The Conquest of Space

by Marcus Centurian

To Seek Out New Life and New Civilizations

The Conquest of Space: The Saga of Dawn Sparkle

Chapter 6: To Seek Out New Life and New Civilizations

A sat there crying on my bed for a time, but I decided that shedding tears wasn’t going to fix anything. Only by confronting the problem could I resolve it. Just I only hoped that I could placate both of my friends in an amiable manner that left nopony raw.

I headed down to the brig and had a brief conversation with them, reminding them that they are officers on my ship and this behavior is hardly befitting for ponies of their stature. I also reminded them that I do rely on them to keep the Magic functioning and we really need to get back to work and sort out our personal problems later. They both reluctantly nodded in agreement and we three walked to the bridge in silence.

I stared out the view screen at the nebula that had kept us company for several days and smiled. Its swirling eddies and currents always seemed to amaze no matter how many times I saw it. Thoughts of Stardust’s study pulled me into the present,

“Stardust? Have you finished your analysis?”

“Yes ma’am we collected all sorts of data.”

“Like what sort?”

Her eyes glistened with anticipation, “Oh my! All kinds of data. Like the fact that it is composed mostly of ionized plasma, mainly hydrogen and helium and…”

“Captain! I have an urgent message from the Friendship,” the pony at communications interrupted.

“On screen,” I responded.

The main viewing screen hummed to life with a video feed of Cream Pie. Or at least I thought it Cream. Cream looked absolutely terrible, like she’d come out on the losing side of a fight with a manticore, but not only that but she wore an expression of fear and sadness. Those sort of emotions are a serious concern on a normal pony, but on the stoic Cream something the likes of Celestia’s or Luna’s worst nightmares must have grappled with my friend and fellow captain.

“What in Tartarus’s name happened to you? Are you OK?” I said, trying to keep myself from shaking in fear myself.

“I…I…We…” She sputtered.

“I cannot help if you cannot tell me what’s wrong.”

“We…we…we were attacked.”

“Attacked? By who?”’

“They were like changelings, but not. Not even changelings are so cruel.”

“What happened?”

“First Contact.”

“First Contact?”

“Yes. We tried greeting them by being nice and all, but…” She shutters at the memory of whatever shook her up.

“Take as much time as you need.”

“We don’t have much time. We are losing containment and you are the only ship in the area that can stabilize the core and restore life support. Please, Faustspeed.”

“You’ve lost containment?!? Where are you?”

“I’m sending the coordinates now. Good bye and you are the best friend I could ever have, Dawn Sparkle.”

At that the commlink flicked off.

“Do you have those coordinates, Mr. Bed-o-win?

“Yes ma’am, sorry ma’am.”

“Throw every ounce of extra energy we’ve got into making that jump. If it requires knocking the hot water out in the middle of somepony taking a shower or shuts down somepony’s holovision program, do it.”

“Aye, aye captain. Diverting power,” Valkyrie asserted.

“Punch in that course and step on it, Bed.”

“With pleasure,” Bed responded and he grabbed the lever and the bridge became awash with white light.
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A few second later we emerged from the teleport, me on the edge of my seat and with the other non-unicorns a bit disoriented. The derelict of the Friendship lay before us, a huge hole gaping in her side with debris and *gulp* bodies floating out of the cavity.

“Stardust, get an extravehicular task for patching up that hole arranged and get them out there. Prepare an energy transfer if needed to get their systems online as well.”

“Aye, aye, captain.”

“Ma’am, I’ve got a hold of Captain Pie,” the pony at communications said.

“Put her on screen,” I replied.

Her countenance and appearance had changed from the last time I talked with her. Her usual stoic demeanor had returned as well as a curious metal ring and circuitry about her left eye. Her usual cream colored coat had darkened in places and gave off a strangely luminous sheen.

“Oh, Captain Sparkle, it’s you.”

“It is good to see you again. How can we help?”

“We do not need any help.”

I looked at her incredulously, “You have gaping hole in your ship and dead crewmates. You also called for our assistance.”

“Captain!” the crewmate at communications interrupted, “We are getting a distress call from main engineering of the Friendship.”

I looked at him, a bit confused, “Put them both on screen.”

“Aye, aye.”

The screen split with Cream on the left and a pale yellow pegasus on the right. He spoke up first,

“Captain Sparkle, thank heavens! Ms. Cream has been compromised by the alien threat. Those who are unaffected are barricaded in main engineering. We need immediate evac.”

Cream retorted, “The enemy threat is similar to the changelings on Equestria. They can mimic voices, body types and even the thoughts of their victims. But instead of feeding on love, they feed on all emotions and are much more powerful as a result. Do not believe this imposter of my former first mate, Clarence Over.”

It only took me a second to realize who was telling the truth. “We are on our way. Cut the transmission.”

“Royal, you lead a team to liberate the entrapped ponies. Joe, stay here on the bridge, I’ve got to go talk to a friend.”

“Captain, that is high ill advised. We do not know if Cream Pie can be reclaimed or redeemed from the alien threat,” Joe blurted out.

“I am aware of the risk and consequence,” I asserted, “Should anything happen to me, the Magic is yours.”

“But…I…but…”

“I have made my decision. Nothing you can do or say can sway me.”

Letting out a sigh Joe responded, “Please do come back. I love you Dawn.”

“I love you too Dawn. Don’t get yourself killed!” Royal piped up.

“Gentlecolts, the clock is ticking for those ponies. Let’s stop talking and go!” I huffed. Last thing I needed was a debate about love and relationships. Ponies’ lives are on the line!
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In the shuttle bay, Royal’s larger and deadlier team assembled as he gave them a pep talk and a rundown of the situation and method of extraction. The gathered task force composed of some ponies, a griffin and a buffalo all looked at him with mixed views, some ranging from excitement, to apathy, to anticipation to shock and fear at the upcoming mission. For many this was their first time with real weapons, let alone real combat. It would appear Swift-of-Thought’s warning was more valid than I’d like to admit.

My task force was much smaller with myself, Stardust and the identical twins Red Shirt and Blue Shirt, both pegasi who are skilled in wing blades making up the complement of my task force. To all three I trusted my life if our close combat training back in our ESC academy days were any indication. I hoped between the three of us, a bit of luck and the distraction Royal’s main assault would provide, we could infiltrate and free Cream.

The twin shuttles left the Magic’s hangar bay towards the listing hulk of the Friendship. It pained and infuriated me to see so much wanton destruction. It took every ounce of willpower I had to keep myself calm. If I let my emotions rule me, I knew from past experience that things could turn nasty quickly for both my allies and our enemies. The tension was so thick that it could be cut by a knife as we edged closer toward the ship. The Shirt twins brimmed with anticipation while Stardust and I had much more reserved and melancholy expressions. I briefly met her gaze and we exchanged a knowing glance. This mission was going to be rough to say the least, impossible to say the most.

Royal’s shuttle zoomed ahead and split off as it disappeared from my view. I knew from the mission briefing that they were headed for the main shuttle bay and intended to fight from there to reach main engineering. My group was to head into the void and rescue Cream by might or diplomacy. I prayed to any god or goddess who could hear my prayer to let us get through this in one piece.

The shuttle maneuvered through the yawning gap and settled down into a small space that probably was a workshop before the rupture in the hull. I donned my spacesuit and readied my standard shock-stick and saw my crewmates do the same. I touched my pendant one last time and thought of Mom and home and prepared for the worst.

We asked HAL, the shuttle’s AI to open the shuttle bay’s doors and he obliged, although with him, he was the sort of AI to pull pranks and fortunately he decided to forgo it this time. Maybe the urgency of our situation made it clear to him to forget his usual demenor; at any rate, I was happy to not have to argue with him. The door slowly flipped down and instead of the hostile welcoming committee I was expected, not a soul greeted us, friendly or hostile. The door thudded and our little posse carefully disembarked.

“Any life signs, Stardust?”

“Negative,” she replied while holding her tetracorder.

“Does your PDA say anything else about the hostiles about there?”

“No activity thus far. And this is no mere PDA. It is a tetracorder! It can scan in over 6 types of light and…”

“I’m just teasing you Stardust,” I admonished, “Can you pull up the blueprints and let’s use ‘em to get to Cream. The transmission she sent us came from the bridge so she’s still probably there. We are also going to probably have some resistance so do not hesitate to fire. Understand ponies?”

All ponies present said in unison, “Yes ma’am.”

“Lead on then, Stardust.”

We walked through the once vibrant and well lit halls of the Friendship. I’ll never know how the sister ship of the Magic looked so foreign and foreboding as it did then. I seemed to jump at every flash of light, every ghost of a movement at the corner of my eye, but each time it turned out to be nothing. Surprisingly, no pony or no alien greeted us. Only the eerie quiet and the sound of our own hoofsteps followed us along. Soon we came to the closed door to the bridge. I took a deep breath and wordlessly indicated to my companions to ready their weapons. They nodded back at me and took defensive positions near the door. I punched in the master door unlock code into the keypad and the metal door slid open pneumatically. I braced myself and held my shock-stick at the ready to intercept an angry alien or even Cream herself, but nopony came. Cautiously, I edged around the door until I had line of sight into the room, but nopony was visible. I waved my hoof for my companions to join me and we slid into the room, trying to be a stealthy as possible.

As soon as we had assembled into the bridge, the door slid closed behind us on its own and I heard a voice I will never forget for as long as I live,

“Hello Dawn Sparkle. I’ve been expecting you.”

The voice was a perverse copy of my friend’s monotone speech, but with a distinct, unnatural mechanical cadence to it.

“Cream?” I shakily replied, trying to hide my own fear.

“I am Cream Pie, but I am more than that. I have ascended and transcended into Cream Pie of the Chitin, the master race.”

“Cream, you are not one of them!”

“I beg to differ, Dawn Sparkle. I am a member of their order and happy about it. I have more power, I have more life, I am more. I am pony no longer.”

I wordlessly indicated to my companions to find her while I parlayed, “Why have you betrayed us? Honor and loyalty meant something to you once. Why not now?”

A cold laughter filled the once lively bridge of the Friendship, “Honor and loyalty? Why would I care about such things? I have all that I could ask for and more just by embracing the change. You could join us. We do not experience pain or sadness. We do not have need for anger or heartache. We can survive the very vacuum of space itself. We can be a member of any known race in the galaxy and take on the form of our wildest desires. A pony of your stature could go far in the commonwealth.”

“Bah! I value my emotions. Negative or positive, it is what make me, me. I would not trade my emotions to become a soulless machine!”

“Oh, such a pity. You will be pleading for conversion when I finish with you!”

At that my former friend, Cream Pie charged me from the shadows of the deck. A quick teleportation blink on my behalf got me out of the way of her charge. My diversion let me get a good look at my friend and rival. Cream now seemed to have lost all of her individuality as she now had the form of a changeling. A black chitin shell covered all parts of her flank, a pair of gossamer wings and a crooked, twisted horn projected out of her head. The metal augmentation still remained on her left eye, now with a glowing screen projecting down over her eye. The only remnants of her former self was retained in her light green eyes masked now by the hardware and converted into the more snake-like form in the manner of the changelings.

Her arm transformed into the largest cannon I’ve ever seen as she released a ball of energy, quick as thought I dodged it and my squad charged her. The Shirt brothers reached her first and both were thrown a considerable distance. Both of them hit a bulkhead and were knocked out almost instantly from the force. Stardust was frozen in place, too petrified to move. I dodged attack after attack from Cream until I came in close and grapped with her. I could tell she had considerable more power than me and I tried to wear her down by merely blocking her attacks until I could find an opening.

“Gah! Stand still so I can subdue you! You cannot win.” Cream screamed.

I said nothing, and continued to concentrate. Cream eventually sliced the tip of my flank just above my cutie mark and a small trickle of blood began to ooze down my side. A satisfied smirk appeared on Cream’s face and she momentarily let her guard down. I powered though and ignored the pain and took the opportunity to make a very ungentlemarely hit at her stomach with my shocking spear. Despite the direct hit and the audible and visible transfer of electricity, Cream seemed unphased.

“My chitin is tougher than you think. Now I’m done toying with you, let’s finish this.”

My mind raced as I tried to figure out a way to get out of this. A sudden movement on Cream’s behalf found me disarmed and at her mercy. I prepared myself for my inevitable end, but it never came. A shock-spear found itself dislodged in her neck where two plates of her chitin armor came together. She tried futilely to remove the spear as the electric discharge coursed through her body and she collapsed at my hooves.

I quickly and cautiously grabbed by spear with my telekenisis and trotted over to the prone Cream Pie and checked her pulse. It was weak, but present.

“Excellent job, Red and Blue Shirt.”

“The groggy pegasus brothers both said in unison, “It wasn’t us, boss.”

“Stardust?”

“I…I…uh…”

“Good job, Stardust.”

“I didn’t mean to kill her! I’ve never taken a life and I feel so bad and how can you or anypony else forgive me? How can I forgive myself? What have I done?!”

“She’s not dead, Stardust. But she may be if we don’t get her some medical attention. Show a hoof, ponies and let’s get the Tartarus out of here.”

Comments

[Ariel Schnee]

<<“Cream?” I shakily replied, trying to hide my own fear.

“I am Cream Pie, but I am more than that. I have ascended and transcended into Cream Pie of the Chitin, the master race.”

“Cream, you are not one of them!”

“I beg to differ, Dawn Sparkle. I am a member of their order and happy about it. I have more power, I have more life, I am more. I am pony no longer.”>>

And this universe's equivalent of the Borg have shown up, the ponies are in trouble.