//------------------------------// // Wrath: Life from Lifelessness // Story: Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendship(Season 1) // by Barrobroadcaster //------------------------------// While the dogfight raged outside, Dan and company quickly sprang into action. "We have to get to the moon quick while he's distracted," Dan said. He got himself up slowly, brushing dirt and dust off his shirt. A quick survey of the controls revealed most of them completely smashed, burnt, exploded in some ways. A few of them still had lights on but the navigation suite, sensors, internal monitors were all destroyed. Dan walked over to the helm. "Where the hell did all these rocks come from?" "Computer? Is anything working?" Phoenix asked. But the machines on the bridge were silent. (Guess that's our answer.) The lights on the bridge were all a pale red, making everything look like it was bathed in a crimson glow. The smoke dissipated as Khan put out the fires, but this only made the bridge smell like burning plastic and fire suppressant. Rarity appeared through teleportation on the bridge. "Oh good! You're all okay." The white mare herself looked a little worse for wear, however. She was covered in ash and bruises, of course, the same could be said of Dan and the others. "Are you and Colress alright? And Judgey? And the Gears?" "We're all fine for the moment. We could use your help with the... well, I'm not sure what it is, exactly, but it's important. It's called a "warp core," I think." Khan strode over to her. "What is wrong with the warp core?" "Um, well," Rarity thought, "Colress says it's under a lot of stress. And that's very bad, he says." "Yeah, doesn't really take a genius to figure out that the words "warp" "core" and "stress" used together like that usually mean something bad," Dan said. "Doesn't have the same inflection as saying "the ship's frozen yogurt dispenser is out of bowls." "If this ship HAD a frozen yogurt machine, it's probably been shot or blown up some other way," Phoenix said. (Which kinda sucks. I like frozen yogurt.) "Let's hurry, then," Twilight said. They were both about to teleport when someone said, "I will go as well." And that someone was Khan. Knowing that his previous defeat in such a vessel had largely been the result of his inexperience and ignorance, Khan had spent several days reading and familiarizing himself with every aspect of the Danfiant. Ever since Shining and Cadence accidentally woke him up, Khan had spent his time learning as much as he could. Knowledge was where true power lay, and the augment-prince knew that. Dan nodded. "Nicky, you go with them and help out." "Uh, but, I'm not as good at fixing things as you are Khan. Wouldn't it be better if I stayed here on the bridge?" "Nicky," Dan looked at him firmly, but with kindness. "Go with them. Help them all out." Phoenix would've raised another objection, but the way Dan said it made him silent. Dan had subtle ways of doing just about everything. "Alright," Phoenix said, getting up from the helm. He walked over to Twilight, Khan and Rarity and the four teleported. Dan was alone on the bridge. He kicked aside the rocks and debris that had scattered themselves about the room when the ship had been damaged. A few of the consoles still had lights on, a few of the screens displayed information. Mostly incomplete information, and Dan didn't fully understand any of it anyway. He couldn't tell, but the internal and external sensors were compromised, and the consoles themselves had suffered severe electrical damage, making them all but useless. He walked over to the helm station, clearing his throat from a slight bit of smoke. When he repaired the ship, he had learned all he could about the ship's construction, not how to operate it. He figured that part would've been easy but now, he was berating himself for thinking it would be as easy as hotwiring his own car, which he had done multiple times. "Fancy spaceships, airships, lasers and tanks and trains... and I'd give it all up for my car," he said to himself. "And Mr. Mumbles. And my friends," he added. He lifted up the panel from the helm suite, the console of the ship that steers the vessel and controls speed and maneuvering. Basically, it was the ship's steering wheel, and if he knew anything about steering wheels, there was a way to access backup controls by connecting the right wires. "Prrrrrrr..." "What?" He looked up. His hands were still full of wires when a noise caught his ear. "Prrrrr-prrrrr." Dan looked around, and spotted the foodimal quickly. The ham foodimal was on one of the console on the other side of the bridge, the science station. It looked a him, innocently. Not caring nor having the time to care, he returned his attention to the helm controls. "Prrrrrrr." "Okay... I think I've got something..." Dan connected a new set of wires. The bridge lights turned on, as did the viewscreen. "Come to Quark's! Quark's is fun! Come right now, don't walk- ru-*kssssssssssssssht*" "Welcome to OnStar, sponsored by the fabulous Quark's! If you'd like to begin a free trial of-" Dan disconnected the wires again. He decided that before he repaired anything, it was important to disable annoying advertisements. He didn't care if the bald guy had been helpful- if he had to listen to OnStar every time, it wasn't worth it. Not now, at least. "Prrrrrr." "I don't have any food. Go away," Dan said. "Prrrrrr." He ignored the purring ham creature. Maybe he could give it to Fluffle Puff as a gift later but for now, it was just a distraction. Two more foodimals crawled up to him and began tugging at his pant leg. "Prrrr-prrrrr. Prrrr-prrr." Dan looked down at them, no longer able to ignore the creatures. "Okay, I'm gonna get the bald guy back to teleport you guys out of-" "Prrr-prrr-prrrrr." Dan looked up. Over at the science console, several foodimals had gathered. They were hopping, scritching and pawing at the terminal. To no avail, of course- the science terminal's screen was dead. It had been one of the first to go, being so tied in with the ship's sensors and other monitors. "What is with you guys? LEAVE ME ALONE!" But the little creatures kept tugging at him. The ice cream spider descended from the ceiling and latched itself on his head. "Mrah!" "AAAH!" Dan fell over. The foodimals caught him and began carrying him. "GET OFF! GET OFF! NICKY, TWILIGHT COME BA-" but they dropped him right at the science station. They released him, and even encouraged them to get up. "You... want me to see something. Okay, fine. We're playing with food now." The ham, hot dog and danish foodimal all pawed at the science console. No lights flickered on it. But it was at that moment that Dan realized the lights had never been on in the first place. The ship had been designed for a research project, one specific research project. There had been no need for additional sensors or scanners, not when the lab was already equipped with them. Dan removed the top panel on the console. Underneath was another one, a more familiar one. "Oh." Was Equestria's magic somehow working through the foodimals? The adorable, innocent rubber creatures seemed to meander from time to time, but were they just waiting for a chance to help? How did they know about this? How could they have? The only answer seemed to be magic... but it was not the only answer. Friendship is magic. Meaning magic never acts alone. "What is done cannot be undone. But what is unmade can be remade." A silvery console was underneath the first one. It popped up when Dan removed the panel above it. Self-powered, one of the foodimals pawed a button on the console. Dan switched it on. A large cylinder ejected. Dan had seen this before. Genesis-II Device Status: Standby "Prrrr." The foodimal nudged Dan's hand. Their paws were rubber; they didn't have enough force or strength to turn the primer. Only Dan did. "Okay, I know, I know..." Dan looked around. What would Twilight think? Was this an act of love, or selfishness? Perhaps it was a mixture of both, of selfish and selflessness. Perhaps, like Genesis, something good could come out of selfishness. Not the greedy desire to profit, but the desire to see his friends happy. Once again, Dan thought of Mr. Mumbles. "Prrrrr." Dan gripped the first cylinder and turned it. He turned the dial, locking it into the sequence. Status: Priming The second one was tougher, but he managed. He gripped the cylinder with both hands and turned it until it clicked. Power systems initialized. Protomatter matrix stable. The third one was even tougher. The project was unfinished, clearly not meant for human hands to just manually prime the damn thing. Deep within the heart of the ship, the Genesis-2 Device awakened. A torpedo-like object, it combined various forms of energy and matter together into a bomb, a bomb designed specifically to create life rather than destroy it. That was the dream, however; the device itself had never been used successfully. Even now, Dan's activation of the weapon would only be a test, a test that if successful, could, in theory, revitalize Equestria. If the previous Genesis Device had created a planet from a nebula, it was possible that this new one could create a new planet from the debris field. They would not have to search the stars for a new home, but rather, the old Equestria would be made new again. Reborn, life from lifelessness. "There's still time. They'll last a bit longer, but they will need your strength. Your hope." The last cylinder was the toughest. Smaller but immeasurably harder to turn. "Prrrrr! Prrrrr!" Dan gripped it with both hands. "I.... I can't! It's too hard!" In engineering, Twilight was using her magic to patch the warp core's coolant pipes. "That should about do it, Twilight. Twilight?" Colress looked over his shoulder. She was stopped in midair. "I... something's happening." "I feel it, too," Rarity said. But none of them knew what it was. Phoenix looked around and saw that someone had left engineering. Dan braced himself against the console. Using both his legs, he pushed his entire body against the metal rod, gripping it so hard his teeth nearly cracked. "Prrrr! Prrr!" "Almost... almost..." "Prrrrrr! Prrrr-prrrr!" The foodimals gripped the bar themselves and pulled in the opposite direction. Whether from Dan alone or with help, the final rod clicked. Dan collapsed, fell to the ground, quickly sprang up and grabbed the dial. "And we did this... without... OnStar." He switched the dial, the primer inserted. COMMIT Device Primed. Detonation in: 999 "There we go. Good job, little guys. I just might keep you. Some of you. Maybe. Now get lost." Dan walked back over to the weapons console. Fortunately, that part of the ship he did no how to rewire. Not that he needed to; the weapons console was actually one of the ones still working. A random bit of good luck with the ship's weapons being intact, though that had been thanks to Gust unlocking them when he had control of the ship. The tactical display, which operated on a separate buffer, appeared on the viewscreen. The debris field of Equestria- the parts of the planet were still within range. With the targeting computer, he could fire the Genesis Device right at it. "Who's ready to see a new Equestria? Bet ya didn't think it was going to be me to bring about Generation 5, did you all? Eh?" Dan asked the foodimals. They stared blankly, yet innocently ahead. "Prrrrr." "What do you think? Should I wait for Twilight and the others?" "Prrrrr." Dan nodded. "Yeah, probably not a good idea. Alrighty, let's make us a new planet!" He gripped the firing console and pulled the trigger. "Warning: Photon control is offline. Manual operation required. Please contact a repair technician. Your OnStar account has been billed." "DAAAAAAMMMIT!" Dan smashed the console with his balled-up fists. "It's always the same bullshit with these spaceships!! When something goes wrong, it ALWAYS has to be manually operated. Why don't they make TWO backups?? WHY??!!" "Prrrrr!" The door to the bridge opened. The foodimals had made a line, one leading all the way to the turbolift. "There is still time. Hurry." Dan bolted out of the bridge. The Genesis-2 Device would detonate in 3 minutes. The foodimals, meanwhile, ate the rocks that had been left on the bridge.