//------------------------------// // Requeim // Story: Song of the Stars // by Jacker //------------------------------// "Light it up!" the golden armored colt barked, backing away from the shield. "Bring that thing down!" The alien ponies quickly complied, unicorns shooting beams of energy at it and the rest firing their laser weaponry. The shield was once again bathed in fire. The golden-armored pony gazed coldly at it. The magic possessed by the creatures on this world had proven to be weak so far, likely because they didn't augment it like their own hosts did, the ones whose cruiser they had taken over. Just a few shots from their weapons were able to bring down Trinity ponies' shields, and only one of their Unicorns had been able to lay a scratch on them offensively. However, he doubted that their leadership's magical abilities would even draw close to the pitiful abilities of their subjects, him having previously extracted from his host's mind information about them. Apparently, they were divine, immortal entities who had taken it upon themselves to lead a peace-loving nation on ponies on this world. However, if they were powerful enough to hold up a shield against them, why were the royal ponies simply not going on the offensive? What were they waiting for? Perhaps they weren't all that powerful and were relying on reinforcements arriving soon. He smiled at this. If they feared taking them on, then they could be killed. The Wraith soon quickly devised a plan, grinning as it did so. They would take down the shield, kill those who powered it, and with them out of the way easily be able lay waste to Canterlot. Though they didn't stand a chance at taking on a larger military force, they might still be able to conduct a raid and complete their mission before they were all killed. They had only lost three of their kind and had killed over fifteen of the natives after all. Casualties were not a problem as their hosts were expendable and their parasites wouldn't mind spending months paralyzed to complete their mission. If they could pull it off successfully, they need not risk another ship. He then formed a contingency plan. If the native's reinforcements arrived before then, they would retreat into the woods and use their ship's point-defense weapons to deal with them. Fortunately, those systems were still operational. Hopefully, that would not be necessary. The flashes of light from weapon fire hitting the shield nearly blinded Twilight, though her eyes soon adjusted. The first thing she made out when sight returned to her was her two princesses working together to keep up the shield, their expressions surprisingly calm. She leapt out of her cover and made her way over to her mentor, hoping there was something she could help with. Celestia's eyes widened at the sight of her prized pupil, but nonetheless Twilight could still sense relief in them. "Twilight! I'm so glad you're alright!" she said. "Spike told me you had fainted." "It was a close call, but Rainbow Dash saved me in the nick of time," she said, smiling slightly. Luna then chimed in with, "I am glad to see you unharmed as well!" "It's been a while, Princess Luna," Twilight said, before sorrowfully adding, "I just wish you could have seen Ponyville again without it looking like this...." She gestured solemnly towards some of the ruined houses around her. The Princess of the night shot her a sympathetic smile, "A month's worth of effort from the Royal Canterlot engineering corps and a new coat of paint and your town will look as good as new." Celestia nodded, "However, before that can happen, we're going to need you and your friends to wield the Elements of Harmony once again." Twilight threw her mentor a puzzled expression, "Why do we need the Elements?" Celestia sighed at that, "I have a lot to explain to you." She then gestured towards the aggressors. "You see the ponies out there? Their strange eyes? I've known of them for a while. They are infected by strange, parasitical beings of dark mystical energy called Wraith." "The foulest beasts of the cosmos!" Luna chimed in with a growl. Twilight sighed, throwing Celestia a guilty look, her ears retreating behind her head., "I-I know." Surprisingly, Celestia did not answer with a look of anger or even disappointment, she merely said, "I suspected you were ease dropping." "Y-You did?" Twilight stammered. Celestia took a deep breath, "I was going to explain many of the things I know when you were older anyway, and the reasons why they must be kept secret, but it seems that fate has forced my hand," she said. "The universe is more then just Trinity and Equestria, Twilight Sparkle. There are horrors and wonders in it beyond either of our comprehension. Now, it seems that former has opted to pay us a visit, and I do not know exactly why." "The Orb of Trinity..." Celestia nodded, "Yes, they claim that it is harmful to them, but they seem to have more sinister reasons for wanting to be rid of it. The Orb dates back to an ancient race that once occupied this planet millions of years ago, so long ago that even I do not know of its true purpose." "How do the Elements fit into all of this?" Twilight asked. "The kind of creature that once infected myself and the ones who infected these ponies before you are similar." Luna said solemnly. Twilight's eyes widened, "You want my friends and I to free their hosts, don't you?" Celestia nodded with a mix of a solemn yet approving expression on her face, "You are ever astute, Twilight." "Who are these ponies, exactly?" Twilight asked. "The Dragan you called them?" Celestia took another, deeper breath, "Thousands of years ago, before the civil war between myself and Nightmare Moon..." Luna threw her sister a guilty look at that, but Celestia nonetheless continued, "...a group of five great adventurers discovered ruins of the ancient raced I mentioned before. There, they discovered a map leading to an artifact of immense importance to their culture. Gathering the greatest minds of their generation, as well as a small force of soldiers for their protection led none other by a distant relative of Commander Hurricane herself, they set out to find it and eventually made their way to the land of the Zebras." "It was that far away?" Celestia nodded, "You must understand, Twilight. This race occupied the entire planet, not just a nation. And they had more then one; thousands from what I know." Twilight's eyes widened at that. Thousands of planets? "What happened to this race?" she asked, her voice growing more curious by the second. Despite the fact aliens were currently besieging Ponyville, she could not focus on anything else but the conversation at hand. "Nobody knows for sure. All I know was that the expedition eventually disappeared as well. Saddened, I set out to find out what had happened, but I found nothing. The Zebras seemed to be as baffled as I. However, I did eventually find the artifact they had sought after, but appeared to be inert. It was nothing but a small, blue sphere sitting atop a decaying pedestal. Only many centuries later did I find out what it truly was, a quantum transporter." Twilight lowered her eyebrows in confusion, a quantum wah? Celestia seemed to notice this, and replied with, "A quantum transporter is a device this ancient race used to travel between the worlds in their-" "Hey Twilight!" A very perky voice called out from behind her, forcing Celestia to shut her mouth. "Pinkie?!" She said in a releived tone. She turned around to not only see her, but Rainbow Dash and the rest of her friends. "Rainbow Dash!" She cried, running over to her with a joyful grin on her face. She gave her a quick nuzzle while saying, "By Celestia am I glad to see you!" Celestia smirked in amusement. Rainbow Dash returned her friend's smile with her own while rolling her eyes slightly, "Good to see you too, Twi, but uh... you know hugs and kisses aren't really my thing." Twilight chuckled slightly before backing away from her, "I'm sorry, I just didn't know what happened to you out on the field. I'm just glad you made it out safely." Rainbow Dash sighed, gazing out into the empty fields beyond the shield with eyes set in the past, "Not everyone did..." Twilight frowned sorrowfully, along with the rest of her friends. There would be a lot of mourning to do after this was all over. But for now, they had each other, and that was all they needed. They could ignore things for now, and Pinkie Pie was always a decent distraction. "That shield is soooo pretty!" she beamed. "It's like a giant blue bubble!" Applejack chuckled at that, smiling affectionately at the pink pony, "Glad to see you back to normal, sugarcube." Applejack then turned towards the princesses, "So, uh... your highness, these aliens..." Celestia gazed at Applejack warily before saying, "I'm sorry, I know you must have a lot of questions, but I cannot reveal much." Twilight shot her a somewhat disappointed look, but nonetheless remained silent. She then turned to Fluttershy, "How are the wounded doing?" Fluttershy stroked a shy hoof on the ground before saying, "Well... we patched up most of the them but... there weren't that many in the first place..." Twilight knew what she meant. The alien weaponry wasn't likely designed to simply disable their targets... Rainbow Dash sighed deeply at that, looking away from the loving pony. She then regained her composure before turning to her friends, "Well, let's not let their sacrifices be in vain. Let's get out there and kick some alien ass!" Luna quickly turned towards her, a stern but sympathetic look on her face, still maintaining the shield as she did so, "Your chance will come soon, Rainbow Dash. We will need you to wield the Elements of Harmony once again." Fluttershy gazed out of the shield warily, "Y-You want us to go up against them?" Rainbow Dash brought a hoof to her face, "Ugh, common Fluttershy, not this again. We're going to be fine, the Princesses will have our backs." The shy pony gulped before turning towards Rainbow Dash, "B-But we've never taken on anything like these things before. Even the dragon... at least he was willing to talk. He didn't just come out and try to-" a few tears formed in her eyes, "-try to-" Rainbow Dash's face contorted into a mix between guilt and sorrow at this. She quickly made her way over to Fluttershy and hugged her, "Hey, it's alright," she sighed, gazing back out onto the battlefield she had previously fought on, "Besides, on second thought, after this I think I'm done fighting." Fluttershy sniffled before gazing at her friend with hopeful eyes, "You mean it?" She nodded, "Yeah." Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight could see smile creep on Celestia's face with the warmth of the sun. "Very well," she turned towards Luna, "Can you hold up the shield for a second?" Luna nodded, and Celestia soon mustered a spell, her horn growing blightly. In all their glroy, the Elements of Harmony appeared before her hooves, the saviors of Equestria and the single most powerful objects on Trinity, and Twilight was about to use them once again. Celestia then turned to Fluttershy, "Do not worry. You should be able to use them behind the shield. No harm will come to you." Fluttershy smiled slightly at that. Twilight gazed at the Elements. She sighed deeply before lifting up her crown-thingy with telekinesis."Well, let's get this over with." The golden-armored pony watched with grim apprehension as six of the Trinity ponies began to don strange trinkets that not even his host's mind knew of... either that or he was hiding it from him. He growled, hating to be in the dark information wise. Was this some sort of weapon? If only the auxilery cargo bay of the Dragan cruiser wasn't damaged. If it wasn't, they would be able to bring out the mechs and other heavy ordinance the Dragan kept. He was sure it would make short work of the royal pony's shields. Before he could think further, something interrupted his chain of thought. "Your time is up, Wraith." A voice chirped inside his head. It was White Lancer, his host. "Keep your annoying mouth shut, Dragan" The Wraith growled. "I'm not saying anything with my mouth. No worries, though, you won't have to deal with me much longer." The voice taunted. "You really should have done your homework before you decided to take our ship on a little visit to the true homeworld." "Chide all you want, but in the end no matter what happens oblivion awaits this world along with the rest." "Always so dramatic." The Wraith shrugged. "It's what I do, but nonetheless it's the truth." "You still have many orbs to go." The voice growled.. The Wraith chuckled darkly, "And only this backwater world knows we're hunting them." "They could contact my people...." "Probably not, because everyone who knows we're hunting the orb will soon be dead.." The Wraith could practically 'feel' the voice smirking, "For one it's everypony, and for two you're about to let your arrogance get the best of you..." "Oh shut up with your bastardization of the Terran's language alread-" "Hey Wraith!" one of the ponies called from behind the shield. It was the annoying cyan one who had been a pain-in-the-ass to his forces earlier. He glared at her before making his way forward. She and the rest of her five friends were now all wielding the strange trinkets. "Have you come to reconsider not giving us the orb?" he sneered. One of her friends, a yellow pegasi cowered at his voice. He smiled inwardly at that... she would make a decent host. Weak. Frightened. Vulnerable... "Not in your life, you freaky space ghost!" the cyan pony spat. "We're just willing to give you one last to get out of those poor pony's bodies!" "My kind cannot live in this galaxy without hosts." he growled, "We won't be leaving, and unless you want to die I hope you have a plan to stop us." he then smirked at what they were wearing, "Do you plan on throwing me a fashion show?" The cyan pony struck a hoof into the dirt at that, "These aren't for any-" The lavender pony threw her a look. He smirked at that, the cyan pony had just given him information. They were some sort of weapon, or so it seemed, though he did not know of what type. Hopefully, whatever it was would have to be used outside of the shield where his kind could take a shot at them. "Well, go ahead then. Strike me down. The host will feel everything I do before we both kick it." The cyan pony smiled at that and nodded towards her friends with a confident smirk. Soon afterwards, the lavender one's horn began to glow brilliantly, and white sheet of light soon began covering the six. He could see a smile creeping on the purple pony's lips as well. What exactly was she doing? "Time to say goodbye, Wraith. I can't say it's been fun...." White Lancer chided. "What are you talking about? You'll be gone and I'll enjoy paralysis for a few months. Big deal." he said inwardly. "Actually, it'll just be the latter." The Wraith's coal-black eyes shot open wide at that as the six ponies before him's eyes began to glow a brilliant white. Soon afterwards, White Lancer revealed to him a memory.... The young prince stood in the middle of the circular bridge of the Dragan cruiser Holy Winter, it holding steady somewhere in interstellar space. Crewmen of all three races of ponies stood around him, standing near various computer consoles lined against the walls with neural interface devices attached to their heads. With them, they could control the ship without even needing to raise a hoof. Out the helm viewscreen a brilliant blue nebula shined before him. He smiled, somewhere within that nebula was the adopted homeworld of the Dragan, Mariok, the capital of the Dragan Monarchy. However, being captain meant it didn't take long for something to ruin a good mood. "Sir," a comms officer reported. "We've just received interesting news from Equestria." Equestria. That was a word he never wanted to here. It was a land ruled by their coward of a goddess who wouldn't lift a finger to help her lost subjects in need. If he had it his way, he'd take every ship in the fleet to conquer the world and claim its resources. "Let's hear it." he grumbled. The comms officer cleared his throat, "Our mole in Canterlot has reported that Princcess Luna of all people has returned to the throne." White Lancer lifted an eyebrow at that. Princess Luna? He had heard of that name in only myths. She was his 'goddess'' banished sister, the one who had tried to shroud Equestria in eternal night, as unnatural and strange as that sounded to him. Why his former goddess, or goddesses now it seemed, saw it fit to manually control their solar system was beyond him. He soon hrugged off the thought and began to ponder the implications of her return. "Perhaps she can persuade her sister to come to our aid..." he said before grinning slightly. If the princesses were only willing to join into their war against the Terrans, the Dragan could give them the technology they would need to utilize their vast resources and population to create and crew a star fleet. They would also gain the rest of the magnificent wonders the Dragan had at their disposal. It would take a few years, but in time it would be well worth it to both parties. The vast amount of magical artifacts and advanced magic users on Trinity could also come in handy. Over time, the Dragan had begun augmenting their magical abilities with technology. They still didn't understand how it worked exactly, magic that is, but they could enhance a unicorn's horn's ability to channel it. Unfortunately, this usage of technology was beginning to dampen natural magic ability. If they could augment some of the Equestrian's users with it.... magical users who would be more powerful then a Dragan without technology.... He smiled, the Terrans were always soft against it. "No sir, that doesn't seem to be the case." And once again, his mood was darkened. "On an interesting note, it appears that the Elements of Harmony were used to return Princess Luna to normal." "So they aren't myths either?" "Aye, Captain. It appears they were able to actually rid her body of some sort of curse, possibly a parasite." The memory had only lasted a second for him, but it was all it took for the Wraith to be put into a state of shock. So it was those stupid little trinkets that had rid Princess Luna of the rogue agent of their kind. And if they could rid Nightmare Moon.... A beat. He gazed upon the Element Bearers in horror. They were now hovering in the air and surrounded by a brilliant orb of white. Their weapon was about to activate... The irony of it sickened him. Nothing he had previously known of had been able to free a host from his kind's presence, not even the advanced technology of the Terrans, and now these backwater little ponies were about to do just that. "It appears you know what this weapon is capable of," Princess Celestia said. "I offer you one last chance." The Wraith glared at her, but after a second he began to chuckle. Celestia cocked an eyebrow at this. "Hehehe, but you still don't know anything about me. White Lancer was a fool for revealing the information he did. "What are you-." The voice paused in horror, "N-No!" The Wraith led out a piercing howl, one intended for all of its kind to hear. It wasn't about to let any information of its plans be spread to these ponies. While they didn't have time to leave their hosts, they did have time to kill them, sending themselves into a state of paralysis. It may take them a few months to recover, but it was better then nothing. The Wraith smiled smugly at Celestia, "You're only delaying the inevitable, you know. We are legion, for we are many. The song of the stars in this galaxy shall soon be squelched. Immediately afterwards, every Wraith-infected pony began shrieking. Their coal-black eyes soon faded back to normal before they rolled to the backs of their heads. Soon after, every former pony on the field began to fall over, their breathing having stopped. Twilight Sparkle's jaw hit the ground. The Elements powered down. Even the birds in the forest seemed to grow silent at this. .. ... .... ..... ....... On the edge of the forest, a single Wraith invisibly floated above his former host's pegasi body. It had been clipped by two crossbow bolts, rendering it useless, and while his brothers had begun pounding the the energy shield that had come up around the nearby town, he was busy demerging from the creature as it slowly died. However, it seemed to not make much of a difference. He heard the call for the mass 'suicide', but having just gotten out of his former host's body as it died, he did not need to join them, and now he was all alone. He looked towards the town. The black wisps (that only he could see) that were his kind's forms hovered above their former hosts, scattered before the great magical shield, inert and paralyzed, the shock from their host's death being too much for them. They would be stuck like that for several months. Their mission was now a failure, but not all was lost. He soon struck out towards the nearby village. There was bound to be a good host around somewhere...