Prisoner and Savior: Part 2

by efug25g

Chapter 17: Twilight's mock warning

Inside the ship's brig, Ash slowly snaps out of her consciousness only to see the purple pastel horse with a bandaged leg appear before her outside of the cell. When the female Mandor tried to get up, she finds herself inside the cell with a chain wrapped around her left ankle. As she looked around, Ash realized that she is now being held prisoner onboard this ship.

As for Twilight, she was already warned in advance that the Mandors are in league with the Sectanium for only Faust knows how long. As much as she thought about trying to form a friendship bond with a few Mandors, Twilight is still hesitant since they don't understand her language yet. Because they allied themselves with her captors, Twilight feared that very soon she will be forced to fight them as she would fight against the Sectanium that threatened her recently. So, Twilight cautiously approached Ash with her horn lightning up again, with her wings stretch apart. Xul appeared from behind Twilight as she held the activated translator in her hands. Before Twilight had a chance to say anything, the female Mandor felt a frightful chill crawling up her spine as she started out her conversation.

"L-Listen EQ-3. I don't know why are you so obsessed in trying to get away from us but it's going to get worse if you keep resisting the Sectanium Empire." Ash reluctantly told the purple horse, making it growl and snort with anger. "I-I mean, the Sectanium Empire is known as the superior race above all others for they believe that freedom leads to suffering."

Refusing to accept any of it, Twilight snarled in fury as she approached further towards the imprisoned Mandor. Upon seeing such a hostile gesture, Ash started getting more and more nervous.

"Seriously EQ-3, what's your problem?! I-I mean, I already saw what you did back there before I got caught. You may have got the drop on one of our Sectanium warriors, but the rest their entire fleet will be hunting you down. They are famous for their mind-controlling abilities and all it takes is for them to look at you in the eye before you're finished. So, you might as well surrender to them while you still can."

Twilight sneered at Ash while lighting up her horn.

"You have to understand. You've got nowhere to go, nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide. So why are you trying to foolishly fight back against the Sectanium Empire?!"

With sudden response, Twilight finally blew a gasket as she slammed on the cell with very loud, excruciating force with both of her front hooves, letting loose a small shockwave that caught the female Mandor off-balance.

*POW!*

Upon impact, Ash felt a powerful, physical force that shook the entire cell she is in as the Mandor fell on butt in a shocking yelp. As she groaned in pain, she looked up to see EQ-3's eyes lit up in a glowing white light white clenching her teeth in fury.

"SPARE ME YOUR EXCUSES, YOU UNGRATEFUL, NO-GOOD, LOWLIFE, PIECE OF TRAITOROUS HORSECRAP!!!" Twilight shouted in a Royal Canterlot voice, which is processed and understood thanks to the Translator Xul is using.

Upon hearing such intense loud noise coming from the translator, both Xul and Ash jolted in total fright as they almost covered their ears in agony. Grunting from minimal pain from her ears, Xul felt surprised to think that Twilight would respond in such a palpable effect.

"T-Twilight, please not so loud." Xul told the purple alicorn in a calm voice.

After taking a deep breath and with her eyes turning back to normal, Twilight resumes her conversation with the activated translator, this time with her normal voice.

"Honestly Mandorian, I haven't really did anything wrong to deserve that horrid fate on Terram and everypony in my kingdom is worried sick of me!!"

"Did you just say 'kingdom'?!" Ash gasped in confusion. Her eyes widened with horror before realizing that she and her allies are making a big mistake for some crazed reason. "What a minute, you're not saying that........"

"Well where I came from, there is no such thing as 'Superior race above all others'; not from the way I see it. There's always the first time for everything; that's what every pony would say!!" Twilight added in. "Slavery?! False imprisonment?! Mutilation?! What a horrible way to live by!!!! Other than that, you do not have the right to address me by such a stupid name like that."

"Uh, Xul? Who the hell is this gal???" Ash asked the female Sectanium, not understanding where the purple sentimental horse is getting at. Not getting an answer from Xul, Ash asked the pony directly.

"I mean, just who do you think you are talking to me like that?!"

As Twilight took a deep breath again, she turned towards Xul if she can finally reintroduce herself in front of the captured Mandor. In silence, Xul nodded at Twilight as if she gestured "yes."

"My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle. The alicorn ruler of Equestria!!!" The purple alicorn spoke in a moderate Canterlot voice, surprising Ash. "And NO!! I will not surrender before any hostile alien, neither will I let them do to my people what they tried to do to me!!!!"

Upon hearing it loud and clear, Ash's face totally drained into a paler green color and she started sweating profusely. At the same time, Ash's jaw dropped all the way to the floor with her eyes widened with total shock and disbelief.

"WHAT??? N-No way!!! T-T-That's not......" Ash stuttered in fear over what EQ-3 just said through the translator. "You can't be serious gal."

The moment Ash turned to face Xul, she tried clarifying about what Twilight just said to her.

"S-She's not being serious is she, Xul?! Tell me she isn't!!!"

"Sorry, Ash. If what Twilight is saying about herself is true, then we will have to answer to her people once we reach her homeland. I already had several other guesses beforehand, but now that she mentioned it, after Zeck told me what she told him, it was all a big mistake dragging her into this mess. "

"B-B-But why??"

"Let's just say that I was fairly elected unanimously by my own ponies due to my undisputed heroism, honor, and friendship." Twilight said briefly before walking towards Xul with a huff. "Anyway, do you really wanted to fight for the Sectaniums?!"

"Don't even think that this will be over so quickly, your royal stubbornness. The Sectanium Empress will have your head if she finds out about this. Your planet will be hers and she will make you pay dearly for humiliating the Empire. Besides, I'm just doing this all for the money. After all, if it's what the Empress wants, it's what she will get." Ash shouted back, bluntly.

"Money?! HA!! A likely story!!" Twilight sneered. "Empress, you say?! I take it she is the one ruling over the Sectanium race, eh?!"

"You better believe it, young lady!!" Ash hissed. "She'll stop at nothing to get what she wanted, even if she were to take matters into her own hands."

"Anyway, whoever this Empress of yours is, she can't hope to beat me that easily because she's isn't the only selfish tyrant I fought for I already faced others like her in the past."

"We'll see about that, Princess!!" Ash leered as she sees Twilight leave the brig.

As for Xul, the moment she sees Twilight disappear out the door, she went up to Ash's cell before retorting the latter.

"Sorry for letting Twilight bring all that up, but when I heard who she really was, I knew I should feel pretty ashamed of myself. Well, we both need to know the truth behind Twilight's sentimentalism sooner or later. So, once we reach Equestria, you and I both owe Twilight's people big time."

"W-What if she's lying?!" Ash asked, thinking that it's just another excuse for Twilight to scare her and her allied race. "This has to be some sort of trick, right?! S-She's just making all that up to scare the living crap out of us, have us beg for mercy, and enslave us in the end, right?!"

"Really?! After how she escaped from the Inspection Room, how she helped a dozen prisoners of war escape, how she spared me despite the way I treated her when I was just working undercover, and how she gave that Warrior a shock and slammed her shield barrier at a large group of guards? Do you really think she'd be lying after pulling all of those stunts so far??!!!" Xul snapped back at Ash. "Never in all my years have I seen such an alien creature pulling off that many stunts and lived. In fact, something is telling me that Twilight had no need for any slaves to serve under her will."

"You mean, you're going to let her get away with that?!"

"I'm sorry, Ash but maybe if the Empress came to her senses when she still had the chance and listened to me right from the start, none of this would've happened!!" Xul retorted. "If she did, I wouldn't have betrayed her and left her homeland in disgrace."

"You're a fool, Xuliana Lilith Sona!!!" Ash hissed, saying the traitorous sectanium by her full name. "The Empress pays us a lot of money doing jobs like that!!!"

"Well, I'm not going to put up with the Empress' crazed antics any longer. Besides, if Twilight were able to do what the Empress could not, then I might as well have to convince her and the rest of my people to start all over again. In fact, pretty sure the Mandors, like yourself, will have to start over again too. Think about it!!" Xul said, ending her conversation with Ash.

Feeling lost from what Xul just said, Ash muttered in self-pity as she sees Xul leave the brig.

---

Back on the bridge, the face of the Sectanium Empress glared aggressively, from the screen, at Captain Zeck while asking him a question.

"Are you the real captain of this ship?" The angry Empress asked before bellowing in anger. "Answer me!!!"

"Yes, I am. What's it to you, lady?!" Zeck sneered.

"Watch your tongue, boy!!!" The Empress shouted furiously. "I just heard about the incident that occurred on one of my prison facilities. My men that were at that Mandor Fueling Station were running scared after being mysterious struck and traumatized by an unknown force. Worse, one of my warriors suffered a cardiac arrest after being struck by some strange alien creature amongst your crew. So, I had to recall them back to the capital. Well, guess what?! My patience is wearing thin. You and your foolish band of traitorous misfits are already sitting ducks out there. Yet, you dare try to escape from the grip of my best soldiers and Warrior, will you?!"

"So what if I did?! Well, I've got news for you Empress. We, the UFF, have came across a very powerful ally alien that won't really give up without a fight. Better yet, we are already underway of bring her back home to where she belongs first and it is done for a very valid reason."

"You expect me to believe that?!" The Empress sneered as she narrowed maliciously towards Zeck as her face gets closer to the huge screen. "What makes you think that this alien you speak of is going to be more than a match for me?!"

"You'll see very soon, Empress. That's right, you will all see!!" Zeck cackled, annoying the Empress.

Fuming, the Empress growled in frustration for not having her men recapture the prisoners that escaped from Terram.

"I can't wait to get to the bottom of those series of unfortunate, unexplained events. Well, you better brace yourself young man. I'll hunt you down, along with your ilk if it's the last thing I do!!!!"

It was the last thing the Empress shouted before the huge screen disappeared from the bridge.

"Hey, Zeck! Who were you talking to?" A curious little voice spoke from behind the UFF Captain.

Surprised, Zeck turns around to see Twilight standing in front of the entrance, showing a cute facial expression with her eyes widen with curiousity. At the same time, Xul stood next to Twilight with the translator dangling on her belt.

"Oh, um. That was the Empress of the Sectanium Race. She was furious over what happened back at that Mandor Fueling Station." Zeck spoke, sweating nervously.

Upon hearing it, Xul's eyes widened with anxiety as a drop of sweat came down the side of her head.

"The Empress?!" Twilight clarified. She couldn't tell if she were to be scared or nonchalant. However, when Xul came up to Twilight, she shook her head at the alicorn pony.

"Twilight, please. Let's not mentioned that here." Xul told the pony in a fearful tone.

"Are you sure?!" Twilight asked the frightened Sectanium woman. "Well, I do need to make sure that my ponies know who they will be dealing too."

"I'll explain later!" Xul reprimanded. "For now, we have to get as far away from the Sectanium territory as possible."