Chapter 49
Cassie
<Ax, are they gone?> Jake asked.
<Yes, Prince Jake,> Ax replied. <There is sufficient room for you and the others to demorph. I will also attempt to slow down our docking for additional time.>
<I hope they made it alright,> I said, already beginning to demorph. <Twilight seemed really nervous about it.>
<Those six are pretty tough, for horses,> Rachel said. <Plus, you saw that rainbow they used. It’s going to take something huge to take them down.>
“Yeah, I know,” I said once my mouth had formed. Once I felt my size begin to increase I jumped off of Ax and landed on half formed feet.
“Alright, Ax. Once we’re in the docking bay you take the lead,” Jake said once he had finished morphing. “Everyone else, get in battle morphs and be ready to fight.”
<Prince Jake, the Kandrona Machine is likely to be heavily guarded. If Twilight and her group are unsuccessful with their diversion—>
“We’ll worry about that when it comes,” Jake said. “Let’s just make sure we do our part and hope Twilight can do hers.”
This seems to be a recurring theme with us and alien planets, I thought to myself. Go there, get shot at by Yeerks, perform a last minute suicide charge, and hope to get home. I glanced around and noticed that everyone, besides Ax, was already beginning to morph. I sighed inwardly and focused on the wolf DNA that swam within my blood stream. Actually, that’s something we still have to think about, I thought as fur sprouted all over my body. How do we get home? We trashed our ride and I don’t think the Yeerks will give us a lift.
<Docking in one minute. Cassie, I suggest you morph faster.>
I shook my head and concentrated harder, trying not to wince as I heard my own bones pop and reshape themselves. Guess we’ll burn that bridge when we get to it.
It didn’t take long for us all to finish morphing. Though admittedly, a grizzly bear, Andalite, wolf, tiger, gorilla, and phoenix were a bit of a tight fit inside this ship. Rachel alone took up most of the elbow room.
<Tobias, are you sure it's wise to be on fire like that in an airtight spaceship?> Jake asked.
<I don’t see any smoke coming off me,> Tobias shot back. <Besides, not like we intend to spend more than two hours onboard, right?>
<Docking in thirty seconds,> Ax said. <We are beginning to enter the ship; dropping speed accordingly.>
Sure enough, I felt the ship lurch as we suddenly slowed down. It’s a good thing Rachel was on all fours, or else I’m sure she would have crushed all of us.
<We have docked,> Ax said blandly.
<We know!> Marco shouted.
<Opening doors now, brace yourselves.>
I awkwardly shifted my position so that I was facing the doors. This was not made easy due to Rachel taking up most of the free space, so by the time I managed it the doors were already hissing open. A faint red light filled in the cracks the door left behind, exposing the interior of the docking bay. I’m sure Marco would have described it like something from Star Wars, only less white spaces and more grey and black. Also, the red light from above gave an eerie atmosphere.
And then, of course, there were the ten or so Hork-Bajir guards conversing by the door. One of them looked our way in a bored manner, then his eyes widened and he shouted something at the others.
<Go!> Jake ordered. Rachel gave a bellow and ran forward, smashing into the guards before they could scatter in time. Behind her was Tobias, wings spread outwards in a blinding display of fire and light — made worse by the surrounding metal. I closed my eyes in time, but from the sounds of things many of the Hork Bajir weren’t as fortunate. There were grunts of pain and the occasional clattering of metal from falling Dracon beams, but that soon got drowned out by one thousand pounds of very angry grizzly slamming living sawblades into the walls.
I managed to jump onto the back of a Hork-Bajir that was taking aim at Marco, who was wrestling with another. My Hork-Bajir went down and I grabbed his neck in my jaws, felt my teeth sink into his neck, specifically the windpipe. I held back the instinct to kill him and instead held him tightly in my jaws, dodging his wild slashes, until suffocation caused him to black out.
Letting him drop to the floor I looked up just in time to see Marco throw a guard into the ship head-first. He then dusted his giant hands off before lumbering off towards Jake and the others, whom were all gathering near the far entrance.
<Looks like Twilight’s diversion worked,> Rachel said.
<So far so good,> Jake said. <Ax, lead the way.>
<Whoa, whoa, wait up,> Marco said. <Jake, you never say ‘so far so good’. When has saying ‘so far so good’ ever worked for us in the past?> Jake didn’t reply, instead bounding after Ax. Marco stood there for a moment, taking it in before running after him. <You’re just quiet because you know I’m right!>
<Quit your bellyaching, Marco!> Rachel said before lowering onto all fours and plowing after Jake, the rest of us following swiftly behind. The halls were curiously empty; I guess it could have been because of whatever Twilight and the others were doing. As if to answer my suspicions, a loud siren began echoing through the corridors of the ship.
<Well, I guess that means they’re still alive,> I said.
Ax led us into a large room; the noise of moving machinery blasted my ears the moment we entered. Along the far wall a few controllers rested lazily, hunched over a control panel. One of them looked up when we entered, but a quick flash of light from Tobias left him and his friends dazed long enough for us to close the gap. The fight was over in seconds, with none of the controllers able to even grab a weapon.
<Oh man. Tobias, I love that morph of yours!> Rachel gleefully shouted. <Can we keep it?>
<Easy as that fight was, this doesn’t look like a Kandrona Machine,> Jake said. Looking around the room, I noticed that there were many odd bits of machinery giving off bright lights. But nothing here looked like the Kandrona we’d destroyed in the EGS Tower — or even remotely close.
<I believe this is the engine room,> Ax said. <The Yeerks may have redesigned their ship layout since I studied them in school.>
<See?> Marco complained. <I told you nothing good ever comes from tempting fate like that.>
<Wait, isn’t this actually better for us?> I asked, ignoring Marco. <Can’t we, like, shut down the engines from here and hold the ship hostage?>
<I think turning the engines off while we’re still on board the spaceship is a bad idea,> Tobias cut in.
<It would be safe for a time,> Ax said. <Our momentum would keep us circling the planet, though we would be drawn into its gravitational field and eventually crash.>
<There’s a cheery thought,> Marco muttered.
I looked at one of the panels the controllers had been stationed at. <Say Ax, could you hack into one of those terminals, or something?>
<It is possible, but it would require time. And we still must locate the Kandrona Generator.>
<The ship’s different from how you remember, Ax,> Jake pointed out. <It might be faster if you can call up a map or something of the ship.>
<Affirmative, Prince Jake.>
Ax wasted no time and went straight to work. An uncomfortable silence fell on us as we stood around him, glancing around warily.
<I don’t like this. It’s quiet. Too quiet...> Rachel whispered.
<Alright, you’re just doing this on purpose now!> Marco exclaimed.
As if in answer an alarm began blaring and I instinctively tried to cover my ears at how shrill it sounded. A voice then followed shortly after.
“We’re under attack. Repeat: the docking bay is under attack. All personnel are ordered to battle rosters.”
<See!?> Marco yelled as a few Hork-Bajir ran in towards us, each brandishing a hand-held Dracon Beam.
Roaring, Rachel charged headlong at the nearest one. He raised his Dracon Beam to fire, but grizzly bears are much faster than they look. He was only able to aim the beam at her shoulder before she was upon him. The shot grazed her shoulder, which only made Rachel madder. She dug her claws into him in retaliation.
Another Hork-Bajir was aiming his beam at Rachel’s head, but by now the rest of us had spread out around the room. I leaped at him and bit into his arm. Blood and bone filled my mouth and the Dracon Beam fell from his hand to clatter on the floor. Grunting in pain and rage, he tried to swipe at me with the blades on his free arm. I managed to let go of him in time to save my face from getting sliced open, but his last blade caught my nose and severed the left nostril. Howling in pain, I managed to leap back as he slashed again and again. But he only had one good arm, and was going up against a wolf. Once his arm lowered, I dashed to his bad side and leaped onto his back, knocking him off balance and into the nearest wall.
<Prince Jake, I have nearly succeeded in bypassing this console’s encryptions,> Ax called.
<Kinda busy at the moment, Ax!> Jake yelled back; I glanced at him in time to see him leap out of the way of a Dracon Beam shot. <Just get in!>
<Affirmative.> There was a brief pause, during which I managed to move out of the way of a human that tried to jump on me. <I have succeeded. I’ll now begin to search for the Kandrona.>
<Oh, sure, take your time,> Marco said nonchalantly, smashing the heads of two Hork-Bajir together with a sickening crunch. <Not like we’re on a time limit or anything.> He gave a cry of pain as a Dracon Beam ripped apart his shoulder, though he quickly recovered and swung a gigantic fist at the controller, almost certainly breaking a few bones.
My ears flicked to the right, and I turned to see a human struggling towards some form of button on the wall that looked way too much like an alarm for my liking. With a few quick strides I caught up to her easily and slammed into her right side, pushing her into the body of an unconscious Hork-Bajir. She gave a low groan and tried to stand, only for me to knock her over again. This time she didn’t get back up.
<I have located the Kandrona, Prince Jake,> Ax cut in. <I believe it may be possible to shut it down from here.>
<It would certainly make our job here much easier,> Tobias said.
<Agreed. See what you can do, Ax. If not, we’ll make our way there and shut it down manually.>
Ax said nothing more and turned back to the console, though I noted both of his stalk eyes continued keeping an eye on the battle. I leaped onto a Hork-Bajir, my weight and momentum sending the both of us careening into the wall. I felt a blade sink into my side and gave a yelp, but before I could retaliate a large hairy black first slammed into the controller’s face and he slumped backwards.
I turned away from the controller, quickly scanning the room and trying to locate my next target, but there weren’t any. Besides the six of us everyone else was unconscious or dead.
<That was way too easy,> Marco said, lumbering away from the fallen Hork-Bajir. <I mean, you’d think that the mothership would have the best protection, right?>
<Normally yes,> Ax said. <But there are reports onboard that the Visser moved forward with her hostile planetary invasion before she had planned.> He swung a stalk eye right at Marco. <The ‘Andalite Bandits’ seemed to have scared her into rushing things along.>
The console beeped just then and all four of Ax’s eyes focused on it intently. After a few tense moments he swiveled one to look at Jake. <Prince Jake, I am unable to remotely shut down the Kandrona Machine. The Yeerks have upgraded their security protocols since my last attempt. The Kandrona’s systems have automatically isolated themselves once they detected my tampering.>
<Well, it was worth a shot. Find a map of the ship or something and we’ll head there ourselves,> Jake ordered.
There was more silence, save the constant whirring of the engines, as Ax worked diligently for a few minutes, until the entire engine room suddenly went dead and we were plunged into complete silence. I looked around in confusion, but couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
<Uh, what’s going on?> I asked.
<Prince Jake,> Ax said, sounding uncharacteristically nervous. <I believe I have made an error.>
<What kind of error?> Jake demanded.
<The Yeerks are not very clear with their computers at times. I accessed the wrong map database,> Ax explained. <However, when I attempted to back out of the file and locate the correct one, I mistakenly disabled it.>
<Ax,> Rachel strained. <What exactly did you do?>
<I disabled the various protocols and programs that ensure the ship remains in geosynchronous orbit,> Ax said simply. <By accident and not design, of course.>
<So we’re gonna crash?> Marco nearly shouted. <Wonderful! I love this plan! I’m excited to be a part of it!>
<Marco, calm down!> Rachel yelled. <Getting upset isn’t gonna solve anyth—>
Whatever Rachel was about to say next was lost as the ship suddenly went into a nosedive and we went flying around the room — except for Tobias, curiously, who seemed to be able to hover in one place no matter what the circumstances. The five of us who were currently incapable of levitation fell into a pile at the frontward end of the room, along with every unconscious or dead body that happened to lie between us and the wall.
<Ew. Also, ow,> Marco grumbled.
<Ax! Fix this!> Jake ordered, twisting his body to avoid a falling piece of machinery. <Before we crash!>
<I am unable to reach the console,> Ax said in a voice that was way too calm, all things considered. I was about to ask him why he didn’t morph his harrier and fly to the console, but when I looked at him I immediately saw why: he was trapped beneath several bodies, both Hork-Bajir and human, and the angle with which we were falling was making it difficult for his weak arms to get the leverage necessary to get himself free.
“Weeeeeeeee! This is fun!”
I looked around quickly, trying to find the source of the voice, and spotted a pink blur running along the floor as if it were perfectly level. Pinkie Pie ran towards us, then quickly curved and ran back up towards the exit.
<Is she skating?> Marco asked incredulously. I looked again, and sure enough, Pinkie wasn’t running, but skating along the floors, yet she wasn’t actually wearing any skates. She was just going through the motions and somehow was propelling herself forward.
<I give up,> Ax said, defeated. <We are clearly dealing with one of the Ellimist’s lackeys.>
<Pinkie!> Jake called. <Pinkie, can you help us?>
“Sure thing, Your Majesty,” Pinkie said, skating up beside Jake. “What do you need?”
<Ax, talk her through bringing the geosynchronous program back up,> Jake ordered.
<And hurry,> Marco added. <I don’t want to be a gorilla pancake.>
<Very well,> Ax sighed. <Pinkie, go to the console behind you and place a hoof on the surface.>
“Okie, Dokie, Lokie, Aximimimokie,” Pinkie giggled before moving to the console and placing her right hoof on the touch pad. “That was easy.”
<It’s not over yet,> Ax said. <Now, the console responds to the user’s thoughts. Simply think something that would affect the ship and it would respond—>
“Really?” Pinkie’s face scrunched up in concentration, and the doors to the engine room opened up. “Oh wow, these should be put into every house in Equestria!”
<Please, we do not have much time,> Ax insisted, sounding slightly more worried than before. <Access the protected files within the core mainframe and force a reboot of the galactic database.>
“Why? What am I doing this for?” Pinkie asked.
<To prevent the ship from crashing into your planet because I mistakenly deleted the starmap,> Ax tersely said. <Please, just listen and obey—>
“Oooh, the map’s gone! I’ll fix it!” Pinkie giggled and went silent, a look of concentration on her face. Ax stuttered and stammered, trying to find something to say. After a few moments Pinkie brightened up again and laughed. “That was easy!”
<How did you do that so fast?> Ax asked, clearly bewildered.
“Simple, I asked the computer to bring the map back, and it did — just like you said,” Pinkie explained.
<Wait, then why are we still falling?> Tobias asked.
<How can you even tell?> I retorted.
<Gee, maybe it’s because the ship is still moving fast enough to turn us into bugs on a windshield!> Marco added.
“Ooo, I think Twilight knows that spell! Windshield!” Pinkie giggled.
<Ax!> Jake yelled. <I thought you said bringing the map back would fix this!>
<I never said that. I merely stated that our chances of crashing into something were much higher without it.>
<Well, can’t we do something els—>
Rachel was cut off as the ship suddenly righted itself and we all were thrown to the floor in a heap. I felt something sharp poking into my ribs — Rachel’s claws, most likely. Ax’s hooves were inches from my muzzle, and a massive black hand was draped over my eyes.
<Woah, what’s going on out there?> Tobias asked. No one had any time to reply beyond panicked screams as the ship suddenly tilted to the side and we rolled along the floor, hoof crushing, paw scratching belly.
<It is possible that the Yeerks have regained manual control from the bridge,> Ax said. <Given our abrupt flight alterations, I would imagine the pilot is attempting to avoid crashing into any obstacles that may be in the way.>
<Wait,> I cried. <Doesn’t that mean something could have happened to Twilight and the others?>
I never got an answer, as the ship seemed to strike something and we bounced into the air before coming down again hard. I yelped as all of Rachel’s bulk landed squarely on my back, though I didn’t have long to suffer as the ship abruptly stopped and we slid forward, Rachel blissfully rolling off me.
<I believe we have landed,> Ax commented dryly.
<Thank you, Captain Obvious.> Marco, of course.
Pinkie giggled. “Captain Obvious Aximimimily!”
<Whoever’s on me, get off,> Rachel groaned. Complying to her wishes, the pink pony slid down her back and landed perfectly on her hooves.
<Well, what now Jake?> I asked.
<We do what we came here to do: smash the Kandrona Machine,> he replied.
I looked him right in the eyes. <What about Twilight? They could be captured or hurt right now.>
Jake was silent for a while before saying, <Fine, we split up. Rachel, Ax. You’re with me. We’ll find that Kandrona Machine. The rest of you get to the bridge and see how Twilight and the others are doing.> He shot a look at Pinkie. <I would like to know why she’s here right now, anyways.>
“Oh, well, see, something might have gone a teensy bit wrong with Twilight’s spell, because I ended up in a room with a big machine that was blinking and buzzing. Then I heard a siren and that guy on the announcement, so I came running to find you guys, since it said you might be in trouble.” She frowned for a moment. “Aww, I just realized, I’m in space and I don’t have any space-cookies or space-muffins. Do you think there’s a kitchen in here I could use?”
<Hey, her mind’s almost as strange as Marco’s,> Rachel joked, though nobody responded to her. Instead, we all headed for the entrance, where Ax, Jake, and Rachel split and headed down one corridor, which left us to take the other.
The four of us moved as quickly as we could, though I noticed both myself and Marco had a slight limp. Pinkie, however, was hopping the entire time, and Tobias hadn’t seemed to suffer any injury thanks to his hovering. Considering how useful he was in his current morph, I found myself thinking about finding a phoenix of my own to acquire.
The ship was eerily quiet and empty at this point, but I kept glancing in every direction for some hidden assailant or would-be attacker. The closest we ever came to seeing was the occasional unconscious human controller. After a few minutes we burst onto the bridge and I bared my teeth in preparation for a fight...
...only to stop in shock. Applejack was pulling on Twilight, who had somehow managed to get her horn embedded in one of the consoles. A slew of unconscious controllers littered the room, and Rainbow was hunched over another console, clutching onto it for dear life hard enough that I could see the veins in her legs pulse.
“Dashie!” Pinkie zoomed past us and over to her pegasus friend. “Dashie, say something. Please speak to me.”
Slowly, those large magenta eyes turned and focused on Pinkie. After a moment the barest hint of a smile formed on Rainbow’s face and she relaxed all over.
“Heh, didn’t crash this time,” was all she managed to say before her muscles loosened, causing her to slide to the side of the console.
Pinkie moved to provide her with support. “Whoa, does that mean you were flying this thing?” Rainbow just nodded weakly.
I turned away from them, noticed Twilight had gotten free and was rubbing her horn, and looked past her out the window. I was a little surprised at the sunlight streaming in, the bright blue sky above, though I don’t know why. Below that was the vast extension of dry, barren earth that marked the badlands.
And directly right of us, I spotted a small settlement with a massive cherry tree orchard.
<Hey, isn’t that—> I was cut off by a grey shape suddenly appearing out of nowhere and colliding with the front of the ship. After a moment, the pegasus freed herself and tapped on the glass, smiling amicably.
Beside me, Marco sighed. <It takes a lot to surprise these ponies, doesn’t it?>