//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Revival // Story: FTL: Stowaway // by Dolphy Blue Drake //------------------------------// Twilight slowed to a trot once she was only a few feet behind the crew from the new ship.  Taking extra precautions, she took to the air and flew slowly, making sure not to bump into anything that would alert them to her following them. “Captain, we’re here,” the slug-like being announced.  “Ssstrange.  The airlock’sss detached.  It’sss been knocked into the ssship and isss sssomewhat bent.” “This cruiser took quite a beating,” the male human who wasn’t the captain remarked.  “The engines are completely dead.  Crushed by an impact with a comet, by the looks of it.” “Well, at least we can scrap the ship,” one of the two female humans remarked.  “Engi ships almost always have a supply of drone parts, and we can take some of the fuel back with us.” “Don’t forget the Ssscrap!” the “Slug” exclaimed excitedly.  “Think of what we could buy with the Ssscrap from thisss ship!” “A cloaking device would do us a world of good,” the other female human said with a nod.  “I mean, what good is that Stealth Weapons augment we picked up without a cloaking system?” The captain pulled out a box and began to wave it around slowly.  Suddenly, it beeped. “My scanner is picking up DNA signs from inside,” the captain declared.  “There might be an Engi still in there!” “Well, what are we waiting for?” the “Slug” demanded.  “Let’sss get in there!” Nodding, the group walked through the entrance and waited as the captain waved the box again.  After it let out another beep, he motioned his crew over to a door that was still sealed tight, and they pulled out objects shaped like tubes with handles. “Blast the door open!” the captain ordered, and red beams of light started launching from the objects, hitting the door over and over.  Eventually, the door gave a high-pitched whine and parted in the middle with a hiss, granting them access. Twilight entered as they left the room and then watched as they performed the same task again, breaking open another door, which led to a room with a cylindrical room beyond it.  Twilight cast a spell to blend in and joined them in the circular room, keeping close to the ceiling so none of them would detect her. Or so she thought. “Captain!” the Slug whispered.  “I sssenssse a sssixth presssenccce in the lift with usss!” “Probably one of those creatures you deemed to be simple after we failed to communicate,” the captain replied.  “Maybe one of the winged ones followed us.  It’s no matter.  It’s their planet—they can go where they want.” The second human female pulled out some tools, and started messing with a panel on the wall of the “lift”.  Suddenly, sparks crackled as the small room lit up and the panel became covered in numbers. “Take us up,” the captain ordered.  “My scanner is detecting signs where the bridge should be located.” The woman who turned the “lift” on nodded and touched the number at the top of the panel, and doors slid shut right before the room began to ascend. Twilight had to keep gaining altitude to keep from being discovered, so she flew higher and higher until the room stopped rising and the doors slid open, revealing a very dark room with a chair in the middle.  The chair was covered in buttons, and a broken glass screen was on the wall opposite the lift. But in the chair was another one of the metallic beings.  Twilight had missed one! “Yep, it’s an Engi, alright,” the captain remarked.  “Most likely the captain of this ship.  We should be able to use the shuttle’s power to reactivate it.  Okay, let’s carry the body out of here.” Twilight quickly teleported back to the castle and dropped the spell she used to blend in.  So many things were running through her mind, but one was at the forefront:  it could be revived! Granted, Twilight still didn’t understand how these strange aliens were going to achieve it, and she seriously doubted that they could do much more than she could have.  It had been five years, and no amount of study and magic poured into the three broken bodies had accomplished anything beyond frustration. She had to get the girls. Not too long afterwards, Twilight’s friends arrived at her castle, and Twilight did her best to retell what she observed. “There was a fourth metal being on that ship!” she exclaimed.  “And they’re going to revive it!” “But you’ve failed so many times, Twilight,” Rarity replied.  “How are they supposed to do it?” “Apparently, whatever powers their ship can be used to revive it,” Twilight explained.  “I don’t know about you, but I want to see them wake it up.  They said it’s called an ’Engi.’” “It’s the miracle of life!” Fluttershy gushed. “I have to see it happen!” “I still don’t know what they like, and I’m not about to miss out on giving them a party!” Pinkie chirped.  “I’m coming, too!” “And I can finally explain the atrocity of that ‘ship’ to one of them,” Rarity added.  “I shall accompany you, Darling.” “Well, their ship’s on mah farm, so Ah might as well,” Applejack said.  “Ah’m gonna watch it with ya, Sugarcube.” “After reading some of Spike’s sci-fi comics, I just have to see this!” Rainbow exclaimed.  “This is gonna be awesome!” The six huddled together, but before Twilight could teleport them, Spike entered the room and dashed over to Twilight.  “Twi, can I come too?  Please?” “Sure,” the lilac Alicorn replied with a giggle before she added Spike to the spell and teleported the whole group to Sweet Apple Acres. Upon arriving, Twilight and company found that they had arrived first, so they hid among some of the apple trees and waited. Not much was said while they waited, but eventually, the aliens arrived carrying the metal being called an “Engi”. “Hook it up to the reactor with some cables, Lieutenant Nazia,” the captain commanded. “Yes sir,” the woman who had fixed the lift on the Engi ship replied before taking some cables out of a box in the ship and connecting each of them to a glowing machine on one end, while connecting them all to various parts of the Engi’s body with the opposite ends.  There were cables connected to both legs, both arms, the chest, and even the head. “Let ‘er rip!” the captain shouted, and the woman called “Nazia” grabbed a switch and pulled, causing the machine to emit a loud hum as its glowing increased. Suddenly, electricity crackled all over the Engi’s body, causing it to spasm and actually lose shape and collapse into a pile of shiny metallic goo. Fluttershy started to cry, but stopped when the “goo” began to change shape, molding itself into the form it had taken before, and stood up.  The green panel on its face was now lit up, and it turned to face the captain. “Functionality restored.  Gratitude syntax error [value too high],” it said in an emotionless feminine monotone.  “Request compensation.” “We would like you to join our crew,” the captain remarked, extending a hand for a shake.  “There has been a rebellion by a human supremacist group in the Galactic Federation.  The Federation has nearly completely fallen to the Rebels, with only the Capital sector of Sol Prime remaining under full Federation control.”  The human’s face fell.  “But that won’t last.  Our ship, The Kestrel, is the only cruiser left in the Federation Fleet besides the few remaining at Sol Prime, and we’re heading to the Federation base to deliver information on how to stop the Rebel Fleet.” “According to calculations, probability of pursuit:  99.99 percent,” the Engi replied, shaking the captain’s hand.  “Assistance granted.  Name:  Xin Xin.  Any undivulged information remaining?” “Yes,” the captain replied.  “The Rebel Fleet is in fact pursuing us.  And every time they reach an FTL beacon, they install planetside Anti-Ship Batteries on every planet in the area with a surface to install them on.  Not to mention that they also oppress every planet their fleet finds while pursuing us.  I fear for the denizens of this planet.  Ensign T’ten, our Slug crew member, has determined them to be simple beings who enjoy a peaceful life.  The Rebels will likely do terrible things to them upon landing.  But we have our mission to complete, so we’ll have to just hope they don’t get exterminated by the Rebels.”  Reaching inside the craft, he pulled out a blue uniform, which he offered to the Engi.  “Also, as one of the few remaining COs in the Federation Fleet, I am granting you the position of Commander upon induction into our crew, for you captained a ship before.” “Understood,” Xin Xin replied with a nod, accepting the uniform and donning it.  “Mission objective:  save Federation.  New designated rank:  Commander.” Twilight and the others exchanged looks of utter shock when the human captain revealed the situation to the Engi.  Twilight quickly decided she had to do something. “Spike, I need to send a letter to Celestia,” Twilight whispered.  Spike removed a quill and scroll from a backpack he was wearing and stood at the ready. Twilight cleared her throat and began reciting what she needed to tell the Solar diarch: “Dear Princess Celestia,” she began, “it has come to my attention that our entire world is in grave danger.  Not from some enemy from the distant past, but from beyond the stars.  A small group of beings recently landed in Sweet Apple Acres and removed a fourth metal being from that ship I showed you a few years ago.  Unlike me, they managed to revive it with ease, using science, not magic.” Twilight paused long enough to give Spike time to catch up, then continued when the sound of a scratching quill ceased. “I overheard them talking to the metallic lifeform,” she resumed, “and they mentioned that the government of a ‘Galactic Federation’ has almost entirely fallen to a rebellion by bigoted supremacists.  They are chasing the aliens who landed here, and will most likely arrive here soon.  You must prepare for them.  They likely use weapons that fire beams of light, for the crew that recently landed all carry such weapons. Pausing again, Twilight glanced at the aliens for a few seconds, taking note of tools and weapons, then turned back to Spike and continued once more. “Their technology is eons ahead of ours, but if they aren’t held off, they will likely enslave our entire planet, if they don’t just kill every inhabitant outright,” she said with a grimace and a shudder. “I will be unavailable to assist in the fight against this enemy when they arrive here, however.”  Twilight hummed in thought as she rubbed a hoof along her chin.  “They had asked for our help,” she said, almost as if she were admitting it to herself, “but everypony just stared at them in stunned silence.  I plan to rectify that.  It will be quite some time before I’m back, but you have to hold them off without my help.  I will be accompanying these aliens to assist in their cause. “Please don’t fail us,” she said in a nearly pleading tone, garnering a piqued eyebrow from Spike.  “There’s much more at stake than just Equestria this time.” Twilight let out something in between a sigh and a groan.  “Your friend and fellow Princess, Twilight Sparkle.” After Spike finished writing the letter, everypony stared at Twilight as if she’d gone insane. “You can’t be serious!” Rarity exclaimed, grabbing Twilight by the shoulders and shaking her.  “None of us know what it’s like out there!  They’ll be fine without you, I’m sure!” “Sugarcube, ya don’t hafta go with ‘em,” Applejack added.  “It’s mighty selfless of ya ta want ta help ‘em, but what about us?  Them ‘Rebels’ sound nasty.” Before the others could protest, Twilight held up a hoof to silence her friends so she could explain. “When they first arrived, their captain asked for our help,” Twilight began.  “Nopony stepped up.  Someone should have, and I’ve decided that I’m going to be that pony.  If Equis falls to these Rebels, we won’t be able to do anything.  We’ll have to simply hope that those aliens beat the enemy for us so we get set free.  But with one of us up there, even if Equis falls, we’ll still have a chance to do something, for one of us will be helping out. “Besides,” she continued, her expression determined, “if I can get them to realize that we’re not just simple beings before they leave our area of the universe, they may give us some information before they leave.”  After the others nodded in understanding, Twilight turned to Spike and said, “Send the letter, Spike.” Spike nodded and burned the letter to ash, which floated away towards Canterlot. “I don’t have time to wait for a reply,” Twilight sighed.  “I need to leave now, I’ll miss all of you.” After hugging each of her friends, Twilight scooped up Spike with her magic and plopped him on her back before teleporting herself and the surprised dragon aboard the aliens’ ship.  They immediately hid in the box of cables, which barely had enough room for the both of them. Spike opened his mouth to ask why Twilight brought him along, but she immediately shushed him.  If they were found before the ship got into space, they’d most likely be thrown out. Hopefully, the Slug wouldn’t notice them. As the craft began to slow, Twilight prepared to get her and Spike out of the box unnoticed.  They couldn’t be discovered until Twilight revealed herself. The crew left the ship, and Twilight pulled Spike out of the box as she got out of it herself. “Twi?  Why’d you bring me along?” Spike asked in a whisper, confusion etched on his face. “You’ll find out soon,” Twilight whispered back before climbing out of the ship in time to see the aliens moving towards a door. “Wait!” she called out, galloping towards the group, who spun around to face her, staring in utter shock.  “I need to talk to you!” “Ensign T’ten, I thought you said they were simple beings,” the captain said before addressing Twilight.  “And I thought you couldn’t understand us!” “Everypony could understand you, sir,” Twilight replied.  “It’s just that your sudden appearance stunned the entire crowd into silence.” While the aliens gave her a myriad of skeptical looks, Twilight brought a hoof to her chest.  “Please, I can help,” she explained.  “I’m Princess Twilight Sparkle.  I overheard your conversation with Xin Xin and realized that we need your help, and that you really could use ours as well.” “Your people were quite primitive,” the captain replied doubtfully.  “What could you possibly offer us?  I’m sure we could assist you in preparing for the Rebels, but I don’t know how you could assist us.” Instead of answering, Twilight lit up her horn with magic and lifted the captain’s weapon out of the pocket attached to his belt.  For once, magic seemed to work on their technology.  Maybe it was just the Engi and their ship that was immune? All of them stared at the hovering weapon in silence until Twilight returned it to its pocket. “H-how did you do that?” Captain Malott squeaked, his voice a full octave higher than it had been before. “You don’t know about magic?” Twilight asked, now suddenly confused.  How could any living thing not be aware of magic? “Probability of magic existing:  0 percent,” Xin Xin droned with a shake of her head. “But that was magic!” Twilight insisted.  “Every unicorn or Alicorn can use magic because of his or her horn!” “Well, we’ve never encountered either until today,” the Slug explained.  “But if magic isss real, it would be a ussseful assset to our caussse.  Do you agree, Captain?” After a few seconds, Malott shook himself and nodded.  “Yes, it would prove quite useful, Ensign T’ten.  Welcome aboard, Princess.  Now, how can we help your people?” “Spike?  Over here please,” Twilight called over her shoulder.  The young dragon joined her after a few seconds.  Turning back to address the aliens, Twilight put a hoof on Spike’s shoulder. “This is my number-one assistant, Spike the dragon,” Twilight explained.  “He can send letters to my former mentor, Princess Celestia, as well as receive letters from her.  The Princess, along with her sister, Princess Luna, rule over Equestria, and have magic so strong, that they can move our Sun and Moon, respectively.” “Well, that would explain your system’s unique geocentricity,” Malott mused.  “So, let me guess, you want me to send a letter to this Celestia to communicate with her about the situation?” “Exactly,” Twilight replied.  “Also, if you have time, could we return to the surface for a little bit?  My friends wanted to talk to you before you leave.” “Taking a bit of shore leave sounds tempting, and we did hire a mercenary to delay the Rebel Fleet,” Malott said thoughtfully, “but we just don’t have the time.  Can these letters go back and forth quickly?” “Almost instantaneously, regardless of distance,” Twilight affirmed with a nod.  “Spike’s method is faster than any other.” “Very well,” Malott said, beckoning for Twilight and Spike to follow him.  “Everyone, return to stations.  Commander Xin Xin, please man the Doors system.  Twilight and Spike, please accompany me to my quarters.” Twilight nodded, levitated Spike onto her back, and followed Captain Malott out of the large room and into the rest of the ship.