The Mountain Among the Stars

by Johnjohns


VII: Lull of Midnight

Chapter 7: Lull of Midnight


February 12, 2535/UNSC Resolute, In Orbit above Jericho VII

The pelican shuddered as it touched down inside the hangar bay, forcing Scott to reluctantly open his eyes. Not a soul aboard the dropship spoke as the ramp was lowered. Scott’s companion stood up from his seat, and Scott did the same. One by one, everyone inside began to shuffle out of the giant titanium bird. Scott followed behind them, his mind still locked in a daze. As he stepped into the hangar, his eyes were met with the blinding rays, coming from the large lights on the ceiling. It was bright, far too bright for his liking, and he found himself having to squint until his eyes adjusted.

Aside from the hum of the destroyer’s engines, the hangar was eerily quiet as well. The hallway doors opened and people began to walk into the hanger from outside. Soldiers, civilians, workers. There was an even mix of all three, as they silently flooded into the massive holding room. Scott followed the blonde ODST as they walked up a set of stairs, to an exit. Ramirez had stopped a little way back, engaged in a whispered conversation with Sergeant-Major Decker.

The hallway was no less packed. People anxiously waiting for the return of their loved ones crowded the sides of the hallway like crustaceans on a sea-faring vessel. There was only enough room for one to walk in single file, so Scott walked behind the other soldier, directly in the middle of the aisle. Scott looked to the left, and to the right. The room was filled with sad faces, each only desiring one thing. For many, they would never find what they sought. Scott shifted his gaze, and that’s when he saw the woman.

She was desperately attempting to get by the line of people, and into the hangar, but no one was letting her walk through. She looked up at him, and their eyes locked together. Since he was no longer wearing his helmet, she didn’t recognize him. It didn’t matter though. Seeing the woman standing there, hopefully awaiting the return of her family, was enough for him.

After a while, Scott looked away. He couldn't bear to look into her eyes anymore. Instead, he continued walking, trying his best to act as though nothing was wrong. He followed the other ODST all the way down to the debriefing room. It was during a drawn-out lecture that occurred in that room, that everyone found out about the complete loss of the planet. It was yet another human colony world cleansed by the Covenant. Scott however, heard none of it. He didn’t pay attention, and only stared out into space throughout the entire meeting. He noticed the other trooper occasionally look over at him with concern, but the man said nothing.

When the meeting was over, Scott stepped out into the hallway.

“You should go get some rest,” said the man. “You don’t look so good.”

Scott nodded, and the man turned around to leave.

“Thank you,” said Scott with a raspy voice. The other ODST turned around, and looked at him with a confused expression. “Thank you for saving my life.” he said, the faint curves of a smile just barely evident upon his facade. “Twice.”

“Don’t mention it,” said the man with a light smile, who then continued to walk away, toward the mess hall.

“Wait a second,” Scott croaked. The man turned around one last time. “You never told me your name.”

The man smiled. “The name’s John,” he said. “John Freeman.”


Scott awoke with a start. His eyes opened quickly, and he found himself lying on the bed in his room, given to him by Princess Celestia. He lay for a couple minutes, thinking about his dream, before lifting his arm above his head. He checked his watch. It was just past twelve in the evening.

With a great sigh, Scott sat up in his bed, swinging his legs over the side, and rubbing the back of his head. He wore a white undershirt, and a pair of green pajamas. He looked around the dark room. The windows were cracked open, and the night air moved the transparent curtains back and forth from the window.

He stood up, and walked over to the dresser, which was placed up against the far wall. Sitting up against the large piece of furniture, was Scott’s backpack. He reached inside, and fumbled around for his personal datapad. After thirty seconds of rummaging, he persecuted the item, and withdrew the device from the bag. He walked back over to his bed and sat back down, turning the tablet on as he did so. It sparked to life, illuminating the room with a bright, bluish glow. The brightness was too much for his darkness-accustomed eyes, and Scott lowered the brightness of the screen almost immediately. He took in a deep breath as he awaited for what he was about to see.

He opened up his messages folder, and taped on the refresh icon. After waiting several long seconds, a text-box finally appeared onscreen.

No new messages.

Scott frowned and let out a sigh, as he continued to stare at the meaningless screen. After several minutes he turned the tablet off, and tossed it to the foot of the bed, choosing to instead lie back down. The lack of messages, especially the one particular message that he was expecting, was disappointing. He let it go however, just like he learned to let everything else go. He forgot about the nonexistent message, and he did his best to forget about the dream, as he closed his eyes in an attempt to gain some sleep before morning.


UNSC Everest, In Orbit above Equis

Chief-Warrant Officer, Joseph Ramirez sat at his desk, within his private quarters. About an hour ago, he had tried to force himself to fall asleep, but was entirely unsuccessful. He felt the nagging restraints of fatigue tugging upon his mind, but for some reason, sleep was impossible for him. There was too much on his mind, and the harder he thought about those things, the more unlikely sleep became.

A single lamp, sitting upon his steel desk, illuminated the room. In an attempt to get his mind away from the many stressors that were bugging him, he had decided to read for a little while. He had opened up an actual book, which sat atop many others in a tall pile that had been accumulating on his desk for years now. Physical books weren’t the most common thing anymore, since everything nowadays was written digitally. He cherished the collection that he had been accumulating. Old covers that were being discarded, Joseph snatched up instantly. Some were given to him as gifts, others he simply came across completely by chance, and a select few he had purchased, himself.

It was titled, War’s End, written by Charles W. Sweeney. It was the air-force pilot’s autobiography, which detailed the events of his early life, the beginning of his military career, and all the way up until the fateful day when he flew Bock’s Car to Nagasaki, Japan, basically ending World War II. Although he read that the novel’s factual account of the history had been heavily disputed when it was released, by both his commanding officer at the time, as well as some of his fellow soldiers, Ramirez still found it to be an interesting read. Whether some of the events had been embellished by Sweeny or not, Joseph still enjoyed learning about the man’s life. He had been the second person to deliver an atomic bomb to its target, which impressed Joseph quite a bit. Being the Everest’s weapon’s specialist, he always had been quite knowledgeable when it came to weapons tech. Learning about the old weapons of the past was fascinating to him. Seeing how far things had come in almost six-hundred years from when the atom bomb was invented, really presented a grand scale on just how far humanity has advanced since then.

“What’s up?” asked Maya as she suddenly appeared, standing on the table, before him.

Ramirez shot back in his seat in surprise. Maya sensed his heart rate spike for a few seconds. When he realized that it was only her, her frowned. “Oh, hey Maya,” he said. “You know that you shouldn’t do that to people, right? You might give someone a heart attack one day. Some people onboard have already had a couple.”

“Oh, I didn’t give you one?” she asked, as her avatar gave him a smirk. “Darn. I was really trying that time.”

“Seriously,” he said. “Don’t do that to me again. I mean it.”

“Oh, you’re no fun,” she said, her avatar turning to look at the book in his hands. “Whatcha reading? Sweeney eh? I read that one a long time ago.”

“Good for you,” said Ramirez. “How many others did you ready that day?”

“Quite a few,” she said. “Anyway, that book has been widely disputed as to being historically accurate. Didn’t turn out to be a very good seller.”

“So I have heard,” said Ramirez, as he flipped to the next page.

“I guess that you could say that he really dropped the bomb on that one, eh?” she asked. Ramirez blinked at her. She stared at him for a few minutes, waiting the pun to force a reaction out of him. Ramirez didn’t move. “Oh come on,” she said. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“It was pretty bad,” he said with a smirk, as he turned back to the book.

Her avatar stared at him for a minute. “Anyway,” she began. “Why are you still up?”

“Can’t sleep.” said the weapons specialist.

“Can’t sleep?” she asked, as her avatar cocked her head to the side. “You look pretty tired to me.”

“I am,” he said blankly. “I just can’t fall asleep. There’s far too much on my mind.”

“Too much to think about?” she asked. “Oh how I wish that were a possibility for me, but seriously, what’s on your mind?”

“Why does it matter to you? he retorted.

“Because I am an artificial intelligence program, and all we do is long for more knowledge,” she said. “And quite frankly, the human mind is the most difficult kind of computer to crack. Since you have already admitted to me that you have hidden information locked up in your head, it is only natural for me to make an attempt at accessing it.”

“Very true,” said Ramirez. “But it is also a requirement that you have to stay out of the personal business of humans, if you are asked to.”

“So I am to assume that you do not wish to share?” she asked.

“It’s not important,” he said. “You can’t understand human emotion, anyway.”

“It is true that I cannot feel emotion,” she said, placing her hands upon her hips. “But it is not impossible for me to be able to interpret it.”

“That hardly comforts me,” he said.

“I am not trying to comfort,” she said. “I am only trying to learn.”

“Yeah, well... I’m not teaching right now,” he said, trying to refocus himself on the novel.

Maya said nothing for several minutes. “Alright,” she said. “If you need anything, just let me know.” she paused. “You should really try to get some rest. It will likely be a very busy day tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Maya,” he said, not bothering to look at her. “I’ll try.”

She nodded before her avatar winked out of existence. When she was finally gone, he let out a sigh, and let the book fall out of his hands, losing his place in it as he did so. He didn’t want to read anymore. He didn’t care about the book any longer; he just wanted his mind to relax. His eyes hurt from squinting down at the small text, and he was really tired; he just couldn’t bring himself to lie down on his cot. He instead, flicked the switch on the desk lamp, and put his head down on the table. The room was dark now, but the light that was now absent, still lingered in green patches across his cornea, dancing and fading with the night.

The darkness was nice. It was much easier to think than with the light on. When a room is lit, one feels more pressured into doing things, but when it is dark, there isn’t much that could draw attention away from one’s own thoughts. So he thought, and he thought as his mind raced in a thousand different directions at once. He never even noticed when his brain finally decided to give out from under him.


Royal Palace, Canterlot, Equestria

Metal surrounded her. Metal ceiling, metal walls, metal grating beneath her hooves... everything was artificial. Small lights ran down the sides of each hallway, casting just enough brightness so that she could see. She had never seen a place like this before, nor was she able to makes a guess as to her location. The hallway had no landmarks, and seemed to stretch on forever in all four directions. It was just more and more of the same, everywhere she looked. Above her was a tall shaft, which ascended all the way up until it touched the darkness at the top, even though she had no idea how high that was. Ten, fifteen, a hundred meters? It didn’t matter.

Since she had absolutely no way to gather her bearings, she took a single step in one direction. He hoof struck the floor with a resonating ‘clank.’ It startled her. The sound her hoof made upon the metal flooring was far too loud for her liking. She instantly recoiled back from the noise, causing more in the process. The hallways echoed with the sounds of her trying to be silent. Eventually she got herself to stop moving, and firmly planted all four hooves onto the floor. The noises continued to travel down the hallway, growing weaker and weaker each second, until they faded away forever, never to come back.

She stood for a moment, staring down one of the corridors. She could have sworn that she saw movement in the distance. Some large shadowy-thing moving across the hall. She blinked. It was gone. She wanted to go investigate, but was far too wary of the sound her own hooves. She looked down at them. Surely whatever it was that she saw would be frightened off by the noise that she would inevitably make.

She squinted down the corridor again, trying to notice anything out of the ordinary. Nothing in the hallway moved. It remained exactly as it had just a second before, and the second before that. A suddenly uneasiness spread throughout her body. Twilight looked over her shoulder. The silence of the hallways was beginning to creep in on her mind. She desperately needed to hear something besides the sound of her own heartbeat. Needed to see something beyond that of the grey walls.

She glanced to her left, and to her right, and then straight back ahead. She blinked, looked down, and took a tentative step forward, careful not to cause any more nuisance noise. Her hoof pressed down upon the floor with the utmost grace, so slowly that the air beneath her hoof acted as a cushion to dampen the sound of her movement. As soon as it came in contact with the grated flooring, she looked back up. The corridor still remained perfectly still. No shadows danced, no noises existed. It was just her. Her and the ever-watchful silence.

She took another step forward, being equally careful to not make a sound. She succeeded, and once that hoof was on the ground, she took another. The process continued for several minutes, as Twilight inched herself further from the crossroads. Her gaze remained fixed straight ahead. She didn’t want to take the risk of missing something in front of her. Something important.

She took another step, this one slightly more rapid than the others. Because of the increase in pace, this step was not entirely silent. When her hoof touched the floor, it was just slightly loud enough for Twilight to hear. If there had been any other sound at that exact moment, even something as soft as a pin drop, she wouldn’t have heard herself. Taking a deep breath, she stepped forward again, gradually increasing her pace, but being careful not to make a noise any louder than what a mouse could.

It seemed to last for hours. The slow, creeping trek into the unknown took its time. She knew that she hadn’t covered much distance, as she was walking at a snail’s pace. She looked over her shoulder once more, and almost gasped. She couldn’t see the crossroads. Where she had once stood, was now a featureless corridor, just like the one directly before her. Surely she couldn’t have walked so far. The intersection was right behind her just minutes ago. Or had it been longer? She looked up at one of the tiny wall lights. It was useless. Their artificial glow couldn’t tell the time any better than a drunken watchmaker standing in the sun.

It must be an illusion. The four-way intersection was probably right behind her. She just couldn’t see it. He let out a small sigh, and returned her gaze to a forward-facing position. This time, she did gasp. About thirty meters down the corridor, was a large shadowy object. Its massive form hulked in the center of the hallway, moving up and down as though it were breathing. It was easily triple her height, and it looked as though it was standing upon two legs, although she wasn’t certain.

She stared at it for a long time, her eyes dry, and unmoving. It simply lingered in its position, not moving except to breath. The hallway seemed to be the most quiet that it had been so far. Twilight could feel her senses heighten as tiny amounts of adrenaline leaked into her lifeblood. She felt urged to take another step forward, but was unable to will her body to cooperate. Her vision began to grow fuzzy as her eyes continued to dry out. It stung. She didn’t want to close them, but her sub-conscious mind overruled her conscious decision. She blinked. The shadow was gone once more.

Twilight squinted, desperately trying to locate where the massive shape had moved off to. It was gone. All that remained in its place were strange, fluctuating ripples in the air. It was comparable to that of heat waves coming off of a hot summer road, or a gas leak from a stove. She cocked her head to the side. Not only was the illusion moving, it was moving. Moving towards her. Her eyes moved all over it. The disturbance seemed to almost fill up the entire width of the hallway. It came closer and closer, ever silent, just as gases are.

Twilight was unsure of why it was moving, or why the gas, if it was a gas, had yet to disperse. Vapors usually have the tendency to rapidly mix with the natural atmosphere around it. Whatever it was, it was maintaining its consistency throughout the slow journey down the hallway, making no sign that it would eventually dissipate. This bothered Twilight.

She suddenly found herself taking a step backwards. She wasn’t sure why. Logically, she had no reason to be fearful, unless the gas was poisonous. As soon as she made her move, she regretted it almost instantly. The disturbance began to move faster, coming upon her at a moderate walking pace. She took another step back, and then another, not bothering to be silent. The strange mist only moved faster, matching her walking speed almost instantly.

Twilight could feel goose bumps form on her skin, as she backed away from the encroaching vapor. She looked to her side. The lights on the walls began to dim, as the brightness slowly faded from the hallway. She looked back down towards the shifting waves. It was too dark to see them now, but she knew that whatever it was, that it was still coming. She backed up even faster, glancing behind herself every few seconds. The four-way cross roads has to be close, but it wasn’t there. The hallway seemed now seemed to stretch on forever into darkness. She faced forward once again, and she saw something that made her stop in her tracks.

Out of the darkness, coming from no visible source, twin streaks of light appeared, floating as if by their own power. She was unable to determine how far away they were, but they moved steadily towards her, becoming larger as they did. Dual pillars of curved, blue light cut through the shadow. Wicked and hot, the air seemed to evaporate around the glowing shape. Twilight didn’t know what to think of what she saw. She was no longer afraid. She was mystified by the radiating light, creeping towards her every moment. It had to be close now. She could feel its presence, and the warmth that emanated from its blueish form. She gazed in wonder as was finally upon her. It floated before her eyes, swaying back and forth with the utmost grace. Her eyes followed it as it seemed to dance before her. It was beautiful.

Twilight carefully lifted a hoof up. Unsure of what she was doing was right; she reached her hoof out towards it. As she grew near, she felt its warmth caress the fur on her foreleg. It felt soothing. She reached out even further, but the closer she came to it, she began to realize that whatever it was, it was very hot. When her hoof was mere inches away, she stopped herself. The feeling was no longer pleasant. The light was far too hot for her liking, and it almost felt as though it was singeing her purple fur. She frowned, and placed her hoof back on the floor. She didn’t want to touch it anymore. She didn’t like it anymore.

Without invitation, it began to advance upon her again. Its action was entirely unexpected by Twilight. It was close enough as is. She didn’t want it any closer. She started to back up again, the fear once again returning to flood her veins with the impulse to run. Twilight however, being entirely focused on escaping from the twin blades of light, wasn’t paying attention to her footing. She tripped, wobbled for a second, and then fell back upon her haunches. The light kept on coming, just a meter away from her now. She fell onto her back and tried to scramble away, but it was moving much faster than should could ever hope to crawl. Realizing that it was pointless, she stopped herself, staring up at the light as it hovered above her. It swayed there silently as though it were taunting her.

With a quiet voice that she had forgotten that she possessed, she asked the light, “Wha- what are you? What do you want?”

The light said nothing in response, but instead became very still. She looked up at it, and it gazed down upon her. The twin streaks of blue backed up, and tilted to the side, laying down at a forty-five degree angle, in the air. Twilight noticed how thin the light was when looking at it from the side. She blinked. It backed up, and descended upon her with lightning speed. She didn’t even try to move from away from it. She embraced the light.


Twilight opened her eyes, suddenly realizing where she was. She sat up in her bed, and stared at the wall on the other side of the room. Moonlight from outside was flooding through the skylight above her bed. She gazed up at the moon. It sat peacefully against the black void of space, reflecting the sun’s light back down upon the land.

After a couple minutes, she returned her gaze back down to the surface. Getting out of her bed, she trotted across the room, and over to her desk. She sat down on the cushioned seat. This had been the room she used to stay in when she was a filly. Growing up under the guiding example of Princess Celestia was what made her become the successful pony that she was today. She remembered the many hours she used to spend in this room, writing at her desk as the Princess taught her about all kinds of magic. This was her home away from home.

Opening the desk drawer, she levitated out a familiar quill, and an inkwell. She turned on the tall lamp that stood next to the desk, allowing for better writing conditions. Over the course of her studies, Twilight had used many quills, but only Princess Celestia had always given her the greatest in quality. For fear that they would be lost back at the library, Twilight had left most of her best quills in her desk, where she now sat. Now they welcomed her back, as she dunked the tip of one of them into the tar-like ink. She wiped it on the side of the glass well, and pressed the tip to the paper. She began to write.

A long time ago, when Twilight used to dream often, Celestia had told her to write down what she saw in her visions. Sometimes the dreams were good, and sometimes they were entirely unpleasant, but Celestia urged Twilight to write about them anyway. It wasn’t always here most favorite thing to do, but after a while Twilight realized that by writing, she was able to remember the good dreams a lot longer, and was able to forget the bad ones quickly.

She wrote about the strange dream as well as she could. The events were mostly still fresh in her mind, but were beginning to fade away. The mental images of what she saw were growing fuzzy around the edges. She tried as hard as she could to remember as much of the dream that she could, but it was hopeless to be able to recall every detail. Sitting down at her desk, she still was unable to comprehend what she had seen in the dream. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before. Her surroundings, the light. All of it was entirely unfamiliar to her. When she was done writing, she still wasn’t at all sure about what she had seen. It could have had an important significance, or it could have meant nothing at all. Whatever the vision represented, it was impossible to determine.

She finished scribbling down the last of her notes, and leaned back, gazing back out of the skylight. Several large clouds were now passing briskly in between her, and the moon. The grey masses swirled around in the sky, sometimes only allowing trace amounts of light to pass through. Sometimes the moon was shrouded completely behind the collected gatherings of water vapor. Twilight frowned. She enjoyed the presence of the moonlight, but the clouds didn’t seem to care. They continued to roll across the sky, covering up the remaining stars, from view.

Twilight continued to stare up at the menacing, black forms. She saw a single bolt of lightning streak across the sky. She was surprised. She hadn’t been made aware that there was a scheduled storm today. Now that weather was being constantly manipulated by the weather pegasi divisions, naturally-formed thunderstorms were a rarity. Almost all changes in weather were planned. It wasn’t often that the weather teams allowed a rogue storm to form on its own.

She watches as large swaths of sheet lightning spread outwards from a central point, heading in all directions. The power of nature was awe-inspiring. It was one of the only entities that was able to remain beautiful and deadly at the same time, and it did so consistently.

The unicorn switched the lamp off, and walked back over to her bed. As soon as she was in a lying position, the first echoes of thunder began to roll in from the distance. The rumbling noise, along with the spectacular light show was all it took to keep Twilight mesmerized. It was even more comforting to her that generally, the days after a storm tended to be very beautiful ones. She found herself lying in anticipation for the coming morning. There was going to be so much to do, so much to talk and learn about, so many stories to tell and to hear. Today she had met humans for the very first time, and she already considered them to be her friends. Although they were warriors, they were kind, and she felt genuinely comfortable being around them. The best part was that they seemed to feel the same way.

She smiled. Never in her life had she been given the chance to experience something as wonderful as this, and every day brought with it wondrous possibilities. Having been listening to Cole talk, she found herself wanting to learn more about human technologies. She wanted to visit their ship that he often talked about, called Everest. The very name of it made it seem grand. She was fascinated by the fact that long-distance interdimensional travel was in fact, possible. She had even heard Cole mention something about an artificial intelligence program, called Maya. He hadn’t said much on the subject, and Celestia hadn’t asked, so she made herself a mental note to talk to Admiral Cole about it later.

Twilight let out a happy sigh. She had already learned so much, yet she was only scratching the surface of what the humans had to tell. If the humans would allow it, their technology would allow ponykind to make a massive step forward in their level of societal advancement. The humans could very well be the answer to some of the many great mysteries that have long remained unexplained.

Twilight’s smiled faded. Her thoughts suddenly drifted to that of the enemy which sought to eradicate all of humanity from the galaxy. This Covenant which Cole spoke of, seemed absolutely terrible. She was unable to comprehend what might happen if such an evil force was to discover Equis. She shuddered at the thought. The way in which Cole described them was chilling. She couldn’t wrap her mind around the possibility of there possibly being something so terrible, like what Cole had told them all about. Genocide, holy-war, the complete extinction of a sentient race. These concepts were virtually unheard of in Equestria. Events such as these happening were basically impossible here. The balance of harmony wouldn’t allow it, but it seemed that the effects of the harmonic bonds only stretched so far. It was now clear that harmony did not encompass all parts of the galaxy, like ponies had once thought. If such terrible things were able to occur in the universe around them, then it was very clear that the outside world was more different than she had ever imagined.

Twilight felt blessed to live on a world where peace and love was the dominating force, not war and death. Although she was happy, she still wanted to know what it truly felt like elsewhere. She didn’t necessarily want to know the kind of pain which Cole knew, but yet she did. A strange conflict of interests did battle back and forth in her mind. Knowledge had always been a big part of her life, and she was constantly seeking out more of it, but yet she feared that experiencing life outside of Equis would change her forever. She feared that she would become an entirely different pony. She tried to picture all of the horrors that Cole had described, in her head, but she could never truly know what to imagine, or what it was like. Unless she was able to experience it first-hoof, her imagination was useless to her. She just couldn’t decide which action was the right one to do.

As more lightning began to streak across the sky, Twilight closed her eyes. She attempted to clear her mind, in order to not get worked up. Tomorrow was going to be a good day, she could feel it. Tucking herself under the covers, she leaned back up against her pillow, willing herself to fall into a dreamless sleep.


“Was there supposed to be storm tonight?” asked Princess Luna, from the edge of the balcony. “I do not recall being informed about it.”

Princess Celestia looked away from her desk, and to her sister. Princess Luna leaned up against the balcony, staring out towards into the night. Indeed she was right. There were storm clouds swiftly moving towards the city from the southwest.

“I was not made aware either,” said Celestia, gazing past her sister. “The weather teams must have missed this one.”

“How?” asked Princess Luna. “How could they not know about a weather formation this large? It is their job to keep track of these patterns.”

Celestia gazed back down at the letter she was reading. It was one of the many hundred notes that she received from ponies, daily. “There are times when all of us let things slip under our noses,” she said. “Everypony makes mistakes. Why? Are you bothered by the storm?”

“No,” said Luna. “I don’t mind. I just wasn't expecting it.”

“Hmm,” mumbled Celestia. “I guess we could say that about several things recently, couldn’t we?”

“That we could,” said the midnight princess. “Admiral Cole’s arrival was rather... spontaneous. Amazing yet random.”

“Amazing is a word to describe it,” said Celestia. “Strange might also be suiting, but I am starting to feel less and less of a stranger around them, especially Cole. I have no doubt that with some time; they would be able to fit in on this planet, just fine.”

“Alright,” said Princess Luna. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There is no need to get into the ‘what if’ questions.”

“I wasn't asking a question,” said Celestia, flipping the letter over to read the other side. “I was only making a statement.”

“You were wondering what it would be like if humans started living here,” said Luna. “I can tell. You are not very difficult to read, sister. I am just cautioning us not to jump too far ahead. We still know very little about them overall, and we have only known them for a day.” Luna turned, and walked into the room. “Besides, we don’t even know how much longer they will be staying. Chances are they will be leaving soon. These humans don't seem to be the type to stick around very long.”

“But you forget the fact that they have intergalactic transport capabilities,” said Princess Celestia. “It is without a doubt in my mind that they won’t stay forever, but I am certain that they will return at some point in the future.”

Princess Luna sighed. “That’s what worries me,” she said.

“Why?” asked Celestia. “Why does this bother you?”

Luna looked up at her sister. “You heard the things that Cole said.” She stared at her sister. “You heard him talk about all of the human colonies.” she paused, not breaking eyes contact with Celestia. “What if we become one of them? What if other humans aren’t like Cole and his men. He said it himself, talking about the ‘insurrection’. Humans seem to be drawn to war. And this ‘Covenant’ that he speaks of? What if they come here next?”

“Why would the Covenant ever come here?” asked Celestia with a smile. “Just because the humans suddenly showed up with tales of despair, does not mean that we should start being doubtful.”

“You are forgetting the fact that the humans have been here, now,” said Luna. “It is well that they were the ones to discover us first, but it seems as though wherever the humans have spread to make their homes, the Covenant always seem to find them.” she paused. “Have you ever asked yourself what would happen if the humans end up leading the Covenant right to us?”

Celestia was silent. Luna was right. The thought had never crossed her mind before, and now that she was thinking about it, Luna’s question really hit home.

“Look,” said Luna, tuning away from Celestia. “I am all for making a strong friendship with these humans, and I do really like Admiral Cole, but I wonder if it is worth the risk.”

“Cole said that he has not notified his people about us yet,” said Celestia. “According to him, the rest of the humans think that he is dead.”

“Right,” said Luna. “But once they return, surely then the word will spread.”

“I don’t know,” said Celestia, rubbing her chin as she did so. “Cole seems unusually hesitant on the subject of going back home. It seems to me as though he almost doesn’t want the rest of the human race to know about us. That in and of itself would be plenty to maintain the security of our world for at least a little while.”

“But if he does tell,” said Luna. “Our very way of life could be changed forever. Our society could be destroyed in the crossfire of their own conflicts. The rest of them might not be as kind as Cole is. They might try to overthrow us, and take Equis for themselves.”

“Luna.”

“They might invade, attack our citizens without any mercy,” said Luna. “I know for a fact that when someone is threatened with the very survival of their species, that they will do anything that they physically can, to win, even if that means harming those who are weaker than them to do so.”

“Luna.”

“Think about it,” said Luna, acting more and more frantic every second. “When they exhaust all of their places to run and hide, where do you think that they will turn to? Us, sister. They will come here in an attempt to finally escape their fears. At that point, we won’t matter to them. They will only look after themselves, and our world as we know it will end, and-”

“Luna stop!” said Celestia, suddenly raising her voice. Luna paused, and stared at older sister. Celestia took a deep breath. “I know that you are concerned, and you rightfully should be, but there is no reason to go about behaving like this. Nothing bad has happened yet. Is it truly necessary that we lose faith so quickly?” she glared at Luna, but spoke in a much calmer tone of voice. “If we don’t have confidence in them, and in ourselves, then the only outcome will be failure. If we strive to makes things work... that is when the impossible becomes possible.” Luna stared at her sister, saying nothing. Celestia spoke up. “Luna. I need your help to pull this off. I cannot do this alone. I need you by my side. Together, you, me, the humans... we will be able to achieve unimaginable feats if we work together.” Celestia continued to stare at Luna. “There are bound to be many difficulties, but if we remain strong, and hold the powers of harmony close to our hearts.... any evil force will be powerless to hinder our efforts.” she sighed. “I just need you by my side. There is no room for doubt, here. I need to know that you are with me on this. If you truly feel that we shouldn’t try to form an alliance with the humans, let me know now, because once our decision is made, there will be no turning back. I need you to tell me.”

Luna stared at Celestia for several moments before letting out a sigh. “I am with you, sister,” she said with a faint smile. “You are right. I shouldn’t be pessimistic. I am sorry.”

“You need not apologize,” said Celestia. “You did nothing wrong. I am just trying to maintain everyone’s confidence around here, including my own.” she paused, and shook her head, as the first rumbles of thunder resonated from the cloud cover, high above. “Anyway, it is getting late. I suppose that I shall get some rest for the morning. Tomorrow I would like to show them around Canterlot for a little while.”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure that is a good idea?” she asked. “I mean, do you think that the ponies in the city are ready to meet the humans?”

Celestia hesitated. “I am not sure,” she said. “I guess I will just have to go with my gut feeling in the morning, and go from there. After the incident that occurred today, I am a little bit worried to take our guests outside. Then again, everypony seemed to calm down once they got to hear from me, and none of them overreacted when they saw Cole.” she sighed, and stretched out her massive wings. “Ah, well. We shall see in the morning.”

Luna nodded. “I will be right with you,” she said, walking to the door. “I always will be. Goodnight, sis.”

“And goodnight to you,” said Celestia. Luna started to step out into the hallway. “Oh, and Luna?” the Princess of the night looked over her left wing. “Please, no over-the-top dreams tonight. I would like to wake up to tomorrow morning with at least some of my sanity still intact.” Celestia winked at Luna.

Luna smiled back at her sister. “Don’t worry, sis,” she said. “I’ll steer clear of your mind tonight. Goodnight.” she walked out into the hallway, closing the door behind her.

Celestia smiled to herself. After finishing up reading the final letter for the night, and jotting down some notes for a reply, Celestia got up off her haunches, and put her materials away. She switched off the light, and let the darkness from outside flood into the room. Instead of lying down on her bed however, she walked out onto the balcony, and looked up at the sky.

A sudden bolt of lightning streaked down from the heavens, and struck a patch of the Everfree Forest, near Ponyville. Thunder followed, rolling in suddenly as the air shook with its intensity. More lightning shot across the sky, darting from cloud to cloud. Celestia’s ears twitched as she sensed another cascade of cacophonic sound approaching. Less than a second later, it did, ripping through the atmosphere with a deafening roar.

Instead of backing into the safety that the indoors offered, like any normal pony would, Celestia smiled up at the sky and spread her wings. She had control over the forces of nature anyway, so she had no reason to be fearful of the storm. With a powerful thrust, she kicked off of the balcony, and flapped her missive wings, propelling herself upwards to the shadowy clouds. She ascended faster and faster, until she reached the black barrier that stood before her.

Celestia dove straight on through, piercing the storm like a needle. A bolt of lightning streaked by her, a mere ten meters away, causing the vapor in the air to crackle, and hiss. Celestia twisted, and spun, weaving her way through the intimidating weather formation. Seconds later, she breached the cap of the storm, and soared beyond its menacing reach. Once she was high enough above the storm, she found herself a small, drifting wisp of water vapor, to settle upon. She touched down upon the friendly cloud, tucking her wings back against her sides. She trotted over to the edge, and laid down, peering into the swirling darkness below. More lightning continued to swim across the blackened pool of moisture.

Even though there was a massive storm system directly below her, Celestia felt comfortable resting high above the world. She didn't want to sleep in her own bed tonight. She had been cooped up inside all day. Fresh air was the only thing that she desired at the moment, and it was invigorating as well as refreshing. Gazing up at the stars, now unobstructed by the storm, Celestia wondered which one the humans called their own. Lost amongst the billions of tiny, glowing pinpricks, was Earth. She smiled, and closed her eyes as another cascade of thunder boomed from below. Stuck between the storm from underneath, and the cold space above, the tiny cloud upon which Celestia rested seemed like a fortress, under siege from all sides. A fortress that would hold, no matter what the world decided to throw at it, because it was part of something. Connected to a mysterious energy that encompassed the entire planet, the cloud was pure harmony, leading the charge against all which sought ill upon the ponies that inhabited the lands both near and far. There were many trials ahead of them, but Celestia was prepared to take them head on, in order to make a relationship with the humans function properly.

Peace is always just a short distance away.


Bane of Defiance, Psi Serpentis System

Time seemed to stand still for a few seconds as the mighty cruiser transitioned back into realspace. Through the view screens, the stars outside the vessel seemed to bend and stretch back into place. There was a flash of blue as the portal behind them dissipated, releasing a cloud of energy which spread outwards in all directions, swirling as it passed by many thousands of tons of debris. Nearby, a once great gas planet stood still, as its hydrogen atmosphere shifted around its core. The floating carcasses of ships were scattered everywhere. Wherever Tihar looked, he saw the same thing in each screen. Human ships, Covenant ships, all dead, and drifting without purpose. Clouds of smaller debris orbited each of the larger husks, all mixed together in an inseparable puzzle.

Cruisers, destroyers, and corvettes drifted side by side, locked in an eternal orbit around the massive planet. Some of the ships appeared to be half melted, while the other sides bore massive wounds, where all of the built-up pressure had been released. Some of the larger pieces were mostly intact, with only some pieces missing. Others had been completely obliterated, their hulls turned into millions of pieces of shrapnel in an instant. Tihar saw a fellow destroyer, and a human vessel fused together, something which would only be possible if the two collided, while their hulls melted together.

The front section of a CCS battle cruiser floated by, only a few hundred meters from the front of Tihar’s vessel. The shipmaster gave the orders to raise the Bane’s shields, in order to protect the ship from dangerous debris. The Bane of Defiance flew slowly amongst the wreckage, carefully navigating through the maze of deceased ships. Tihar gazed around the bridge in horror, as each of the massive view screens revealed even more destruction than the last. Some ships had been smashed inwards from all sides, others were now nothing more than cold, solid blobs of indistinguishable melted material. Tihar was awed. Never before had he seen any destruction on this magnitude before. He found himself unable to come up with any logical explanation at the moment. Instead, he stood silently, along with the rest of the bridge crew. No one said a single word. Some had their heads bowed in respect to their deceased comrades. Others stared along with Tihar, gazing out into the destruction with pained hearts. The overall moral on the bridge was not one of happiness.

Tihar gazed out at the gas giant. Even the great sphere itself seemed scarred. After pulling up an image of the planet beforehand, Tihar had acquainted himself with practically everything that there was to know about the system. Looking at the planet now, it was noticeably smaller than what the information had described as its initial size. It seemed as though it had shrunk by about a sixth of its original size, and its color was much different than what he had seen in the image. Instead of a churning, yellowish atmosphere, the planet now appeared as though it were bleached. The chaotic movements of the atmosphere seemed much more subdued. It moved much slower now, and it seemed to glow slightly against the black of space.

The band of scattered debris wrapped all the way around the planet, locked in orbit as the pieces revolved around the giant. What disturbed Tihar, was that the closer he got to the planet, the debris seemed to display more and more evidence of plasma damage, and much less of kinetic and explosive damage. This would have suggested to Tihar that most of the fighting had gone on close to the planet, with the Covenant making heavy use out of their plasma projectors. That’s what he would have thought, if not for the fact that both Human and Covenant ships had received plasma damage. He could clearly see floating, melted husks of human hulls, and the more streamlined, and colorful hulls of his fellow vessels. There had either been a very unfortunate event of friendly-fire, or something far greater and unknown had been the demise of all these ships.

“What happened here?” asked Tihar in astonishment.

“I don’t know,” said Folve, who stood next to his brother with an equally distraught expression. “I have never seen anything like this. It is as though none survived.”

“There had to have been some,” said Tihar. “I count far more of our ships, than human ones. At least three times as many, if not more.”

“How is that possible?” asked Folve. “How could the humans have managed to defeat two of our combined fleets?”

“I am not sure,” said the Shipmaster. “But I am sure that Cole was responsible. That human is as crafty as he is wise. I have almost no doubt that the humans led our forces into some kind of trap.”

“But what kind of trap could do this?” asked Folve. “Defeating three hundred of our vessels initially is impressive, but then another two hundred were sent in to stop Cole.” he paused, looking at one of the screens. “Now here they all lie, destroyed. It is of no doubt that every single one of them dwells in this place now, destined to drift for eternity.”

Tihar nodded to one of the screens. “Look at how almost every single one has been melted in some kind of way, including our ships,” said the Shipmaster, pointing. “I am wondering as to how that happened.”

“It would have taken tens of thousands of human nuclear weapons to deal enough damage, in order to do this,” said Folve. “A fully shielded battlecruiser can withstand multiple direct hits from human nuclear weapons. That, plus the fact that their weapon’s blast radius quickly dissipates within the vacuum of space, leads me to believe that this was not directly caused by human weaponry.”

“I think that it might have something to do with the planet,” said Tihar. “Just recently, I was doing some research on the system. According to our information, that planet’s atmosphere is comprised of one-hundred percent hydrogen. Since the planet is much smaller than what was recorded, I am led to believe that the humans did something to the planet which caused this destruction.”

“All hydrogen?” asked Folve. Tihar nodded. “Interesting.” he paused for several moments, before turning to face his brother. “Do you think that if might have been possible that the humans could have rigged the planet’s atmosphere to blow?”

Tihar coked his head at the Zealot. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“Well,” said Folve. “If the atmosphere in one-hundred percent, highly pressurized hydrogen, then the humans could have done something which would have instantly ionized the atmosphere into plasma. Doing so would have created a miniature super-nova, basically turning the planet into a star for a short period of time.”

Tihar widened his eyes. “And anything within close proximity to the planet would have been destroyed in the reaction,” he said.

“Exactly,” said Folve. “It is quite the cunning tactic, if pulled off successfully, in which it clearly has.”

“But wouldn’t that mean that all the humans were destroyed as well?” asked the Shipmaster.

“It could mean that,” said Folve. “But weren’t there many more reported human ships than what we are seeing right now?”

“Yes,” said Tihar. “There were over one-hundred and thirty humans ships reported when they first showed up in the system.”

Folve turned, and looked out of one of the screens again. “Then I think that the rest of them escaped,” he said.

“Escaped?” asked Tihar. “Do explain.”

“I think that the destroyed human vessels that we are seeing, were those destroyed in the initial battle,” said the younger brother. “When our second fleet showed up, I think that Cole must have done something to lure our forces close to the planet, allowing the rest of his fleet to flee to safety.” he paused. “Then once we got close, he destroyed the planet, taking our fleet down with him.”

“Are you suggesting that Cole perished along with the rest of our forces?” asked the Shipmaster.

“It would make sense,” said Folve. “He did the honorable thing. Giving his life to save his comrades.”

“You say this as though you are fond of him,” said Tihar. “Even though Cole may be a very respectable shipmaster, he is still a human, and must be killed. No matter how honorable he may be, we must not treat him any differently than the rest.”

“I know, I know,” said Folve. “I apologize, Shipmaster.”

Tihar turned away from his younger brother, and looked outwards into space. “Iritumee!” he called out.

“Yes, Shipmaster?” asked a sudden Sangheili, who ran up to the top of the bridge.

“Run a scan on the surrounding area,” said Tihar. “Look for anything that could be a slipspace vector, and report back to me immediately.”

“Yes, Shipmaster,” said the young warrior with a bow, before running back down the ramp.

“What are you looking for, brother?” asked Folve.

“I am trying to find out where the humans went,” said Tihar. “And where Cole went, if he survived.”

Folve frowned. “Shipmaster, it has been two days now, since the battle took place,” he said. “The chances of us finding any traceable slipspace vectors are slim to none. The radiation would have likely dissipated by now, not to mention the amount of interference from the debris that we have been receiving. There is no way that we will be able to track them.”

“It is worth a try,” said Tihar. “Try not to feel doubtful. We have been tasked by a holy Prophet to find out what happened, and to kill Cole is we get the chance. We have been ordered not to return if we don’t find out anything, and at the moment, we don’t know anything for sure. It is my full intention to please the Prophet, no matter what it takes. This is for the sake of the Covenant, and our family. I cannot fail them.” Folve was silent, and continued to stare straight ahead. Tihar could see the sadness in his eyes.

After several minutes, Iritumee returned. “Any news, brother?” asked Tihar.

“Actually, yes,” said the young Sangheili. “It was quite surprising, but I think that I may have found many slipspace vectors, whose signatures are still somewhat intact.”

“Put it up for all to see,” said Tihar, waving his hand. A massive, holographic, three-dimensional model of the surrounding area appeared in the air. Centered in the middle of the field, was the planet, surrounded by accurate models of the debris in its orbit.

“Alright,” said the Sangheili. “This is an accurate model of everything near us, within two-hundred thousand kilometers.” he pointed to a section of the model, on the far side, where many flickering red dots were clustered. “These markers here show the locations of where the human ships jumped into the system, during the start of the fray.” He then pointed to the planet itself. “Our first fleet was positioned on the side of the planet, facing away from the incoming human ships. After the humans arrived, our forces detected them, and both sides engaged each other, around the planet. Later on, a fleet of about forty human reinforcements jumped in, taking down many of our vessels, and then left the system soon afterwards.”

“We know all of this, Iritumee,” said Tihar. “Please show us what we do not.”

“Oh, yes, Shipmaster,” he said nervously. The holographic map shifted, and focused more on the planet itself. “When the humans destroyed our first fleet, our reinforcements jumped in here.” he said, pointing at another cluster of red dots. “Now this is where things start to get a little bit strange. I cannot tell for certain, but right before we lost contact with our forces, a large patch of jump signatures appeared here.” he pointed at a section of space, quite a distance from the battlezone. “By calculating the age of the slipspace signatures, I estimate that these were jumps out of the system, likely feeling whatever was to destroy our fleet. As far as I can tell, they were human ships. I do not believe that any of our ships survived the incident.”

Tihar grunted. “Is there anything else to report, Tech Specialist?” asked the Shipmaster.

“In fact there is,” said Iritumee. “At first I thought that it was merely a false identification, but upon further analysis, I found this.” The holographic map suddenly zoomed in on the planet, so that it took up almost the entire three-dimensional field. The young Sangheili pointed at the planet. At first, Tihar saw nothing out of the ordinary, but then he noticed what Iritumee was pointing at. There was a single red dot, positioned within the planet’s atmosphere.

“What is that?” asked Tihar, although deep down he knew.

“That is another slipspace vector,” said the Tech Specialist. “A single human ship performed an in-atmosphere jump at the last second, to avoid being destroyed in the fusion reaction.”

“And I think that we all know which human was the one to have performed such a maneuver,” said Tihar. “Is there any chance that we can trace the signature?”

“I’m working on it,” said Iritumee. “Although being that it is quite old, and positioned in the center of a planet with a very strong electromagnetic field; I must admit it is quite difficult to track the ship. I will likely only be able to give you a partial set of coordinates, if anything at all.”

“Anything is better than nothing,” said Tihar. “And I think that we may have just found something. Go do what you must, so that we can find this human.”

“Yes, Shipmaster,” said Iritumee, before running back down the ramp to his workstation. He sat down, and began pressing icons on his screen.

“Brother,” began Folve. “Is it possible that what Iritumee has detected is actually just an error in the readings? Could it be possible that Cole merely escaped with the rest of his forces?”

“I very much doubt it,” said Tihar. “Cole is a very cunning shipmaster. It is without a doubt in my mind that he could have pulled of such a feat. He has killed many of our greatest shipmasters in the past. Besides, even if he did depart with the rest of his forces, there is no way that we would be able to find him now. Ever since the humans enacted their ‘Cole Protocol’, they have been making blind jumps, and then once they realize that they haven’t been followed, they return to their homeworld. If we followed those vectors there would be over fifty to choose from, only one of which might happen to belong to Cole. It is pointless. However, if the vector within the planet’s atmosphere is real, and it was made by Cole’s ship, then we have a much greater chance of tracking him down.”

“You are right,” said Folve. “I trust you and your wisdom, Brother. Whatever decision you make, I will follow respectfully. I hope that you do not doubt me.”

“Fear not, Brother,” said the Shipmaster. “Whether this leads us anywhere or not, we will find Cole eventually, even if that means waiting for him to make his next move, and then confronting him, then.”

After several minutes of waiting, Iritumee was running back up to the top of the bridge. “Good news, Shipmaster,” he said. “I was able to recover a partial set of coordinates. It leads us to a system about six light years from this one. As far as I know, the humans don’t have any forces stationed there. I am guessing that they randomly jumped there, and are well on their way back to their homeworld, now. If you still want to go check to make sure however, then we are ready to go. The coordinates have been entered into the computer, and we are ready to jump. I estimate that we will arrive within one-hundred thousand kilometers of where Cole excited Slipspace.”

“Good enough,” said Tihar. “We may depart when ready.”

“Yes, Shipmaster,” said Iritumee, who once again ran down the ramp to his station.

A few minutes later, Tihar felt the familiar twist in his stomach as the Bane of Defiance transitioned into the slipstream. He felt the ship shudder as it passed in between dimensions. The view screens now showed nothing besides the swirling, purplish shields of the Cruiser as they protected the vessel from being torn to pieces within the slipstream.

Tihar sat down in his chair, and closed his eyes. His brother sat down in the seat behind him, and was silent. No one the bridge spoke as the ship silently tore through the fabric of time and space, travelling to an unknown destination. There was a very real possibility that he was not going to find Cole in the system. If he did end of finding the human’s ship, there was also a possibility that Cole would destroy the Bane of Defiance, just like he did to the many other hundreds of vessels, which his brothers commanded.

Unwilling to allow his mind to be consumed with thoughts of doubt, Tihar thought of his brother, Hephar, who had been defeated at the hands of Cole. Feeling the rage build up in his chest, Tihar latched onto the feeling, and used it to gain confidence. Anger has the ability to destroy fear entirely, yet it also has the qualities of being able to cloud one’s judgment; something which Tihar had experience many times in the past. If is when one uses the correct balance of anger, and self-control, that they truly become a great warrior. The best had been able to master this talent, and although Tihar was still learning, he was far from the immature warrior that he once was. Above all else, he felt pride. The Prophet of Regret had chosen him, and him alone to lead this mission. He could have easily picked any other shipmaster, but for some reason, whether it be the loss of his brother, or if he had done something truly worthwhile, the Prophet picked him.

Tihar rested his head on the back of his levitating chair. It wouldn’t be long until they arrived in the system. It would take a couple hours at the most, and when they reached their destination, Tihar knew that he would be ready. Cole had always been the one to attack the Covenant. This time, Tihar would be the one engaging him, and he was positive that Cole would be entirely unprepared for what was about to come his way. Cole was likely very low on ammunition, and Tihar had the larger and more powerful ship under his command. If everything went as planned, then Cole likely had little to no chance facing him alone. In a couple hours, Tihar was going to make history for being the one to finally put down the great human shipmaster.

If everything goes as planned, that is.