//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: Thunder of Celestia 
// by Cabochard 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 3


During the 37th millennium, Celestia’s top engineers perfected space travel, and she took a fleet out for a great crusade through space. After leaving the planet Equestria and immediately headed towards a sector that would later come to be known the Segmentum Solaris. Upon her arrival, Celestia was immediately hailed as a goddess by the planets’ primitive civilizations, and Celestia stayed there for millennia, helping advance technology, and starting an entire religion based around her. This era has two names. One is The Age of Darkness, its name on Equestria, because while Celestia was gone, Luna’s rule threw Equestria into a huge planet-spanning battle. In the Segmentum, however, it is known as the Age of Enlightenment, because of the technological leaps that occurred during it. 

However, all good things must come to an end, and this was no exception. Celestia eventually left, to bring the rest of the galaxy under her wing. She swore to protect them, and a huge feast was thrown upon her departing. She travelled through the galaxy, unifying it under her rule, and her worship, until the days of the Luna Heresy.





Thunder knew something was wrong the instant the Celestia came out of Warp space. The main reason was the report he had just received from the spy the Inquisition had posted among the rebels. Supposedly, the rebels had somehow amassed a fleet containing two dozen Annihilator class ships and several hundred smaller escort cruisers. This was highly disturbing, as it meant that the rebels now had enough firepower to match even the Imperial Navy. To make things worse, that had been the spy’s last transmission, and he was presumed dead or worse. Because of this report, Thunder had ordered that all soldiers be at their battle stations, and the captains of the five escort cruisers accompanying the Celestia, the Octavia, the Gilded, the Equestrian’s Blade, the Canterlot’s Hope, and the Warp Cruiser, had done the same. So, they was prepared when, the instant they came out of Warp space, four Annihilator classes immediately opened fire with their twin Party Cannons and dozens of cupcake guns.

The Celestia easily absorbed the two shells from the Party Cannons, and the cupcake guns could barely make a scratch on the ship, but it wouldn’t take long before the ships launched their fighters and got close enough to do some real damage.

“Fire all Party Cannons at the enemy ships and prepare to scramble fighter jets. Use explosive shells. Keep Dragonfire guns ready for the enemy fighters, but try not to kill any of our own.” Thunder said, perfectly calmly. He was finally in a situation he had prepared for. He could even hear his tactics teacher’s voice in his head. You are outnumbered, but you have more firepower than your enemy. What do you do? Well, that’s easy. I blow them to hell! Thunder smiled at the thought, and his smile only grew larger when one of the enemy ships blew up, causing shrapnel to ping off the big windows around the bridge. Then an idea occurred to him. “Cease fire, boost shields to 150% and open up communications! I want to see if I can get them to come over to our side. We have a limited supply of ammo after all!” he yelled. All the officers looked at him bizarrely, but obeyed his orders anyway. Enemy fire ceased, and the enemy captain’s faces popped upon the pulpit screen, both with a look of rage on their faces.

“This is Captain Angel Fluff of the Gladius.” said one, introducing himself and almost causing Thunder to burst out laughing at the ridiculous name. He was obviously a grizzled veteran, with a face covered in scars, an orange mane dotted with grey and a dark orange body, also dotted with grey. The other one introduced himself as Captain Storm Hawk, of the Salamander. He was a much younger soldier, obviously green. Literally and figuratively. His entire body was green, and his mane was simply a darker shade of green. This was probably his first battle, contrasting with the fact the other guy looked like he had only two days left until retirement. They both composed themselves, and demanded to know what this was about.

After they had calmed down, Thunder said, “Captains, I am Captain Thunder Forge of the Celestia. My ship is fresh from the docks, but is obviously more powerful than both of yours combined. You have no hope of beating me. I graduated from Twilight Sparkle’s School for Aspiring Captains at the top of my class, and my ship is outfitted with the latest tech. However, Queen Celestia, in her infinite goodness, has not ordered me to destroy you on sight, meaning I should attempt to bring you back into the forgiving arms of the Empire. Listen closely, because I will only make this offer once. Surrender, and join me on my crusade through the Segmentum Solaris, and you will be absolved of all crimes. If you refuse, I will destroy you. What do you say to this generous offer?” 

Of course, the rebels refused, and they began to open fire once more. Hundreds of tiny little ships began to stream out of the sides of the Annihilators, and the Celestia reciprocated with her own fighters. Before the enemy fighters could get within range to put a single scratch on Thunder’s ship, however, Dragonfire guns began laying into them, using their trademark cupcake shaped explosive ammunition, designed for maximum destructive power along with maximum compactness. Each shot from the quad guns placed on the Celestia fired four of the extremely destructive little pastry shaped suckers, and each one could take out multiple fighters, so the no-ponies land  between the Celestia, Gladius, and Salamander quickly turned into a brightly lit area filled with exploding ships, all of them the enemy’s. Scootaloo’s fighters did an excellent job, not losing a single fighter to enemy or friendly fire. While the little ships were having their battle, the bigger ships were having a bigger battle. Celestia’s escorts made short work of the three enemy escorts, and ship itself opened fire with all its Party Cannons, easily destroying the Salamander with a shot to the bridge, killing the captain and every essential officer aboard. The Gladius, however, proved a much more difficult enemy.

“Captain, they’re firing! They’ve switched to EMP shells! The shields can take it for now, but a couple more shots and they’ll be down and we’ll be sitting ducks!” yelled the internal systems officer, a dark red mare with a golden mane. 

“Boost them then! Focus all Party Cannons on the Gladius, and tell the Gilded and Octavia to do the same! Tell the rest to circle around and try to take them out from behind!” ordered Thunder, his mind racing. This enemy would prove trying, and Thunder did not want to lose too many allies, or take a direct hit from an EMP equipped Party Cannon. That could disable life support, killing good soldiers. He watched as the escorts did as he ordered, and the Gladius’ engines were disabled. Angel Fluff would not give up however, and the shields kept taking hits. 

“Shields down on both us and them sir!” yelled the mare from before. Thunder watched in anticipation as the next shot would decide the victor. Luckily, the Celestia fired first, and Thunder was treated to the beautiful sight of the enemy ship taking a shot that punched through the armor and detonated amidships, throwing the Gladius’ next shot off target, causing it to miss by a huge margin. He watched as every light on the enemy ship winked out, and the ship simply stood there, defeated. A huge cheer started up on the bridge, ponies jumping up and hugging each other, glad to have survived their first battle on the ship. 

However, Thunder could only think of one thing during this however. Something Lady Sparkle had said when she had been teaching one of his classes. Every time you are in a battle, you must remember you are killing hundreds of thousands of ponies with your orders. You speak and they die. Remember that, because with that terrible power comes an even more terrible responsibility. To ensure that nopony, not even your enemies, dies in vain. With the destruction of the enemy ships, Thunder finally understood what she had meant. His enemies had died so that he could protect their friends and families by bringing them back under the protective wing of Queen Celestia’s Holy Empire. He would ensure he achieved his mission, and they had not died in vain. He ordered Star Chaser to head towards the planet that the enemies had been protecting and prepare a landing party to go down and conquer it. As the ship advanced towards the planet known as Chroma Tertius, Thunder got one final look at the silent, dead form of the Gladius. He bowed his head, and was silent in remembrance of all the ponies that had died. He would ensure he would not fail, no matter what, so that they would be remembered by one pony at least.