Mare Wars Equisode VI: Extended Preview! · 9:11am Jul 7th, 2015
Here's a little extended preview of Mare Wars Equisode VI, extracted from the new original material to be found in this installment!
Nightmare Moon sat in her private chamber, the heaviest and most cumbersome sections of her armor removed; a narrow tube fed enriched oxygen directly into her lungs. As she allowed herself to rest, something she seemed to do less and less in recent years, she brooded over her encounter with her daughter.
Even now, she was dimly aware of Twilight, and could reach out to her through the Horce. However, the child was being cautious; Nightmare Moon could not for the life of her determine where in the vast galaxy the young mare was.
A soft chime interrupted her brown study. The door silently opened, and one of the few ponies to have ever seen her as she was now fluttered silently into the room, miraculously not crashing into anything.
"Any word?" Nightmare Moon asked in the quiet, raspy hiss of a voice that was all she could manage without her mask.
"No, my lady. Sorry," Admiral Derpiett replied. After a pause, she added, "Umm...but there IS something else."
"Yes?" Nightmare Moon asked wearily.
"We've just received a report from Geognusis. A huge fleet of ships is gathering near that system. They look like Rebel ships."
Nightmare Moon lifted her head, fighting down a wince of pain. "A Rebel attack on Geognusis? But to what end? It is a strategically insignificant system..."
"Ummm...there's...more," Derpiett said. Gliding hesitantly into the room, she presented the scarred, hairless mare with a data reader and activated a hologram. It depicted a large mass hurtling toward the Geognusis system, along with dozens of dots that represented Rebel ships.
Nightmare Moon shifted, almost dislodging her breathing tube. "What?!" she gasped. "What in the ponyverse is THAT?"
"We're not really sure," Derpiett said. "Um, but some of my officers..." She paused. "Well, there's kind of a theory going around that it's Alderaanch."
"Alderaanch," Nightmare Moon repeated.
"Yeah. The planet the Death Spur kinda...didn't blow up?"
"I was there," Nightmare Moon said testily. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "So the Rebels are mounting an evacuation of Alderaanch?"
"Um, I had a thought," Derpiett said. "The Empress declared Shining Armorgana a traitor, right?"
"Yes..."
"Well, it's just that nopony's heard from him in all this time, and if he was still on Alderaanch when the Death Spur attacked..."
"Princess Rariteia would have a personal vested interest in his rescue," Nightmare Moon finished.
"Yeah."
Nightmare Moon nodded. "Send a message to the Equirial patrols at Geognusis. If the Rebels are indeed attempting to evacuate Alderaanch, I want Shining Armorgana and any other known Rebel sympathizers arrested. Including Princess Rariteia, if she shows up." She paused. "Excellent work, Admiral. You have proven surprisingly capable and competent."
Derpiett rubbed the back of her head and smiled. "Gosh, thanks, Lady Moon!"
"Well? Carry out your orders!"
Derpiett saluted and left.
Rariteia, dressed in a bedazzled Rebel command uniform and a fancy cape, strode onto the bridge of the Walkure, the flagship of the beleaguered little fleet of Rebel transports. Deck officers saluted her. The ship's captain, Spitfire, flew over to her and landed gently. "It's good to see you again," Spitfire said.
Rariteia nodded. "It's been a while, hasn't it? I don't believe I've seen you since Hayavin."
"Yeah, I've been flying refugees all over the place since then...smuggling sympathizers and defectors out of the Equire..." Spitfire shook her head. "You know this is gonna be dangerous, right?"
"We're going to be landing on a rogue planet with a very narrow window to get as many ponies off as we can before the surface is bombarded with asteroids, and there's a chance we'll run into the Equire while doing so," Rariteia said. "I'm well aware of the danger involved."
"Captain!" a white-maned pegasus with a raspy voice called. "Alderaanch is entering sensor range!"
Rariteia and Spitfire gathered around the pegasus officer's console, which showed the enormous mass of Alderaanch rapidly approaching Geognusis. The fleet held position far enough away as to not be drawn into the roaming planet's gravity well, but close enough to quickly effect landing manuevers once Alderaanch was in range.
Rariteia let out a shaky breath. "Home," she whispered.
Spitfire laid a hoof on her shoulder. "How long until we can safely coordinate landing manuevers?"
The pegasus at the console tapped a few instruments. "One hour," she said. Her panel beeped. "We're picking up short-range communications equipment on the planet, sir. It's receiving on all emergency bands."
"Short-range?" Rariteia wondered.
"They're probably conserving energy," Spitfire said, nodding. She turned to Rariteia. "We should make contact, get them ready. We're going to have less than forty-eight hours to complete the evacuation and we've only got one shot at this." She smiled gently. "Would you like to do the honors?"
Rariteia swallowed. "Y-yes," she said. "I believe I would."
"Excellent. Lieutenant Fleetfoot, open a frequency and prepare to transmit."
"Yes, Captain!"
"Oh, and Lieutenant? When you're done with that, call Medical and get them to send you up a lozenge or something."
Fleetfoot groaned. "Yes, Captain..."
Shining Armorgana was reviewing energy consumption and crop estimate reports when an aide rushed into his office excitedly. "My Lord! We're...we're receiving a priority signal! It's..." He lowered his voice. "It's on a Rebel frequency!"
Shining stood, eyes wide. "From...?" He shook his head. "Have we responded?"
The aide shook his head. "We've told them to stand by for you, sir!"
Shining nodded his head and followed the aide to the planetary command room. For a year and a half, the command center for Alderaanch had been dimly lit, with most of the vast array of equipment powered down. In light of the planetary energy crisis, Alderaanch had limited itself to minimal short-range emergency communications and sensors.
Now, monitors and lights were powering up around the room as, per established protocol, Alderaanch was preparing for contact with what could very well be either a rescue attempt or a dire warning. Shining Armorgana rushed over to the one working communications station and relieved the officer there, then opened the channel to receive the incoming transmission.
A flickering blue hologram appeared. //To whoever is monitoring this signal, this is a priority transmission from Stable Two for Alderaanch planetary command. Please respond!//
Shining gasped. "Rariteia," he whispered. He opened the response channel. "Rariteia! I'm here!"
Even in the tiny, dim, flickering hologram, the relief on Rariteia's face was evident. //Father! You're alive!//
"Yes...yes, I'm alive, and your mother's alive too...almost everypony is alive..."
//Father, it is splendid to hear your voice! We have so much catching up to do...oh, but now simply isn't the time. Are you aware of your present situation?//
"Hurtling aimlessly through space, running out of energy to keep ourselves alive...yeah, it's pretty much been at the front of my mind—"
//The asteroid belt, Father!//
Shining blinked. "Asteroid belt?" He shook his head. "Honey, we're running on minimal comms and sensors down here—"
"SIR!" an officer barked from a console across the room. "Mid-range sensors active, we have scan data for four parsecs! We appear to be on course for the Geognusis system...there's a massive fleet point oh five light years from our present location! I'm reading...six hundred ships, all with Rebel transponders!"
//Father, listen, please,// Rariteia said. //In one hour, we're going to be landing our fleet. We need you to coordinate the evacuation of Alderaanch. Is everypony gathered in the major population centers?//
Shining nodded. "That was the first thing we did. We evacuated the countryside, gathered everypony in the cities...we've had to shut down half the planet..."
//Good, that will make our work much easier. Do you have transports?//
"We can get about a tenth of the population off the planet."
//That will help...we weren't certain how many ponies were still alive down there, we have four hundred fifty A'Tuin class transports...//
Shining winced. "Wow, we're gonna be crammed in like sardines."
//Yes, well...we have two days to complete the evacuation and clear the surface,// Rariteia said. //Alderaanch is headed directly for an asteroid belt, Father. In less than three days, the entire surface is going to be destroyed by very large, very dense asteroids.//
Shining reared. "I'll start getting everyone ready to evacuate!" He paused. "Rariteia, what about the Equire?"
//So far, we haven't heard a peep out of them, but...we're prepared, just in case.//
"I hope so," Shining said. "If they have that terrible Death Spur up and running—"
//Oh, we destroyed THAT two years ago, Father dear.//
"Oh? That's good. Okay...I'll see you in about an hour."
//Looking forward to it darling!//
As the transmission ended, Shining Armorgana grinned and looked around. He slammed a hoof on the planetary address button. "EVERYPONY, ATTENTION! I WANT ALL SYSTEMS PLANETWIDE UP AND RUNNING IN FIFTEEN MINUTES! WE'RE AT EVACUATION ALERT! ALL DISASTER CREWS ON FULL ATTENTION! WE'RE GETTING OFF THIS FLYING ROCK!"
A great cheer went up through the command room, and ponies began charging left and right. Shining galloped out of the command center to find his wife and tell her the good news.
Aboard the Equirial heavy cruiser Reckoning, a pale unicorn mare slowly circled the bridge, dark purple eyes narrowed beneath thick, shaggy red brows. Her long, straight red mane and tail, streaked with lavender and violet, moved stiffly with each step. She wore a heavy black wool jumpsuit, different from the standard Equirial uniforms the officers on deck wore.
The crew of the cruiser had been tense and on alert for the past two hours, ever since an alarming number of unregistered ships with scrambled transponder codes began massing near Geognusis. The sensor officers had detected the approach of a rogue planet; the general consensus on the command deck was that the civilian fleet was attempting some sort of foolish rescue mission. No orders had been issued from Equirial command, so for the moment, the patrols at Geognusis were simply watching and waiting.
"Incoming transmission from the Tiberius," an officer said. "It's marked priority one..." He looked up and swallowed. "Orders from Lady Moon."
The pale mare scowled. "Proceed."
"Intelligence reports...Pony Rebels attempting relief operations for population of renegade planet Alderaanch," the comm officer relayed. "It is believed that traitors to the Equire may be alive on Alderaanch, as well as within the Rebel fleet. We are ordered to rout the Rebel rescue operations and arrest Shining Armorgana and Princess Rariteia, then deliver them to Lady Moon." He paused. "Other Rebel sympathizers are to be arrested or...or summarily executed at the commanding officer's discretion."
The captain of the Reckoning frowned. "There's no honor in decimating a rescue fleet on an errand of mercy," she said. "We should demand the surrender of the traitors, then allow the Rebels to—"
"No," the pale mare said. "If you are so concerned with honor, then you and your honor are welcome to join the ponies of Alderaanch in oblivion. Otherwise, you will do as you are ordered." She fixed the captain with a hard stare. "Or, if you prefer, I can execute you for treason here and now."
The captain returned her stare with equal measure for a long moment before looking away with a sigh. "Let it be known that I died protesting this course of action," she said as she levered her blaster out of its holster. "I leave you in command of this ship of fools, Inquisitor." Without waiting for a response, she turned her blaster on herself and fired.
The crew looked away as their former captain's corpse fell to the deck.
"Clean that up," the Inquisitor spat. "Set course for the Rebel fleet. Ready all PIE Fighters."
"Yes, Inquisitor," the helmsmare said. The stars outside shifted as the ship changed course; all around it, a dozen other cruisers fell in formation.
3214517 The story's tagged right in this blog post. If you look up at the top of the post and slightly to the right, it's right there.
3221287 There are divergences from the OT script in all chapters of Mare Wars, but the one most important divergence in Equisode IV is as follows, spoilered:
Alderaanch was not destroyed by the Death Spur. It was bucked out of orbit and went shooting across the galaxy as a rogue planet. At the time of Equisode VI, Alderaanch has been flying around recklessly for two years, and its population are still alive but relying entirely on geothermal energy for everything. It's just taken the Rebels a while to FIND Alderaanch and come up with an evacuation plan.
This looks great. Is this something that's actually going to happen? Like, soon?
3317619 I do intend to publish Equisode VI by the end of August, but it's not a guarantee. Stuff keeps popping up...
3317650 I understand completely.