The watcher gazed at the castle on the hill. What was this mysterious place? It was opened right after the incident in Hoofington. Then, just after it opened, it was closed again, all the staff sent away. Officially it was abandoned, the property mothballed for later use like so many other holdings of the Equestrian throne.
But the watcher knew differently. She had tracked the paper trails winding around this place: food and equipment were being shipped to this castle even now. This was the place where the relics of the Hoofington Vanishings were taken, she was sure of it. She had to find the truth Celestia was hiding.
Suddenly, there was motion . She focused her binoculars, watching as the abandoned castle spat forth a black pegasi chariot, one pegasi pulling two passengers. It went straight north, and was quickly gone from sight.
“What is going on here? I will find out the truth.” the black-clad pony swore.
-----
Armour: check. Fancy new gun: check. Emergency food: check. Matches: check. Scarf: check. Night vision goggles: check. Extra bullets: check.
Oh, horseapples, I’m turning into Twilight, Applejack thought to herself, as their chariot raced north through the Crystal Empire. The night air was freezing to her unprotected fetlocks, but thankfully the sky was clear. The town they were approaching was a small hamlet far from the magical warmth at the heart of the crystal empire. It contained at most dozen stout wooden houses, including a general store and town hall, clustered together for warmth. The town was dark and silent save for the slight whistling of the wind down the streets. Still, there was no distant screaming, no houses on fire, and no signs of violence in the snow.
Celestia knew why these ponies had come to settle up in the frozen north, but Applejack felt an instinctive respect for these ponies. Any pony with the determination to carve civilization out of the arctic wastes couldn't be that bad.
“Alright girls, we have arrived!” called Dash from the front as the chariot swooped down from the sky. “Let’s kick some alien tail!”
The chariot set down on the outskirts of town, and the three ponies hoped out. Despite the late hour and the northern geography, the moon shined with more than enough light to see by. All down the road, not a single window shed light, and nothing moved but wisps of snow thrown up by the faint yet icy winds. The layer of snow atop the ground was pristine and unbroken, fallen earlier in the night.
Maybe Twilight’s fancy toy was wrong? It was brand new, there’s bound to be a few kinks to work out.
“Alright everypony” said Twilight softly as the trio trotted down the road. “The aliens are somewhere in this town, and we are going to find them. Keep your eyes peeled for anything suspicious.”
"Do ya feel any ah that weird magic stuff, Twilight?" asked Applejack.
"No." responded Twilight abruptly. "Didn't feel anything in Caledonia though. Doesn't mean they aren't here."
The ponies advanced in silence, unfamiliar weapons held at ready, searching the shadows. Applejack and Twilight walked side by side, with Rainbow hovering above them.
“There’s nothing here. Perhaps we should split up, we could cover more ground?” suggested Dash, gaining altitude.
“NO!” hissed Applejack and Twilight in unison.
The pegasus sulkily landed beside her friends.
“We are going to keep an eye on each other at all times,” lectured Twilight as the three walked into the town square “The last thing we need is to have some pony get ambushed when they were all alone.”
"Fine." Rainbow sighed. "There isn’t anything at all outside for sure. We should try searching the houses. See if we can find anypony at all.”
"Everypony is probably asleep, Dash. It's the middle of the night," muttered Twilight
"Not to mention the temperature,” added Applejack “Still, might as well start with that store over there. It's got the best chance of somepony being ready to talk."
A small silver bell chimed gently as Applejack pushed open the heavy front door of the general store. This elicited no response from anypony. The store featured two sets of shelves coming up almost to eye level arranged parallel to each other, and a small counter at the back of the shop, shrouded in shadow.
"Hello?" called Applejack, pulling down her scarf. " Is anypony home? We're awful sorry for the hour, but we're on urgent business, and need to talk to ya."
There was no response. Faced with a lack of options she made her way to the set of stairs behind the far counter. Behind her there was a soft creak as Twilight Sparkle passed through the threshold of the store.
*clatter*
“What was that?” barked Applejack, fumbling for her weapon as she turned towards the sound.
“Sorry,” gasped Twilight, who had taken cover behind the heavy door. “I stepped on a can or something in the dark. It’s okay”
Can’t get the gun ready very fast. If that had been an alien, then I might have been toast.
Mindful of the possibility of further treacherous footing, Applejack pulled down her brass rimmed goggles, and pressed the little button that engaged Pinkie’s night vision. The world was washed over in a yellow filter, revealing an empty store, with a surprising amount of items strewn in the aisles. Cans of packaged food, assorted metal tools and utensils, and a children’s storybook had been left on the floor.
I can’t imagine a shopkeep that would leave his store in such a mess.
“Are your two okay in there?” asked Rainbow from outside.
“We’re alright, just a little spooked. Get in here, and keep an eye on the street, if you could.” replied Applejack.
Once Rainbow was safely inside the store, Applejack started to climb the stairs.
I hope I don' t surprise anypony. I know how I would react if I saw a strange mare with armor and freaky glowing goggles climbing up to my bedroom in the middle of the night.
Reaching the top of the stairs Applejack cleared her throat and rapped her hoof loudly on the nearest door.
“Hello?” she called softly
Hearing no response, she pushed the door open.
Trying not to alarm the inhabitants of the store, she reached to the matchbook on her bandolier, and struck a light.
“Uh-oh”
The room was once the bedroom of a young foal, but it was in shambles. Shelves had been knocked to the floor, winter clothes ripped to tatters, and no signs of life were present. In the far corner of the room, where a sturdy bookshelf had once offered shelter, there was the residue of a strange green goo.
“Girls, looks like the aliens got here first!" shouted Applejack, darting back to the staircase.
Unfortunately as Applejack was making her way downstairs, Twilight was scrambling to make her way upstairs. The two mares collided with a thunk, and both tumbled down to the ground, landing in a mess of limbs. Thankfully the new body armour that Pinkie and Rarity had put together kept them from being too badly hurt
“Where are you going?” shrieked Twilight.
“They already got everypony upstairs!” barked Applejack as she scrambled to her hooves. “They ain’t here!”
“Oh no.” Twilight stared ahead blankly, in a crumpled pile on the floor. “Not again . . .”
“Twilight!” asked Applejack “are you okay?”
Twilight bolted jerkily to her hooves, and twitched.
“Twilight!” called Dash “Snap out of it! They might still be here.”
Instead of answering, Twilight lit her horn and teleported, vanished in a pop and a burst of magic.
An answering flash appeared in the upper stories of the building across the street.
“Nothing,” came Twilight’s frustrated voice from the other building. The distinctive pop of a teleport spell followed the outburst
“Nothing!”
“Uh oh” gulped Applejack. “Dash, get after her. Quick, before she gets into trouble!”
Applejack dashed out into the frozen streets, following Rainbow’s zigzag contrail with her eyes. Every time it seemed like Rainbow was getting close to Twilight, she teleported somewhere else, and Rainbow had to make a sharp turn.
“NO NO NO! WHERE ARE YOU!” screamed Twilight, from a building across town.
As Applejack wheeled around to follow the fast moving pair, she saw Rainbow crash through a window that Twilight was presumably behind.
“Twilight, stop teleporting-” there was another pop and Rainbow let out a scream of frustration.
The answering pop came from the other side of town.
“I need to grab that girl before she gets herself hurt,” muttered Applejack to herself.
Looking to her left, Applejack saw a narrow alley leading between two houses. She ran down it, jumping the small gate barring her way easily.Once behind the row of houses, she turned to Twilight’s last location and sprinted across the arctic plain.
When Applejack was almost halfway across the moonlit snow, she found an unpleasant surprise. Her front hoof, instead of finding a layer of snow covered permafrost, squelched into a patch of warm mud. The sudden loss of traction took Applejack off guard, and for the second time that night she tumbled to the ground, sliding through the improbably placed mud pit.
“Oh no,” came Twilight’s voice from a nearby window. “I’ve already been here. And that means-Oof.”
A loud crash came from the direction of Twilight’s voice.
“GOTCHA!” panted Rainbow Dash “What do you think you’re doing Twilight! You said to stick together!”
Twilight said something back, but she was too far away for Applejack to hear her.
“Girls, a little light, if you don’t mind?” called Applejack from below.
A pair of pony heads wearing glowing orange goggles pooped out of a second story window to Applejack’s right.
“What about the aliens?” called Twilight, telekinetically readjusting her equipment.
“If they didn’t come for us after seeing all that racket, then they ain’t coming,” called back Applejack. “Now give me that light. I think I’ve found something."
A shining purple flare was launched into the sky. It revealed a two overlapping perfect circles of slowly freezing mud carved out into the snow.
"What the hay?” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, who jumped from the window to get a better look at the anomalous terrain.
Grim realization dawned on Twilight's face. "It’s like in Hoofington. In the warehouse, stuff was burned in a circle."
"We’re too late, Twi." said Applejack like she was trying to calm a startled animal "They’ve already come and gone. There’s nopony here. They took everyone.”
------
A cursory check by the the three friends revealed that Applejack had been correct in her guess. Not a single stallion, mare, or foal had been left in the town. With heavy hearts, Rainbow Dash flew them back to Luna's mountain base.
A hanger was hidden within one of the caves on the mountain, situated carefully to appear connected the nearby castle. The doors were open, inviting them back into the compound; however when Dash swooped inside however, the hanger was completely empty. Not a single pony, or even a diamond dog, was there to greet them.
“Hello?” called Dash. “Is anypony here? ”
An explosion rang out through the hanger. A shower of multicoloured confetti blanketed the three friends like technicolor snow.
"SURPRISE!" Pinkie Pie’s heavy brown wheelchair skidded into the room. "Ooh, ooh, how did it go? Did you find them? Did you kill them? How many did you kill? Ten? Twenty!”
“We did find any of them, sadly” said Applejack, throwing off her helmet.
What’s happened to Pinkie? I haven’t seen her smile about anything but fighting aliens since we got here. Ain’t healthy for sure
“The freaking cowards bugged out before we could even show up!” complained Dash, unhitching herself. “We need some way to move even faster! Maybe we should ditch this stupid chariot, it slows me down too much.”
Pinkie eyed the jet black chariot that Luna had been able to provide “Well, maybe if I strapped some rockets to the sides . . .”
A roll of duct tape and several large fireworks materialized in Pinkies hooves, as she glided menacingly toward the defenseless vehicle.
Applejack laid a hoof on the chair, stopping her cold. “Hold on a second Pinkie. We don’t know that we weren’t fast enough, it could have been an issue with the scanner.”
“What are you talking about AJ? We got there, and the aliens had came, taken everybody, and left. Twi’s scanner was definitely working, we just needed to move a little faster!.”
“Rainbow’s right.” agreed Twilight gloomily “If we had been faster we could have saved all those ponies.”
“We got no idea how long they were there before we turned the thing on! For all we know they had already been creeping around up there for hours, and the scanner just picked up them making their exit. We don’t need ta launch off some half baked plan.”
“hmm hmm hmm” *Scrtch*
Turning, Applejack saw Pinkie unwinding the roll of duct tape while humming cheerfully. She quickly laid a hoof on the chair’s wheel, stopping Pinkie in her tracks.
“Pinkie, any form of transport that has the chance of us being blown to smithereens is a form of transport we are not using!” Applejack said sternly
“Aww” Pinkie groaned
Rainbow grabbed Applejack from behind. “AJ, Pinkie knows what she’s doing, let her try.”
Momentarily distracted, Applejack let go of Pinkie, who took the opportunity to make a beeline for the chariot. Applejack cursed under her breath and leapt towards Pinkie; Rainbow tackled her in midair, sending both of them sprawling.
The pair of ponies clipped the side of Pinkie’s wheelchair, sending it spinning like at top. The massive firework slipped out of her hooves. Everypony froze and stared wide eyed as the massive explosive spun lazily through the air. Just as its bright red nose cone came millimeters from the stone floor, the rocket was surrounded by a purple glow.
That was close. If we ain’t careful we’ll kill ourselves before the aliens do.
It was at that moment Princess Luna entered the hangar. Applejack and Rainbow were sprawled out on the floor, frozen in mid-grapple. Pinkie was lazily spinning in her chair beside them, clearly dizzy. Twilight was telekinetically holding an improbably large amount of explosives mere inches from Luna.
“Ahem,” coughed Luna
All of the ponies present quickly scrambled to respectable positions and Pinkie managed to hide her supply of high explosives back wherever she had got it from.
“I take it that our efforts have been unsuccessful?” Luna said once everypony present was presentable.
“Umm, well . . . yes.” reported Twilight reluctantly “We weren't able to find any aliens at all.”
"What happened?" asked Luna.
In a stilting voice, Twilight gave a summary of the events in the crystal empire, glossing over her own near meltdown.
Luna sighed deeply as the story concluded. “Very well. We can send some of our ponies to search the town more thoroughly. I shall inform Cadence and your brother of what happened.”
“Princess?” asked Rainbow “What do you need us to do now?”
“Go home. Take time to rest, time to be with your families, your friends. You have worked long and hard for us. You can come back in a day’s time if you are ready.”
“But-” blurted Twilight
“There is to be no discussion, Twilight.” ordered Luna, echoes of the royal canterlot voice in her tone “You all need to rest. Go.”
------
Pleasant dreams came to an end, and a young dragon stirred into wakefulness as the new day began. Scanning his immediate surroundings, Spike could see that everything was normal with the library. Books were away, all was quiet and Twilight was asleep on her bed right beside him.
Wait . . . Twilight! She’s back!
Twilight had been gone from Ponyville for the past eight days, vanished somewhere to help Luna. At first life by himself had been fun. But, as the time had past, Spike had started to seriously worry for his friend.
Now she was home, and safe. Close inspection revealed her to be a little worse for wear; with a set of bumps, scrapes and tangled knots in her mane. Spike gave her a hug her as gently as he could, to prevent her from waking.
He then tiptoed downstairs to the kitchen, and started rummaging for the ingredients to pancakes and hot chocolate; Twilight’s favorite.
Once Twilight’s welcome home breakfast was prepared, Spike quietly propped open the door to Twilight’s loft, to let the wafting smell do it’s job.
Five, four, three, two, one . . .
Twilight stirred from her sleep, and sniffed the air greedily. Smiling, she half walked, half crawled out of her bedroom before opening her eyes. The first thing she saw was Spike standing in front of a heaping plate of pancakes
“Oh, Spike, I missed you so much!” exclaimed Twilight. He was promptly enveloped in a hug, and magically carried downstairs to breakfast.
“So” asked Spike when Twilight had finished devouring her pancakes, and was sipping her hot chocolate. “How did that mission that the princess gave you go?”
Twilight froze in mid sip. She slowly lowered her mug and sighed.
“It’s not done. It won’t ever be done.”
“What do you mean it won’t ever be done? You girls can do anything!
"I'm not so sure of that anymore” Twilight protested cynically “Luna told us to go home, said we had to take a break. It doesn't matter though. Nothing we do works! Even when we make progress these stupid things are already so many steps ahead of us that they just ignore us! We might as well not be hunting them at all!”
Spike stared blankly at the ranting unicorn
“Umm . . . How about you start from the beginning?” he said, reaching for a scroll and quill
Slowly, with much prodding from Spike, Twilight told the entire story of Luna’s secret task force. After the first half hour, Spike grabbed a piece of parchment and started to take notes.
“So the stupid aliens can show up wherever they please and we can’t stop them.” Twilight said, staring intensely at the depths of her hot chocolate “The Crystal Empire is close compared to some countries in the world and we couldn’t even get there fast enough! That’s only the first problem. The stupid detection apparatus needs to reach twice as far, the bad guys can hand out terribly powerful magic weapons like candy and I have to think up a defence, a way to even the odds, everypony is counting on me and I don’t even know where to start!”
Spike smiled at her, and handed her the piece of parchment that he had been writing on.
“Spike, you’re a genius” murmured Twilight as she scanned the document.
“Not really.” he replied casually. “I just did what you would have done if you were thinking clearly. Made a checklist.
“Wait, a minute” Twilight interrupted as she read the list of tasks Spike had come up with “Study alien ships? Reverse engineer alien weapons? Perform taxonomic examinations? You want me to study these things?”
Spike paused, taking time to choose his next words carefully
“Well, a lot of the things that these aliens seem to be able to do are really weird, magic and science and stuff that not even you know how to do. So maybe, we can learn from the aliens, figure out how they do this stuff to solve our own problems!”
Twilight leapt up from the table “Spike, they’re monsters! There is nothing, nothing that we can learn from them. They don’t do anything but hurt and kill and break all the laws of the universe. It’s like black magic. Nothing but ruin comes if you spend too much time studying it.”
“So what are you going to do instead?” shot back Spike. “Twilight, in almost every situation you’re in, every challenge you’ve faced, you’ve been the smartest pony in the room. But that isn’t happening this time. If half of what you told me is true, then they can do things that make you look like you’re back in magic kindergarten. You might think that something is impossible, but they say it isn’t, and they have proof. They do the impossible every time you see them. You have to accept that they can do tricks you don’t understand, and then figure out how they do them, if you want to beat them.”
Twilight stared silently at Spike.
“Just consider it, okay?” Spike pleaded, conceding the point to Twilight. “We can start working down the list now.” Spike retrieved his notes from twilight, and scanned them quickly “Ah, here’s an easy one! How did all the ponies get taken out of a deserted town without anyone knowing?”
“How is that an easy one?” complained Twilight
“Miss Sparkle!” said Spike with a high reedy voice, his best impression of the fifth year science instructor at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. It had been the first year that Twilight had been given custody of Spike, and she had dragged him to every class. “What is the first step in the proper scientific method?”
“Consult available information!” responded Twilight on reflex. She stared at Spike, looking very confused.
“Very good” Spike continued in the same reedy voice “So what evidence do you have in the case of the kidnapped crystal ponies.”
Twilight stifled a giggle before responding “Well, we know that no tracks were made in the snow outside of the town. Tracks were present inside the town. And, there was several overlapping circles of thawed permafrost found in a nearby field. The alien kidnappers have a history of using unorthodox magic”
Spike was busy scribbling down yet more notes. “Now, considering the available information, what hypothesis could you draw?” he asked.
Twilight was silent for a moment, deep in thought. “The only logical explanations is that the aliens landed some sort of airship in the town, loaded everypony up, and then left. That doesn't explain the thawed ground though. Perhaps they fired some sort of weapon or. . .”
“Or?” prompted Spike
“They used a teleportation spell. Waste heat would explain the burn marks. But teleportation spells on that scale are-”
Spike reached across the table and shushed Twilight with a claw “Don’t say it.”
“Okay.” Twilight sighed indignantly “Teleportation spells of that scale are . . . not used by ponies for some reason.” Twilight got up, and vanished in a flash, taking Spike with her. They had relocated to the library, where Twilight began hunting through the bookshelves.
“Ah, here we go.” Twilight began to read aloud from the text in front of her “‘Traditional teleport spells have geometrically increasing power requirements the more mass is taken through. Thus it’s easy to perform many small teleportation instead of one big one. Also it is required that the caster to include herself in the teleport-’ That bit doesn't matter, I fixed that issue last summer.”
“You said there were several overlapping circles.”
“Two . . . They couldn’t take everything they wanted to in one jump! Which means that the aliens just have a higher standard for reasonable energy expenditure in a spell. So where did they teleport those ponies to?”
“An airship, like you said before?
“Maybe. They probably used the same spell in hoofington, and no one reported seeing a large ship. So this teleport spell would have to have a pretty long range. The only way to teleport beyond your line of sight is to have a good familiarity with your destination. Or is it? I’ve teleported places that I didn’t see and wasn’t familiar with. In those cases I was going somewhere close enough I could visualize it. So what do you really need to plan a teleport? Hmm. I’d like to propose an experiment!”
“Really!” Spike perked up, and started moving towards the basement lab.
“First things first. Spike, take a letter.”
“Dear Princess Celestia.
Today I learned that you should never discount the amount of help a friend can give you when you’re dealing with a difficult problem. Even a few kind words, or a different perspective, can make all the difference in the world, and make the heaviest burdens as light as a feather
Your faithful student
Twilight Sparkle”
Spike quickly jotted down the letter, and sent it.
“Huh?”
“What is it, Spike?” called Twilight from downstairs
"Oh, probably nothing,” he called back.
In the split seconds it took for the message to send, he thought he had seen his flames turn blue.
-------
It was a good thing to wake up back in your own bed after too many nights away from home. Applejack stirred in her sleep as the first rays of dawn peeked through the frost encrusted windows of Sweet Apple Acres.
Yawning, Applejack retrieved her hat and got out of bed. She didn't have to get up early, not much to do in an apple orchard in winter, which made it feel that much better. She was getting up early because it was the right thing to do, because she wanted to, not because she had to. It was the principal of the the thing.
The temperature inside the farmhouse was still pleasantly cool. The stout walls and the heat from the fireplace managed to keep the heat in without any magic being required. From downstairs, she could hear the faint sizzling sound of pancakes on the grill. The aroma of fresh cooked food mingled with the familiar door of home.
Outside, a thin layer of snow was layered across every tree in the orchard. The rising sun caught the flakes just so, making them shine and sparkle.
Applejack tiptoed through the quiet wooden hallway to Applebloom’s room. As quietly as she could, she pushed open the door.
“Apple Bloom," she called out softly
“Mmmph, five more minutes,” came a grumble from the bed “S’ winter. Don’t got chores.”
“Applebloom, it’s me, AJ” Applejack said, lightly shaking her sister.
“AJ?" Applebloom groggily stirred from her rest "You’re back!” She lept from the bed and almost bore Applejack to the ground trying to hug her.
“Easy there sis. I've only been gone a week.”
Applebloom didn’t loosen her hold on her sister a millimeter “It’s felt like forever! It’s so weird having you gone so long. I missed you so much!”
“I missed you too Applebloom. But, I’m only gonna be here for a day or two.”
Applebloom's eyes went wide and welled with tears. “Promise you’ll come back?"
“I promise." Applejack swore, hugging her sister tightly "Come on little sis, let’s get breakfast. How have things been here in Ponyville?”
“It’s been fun. Me and the girls tried to get our architecture cutie marks, but making a castle out of snow is tougher than it looks. Still thought we did pretty well, before it fell apart. Did you know that buttresses can’t be made out of snow?”
The sisters made their way downstairs, and rustled up a quick breakfast. Big Macintosh met the two down in the kitchen.
“So what were you doing for the princess AJ?” said Apple Bloom as she attacked her pancakes.
The smile dropped from Applejack’s face. “Ah, well, I’m not allowed ta tell ya’ll. Not allowed ta tell anypony.”
“Really, why? It can’t be that bad.”
“I don’t agree with the keeping secrets thing, but the princess made us swear an oath not ta tell anypony. An oath on our honour and ma kin, ta not talk to anypony without the permission of the princess. Not even my family.”
“Oh wow! That’s so cool!” exclaimed Apple Bloom “It’s like those old tales with knights and wizards, all of the sacred vows to defend the world from evil?”
“Kinda like that.”
The oath had felt out of place to Applejack. It was easy to chalk it up to Luna’s old fashioned thinking and theatrical habits, but it didn’t feel right. Why wouldn’t Luna trust her friends to keep a secret?
Worry about that later. You got the day off. Relax, play with your sister, catch up with your family, help out with the work. The princess can handle her own problems
“I’ll tell ya everything I'm allowed ta tell ya soon little sis. First lets get these plates all cleaned up. Then we can have a little family day.” Together they tidied up their meal, and then Applejack led her sister out into the snow.
The day went well. Together Applebloom and Applejack did the few winter chores that remained to do on the farm, gathering firewood and tending to the animals. Her younger sister barely needed her help anymore. Applejack felt so proud of her, but it was a little saddening to see her little sister growing up.
Afterwards, Applejack spent the day with her sister. They played in the snow, and went on a visit to Ponyville. searching for Apple Bloom's friends. Once the girls had run off to set their latest plan in motion, Applejack spent the afternoon around Ponyville. She went shopping for a few bits and pieces the farm needed, she talked to friends and acquaintances she hadn’t spoken to in the last fortnight, providing whatever help she could.
Rarity was the only one of her friends that Applejack saw that day, helping supervise the Cutie Mark Crusaders when Applejack came around to take Applebloom home. By unspoken agreement, they didn’t touch on the subject of aliens, or how their other friends were handling the stress. Instead they talked about the weather, their sisters, their businesses, all the mundane subjects that they would have talked about last winter when they met.
It was, all in all, a refreshingly normal day. The old normal, not the terrifying new normal of aliens, death and violence.
But when the day was over and her brother and sister had been put to bed, she snuck over to Granny Smith’s room.
“Granny, could we talk?” Applejack asked quietly as she crept into the dimly lit room.
“Well, I was going to bed, but that’s not important.” replied Granny Smith from her bed. “What’s on yer mind dearie? You’ve been troubled all day.”
Applejack walked over to her grandmother's bed, and rested her forehooves on the edge.
“Well, it’s about the mission Luna asked us ta do. It ain’t over. She just let us take a break for day or two. Now, I can’t really talk about it, but I’m not too sure that I can keep doing this for her.”
“Why not?” The old mare asked frankly.
“Well, this could go on for months!” blustered Applejack. “I can’t abandon Sweet Apple Acres for that long.”
Granny took Applejacks hoof in her own, and spoke softly. “We ain’t doing much for months, Applejack. Apple Bloom is old enough that her and Big Mac can take care of the winter chores. If the princess needs you then we can spare you for the winter.”
Granny fixed applejack with a knowing stare. It was a stare that said that granny knew that Applejack wasn’t saying everything. A stare that Applejack had received many times in her life
Applejack sighed. “It’s just, something doesn't feel right with it all. All the secrets and fighting. More than that, I can’t shake the feeling that I ain’t doing anything. I’m sitting in this castle all day with Rainbow and everyone else is doing fancy maths and politics and stuff.”
“Applejack, Even if you don’t like it, you need to support yer friends. Just being there, even if you ain’t doing much, can help a bunch. They need yer help more than we do. So have fun, take a breather, but then get right back out there. I’m sure the princess knows what she’s doing ”
“Ok.”
I’ll be back for winter wrap up. Whether Luna is done with us or not, I’ll be back for winter wrap up. Applejack promised herself. Until then, I’ll stick this out.
-----
Applejack had only been back from Ponyville for a hour or so before the screeching wail of the alert siren filled the base. With a reaction speed honed by years of Everfree storms and the cutie mark crusaders, she grabbed her bag of gear and was out the door to her room in seconds. Flying up the many sets of stairs in the labyrinthine complex, she headed to the big meeting room, or "situation room" as Twilight insisted on calling it.
As she burst through the door, Twilight and Rainbow Dash were already present.
“Ok. Dash, did you get all that?” concluded Twilight
“Saucer is about 5 miles west heading along the coast. Grab the stuff from Pinkie and blow it to kingdom come. Ok?” Dash hovered over the balcony to the main shaft of the base.
“What about the backup plan?”
“Twilight, its me. There's no way in Equestria we’re gonna need the backup plan!” Rainbow Dash zipped over the balcony railing and vanished into the depths of the base.
“Good luck!” called Twilight nervously to Rainbow’s afterimage
“What's happening, Twilight?” asked Applejack.
"Scanner picked up an alien ship just out to sea. No idea what it’s doing out there, though." "What'cha want me to do?” Applejack asked.
"There's only one thing to do. We wait and hope that Rainbow and Pinkie know what they’re doing." Twilight responded
That’s a phrase I wasn’t fond of hearing before there were lives on the line.
“Okay. If you're sure." Applejack retreated to a corner of the room, trying to stay out of Twilight’s way.
"Yes," said Twilight dismissively. “Now, if I have this spell right, then . . .” A surge of magic emanated from Twilight’s horn. The crystal ball array shifted and swirl, resolving into an image of the hidden hangar.
“Do you need any help with that, Twilight”, asked Rarity as she trotted into the room.
“No, I just need to concentrate,” hissed Twilight through gritted teeth.
“Sorry,” whispered Rarity
Suddenly, there was movement in the crystal orb. Rainbow Dash shot out of the hanger, the view seamlessly adjusting to keep up with her as she flew to the sea. She was towing a bright pink rocket behind her, attached by two thin metal cables, one hooked to each side of her barding.
A few minutes later the door to the situation room swung open one more time and Pinkie Pie scooted into the room, a bag of popcorn resting in her lap.
“Ooh, good, I haven’t missed anything.”
Applejack motioned to Pinkie to be quiet. On the crystal screen Rainbow Dash had just made a sharp turn and was accelerating rapidly.
“Girls, I think she found it.” Applejack announced
“Hold on a minute” murmured Twilight, and the view adjusted, such that the ponies watching could see where Dash was heading. Sure enough in the distance, and ominous green glowing speck could be seen.”
“I knew it! It’s an alien spaceship!” squealed Pinkie
With a target in sight, the scrying spell blurred, and the alien craft briefly came into focus. It was a disk of reflective silver grey metal, held aloft by nothing but a series of brightly glowing green lights on its underside. A single hatch was visible on the rim of the disk, though it was simply a indented rectangle set into the surface of the craft, without any obvious means to open it With nothing for perspective but the sea and darkened sky, judging it’s size was difficult.
Almost instantly, the craft vanished from the view, leaving the ponies looking at empty blue black murk.
“Twilight, what’s happening to the spell?” complained Pinkie
“Can’t get a focus on the aliens for some reason.” came the terse reply “Some kind of countermeasure. One second.”
The crystal ball refocused once again, centering back on Rainbow Dash. The daring pegasus had reeled in the rocket from her tow harness, and was picking up speed.
“Get em, Dashie”
“Good luck!”
“Come on, come on”
Dash smacked the launch button with her hoof, releasing the tow cables and lighting the rocket’s fuse. She banked away from the spaceship immediately, leaving the missile hurtling through space for a few seconds before it’s payload ignited.
Like a furious dragon, the rocket blasted towards the alien craft. Dash’s aim was spot on.
A blinding cloud of multicolored smoke and flames erupted from the rocket’s point of contact. The situation room erupted into a chorus of cheers. Applejack, for her part, gave a massive sigh of relief
“Um, girls?” squeaked Twilight “I think it’s still flying”
As the smoke parted, the alien ship was revealed. Hairline cracks had spread across it’s mirror surface, and a small fire blazed at the impact sight, but the lights emitting from it’s underside were undimmed. The saucer banked sharply and started heading directly towards the now unarmed Rainbow Dash.
-----
The ships alarms screamed into pilot-206’s brain through communications implants. A ballistic-explosive weapon had been launched from close range. The pilot had only seconds to brace before the weapon hit the scout craft's shields.
Reeling from the blast, pilot-206 had not a moment of respite before another burst of automated messages were beamed into it’s brain.
-Warning: Minor hull damage. Repairs required before exiting atmosphere. High priority
-Warning: Fire breakout on outer hull. Low priority.
- All crew to emergency battle stations. Ultimate priority.
Pilot-206 had failed. What remained of it’s ego knew this. The defence radar was its responsibility, and an attack had come from an unacceptably close distance. It scaned it’s console once again, looking for the source of the attack.
There. A native life form, flying nearby. Too small to trigger on radar, no notable exhaust. Pilot-206’s failure was understandable. That did not mean it would be forgiven.
The warnings and messages streaming through pilot-206’s brain washed away it’s concern for the future, for itself. There was work to be done. Pilot-206 sent a message to the ships computers, informing them of the threat.
The native lifeform was making a retreat. With the scout craft's minimal inertial dampening, pilot-206 could feel as the scout craft banked to follow it. Secrecy was paramount. No trace of the scout craft’s presence could be known.
-----
Rainbow had been using the precious seconds it took for the alien ship to turn itself to sprint away as fast as her wings could carry her. The telltale mach cone of an imminent sonic rainboom was slowly building. However, before she could escape green fire erupted from the rim of the alien ship, streaking towards her
The first volley of plasma fire lanced through the sky faster than the fleeing pegasus could fly. Dash had no choice but to evade with a sharp turn, killing her velocity. The blast streaked harmlessly through the cloudless night air.
“Nooooo” screamed Pinkie Pie from the distant observation room. “Fly Dashie! fly!”
“Twilight, is there any spells you can to help her?” asked Rarity
“Not this far away. I’d have to drop the scrying to try anything big, but then I’d be blind, and they’re travelling too fast.”
“Dash can handle herself.” declared Applejack, though the words rang hollow to her as the next volley of death streaked past Rainbow. From the looks of that weapon, even a graze would knock Rainbow out of the sky. Falling from the height she was at, with no clouds below her . . .
Don’t you die on us Dash. I don’t want to lose any more friends to these things.
Rainbow adopted a wild, whirling flight pattern full of spontaneous barrel rolls and wild loops. Her unpredictable flying was keeping her safe from the alien crafts fire, but it was costing her speed. The alien ship didn’t seem inclined to close the range any further, but it had been keeping pace with Dash when she was moving a lot faster. Dash had no way to try to lose it without exposing herself. It was only a matter of time before one of those plasma blasts go lucky.
Pinkie was glued to the screen to scared to look away, Rarity was staring at the ground, too scared to look, and Twilight was . . . smiling?
“Wait one minute, Twilight you said you had a backup plan.” said Applejack, puzzle pieces falling into place in her head.
The unicorn grunted her assent, focused on keeping up with Rainbow’s wild maneuvers. The crystal ball flashed solid green again as a plasma blast came too close to comfort.
“And this backup plan, it's working?”
“Should work. Hasn’t started yet. Just a bit farther.”
Rainbow changed course abruptly, causing Twilight’s scrying spell to lose focus on her. One nausea inducing reorientation later Applejack could see Rainbow travelling in a dangerously straight line towards a large thunderhead.
This is the backup plan? Lose it in the storm? I hope she knows what she’s doing.
“Come on Dash, Come on," Applejack prayed to herself
Rainbow miraculously managed to slide into the cloudbank without getting hit. Seconds later, a plasma blast streaked towards the spot that Rainbow had disappeared. It deflected off the wall of cloud, streaking down to the sea.
Wait, what? thought Applejack, not believing her eyes
The spaceship decelerated as quickly as it could coming to a dead stop two dozen meters from the cloudbank. It almost looked silly, just hanging in the air on invisible wires. It didn’t dare enter such an unnatural bank of clouds, but at the same time couldn’t leave until it figured all of this out.
A web of lightning writhed across the storm clouds, drowning out all other noise in a chorus of thunder. Clouds swirl artfully, patterning with the dancing lightning to create a vortex of light and shadows, gaping wide around the spacecraft. At the center of the vortex hovers a single pony.
“THOU HAVE MADE THE MOST GRAVE OF ERRORS” pronounced Princess Luna,. “FOR THOU HAVE VIOLATED THE SOVEREIGN AIRSPACE OF EQUESTRIA! PREPARE TO PAY FOR THINE TRANSGRESSIONS!”
The bank of clouds danced with behind her, thunder roaring like a waterfall. The alien ship fired a blast of plasma at her, but the bolt redirected before it had closed half the distance, streaking into the sky..
Dozens of threads of lightning leapt from the stormbank, threading together into a single massive cable of electricity. The superbolt twisted through the air and struck the alien craft. The craft lit up bright white as the river of energy coursed through it, the residual lightning bolts arcing off of in every direction. The massive current held for nearly thirty seconds, eliciting constant staccato explosions from its helpless victim.
When the stream of lightning finally ceased, the alien craft dropped like a stone. Before it could be lost to the sea, Luna enveloped it in her telekinesis, and tossed it behind her, where it dug a furrow into the distant beach.
“That was the backup plan,” said Twilight, smiling wickedly “AJ, time to suit up.”
-----
Half an hour later, Applejack, Twilight, Luna, and Rainbow Dash were perched on top of a twelve foot cliff overlooking the crash site. The craft’s leading edge was buried in the sand, and almost half of it was hanging over the surf. It had more small holes in it than swiss cheese, and a dozen small fires burned happily along it’s melted surface.
“I’m sorry princess, but could you repeat that, I don’t think I heard you right.” said Applejack , dumbfoundead
“The three of you should deal with the aliens by yourselves. I will provide assistance if the battle turns against you.” replied Luna with exaggerated patience
“Let's go through this one last time." asked Applejack "Why aren't you going to just magic every alien here to death like you did in Hoofington?”
"Come on Applejack.” Rainbow joked “What are you, scared?"
"No! I just don't see the point in going down there and risking our lives when we got no good reason too."
"The three of you are going to do this without my help because I cannot always be on hand to fight for you," lectured Luna. "Thus, you need experience in combat, and there is only only one way to gain experience. Here I can intervene if the battle turns against you. If I was to destroy these creatures here, you would only be less prepared the next time you faced them."
"We got half a mountain full of training grounds and stuff," Applejack muttered under her breath. "Why don't we use that?"
"Rainbow Dash, I want you to carry Twilight down the cliff," ordered Luna calmly. "Stay to the shadows, and drop her off in the rock formation to the south. Be ready to move on my command. Applejack, stay up here, and find a firing position."
Applejack crouched low, and propped her new rifle on the edge of the cliff. The Pinkie-designed gun had a little sliding lever that you could pull to get a new bullet in the chamber in a second, instead of having to reload every shot. It also had a telescopic sight mounted, a rare feature that was only normally found on expensive hunting rifles.
Down below, three of the grey monkey aliens were patrolling around the edges of the downed craft. One was lurking near the exit of the craft, while the other two ranged along the beech, their small size letting them hide in the sand dunes. Seeing an easy shot, Applejack lined up her rifle with one of the aliens on the beach.
Hold your fire Applejack. Wait for your friends to be in their positions.
Luna's voice was in her head, but it hadn't taken the courtesy of coming in through her ears. A quick peek over her shoulder revealed that Luna had vanished into thin air.
On my mark, take down the sectoid by the door, continued Luna
Sectoid? thought Applejack. Is that what those things are called? Dutifully, she adjusted her aim.
Twilight prepare a shield spell to cover Rainbow Dash. Rainbow, on my mark take down the alien closest to you.
Now.
BANG
The 'sectoid' never knew what hit it. One pull of the trigger sent a bullet through it's oversized brain. Applejack calmly worked the lever action while confirming that the alien she had shot had indeed gone down for the count.
Another gunshot rang out from the beach below her, and was answered by the unearthly report of an alien weapon. Looking down her scope, Applejack could see the one remaining sectoid pouring fire into a magical purple barrier. The fool thing hadn't even noticed that its other buddy had gone down.
BANG
The alien dropped, green blood mingling with the surf. Applejack loaded her third bullet.
---------
Pilot 206 was trudging through ankle deep snow when the distinctive sound of primitive firearms reached its ears. It and its two sectoid comradeship been assigned to find a way to ascend the cliffs adjacent to the crash site. Though successful, they were suffering from the cold and physically drained. Regardless, they picked up their pace, running back towards the scout craft.
Some remnant of emotion propelled pilot 206 ahead of its fellows. The slim hope existed that by proving itself in combat, it might save itself, despite its earlier failure. Reassignment to assault duty was light, as punishments went.
Cresting the next rise, pilot 206 could see an orange coloured native lifeform taking cover in an outcropping below it. It reared on it's hind legs to take up a firing position.
Suddenly a pair of glowing white eyes and a shining horn appeared before it. The implants in pilot 206's skull screamed warnings and alerts but were quickly silenced. For the first time in it's life, pilot 206 was completely relaxed.
Calmly, it turned around a shot pilot 359 three times in the face.
As it watched it's companion die a sliver of hesitation entered pilot 206's brain. This was wrong, this was treason, it would be punished. But as soon as these thoughts entered its brain, they slipped away, half forgotten dreams.
Engineer-1378 was the last member of the scouting party, and had been lagging behind due to a nonlethal injury gained scaling the cliff. Seeing the injured sectoid exit the tall grasses pilot 206 fired. The plasma bolt missed. This was unfortunate.
A thin trail of energy formed between the two sectoids.
~~pilot 206, you have been compromised by mental attack. It is imperative that you resist it~~
The message was unimportant, and whatever it had contained was forgotten instantly. Pilot 206 took careful aim at it’s last squadmate
~~pilot 206, you have been compromised by mental attack. Do not fire~~
The second plasma bolt did not miss. Pilot 206 looked towards the beach below. It needed to descend the cliff. The most efficient path was obvious.
-----
Flashes of green light burst from the grass to Applejack’s right. Jumping in fright she grabbed her weapon, and turned, seeing a “sectiod” standing on a rise overlooking her sheltered spot. It wasn't shooting at her or her friends, but something else in the distance.
Since it wasn’t particularly interested in killing her right now, Applejack had time to calm down and take aim at the alien. Before she could fire, the creature jumped off the cliff.
What in Equestria?
"Aaagh" screamed Twilight from the beach below.
All thoughts of loony Aliens left behind, Applejack looked back at towards her friends, cursing her inattention. Two of the squid-like pony-impersonating aliens were hiding just within the craft and blasting at Twilight and Rainbow.
Rainbow returned fire while dodging the aliens' attacks with ludicrous ease. Her gun brought forth showers of sparks as the pellets bounced of the ships hull, but neither of the creatures were harmed.
Applejack took aim at the cowering aliens herself. She couldn't get a clear shot off. Between the roof and the sides of the door, she could barely see the creatures.
"Come, on, move darn it."
From her limited field of view, Applejack saw the tip of an alien weapon swing around towards Rainbow. Cursing her poor angle, she took aim an exposed hoof and fired.
An unnatural howl of pain split the air. A green energy blast flung wildly out of the ship and struck the rock face.
Freakish thing's probably still kicking. Didn't go up in smoke like the one's back in Caledonia.
A flickering bubble of white energy surrounded the entrance to the alien ship with an audible pop. It flashed white as a spray of pellets from Rainbow impacted ineffectively.
Is there anything these stupid things can't do? Applejack thought.
"Twilight!" she called "Could you get me down there? We need to get a new plan together."
The unicorn met her eyes and nodded. Her horn lit up, and Applejack ducked down,screwing her eyes shut. She heard a loud pop, and felt the snow beneath her hooves vanish. Her heart leapt as she felt herself start to fall. In a panic she flung her limbs in every direction, trying desperately to find something solid.
With a soft thump, Applejack crashed onto the cool sand. Twilight’s helmeted head peeked down into Applejack’s field of vision
"Oops, sorry AJ, I left you a bit too high. Are you okay?” she whispered sheepishly
“Ain't a problem, Twi.” said Applejack, carefully rising to her hooves. “You got any idea how that shield thingy works?"
Twilight had teleported her behind a pile of rocks that had probably fallen off of the cliff as the wild ocean storms had taken their toll. The crash site was roughly twenty meters down the beach.
Keeping out of sight of the last place she had seen any aliens, she flagged down Dash.
"Umm, general principles seem the same as my brother's spell,” Twilight said after a moment of careful consideration “It's just like a wall. It'll break if we hit it enough."
“Seriously? That’s the best you can come up with? Just hit it!” called Rainbow as she swooped down next to the pair.
“I’m kind of working under pressure here!” hissed Twilight back. “Give me some time to think!”
“Hey, “just hit it” is my kind of plan” shot back Rainbow. “Except it hasn’t really worked so far. So some fancy magic might be in order.”
Twilight peeked her head over the rock outcropping the three were hiding behind
“What if we gave it one big buck instead of a bunch of little ones?” suggested Applejack “Could that work”
“Might work.” muttered Twilight. “There’s probably a better option”
Then Rainbow cracked the most nasty grin Applejack had ever seen on her face.
“If you want one big hit, then I think I have just what we are looking for.” She fished through her saddlebags with her wing and retrieved a small, round bright pink sphere, with a large red button on top. It’s distinctive colouring betrayed it’s origins all too clearly.”
“What does that do?” Applejack asked cautiously.
“Explode.” said Rainbow smugly “Pinkie gave it to me before I left the castle. Just press the button and drop it on bad guys, she said. ”
“Figured that much.”
“Girls wait!” said Twilight. “I think I have a way to disrupt that shield magic.”
A plan formed in the back of Applejack’s mind.
“Ok, Twilight, turn the thing off. Rainbow, give me that bomb.”
Rainbow’s face briefly looked like a kicked puppy
“Trust me Rainbow, you’ll like this.”
Twilight poked her head over the edge of the rock pile. Seven perfectly straight lines of energy spread out from her horn, intersecting the force shield in a geometric pattern.
“Tell me when Twi” asked Applejack.
All seven lines of light began to vibrate, filling the air with a low droning sound. At first the force shield didn’t seem to react, but after a few seconds bright ripples of energy spread across it from one of Twilight’s energy beams. Soon ripples were spreading from every contact point simultaneously, turning the surface of the shield into a raging sea of energy. A ring of small explosions erupted from ships hull around the perimeter of the shield.
“NOW” shouted Twilight just as the forcefield winked out.
.
Applejack tossed the pink explosive into the air. With the practice from hundreds of rodeos over the years, she spun onto her forehooves and bucked. Her hooves slammed directly into the little red button on the bomb. Just like she would launch an apple or a rock, the little pink package of death shot across the beach and disappeared within the alien ship.
From across the beach the sound of metal striking metal echoed.
ping.
poing.
sping.
BOOM!
Weakened by the punishment it had suffered, the battered ship popped like balloon. Large panels of the roof split apart and were launched in every direction.
“Okay. That legitimately qualifies as awesome.” commented Rainbow Dash as they watched the dust settle.
The wall of the craft facing the ponies had been utterly obliterated. Where once there were sheets of silvery metals there was now only a twisted metal framework. The other side seemed in better condition, but was still heavily damaged. Within the wreckage two aliens were still standing, one sectoid and one of the other pony like creatures.
“I'll handle this!” shouted Rainbow as she vanished in a prismatic blur.
The two stunned creatures didn’t stand a chance. Rainbow was virtually atop them in seconds, far too close to miss.
BLAM, BLAM.
Two shots rang out, and two shredded alien corpses dropped to the ground, one dissolving into green-black mist.
Then one last sectoid clambered up the ruins of the saucer. Applejack set up her rifle on the edge of fallen rocks as quickly as she could, but she wasn’t fast enough. Both Rainbow and the sectoid fired simultaneously.
BLAM
Applejack flinched at the exchange, but neither pony nor alien seemed to have been hit. The sectoid had just fired once, and now was standing still with it’s weapon lowered.
BANG
Applejack shot the monster in it’s oversized cranium before it could decide what to do next. She scanned around the ship with her scope, hoping to catch any more aliens that were still standing. Something unusual caught her eye. A second plume of green smoke had erupted from the far side of the alien craft.
Maybe that critter didn’t miss after all. But why would it kill it’s own kind?
“Applejack is everything okay?” said Twilight frantically.
“Yeah, sugarcube. Dash missed one of those “sectoids” but I got it before it could do anything. Let’s head over.”
Applejack readjusted the sling on her rifle, and broke into a quick trot across the beach.
“WOOHOO” cheered Rainbow as the pair approached the alien ship. “HAHAHAHA. We WON. We beat them. We actually won!”
“Rainbow, look out!” shrieked Twilight.
From the depths of the alien ship, a single glowing yellow crystal materialized in the air. Glowing energy erupted around it, and formed into a bipedal shape. An unassuming panel in a miraculously intact wall slid open, and a partially formed arm scooped up the alien weapon lying behind it.
The golden figure brought it’s weapon round in a single graceful and efficient motion. Not an ounce of effort was wasted. The first plasma bolt melted Rainbow’s gun. The next two slammed into her armour. She fell without a word.
Twilight Sparkle stared wide eyed at the scene.
“Twilight, MOVE” shouted Applejack, shoving her friend forward.
They were caught on a wide open stretch of beach. Applejack wouldn’t have time to set up her rifle before this new alien could getaway bead on her. Running away would leave them easy pickings. Their only hope would be the wreckage of the alien ship. That meant running towards the monster.
Applejack and Twilight pounded across the beach, towards both danger and safety. Every stride mattered, a race against this strange new alien.
They weren't fast enough. Applejack could see the flash of green light out of the corner of her eye. Reflexively, she ducked her head, putting as much of her armour towards the alien as she could.
“NO!” screamed Twilight
It still hurt. Her fur and skin were seared right through her armour, the sudden impact made her stumble and fall. Somehow another shot never came, and she was alive.
Uncurling herself from her tight armoured ball, she could see that the entire world had turned a distinctive shade of purple. A clear dome of energy surrounded her and Twilight. There was a rhythmic pounding, as the golden creature fired shot after shot into the barrier. Disturbingly, each blast struck the exact same spot. Applejack was certain that if the shield didn’t exist, all of those shots would be hitting Twilight in the head. The unicorn stood stock still, eyes glued on her enemy, wide with fear
“I’m alive" she called out to Twilight. “How’s Rainbow?”
“Can’t see her. Fell behind something. She isn’t getting up.”
The golden creature calmly walked behind a sectoid sized console and crouched down, not once breaking it’s barrage.
“You know what that thing is?” Applejack tested her legs, and found that her right foreleg was incredibly painful to walk on. The armour panels covering it were blackened and charred, and the leg hurt like the dickens if she moved any of it’s muscles.
“Its a remote magical construct, with some unorthodox designs,” Twilight babbled. “Its like a puppet made out of solid magic, you can control it from afar. Really obscure spell, hasn't been taught for almost eight hundred years. Magic and focus requirements too impractical, compared to specialized sending or scrying spells. Considering some of what these things have pulled off, this isn’t really that impressive. I've only heard about it because of my research in-”
“Twilight! Now is not the time for a lecture! How do you get rid of it?” Applejack barked.
“Oh, sorry! Umm, connection gets disrupted if the construct is exposed to high levels of force, or if it’s broken apart by physical objects.”
“So . . . shoot it?”
“That would do, yeah."
AJ tried her best to set her rifle up on the flat sand. Though the weapon was designed to fire from a crawling position, the ruins of the ship were blocking her line of sight. She’d need to move closer, and with her injury, that could be difficult
“Twi, I can’t get a shot.”
“I can’t hold this up much longer!” Twilight hissed through gritted
“Anything else you can do? Somehow get him to move?”
“Wait a minute, gravity spells!" The glow coming from Twilight’s horn grew brighter and brighter. Behind the purple filter of her shield, whatever she was doing to the alien was invisible
Suddenly a loud creak came from the gutted alien craft. Small parts of it started shake, and then fly off, straight into the sky.
“Applejack, aim above its head.” said Twilight.
The golden creature rose from the ruins feet first, desperately holding onto the wreckage with it’s hands. Out of the corner of her eye, Applejack could see as Rainbow floated gently into the air. Then the purple bubble vanished, and Applejack shot the magical construct right though it’s chest.
The golden creature shuddered as the bullet passed through it. Just as it had formed, it dissolved, like a paper doll being set on fire. The glowing, spark-shedding mass floated upward into the sky where dissolved into nothingness.
Applejack dropped her rifle and started limping towards the wreck. "Rainbow? Are you OK?"
Twilight, who was already holding Dash in her magic, floated the Pegasus over to Applejack.
"She doesn't look hurt."
A loud groan escaped Dash's lips, and her eyes fluttered open. "Guess Pinkie does know what she's doing."
Applejack laughed out of relief. "Thank Celesta you're alright RD."
"Thank yourselves. You performed valiantly." came Luna's voice from behind the three ponies.
Twilight jumped, nearly dropping Dash. "Princess! You shouldn't sneak up on ponies like that!"
Luna laughed “Come, this is a victory! We must have a celebration!”
---------
Deep underground in a secure outpost, Forward Commander was hunched over a terminal. A new urgent-flagged report had arrived only seconds ago. Forward Commander decided that it's masters must know of this information
“Begin message:”
“Despite security protocols, scout craft 5378 encountered a severe-threat class native lifeform. As anticipated, it was destroyed.”
“Emphasis: An organized team of species 12, 13 , and 14 attacked the crash site, co-ordinating with the severe-threat. The wreck was captured in the engagement. End emphasis.”
“There is a 90% approximate probability that this incident, in addition to other incidents with this group of species, represents informed and organized resistance.”
“End message.”
The facilities computers instantly compiled the message and shouted it to the stars. It would be some time before a response could arrive. Forward Commander had no choice but to wait.
Message received.
Additional assets are on route. Until an overseer arrives, the vanguard is under your command.
This is a day of great portents. Your mission is no longer one of discovery. Begin a Trial of this world.
Message ends.