FTL: Faster Than Luna · 5:54pm Jan 24th, 2015
After the events of Sins of a Celestial Empire, Princess Celestia's ruthlessly spread her kindness and generosity to countless worlds. Few had the strength of arms to oppose her merciless benevolence, and soon her Solar Fleet was poised to rule the entire quadrant. However, the Griffon Clans vowed to give her no quarter (or even cake), and their defiance forced Celestia's hoof. They would have to be made an example of.
Celestia entrusted command of the Solar Fleet to her sister Luna, whose own Lunar Fleet served to double the Equestrian forces bearding down on the Griffon Clans. However, their initial foray into Griffon space was met with disaster: not only were there griffon warriors waiting in ambush, but their initial deployment was so appallingly sloppy that the Solar Fleet suspected there was deliberate sabotage of their war plans.
The culprit was soon revealed as the Lunar Fleet dropped out of warp and opened fire on their brethren. Over the wailing of klaxons and bursts of weapons fire, the Solar Fleet heard her proclaim her grievances against her elder sibling. No more would she play second fiddle to Celestia, or tolerate the inclusion of unworthy species under the Equestrian banner. Luna now styled herself Nightmare Moon and announced her ambition of remaking the Equestrian Empire in her image.
The Solar Fleet found itself caught between the hammer of the Griffon Clans and the anvil of the Lunar Fleet, and though they struggled valiantly, their forces were all but annihilated. Only one brave scout ship managed to make it out intact. It would fall to the Empyrean Zyphr, commanded by Lieutenant Ophidian Gaze, along with his wing-pony Gusty Gallows and Magos Sunlit Sands, to report the extent of Luna's treachery back to Celestia.
Their first jump was to a FLT navigation beacon far in the middle of nowhere, where they discovered the wreckage of one of the countless minor skirmishes between Equestrian and Griffon soldiers. While salvaging scrap from the battlefield, they came across a Griffon ship which had been crippled and left to drift in space. Judging by the butchered corpses floating around inside, food had run out shortly after, and cannibalism set in.
Gusty Gallows was assigned search duty due to being a pegasus, and therefore better at navigating a zero-gravity environment. Nothing of value was discovered in the wreck, though he found a tightly locked deep freezer. A breaching charge soon revealed that one member of the crew had escaped death by freezing herself inside. Once thawed in the ship's med-bay, she revealed that her name was Giselle, the ship's quartermaster. Despite the enmity between their two races, she vowed to repay her debt of honor to Gusty Gallows by seeing him safely back to Equestria.
She also provided them with the location of a hidden pirate base, where they could evade the Lunar Fleet. Deadwater Cove proved to be well hidden within the rotting carcass of a space whale, and its inhabitants every bit as seedy as expected. Ophidian Gaze did not plan to stay for long, but his ire was soon provoked when a pirate vessel demanded his warp-drive for booty. A precise flurry of laser blasts courtesy of Sunlit Sands soon humbled the pirate, as they cut through his feeble shields and fried his weapons systems. No sooner would he repair it than another laser beam would methodologically undo his work, until the ship tore apart from the damage.
Ophidian Gaze turned his back to the wreckage and calmly entered in the next coordinates, where he found an automated rebel scout blockading a remote Equestrian colony. As this vessel lacked even shields, he simply repeated his previous tactic of knocking out the weapons systems and twisting the knife while it was still in the wound. The ship was soon dispatched, and the grateful locals rewarded him with all the supplies they could spare.
Emboldened by this string of successes, Ophidian Gaze blazed a path of glory through the sector, confounding pirate raiders and smugglers alike until he amassed a small fortune, which allowed him to substantially improve his meager shields, engine, and reactor core. There was even enough room in the new budget for a teleportation room, which he would soon put to good use when they happened upon a notorious slaver.
After telling the slaver where he could put his sales offers, Ophidian Gaze tore him a new one by launching a missile at his shields, and disabling the weapons with the laser. He then unleashed an infuriated Giselle upon the survivors, who perished beneath her talons. The slaves were soon liberated, and although many chose to be dropped off at the nearest colony, a timid changeling named Beren chose to remain behind. Not only did she share her expertise with shields, but used the boost of magic she received from feeding off of the crew's love to power the shields, freeing up power for the weapons.
Their journey next took them through the fragments of the Crystal Empire, who had yet to acknowledge the futility of resisting Celstia's hospitality. Although the Crystal Empire's remaining ships tried to stop the Empyrean Zyphr, their weapons were no match for Sunlit Sand's unerring accuracy, and Beren's shields presented a formidable barrier. Finally, a brave ship decided to attempt a teleport-assault while the Zyphr was lost in a nebula suffering severe ion storms. The boarding team was wise to choose an unused storage room for their attempt, but was unfortunate enough to interrupt Gusty Gallows and Giselle's effort at improving inter-special relations. After receiving a sound thrashing, only one of the invaders was lucky enough to be teleported away as his ship beat a hasty retreat, leaving the other crystal pony to Giselle's mercy.
After listening through the long list of recipes Giselle knew for crystal ponies, Ophidian Gaze offered their captive a choice; she could either serve aboard the Zypher or be served as dinner. Gaze's words were very persuasive, and the crew soon welcomed Beryl to its growing roster of misfits.
The Zypher finally made it home to Equestria, with the Lunar Fleet on its heels. Even as they crossed into their native system, they could see the engines of Luna's flaship, Selune, twinkling in the night sky like a star. One last round of repairs and upgrades were added to the Zyphr as the rebel fleet closed in, and the crew shared one last drink in the dining room. Even though they did not start out as friends, they would die as comrades, if it came that far.
The Selune dropped into orbit of Equstria like a thunderbolt. Its mighty cannons, combined with the full force of the Lunar Fleet, made short work of the Home Guard fleet and defensive emplacements. Amidst the chaos of battle, however, the Zyphr slipped into one of Selune's blind spots and teleported several bombs into critical areas of the flaghsip; the med-bay, shield room, and oxygen generator. Fires soon broke out, and the emergency response crews deployed to extinguish them found the crystalline form of Beryl blocking their path. Immune to heat and fire, she could fan the flame to her hearts content, and stymie any attempt to extinguish them.
Meanwhile, Giselle had ventured deeper into the bowels of the flagship, cutting down anypony in her way, until she reached the engine room. She shot out the intermix regulator, causing an antimatter imbalance in the warp core that would destroy the Selune from the inside. Their job done, Giselle and Beryl were teleported out as the warp core went critical, igniting in a spectacular display of fireworks that brought the battle to a screeching halt.
But out from the smoke and wreckage of Selune emerged a sinister figure. Princess Luna's regal form was still recognizable despite the changes to her physical being brought on by her corruption and jealousy. Nightmare Moon was indeed a fitting title for her, as she caused even the implacable Giselle to tremble at the knees.
The tip of Nightmare Moon's horn glowed, and a vivid blue beam shot across the void, right through Beren's shields. It pierced the heart of the Zypher, leaving fires and hull breeches in its wake. The crew gathered in the cockpit as their ship failed, content in the knowledge that this was their finest hour.
In the vast space between the planets, so far as to appear nothing more than a pinprick of light amongst an endless sea of stars, appeared a being they all knew had to be Princess Celestia, at last ready to throw her hoof into the battle. The two fleets were treated to the spectacle of two god-like beings battling for supremacy in the eternal void, launching attacks at each other from hundreds of kilometers away. Unwilling, or perhaps unable, to strike down her sister, Celestia could only hold Nightmare Moon's attacks at bay. In an attempt to force Celestia to lower her guard, Nightmare Moon shot another beam at the Zyphr, this one aimed directly at the cockpit.
A radiant warmth enveloped the Zyphr, deflecting Nightmare Moon's attack. It was all the opening Nightmare Moon needed to teleport through the vast reaches of space and gore Celestia with her horn. Celestia's blood spilled amongst the stars as she held tightly onto her sister and revealed her final deception. One of the disabled defense emplacements suddenly reactivated to reveal Celestia's most powerful weapon: the Orbital Friendship Cannon.
A prismatic beam washed over both alicorns as the full might of Equestria's friendship was brought to bear on Nightmare Moon, whose dark figure melted away before its rainbow colors. When the light died down, all that remained of Nightmare Moon was the imprint of her essence locked in the surface of the moon.
The Lunar Fleet scattered upon witnessing the defeat of their leader. Some ships powered down and sued for peace, while others fled deep into uncharted star systems. The back of the rebellion had been broken, but at the cost of countless lives, and the galaxy of peace Celestia had once envisioned now lay burning in flames before her.
But on the bridge of one lowly scout ship, there were six souls who would do their best to rekindle the fires of friendship in the stars above.
A a bit more blatantly darker than before but just as amusing.
I really do love this. I've always been a fan of the SoaSE series and I love this combination of that and MLP. Keep up the awesome work.