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// 14 - She Awakens 
// Story: Universal Language 
// by David Silver 
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Above them, a creature opened her eyes, both glimmering with power. She made a faint gesture with a hoof, but it was her magic that threw open the pod door, letting the fluids splash out in a great spreading wave in the gravityless room. The glowing purple and white of her mane and tail flowed like thick liquid, spilling into a fantastic array of colors as she woke up for the first time in years. She gasped in surprise, sucking down fresh air, which made her chest ache and her head pound, but she recovered quickly.

"Status report," were the first words from her snout. "Have we arrived, or is this an emergency?" The fluid freed with her crashed against the walls, falling into vents that were built to catch it. She stood, only to begin floating, drifting with a yawn, eyes closed as she stretched, long and slow. "Ugh." Her whole body felt sore, her muscles and joints stiff from the extended period of disuse. She forced herself to swim through the air, wiggling her way back towards the doorway and beyond it, heading deeper into the ship.

A window sprang open in front of her, showing the translated media of the world below. "Fascinating." She rubbed her chin, considering the deluge of content. "They've found a world worth the stop then." Twilight nodded to herself, growing more alert by the moment. "I should find out what they did with me while I was gone." She didn't appear to be particularly worried about that, or her coma-like state, as she simply laughed softly to herself and vanished into the hallways.

Fluttershy squeaked when Twilight almost floated past her room. "T-Twilight!" she whistled out with a stutter. "It's good to see you, ma'am. Welcome back to the world of the awake."

Twilight giggled and swooped in, almost crashing into the walls, but she slowed enough to keep from doing any damage as she pulled herself to a stop and shifted to an upright position, putting her hooves at her hips with confidence and authority in her tone. "You don't need to call me ma'am. I was promoted, but we are still friends." She spread her wings wide. "I should use these more often. The computer has been bombarding me with everything about the world. We've reached it, I assume?"

"Yes." Fluttershy put a hoof at her chin. "Do you want me to start on the descent? Rainbow is ready to go."

Twilight considered that, as she seemed to be considering many things at once, all from different angles. "No, not yet. We can take a little longer. It's fine if we descend later." She hummed as the media continued. "This is a species deep in its infancy. It doesn't know where to move its limbs. It is lost, but its eyes shine with potential."

She turned to Fluttershy. "Have you had contact with them?"

Fluttershy squeaked as she was addressed. "Oh, um, very little, ma—Twilight! I've been working on things, here." She showed off her systems, the forest of plastic walls and virtual plants she had arranged around herself, setting the room into a lush environment filled with the sound of birdsong and animals going about their lives, all digital illusions, but so perfect in form and motion that it was impossible to tell without careful examination. "I'm almost done with the universal translator. It should work on all human languages."

"Perfect." Twilight flapped her wings once, sending her to a window that overlooked the earth. "Finish that, and let me know. I have a message for them. They may not like it, but it will be for their good." She crossed her hooves behind her back as she stared down at the white and blue marble of the planet, taking in its beautiful form and endless oceans, and all the mysteries they were soon to find hidden in its depths. "A brave new world awaits us, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy swallowed nervously. "Um. Applejack is down there, ma'am. She's made a close friend, and they have a foal."

Twilight spun in place, spinning on a heel with precision as she set both her hooves at her hips in a regal pose of authority and confidence. "Oh? We'll have to give our well wishes, but the task is simple. We must do what we came here to do. All of us." She relaxed her pose. "Still, if she found a friend, that's good. It means the kindness in their eyes wasn't just hopeful dreaming on my part."

"No," whispered Fluttershy gently. "They are a species worth saving."

Twilight nodded firmly. "They're welcome for it. With luck, they'll learn how to swim soon."

Fluttershy couldn't help but smile at that.

Twilight left with a powerful flap, muttering soft plans under her breath in breathless whistles as she went. "If we do this, we can't go back, but, if we don't..." She paused in thought as she continued, mulling over the possibilities as she considered the last great task ahead of her. "I have to be ready."

She landed on a console, coming to a smooth halt as she pressed at buttons with hooves and her magic. Her hooves were not split, nor had the other adjustments the others had. She was confident that her magic would serve her well enough for this mission, as it always had before. There was no reason to do things differently now.

"Captain's log, supplemental." She chuckled softly at the idea of Star Trek coming true. That show had reached them ages ago. "We have reached Earth, and its humans. They are in worse shape than we first saw them, but that brightness is still there. They are a sick, young, species. They need our help. The only problem is getting them to accept it. They need a push." She typed some things in. "We'll give them one. Gentle, but firm. If they don't come out the other side better for it, we failed, and they deserve their end."

She deflated, wings sagging. "A pity this is such an all or nothing mission. The ship can't make it home." She pressed another few buttons with a thoughtful scrunch to her snout. "We make friends, we take the world, or we die peacefully, accepting our mistakes. I don't like that last option." She whistled with a sharp click of her tongue on her teeth. "I don't plan to take it."

Twilight Sparkle made her way through the ship, moving between its many hallways, checking things out and adjusting others. "The human mind is unique. It's full of strange contradictions. They are one with their technology, and yet afraid of it." She glanced up as the media continued, playing quietly. "What wonders, or nightmares, await them on the other side, if we were to just leave them to their own devices?"





Down below, several men glared at one another. "Energy, the heat." He waved at a report. "It's heating up. The alien vessel is doing something and I don't know what. None of us do. Staring at is isn't getting us any answers."

One of the men, in a wheelchair, ground his teeth with a rough growl. "None of that matters. They're not going anywhere. We can wait until they're done doing whatever they're doing." He rested his chin on his fist, deep in thought. "We need a strategy."

"Sir." A new soldier arrived, setting a paper down on their table. "Just arrived."

They glanced over it, scowling darkly at what they read there. "Nukes?" He shoved the paper back towards the soldier. "Nukes! It's like I'm working with toddlers." He looked to one of his companions. "This is an advanced species that had the technology and will to make it through lightyears of hostile nothing to reach us.  A nuclear explosion? You think that will just stop them? Or make them even more determined?"

"We don't have any other weapons that could touch them." He sighed as he held up a hand to try and stall his superior officer's reply, already knowing what he would say. "I'm aware. I asked for all means available to us be presented. This is just one option, and it's one I dislike with every fiber of my being." He paused to cough roughly into his hand, wincing as he swallowed against the pain in his chest. "But, sir, we have nothing else. No matter what we do, they will land, or they won't."

"One already did." He drummed his fingers on his armrest. "And another just got a sweetheart deal from Canada. They're opening their arms wide for them." He grumbled at that. "And that other country is eating it up like chocolate cake." He was even less pleased by that. "Why? What are we missing?"

The room fell quiet a moment, each looking at one another. Nobody knew the answer to that question.

"Sir." The soldier standing there fidgeted. "Speaking personally, sir, this is my home, too. If they come here and kill us all, that's one thing, but I won't just stand here and let you blow us up." He squared his shoulders, not trembling in fear as he faced down the man in charge.

The general smiled at that. "Why aren't you sitting here?" Despite his words, he waved for the soldier to leave. "Still, he has a point. If we press that big red button, we'll be the one raining nuclear waste down on our head, and it probably won't work. No, we can't go with that." He shifted in his chair to look over at a nearby screen that had been tuned to the news, watching footage of Applejack and Cindy from earlier that day as they went about their lives. "These creatures are in love, with each other, and with us. We can't just put that aside. Our American stubbornness isn't going to save us here."

The others nodded, taking their leader's word for what it was.





Applejack stepped up along the line, dropping her bag of groceries down. "Thank ya kindly."

The cash clerk smiled as she began swiping the goods through into a more durable bag. "I hope you found everything you needed today."

"It's all 'rranged nicely enough." Applejack glanced over her shoulder at the other shoppers waiting their turn. "Ah done found what ah needed. Some fruit fer mah lil' boy." She directed a hoof to where Cindy had her son in a carrier, lifting him up so he could look around the store, interested in everything and waving happily to people as they went by. "It's amazin' he's already ready fer fruit, but if he wants it, he's gettin' it!"

"You're going to spoil him," giggled the cashier as she finished packing things up. "There we go. You two have a nice day now, alright?"

Applejack hefted up the bag in her jaws and made her way out of the store, thanking the worker as she left. She turned about to face Cindy. "We get—"

She didn't get to finish her question. Instead, a group of armed men burst out from around a corner, each of them wearing tactical gear and guns on their backs, holding devices that were pointed at Applejack. Several more joined them as they fanned out, surrounding Applejack with an expert efficiency that startled her into action. She dropped the bag and leaped back away from the soldiers, snorting loudly in alarm. Cindy screamed, ducking and curling around her child defensively.

Others in the area did much the same, most fleeing away if the option was at all available. The scene transformed in an instant into chaos and confusion as people yelled for help and others screamed in terror. In the middle of it all, the soldiers only moved in to surround Applejack more closely, making sure to give her nowhere to run.

"Don't need no guards to do a store run," Applejack muttered to herself. "It'll just be a second." She felt one of them press a gun to her rump and she snapped, lashing a hoof back him with all the power her equine hindlegs had stored in them. It smashed into his chest and sent him flying back with a scream.

That seemed to startle the others into action, and they opened fire, letting out a cacophony of bullets that ripped into Applejack's coat with equal parts sound and fury, but the moment the guns opened up, so did she, twisting about on her back legs and spinning to kick at the nearest ones with her front hooves, crashing into them with an angry and shrill whistle unlike any she had made before.

The bullets weren't tearing her to shreds, only seeming to make her more furious with each impact. She twisted in place, keeping her legs at all times between her and the people trying to harm her. When one landed a blow on her flank, she kicked them in the face hard enough to break their neck with a sickening crunch that echoed in the chaos.

In the end, the attempt to assault Applejack failed, but it ended up in the news all the same. The Secret Service swore that she was not allowed to go without them, for any period of time, no matter how short it might be.