//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: New Equestria: The Harmony Age // by Roguewire //------------------------------// With a bright flash of white light, Rainbow Dash rematerialized in the Aunenen system. Aunenen's star cast a yellow glow, not quite as bright as the star of the Nonni system she just departed from. The system did not share Nonni's wispy nebula, but its stargate was close to a planet. Other than that, the system had a feeling of hostile emptiness. Rainbow Dash scanned the space around her with her camera drones first, then used her directional scanner set to maximum distance and a three-hundred and sixty degree radius. Aside from the customs offices installed by CONCORD in low orbit around the nearby planets, as well as a Kitsune named Gentle Butterfly, there was no-one in the system. She hovered for a few seconds to make sure that no jumpy pirates would deactivate a cloaking device and attack her, but she found nothing. "Okay girls, the gate is clear. Jump on through," spoke Rainbow Dash. The gate flashed, and the Gallente shuttle of Rarity materialized. Its narrow form was accentuated by it long wings, giving it the form of a sparrow in flight. "Finally!" Rarity exclaimed. "I thought we were going to be stuck there for a whole week!" There was some validity to her comment; they had been waiting in Nonni for two days because of pirate activity in Aunenen. It was no secret that Rarity was becoming impatient, even if it was masked by her indulgence in the luxuries of the Caldari corporate elite. The gate flashed again as Rarity aligned her shuttle to the Otalieto stargate. The Iteron of Applejack appeared, its huge length failing to betray its capacity for transportation. "Okay, now let's get a move-on and git back home," Applejack spoke as she began to align her industrial transport toward their destination. The gate flashed again. Fluttershy squeaked in surprise. Her directional scanner detected a fourth ship among them. "Um, girls? Did...did you bring somepony else with you? Because if you did, then..." "What? We didn't bring anypony with us," Rainbow Dash replied as she panned her camera drones, until she saw it. A Hurricane-class battlecruiser, bristling with multi-barreled projectile cannons, was aligned toward Applejack and closing fast. It most certainly was not a friend of theirs. "Horseapples! Move your flanks!" Rainbow Dash shouted. The Hurricane was not there before they landed, so it must have followed them through the gate. "No! Not again! These things cost a fortune!" Rarity shouted in protest, dismayed at the sudden turn of events. The cargo of her shuttle—implants, data cores, blueprint copies—was worth a hefty sum of interstellar credits, which did take quite some time to earn. "Rarity, git on outa here! Nothin' you can do anyway!" Applejack spoke sternly as the Hurricane set upon them. All of them had alarm klaxons blaring into their ears, indicating that they were being targeted by the Hurricane. The dorsal cannons of the pirate battlecruiser opened fire simultaneously, hurling a wave of four hundred and twenty-five millimeters of hot death. Rarity had warped away just as the barrage entered the space where her ship was supposed to be. Applejack had finished aligning toward the Otalieto gate, ready to activate her warp drive and make herself scarce. She was just about to donate some of her capacitor charge to the warp core when lines of data streamed across her vision, with an icon depicting a digitized warp core surrounded by a light teal circle around them. It was a display which captains and capsuleers alike feared—the Hurricane was scrambling her warp core, leaving it dead in space. She rotated her camera drones, and she could see the looming Hurricane's autocannons rotating to face her Iteron. "Sorry Rainbow Dash, ah don't think we're gonna make it through this time," Applejack spoke apologetically. "Over my dead body!" Rainbow Dash replied with vigor. She hammered the microwarpdrive as hard as she could, zooming in between Applejack and the most recent assailant. "Hey birdbrain! You're about to get your flank kicked in!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she turned her own guns on the Hurricane and unleashed her own stream of bullets. Phased plasma shells tended to get the message across quite effectively, particularly the kind produced by the fleets of the Minmatar Republic. Her bullets erupted in blasts of green-hued plasma where they struck the shields of the Hurricane. It's shields shimmered just slightly as it absorbed the hits. While not causing much damage to the Hurricane's shields, the battlecruiser ended its attack on Applejack and turned its autocannons onto the Blue Thunderbolt. She zipped closer to the Hurricane, buzzing under it as its ventral cannons opened fire. Just barely missing, the cannons were intended to be used to assault much larger and slower ships. However, given the close-combat nature of projectile combat, there was just enough speed in the rotation if the cannons to make Rainbow Dash worry. On a second salvo, she felt her Rifter shake as it received a hit from one of the cannons. The shell exploded against her shields in a bright flare, causing her frigate to rock slightly, a disruption which Rainbow Dash was quick to recover from. The Hurricane was using nuclear ammunition, and if she let its attention lapse back onto Applejack it would shred her in short order. Observing Rainbow Dash orbiting the Hurricane while trading shots with it, Applejack did what best she could to escape from the pull of the warp disruptor. She was almost out of its reach—the effective range of the standard warp disruptor was twenty kilometers, a distance which she had almost placed in between their attacker. The Hurricane turned towards Applejack and its engines erupted with bright fire, and it charged toward Applejack faster than before. In a few seconds it had gained enough distance on Applejack to make escape seem impossible. At this point, the Hurricane was toying with her. Rainbow Dash continued her spiral around the Hurricane, firing her cannons as fast as she could. Her guns were not large enough to make any serious dent in the shields of the pirate battlecruiser. She sensed her ship shift violently as it was suddenly slowed to a crawl. The Blue Thunderbolt's sensors were detecting a heightened gravitational disturbance around her ship, indicating that she had suddenly been caught in a stasis webifier, a device capable of drastically reducing a ship's velocity. Without her speed, she would be an easy target for the Hurricane. The broadside of the Hurricane erupted, impacting into Rainbow Dash's frigate hard. Her shields were instantly stripped away, and she could feel explosions tearing into the Rifter's armor. She braced herself for the salvo which would obliterate her small craft in an instant. "Hey, mah warp core is back online!" Applejack exclaimed. The salvo never came. The stasis webifier was no longer gripping to the Blue Thunderbolt, which shot off like a rocket. "I'm sorry!" a frantic voice squeaked over the radio, "I'm sorry! I took too long to get here!" Rainbow Dash panned her camera drones, and highlighted on her display was a Kitsune-class electronic warfare frigate. Fluttershy had jammed the Hurricane's targeting sensors with her frigate's electronic warfare modules, freeing Applejack and Rainbow Dash from the grip of its warp disruptor and webifier. "Not a problem, Fluttershy! Not a moment too soon, either. Ah'm gonna warp out and leave," Applejack said as her Iteron Mark V finished aligning to the Otalieto stargate. She invested some of her capacitor's energy into her warp drive, and was off without a trace. This left Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy alone with the Hurricane. The Hurricane turned and aligned for a point in space, clearly readying to warp. Rainbow Dash took the initiative, and activated her own warp scrambler against the Hurricane. The Blue Thunderbolt was meant for finishing the battles it started. Not having a means of preventing one's enemies from escaping was silly. Her own warp scrambler was a degree more powerful than the warp disruptor of the Hurricane—warp scramblers also disabled microwarpdrive systems as well as conventional warp drives. This brought the Hurricane back to its full speed without the assistance of its microwarpdrive, which Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy could easily keep pace with. Sensing the futility of an escape attempt, the Hurricane slowed to a crawl. Fluttershy took this opportunity to hail the Hurricane. "I'm sorry I had to jam your sensors and weapons, but I was not going to let you hurt my friends" she said over the local channel, maintaining the shallow quietness of her voice which was characteristic of the shyest pony of her group of friends. "Curse you, blasted mare!" was the reply. "You had no place in this fight!" "I'm warning you, now," Fluttershy spoke, her tone becoming serious, "if I ever catch you trying to hurt my friends again, you'll be sorry." "Next time you will die!" "Next time," Fluttershy murmured, "I'll bring an Astarte." Fluttershy's shy demeanor made that comment all the more terrifying. There were few things that were more terrifying than a matter-of-factly tone coming from a capsuleer, particularly a threat to bring a battlecruiser capable of shredding the Hurricane before her in moments. "Rainbow Dash, just let them go. Nothing they can do against us today." Awed by the forceful tone of Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash shut down her warp scrambler, and watched as the Hurricane warped off into oblivion. Fluttershy hailed her on a private channel. "Um, Rainbow Dash?” "Yeah?" "Was...was I too assertive?" In the blink of an eye Fluttershy had gone back from being a terrifying monster to the shy, timid Pegasus that she was. Rainbow Dash could not help but laugh, out of relief that the wrath of an angry Fluttershy had subsided. "No, Fluttershy, you did just fine! Now let's get out of here before more of them show up." ••• As the pair warped through space, Rainbow Dash took the opportunity to make a more thorough check on her Rifter. Her shields had recharged to full, but her armor had taken a serious beating. Fortunately there were no hull breaches in her ship, but another salvo would have sliced it in half. The armor was mostly blasted away where it hit, demonstrating the powerful effects of Nuclear ammunition. She was lucky that Fluttershy had warped in when she did; otherwise, she would have been without a Rifter. "Fluttershy, thanks again," Rainbow Dash spoke. "It's what friends are for," she replied. "Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Light up a cyno! Light me up a cyno!" Pinkie Pie enthusiastically shouted over the NEOCOM. "Pinkie Pie, we're warping out and we let the guy go. We drove him off," Rainbow Dash said, wary of Pinkie Pie's request to ignite a cynosural field, a target which capital-sized ships can use to make their own jumps between star systems multiple light years apart. "Aww, it's over? I ran all the way to Daras as fast as I could when that Hurricane showed up, and I went and grabbed the Chimera and I got everypony ready to go, and now we're floating out in front of a space station in Daras where someone could hot drop us so can I get a cyno please pretty pretty please with a cherry on top?" Rainbow Dash heard Fluttershy sigh. "Rainbow Dash, you go on through ahead of me. Pinkie Pie, I'll give you a cyno." She heard Pinkie Pie squeal with delight at the prospect of bringing her Chimera-class carrier ship out to fly around. It was a very large warship capable of carrying many small, manned fighters capable of bringing destruction to targets ranging from cruisers to battleships, even to larger warships when used in sufficient numbers. They were armed with very powerful anti-ship weaponry, and could lay waste to cruiser-sized ships in less than sixty seconds. The destructive power came at a legal cost, however; capital ships were forbidden from entering "high-security" areas of the empires, and needed cynosural fields to jump across these systems. Rainbow Dash carried on without Fluttershy, who warped off once again when they arrived at the Otalieto stargate. Using a cynosural field generator would leave Fluttershy's Kitsune vulnerable, as the field generated an energy signature detectable across the entire star system, and required that the ship using it shut down its engines to maintain its operation. The destructive power of Pinkie Pie's Chimera, however, would be more than enough of a deterrent against anyone looking for an easy kill. As she flew through the stargate, she was greeted by Otalieto on the other side. The system's star had a brightness that was welcoming, a beacon which indicated to travelers that this system, and the systems which lay beyond, were a safe haven from the sea of deadly space which surrounded it. These systems were Rainbow Dash's adopted home, and the home of those who were her friends. Rarity's shuttle floated in space near the stargate, silently awaiting someone to come through and confirm the outcome of their battle. "Rainbow Dash, you're safe! By the Sisters your Rifter is a mess! Where is Fluttershy? Don't tell me..." Rarity exclaimed with excited anxiety. "Relax, Rarity. Pinkie Pie really wanted a cyno for her Chimera. Anything that can tackle a Chimera is nowhere near Aunenen." Rainbow Dash spoke, calming Rarity's anxiety. "We'll then, let's get headed to Uesuro. As much as I may be a capsuleer, I do so very much need to get out of this capsule. Maybe a trip to the spa to calm the nerves would be a good idea." Rarity spoke, returning to her refined attitude. "You should also get that frigate looked at, it looks like it is about to fall apart." They warped through the Otalieto system, and entered the Endatoh system. Applejack was here, unloading the cargo of precious metals to be expedited to the surface of the planet, where an array of factories converted the materials to parts and commodities that were needed by all. Specifically, Applejack's cargo was being used to make components for use keeping control towers operational. Their corporation owned several control towers, each one capable of maintaining an outpost built by the capsuleers themselves. The next system, Aivoli, was the last stop from their destination. Aivoli was a bare system, and no interstellar entity had found reason to construct a space station here. However, this left the system comfortably empty, which meant that those who cared to enter it—Rainbow Dash's corporation—would have all of its mineral wealth to themselves. The last stargate was entered, and finally they were home; Uesuro, a nexus of activity in the Malariya constellation, and the headquarters system of the corporation known as Harmony. Harmony was a joint creation of six intrepid ponies: Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight Sparkle. They were a small but well-known corporation, and had substantial ties with all four of the empires of New Equestria. The empires welcomed them, but mostly that good standing was on paper—ponies were still suspicious of griffons, griffons were suspicious of ponies, and zebras received suspicion from both. The Lai Dai Protection Services Assembly Plant of Uesuro V was the place where Harmony was headquartered. While the Lai Dai Protection Servces corporation still owned the actual station, the whole station had been bought out from them by Harmony, who now maintained administration of the station. It was under this agreement that Lai Dai allowed Harmony to make the rules on this little patch of space, but fortunately for all who stopped here, this station was a place with a friendly welcome. Here, even those who worked for Lai Dai were given far better treatment than other places in the Caldari State, and this reflected positively on the numbers. Twilight Sparkle was hailing them both. No doubt she had heard by now that they had run into trouble in the Aunenen system. "Rainbow Dash, Rarity, I'm glad to see you made it back. I hear you got jumped in Aunenen. What happened? Are you alright?" Twilight asked. "It was dicey until Fluttershy showed up. We would have been toasted if she had not been watching us on the gate." Rainbow Dash replied. "I'm just glad to see you all made it back with your ships in one piece. Come on in, we've got some things to catch up on." ••• The tug drones had pulled the Blue Thunderbolt into the station, and had nestled it into its docking position among Rainbow Dash's other ships. A Condor-class, Atron-class frigate and a Tanaris-class interceptor, as well as a Hurricane just like the one that had shot at them earlier. Each one was similarly painted, only now there was a moderately-damaged Rifter sitting among them. "What the hay did you get yourself into, Rainbow Dash? Did you fly directly into a swarm of rogue drones or something?" Twilight exclaimed, clearly surprised at the level of damage sustained by her Rifter. "More like a swarm of autocannon shells. I'll explain when I see you." Rainbow Dash disengaged her capsule from the Blue Thunderbolt now that her ship was safely docked. A hatch slid open, and her pod left from the top of the ship. As a tug drone latched onto her, she could clearly see the damage her ship sustained, and she herself was impressed at how much abuse it was able to take, particularly for a Rifter. The drone pulled her to her private capsule gantry, which she expertly maneuvered her capsule to. As soon as the capsule was docked, she willed her capsule to release her. The capsule opened like a beast opening its great maw, and Rainbow Dash felt the capsule disengage from her. She felt herself rush back into her body like an empty bottle opened within a deep pool, surging back into herself all at once. She thrust her head out of the ectoplasm, gasping as she took in a deep breath of air, opening her eyes to the barely-tolerable light of the station's capsule gantry lights. Her wings opened reflexively, as if they had a life of their own and wanted out of the capsule as bad as Rainbow Dash. Some of the ectoplasm got into her mouth—it tasted as wretchedly as she knew it would. Slowly she got back onto her hooves. She was completely covered—from head to tail—in capsule goo. Her mane and her tail were matted and hung down, and the feathers of her wings were soaked, completely preventing any flight until she cleaned herself. Shaking her mane out of her face, she stepped out of the capsule and onto the gantry, dripping ectoplasm with every step as she walked to her quarters. A small drone followed her, thoroughly scrubbing the floor as it cleaned up the mess she left behind. Her quarters had a ceramic tile pathway to the bathroom, which was the only thing on her mind; personal hygiene was not at the top of her list—not necessarily low on that list either—but she absolutely had to get rid of the ectoplasm that she was covered with. She reached the bathroom, and did not bother to close the shower door before she turned on the shower. The hot water was refreshing, counteracting the slimy cold of the ectoplasm which was being washed off. She spent at least a half hour in the shower, determined to get rid of every single bit of capsule goo from every inch of her body. She spent another half-hour letting the hot water relax the muscles of her body. While combat itself was not as taxing, it was the mental shock of combat which shook her up. When she was caught in that Hurricane's barrage, she felt every hit as if her own body was struck by those cannon shells; it hurt, particularly because she was mentally integrated with the Rifter at the time of the battle. Getting out of her pod reminded her of her own vulnerability, and how easy things could go from bad to worse. The combined realization shook her up a bit, but she had found from previous encounters that a long, hot shower usually calmed her down faster. After she finished cleaning herself and unwinding in the shower, she dried herself off and retrieved a bomber jacket hanging from a coat hook. The jacket was an old relic from her days in the Caldari Navy, before she was discharged for "reckless conduct." There were other memories of the past which decorated her quarters—a model of a Crow-class interceptor, her squadron photograph, a picture of her and Fluttershy after she left the Navy to join the Sisters of Equestria, and some assorted Wonderbolts memorabilia. Something that also stood out was a picture of her and her father when she was a filly. Her father had not been fond of her becoming a capsuleer, and was also not fond of her decision to join the Navy. She had lost contact with him after she was discharged, but it was a story which Rainbow Dash did not share with everyone she knew. After donning the jacket, she wished the picture a silent goodbye and left her quarters. The access hallway was more luxurious than the captain staterooms of the space station back in Nonni, with a polished granite floor and marble walls. Multiple places in the walls and the floor were decorated with the Protection Services insignia, and occasionally here there were plaques with Harmony's insignia hanging on the walls. There were multiple other doors here, each one leading to the private quarters of the founders of Harmony. Being directors and founders of a corporation had undeniable benefits in New Equestria. She hopped up and flew the short distance to the elevator, happy that there were no jumpy security personnel to stop her. The elevator directly connected the director's quarters with the station's corporate offices. Its polished steel doors had a mirror shine, and she got a good look at herself, satisfied that she had managed to preserve her typical unkempt hairstyle she was known for. She pressed the button which would summon the elevator. After a few moments of waiting, the door opened with the accompaniment of a soft chime. She stepped inside the elevator, and the doors silently closed behind her. "Harmony executive offices," Rainbow Dash spoke, and the elevator chimed once in confirmation at the recognition of her voice. She felt herself be pulled downward slightly by the acceleration of the elevator. Slowly the elevator stopped, and the door chimed as it opened. "Level 19: Harmony Executive Offices," a soft voice came from the elevator sounding her arrival. She trotted out of the elevator to the security desk. Fleet was a light-green Pegasus with a cerulean mane. He was hired as the security officer for the front desk of the executive offices, which while appearing to be a dull and dreary job gave him plenty of time to catch up on the news, text chat with his fillyfriend and other distractions which would not interfere with the job. Twilight was rather lenient on what was the limit for on-the-job diversions. "Hey Rainbow Dash, I heard that you got jumped on the way back," he said with chipper tone. "Yeah, a Hurricane followed us through the gate. I held it off until Fluttershy came and bailed us out. Anyway it's a story for layer, Twilight wants to see me." "No problem, Rainbow Dash. Tell me about it later," Fleet said as he pressed a button on his desk, unlocking the security door to let Rainbow Dash through. The glass doors opened for her as she walked through, and closed behind her. The Harmony executive offices were sedate, with various office staff sitting at their desks and processing corporate information. She returned a few greetings as she made her way to a particular door. Next to the door was a steel plaque mounted on the wall. "Twilight Sparkle: Chief Executive Officer." Rainbow Dash pushed the door open and walked in. Twilight Sparkle was sitting at her desk, telekinetically typing away on a keyboard. The holographic display projected her words directly in front of her, which gave her a clear view of the multi-hued Pegasus entering her office. "Rainbow Dash, scuttleflank tells me that you got ambushed by a Hurricane on the Aunenen and everyone got back in one piece," Twilight spoke without formal greeting. She waved a hoof in front of the display, and the hologram shifted to the right side of her desk, out of her line of sight. "You have got to tell me how you got out of that one," she said, leaning forward at her desk and smirking like a teenage filly about to ingest very scandalous gossip. Twilight's smirk was reciprocated by Rainbow Dash, who sat down on a cushion positioned in front of Twilight's desk. This story was going to be a good one.