The Conquest of Space

by Marcus Centurian

Star Trot: The Next Generation

The Conquest of Space: The Saga of Dawn Sparkle
Chapter 8: Star Trot- The Next Generation

The white flash subsided as Equestria prime came into view. Despite being to space several times, I still found it amazing to see my home planet as a small blue marble. But introspection is for a different time.

“Stardust, anything on the sensors?”

“Negative, captain.”

“I don’t like this. To quote a movie cliché: it is quiet, too quiet,” Royal asserted.

“Actually, captain, I am getting lots of radio and video transmissions on the comm.” Unremarkable contradicted.

“What are they saying and who is sending them out?”

“They are coming from all over Equestria. The Griffin lands, the Buffalo plains, Cloudsdale, Canterlot, Ponyville, Las Pegasus….”

“I get it. All over Equestria. What are they saying?”

“Equestria is under attack from changelings from space.”

“So, the invasion has begun already. We are too late.”

“Maybe not, ma’am. I initially found nothing after our first sensor sweep, but after remodulating the sensors, I found something; there is a faint signal near ESC headquarters that is not of an Equestrian origin.” Stardust claimed.

“Bed, get us in range. Royal, arm the torpedoes and prepare to fire. Joe, coordinate resistance and relief efforts with the ponies below. Stardust, you, the Shirt brothers, and I will storm and disable the ship. Should I not come back, the Magic is yours, Joe.”

Stardust protested, “I’m hardly a good fighter. I’ll just slow you down.”

“You are the brightest mind on the ship and I will need that intellect to figure out how to stop the Chitin. Not all battles are won through brawn. Brains have a place too.”

“If I may, the captain has no place on away missions. I should go in your stead.”

I glared at Joe, “You objection has been noted, but I am going.”

Placated by my answer, Stardust and I raced out of the bridge toward the shuttle bay, where we were greeted by the Shirt brothers, already decked out with shock sticks and wing blades. A quick visit to the armory got us decked out in spacesuits, shock sticks and other necessities. The whine of energy slammed into the ship shields sending cargo and ponies flying over the cargo bay. A pair of twin explosions shortly followed, then silence.

“Enemy ship appears disabled. Good luck, Dawn.”

“Thanks, Joe.”

The raiding party filed into the swiftest shuttlecraft in the hangar and with a whoosh of vacuum and the hum of engines, we sped toward the Chitin ship. Soon the cursed ship came into view and I was surprisingly underwhelmed. It was approximately the same size as the Magic, with boring black and grey gunmetal sides. It had the look of a catamaran with twin hulls connected by several bridges and a pair of glowing engines, one in each hull.

The shuttlecraft landed into the Chitin’s ship shuttle bay. I cautiously stepped out to an empty shuttle bay. An alarm klaxon sounded in the distance, but not a soul greeted us.

“This isn’t right. Something is off here.” Red Shirt remarked.

“Come on. Maybe we got lucky and caught them off guard. Let’s move.” I commanded.

My companions and I walked through the hollow, empty halls with weapons at the ready, twitching at the slightest sound. Our silence was soon broken by a metallic sound over the intercom, “Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Ponies on the ship. Fire on site, considered very dangerous and of malicious intent. All officers to the bridge and all crew to battle stations.

Just as the announcement finished, a Chitin appeared in the hall in front of us, phasing out of what I thought was a solid wall. Quick at thought, a charged and tackled the space changeling and held my shock stick to his throat.

“Please don’t kill me! I’ll help you! I hate the Chitin as much as you do.”

I pushed the stick closer, “What would you gain by helping us? Why should we trust you?”

“I was a spacefarer once. The Chitin attacked my ship and I took the coward’s way out, I joined them. I now regret that decision with every fiber of my being and I’d like nothing better than sending them to kingdom come.”

I stared into his eyes, into his soul and I felt he was being sincere. So I granted mercy, “Ok. You can join us, but one false move and I will not hesitate to strike.”

He gulped, “Duly noted. Where are you trying to go?”

“Main engineering. I hope to send the core sky high.”

“That won’t be easy. It’ll be the area with the most crew, mostly due to the lack of power and lack of ponypower seeing as most of the crew is planet-side reaping, raping and pillaging. However, they are not as good of fighters as shock troops, hence why they are here.”

“So, let us create a diversion and pull them out of there. Then we can overload the core.”

“Reckless, but it just might work. What did you have in mind?”

A few minutes later, we reached the ship’s armory where two Chitin stood guard. I nodded to the Shirt brothers as they double-teamed the confused guards and took them down with wingblades with timed precision. Our posse walked over the limp bodies and grabbed as much weaponry as we could and set that which we couldn’t carry into overload. A fantastic, deafening explosion then rocked the hall as we evacuated the area and barreled toward main engineering.

Using our newly captured weapons we killed any who got in our way with bolts of blue, green and red energy. Most were in shock and barely got a shot off, but some returned fire, barely missing my friends and myself. Even after everything they had done, I still felt sorry as I saw a look of pure terror in the eyes of my victims. It sickens me to see such wanton death, but it couldn’t be helped and I could worry about the ramifications later.

We arrived at main engineering with a bang as we blasted open the main doors. We entered a fierce firefight as bolts of energy bounced back and forth. The Chitin started to overcome their initial shock and pinned down my group. Thinking fast, I lobbed a grenade toward a maintenance catwalk and sent a Chitin to his death. The temporary distraction allowed my teammates to advance, but not before the Shirt brothers suffered grazing blows.
Over the din of battle, I shouted, “Stardust, Chitin ally, can you two overload the core? I’ll cover you!”
The Chtitin turncoat galloped over to a nearby panel and started poking buttons and indicated Stardust to follow. I soon lost track of them as I fired shot after shot at our attackers to keep them busy and off of our sappers.
For what seemed like ages, I saw the Chitin fly off, dodging blots as his gossamer wings fluttered through the sky toward a panel near the top of the core. Stardust stood at the ready waiting for his signal, when a Chitin warrior immobilized Stardust by taking a potshot and burning a hole just below her cutie mark. She screamed with agony as the sound resonated throughout the massive chamber.
Seeing my teammate, ally and friend wounded so, I went into battle rage. I charged up my horn as I fired off shot after shot, melting metal and flesh alike. Soon the room was silent as my friends and allies looked at me with fear in their eyes and I overflowed with hateful rage.
“Is it ready to be destroyed? I want this ship blown up NOW!”
The Chitin turncoat weakly said, “With the power out, the self destruct will have to be set off manually. Someone will have to stay behind.”
“Then what are you waiting for? Get out of here!”
“But, captain!” Stardust said with tears in her eyes.
“This may be our only opportunity. This ends now. Go, all of you! I’ll give you ten minutes. “
“But ma’am!” the Chitin pleaded.
“NOW!” I said in my best impression of the Royal Canterlot Voice.
My friends understood and the threesome galloped with Stardust carried on the Chitin’s back. I glanced at my HUD in the spacesuit as it counted down ten minutes. I reflected on my life. I recalled my parents, the day I discovered my cutie mark, the day I met Joe, Royal, Stardust and all of my other officers. I remembered my time in Ponyville and Canterlot. I recalled the many friendships and some of the hardships I’ve had to face.
I slowly cantered over to the panel where a blinking red icon read ‘Initiate self destruct sequence and core overload?’ A large red button was labeled to start the explosion. The timer went off and I took in a big breath of air and released a sigh.
“It would appear Royal was right after all. It would seem a clearly marked red button ends it all.” I said to nopony in particular.
I slammed my hoof down on the button as an annoying computerized voice signaled the countdown to the end of the ship and myself.
A mechanized voice crackled over the intercom, “You may have bested us this day, but we will be back, little pony.”
“Come and take it, Chtitin,” I said with a smug grin.
A disembodied head suddenly appeared next to me. “So this is how it ends, eh?”
“Discord?”
“The one and only.”
“Why are you here?” I asked, quite confused.
“Only to see off one of the greatest heroes of our time. I’m sure you mother would be proud. If she could only see you now.”
“I’d rather not have my mother on an exploding ship right now.”
“But you don’t have to be here right now. You could be on a beach, or the mountains or even your quaint hometown of Ponyville.”
“What do you mean?”
As I looked to where the agent of chaos was, there was but empty air. It suddenly dawned on me what to do. I focused on the locket and concentrated all magical power on it. My vision became filled with explosions and the white wash of teleportation magic as everything went white.
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I awoke to the hypnotic beep of a heart monitor. I looked around at the hospital room in a daze, with my gaze eventually resting on my mother.

“Mom?” I said with a croaking, raspy almost whisper.

“Dawn? Oh Dawn!”

My mother proceeded to glomp me with the most powerful hug I’d ever been on the receiving end of.

“Mom?”

“Yes, honey?”

“I need to breathe. Could you let go?”

Mom let me grab sweet oxygen.

My brain caught up with the present, “How did I get here? How long have I been out? Where is my crew? Is Equestria safe?” I said in a flurry of panic.

Mom just looked at me with a gleam in her eye, “All in good time. Don’t stress. You’re here now.”

She hugged me again, without crushing my larnex, as I slowly came to full consciousness. I recognized this as Canterlot General and a gaze out the window showed some destruction all across the gilded city, but I saw ponies, not space changelings milling about. I breathed a sigh of relief.

“You gave me quite the scare. I was fighting off the Chitin at the university when your limp body suddenly materialized next to me. A Chitin almost got the best of me as I tried to go to you, but you being there made me go into overdrive and kill all of those abominations. I swore I’d never do that again, but when something threatens my Dawn…”

“You did what you could Mom. We all have regrets, but as long as we have our friends and family, we can get through it.”

“Who are you and what have you done with my Dawn. She isn’t sappy like you. Are you a changling?” she chided.

“Going to space does that to you. I love you mom.”

“I love you Dawn.”

We held each other for several minutes with a bit of crying and much smiling.

“Oh, you have some friends out in the lobby who want to see you.”

I followed my mother out to the main lobby as I saw my officers waiting there for me. Much to my surprise, even our Chitin turncoat and Cream Pie were there. Their mood went from somber to excited in a matter of seconds as I was bombarded with questions and hugs and hoofbumps.

The lobby then became dead quiet as everypony, myself included, bowed before the immortal princess Luna. “Rise, subjects. I am here to congratulate you all, but mostly our friend Dawn Sparkle. You have done us a great service that we may never repay. You have saved Equestria from utmost destruction and for better or worst prepared us for Equestria’s future in space.”

I blushed, “It was nothing princess.”

“In light of your stellar performance, I extend a hoof to join me in the Lunar court and by extension the head of ESC. We could use a resident expert on aliens in our court.”

“If it is all the same to you Luna, I couldn’t take a desk job, at least not yet. The stars beckon and I must heed their call.”

“I’d expect nothing less.” She paused for a second before adding, “All hail Dawn Sparkle, savior of Equestria!”

The room then erupted in cheers as I smiled at my friends and family. Friendship is truly magic.

Author's Note:

And so ends the saga of Dawn Sparkle. I hope y'all liked it and please be sure to leave a comment.

I also want to thank you for reading this story. It was a blast to write and keep a look out for new stories soon.

Comments

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

Too fast paced and short