The door to Twilight’s cell has opened and two trealitt guards walked in. They were both holding leashes, just like the one she was held with previously. And on the end of the leashes were Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash had to be held with a stiff pole as well; she was growling almost like an animal and had clear signs of struggle on her. The guard threw her into the room, then pressed her head against the floor with its foot to remove the leash.
“Hey!” Twilight shouted at the aggressive guard. “Don’t forget that she’s at the same rank as I am!”
The guard briefly looked up to her, but kept its foot on Rainbow Dash’s head. After removing the leash, it bowed as an apology. Pinkie Pie has already been released by this time.
“I apologize for the rough handling of your friend Princess,” Oolkom stepped into the room, “I’ll make sure that the guard will be harshly reprimanded.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Twilight replied.
“Awfully forgiving there, Princess.” The captain commented.
“So?! What About it?!” Rainbow Dash shouted into the face of the captain.
The guards fired up their electric sticks and the sharp sizzle they emitted made Rainbow step back.
The captain did not flinch at all during this exchange. It kept a commanding posture throughout, with its hands resting on the gem inside its staff. After an ominous pause it said: “We’re headed towards Planet Galbiam, where we’ve found the distress signal of other friends of yours. They should be here shortly, just like you requested.” After saying that it left and closed the door behind it.
Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight. “Just like you requested?!” She echoed the captain’s words.
“There’s more to that statement than that.” Twilight clarified.
“Why did you send us to that planet anyway?” She demanded an answer.
“I was hoping the Tinus could help us.” Twilight answered. “Their weapons could be great use for us.”
“Well, they were the ones who brought us right into the hands of the enemy!”
“Hmm, that does change the plan a little bit.”
“The plan?! Just what the hay are you planning?! First you send us into hostile territories, then you bring the enemy right to us?!”
“Calm down Rainbow Dash, the others are safe, I know!”
“Safe until they’re captured, that is. Just like you requested!”
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight now raised her voice. “Do you really think I’d intentionally lead the enemy to all of you?!”
Rainbow Dash said nothing.
“I sent all of you to those planets with a purpose.” Twilight explained. “And if I didn’t lead the trealitt to you and the others, then they would have killed me. And there would be no way to get back home either.”
Rainbow kept her silence for a moment longer. “So we’re just going to wait then, huh?”
“Yes... There’s not much we can do... For now...”
“While we wait,” Pinkie interjected, “we can always have a good meal.” She was having a go at the large table of alien food. “I highly recommend this purple stuff. Delicious!”
Some time has passed. Who knows how much? For a while the only thing that could be heard was the quiet rumbling of the spaceship, Rainbow’s shivering and Pinkie’s delighted chewing, which stopped eventually, as she laid down for an after meal nap. Rainbow Dash looked at the crude decorations in disgust. It was clear that whoever put them up, did not know anything about cheer; they were just there as a pitiful attempt at making the ponies feel at home. Twilight tucked Pinkie in with a blanket. She gave one to Rainbow Dash as well.
“Here,” she said, “the spaceship is cold. You’ll need this.”
Rainbow took the blanket. “I’m sorry for assuming the worst about you earlier.” She said.
“Don’t worry,” Twilight replied, “you went through a lot. And Oolkom did distort what I said.”
“What do they want with you anyway? Why do they want to kill you?”
Twilight was just about to answer but the spaceship interrupted with a continuous violent shake. The air briefly turned even colder, as the cooling systems kicked in automatically. That went on for good ten minutes, before the spaceship stopped and the temperature went back to its just uncomfortable state.
“I think we landed.” Rainbow Dash commented.
“Oh I hope this works.” Twilight said.
“Hope what works? Unless-“ She was cut off by a huge thud that shook the entire ship. “What was that?”
Twilight couldn’t answer; She has been distracted by a strange voice. It was talking to her from directly inside her head.
“Do not worry. We are here.” The voice said.
“Who’s that?” She asked the voice.
“I have someone here, who might interest you.”
“Twilight is that you?” Spike’s voice emerged inside her mind.
“Spike!” She answered.
“Oh Twilight,” it was Fluttershy’s voice now, “I am so glad you’re okay!”
“I’m using an alien’s head as a communicator,” Spike said, “pretty cool, huh?”
“Okay Spike,” said Twilight, “stay on track.”
“Don’t worry,” he answered, “we have a plan.”
“I knew, I could count on you!”
Suddenly the door burst open and several alien warriors stormed into the cell and with fired up electric staffs, they hit Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, immobilizing the both of them.
“You were leading us into a trap, weren’t you?” Their captain has stepped into the room. “No matter, your trap is but a mild inconvenience.”
Both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie have been chained up at this point and the guards were approaching Twilight, with their electric staffs. She could do nothing, but let her be put on a leash again. Soon, the three of them have been dragged outside the ship and they could finally see what was going on. They have touched ground on the planet where the ashstorm was still going. But there was a sort of energy field surrounding them, which came from a larger spaceship from above. The trealitt have been trapped. Two other trealitt were standing outside the energy sphere and they were holding Rarity and Applejack.
Twilight, along with Rainbow and Pinkie were dragged outside the ship, so everyone could clearly see them. Oolkom raised an amplifier to its translator and started talking.
“We have your princess and the rest of your friends! Lift the shield and give yourselves up and they shall remain fine! Or else...”
The guards have grabbed their electric staffs and with a loud display, the staffs turned into massive axes and they prepared to strike the ponies down, if their demands weren’t met.
For a moment, silence lingered over the scene. After several agonizingly quiet seconds, the energy sphere retracted back into the spaceship, allowing the ashstorm in, which was significantly colder than the inside of the trealitt spaceship. A beam shot down in front of them. Spike and Fluttershy appeared where the beam touched the ground.
“Spike! Fluttershy!” Twilight shouted at them. “Don’t do this, it’s a... Ugh!” Her leash was yanked so hard she stopped talking.
Spike and Fluttershy stepped up to the trealitt quietly. Spike stared indignantly at the alien captain, then looked into Twilight’s eyes. Rarity and Applejack looked on, as they were dragged onto the scene as well. Twilight looked back at Spike, with intense worry. Then unexpectedly, a grin appeared on Spike’s face. He flew up into the air and blasted the enemy captain with a huge burst of fire. It let out an ear-splitting scream and collapsed onto its knees. The guards, instead of striking with their weapons, brought up their shields to protect themselves from the flames. Fluttershy hopped up to Rainbow and Pinkie, and with a strange pronged device attempted to free them. The guards could do nothing; they were busy hiding from Spike’s flaming breath.
And suddenly, large furry creatures emerged from under the ash. A very intense fiery glow emanated from under their fur. Most of them emerged around Rarity and Applejack. They grabbed onto the guards holding them and the guards liquefied almost instantly.
While Spike was distracted with saving Rainbow and Pinkie, something pulled violently on Twilight’s leash and she came face to face with Oolkom, who was ready to strike her down, right then and there. At that point, its previously displayed decorum was all gone and it was shrieking like a vicious animal, with its face looking like the side of a heavily used candle. Spike tried to get her out of the alien’s grasp, but two guards jumped in front of him and blocked his flames with their shields.
The captain lifted its staff and a huge shiny blade emerged from it. It attempted to strike Twilight down, but Twilight struggled and the blade ended up cutting her chain in half. Oolkom swung its bladed weapon around in such a way, that it prevented Twilight from quickly getting away. She could do nothing, but jump out of the erratic strikes’ way, since her horn restraint has not been removed.
Rainbow Dash quickly flew to Twilight’s aid, but Oolkom stepped out of her way. And just as she passed, it grabbed her tail and threw her on the ground. It then stomped on her and raised its weapon to strike her down. And that’s when Applejack appeared with a forceful kick to the alien’s half melted face. Rarity rushed past the distracted guards and freed Twilight with Fluttershy’s device. Fluttershy was already under the spaceship she came from and motioned her friendly aliens to activate the beam.
“Quickly, we can escape!” She shouted to the rest of the ponies.
Meanwhile, Oolkom started getting the upper hand against Rainbow and Applejack and has managed to pin them both against the ground. But in just the right moment Pinkie jumped in and saved them both with a party cannon blast to the alien’s face. The rage inside the captain rose visibly. It grabbed Pinkie by the throat and lifted her in the air. And that’s when Twilight was finally able to blast Oolkom with a massive laser beam.
Oolkom could not fight further, The fiery furry creatures were now really close, with their bodies glowing white hot. Not even the guards could hold them back any longer with their shields, so they started retreating back into the ship, with a few questioning looks to their captain. The captain itself tried to reach after the escaping ponies, even that slight movement towards the heat was far too much. It screamed desperately as if that was going to stop them, but the unbearable heat got closer, while the ponies effortlessly ran up to the beam and escaped. The trealitt lost this battle and were forced to retreat back into their ship.
The ponies were now inside the allied spaceship. They found themselves in a small spherical room with membranous walls and there was water all around them. The aquatic aliens Fluttershy met were there, along with the telepathic one Spike met. But there was no time for introductions; Through the large windows, they could see the trealitt spaceship preparing for a take-off as well. Fluttershy donned her underwater breathing gear and jumped through the membrane into the water. She gently pushed two aliens away from a control panel and she briefly took control herself.
The spaceship deployed its energy field once again and trapped the trealitt close to the ground, allowing the blazing creatures to grab onto their spaceship. At that point, they were glowing with such heat, that the hull of the trealitt ship began to melt and get slowly ripped apart. The thrusters were the first to go. They managed to get in and start taking the spaceship apart from the inside. Once the trealitt have been immobilized, Fluttershy retracted the shield and gave control back to her alien friends. She quietly apologized to them with a blush.
Soon, they were all in outer space, safe from the trealitt menace. They cheered, as they finally had a reason to cheer.
“Was this your plan all along?” Rainbow poke Twilight in the side.
“Kind of...“ Twilight replied.
“Just how did you know this was going to happen?” Rarity asked.
“Seriously?” Pinkie jumped in. “Have none of you read the database?”
“Not really.” Applejack answered.
“Well, if you did,” Pinkie began, “then you’d know that the trealitt are sensitive to heat and they melt like ice cream!”
“And there lives a creature on this planet,” Twilight added, “with its own special brand of pyromancy, that allows it to radiate heat from its own body, with no upper limit.”
“I get it now,” said Rainbow Dash, “you just needed everybody to be at one place.”
Fluttershy jumped back in through the membrane and took off her breathing apparatus. “All that matters,” she said, “that it all worked out in the end. And now we can go home.”
“I still have one question,” Spike stepped in, “just what did those guys want?”
Twilight prepared to answer, but Pinkie was quicker. “They want to summon their god, but they need a lot of power to summon it and they needed Twilight’s power for that.”
“And I guess you told them about the power of friendship, huh?” Rainbow commented. “You needed to buy time.”
“Wait, hold the phone,” Spike interjected, “their god?”
“Shouldn’t we be worried about that?” Rarity asked.
“We can worry about that later.” Said Twilight. “We aren’t usually on their radars, they just happened to take an easy opportunity. And besides, we might get a few more allies after this.”
“And considering Celestia controls the sun...” Pinkie added.
“Right!” Twilight nodded.
“Well, I don’t know about you guys,” Rainbow Dash interjected, “but I am going to start reading that database while we’re on the way home.”
“That does sound like a good idea.” Said Fluttershy.
“Oh, I can’t wait to show you the things inside it!” Twilight exclaimed. “Did you know that there’s a creature with such vast knowledge of magic that they made an entire sapient species? I’m so excited to make first contact with the whole galaxy!”
“Calm down Twilight,” said Applejack, “let’s get home first instead.”
“Right.” Twilight blushed.
And so they headed back to Equestria, aboard the water-filled alien spaceship, wondering just how are they going to introduce their new friends to the ponies of Equestria.