Dash was sitting next to Henry in a bar not too far from the wall and thought about everything that had happened in the past few weeks, from her blacking out during Pinkie’s party to seeing Henry alive after watching him nearly escape death. She looked up at the television and nudged Henry to have him look as well. They saw the news talking about the Toppat’s orbital station when they suddenly heard a crash from outside.
Henry went outside to see three Toppats with a safe that they had just gotten and they were beamed back onto the orbital station, Charles had been tasked with catching them, but he failed to do so as he let out a disappointed grunt. He looked over towards Henry and gave a surprised look.
"Henry?" was all that came out of his mouth. He walked closer and realized that it was Henry, so he started running up to him. "Henry!! I heard you died," he said when he was right in front of him, and Henry just held his hand up to say hi.
They walked into the bar to see Dash still sitting there. Henry gave her a tap on the shoulder and she looked over to see Charles there, so she gave him a wave with her hoof.
"I was wondering where you were," Charles commented, making Dash giggle. Then he and Henry both sat down next to her and he started talking to both of them.
"Man, the Toppats have been causing a bunch of problems for me lately. Yeah ever since they got that orbital station set up they've been super strong. Now that I think about it, you, Rainbow Dash, and I made a pretty good team in the past," he brought his hand up and put it on Henry's shoulder. "I bet we could take 'em out, it's starting to get personal. Well, whaddya say, you wanna help me take 'em out for good?"
Henry glanced at Dash and she gave him a nod in return. He thought about it for a second then gave Charles a thumbs up.
"Awesome!" Charles said, walking to the door, "Alright follow me, I have a way of getting into space."
"Secret government prototype. Whaddaya think?" Charles said, piloting a UFO-like vehicle. Dash and Henry looked around the vehicle and they thought it was nice. They came to a stop as they saw the station in the distance and Charles started speaking again.
"There it is. Alright, how do you both want me to bring you in? Ahhww this is so exciting! It's just like last time!"
The three of them looked on at the orbital station, and Dash looked on in awe. She never expected all this to be up here, especially this "orbital station" if that's what they're calling it. Henry snapped her out of her trance and began to come up with a way to get on the station.
Drop Off
Trash Ball
Air Cannon
Beam Aboard
They both thought about the beam aboard but thought against it as they didn't quite understand it, and neither did they understand the air bubble. Dropping off definitely wouldn't work, because they thought about the possibility of the station having weapons. They didn't want to do it, but the trash ball was their only option.
Drop Off
Trash Ball
Air Cannon
Beam Aboard
They both nodded at Charles and he gathered enough trash to be compacted into a big enough ball for them to hide in. However, they didn't have any spacesuits that would fit Rainbow, so Henry would be the only one to go. Once the ball was created, Charles turned to Henry and told him what to do.
"Put on this spacesuit and hide in this ball of trash," he said, and Henry gave him a disgusted look, "What?! It's a good idea. Trust me."
Henry then put on the spacesuit and hopped out of the spacecraft after telling Dash he'd be fine. He climbed into the trash ball and was shot toward the station. Once he reached the station, he managed to make it undetected. He grabbed onto something that looked like a light and let the trash disperse. Then he heard Charles from his earpiece.
"See?! I told you it's a good idea. The Toppats have no clue you're there now."
Henry considered it and thought, "Guess Dash and I did pick the right choice, as gross as it was."
"I'm gonna stick back here though so they don't detect me," Charles continued, "Should still be able to help you get inside from here though."
Meanwhile, inside the spacecraft, Charles and Dash were back far enough away so the Toppats sensors wouldn't pick them up. Charles looked at his options.
Super Accurate Laser Shot
Hot Knife
Charles
Charles considered the laser shot but thought about whether the Toppats installed shields on the station. He was about to tell Henry about the knife in his helmet, but remembered it was spring-loaded so there was a chance Henry could lose it quickly. His only option was one thing he had always wanted to do, his last resort.
Super Accurate Laser Shot
Hot Knife
Charles
He turned to Dash and told her to brace for impact. She was slightly confused until he said to Henry, "Y'know what? Naw. This calls for some bold action.
He then started making his way toward the station at high speeds. Dash held on as best she could and braced for impact while Charles sang, "I'm the bold action MAAAN!!!"
Henry also heard Charles through his earpiece and braced for impact as he saw the spacecraft come speeding towards him. When it hit, the three of them were sent barreling towards the platform at the bottom of the station's core. Henry's helmet broke off and tumbled a few feet before him. Dash landed on all four hooves, but grunted in pain and stumbled as her wing had been sprained upon impact. Charles landed face-first on the platform, his headphones damaged but luckily they were still functional.
He coughed slightly before lifting his head up and saying, "I've always wanted to do that."
Dash rolled her eyes. As they all got up, Henry asked if they were alright. Charles said he was fine, and Dash said she thought her wing was sprained, so she wouldn't be able to fly for the rest of the mission.
Henry was getting out of the spacesuit as Charles said, "Anyways, we should probably find a way off this station before it explodes."
They all nodded as they made their way down the corridor and into the main hallways of the station. They eventually stopped at a door that seemed to be jammed. Charles tried to open it up with no success.
"Looks like the door's jammed. This is the only way through," Charles said.
Then the three of them went through their options.
Hack
Lift
Vent
Everyone doubted they could lift the door, it would require a lot of strength to do so. Charles considered hacking the panel to the door but then thought against it as it was just a keypad, so there would be no way he could get the door to open. Dash happened to spot a vent just big enough to fit everyone inside. She told the boys about it and Charles smiled while Henry put his hand to his chin in thought.
Hack
Lift
Vent
Charles lifted the vent cover and had a look inside. He inspected it for a little bit before turning to Henry and Dash.
"I bet this vent leads somewhere... on the other side. Good eye Dash," Charles said.
She smiled. Charles crawled in first, then Henry, then Dash. To keep himself entertained, Charles decided to sing a little tune to himself, but they all heard a small explosion come from the core and he spoke up.
"Oh boy, we're running out of time."
"Ya think?" Dash replied.
After crawling for a little bit, Charles felt something in front of him and ordered the two behind him to stop. He pushed it and saw it was the exit to the vent. he opened it up further to see some Toppats run past the vent, one even tripped and landed on his face but instantly got back up.
Once they were gone, Charles looked outside and turned his head in both directions. He saw one Toppat on the floor, crushed by the panel that fell from the ceiling to his right. And to his left, he saw what seemed to be a corridor to escape pods. He crawled out and told his comrades behind him that he found an escape. They both crawled out of the vent and made their way towards the pods.
When they got there, they saw one Toppat enter the farthest pod, there was debris blocking most of the pods and the closest one had already left. There were three pods the group could choose from, and they had to make their choice fast.
Luxury Pod
Damaged Pod
Farthest Pod
They considered entering the farthest pod with the Toppat, but then they thought he wouldn't be friendly and shut them out. They wanted to do the luxury pod, but then they thought about the higher-ranking Toppats possibly being in there. Their only option was the damaged pod and hope that the window wouldn't shatter on them.
Luxury Pod
Damaged Pod
Farthest Pod
Henry put his hand on the open trigger but the door didn’t budge, so he tried again twice, but still nothing, then he gave it a good smack and the door opened, and the trio went inside and took their seats.
“Ah, well that was intense.” Charles said, “Can’t wait to go ho- huh?” A Toppat opened the pod door and threw Henry outside the pod.
Dash’s heart skipped a beat as she saw Henry be thrown to the ground, she was about to attack the Toppat when she saw Charles run out of the pod, push the Toppat aside, and throw Henry back in. But before he could re-enter the pod, he was tackled by the Toppat and the door closed. There were some thuds outside the pod and Charles smashed the face of the Toppat on the window, with his face visible.
“Don’t worry about it! Ow- I’ll find another way!” Charles shouted through the glass. Then the pod launched into space with only Dash and Henry inside.
It was only then that Dash realized something, Charles committed an act of loyalty. He sacrificed his life for Henry. She smiled as she was about to do the same thing he just did.
“Guys! You there?”
Charles’ voice came forth from the earpiece in Henry’s pocket, so Henry pulled it out so they could listen to him.
“Ugh, man that roughed me up, gottem’ though.” He said, low on energy after fighting the toppat that attacked them. “Gotta be another escape pod here somewhere” he looked around, but he saw none. He realized that he wasn’t going to make it out, so he sat on the floor, grunting in pain, with his back against the wall, and continued talking, “We did it though we gottem, a pretty good plan. Could say it was the greatest-“
It was at that moment the connection was cut and the station exploded. Henry and Dash burst into tears at that exact moment. Henry banged on the glass while Dash shouted Charles's name, but it was useless, so they accepted that their friend was gone. Dash knew deep down that he had done something heroic, something she would’ve done, something that a true friend would do.
They landed in the jungle near the base and they both got out to report to the general about the sad news.
They were joined by a soldier on the way who didn’t know about the news, only that the station had been destroyed. He told them he was on his way to tell the general about the explosion, but Henry said there was more to it than that. He told the soldier about Charles and his mood went from happy to depressed in an instant.
Then they arrived at the general's tent and the soldier started speaking, getting General Galeforce's attention.
“General!”
Galeforce lifted his head from looking down at his paperwork to see the soldier, Henry, and Dash standing at the entrance to his tent.
“The Toppat station has been destroyed,” he said with his hand behind his neck.
Galeforce was overjoyed by this, “excellent news!” He exclaimed, then he noticed Henry and Dash were there with sad expressions on Their faces, so his smile faded. “What’s wrong?” He asked and got an answer he wasn’t expecting at all.
A week had passed since the explosion. Henry and Dash were heading over to a cliff at a beach near the base. When they got there, the familiar gravestone came into view with a red pilot’s headset on it, and with the inscriptions:
R.I.P.
CHARLES
Henry walked up with Dash at his side, she had a bandage around her waist to treat her sprained wing. Henry walked up to the gravestone and placed some flowers in front of it, then stepped back and saluted to a fallen soldier, and friend.
MISSION COMPLETE! YOUR ENDING:
Valiant Hero