Sunset Shimmer stood unflinching as Captain Hisashi Kurokawa fumed. He was so furious that she could light his emotional energy itself ablaze with the snap of a finger. Unlike the unfortunate others in Amagi’s bridge, she was unfazed by his rage.
“It was her,” she confirmed. “We traded blows for a time. I would have defeated her if Nightmare Moon hadn’t been terrified out of her wits by a mirage and teleported the both of us away from the battle.”
“A MIRAGE?!”
“Yes. I do not know what image she generated, but it must’ve been something powerful. A mage, perhaps, one with greater ability than Celestia herself, and the likeness of a centaur. What I do know is that it was something Nightmare Moon is familiar with, and therefore feared.”
“She is supposed to be the greatest mage on the planet, and she fears something from another world?” Kurokawa seethed.
Sunset saw that she would need to be cautious or risk another one of his explosive rants directed at an innocent bridge officer instead of her. “Likely something from her world--my world. Equestria is home to more than just magic and ponies.”
Tirek, the now-normal voice of Nightmare Moon whispered in her mind. He has the power to siphon another’s energy, to include alicorns. He was locked in Tartarus over a thousand years ago by Celestia and pitiful Luna to “protect the ponies,” but it was really to save themselves from his wrath. We could have easily destroyed him if they weren’t so weak.
Sunset relayed the information to Kurokawa, who seemed to calm somewhat at the explanation.
“Ms. Shimmer,” Commander Sato Okada asked, “is there anything else from Equestria that could threaten us?” these Elements she mentioned once?”
“The Elements of Harmony. There are six of them, as far as I know, and together, they make the power of friendship. Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, Laughter, and Kindness.”
“That’s five.”
“The sixth is Magic. Sparkle’s Element, actually. She’s the ‘Bearer’ of Magic. However, she requires the other five to be present in order to use her Element. And given that they and their Bearers are still in Equestria, we have nothing to fear from them. Precautions would not be a terrible idea, though. Even without her Element, Twilight Sparkle is an extremely gifted Unicorn mage, and as we witnessed, crafty.”
“Is there anything she can’t do?”
“Not that I know of. She was Celestia’s prize student, after all. More so than me.”
“Then we should take it upon ourselves to find one,” Okada said. “Captain? I believe I may be well-suited to this task given my frequent…rewarding…talks with the Grik.”
“Yes, indeed,” Kurokawa mused, for once listening to his executive officer’s suggestions calmly. “Be sure to ask the next time we speak with their leaders.” He turned to face the sail-covered ocean ahead and around Amagi. “For now, we will bide our time. Their leaders cannot know the power we possess, as well as how we can acquire knowledge of distant events so quickly. We shall keep it that way. Navigation! How far is Surabaya, at this excruciatingly slow pace?”
The navigation officer, startled, frantically made marks on his map. “Captain, only three weeks’ travel, sir!”
A smile crept into Kurokawa’s face. Not a genuine, contented smile, from Sunset’s angle, but a smile nonetheless. He might even last more than fifteen minutes without screaming at his subordinates in two weeks, if the magical tendrils starting to swirl around his mind had anything to say about it.
“Gooooood.”