men in grey uniform. As the credits rolled, Rainbow turned towards Silver, "Man, you don't talk much, do you?" Silver looked at Rainbow as she ejected the DVD and put it into it's case, "Well, I do. It's just that..."

"It's because of me, right?" Rainbow had finished Silver's sentence almost perfectly, as if she had read his mind. She put the DVD case back on the shelf only to pull out another case and began to put another DVD into the player. "Well, listen. The only times we'll see each other is now, during training, and when we're out in the Striders. Other than that, we won't even have to look at each other, deal?" Silver agreed to her proposition and leaned back into the bean bag as another movie began to play on the TV. The movie this time was Daring Do and the Fires of Castle Ayleth. As the hero was leaping over chasms, Silver had built up the courage to ask Rainbow another question.

"Hey, Rainbow?"

"Hmm?" She turned towards Silver once more, cocking her eyebrow.

"Why do you hate me so much?"

"Do you really want me to answer that question?" Silver stammered because of her response. He seemed afraid of what her answer might be. "Um, well, you don't really have to answer that if you don't want to." Rainbow began to laugh at him, "Man, you sound just like Fluttershy." A few seconds later, Rainbow's laughter had calmed down to where she could speak properly. "Alright, look. I don't hate you as much as you would think. It's just that...well, you frustrated me back there. To no end. Losing one guy was bad enough. But finding out that you, a civilian no less, almost died out there? That stuff just angers me. But, who knows? Maybe this training thing will work out and I don't have to deal with you standing around looking like an idiot half the time."

Silver was hurt by what Rainbow had said. The fact that it was the truth made it hurt even more. "I'm sorry. It's just that...I wanted to help when no one else would. That's why I volunteered." As Silver began to explain his actions in full detail, it became clear to Rainbow that all Silver wants to do is to help and to be accepted in return. However, the only thing in his way was his fear of death. As Silver finished, Rainbow gave another sigh and continued the conversation, "Ok, look. I think we got off on the wrong foot. So, let me introduce myself," she held her hand out towards Silver, "I'm Rainbow Dash. Lieutenant. I'm 19 years old and the pilot of the Artemis. What's your name?"

Silver was thrown off by Rainbow's sudden gesture, but decided to play along. "Silver Wash. Private First Class. Um, 19 years old and pilot of the Poseidon." He gripped Rainbow's hand as they shook hands. Rainbow turned back around towards the TV. "Cool. Now shush. I wanna watch this." Silver began to continue watching as well. "Isn't this the one no one really liked?" he asked.

"Shut up."

As Silver continued to sit through a rather poorly made movie, he was still trying to wrap his head around what had just happened. Is she so quick to understand what Silver was going through at the time? Does she even understand at all? He didn't even know what to think of her at this point.

***

The following day, Silver went back to the rec room where he found Spike and Rarity playing a game of pool. "Hey, guys." The other two turned towards Silver. "Hey dude, what's up?" Spike said, chipper as always to see his friend. "Nothing much," said Silver. "Rainbow told me to meet with her here. Guess I got here a bit early."

Rarity looked at her watch, "Oh shoot, I needed to get back to work five minutes ago. Oh, Applejack will be so frustrated with me if I don't get back there now. Spike, I'm afraid I have to end our little game for now. And Silver, I do hope we get to chat sometime soon." Rarity's pace quickened every second as she walked out the door and back to her post, leaving Spike and Silver. "Bye, Rarity." Spike said affectionately, as he sighed and leaned back against the wall. "Isn't she wonderful, Silver?" Silver was confused, "Who, Rarity?" Spike only sighed again and repeated the name. "Uh, are you okay?" Spike suddenly snapped back to reality. "Can you keep a secret?"

Silver finally had somewhat of an idea of what was going on. "Um, yeah, sure. Go ahead." Spike got back up and looked around to make sure no one was near. "Ok, here goes," he said as he cleared his throat, as if he was getting ready to make some sort of big announcement (Well, in his case...). He almost began to speak but another voice from behind already finished it for him. "He has a crush on Rarity." Silver turned around to notice that Rainbow was standing near the entrance. "Spike, you really need to give up at this point. She knows, we know, the whole damn ship knows how much you love her."

Silver let Rainbow and Spike talk it out for a few minutes, for he was rather inexperienced on the subject of romance. He could recall one time when he had a rather short crush on Sapphire Shores when she debuted with her first album. He was 8 at the time, but his crush didn't really last long, though. Other than that, he never really had a girlfriend at all in his life. He spent most of his days either by himself or working with his father in the family business of cleaning windows back in Ponyville. He didn't even see Vinyl as a romantic interest. He would talk to a few girls but only if they were customers or people he accidentally bumped into.

"So you haven't told her about your feelings after all these years?" He asked. "Well, I tried once," Spike said, "But she cut me off before I could finish my sentence. It also didn't help that we were kind of falling to our deaths." "Which I saved you from, remember?" Rainbow interrupted. Spike gave a nervous laugh and scratched the back of his head.

Silver turned back towards Spike, "Wait, how old are you anyway?" "18, why?" Spike answered, confused why Silver would ask that out of nowhere. "I didn't mean anything by that. I was just wondering, that's all." Silver put his hands in his pockets and looked the other way. 'That can't be right. He doesn't look 18 at all!'

Rainbow tried not to snicker at the two as hard as she could, but couldn't help it. "I'd love to watch you two bicker on like morons as much as the next guy, but me and Silver gotta go. I wanna limber up in the fly room before we go out in the Striders," Silver only nodded and began to follow Rainbow as he waved Spike goodbye. 'The fly room?' Silver thought. 'The hell kind of name is that?'

Before he could ask Rainbow anything, he watched two people with wings exit the door, sweating after some much needed excercise. As he and Rainbow entered, he found himself in an enormous white room, one that seemed too big to even be on the ship. "Welcome to the fly room, newbie." Rainbow said, her hands on her hips looking proud of the room.' Newbie? She's giving me nicknames now?' "We had this place installed so that us winged folk can fly around without any restrictions. Y'know, since we're in space and all that." Silver was astonished how well the technology allowed for a place such as this. His mouth was slightly hanging as he was at loss for words. That is, until Rainbow slapped him upside the head.

"Hey, you in there?" She asked, holding a grey ball in her hands. She had already taken her leather jacket off and was wearing a cyan tank-top and a pair of jeans, showing off her slim figure. When she began stretching her legs and arms, it was that moment where Silver was glad his dad taught him self-control. On her back, her wings straightened out, ready to fly. "Come on, let's fly around for a bit. Put your jacket on the wall over there." Silver did just so as he took off the windbreaker and put it on a hook hanging against the wall right next to Rainbow's. The next minute, he just stood there, looking like he didn't know what to do next. Rainbow was already hovering in the air."Come on, dude." she said, as frustration started to grow in her voice. "You have wings, don't you?" "Well, yeah. It's just that I've never really used them that much."

"Let me get this straight," she asked, "You have a pair of wings and you've never even bothered to use them?" Silver began to defend his use of his wings, "Well, that's not true. I use them, honestly. Just not as much as everyone else does. They're mostly for hovering, really." He tried his best not to look more like a moron in front of Rainbow than he already has. Rainbow had no choice but to settle his excuse for an answer. "Ok, then," she said, "Might as well start using them now." She immediately tossed the ball she had towards Silver, who was caught completely off guard. "Come on, let's play a game of catch in the air for a few minutes." She began to fly higher into the air. Silver's wings straightened out and started to flap. After facing a few problems, he finally managed to get himself off of the ground and get to about Rainbow's height.

"Not bad for a guy that hasn't really flown in an extremely long while," Rainbow said teasingly. Silver shrugged it off as he threw the ball back at Rainbow. As she caught it with no problem whatsoever, Silver was mildly impressed with her fast reflexes. "So what did you do back in Ponyville?" she asked, giving the ball another throw. Silver was thrown off guard again, not by the ball, but this time by her question. He didn't expect someone like her to start up another conversation.

He never told the truth to anyone about what he used to do for he would've felt embarrassed if he did. But there was something about Rainbow. He couldn't quite tell what it was, but something about her made him tell the truth this time. "Well, to be honest, I was a janitor for the most part. Just cleaning windows with my dad and that's about it."

"So, the nobody janitor who becomes a full-time Strider pilot," she said, "Almost sounds like the beginning of a book."

Silver threw the ball back at Rainbow, "Heh Heh, yeah it kind of does. So what did you do?" Rainbow caught the ball and threw it back to Silver. It continued to toss back and forth during their little conversation

"Me? Well, I mostly just flew."

"That's it?"

"Well, that and Weather Patrol. Also, trying out for the Wonderbolts."

"The Wonderbolts? You mean that team of fliers?"

"What the hell do you mean 'that team of fliers'? The Wonderbolts are only the most spectacular, awe-inspiring, team of fliers that ever graced Equestria." She spoke of them as if they were her gods, which they practically were. "They were my heroes. My idols. My role models. So, of course, I sign up for Wonderbolt Academy."

"Did you make it?"

"Yeah. I got in, and was doing pretty good too. I actually had a shot of making it on the team. I actually got to fly with them numerous times too. You remember the young fliers' competition?"

"That was you?" Silver then realized how stupid he sounded. Who else could do a sonic rainboom but her?

"Yeah. I almost made it."

"Almost? What happened?"

"What do you think? The world fucking blew up."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Silver actually felt bad for Rainbow. Being so close to your life long dream only to have it taken away from you almost instantly. Along with everything else.

"What are you apologizing for? It wasn't your fault. Anyway. So, naturally, I moved on. I became a Strider pilot and started working for the ship. Actually, two of the Wonderbolts are on this ship right now. Soarin's working down in engineering with Pinkie, and Spitfire helps teach the little winglings* on how to fly. Fact is, Everyone's here moved on from Equestria. We didn't choose to. We were forced to." Silver knew she was telling the truth. He never really had a dream of his own, but he knew that everything that ever was was just a memory now. He also couldn't quite tell, but he could have sworn he saw a tear crawling down from Rainbow's eye. She caught the ball and put it under her arm. "Alright, I think that's enough. Let's head out to the Striders."

Rainbow landed on her feet, while Silver wasn't quite as graceful. The minute he had touched ground, he had lost his balance and fell backwards on his wings. He yelped out a short cry of pain while Rainbow couldn't help but laugh. "Oh come on, it isn't that funny."

"Sorry dude, I couldn't help it. You're just so damn clumsy. Come on, Fluttershy'll have a look at you." Rainbow extended her hand towards Silver and helped him back on his feet. They grabbed their jackets and headed down to Sick Bay.

***

As Silver sat on the hospital bed, Fluttershy held out his wing, examining it for any fatal damage."He seems fine to me, nothing broken. His wing should heal up in a few minutes. Just don't use it for a while."

Rainbow was sitting on the hospital bed right next to them, "That's what he's been doing for the past few years!" she laughed, "I told you it was nothing to worry about. Now come on, we're wasting enough time as it is." Silver put his windbreaker back on and headed out the door with Rainbow. "Thanks, Fluttershy," He said, waving. "Sorry for wasting your time over nothing."

"Wait!" Fluttershy exclaimed. Silver stopped in his tracks and looked back at Fluttershy. "I...I...just wanted...to say...that I'm glad." Silver was confounded. "You're glad? About what?" Fluttershy swallowed and tried to finish her sentence, despite her quiet personality. "I'm...I'm glad...that you decided to join us...and...thank you." "You're welcome." Silver smiled and continued out the door.

"You'll have to forgive Fluttershy. She's a little...bashful around new people." Rainbow said as the two entered the elevator and headed down towards the hangar bay. "She seems nice." said Silver.

"You're pretty quick to judge other people," Rainbow chuckled.

"It's not like a trait or anything. But I can tell that she means well."

"So what do you think about me then, huh? Do I mean well?"

Silver needed to pick his next words carefully. One wrong move and it's a swift kick to the teeth. He seemed to get along with her pretty well, but he didn't want to ruin his chances and end up back at square one. "Well," he started, "You can be pretty harsh and aggressive at times." Rainbow began to cock an eyebrow at him. Silver gulped and continued, "But I think that deep down, you can be a nice person."

"And that's what you really think of me?" Rainbow had a smug smile across her face.

"Well, it's what I think of you so far. I have been wrong before, you know." The two faced forward as the elevator stopped and its doors opened to reveal a familiar pink-haired, hyperactive, engineer. She rushed towards Silver, giving him one great big hug. Silver couldn't breathe. Pinkie's hug, affectionate as it may be, was almost killing him. "I'm so so so so so so soooooooo happy you decided the join the team, Quiver!" Silver tried his best to talk, despite choking. "Um, It's *agh* Silver, actually. Now, can you *argh* please put me down? I'd like to live." Pinkie giggled as she let go and put Silver back on the ground. Silver and Rainbow got out of the elevator and onto the catwalk as Silver tried to catch his breath.

Later, a man with blue swept back hair walked up to the three. "So, this is the new guy I keep hearing about." The man extended his hand towards Silver. "Name's Soarin'." As they shook hands, Silver suddenly recognized the man. "Soarin'? You were part of the Wonderbolts team, right?" Soarin' smiled and chuckled, "So, I take it Rainbow's told you about us, huh?" "Yeah, I did." Rainbow said, although her voice had a serious change in tone whenever she talked to Soarin'. Silver could tell there was some history between those two. All of a sudden, Pinkie went up to and put her hand around Silver's ear. "In case you were wondering," she whispered, "The reason Rainbow doesn't like Soarin' is because they used to date for a while. It didn't go well as you'd think."

"I see. Wait, how did you know I was wondering about that?" Silver whispered back.

"Pinkie!" Rainbow exclaimed, "What did you tell him?"

"Oh, nothing. Just a little prank I'm planning."

"I sincerely hope so. Now come on, Me and newbie are going to be out for a while." She said while walking towards her Strider, the Artemis. Silver walked towards the seat laid outside, awaiting for his return. It felt weird being back in Poseidon after last time, but at least he was better prepared for the launch sequence this time. He sat down and strapped himself in as the window above him closed. The lights flickered on, the main screen turned on, as Pinkie notified that all systems were go. Silver braced himself by holding the two joysticks as tight as he could as he was launched out into space following Artemis.

Rainbow buzzed in. "Come on, let's put ourselves at a safe distance from the ship."

"Wait, but what happens if we get lost?"

"Relax, dude. The ship can lock on to us and we can let the autopilot have us automatically dock back into the hangar. We just can't get too far away. You remember how to use the controls, right?"

Silver nodded and remembered that the left joystick moved Poseidon and activates the blade and the right joystick turns Poseidon around and aims the gun. He followed Artemis pretty far from the ship but far enough for the autopilot to work.

"Ok, then. Up for a little race?" Rainbow asked

"Alright." Silver said with a little confidence.

Artemis looked around and pointed at an asteroid. "To that rock and back." A pair of mechanical wings popped out of Artemis' back as it got ready into position. "Push the red button off to the side," she instructed. Silver looked to his left to notice a glowing red button. When he pushed it, a pair of thrusters popped out of Poseidon's back.

"On your mark," she began. "Set. Go!" Artemis soon shot out like a bolt of lightning. Poseidon followed suit. No matter how hard he tried, Poseidon couldn't match the amazing speed of Artemis. Artemis than landed on the rock feet first, then launched with a backflip and boosted back to the ship. Poseidon simply touched the asteroid and flew straight back. Before he could make it back, Rainbow had already won.

"Ok, now that's not even fair," he said.

Rainbow simply laughed. "That's 'cause Artemis here's a Class D. The D classes are generally the fastest striders out there. Spike's a Class E. The berserker class."

Silver recalled Spike telling him about Ares' abilities during his fight with the pirates, only to have his train of thought be broken by Rainbow. "Alright, then. Let's do some combat training. Now listen, if you pull the left trigger, a blade pops out of the wrist. Keep pulling the trigger and the Strider swings the blade for you. Try it now." Rainbow instructed. Silver complied and gave a few swings with the sword. He couldn't believe it. He's learning how to pilot a Strider. It's even as easy as he thought it would be.

"Alright, cool. You seem to be getting the hang of this. Now, just hold the trigger and the blade'll retract and you'll be using your fist." Silver held the left trigger as he was told as the blade retracted back into Poseidon's wrist.

Rainbow looked around and noticed a pair of asteroids floating. "Ok, how about this? You see that group of stray asteroids over there? Why don't you try aiming and firing your plasma cannon." Again, Silver complied as he remembered using the nub on the back of the right joystick to aim and pulling the right trigger to fire. Rainbow couldn't help but be slightly impressed by how much progress Silver was making.

The next few training sessions were pretty much the same routine. Spend some time in the fly room, then train outside in the Striders. A few days, they would shoot some asteroids, then the next few days they would spar against each other. It was even sheer luck that the ship wasn't attacked again. They would repeat this pattern until Rainbow felt that Silver was ready enough to handle anything that was thrown at him.

Two weeks later, Artemis and Poseidon docked into the hangar bay as Rainbow and Silver exited the Striders. Rainbow walked up to Silver and gave him a pat on the shoulder, throwing Silver off guard by her gesture once again. "I'm surprised, newbie," said Rainbow, "You learn pretty quick."

"Thanks, Lieutenant," replied Silver

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Oh please, just call me Rainbow. Or Dash, whatever floats your boat."

Silver smiled, "Thanks, Rainbow. So, wait. Does this makes us, like, friends or something?"

Rainbow's face turned blank, "Don't press your luck."

Silver rubbed the back of his neck and laughed nervously. "Eh, sorry." He checked a clock on a nearby wall. "It's pretty late. I should head off to bed."

"I'll see you tomorrow then."

"You too." As Silver headed back towards the elevator, Rainbow went back up to the bridge and approached Twilight, who was looking out towards the stars.

"So, is he good to go?" The captain asked.

Rainbow Dash reached down in her pocket and pulled out a bag that held about 20 bits. Twilight held out her hand as Rainbow laid the small bag on it. "Yeah," she responded, "he's ready."

Twilight looked at Dash. "Good job, Rainbow. Why don't you go get some rest? You've earned it."

"Thanks, Twilight." As Rainbow began to make her way towards her room, she turned back towards Twilight. "20 bits says he'll be a damn good pilot."

"Deal."

***

As Silver made his way to bed, he laid down and pulled the covers over him, the memories of his training still fresh in his mind. He had remembered every nook and cranny it took to pilot Poseidon and everything that Rainbow taught him, which later made him think about her. Her hair, her body, her smile, her eyes, her laugh. He tried to not think about her too much and attempted to go to sleep, but somehow, throughout his tossing and turning in his bed, he couldn't stop thinking back to Dash.

It was the first time in years that Silver ever stayed awake, thinking about a girl.

つづく

予告

A gigantic creature attaches itself to the Second Sun.

Spike, Rainbow, and Silver attempt every option to defeat the beast but to no avail.

But, it turns out Fluttershy may hold the key to defeating the creature.

Will she save everyone in time or will the Second Sun be ripped to shreds?

Next Time:

Episode 5
Ingentibus Res

Author's Note

*Winglings-Children born with wings. (A little term I came up with.)

Episode 5: Ingentibus Res

A huge crowd of disgruntled pirates stood before a tall balcony, waiting for their leader's supposed big announcement. Guards stood motionless and emotionless on the side balconies with their rifles trained on the crowd, hoping they make one fatal move. Murmurs grew among the audience guessing to what their king had in store.

"So, what do you think he's got planned for us?" a large, bearded man asked the man smoking a cigar next to him

The other man took the cigar out of his mouth and blew out a puff of smoke before placing it back between his teeth. "I bet it's another one of his ego speeches. He always does this," he said.

"I wouldn't say that here. This is his base of operations, after all." a scarred man whispered behind the other two.

The chatting grew louder and louder until trumpets sounded as a man in a long, red cape stepped onto the balcony before his fellow subjects. He had a short, yet noticeable goatee and an eyepatch covering his right eye. By his side, a woman with white, pointed hair and brown wings on her back leaned against the wall and watched the man with angry yellow eyes. By his other side, a minotaur surveyed the area. Its left leg, right pectoral muscle, and half of its head were all replaced with robotic machinery. A smile was wide across his the man's face as the crowd cheered and roared. He man raised his hands causing the crowd's noise to become quieter. As silence fell, the man began to speak.

"My friends!" he shouted among his people. "For far too long have we been casted off to the side..."

"See? I told you." the man with a cigar whispered

"For too long have we been brought down by our fellow race! But, all that changes today!"

The crowd roared and whistled even louder than before. One of the guards shot their rifle into the air just to quiet them. "Silence, all of you!" The guard shouted. "Our great leader is not done speaking!"

Pictures of a ship with the words "Shining Hope" on its hull were being shown on the gigantic screens that were on each side of the balcony. The man pointed to one of the screens. "The people of Baltimare thought they could stop us from achieving our ultimate goal." The man laughed. "Boy, were they ever wrong."

The crowd laughed along with him, then fell silent once more. "And now..." The pictures on the screens then started showing pictures of the Second Sun. "...Now I'm getting word that this ship took out, not one, but two of our ships with one. Single. Strider." Half of the crowd were booing and hissing while the other half utter certain concerns.

The man put his hands up again to silence the crowd. "Now, we have a key witness in this attack. Let's give our friend a warm welcome, folks!"

The crowd jeered at the man that appeared on stage. His captain's uniform was tattered and torn and his wrists and ankles were cuffed together. The chains clanked as the man walked into view. The leader put his hand on the prisoner's back. "Now, tell us, friend. What exactly did you see?"

The man stammered, "I-I-It was a strider. But this one...it was different, somehow. Its cannon. I-It took out two of the ships in our fleet. With one beam!"

The leader grew impatient as the man continued. "I don't know what it was. B-But you've got to believe me! It wasn't like any of the other striders we've fought before! It's dangerous! Please listen to me!" The crowd laughed heartily at the man's cowardliness. The pirate leader took his hand off of the other's back and reached for his holster.

"And you decided to run away as a coward instead of facing your death as a man, is that correct?" He asked

"You have to believe me!" the prisoner pleaded. "It may even be powerful than the ship itself! Listen to me, please! Don't underestimate it, I beg of you!"

"My friend, you were a true captain." The pirate leader pulled out his pistol and cocked it. "But, you've failed us. Not only that, but you've failed me." He pointed the gun to the man's head. "And for that, you must pay the ultimate price."

"PLEASE, NO!"

He pulled the trigger and sent a bullet straight right in between the man's eyes. The prisoner fell to the floor and lay there motionless, a puddle of blood oozing out of his head. The leader put his gun back in his holster as the crowd cheered once more. "This man has chosen poorly!" Two pirates came and dragged the late prisoner's body away.

"But, I know that you are better than that! Which is why I'm setting up a contest. To the ship that destroys this "Second Sun", I shall award each member of its crew 10 million bits!" The cluster of pirates cheered louder and louder at their leader. "Now, go! Set out and show the Second Sun what happens when you fuck with us!"

Everyone in the room put their fists in the air. "ALL HAIL ATLAS, OUR GREAT AND MIGHTY LEADER!!"

The man turned around and faced the two behind him. "Gilda," he called out

The white haired woman stood up and saluted her chieftain. "Yes, sir?"

Atlas, without notice, dove in and gave Gilda a warm, lustful kiss on her lips. Her eyes were wide open in shock and anger. She pushed Atlas away and gave him a hard slap across his left cheek.

Atlas simply laughed it off. "Still the grump, I see."

Gilda folded her arms as she turned away. "Bastard." she uttered under her breath.

The minotaur approached Atlas. "An excellent speech, my lord." He said in his deep, robotic, monotone voice.

"Thank you, Esteban. By the way, there is something I need you to do."

"Anything, my lord."

"I want you to send Josie out to greet this "Second Sun". If any of our men get even near it, destroy them. I wish to see it personally that I destroy that ship myself."

"As you wish, my lord."

As the monstrous cyborg left to his duties, Atlas took his arm and wrapped it around Gilda's shoulder. Gilda pushed him away once more. He walked to the edge of the balcony and leaned against the railing, watching the crowd disperse.

"Permission to speak, sir?" Gilda asked

"For you, always."

"Why send something like Josie out there to fight it? Why can't we just find them and kill them immediately? It would save us the trouble."

"That's the thing, Gilda. I like to play with my subjects first," he said as he grew a wicked grin across his face.

Episode 5
Ingentibus Res

Silver was back at the rec room, which now became his go-to spot since he never goes to the archives anymore. He sat in front of the television as a news program had just begun to air.

"Live from Manehattan's very own Mighty Crusader broadcasting throughout the universe. This is Equestria Now with your host, Breaking Headline." The title card flashed by in a colorful animation then zoomed in to a man in a suit sitting on a desk holding a stack of papers in front of him as he looked to the camera.

"Hello, Equestria, I'm Breaking Headline. Our top story tonight: The Second Sun's newest strider pilot. We'll tell you why they resorted to a civilian to pilot their newest weapon. But first,..."

The news program continued on as Silver sat there. A pair of arms wrapped around him slowly. A voice whispered in his ear. "ssssiiiillllllvvvveeerrrr". Shivers went down Silver's spine. There was no way. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be. The arms quickly hugged him around his throat. He yelped and turned around as he fell to the floor. Vinyl stood before him, laughing uncontrollably at his actions. "Oh man, you're classic, dude."

"Vinyl! What are you doing here?!" he shouted. "You know you can't be here."

"Oh! So you do know her." Rarity stood at the entrance looking irritated. Silver took notice of this.

"Is something wrong, Rarity?"

"It's nothing. It's just that she's been bugging the crew for hours on end about wanting to see you. So, Twilight gave in and just gave her limited access to a few certain areas."

"Holy crap! You guys have Galaxy Man here?" Vinyl asked excitedly as she later rushed over to one of the arcade cabinets and started playing. She jerked the joystick left and right, focusing only at the screen.

"She let her in just like that?" he asked.

Rarity nodded. "It's hard to believe that your friends with a DJ like Vinyl Scratch."

"Yeah. To be honest, I don't believe it myself." he laughed.

"So how have you been? Adapting to the new lifestyle well?"

"For the most part. How 'bout you?"

"I'm doing alright. Listen, Silver. I'm dreadfully sorry you had to get roped in on all this. It's just that-"

Silver gave a weak laugh. "It's okay. I wanted to help. It was my choice after all."

Vinyl turned around with a blank expression. "Are you two lovebirds done talking? You're makin' me lose." She turned back around to notice the words "Game Over" flash in red on the screen. "Aww, man! Look what you made me do!"

Beeping emitted from Rarity's watch. She pulled her wrist to notice a green light flashing on the watch. She smiled with glee.

"What is it?" Silver asked.

"They're ready." She replied.

"What's ready? Can I come too?" said Vinyl with awe.

Rarity pointed to the over ecstatic disc jockey with a slightly angry face. "You stay there."

Silver turned back toward his friend. "Sorry, Vinyl. I'll catch up to you later, okay?"

"Ugh, fine," Vinyl groaned. She went up and plopped herself onto one of the bean bag chairs and started flipping through channels on the TV in a grumpy fashion. Silver followed Rarity through the ship and straight down to the hangar. There, Pinkie wore a huge smile on her face while using her feet to rock herself back and forth. Spike and Rainbow Dash also stood there impatiently, waiting to get back to what they were doing.

"Pinkie, how long is this gonna take?" Rainbow groaned

"Just a little longer aaaaaaaannnnddd, Oh! There he is!" Pinkie waved at Silver as he and Rainbow exited the elevator and stepped forth to the group.

"What's going on?" Silver asked with concern. "Did something happen?"

"You're darn tootin' something happened!" Pinkie shouted, happy as ever

He looked back at Rarity. "Am I in trouble?"

Rarity put her hand to her mouth and giggled softly. "No, nothing's wrong, dear. We have something to show you all." Pinkie stepped aside revealing Soarin' wheeling in a black cylinder of some sort. It stood on the cart as if to show something on display. The front of the cylinder opened up to reveal a white armored battle suit behind blue tinted glass. The pilots stood in shock from what they saw.

"What is it?" Spike asked looking as dumbfounded as the others.

"You see, after our previous encounter with the pirates, we've finally decided to take action and make some safety precautions." said Rarity. She moved up in front of the armor as Soarin' stepped aside. "It's something I designed myself. While I can honestly say I'm not cut out for making something for war, I gave it my best shot and I think it turned out excellent." Two more cylinders were wheeled in by 2 more engineers. They opened up to reveal the same type of armor, but of different palettes. One was black with a green and purple pattern while the other had each body piece a different color of the rainbow.

"Well, at least we won't have any trouble finding which one's which." Spike snarked.

"Your new suits aren't the only changes we've made." Soarin' added. "In each of your cockpits, you'll find a little button off to the side. Push it, and the entire cockpit will eject, turning it into a little escape pod." He turned towards Rainbow with a sly look. "But knowing you, you'll probably won't use it."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Rainbow asked. Soarin' simply shrugged his shoulders. She responded by blowing her hair back and rolling her eyes.

"Ugh." Rarity groaned. "Are you two still going at it? It's been a year."

"You wouldn't know because you didn't date him, Rarity." Rainbow growled.

"Well, then." Soarin' said. "I can tell when I'm not needed." He turned away and withdrew from the group as sly as he could be. He stopped and glanced at Silver. "Oh, and new guy? I'd be careful around her if I were you. She bites. Hard." He laughed as he continued to walk away.

Rainbow became furious as she watched him leave her sight. Silver blushed as he turned to the others. "Um, what did he mean by...'bite'?

"He meant nothing, that stupid son of a bitch!" She shouted at Silver.

"What did he do to get you so riled up?" Silver asked.

"Asking her that probably wasn't such a good idea." muttered Spike.

"Ugh," she groaned. "He was an egotistical bastard. There, that's it. Can we go now?" Rainbow was desperate to get out of the hangar as soon as possible.

"Now, hold on! I want to see if your new suits fit." Rarity pushed Silver up to the white suit. Pinkie pressed a button on the side of the cylinder causing the blue tinted glass to open up. The other two engineers took the suit out and pressed another button that was placed at the bottom of the spine. The front of the suit began to slide back leaving the back half open which allowed its wearer to just step in. Silver reluctantly shaped his body in the same position as the suit with his legs spread and his arms wide open. Everything suddenly began to feel a bit tighter when the front of the suit slid back into place and locked up.

He got a good look at himself once he put his arms into view. He looked at his legs. He could see bits of black fabric in between the grey plating. Rarity's eyes beamed. "Ah! I see the suit fits you like a glove. Well, at least the glove parts do."

"Well, it's not that tight." Silver replied. "It's something I could get used to, actually."

"Don't forget your helmet!" Pinkie shouted. His whole head became coated by a helmet of the same color, that of which covered almost all of his face except for the eyes which was behind some glass. Pinkie knocked on his helmet. "Hey! Can you hear me in there?" Her voice was slightly muffled but was still well enough to understand.

"Yeah. I can hear just fine," he acknowledged.

"How does it feel?" Rarity asked.

Silver started to look at himself a bit more, this time through his new-found helmet. He walked around in a small circle to get a good feel of the suit. It felt somewhat like leather as he moved around a bit more and got more comfortable after a short while.

"It feels...nice." he said.

"That's it?" Rarity asked.

"Um, yeah."

"Oh." Silver couldn't tell, but Rarity seemed a bit disappointed with that last remark. She turned back towards the other two pilots. "Well?" she asked expectantly. "Aren't you going to try them on?"

Rainbow breathed through her teeth and rubbed the back of her neck, trying desperately to avoid eye contact with Rarity.

"Well," stated Rainbow. "No offense, Rarity. But, mine's a little...tacky."

"TACKY?!" Rarity shouted, her face became red with anger.

"Well, look at it! It's almost as if you couldn't pick on a color!"

"Well, I could say the same about your hair..." Rarity uttered.

"What did you say about my hair?!"

Rarity turned towards Spike who was still looking dumbfounded at his purple and green plated suit. "You don't think it's tacky, do you Spikey-Wikey?" she pouted.

Spike stammered as his face grew red all over. "Um, they're pretty cool, I guess?" He looked down attempting to hide his face from the beautiful woman before him. Rarity smiled and gave him a quick hug.

"You see, Rainbow? At least someone here as taste in my work."

Rainbow simply rolled her eyes again. "Whatever."

Suddenly, everything started to shake violently. Everyone grabbed the nearest railing and held tightly. Silver fell backwards and landed on his wings, which hadn't fully healed yet after his little trip the other day in the fly room. The shaking fell into a soft rumble but didn't fully stop. Everybody managed to get back on their feet and looked up at the ceiling.

"What WAS that?" Spike asked.

Twilight buzzed in on the comms. "You guys may wanna get up here."

"What is it?" Silver asked. "Pirates again?"

"Um, no." Applejack was heard on the comm link as well. "Somethin' bigger."

The group rushed to the elevator and made it back up to the bridge where Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy were waiting. They looked out the large window to notice a huge, grey, squid-like creature that was almost as big as the ship on top of the hull. Its tentacles wrapped around and held tightly onto the spacecraft as everything shook violently once more. The crew luckily managed to stay on their feet this time.

"What...IS that thing?" Rarity was appalled and somewhat disgusted by the creature.

"Some kind of squid?" Rainbow guessed. She was pretty much right, too. The beast looked exactly like some sort of octopus that you would usually see underneath the sea. Only here, it was some sort of giant, multi-eyed animal that could breath in space.

"That's what we reckon," said Applejack.

Vinyl came through the door on the other side and took a glance at the squid. "Whoa! What is that thing?"

"Vinyl! Get out of here and head to the nearest shelter you can find." demanded Twilight.

Vinyl simply laughed. "Oh, no way, I'm not going anywhere. Silver's gonna kick ass out there and I'm not missing any of it!" Her excitement grew up to the point to where she quietly squealed .

Silver placed his palm upon his face. 'Oh for Celestia's sake, Vinyl...'

Rarity went to her post and waved at the hologram in front of her. Another hologram appeared that displayed the ship.

"How are we doing, Rarity?" Twilight asked.

"Our shields are going down but not by much. We're only at 99% right now," she replied.

"Then that should give us enough time. Rainbow, Spike, Silver. You guys know what to do. Get it done." The three pilots gave a salute to their captain and headed straight back down to the hangar. Twilight took a seat back down in her captain's chair. She clasped her hands in front of her face and furrowed her brow. Applejack took notice of this.

"Somethin' wrong, Twi?" she asked.

"Ingentibus Res."

"Eh, beg your pardon?

"Ingentibus Res." Twilight repeated. "I've read about this species before. If I'm right, it's not even supposed to be in this star system.

"Maybe it got lost?" Applejack suggested.

"Maybe. Or maybe..."

Applejack began to wear the same expression as Twilight once she caught on. "...or maybe, it was set loose."

***

Ares, Artemis, and Poseidon were all shot out into space one at a time. Once they made it outside, they flew up and hovered above the hull of the Second Sun where the squid was waiting. It's black, pupil-less eyes were now focused on the three striders. They were both in their brand new pilot suits, despite how tacky it seemed for Rainbow.

"So, Silver..." Rainbow buzzed in. "Think you can handle your first real mission?"

Silver breathed through his nose, calming himself from any anxiety. "I think I can."

"WOO HOO! ALRIGHT! GO, SILVER!" Vinyl yelled through the comm link. Silver groaned with agitation along with the others.

"Alright then, watch and learn from the best!" Rainbow shouted with complete and utter confidence before heading straight for the beast. Shots were fired from her minigun, but did no visible damage. The shots simply bounced of the squid's enormous head. "Damn, that thing's got some tough skin. Guess we gotta go with this the old fashioned way..." Artemis clenched its fist and pulled back its arm. Rainbow let out a battle cry as she rushed towards the squid and dealt a massive blow to the head but, again, to no effect.

One tentacle released its grip from the ship and slapped Artemis away, then returned to its previous position. Its grip got even tighter than before now. Artemis used its thrusters to stabilize itself and flew back to the other two striders. "Well, that's not happening. How are we supposed to beat that thing?"

Silver gave it a moment's thought and got an idea. "Why don't we just shoot the eyes out?" he suggested.

"Oh," Rainbow said dumbstruck. "I knew that." She felt embarrassed that she hadn't thought of the plan before, considering she was the tactical officer.

Poseidon held up his cannon as Silver put in all of his concentration into aiming for one of the eyes. He pulled the trigger and took the shot once he had a lock. A ball of blue light shot out of the cannon and hit one of the squid's eyes at blinding speed. The squid shut its eye and let out a deafening roar as black blood started oozing out of it.

"Nice shot!" complimented Spike. "Now, let's take care of the others." Ares flew straight in and headed for the eye that was farthest left. The squid took notice of this and began to raise another tentacle.

"Spike, watch out!" Rainbow warned, but became too late. The tentacle had already wrapped around Ares like an anaconda. Ares did its best to squeeze through and free himself but the squid's grip only became tighter. Then, something happened that no one else could have predicted. Electricity started to flow through the tentacle and shocked Ares all around. Spike let out a bloodcurdling scream as an uncertain amount of volts surged through his body. He reached for the ejector switch to his side, but the pain became too much to bear.

Poseidon flew at top speed to the tentacle and unsheathed its blade from the top of the wrist. It stabbed the tentacle over and over again until it finally let go of Ares. The squid let out another loud roar and remained attached to the hull of the ship.

"Spike! Spike, are you okay?" Twilight shouted through the comm link, but all she received was silence. "Spike!" She shouted his name repeatedly. "What's the pilot's status?" she demanded.

"Pilot is unconscious!" A woman in uniform shouted. "We can still get him to sick bay!"

"Well, get them back here ASAP! Safety of the Ares' pilot is top priority!" Twilight sat back down and closed her eyes, holding off any tears that could pour out. 'Spike...' she thought. 'Please be okay.'

"Silver, come on! We're falling back!" Rainbow ordered. Artemis and Poseidon rushed back to the hangar, while Ares floated lifelessly behind them.

***

Everyone, minus Spike and Fluttershy, stood around their dark meeting room, going over what their next move was. Silence filled the air has everyone prayed for Spike's safety. Twilight paced back and forth, her thoughts racing. Fluttershy walked in and joined with the others.

"Well?" Twilight asked, worryingly. "Will he be okay?"

Fluttershy sighed and gave a faint smile. "He'll be unconscious for a while, but he'll live."

Everyone felt relieved when they had heard the news. "Alright then, back to the subject at hand," Applejack said, now refocused on their current predicament. "What do we know 'bout this thing so far?"

"It's got some tough skin," said Rainbow. "But, the eyes are vulnerable. If we keep a safe distance and take out the eyes, we may have a shot of beating it."

"No, it's too risky," Twilight interrupted.

"How so?" Silver asked.

"The more an Ingentibus Res is attacked, the more agitated it gets," explained Twilight.

"A-An Ingentibus Res?" Fluttershy's eyes grew wide in shock, growing more scared after every word she heard. She hid her face behind her clipboard and backed away slowly towards the exit. Silver gave her a concerned look as he watched her.

"So, we take it out quickly. No big deal." said Rainbow. "Silver, think you can do that little laser thing like last time?"

"I keep telling you; I don't know how I did it. It just happened."

"Twilight's right anyway, Rainbow Dash," Rarity said, stepping forward. A hologram of the Second Sun materialized in the center of the room. "Ever since Silver took out one of the eyes and stabbed its tentacle, the rate our shields have been going down has increased. We're already down 72%.

"And even if we do manage to kill it," Twilight added. "The muscles would stiffen and squeeze the ship even harder than before. We would still be crushed."

"So what do we do? We can't just ask it to leave." Rainbow said.

"Actually," Twilight looked in Fluttershy's direction. "We can."

"Eep!" Fluttershy ran out of the room as quickly as possible before any of the others could say anything.

Silver was left confused again. "Um, is she okay?"

"That's odd," Twilight said. "She's talked to giant beasts before. I don't understand why's she's bailing out now."

"Wait, what do you mean she's talked to beasts before?" Silver asked.

"Y'see, back in Ponyville, she used to take great care of animals of all kinds. Rabbits, snakes, bears," Applejack explained. "About 7 years ago, we had to take care of a dragon problem up in the mountains. She was the one that convinced it to leave."

Silver looked back in the direction of where Fluttershy had made her sudden exit and grew worried. He went out the door and followed suit after the shy chief medical officer.

"Silver! Where are you going?" Rainbow yelled. But he didn't bother listening. He had gotten an idea and he was going to see it through.

***

The sick bay wasn't too full. There were only a few patients laying in the hospital beds here and there. Fluttershy looked over the reports for Spike as he laid there with his eyes still closed. The IV was attached to his arm and the heart monitor beeped with a certain tempo. He was doing well, all things considering. Silver knocked on the wall behind her, causing the doctor to turn around and yelp in fear.

"Sorry! I didn't mean..." Silver apologized.

"Oh, Silver! Thank goodness, it's just you!"

"Were you expecting someone else?"

"I thought maybe Rainbow would come in and force me to change my mind."

Silver rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, about that..."

Fluttershy began to look at the ground, not wanting to face what was coming next. "You want me out there, don't you?"

"Well, no, but..." he sighed and continued on. "We could really use your help. You know a lot about animals more than anyone else here."

"But it's not an animal out there, Silver!" she retorted. "That's a monster! It's not like that one dragon 7 years ago."

"And what if you're wrong?"

Rainbow appeared at the entrance hurriedly. Her breathing was more rapid after running all this way, with a look that said 'shit was about to go down.' "Silver, come on! We've come up with a plan to beat that thing, let's go!"

"I'm sorry, Silver, but I'm not doing it. Good luck with whatever plan you guys came up with."

Silver began to head out the door, but stopped. He wasn't about to give up on Fluttershy just yet. He turned his head back halfway. "I never did get the chance to thank you, you know."

"Thank me? For what?" she asked.

"If it weren't for you, I'd still be some weirdo janitor that hung out in the archive room all day." He gave a kind and gentle smile before walking out to follow Dash. "Rainbow, wait up!" he yelled running after her. Fluttershy looked back at the report she still had in her hands, still thinking about her visitor's recent words. She couldn't help but give a faint smile as she blushed a bit.

***

Poseidon and Artemis shot out into space once more, this time without Ares to back them up. They flew back to the hull of the ship where the squid still laid in waiting. Rarity buzzed in on the comm link.

"Alright, you two. We're down to 66% so you better make this work," she demanded.

"Relax, Rare. Me and Silver's got this in the bag." Rainbow said, confident in the success that would follow.

Silver got himself ready for whatever it was the others had planned. But then, another voice was heard on his comm link alone. "Silver? Can you hear me?"

He was taken aback a bit by the sudden voice. "Fluttershy? Is that you?"

"Listen, I need you to fly in a bit closer, okay? I'm gonna patch through your intercom."

"I have one of those?" He asked. He was a bit befuddled at why Fluttershy decided now of all times to come around, but listened to her anyway. He flew in a bit closer to the squid as much as he could

"Wha-? Silver, what are you doing?! You're mucking up the whole plan!" Rainbow shouted, but Silver, again, refused to listen. He flew in close enough to catch the squid's attention.

The sound of tapping could be heard through Poseidon's intercom. "E-excuse me, Mr. Ingentibus Res?" The squid growled, threatening to move one of its tentacles again.

Twilight got up from her seat, her eyes widened by surprise and shock. "Fluttershy?!"

"Does she have any idea what she's doing?" Applejack asked. She took a finger to her ear. "Pinkie! Is Fluttershy down there with you?"

"Yeah," Pinkie said. "Why?"

"Did you seriously just let her take over Poseidon's intercom?" Twilight asked, still looking at the ongoing event outside through the window

"Well, she did say 'please'," Pinkie replied.

Applejack groaned. "I'll go get her."

"Wait!" Twilight shouted. She pointed back towards Poseidon. "Look."

"L-listen, I know you're a bit...angry at the moment, but I think it would benefit all of us if you went on your way, please," pleaded Fluttershy. The squid did nothing but let out another loud roar. Its grip grew tighter and tighter.

"We're at 51%!" Rarity shouted.

"Twi! We need to stop her!"

"No."

"Twilight, if we don't stop her, the ship'll be ripped in two!" Applejack yelled.

"P-Please?" Fluttershy asked once more, almost to the verge of tears, but the squid refused to listen. It roared again.

Quiet sobbing could be heard from the intercom, but was suddenly silenced. After a few moments, her voice was heard again, only this time a bit angrier.

"LISTEN HERE, YOU!" she yelled

Everyone stopped immediately in their tracks. Everyone on the bridge stared at awe at Fluttershy's outburst. Silver's lip quivered, not daring to say a word. Rainbow simply stared at Poseidon with great cowardliness. Even the squid's pupils shrank. "YOU WILL LET GO OF THIS SHIP RIGHT NOW, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!" she continued.

The squid whined under the loudness of Fluttershy's voice.

"AND IF YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT HURTING MY FRIENDS OR THE ONES I CARE ABOUT EVER AGAIN, I WILL GO OUT THERE MYSELF AND TEAR YOUR EYES OUT WITH MY BARE HANDS," she threatened. The squid's grip loosened as it let go of the ship. It floated away as fast as it could away from the ship, praying that Fluttershy wouldn't come after it. The bridge cheered as the squid ran away, never to be seen again.

"Well, that was anti-climatic," Vinyl huffed as she folded her arms.

"You knew she'd come around, didn't you?" Applejack asked her captain. Twilight simply smiled, relieved from the terror of the squid. As soon as Fluttershy walked in, everyone had gathered around her, giving her high fives and receiving a hug from Twilight.

Silver and Rainbow walked in to greet the shy medic themselves. Rainbow had given her share of hugs to Fluttershy as well. The medic turned Silver's way and mouthed the words 'thank you'. He nodded and walked away, heading back to his cabin, leaving Fluttershy to her new admirers.

***

Twilight walked through the halls, quietly humming a song to herself, as she headed towards the sick bay carrying a bouquet of flowers and a card that said 'get well soon' in red, cursive letters. When she went through the entrance, she stopped and noticed that Rarity was already there talking to Spike, who happened to be wide awake. But she noticed something else too. They were smiling, laughing, enjoying their time together. Twilight couldn't help but smile a bit as well.

'He's all grown up now,' she thought. She put the flowers and the card on a nearby counter and walked away happily, leaving the two to each other's company.

***

Atlas slammed his fist on the arm of his throne. "So, Josie just went up and left?! Just because of some pathetic robot's petty threats?!" he shouted. Gilda took a step back while containing her solid expression, not showing any fear of her boss.

"Yes sir," she responded coldly.

Atlas squeezed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger, then turned to Esteban on his left. "Find her, and then kill her."

"As you wish, my lord." The minotaur cyborg left the throne room, leaving only Gilda and Atlas. He got up from his throne and walked through the hall. The throne room was nothing short of massive. Red banners depicting the pirates' insignia hung from the ceiling. He pulled up a hologram in front of him that showed the Second Sun. He stared at it not in frustration but in admiration.

"Is something on your mind, sir?" Gilda asked.

"This ship. It...amuses me," said Atlas.

"Sir?"

He turned back towards his assistant. "Find this ship and lock on to its coordinates." His wicked grin grew back, even wider than normal. "I wish to meet this ship in person."

つづく

予告

Silver Wash and Rainbow Dash are kidnapped

They are greeted by Atlas, the pirate lord

The Second Sun searches far and wide for the two

And an old rivalry begins again

Atlas makes every attempt to corrupt the two pilots with temptation and greed, but will they be strong enough to resist?

Next Time

Episode 6
A Dangerous Business

Author's Note

Finally finished this sucker! Yeah, not the best chapter so far, I'll admit, but hopefully the next few will be a bit better.