Amongst the Stars

by everydaydude

Complications

Shin’vora walked hurriedly down the arched hallway, quickly approaching the central room, where the tribal leaders met. Usually, they would bicker amongst themselves about which tribe really owned what land, or whether or not old disputes from ages long past were a justifiable reason for conflict. But after the humans attacked a unified colony world, where members of every tribe had settled, and forced them off, the tribes had worked together against a common enemy, even though petty tribal disputes and ancient customs of war were still in effect. Such as you had to be the warlord and have your own fleet to command others. That was why she was here. 


Shin’vora nodded slightly to the guards, their dual headed pole maces becoming uncrossed, granting her entrance to the chamber. She passed through a smaller, darkened hallway, the only light coming from behind her, a soft red, or in front of her, a slowly oscilating green.

She dropped her head as she entered the room, feeling the gaze of the thirteen elders upon her. She did not bother to learn their names. She had no need, as it was disrespectful to call them by name.


“Rise.” A deep, rumbling voice said. She stood, her eyes passing over each one. 


“State your business, Shin’vora of the the Sarege,” the one that commanded her to rise said. 


“Elders of the Draco race, we are indeed in tough times. Despite repeated assaults, the human forces remains strong. But we can end this war once and for all.”


“How do you propose that?” A higher pitched voice asked.

“We all know the best way to slay a beast is to strike its heart, the source of its life. In this case, their home.”


“Attack their home planet,” a cry went out, followed by heated, un-ordered discussion between them. It died as quickly as it started, and attention was returned to the speaker. 


“We understand the need to end this war, but to attack their home planet? None of our forces have made it that far, it’s simply too well defended. We would need a force larger than any we’ve ever seen.”


“And I know where to get it.” Before they could respond, she pulled a data pad out of her pocket. “A planet sixteen lightyears into disputed space. It has enough resources to build a fleet that could easily storm the human defenses.” She keyed the datapad, uploading the information to the elders. “If I were to have a fleet I could secure this planet to give you such a fleet.”

“It says that your father patrolled this part of space,” one of the elders said, turning towards her. 


“Mantle duty,” another said. “Protecting another race from outside influence before it reached the stars. If we were to take these resources, wouldn’t that violate your father’s duty?” 


“My father’s duty means nothing to me,” she said harshly. “He does our race no honor. I and my kin have excluded him from our bloodline. Besides, he and his ship was destroyed 3 solar cycles ago. He is dead, as are those that still followed him.”

The elders collectively looked on in shock. Her dislike of her father was known, and his dishonor made him shunned or even hated, but he was still a capable warlord, regaining his position by proving himself. For him to die came as grave news because of that.

“Your father only had one ship when he died, but had many more at his disposal. You have proved yourself a capable warrior and leader, and your tribe is loyal to you. His remaining ships are yours.”

Shin’vora nodded and bowed in thanks. The elders bowed in return, and as such the meeting was over. She turned swiftly and took her leave, nodding once more to the guards as she left. She walked once more down the hallway, hands clutched tight, as if holding onto the power she now commanded.

Clark jumped out of the way as the Draco dove through the doorway, crashing into his hospital bed. It regained its footing and dove at him once more, claws outstretched for him. Clark ducked, and rolled under. He could tell that he wouldn’t be able to keep this up for long. He needed a weapon.

He dodged another onslaught and shot up, using the precious few seconds to scan for anything he could use. He ducked as glinting claws tore through the air, barley missing the top of his hair. Having no other option, Clark dropped low and delivered two sharp punches to his adversaries midsection. It was like punching a tree trunk, and his hands stung. But the Draco fell back, his midsection still prone to flares of pain due to his haphazard surgery.

Clark jumped back and in desperation flung his medical clipboard at the enraged alien. It spun through the air before it was swatted aside, nothing more than a minor annoyance. More objects sailed across the room. A cup shattered and spilled water, and a tray flew wide of its intended target, but still caused Vra’sta to duck. He stepped forward, bracing himself against whatever piece of junk would fly next.

A rather large chair soared towards him next. He stepped back and covered his face with his right arm. The chair fell short, clattering on the ground and only barely tapping the aliens shins. He brought his arm down as a pillow flew towards his face. 


“Seriously Clark? Is this the best you can do! This,” he held up the pillow yelling. “This is pathetic, even for a human.” Clark only responded with a wry smile. More rage boiled from inside the Draco, and, losing his head, he tore open the pillow above his head, roaring a bloodcurdling roar....

Until his mouth was full of feathers, sticking in his throat and choking him. He doubled over, coughing to get the foreign material out of his airway. His eyes couldn’t focus with all the movement around him, the feathers floating slowly to ground in a thick cascade. He coughed and slowly backed up so he wouldn’t be surrounded, sheathing his claws so he could pull the clumped material out of his throat. A wad of damp feathers was spat upon the floor. There was still some in his throat, but not enough to hinder him further.

With the cascade of white finally subsiding, Vra’sta glanced around him. It was no more than a few seconds, but that’s all a good warrior needs to turn the battle his way, and while he hated him, he would admit Clark was a very good warrior. Clark was nowhere to be seen in front of him or behind him. Only a frightened unicorn and an unconscious baby dragon remained along with him. The commotion had attracted more attention, as the crowd outside had increased, and down the hallway some of the medical staff and two police officers stood.

He tried to sniff, but could only sneeze due to the amount of feathers around his snout.

“Coward,” he growled, his eyes, ears, and nose searching for any trace. Instead it was his skin that found his assailant, his hide screaming and sputtering blood as a sharp quill pierced the lair of scales behind his left knee, which were thinner to permit flexibility.

The Draco stumbled forward whilst spinning, his right foot flying into the air and catching Clark on his shoulder, forcing him down to the ground with him. With a predatory growl, the larger alien flipped the human over him, then scrambled around, hooking a thick arm across his neck with the intent to squeeze the life out of him. A sharp blow was delivered to Clark’s midsection, making him cough up his last reserves of air.

As Clark struggled in the grip of the scaly arm, his vision began to fade to black. After thirteen years of evading and fighting, tricking and out-maneuvering with Vra’sta, he had finally been caught up to.

"Prey can't run forever," Vra'sta growled in his ear, his victory seeming secure.

Twilight stared wide-eyed in fear at the clash in front of her. She had dove for cover after the beast crashed through the door and dove for Clark. She had been so surprised she just locked up, not moving during the whole encounter, and while it was short it seemed to move in slow motion. And now, Clark was in a death grip. Twilight knew enough about the predatory creatures of the world to know that it wouldn’t be long for him.

It was wrong. Very very wrong. She couldn’t just let him die, even if there was some pre-existing dispute between these two that she had no business in, it didn’t justify murder! But what could she do? She was a tiny pony, and even with her magic, there were tons of variables involved: it wouldn’t work because they weren’t even from this planet, they could have a negative reaction to the energies, she could lose focus and putting too much energy into it, hurting them further. She bit her lip as the seconds crawled by, her thoughts zipping by at a million miles an hour. 
 “INCOMING!” A familiarly loud tomboyish voice called out from outside the window, breaking Twilight from her trance and attracting the attention of the two combatants. A cyan pegasus crashed through the window, the shards of glass reflected her trailing rainbow in a multitude of multicolored specks.

Several things happened at once. Twilight jumped out of the way of the flying shards of glass, Spike diving under her for protection. Vra’sta shielded his eyes from the shards of glass, only to be caught on his snout from what he learned later was a hoof, but it might as well have been a cargo train, sending him sprawling, losing his grasp on Clark, who gasped for air on the floor. 


The impact rattled Vra’sta’s bones, and his ears actually rang. He lay on his back, and opened his eyes slowly. His vision was clear, which was good, and he was greeted with a very angry looking blue pegasus. He blinked his eyes and slowly stood, drawing himself to his full height, standing tall enough to look down on his new attacker. His reptilian eyes met her rosy eyes, hers attempting to bore him into the ground. Her wings flared in an instinctual attempt at intimidation.
Vra’sta was suddenly aware of a coppery taste in his mouth, and something hard scraping against his back teeth. He swished his mouth around, and spat out the foreign object in mixture of blood, saliva, and a bit of the remaining feathers. The curved white object hit once with a sharp knock, and stuck in the red frothy bubble. He felt around his mouth with his tongue, finding a gap in the front of his teeth. It wasn’t a big deal: Draco fangs grew back rapidly. However, there was just another obstacle in his way. He drew his arm back to backhand her out of his way...

..only to feel his arm jerked down by some unseen force. He stumbled forward as his legs slammed together and were bound together. As he fell his arms were lashed to his sides. He thrashed and struggled against his invisible bonds as he saw his opponent do the same, falling from where he stood, attempting to deliver a death blow against the constrained Draco. 
 They fell, their faces mere inches from each other, snarling and glaring all they could do, their bonds holding them in an invisible vice.

Honestly, Rainbow Dash was scared out of her mind. First off, flying so low to the ground on such a busy day. With how fast she was going, if she hit anything it would’ve snapped her neck. Second, she had bust through a window. Her adrenaline was flowing at the time so she couldn’t feel any pain, but she knew she was cut up. Not badly, but it wasn't nothing.

“Thank Celestia I’m in a hospital,” she thought jokingly to herself. However, as those feats stated before were dangerous, she had preformed more dangerous before. No, those were merely additions to the fear that she felt now, attempting to stare down this...beast. It stared right back, it’s face impossible to read. Rainbow’s wings shot up, trying to maker herself seem bigger than she really was. The beast merely spat, and raised it’s arm. Dash got ready to dodge, depending on which direction it would strike from.

But she never got the chance. Her would be attacker was surrounded in a purple glow, his arm yanked to the ground, and then his side. Dash stepped back, folding her wings as she did so. She looked to her left to see a very focused Twilight, her horn aglow with magic as the sent out another spell to bind the beast. It fell the the ground with a loud thump as its legs failed it.

Dash turned to face the other, to see him already fall to the floor, much like his counter part. A knife clattered out of his hand as he fell just in front of his enemy, bound in a similar fashion. They still struggled, but with another surge of magic, they slowly stilled. Twilight relaxed, the ambient purple glow vanishing.

Twilight stepped over the now sleeping but still bound forms. 


“Thanks Rainbow,” she said, “It all happened just so fast. One minute I was talking and then..that..came in trying to kill him. I didn’t know whether or not it would turn on me next, and I wasn’t able to move. If you hadn’t come in, well I don’t want to think about it.” 


“No biggy,” Dash said, her voice ringing with confidence, “Element of Loyalty remember?” Her voice made it sound as if she just preformed a stunt she would pull on a daily basis.

Since the commotion had died down, those that were waiting outside entered the room, albeit carefully. Nurse Redheart and the other two Nurse Ponies, along with an orderly, a large dark blue stallion wearing a white shirt, and two police officers, one white and the other steel gray.

Dash shrinked back slightly as she saw the two officers. 


“Sorry about the window there,” she said, her eyes shifting to the floor. 


“After all that’s happened in here,” Redheart said, lighthearted despite the atmosphere. “The window is the least of my worries. Are you alright?”

 Twilight nodded. “I’m fine, just a little shaken. I think spike feinted a while ago.”

 “Yeah,” Dash chimed in. “I’m just a little cut up though. It’s those two I’d check out.” She jerked her head behind her. 
 Redheart nodded and with a jerk of her head the other two nurses began to make their way towards the unconscious two. The two officers behind her shifted their weight, and one began to speak. 


“If their injuries aren’t too severe, we’d like to take them to someplace where they would be less of a danger.” He was met with a withering look from Redheart. He stumbled over his words, and shrank in his place slightly. “I mean, after you uh, finished treating them. If they need it. Yeah.”

“Right...” Redheart understood their reasoning, but the well being of her patients, or any injured for that matter, came first. “For now, could you please deal with the crowd?” She motioned to what was left of the window, where what seemed all of Ponyville had gathered. The officers nodded in compliance and headed out to deal with the mass of ponies.

 “So about how long will they stay that way,” Redheart asked. 


“The magical bonds will fall off in about an hour, but they’ll be asleep like that for about twelve. Plenty of time to get the put somewhere safe.” 


“Easily,” one of the other nurses said, “considering other than a shallow stab wound, some bruises, and a cracked rib between them both, it shouldn’t take much time to get them good again.”
“Right. Well then let’s get to work. If you would excuse us please.” Redheart said as she walked past Twilight and Rainbow. Twilight shrugged, picked up what she could of her stuff and levitated spike onto her back, and walked out. Rainbow followed her. 


“So any idea on what that was Dash?” 


“A little. It came into town with Zecora. Seemed dangerous but it was calm and followed her. But it immediately ran for here when I mentioned that there was something from the stars as well. But I don’t know why it would.” 


Twilight's mind clicked, remembering what Clark had said to her last.

“Because they’re at war....” Twilight’s voice was so low Dash almost didn’t hear it. 


“What?”
 “When I was in there and talking to Clark, he mentioned that he crashed here because he was at war with whatever attacked him.”

Dash was silent while Twilight continued. “But what could they want here? If they’ve achieved space travel then we can’t offer them any technology. Resources...no...soldiers...no..." Twilight stopped in thought. Realizing what would happen if she stayed that way for long, Dash sprung into action. 


“Hey relax with the egg-head stuff for a while. At least until you’re back at the library.” Dash pushed open the front door with her hoof. The officers, with some help, had managed to disperse the crowd to a point where it was tolerable, but there was still a large amount of ponies out here. All eyes were on Twilight and Rainbow as they stepped out. If it weren’t for the two officers from earlier they would’ve been mobbed by a huge questioning crowd. Instead everypony just kept their distance, and parted as the pair left the scene.

 Not much time had passed, so it was still late in the morning, and there were still a fair amount of daylight hours waiting. Despite that, Twilight felt tired. She was an early riser, yes, but that had never been a problem before, and the amount of magic she used today was still minimal compared to some other spells she’s done.

As the ever powerful wheels of her mental processes spun, all Twilight wanted to do was go back to her room and go to sleep. She was vaguely aware of Dash saying something, by she was focused on her own thoughts. Her body was on auto-pilot for her house even though Dash was walking her there anyways. 


“..and so do you want me to bring the girls over or not?” Dash finished speaking, the last line breaking Twilight’s focus. 


“Not now Dash. I just feel really drained from all that, and I need a while to collect myself.”

 “Oh..” Dash wasn’t hurt, but worried about her friend. But Dash knew enough to know that it was bothering her, and that it would be better not to push it.

“Well, if you need us, just come get us.” Twilight nodded and magicked open the door to her home. As she closed the door behind her Dash had begun walking away but was still watching over her shoulder. Twilight smiled. Her friend meant best and she knew it, but she hadn’t been lying when she said she needed a moment.

She lay spike down in his basket, his panicked feint giving way to a power nap. She turned to her desk, everything already set out for her to work. Her quill made a quiet clink as she dipped it in ink. She paused a few seconds, thinking on what she would write. The sound of scratching filled the room soon after. 




Dear Princess Celestia,


Three weeks ago I sent you a letter detailing how an extra-terrestrial life form crashed here. He awoke today in good health and was able to answer a few questions (attached). However, it turns out another life form had crashed with him, and had appeared today as well. Then, there was an altercation. The two life forms races have been at war, and I fear it could now spill over into Equestria. I seek your advice, because I don’t know what to do....

Your Faithful Student,


Twilight Sparkle.



Twilight finished her letter, her mind drawing a blank as for what to put next. She decided it was enough and rolled it up along with the paper containing her interview with Clark. She put the scroll next to Spikes basket, a note that said “send when you awake” pinned to it. Twilight then headed upstairs and collapsed onto her bed, having had an incredibly short yet incredibly exhausting day.




Far above Equestria, there was a flicker as a narrow ship passed in front of the stars. A door on the underside opened, and five smooth objects were dropped, their oval shapes slowly falling towards the blue and green sphere below them. Plumes of blue flame shot out the back end of each, moving them further apart as they traced their path to their targets. They were slowly encased in flame as they entered the atmosphere, falling to ground to begin gathering necessary information.

And, as quickly as the ship appeared, it turned and sped away, not ever have been known to be there.

Comments

"Your planet has an abundance of friendship. We need it."

[Meta Knight]

interesting