//------------------------------// // The Enemy Within - Part 4 // Story: Song of the Stars // by Jacker //------------------------------// Twilight and her friends had gathered in her quarters. She had asked to remain on the bridge for the take-off, but Captain Julius had denied her that privilege, saying something about how it would arouse too much suspicion from his crew and it wasn't personal. It seemed reasonable, Twilight didn't want to spur paranoia among them for no good reason, though she was very curious as to how the ship was operated. Nonetheless, she would still have a good view of the takeoff. Julius had given her one of the best guest quarters. It wasn't very ordain, no flowers or pictures or anything in it, but it did have a comfortable bed as well as one of those strange rectangular boxes she had seen in Julius' quarters. It also was complete with a holographic window that could show a view pointing outwards from any place on the ship, meaning she could actually see what the bridge was seeing if need be. "So, how long until takeoff, Twi?" Spike asked, sitting comfortably on a small cot one of the Terrans had dragged in for him. "It should be pretty soon," Twilight said. "Captain Julius said we'd be taking off an hour after we finished talking, and that was fifty or so minutes ago." "I really just want to get this over with," Rainbow Dash grumbled, sitting on Twilight's bed and folding her arms. "The Terrans keep giving me looks." Applejack glanced at her skeptically. "Are you sure you're not just seeing what you expect to see from em'?" Rainbow Dash lowered her eyebrows at this. "I'm telling you, those Terrans do not trust us one bit, and the feeling's mutual." Twilight sighed at this. "I'm afraid she's right, Applejack. Well, somewhat. Captain Julius said there's been quite a bit of concern about bringing us aboard. It's only natural, I suppose. Remember, they've been fighting ponies for over five centuries." Rarity shook her head incredulously. "I still can't believe a war could last that long." "Celestia told me intergalactic wars tend to be... more brutal then most. She said it spurs tremendous amount of hate that can drive them on for a very long time." "The only hatred is probably coming from the Terrans!" Rainbow Dash growled. "They're the ones keeping the war going! They bombed that planet, after all!" "Enough of the cynicism, already, Rainbow Dash," Applejack said, her tone growing more and more annoyed. "A lot of the Terrans have been ripe friendly to us. There's good apples among em." Rarity nodded in agreement. "Ensign Kelly seemed very polite. She even asked me to help move a few things around the cargo hold for her, a decent sign of trust, and was very grateful for it." She chuckled slightly. "However, her sense of music... well let's just say Vynil Scratch would die for it." Spike turned towards Twilight at that. "Yeah but... did you ever ask Julius what the whole orbital bombardment thing was about?" Twilight shook her head. "I didn't think it was the best time. I do intend to find out more about it while we're here." Suddenly, the announcement speaker blared to life. "This is Captain Julius. We're engaging the stealth drive and preparing for liftoff. All hands brace for atmospheric exit." "This is it!" Twilight beamed excitedly. She then pointed at a snoozing Fluttershy, curled up into a ball on her bed. "Somepony wake up Fluttershy!" Fluttershy was once again in a dark shadow world as soon as she nodded off. This one, however, seemed to look like the cargo room of the Terran starship they were staying on then the Everfree forest. She stood between two large cargo containers in it, a somewhat cramped environment. Not wishing to be trapped there, she wondered towards the end of them, shivering slightly... When she reached it, she peered around the corner to the right curiously. She saw two of the Terran wheeled metal boxes and sighed in relief. Shen then peered to the left and- "Fluttershy!" Her eyes widened. There before her stood the pony of black mist. Eeping, she quickly ducked back between the two cargo containers and ran to the other end. She managed to make it to the end only for- "There's no where to run this time, Fluttershy!" -the pony of black mist to jet in front of her. "This is the end of the line. Submit yourself to me!" "Never!" Fluttershy screamed defiantly. "I've been in your memories," the Wraith announced. "You will not hold out much longer." "You've been in my memories?!" Fluttershy squeaked, blushing slightly. The Wraith sweat-dropped, "I haven't been looking at anything too... private. Well there was one-" The Wraith cleared its throat. "Errr, but I didn't look it into that deeply though. Most of the memories I have access to are the ones spawned in moments of great emotion. Your more... potent ones you could say." "Those are still private!" she growled, though of course her being her it came out like a kitten's. "I needed to learn more about my host. We are going to be spending a lot of time together after all." Fluttershy narrowed her eyes, "No we're not!" she said sternly. "I saw what you did to those poor militia ponies, what you almost did to my friends! And NOPONY hurts my friends!" she said with a glare. "We didn't want to fight you, so why did you attack us?! Why did you take those poor ponies as hosts?! Who taught you to behave that way!?! Either way you're not somepony I want in my head so just GET OUT!!!!" The Wraith's eyes flew open wide as Fluttershy began to glare at him, her hoping her patented Stare would somehow work within her own dreams. The Wraith did appear paralyzed, the black flaming mist that rose off its back having frozen in place, though she couldn't tell if she would actually be able to control it, its facial expressions hidden to her. "W-What the h-hell is t-this?" the Wraith stuttered. "I want you to leave," Fluttershy ordered. "N-No!" it growled. "P-Please, don't make me do it!" Fluttershy narrowed her eyes. Though the desperation in its voice disturbed her slightly, she continued to press on, her stare seemingly working. "LEAVE!" "And then what?!" the Wraith growled. "I-I'll just find another host!" Fluttershy continued to glare. "And if you do, my friends and I will find you and set them free!" "I-ll find someone far away! You'll never be able to find me! T-The ship hasn't taken off yet!" Fluttershy shook her head, her glaring intensifying. "If you could do that you would have found another host besides me. Someone stronger, somepony in the government perhaps. Somepony you could have used to gain access to the orb you wanted." Her eyes then flew open, a hint of sympathy and realization within them. A beat. "You really need a host, don't you?" "Y-Yes," it admitted shamefully. It then sighed before looking slightly away from the shy pony. "The pain I experience being in my true form.. it's unbearable..." it said. "It's those damned orbs. Even in here it still hurts, though the reason I chose you as my host is because it's even worse out there!" It took a deep breath before saying, "If you're truly the Element of Kindness, please find some mercy even for me." The Wraith's words put Fluttershy at a pause. They may had been evil creatures, and it may have wished to take control of Fluttershy for its own nefarious purposes a second ago, but something inside her just couldn't bring her to kick it out into the cold. "I-I can help you with some of your emotional baggage," the Wraith offered, causing Fluttershy to quirk an eyebrow. "I know you've had somewhat of a rough past, bullied and picked on with few standing up to you. And then there was your parents... I can't get rid of those memories, but I can help you repress them." Fluttershy threw it a look mixed with confusion and suspicion. "I would have let you stayed anyway." "I insist we make it a fair trade." With that, Fluttershy raised here eyebrows slightly, a calmer expression beginning to form on her. She then began to reevaluate the situation. Perhaps the Wraith weren't all evil after all. Perhaps Celestia was wrong and they really wanted to destroy the orb because it pained them. "You would help me, even after you tried t-to..." "I was just following orders," the Wraith said. "Our primary, that being our commander, can be... brutal. Some of us advocated to try to make peaceful contact." Fluttershy stood silent for a second, continuing to scrutinize the creature. "And you won't try to take control again?" "Never." A beat. Fluttershy then continued to contemplate the situation. The Wraith seemed to be honest, and she could always use the Stare if the it tried to take control again. It seemed that it could only do it when she was asleep, and she was always made aware when it did. Perhaps this could work out. Finally, a hint of a smile then formed on Fluttershy's face. "Alright." If the Wraith had eyes, it would be blinking them. "Huh?" "You can stay." The Wraith coughed a her words. Apparantely, it was not expecting this at all. "Well uh- what do you organics generally say when someone gives you something?" Fluttershy chuckled slightly at this. "'Thank you' would be appropriate." "Well then...." it paused. "T-Thank you." "Fluttershy!" a voice reminiscent of Rainbow Dash's echoed from nowhere. "I think your friends want you to wake up," the Wraith said. "I'll be around..." It then began to float away, but before it grew out of sight, it swiveled and turned towards Fluttershy. "T-Thanks again, really." Fluttershy simply nodded at it. After that, it was back to reality. "Hey, Fluttershy! Wake up, the ship's about to take off!" Rainbow Dash said jubilantly as she prodded her friend. Fluttershy groaned quietly before letting out an adorable little yawn. "Time to leave already?" she asked. Twilight smirked towards Rainbow Dash. "Well that's an unexpected burst of enthusiasm." The rainbow-maned mare quickly tried to force a look of apathy. "Pffft, I just want to see if these Terrans can fly as fast as I can." Twilight threw her a deadpan look. "They can fly over five hundred times the speed of light with their hyperdrives." "Yeah, but the way you explained it it sounds like they're entering another dimension that's sort of like a miniature one of our own that's somehow bound to it. They aren't flying any faster, space is simply compressed more tightly there relative to our own universe. Because these two dimensions are connected in some way, it allows them to travel a short distance there only to drop out of it at a much farther point in our own universe from where they entered." She then took a deep breath, a grin forming on her face. "And that means I could still fly faster than them!" The lavender mare's eyes flew wide open at this. That was... about how much she understood of it as well, though she was sure both of them were barely grasping the surface of how it truly worked. Still, had Rainbow Dash gone on a fish diet? She knew Rainbow Dash was smart, but this.... "Er, Rainbow Dash. When did you start studying physics?" Applejack asked with an eyebrow quirk. "I read a lot of Luke Skyhooves adventures," Rainbow Dash explained. "I already knew a bit about the concept of hyperspace from it." "So you're saying this science fiction book had it right?" Twilight asked skeptically. "Sort of," Rainbow Dash said, "It's a little different, but similar enough that I could pick up what you were talking about pretty easily." "Ooooh..." Twilight said. She was still quite impressed, however. Suddenly, the ship began to shake, rattling everything in Twilight's quarters. She could hear a quiet hum begin coming from the back of the ship that gradually grew louder. She then heard a great roar from underneath her. Her and her six friends watched in awe as the ship lifted off from the Everfree forest and slowly made its way into the heavens. "Quick! Can you bring up an image of Ponyville?!" Pinkie Pie beamed. "I want to see how small it'll get!" Twilight nodded and fiddled with the controls to the holo-window. Soon enough, a view of Ponyville came up. The details of it were still very apparent, and Twilight hoped to Celestia that the Terran's stealth drive was working properly. She could see the Carousel Botique, Sugarcube Corner and... Her library. Home. Rainbow Dash smiled warmly at the sight. The little town below was what she had fought for a few days ago. It was what they were going on this long mission for as well. This reminded her of something someone had once said to her. The ghostly voice of a short-known, but very influential person oh her life echoed in her head. "I have learned many things in my day, many in particular about the psychology of soldiers. We may say it's for honor, we may say it's for a longing to serve our country, but in reality most heed the call to arms to protect what is dear to us personally; our homes, our families, and our friends." Her friends. She gazed upon the six of her soul mates, six friends who seemed destined for each other, and probably were. They were the Elements of Harmony after all. There was a literal magical, spiritual bond between them that she couldn't explain, but knew was there. The Terrans were murdering bastards, but the Wraiths were the ones threatening those who she cared deep about. If she had to work with the king of Tartarus himself to keep them safe, she would. The ship continued to fly higher and higher, long having cut through the lower Pegasi-controlled cloud layer. Ponyville was the size of a coin as Canterlot came into view. A few seconds more and both it and Ponyville became dots as whips of upper-stratospheric clouds began shooting downwards, those never touched by Pegasi. It then hit her. This was near the the spot where the record was set for the highest flying Pegasi, though unfortunately the record ended in tragedy. The Pegasi who attempted it fell unconscious after flying too high and plummeted down back to Trinity. Nobody was quick enough to save her. It angered her slightly that there were some things that just couldn't be accomplished with body alone. Crutches like this ship were needed.... Various oos and awes filled Twilight's cabin as they graced the upper-reached of the atmosphere. She could see entire continents now, vast beautiful lands of green. They looked nearly identical to maps she had seen. Whoever the cartographers were behind them had done a great job for being forced to map them via land and sea. Finally, they grew so high that she saw... it. A sphere of blue, shimmering seas, white streaks of clouds, brown, expansive deserts and brilliant yellow and green planes and forests. Her planet. Her home. Home to everything. It appeared Canterlot's scientists were right. The world was round, and it was beautiful. Oh so very beautiful. A small tear crept into her eye at the sight. Now that was something worth fighting for. With that, her eyes widened. She glanced at her crossbow, observing its features, design and purpose. And though she cringed at the latter, she still respected what else it represented. Her... a soldier. Why could she see it so well? At this point she was beginning to feel something rising inside of her... something primal. She felt the sudden, unexpected urge to sink another crossbow bolt into another alien, this desire not coming from anything her conscious mind could demand, but from deep within, and she did nothing to stop herself. Gritting her teeth in grim determination, she snapped another bolt into place, popped out of her cover, and fired. If this was the feeling a mother bear had when she was protecting her cubs, she never wanted to run into one in her life. Now that was something worth fighting for. All of her thoughts... they were always focused on one thing. She wanted to protect what she cared about. And the best way for her to do that was what her race called for, the elimination of those who would threaten them. She was destined to become a soldier after all. The ship drew further and further away from Equestria. It passed by Luna's moon, the barren rocky planes the poor Princess has been trapped on for a thousand years. Twilight grew sad at the thought. One thousand years in a place of nothing... how was Luna even sane? The ship didn't stop there, though. It kept travelling and travelling as her world shrank and shrank. Eventually, everything she cared about was just one small dot in the distance. "That is Trinity, home to billions of forms of life, as well as home to us, our friends and family, and the the place where their ancestors have lived and died. I myself have enjoyed it for thousands of years. I've watched it shape itself, and I've watched us shape it. This small pinpoint of light in a sea of nothing. Our oasis in the desert, and something worth caring for. Remember that, my loving student." Huh. One small pinpoint of light... A warm smile crept on her face, though she didn't know why.