//------------------------------//
// Landfall 
// Story: Amongst the Stars 
// by everydaydude 
//------------------------------//

Canterlot, 11:34 P.M 
August 24th, 1st year ADNM (After Defeat of Nightmare Moon)

Luna observed her handiwork once more as the moon took to the sky and the sun sank, the sky fading from dark red to pale blue with white specks. Day gave way to night as her and her older sister ceased their flow of magic. Celestia would usually return to the palace at this time to conduct any remaining business or to prepare for bed, but Luna usually sat on the high mountain which Canterlot was built upon to appreciate her work for a few moments. 
She smiled as she was bathed in pale moonlight, and the twinkling stars flickered in their realm high above this world. A shooting star blazed down. Luna hurriedly tried to make a wish, but couldn’t make it before the falling star burned out. She sighed, yet smiled, knowing there would be another chance to wish.
She turned to return to the palace, but stopped when she saw another shooting star. And another. And another. 
	“Oh wow,” she gasped in wonder, seeing the beauty of the meteor shower. She sat down once more, enjoying the beauty that was only visible in her domain. Silently she wished that other ponies could observe this wonder, and she knew that some out there would. However, she felt like she needed to let others know. She hoped her sister wasn’t in bed yet. She needed to send a letter to everypony she knew...well, everypony she knew in ponyville. She sighed, as she realized she only knew one pony outside of the palace. She smiled again, as she imagined the reaction to the meteor shower. 
However, high above Canterlot, the moonlight bathed land, and the serene landscape, the “meteor shower” was anything but beautiful. 


Uncharted space, orbiting uncharted planet V-3452
75th expeditionary space force, Terran fleet. 
Battleship Kilimanjaro Bridge
September 17th, 2154 AD


Captain Clark strolled through the corridor of his ship at a quickened pace. They had just come out of a hyperspace jump, and he was informed he should get to the bridge immediately. No other details, other than “he might want to see it.” He sighed and shook his head. Probably some ensign who had never seen a Draco fleet before. At that thought, he quickened his pace. His ship might have better long range sensors than most Draco warships, but that didn’t make them invisible. 
He caught the next lift up to bridge level, and stepped out onto said bridge. It was a room filled with rows of computers, each with a technician monitoring vital aspects of the ships systems. They computers and desks were arranged in a semicircle facing a large view screen that occupied the entire 20 by 20 foot wall. In the center sat a chair with a smaller computer at its side. Captain Clark approached his seat, saluting a few of his officers and enlisted on his way. 
Waiting next to his chair was a rather short but capable looking young man. He was bald, and wore glasses. A patch of a globe and a telescope was stitched on the right shoulder of his gray service uniform. He was part of the science core. 
	The Captain saluted him, and he returned the gesture. 
	“Are you the one who made the big fuss about me coming here?” The captain asked, sitting in his chair. 
“Yes sir,” the scientist replied, saluting. “Lieutenant William Wilkerson, Terran Science core.” The Captain returned the salute, still sitting. He was too tired for formalities. 
“Well what do you want to speak to me about?” 
	The viewscreen flipped on behind the scientist, showing a planet, with expansive green fields, dark blue oceans, and expanses of wispy clouds. Clark sat forward in his chair. After several years of seeing nothing but desolate rock after desolate rock, here was another habitable planet, other than earth and whatever planet the Dracos came from. 
	“Initial scans show an atmosphere very similar to earth, massive populations of flora and fauna, though an expedition team will be required to categorize them.”
	“So it would be a good colony world,” Clark said, pleasantly surprised. 
	Wilkerson smiled, and continued. “On top of that, the world is shot through with veins of iron ore, tin, palladium, iridium, and countless other heavy metals in large amounts.”
	Clarks eyebrows rose at that. “How expansive are these resources from your scans?”
	Lieutenant Wilkerson pulled a datapad from a pocket on his uniform. He typed, and a hologram appeared above it. He handed it to the captain, who accepted it eagerly. Captain Clark gasped at the sight of the figures. He looked to the scientist.
	“That’s enough to build a large enough invasion force...if we take that planet we could end this war within a year..” the Captain’s voice trailed off as he was lost in thought. 
	“Shall I prepare a scouting team sir?” Clark snapped out of his trance and looked from the planet, to the figures, to the scientist. 
	“Yes, have a team ready to go planet-side in fifteen minutes. I’ll accompany them.” A noticeable twitch passed through the scientist, but was gone as soon as it appeared. He saluted, and left the bridge to carry out his orders. The Captain followed shortly afterwards. He would pick his team himself. 


Dark Side of Sanctuary World 13D
Warlord Vra’sta’s fleet.
Dreadnought Warding Heavens 
12th cycle of the Draco/Human war. 

Vra’sta laid back in his captains chair, seemingly relaxed, but his muscles were tensed. His predatory instincts focused every part of his body on the hunt. He carefully watched the view-screen of the human ship and it’s two corvette escorts. He could take them all by surprise. He could slaughter the trespassers and suffer few casualties. But he didn’t, as it was not the right moment. That would reveal itself in time.
His eye caught movement to his left. It slid to the direction of the movement on it’s own, the vertical slit thinning to focus. It was just one of followers, a fellow Draco. The Draco had light brown scales, and he had yet to grow any form of hair. Still obviously young. His reptilian eyes remained focused on the young Draco, causing him to wince slightly in the presence of a superior. However, the younger Draco still had both of his horns. 
	“Ji-tium Vra’sta,” the follower bowed, not breaking eye contact, but exposing his neck enough so if the warlord felt threatened could kill him. 
	“Rise and speak.”
	“The humans are sending a landing force, and it seems most likely they will be sending down a larger force next.”
	With a bored shrug, the warlord dismissed it. “This I know. It is the condition of those vermin to expand and push out whatever species may already live there. We shall wait until they land a force, then strike their ships while they are sidetracked. Afterwards, we will move in and crush whatever encampments they have.”
	“We intercepted their communications network. It appears that their captain will be joining the first team landing.”
	The other’s small ears picked up. “Do we know who the captain is?”
	“Captain Clark, Ji-tium.”
The warlord bolted up like lightening, revealing his full height of 9 feet. His claws had emerged from his fingers, and the red hair on his back stood on end. 
“Prepare for battle.” His eyes never left the viewscreen. 
	

Ponyville Library, 11:37PM


Twilight Sparkle was nose deep in a book on astronomy when a flash of green light from a now not sleeping Spike broke her concentration. She had just started the chapter on the possibility on life on other worlds, and was admittedly a little annoyed. However, if it was from the Princess it must be important, so she gently closed her book and 
retrieved the scroll. 

Dear Twilight Sparkle,
	
I know we may not have talked much, but do me a favor, head outside, gather your friends, and look to the stars in the east. You won’t regret it. 

Signed,
Princess Luna. 

Twilight was Confused to say the least. How had Princess Luna been able to send her letters? And why? She had really talked to the altercorn once. Spike was sitting up, still half asleep.
	“What is it Twilight,” He asked sleepily, already yawning again.
	“It’s from Princess Luna, she wants to see something that’s happening outside.”
Spike was already laying down down again. “Oh that’s cool. I’ll check it..in the...morning..” He mumbled out and fell asleep again. She considered waking him up, but thinking about how hard he worked today, she felt it was okay to let him sleep.
“Good night spike.” She left her library home and headed to gather her friends as the letter requested. 
Her first stop was Sugarcube Corner. She knew Pinkie Pie lived with two other ponies, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, so she avoided knocking to keep from waking them up. She checked for a light in Pinkie’s room. 
“Huh, didn’t expect Pinkie Pie to be the type to be asleep this early. Maybe that’s why she’s so energetic.” She considered tapping on the window with a rock, but that would’ve just been rude, so she headed to her next stop, Carousal Boutique.
The lights were still on inside, so Twilight knocked on the door. There was muffled talking and several crashes before a disheveled Rarity nearly ripped the door off of its hinges. 
“Oh...Twilight...what a surprise at this hour....” Rarity closed the door slightly as she realized Twilight was looking at the mess behind her. Rarity had bags under her eyes, and her mane was frazzled and beginning to lose its elegant curves.
“Hi Rarity, do you have a moment to talk?” Twilight was doubtful she did, but asked that anyways out of politeness. 
	“You know I always have time to talk to my friends.”
	Twilight went on to explain the letter from Luna, which was a surprise to them both. 
“I’m sorry Twilight but I’m working on a big order, and, as you saw, it’s not going to well. I’d love to come.”
	“Do you need any help? Because you know you just have to ask.”
	“No it’s quite alright Twilight. It is a big order, but I have plenty of time to finish it. Now if you’ll excuse me.” The door shut in Twilights face.
Next she tried Applejacks farm. On the way out there she looked to the east, but didn’t notice anything. When she reached Sweet Apple Acres, she was brushed off by an incredibly sleepy Applejack.
The same thing happened, at Fluttershy’s. And Rainbow Dash’s. Twilight stamped her foot in frustration. She sat on a small hill, not far from the eastern edge of town A flash of light in the sky caught her attention. She turned her head up, to the east, and gasped. Stars were moving, flashing, seeming to run into each other and flashing brighter. Others streaked down, seeming to come towards the land, but dimmed and disappeared before they got close. It was beautiful. 
“Is this Luna’s magic?” She asked aloud, no one around to hear her. She watched the stars dance with one another, lost in the intrinsic beauty of their waltz. 


Uncharted space, orbiting uncharted planet V-3452
75th expeditionary space force, Terran fleet. 
Battleship Kilimanjaro, Hanger
September 17th, 2154 AD

Captain Clark stood behind his fifteen man team as they boarded the transport  and strapped themselves in. They were fully armed, and would be a force to be reckoned with, no matter what awaited them. The captain wore the same battle armor and carried the same assault rifles as his troops, and was ready and willing to fight by their side, despite his second in commands objections. He smiled. His men were loyal to him, and he to them. He stepped onto the transport and strapped himself into the jump seat on the right side of the cabin. 
“All heads accounted for, you are clear for take off,” A voice from the hanger control officer radioed into the pilots. The door pulled back and up and locked into place. With a his of air the seal was complete. 
There was a slight jostle as the shuttle was lifted by crane to it’s launch tube. Another jostle as they were set upon the rail, and more as they rolled along until they were through the airlock. 
“Hey, be careful with that,” came Clarks second in command, Commander Halsly, over the radio. “The captain is on-board. 
“Don’t worry Princess we’ll take care of him,” shouted the man across from the captain up to the cockpit. Despite himself, the captain had to laugh. While he didn’t hate his second in command, and didn’t think he wasn’t capable, he was missing the willingness to connect with the men that would make him a great commander. As such, he wasn’t too fond of the crew, nor were they of him. 
“Who said that! I’m putting you on report soldier,” came the reply. That only brought more laughter from the crew, and the captain. 
“Insubordination..disrespect of a commanding officer...” the commander sounded out his report. The crew was laughing, having a wonderful time of it until he spoke next.
“ALL HANDS, TO THEIR STATIONS. DRACO SHIPS COMING AROUND THE DARKSIDE OF THE PLANET! Count-one Dreadnought and a fighter screen. Brace for incoming fire!” 	


Back aboard the Kilamanjaro
Purplish red plumes of plasma arced through space towards the terran ships. The plasma ripped through the two corvettes, gutting the hulls of the smaller ships. Not out of the fight yet, the two smaller ships unleashed their missile compliment. Explosions rippled through the Draco fighter screen as they absorbed the wave of munitions. Still outside of firing range, there was little the fighters could do but advance and absorbed fire for their mothership. 
The dreadnought was easily twice the battleships size, and had nearly three times the weapons. Halsly knew this. He also knew with the power of those guns that if they tried to run they wouldn’t get far. 
“Sir,” asked an ensign who was surprisingly calm in the face of danger. “Orders?”
Halsly swallowed a lump in his throat before speaking. “Charge up all weapon batteries. Scramble all combat spacecraft we have. Limit power to anywhere else but life-support, shields, and weapons. Contact the corvettes and tell them to concentrate fire on the center of the fighter screen. When that’s clear fire all weapons at that dreadnought.” The ensign scrambled to work as he relayed his orders to the respective stations on the ship. Halsly turned back around to watch the battle unfold. To his terror, a lone, yellow streaked fighter flew at an alarming speed towards the captains transport.



Aboard the Warding Heavens
Vra’sta stepped into his custom fighter, the Pa’talum. In his language it meant Bolt of Vengeance. The warlord touched his head where a stump of a horn remained. It was insulting to lose a horn, especially in hand to hand with a weaker opponent. Today, he would have his vengeance on Clark for insulting him so, forcing him to be stripped of his name and live in exile until he redeemed himself. 
More spacecraft were leaving every minute, and his fighter fell into a delta formation with six others. There were at least seventy or so fighters out in combat already. The corvettes were designed to be anti-fighter though, so the fighter screen would break around and the dreadnought would finish them off before they were annihilated. 
However, it was of no concern for him. His target was far away from any covering fire, and still would be when he reached it. The prey was separated from the heard, so to say. He hit the afterburners, breaking formation and flying at breakneck speed. His cannons gained a lock on the pilots area. He let loose a small burst, shattering the cockpit and the communication array, and then gave another burst, shooting out the engines. The craft stopped, drifting lazily towards its fleet. 	
He fired a towing cable towards the derelict craft. He planned to cast him into the sun itself. 
	“It’s a shame I won’t be able to make you suffer for the dishonor you wrought upon me.” As he turned to drag his prey back to where they would be executed, a beam cannon from a human fighter hit his right engine. He accelerated away, which was toward the planet, in an attempt to go around, but his left engine was hit. He was now derelict as his prey. The enemy fighter came around to finish him off before he could be caught in the atmosphere of the planet. However, Vra’sta gained a lock, and let loose a missile, which caught the center of the slender fighter, blowing it to shreds. However the explosion blasted his ship back as well. Connected by a cable, he and the captain fell towards the planet. 
Vra’sta imagined the look on his enemy’s face. He smiled a toothy smile as he crossed his arms and resigned himself to fate. The last thing he saw before the shutters automatically shut for atmospheric entry was a full compliment of weapons being launched simultaneously by both sides. 


Aboard the Kilamanjaro
Halsly watched as the captains transport drifted became caught in the gravity well, still connected to the draco fighter. He refocused his attention as a corvette erupted in a nuclear fireball as a sweep of beam cannons found its reactor. He would morn later. It’s how the captain would’ve wanted it. 
“Sir, weapon batteries ready to fire on your command.” 
“Lock onto that ship. I want it reduced to scrap.”
Beam cannons, lasers, torpedos, missiles and railguns fired all at once, shaking the ships foundation. The smaller rounds plumed against the shields of the enemy ship. But under the onslaught, even they gave out, and explosions and flashes of impact rippled along the hull. 
“Is that all we have?” The Ensign nodded. “Except the force beams....”
“Tell crew to abandon ship. Power up all force beams, set for hold. Lock onto that ship and pull it towards us.”
	“Sir?”
	“Then rig the self destruct. It’s our only chance to go down fighting.” The Ensign saluted, and the order went throughout the ship. Within moments, the escape shuttles were filling up and flying out, hitting transpace speed back towards the nearest safe zone. Halsly stood in his place. Then ensign had left a short time ago, as did the rest of the bridge staff. The ship was empty, except the lone commander, now captain. The ship shuddered under a barrage of beam cannons and missiles. Its shields were now down, and the next blast, if placed properly, would decimate the ship. 
He hit the button on the terminal that would fire the force beams. The Draco ship moved closer, but not of it’s own accord. It began fighting to back off, but the beams were powerful enough to hold it in place. 
	“Just fifteen seconds.” The cannons were flaring again as the female computer voice began counting down from ten. 




Outskirts of Ponyville, moments later.

A large flash blossomed in the midst of the light show. It seemed to be the finale, as it all stopped with the exception of a few falling streaks here and there. Twilight stood and applauded the night sky. 	
“That was beautiful. I’ll have to write Princess Luna a thank you note for showing me this.” She stood to turn back to town, but something caught her again. It was two streaks of light, spinning with each other while they fell. 
“Wow.” The streaks kept falling though, and fell past the point where others had winked out of existence. Twilight suddenly felt like something was terribly wrong. The streaked turn, now falling towards her. They were traveling fast, and after a few seconds, she could tell that they were glowing, and partly on fire. She couldn’t make out a shape, and suddenly they split. One flew to the north of town, towards Cloudsdale. And the other, right for Twilight Sparkle. 
With a shriek, Twilight jumped out of the way and ran away from the object before it hit her. It hit the hit which she was sitting on, bounced, then burried itself into the ground with a scraping thump. Twilight covered her ears until it came to a stop at the edge of a pond. She turned around to see what it was.
“What is that?” She asked herself as she cautiously approached it. It was large, square, and looked metal. On the back there was an array of tubes and cones, but there were riddled with huge holes. As Twilight walked around it, she saw the front was too, but it was a cracked metal and glass dome. It was tinted red, and the inside was covered with ash. She looked inside, but couldn’t make out anything in the dark interior. 
Something shifted inside, causing her to jump. “Hello?” She called out. Whatever it was shifted again. It came from the back. Moving there, Twilight heard heavy, staggered footsteps. She walked alongside them, until they stopped at the back. There was a loud bang like metal on metal, and she jumped again. It banged again, and again. Each time it grew weaker.
“Hello? Do you need help?” Twilight called out again. One more weak bang. “Is that a yes?” Silence. Focusing her energy, Twilight sought any life energy with her horn magic. She gasped as she found one, on the edge of death. But it wasn’t a pony. Searching again with her magic, she found a weak point in the metal. Focusing with all her might, she bent the metal apart. Sweat dripped from her coat as she strained. With a pop and a clang, the metal bend, and the back side, the wall just below the array of tubelike objects fell open. Twilight looked up, and met gazes with a being roughly her height. It stood on two legs, only had fur on its head, which was currently bleeding. It had two eyes, but one was grotesquely swelled shut. Two leg like appendages hung from its shoulders, one twisted in a sickening manner, and the other gripping onto a small box with a handle on it. 
The being steadied itself uneasily. “Are you a doctor?” It asked
Twilight, surprised that she could understand it, nervously replied. “N-n-no.”
	The being smiled. “Good enough.” And collapsed into the dirt.