//------------------------------// // Assault On Alastor, Part One // Story: The Quest For Iscanter // by eternalsquire //------------------------------// By the time the Yamato was ready to leave Eris, it had become an entirely different ship. Before, it was more or less a barge made from crystal with a single turret holding a single cutting laser. Now, the original ship was embedded within a much larger structure of nickel-iron: three times longer, five times as wide, and six times as high. The instant Twilight Sparkle mentioned to Captain Avatar Apple the sealed records from ten thousand years ago which she brought with her, he demanded to see the index. She brought him to his reading console, loaded the information, then set him loose upon it. He immediately looked up sections on naval history, naval architecture, and military science. Five shifts later, in the middle of 'night', Avatar required Twilight's presence in the cabin. She noticed his eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep, but she also saw a gleam of inspiration within them. The captain stabbed his finger at a diagram displayed on his reading console. Build this!, he ordered her. It was the blueprints for an ancient battleship built by The Crysanthemum Empire during the Second Equestrian War. It had been the largest battleship of it's time that had ever been built. Her hull had sleek lines and deadly symmetries bristling with all manner of slug-throwing armament, and appeared to have been especially drawn to strike terror into the hearts of any of her adversaries. She even had a ram that could crush other ships upon impact, to sink them. She had been known as "The Yamato". According to the archives, it was sunk before it even had the chance to be effectively used, thanks to the hubris of the military rulers of the time. Refitted with turrets for beam weaponry and ports for missiles of all sizes large and small, this modern replica being built could very well be expected to strike terror squared into the hearts of the Gallopons. And, of course, the new Yamato thanks to Twilight was designed to also dish out as a surprise gift, an intense buffet of faster-than-light particles for the Gallopons' just desserts. "Twilight", Captain Avatar said, "I believe that ancient bastard the Emperor remembered that old ship, and wanted to see her gain the glory he thinks she should have deserved." "So what?", Twilight Sparkle answered him. "We're building this not for our glory, but to save our own lives and our world and everyone on it that we love. I don't care about a little ego trip on his part." "Well, said!", he replied. "Can you do it in four weeks?" "Discord is bringing ores all over the cometary belt to us", she replied. "We will have our dues to pay to him, but with the ores close at hand, and all of us working double shifts, it can be done." "It will be done!", he ordered. Twilight Sparkle stood straight and tall with pride, looked him in the eye, and exclaimed, "AYE, SIR!" ... Four weeks later all was now in readiness. The crewponies were especially motivated to work extra hard by Pinkie Pie's constant stream of absolutely delicious meals, starring her new specialty, loaves of fresh baked bread saturated with butter, garlic, and parsley. Everypony clamored for more of them! More! MORE! That plus Pinkie's wonderful coffee gifted to the ship by the Saddle Arabians had been supercharging everypony's efforts across the entire ship. Forest Snow turned out to be a remarkably effective baker's apprentice for Pinkie, he was hard pressed to create the garlic loaves every hour on the hour, but she had trained him very well. This left Pinkie free to do the more intricate food preparation. Everyone was on station at the bridge. Luna had trained three shifts worth of gunners from among the warponies over the past month, so she was now able to care for the engines down below continuously. "Comms, shipwide.", the captain ordered. Fluttershy opened the circuits. "This is the captain.", Avatar said. "We now have a warship finally worthy of the name. Let's go kick some Gallopon tail! Stand by... OPS!" "Yes, sir!", Forest responded. Both his and his captain's voices could be heard throughout the ship. "Take command for exit maneuvers.", the captain said. He stood up, then ordered: "Sit in my chair!". Forest did. Avatar continued, "This ain't your grampa's old mobile, his legacy. This is our ship. Forest, this will be your legacy! Take us out!" "AYE, SIR!", Forest shouted. "Radar!", he called out. "Go!", Twilight called back, having temporarily taken Forest's station. "Gunner!", Forest called out. "Go!", the warpony called back. "Tac!", Forest called out. "Go!", Rainbow Dash called back. "Nav!", Forest called out. "Go!", Rarity called back. "Engines!", Forest called out. "Auxilliary and main engines at your discretion!", Luna called back over the speakers. Forest leaned back into Avatar's chair, then shouted: " Full power to all engines! YAMATO.... HASSHIN! ." The order to launch, in The Crystanthemum Empire's ancestral tongue. The Yamato's engines roared as they immediately pushed her straight across the icy surface. She picked up speed, and within a minute was clearing Eris's horizon. The ponies were quickly learning what it took to fly beyond the confines of their world. And they liked it. A lot. Thank you so very much , Pinkie, for teaching me confidence! Forest thought. . . . A shift later, Pinkie Pie found herself summoned to the captains quarters. I really hope it's not one of his infamous 'masts', she thought to herself. Pinkie knew she had done exactly the right thing by Forest, and that had been verified by the 'scuttlebutt' or naval name for rumors, that Forest was learning to escape the shadow of his grandfather and become his own stallion. Even if she were to have imposed upon her the worst punishment possible, she'd do the same thing all over again. And, over, and over, and over, and over..., she thought, But even once was more than enough! . She smiled to herself in fond rememberance. Avatar was busy at his desk, reading. He looked up when he heard her hoofsteps as she approached. He saw she was standing at attention as a sign of respect to him. She was smiling silently at him. "Mess Chief Pinkie, do you know what I called you in here for?", he asked. "No, sir.", she replied. "If it's about..." "Stow it.", he stopped her. "I think we've both taken each others' measure over that one. You're a healer, not a killer. I read that loud and clear from you. But even if you won't take life, I know you're just as willing to lay down your life to protect others, and you're also one of the hardest working ponies on the ship.. Am I right?" Pinkie's eyes grew bigger than saucers. "You honor me, sir.", she said solemnly. "Fine. I don't offer my honor to just anyfilly, and I don't believe you would offer yours to just anycolt.", the captain said. "So. In a battle", Avatar continued, "even the support crew must pitch in. I've got Fluttershy on comms because she's a lot like you: she'll give me her all but choosing who should live and who should die would destroy her emotionally and mentally. I've put her in the one seat which would do the ship the least amount of harm. I think she's going to need your help. With me so far? Pinkie nodded at him. The captain continued, "I believe you to be made of much sterner stuff. I won't order you to do this, but I would be grateful if you would train on the console to her left for damage control, during your offshift. It would save lives. Up for it?" "Yes, sir!", she grinned. "I thought so.", he answered. "I think she needs someone like you to keep her focused. Thank you, Pinkie. Dismissed." . . . An hour later, Captain Avatar called all his senior officers to a meeting in his ready room. "Honored mares and stallions", he announced, "Even though the enemy fleet is no more, Twilight has been taking telescope sightings of Alastor. She's discovered rocks are still being launched. This is simply unacceptable. We cannot leave our own people vulnerable. We absolutely must take out that base before we can leave the system." "Sir.", Rainbow Dash interrupted. "Discord's world, Eris, is usually on the other side of the system from Alastor. Speed of light delay would make sightings in real time impossible." "'Usually", is the operative term, Rainbow." Twlight Sparkle said. "Right now, however, Eris is just crossing the point where the orbits of Palatine, planet eight, and Alastor, planet nine would usually intersect." [ "I have a feeling the characters are taking on a life of their own.", Wendy noted. ] [ "Yes,", Sandor said. "Oh, by the way, Palatine is the arena where the horses raced in honor of Neptune." ] [ "Makes sense.", Derek said. "Nova, isn't your male analog getting a little more, um, experience than necessary? "] [ "I'm representing him in my position, but he doesn't need to be a thing like me otherwise. He's a young stallion with a young stallion's sense of priorities.", Derek's wife replied, primly. ] Twilight continued. "The latter two planets are also usually close to the intersection. This is an extremely rare alignment. I have a feeling the combined gravity shadow had thrown off our aim during the first warp attempt. So, Rarity, it really was just as much my fault as yours." "No problem, Twilight!", Rarity said. "Thank you.", Twilight acknowledged. "What this actually buys us is a much shortened distance between us and Alastor. At combat speed one we can arrive in only a couple of days. The next question to ask is what's the next step. Anyone have any ideas?" "Could we test the wave motion gun on the base?", the captain asked. "Not a good idea.", she told him. "Alastor is covered in methane ice with liquid hydrogen lakes coated with helium snow. The base is buried under miles of ice. Taking the base using that weapon would require us to practically melt the entire planet, which would throw off the orbits of Palatine, Eris, and other objects in the cometary belt. Possible, but overkill. We need something a bit more surgical." "Explosive charges?", Rainbow Dash asked. "Glad to see you keeping up on the military science reading assignments I gave you.", Avatar congratulated her. "What do we have that's powerful enough?", he asked his group. He was answered by a long period of silence. Nopony could think of anything offhand. "Can we try thinking outside of the stable?", the captain asked. "The shock cannons emits antiparticles in large quantities.", Luna noted. "Could we collect enough of them in a single place and use them all at once?" "Maybe, if we had magnetic bottles to keep the particles in.", Twlight replied. "How long would those take to make?", Avatar asked. "A couple weeks or more.", she said. "Too late.", the captain commented. Fluttershy raised her hand. "Yes, Fluttershy?", the captain asked. "What if we made ordinary bottles and lined them with magic to contain the particles?", Fluttershy naively suggested. Her captain blinked in surprise. "Let that be a lesson to us all! If we think all we have is a hammer then every problem looks like a nail. We've been so impressed by Crysanthemum artisanship we forgot we had our own Equestrian abilities to add to it. Brilliant thinking, Fluttershy!" Her face shone at the compliment. "Think about magic for a moment, Twilight.", he instructed. "Know any good spells?" "Several, I think.", the purple alicorn replied. "How large, and how many?" "Large enough for the Wondersuits to carry.", he replied. "As many as we can make for both squadrons twice over." "Doable.", Twilight declared. "Then our order of battle should look something like this.", Avatar began. "We have Red and Black squadrons use antimatter bombs to clear away the ice and expose the base. Then, the Yamato aims straight into the planet with shock cannon, to completely eliminate the base without risking Alastor's integrity. Rainbow, brief your squadrons. Twilight, Luna, make those bombs. The rest of you, draw up a detailed plan of attack together, and put it on my console inside four hours. Questions?" "Do we even know exactly where this base is?", Rarity asked. "No.", Twilight told her. "That's the only major flaw in this plan. We'll have to find this base the hard way." . . . Gallopon soldiers dwelt within habitats underneath miles of ice under the forsaken surface of a frozen world. Occasionally one solder would push a lever on a console, sending a powerful energy beam to rise through the ice, melting it. The beam leapt outward into space to strike a mirror in orbit. The reflected beam travelled to another mirror... then another... then another... to finally strike a small piece of rocky debris nearby. Light pressure from the beam shoved the rock into a course toward the inner system, of which the world of Equestria belonged to. A Gallopon stallion with a single horn branded on his rump was pacing back and forth, thinking out loud. "Our fleet gets completely destroyed, and our general runs off in our last ship. His ship before jumping fired a multi-menace missile at Planet Three which gets neutralized by an unknown ship, an insignificant thing emerging from the soil on that world. That ship flies to Mares, then disappears. I strongly suspect they jumped. Where to?" "Here, Columnel?", one of his unbranded soldiers ventured a guess. "Paranoia would dictate that, yes.", the officer agreed. "We don't have any weapons to defend ourselves with...". His eyebrows rose as he trailed off. "Or, do we?", he wondered. "I think we can arrange a suitable welcome for them..." . . . The Yamato quickly approached Alastor, then hovered about five hundred furlongs above the surface. Everypony was tense on the bridge, waiting for something, anything to happen. Captain Avatar nodded to his tactical officer. Rainbow Dash spoke over the ship's intercom: "Wonderbolt Red Squadron, launch!" The Yamato's belly hatch opened, and a rocket propelled craft exited through the hatch. The craft was fitted around the pilot as if it were a custom form-fitting jacket, except here the jacket was made from steel and composite plastics. Maneric was out first. He had been a trainer at the Wonderbolts Academy, but here he was needed now as the captain of his own wing. "Red One, go!", Maneric said. Next to follow was Soarin, Maneric's wingmate. "Red Two, go!", Soarin said. In rapid succession the other three pairs belonging to Maneric soon followed: Spitfire and Blaze, Fire Streak and Fleet Foot, and High Winds and Lightning Streak. The each announced their readiness. Maneric decided to tighten up his group. "Red Squadron, this is Red One. Form up on me. Cruise in formation and begin scanning for anything which could look like a base." Meanwhile on the Yamato, everyone on the bridge was watchful for any potential adversaries. However, all was quiet. Nothing was present. The lack of activity on the planet seemed eerie considering this was the place where the rocks slowly destroying Equestria were being thrown from. Suddenly, the ship shuddered from incoming fire, rocking the bridge crew in their chairs. "BATTLESTATIONS!", the captain shouted. "Radar, location!" "I don't know, sir!", Forest Snow said. "There's nothing showing on the radar!" "Red One!", Rainbow Dash cried out. "Do you see anything from the surface firing on us?" "Our squadron sees nothing, Tac!", said Maneric. Again by surprise, the ship received another massive bolt, but from a different direction. "Hit on the port side above the waterline.", Twilight Sparkle said. "Compartment 15B open to space!", Pinkie Pie said. She was sitting to Fluttershy's left, using a spare communications console to coordinate damage control. "Damage crew is sealing it!" "Medical reports two casualties, captain!", Fluttershy said. "Where in perdition are those coming from?", the captain asked. "Radar shows large energy signature coming... from above!", Forest breathed. Another BOOM! rang the ship like a bell. "Engineering got hit!", Pinkie Pie cried. "I can't give you the main engine anymore, captain!", Luna shouted through the bridge speakers. "Five more casualties, sir!", Fluttershy said. "Scanners indicate satellites around Alastor.", Twilight said. "Those could be the source." "Find a lake!", Avatar ordered. "Maneric!", shouted Rainbow Dash. "Lake course 290 relative to you, about five thousand furlongs.", Maneric reported. "Hard to port, 70 degrees!", the captain ordered. "70 degrees port, just as soon we can finish the turn.", Rarity reported. Everypony could feel the turn's stress upon them. "Incoming!", Forest shouted. "TRACE IT, TWILIGHT!", the captain shouted. "Scanners on deep field!", Twilight Sparkle declared. A crashing BOOM! resounded through the Yamato. "That sure didn't sound good", Fluttershy said. "Five more casualties on that one, captain!" "We got that one on foward turret three.", Pinkie Pie reported. "Distance to lake!", the captain said. "Five hundred furlongs.", Rarity said. "Four... Three... Two... One..." "DIVE!", Avatar shouted. BOOM! A final bolt struck the ship. The Wonderbolts watched in dismay as the ship instead of diving into the hydrogen lake, foundered and sank.