Song of the Stars

by Jacker


The Enemy Within - Part 2

On the edge of the Trinity system, a great flash of light emanated in the normally dark void as the Terran gunboat Stalingrad exited from hyperspace. On her bridge, Captain Julius Dougan sat, gazing somewhat anxiously at his viewscreen. Normally, Trinity was a system off-limits for Terran ships due to a neutral faction of equines that resided there, a faction with very important connection to his Emperors' sisters, and the last thing anyone wanted to do was piss their Emperors off. However, today something very special was going to take place.

For the first time since there was peace between the Dragan and the Terrans, equines were about to come aboard a Terran starship. Six equines and a dragon for that matter, apparently the latter being a smaller, pint-sized variety. He chuckled at this prospect. Dragons were supposed to be creatures of myth, something made up to scare kids in medieval times on Earth, but apparantely on Trinity them and other mythological creatures were all too real. Why they looked so similar to Earth's mythological creatures was beyond him.

"Sir, we're about five minutes away from Trinity," Navigator Avitus Finch announced, standing at a console perpendicular to the captain, somewhat uncomfortably close.

Gunboats were one of the smallest ships in the Terran fleet, and the bridge's size reflected the ship's size. It was somewhat box-like in shape, nothing special really. His chair sat in the middle of it, a viewscreen stood in front of him, and about five computer terminals lined the walls with crewmen operating them. Luckily, the small the size of ship meant there didn't need to be that many operators cramped in the small twenty by twenty foot space.

"Hail the Infinity. Let's let them know we're here." Julius ordered.

"Aye, sir," Communications Officer Abigail Williams said, quickly typing in a few commands on her console. Immediately, the bridge of Emperor Ventus' Flagship appeared on screen, the Emperor himself sitting in the captain's chair. Despite the fact that Ventus was the more casual, laid-back, and approachable of the two leaders, his presence still sent a chill up the Captain's back.

"What took you, Stalingrad?" Ventus asked, his normal care-free attitude ever apparent in his voice.

"Subspace eddy near the Centauri system," Julius reported. "Sorry sir, our sensors didn't detect it in time to navigate around."

"Nothing you could have done about it," Ventus said, sending a wave of relief through the Captain. "However, this puts us a bit behind schedule. We need to find out what the Wraith are up to, and your package is going to do just that."

"With all due respect, sir, why couldn't we just bring the Wraith here?" Julius asked.

"Too risky. The research facility contains a special cell that can keep the Wraith from leaving even if it's not in a host. It requires a lot of power to maintain, more power than most ships can give. Without that cell the Wraith could jump from its host, and the last thing we need is it transmitting the location of your ship to the other Wraith. I'm willing to guess they don't particularly like being captured. Call it a gut feeling."

Julius smiled at this. "Aye sir, I think I understand."

"Good. As you know this mission is a sensitive matter. Loose lips sink ships and all that."

Julius nodded. "Right, sir."

Ventus then began to type in a few commands on a datapad attached to his chair's arm rest. "I'm transmitting landing coordinates to you as well as an approach vector. Whatever you do don't deviate or you're going to to scare the pants off of a lot of ponies..." He squinted in thought for a second. "Well if they wore pants.... you know what I mean."

Julius stifled another chuckle. "Right sir, we won't."

"Make this happen, Captain," Ventus said, an unusually serious look on his features. "Ventus out."

With that, the viewscreen once again switched back to a view of space, Trinity an ever-growing dot in the distance. Julius sighed at this. It was time to inform the crew what they were doing here, the information of the mission having been restricted to a few trusted officers at this point. He moved his hand to the small datapad resting on his arm rest and typed in a few commands, activating the ship's comm system.

"Attention everyone. By now you're probably all curious as to why we're in the Trinity system, and I'm willing to bet there are about five different rumors floating around about it. It's time to put them to rest. Our mission is to pick up six equines and an escort and transport them to a research station in the Javis system. If you've done your homework, you'll know these ponies are not Dragan and do not want any part in the war or any part in any racist bullshit you may have in store for them. Keep your comments to yourselves, please. Julius out."

The Captain then flipped off the comms system. By the time he had finished his message, they were in high orbit over Trinity. He sighed at that. It was time to get the ball rolling. He then turned to his pilot Jacob 'Joker' Mureau.

"Take us in, Mr. Mureau. Let's see if we can keep silent."

Joker grinned in response. "Right, should I tell ensign Kelly to stop blaring that heavy metal stuff in the cargo hold than?"

"Well I'm not going to ask her to take away her one source of stress relief," Julius said with a slight smirk.

"Yeah, but won't it hurt the pony's ears? I mean, they can hear better than us, right?" Joker asked, bringing the ship into Trinity's atmosphere as he did so. A slight shutter was all that could be felt from it.

"I still can't believe we're playing shuttle-bus to a bunch of equines..." Avitus Finch muttered.

Julius shot him a look. "What did I just say about racism?"

"I'm sorry sir, but I just don't like this at all. Everything about those equines are unnatural," he growled. "Half the crew thinks this way."

"Can we even trust them?" Williams asked. "I mean, what if they feel loyal to their distant cousins or something? This is the first time they've even heard of them, right? And now they're expected to be shipped out with their cousin's enemies? Who knows how they'll react."

"In the past, human existed in factions, and some were neutral towards each other while others were at war. Would you pick up a rifle to shoot at someone who just shot at a neighbor you don't really feel anything about?" Joker said.

"This is different. If there was ever an alien attack on Earth in the distant past, even if it was a single nation, you could probably expect everyone to unite together to fight against them for the sake of their species' honor."

"That's a pretty optimistic way of thinking," Avitus grumbled.

"Even so, ponies are different from humans," Abigail said. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but they seem to be closer to each other; more loyal."

"Everyone just calm down," Julius sighed. "We'll be keeping watch on them at all times. Oh, and by the way, one of the six equines coming aboard is the Emperor's sister's 'prized pupil'. The rest are apparently very loyal to her as well. I don't think we'll have to worry about any sort of incident."

"You know what this means though, right?" Joker said, smirking. "If anything happens to said pupil, Emperor Ignis is going to have our heads."

The Captain folded his arms. "Then consider that extra incentive to keeping them all safe."


"It's here! It's here!" Pinkie beamed excitedely as the Friendship Express came into sight from the distance.

"Finally!" Rainbow Dash said, smiling.

A few minutes later, Equestria's fastest locomotive rolled into station and passengers began streaming out, Twilight and Spike among them. Immediately, her friends were upon her.

"Hey Twilight!"

"Oh my gosh it feels like you've been gone forever!"

"Did you learn anything in Canterlot?! Are the aliens really aliens or are they really some secret underground-"

Applejack immediately threw a hoof over Pinkie's mouth at that. "Not in public, sugarcube," she whispered.

Twilight smiled at her friends. "It's good to see you too, girls. Now.. let's head to the library. We have a lot to discuss."


A few minutes later, they had made it to Twilight's library and were huddled in the commons. Twilight then began to explain everything Celestia and Ventus had said to her. She was meant with a chorus of questions as well as general sense of awe. It was a somewhat frustrating task, as she found everything more difficult to elaborate on without Celestia's visual aid. She also suspected that without her scientific background her friends might not be able to grasp everything she was saying. Nonetheless, after about an hour they seemed to have a decent idea as to what was going on.

"This is all too unreal," Applejack said, bewilderment lacing her voice. "I can't believe after all this time there's been some massive war happenin' right under our noses."

"And they want us to help the Terrans out!" Rainbow Dash growled. "We should be helping our own people!"

"Even I have to admit this whole situation seems really daft." Rarity chimed in.

Twilight sighed. "We're not helping the Terrans fight the Dragan. We're going to help the Terrans fight the Wraith, and for that they're going to need information. Helping them will help us in the long run. You saw how ruthless those aliens were. They'll come back to Trinity eventually to try to finish what they started."

"So basically, you want us to hop aboard the ship of aliens we've never meant, aliens who seem to not have a likin' for ponykind, fly fifty-bajillion miles away to another solar system and use the Elements of Harmony on one of those creepy Wraith?" Applejack said.

Twilight nodded, "Yeah, pretty much."

Rainbow Dash threw two hoofs together in a punch. "You know what? The Terrans never messed with us, and if this means we'll be protecting Equestria...." she put a smile on. "I'm in! This actually sounds kind of awesome. It's like the Luke Skyhooves adventures! We're going to be space heroes," she then grew serious. "And we'll be able to get a little payback against those parasitical little-"

"Oooh! Oooh!" Pinkie bounced. "We'll be like ambassadors too! I wonder if the Terrans know how to party Ponyville style?!"

"I will say the idea is intriguing," Rarity said, a hoof on her chin. "I wonder what these Terrans will be like?"

"Well, Ventus seemed nice... but he wasn't exactly a Terran as I've said," Twilight said.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, nice for a guy who ordered the extermination of an entire planet! On second thought, I'm not sure if I like the idea of hanging around with these guys."

"N-Neither do I," Fluttershy squeaked.

"Hold on there, sugarcube, we don't even know if he's the one who pulled the trigger. From what your saying, Twilight, Ventus seems more of a figurehead than anything. It could have been his brother who made the call," Applejack reasoned.

"Well, I'm not sure what Ignis is like or how Terran politics work. Both of them may have to agree on a decision in order for it to be made for all we know," Twilight said.

"Yeah, and the Terran military just went along with it!" Rainbow Dash growled. "That 'just following orders' crap doesn't cut it with me."

"Well, we can't just sit around while the Wraith might be planning something."

Rainbow Dash raised a hoof. "I never said I wouldn't go, but I'm not going to trust these Terrans worth anything."

"We can't just judge a book by its cover," Applejack said. "After all, who knows what kind of skeletons these Dragan have in their own closets?"

"What?!" Rainbow Dash barked. "They're ponies! Ponies don't keep anything in their closets except pony shoes!"

"Ponies who named themselves 'Spirits of Vengeance'," Rarity noted. "I'm not sure if I trust either side to be honest. I mean really, how could two people be at war for hundreds of years? That's simply barbaric."

A second later, everyone's attention was turned to Spike, who coughed out a letter. He quickly snatched it and handed it to Twilight.

"I think it's time." He said, his voice filled with apprehension.

Twilight quickly ripped open the letter and scanned it. She then nodded. "Yeah, it's time. Princess Celestia says there is a cloaked ship on its way for us. They're going to land at the old castle in Everfree."

"Cloaked?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"It means it's invisible."

Rainbow Dash's eyes flew wide in excitement. "That's awesome!" She beamed, before throwing her friends an embarrassed simper. "Er, I mean. That's pretty cool, I guess."

Rarity smirked at that. "Well, I suppose this is it. How long is this trip going to take, by the way?"

Twilight thought for a moment. "Well, the system we're heading to is thirty light years away, and Ventus said Terran ships can travel two thousand times the speed of light so..." She quickly did some math in her head. "Ten days round trip."

The rest of her friends stared at her wide-eyed.

Twilight put on an embarrassed smile. "What? I practice math a lot in my head."

"Well, I'll need to go make the proper arrangements for house-sitting and pack than," Rarity said. "I wonder if they'll mind me bringing a few supplies for stitching aboard... hmph, wouldn't that be interesting? Perhaps I learn how to stitch Terran clothes and become the first interplanetary dress maker!"

Twilight sweat-dropped, "Well, if you want. We'll have plenty of time on our hooves after all."

"I gotta get going too, then. I need to let the family know I'll be gone for a few days," Applejack said, before muttering, "I gotta tell Big Mac to keep an eye on Applebloom n' her friends too..."

Pinkie Pie frowned, "Daw, I'm going to miss out on babysitting this weekend... ah well. I guess I should let the Cakes know I'll be away for a few days... and grab my party cannon! We gotta show the Terrans how it's done!"

"Well, try to meet back here in an hour or so, OK?"

"Will do, Twi!"

With that, the three exited the treehouse, leaving the remaining four alone.

"Um, Twilight," Fluttershy said, her voice slightly nervous. "Did Princess Celestia mention anything more about the Wraith?"

Twilight shook her head. "Not much more than what we already know, though apparently the Terrans have been running into them frequently near the edges of the galaxy." Twilight paused, thinking for a minute. "Now that I think of it, I never did ask Celestia about the disappearance of those five stars... or galaxies. I'm still not sure what they are."

"If it was important I'm sure she would have mentioned it," Spike said.

"So.. she didn't mention anything else about the Wraith? No details...?" Fluttershy interrupted.

Twilight quirked an eyebrow. "You seem oftly curious about them."

Rainbow Dash grinned. "She's just taking the initiative! Knowing your enemy is half the battle, right Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy drew a hoof across the floor. "Well, it's not that... it's just... I just wanted to know more about them is all."

"I'm sure the Terrans will fill us in on some of the details if we ask nicely enough," Twilight said optimistically.

"Speaking of that, do they even speak pony?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Apparently pony is their language, or actually our language is their's. Around 800 years ago, Celestia began to grow fond of her brother's tongue, English, and opted for ponykind to adopt it."

Rainbow Dash's eyes widened. "That is so weird." She then put on a serious expression. "But that means we're speaking the language of a bunch of murderers, though, doesn't it?"

Twilight sighed. "This is the first chance anypony will get to show what ponies are truly all about to a generation of Terrans. Let's not let our judgments get in the way."

"Meh... we'll see," Rainbow Dash mumbled. "I wonder if they wouldn't mind me bringing my crossbo-"

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight groaned.

"Kidding, kidding."

Twilight then sighed again. "I will say this; I don't trust them either, but maybe Applejack's right. Maybe there's more to them than meets the eye."


"Well! I guess there's more to this planet than meets the eye!" Joker said, piloting the Terran gunboat in stealth mode high over Equestria. "Jesus, I think we almost hit a dragon!"

"Watch your sensors from now on, Joker," Julius ordered.

"Aye, sorry sir. But for real? A freaking dragon? Is this like some sort of fairy-tale planet or something? Did Walt Disney have a hand in terraforming it?"

Julius shrugged. "No, he's still frozen I think. Nobody knows much about this planet since scout ships have been denied entry to this system. To be honest, I think we might be the first humans to ever visit."

Joker shook his head, exasperated. "Dragons, unicorns.... what's next? Elves? If I see an elf I'm totally freaking."

Julius sighed. "Concentrate on piloting, Joker."

"So, the Emperor's sister. Is she hot?" Weapons Officer Augustus Jacobson asked.

"Really, August?" Abigail said.

"What? Just asking."

"Well, I'm not really big on horses so..."

August's eyes widened. "Wait, she's a horse?"

Abigail rolled her eyes. "What did you expect, genius? Why would an immortal deity who can morph forms be ruling ponies in a human body?"

"Oh right, I forgot the Emperors could do that." August said, his cheeks turning red.

"Well, you can learn more about your love interest in a second, August. We're heeeereee."

With that, the ship descended through unnaturally low-lying clouds and towards an old castle below.

"I'm picking up seven life signs below," Abigail said. "I think it's them."