“Sir, we have visitors.”
The unicorn chief security officer set his coffee down and trotted over to the Knight who had spoken. Through the entrance camera, he caught sight of a tall red Earth pony dressed in Lunar Knight attire, with what appeared to be a wounded pegasus on his back. Taking a closer look, the pegasus matched the colors and size of the one they had been holding for the Empress.
“Who the hell is that, and what’s he doing with my precious prisoner?”
***
Nocturne awoke slowly, rolling over to try and go back to sleep. He didn’t bother trying to stay awake any more. The pain was getting to be too much. He was almost asleep again when he realized there was somepony else in the room. He rolled over to find himself face to face with a mane of dark gray hair, a golden eye peering through the curls.
Nocturne tried to let out a surprised yell, but her hoof pressed tightly to his mouth, muffling his shout. The pegasus colt would’ve thought he was dreaming if it weren’t for the hoof in his mouth. She was definitely real. He could taste it. Nocturne looked past Nimbus towards the open door of his cell.
Freedom. Nimbus moved back and Nocturne scrambled to his hooves, almost falling over at first from the exertion. He looked over at Nimbus, his eyes drawn to her neck, and reached out to touch her pendant. His hoof brushed against the sun and its octet of spikes before Nimbus began pointing outside the cell and gently beating her wings for emphasis. Nocturne met here panicked yellow gaze for a moment before his eyes lit up and he nodded, scrambling outside his cell. They passed several unconscious Knights on their way out, small dart tips extending from their exposed necks.
***
Scatterbrain and Sapphire Shock watched the duo’s progress from a security room. Inside the room, two unconscious Knights were piled in the corner next to their disassembled armor. Scatterbrain worked on unlocking the path for Nimbus and Nocturne while Sapphire worked on keeping the rest of the base off of alerted status.
In another camera, Sapphire Shock tracked Atlas, carrying the unconscious prisoner on his back. Atlas was being escorted by two other guards, but they weren’t anything he couldn’t handle on his own. So far, so good.
***
“What’s your name, tough guy?” the Lunar Knight at the entrance questioned Atlas, casting glances at the unconscious pony on his back.
“Golden Delicious,” Atlas lied. He nodded to the pony he was carrying. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got this escaped prisoner to escort back to his cell.”
“That really is him, huh? How did he even escape without us noticing?”
“You know them rebels. They’re a crafty bunch.”
The guard pony studied Atlas’ face carefully before finally relaxing and letting out a chuckle. “Yeah, yeah. How else are we gonna explain why we haven’t caught them all yet? Anyway, let me help you get this traitor back to his cell. We don’t want to take any chances with these lot.”
Atlas remained perfectly calm, nodding at the guard. The pegasus on his back hadn’t stirred since he had knocked him out in his cell aboard the Eventide. “Okay then, partner. Lead the way.”
***
“Hey, what’s your—” The dark blue mare turned and put a hoof to her lips, gesturing for Nocturne to remain quiet. He sighed and kept his trap shut, staying to the shadows as they made their way through the facility. Nocturne kept track of the signs posted on the walls. They still had two more layers before they made it to the surface.
Then they’d be free. He’d be free. His wings tried to extend by instinct after those last few thoughts, but the pain from the right wing almost crippled him again. Nimbus turned and gave him an odd look before continuing on, hopping over another unconscious knight.
***
“He says the prisoner escaped, sir, but he managed to track him down and bring him back.”
The officer cast his gaze to the floor and rubbed his exposed chin thoughtfully. “You four. Come with me.” The chief officer unicorn pointed to a group of four Knights, motioning for them to follow. Each of them saluted, their silver-plated hooves striking their helmets. “I’m going to head down there personally and have a little chat with our prisoner.”
***
“Uh, SB? We’ve got a problem.”
“Oh boy! I like problem solving. What’ve we got?”
“That.” Sapphire Shock pointed to the scene on the camera. The chief unicorn officer and his entourage. All traces of a smile faded immediately from Scatterbrain’s muzzle. If she had knuckles, she would have cracked them.
“Spectre,” Scatterbrain called, breaking radio silence. “Find another way out of there. We’ve got heavily-armed trouble headed your way.” On the camera, Nimbus nodded and ducked into a side passage suddenly. Nocturne, in a daze, kept ambling forwards, and Nimbus had to reach back out and drag him in.
***
“His cell’s down this hallw—what the hell happened here?” The two guards stopped and looked down the hall, several of their friends unconscious on the floor. Atlas mentally sighed at Nimbus. I told her to hide the bodies... He sat the pegasus down. “More prisoners must’ve escaped. Go check the other cells.”
The other two guards nodded, the sound of their running drowning out the clacking of Atlas’ kinetic rifle unfolding and charging. By the time they did hear the distinctive thunderclap of a kinetic discharge, it was too late for both of them. Atlas stopped dead in his tracks, however, when an unfamiliar voice began broadcasting over the facility speakers.
“Attention, ponies. We’ve got unidentified intruders in the facility. Permission granted to terminate any non-Lunar Imperial on sight. Find them an-”
The gruff voice was abruptly cut off, and soon replaced by a more upbeat one. “Heya, everypony! Looks like you know we’re here now, so I’d say it’s time to... PAR-TAY!”
The speakers throughout the facility began thumping with the sound of a mad bass beat, soon joined by more and more electronic notes as Scatterbrain’s song progressed into a synthetic symphony.
***
“Dusk Dancer,” a rumbling voice crackled into the unicorn’s ear. The unicorn had been camping on top of a nearby building, making sure nopony else made it through. She almost decided to act once Scatterbrain broke radio silence. She wouldn’t interfere unless their plans turned sour. But now that Atlas was breaking radio silence, she was already regretting her decision to wait.
“It’s showtime.”
The unicorn’s rockets ignited, and she swooped off into the night. When she neared the facility entrance, she tore the door off of its hinges with her magic and descended inside, racing to catch up to her friends.
***
“Left. Take a right. No, your other right. There you go. Keep moving... there.” Following Sapphire Shock’s instructions, Nimbus and Nocturne managed to catch up with Atlas. Nocturne opened his mouth to say something when the door to their right opened, the two lead Templars stepping inside and quickly taking firing positions with their heavy rifles. The door closed behind them, trapping Atlas, Nimbus, and Nocturne with the two charged Templars. Atlas, thinking quickly, turned sideways, placing himself in front of Nocturne and Nimbus. His right side, facing the knights, rippled and briefly took on the appearance of plated metal.
The Templars fired.
Nocturne watched Atlas yell out and grit his teeth together as his body began taking the fire for his friends, each round threatening to topple him. The initial volley soon ceased, but Atlas still stood, breathing heavily. Blood and spent kinetic rounds poured from his sides. He turned to face the knights once more, spitting out blood.
“My turn.” Atlas targeted the left Templar and fired, sending a kinetic slug volley screaming towards the knight. He took the three rounds in the center of his neck and fell to one knee, his armor chipped around the entry wounds. He then toppled over on his side, letting out a pained scream as Atlas put another volley through his neck. While Atlas’ rifle was recycling, the second knight fired again, catching Atlas in the leg, finally knocking the stalwart pony to the floor. He then acquired a lock on Nocturne and prepared to fire.
***
“Dammit. Get this door open. I want these rebels DEAD!” The chief officer bellowed, unable to open the doors even with his magic; a fail-safe for occasions such as these. One of the rear Templars nodded and began interfacing with a panel on the wall, his eyepiece flashing with lines of code as he worked to crack open the door.
CRACK.
The working Templar’s helmet split open with a loud crunch of metal, and he slumped against the wall. The remaining knight and the officer turned to see two white mares staring them down, one of them carrying an elongated sniper rifle and grinning maniacally at them. The last knight primed his rifle and took a firing stance, but his entire rifle glowed a deep blue and caved inwards in several vital places, rendering the weapon inoperable. The knight growled and ditched the rifle, looking around the hallway, trying to find some cover. Finding none, the earth pony let out a final battle cry and charged forward, intending to gore at least one of the rebels with the blade that lay hidden inside his leg armor.
He didn’t get very far before the unicorn rebel began her own charge. The knight missed her movements while blinking. The unicorn extruded her foreleg and rammed it into his chest at top speed, the force of impact shattering his chest armor and fracturing the bones in his chest area. The knight slammed backwards into the wall, leaving a stallion-shaped dent. The chief unicorn officer scowled and closed his eyes, vanishing an instant later.
“Aw, looks like he didn’t want to play!” Scatterbrain complained while working on the door remotely, opening just in time for an incoming pegasus to scream past them through the aperture. No, not a pegasus...Scatterbrain sniffed the air. Rocket fuel?
“Dusk Dancer!”
The unicorn flew faster than she ever had before, pushing her rockets to the limit. She caught sight of the knight about to fire and, with a burst of magic, jerked the Templar’s firing arm upwards, the shots meant for Nocturne striking the walls instead. Dusk Dancer then lowered her head, charging her horn with all of her magic that she could manage, and rammed forward, goring right through the dense silver lunite metal and into the stallion’s brain, killing him instantly. All five of her friends stared at her in a mixture of awe and horror. Dusk Dancer, instead of pulling her horn back out, angled her neck upwards, slicing a path up and out of the pony’s skull, tearing it open in a spectacular geyser of blood and brain matter.
Scatterbrain and Sapphire Shock joined up with them in the gory aftermath, each pony gathering around Atlas who, to their relief, had managed to get back up. Most of the rounds he had taken had been deflected by a momentary skin enhancement, but a few had still managed to get through, as well as several rounds in his leg. The five reunited Sunseekers all turned their attention towards the bloodied Nocturne. Dusk Dancer, Sapphire Shock and Scatterbrain all said aloud simultaneously, “Hey, you’re the colt from my dreams!”
As confused as the pegasus was, he didn’t get much time to sort things out. Time seemed to suddenly slow down for Nocturne. Looking past Nimbus, the pegasus noticed a faint shimmer in the air. The shimmer coalesced into the form of the chief unicorn, grinning like a madpony and charging his rifle. None of his friends seemed to notice the newcomer yet.
Thinking quickly, Nocturne pushed Nimbus aside and raced forward, adrenaline powering his body where his muscles had failed. Rapidly closing the distance on hoof, Nocturne reached the officer in time to punch him square in the jaw as hard as he could, snapping his head back with a sickening crunch. The officer’s rifle discharged several rounds harmlessly into the ceiling tiles. The pony officer shifted from one front hoof to the other a few times before collapsing against the wall.
Both Sapphire Shock and Dusk Dancer shifted slightly, feeling a new energy in the air. A red beam shot quickly from the wounded unicorn’s horn, but rather than striking any of them, it dissipated through the ceiling. This last burst of odd magic drained him of his remaining strength, and the chief officer laid his head back, succumbing to his deep wounds.
Nocturne dropped to his hooves, his gray coat covered in sweat. “What... what did he just cast?”
Dusk Dancer closed her eyes. Her horn began to glow her distinct purple shortly before her eyes shot back open, covered in an eerie crimson glow. Her mouth opened to speak, but instead of her voice, it was the unicorn officer’s.
“Your majesty, I’m afraid we have failed you. Section Fifteen and the Prophesied Pegasus have fallen to the rebels. Noctem in perpetuum duret.”
The crimson glow faded, and the captain shook her head. “Looks like he got a message through to Luna herself. What did he mean by ‘prophesied pegasus?’”
All five of Nocturne’s rescuers immediately looked at him. He shrugged. “Well, whatever that means, we definitely have Her attention now.”
Dusk Dancer tilted her head to one side. “Trail Blazer, prep the med bay. We’ve got wounded. I’m going to teleport us all to the transport bay.”
“Wait, can you even—” came the concerned, ragged voice of Nocturne.
Pop.
***
Even though he was out of what he could only describe as hell, Nocturne still somewhat resented the fact that he had just woken up again on a cold table. At least this time, instead of a bench in a cell, it was an operating table in a ship full of rather friendly folk. And this time, he could move both of his wings, only they both felt... different. Heavier. Metallic.
With enough concentration, Nocturne was able to shift his new wings from pegasus feathers into razor sharp triangular plates, creating a lethally sharp edge. His new wings caught the light from overhead and glinted back in his eyes, reminding him of dragon scales. Soft, cyan glows emanated from the seams where one scale met another and formed a tessellation. Nocturne relaxed, and the scales returned to their usual pegasus feather shape and look, yet still reflected some light, giving a subtle metallic hint to his new wings.
Hopping off the table, Nocturne grabbed his cloak and made his way to the bridge where the rest of the Sunseekers were gathered around a large circular conference table. Dusk Dancer was the first to speak.
“Welcome to the Eventide. Whether you choose to stay or go is your business, but if you want to get a little payback for whatever they did to you, all we ask is that you pick yourself a codename.”
Still standing, Nocturne gave it some thought before shifting his cloak aside to reveal his cutie mark, three black quarter notes surrounded by a golden crescent moon. Several of the gathered Sunseekers gaped at his rare moon-related cutie mark. “How about... ‘The Minstrel?’”
“Works for me. Have a seat, Minstrel. Okay, ponies. What’s our next move?”
This time, it was Atlas’ turn to speak up. He relocated a heavy object from his lap to the table, and the book landed with a loud thud and a cloud of dust.
“Ponyville.”
End of Act One