The Price of Citizenship

by Colgate is best pony

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Big Macintosh trotted across the parapets of the Canterlot Defense Tower in his usual silence. He was supposed to have a companion for his watch, but the stallion hadn’t bothered to show up-- again. Big Mac didn’t mind in the slightest. The colt had an amazing talent for being able to talk constantly without actually having anything to say, and Mac didn’t miss his company. On the plus side, the four hour long shift at least gave him fair amounts of solitude and fresh air, both of which he struggled to find during the rest of his waking hours.
He hadn’t been told why he’d been transferred from the Mobile Infantry, but he had his suspicions. He’d learned long ago not to worry about things he could do nothing about. One of those things, he’d discovered, was his sister. Applejack had been galavanting about the stars for nearly two years now, and he had accepted that her fate was completely out of his hooves. It broke his heart to think that his younger sister, who he had helped raise like a daughter, could be in danger on the other side of the galaxy. It broke his heart even more that Applebloom had been taken from him as well, but he understood why. He was against the war from the start, but he wasn’t so naive as to think that the Antarans would leave ponydom alone-- especially after having their planet invaded. And at least Applebloom wrote him once a week, helping to break the tedium of life in the Home Guard.
The Home Guard, for lack of a better term, was useless. Consisting mostly of reservists and stay at home moms, the group was in charge of Equestria’s civil defences-- such as they were. Big Mac very much doubted how much use his flak cannon would get in the event of an invasion. He doubted even more that it would make much of a difference should the Antarans somehow breach the orbital defences. But he slung the heavy cannon over his back and did his patrol every day in silence. Had his superiors not known that he was a draftee, he would have been considered a perfect soldier. Instead, they let him go about his business, knowing that he had two years to warm up to the idea of fighting for Equestria.
Big Mac completed a lap of the parapet, bringing him back to face the Royal Palace and Canterlot proper. His tower, one of four ringing the city, hung from mountain across the city from the Palace. Two orbital defence canons lay nestled within its depths, and the Big Mac was one of a few dozen ponies tasked with defending them. His position-- high above the city, on what amounted to little more than a catwalk-- was not usually suited for ponies of his stature. The fact that he could carry a heavy repeating cannon on his back waylaid any concerns his superiors may have had.
He looked across the metropolis at the Palace. Unlike his sisters, he had never been inside; he still hadn’t figured out why Applebloom was a flower-girl for Princess Cadance, but, again, didn’t bother himself with the details. As he did every day, he tried and failed to spot one of the Princesses. This too did not bother him, as he wasn’t alone in that regard-- nopony had seen the Princesses in public in some time. He hoped that they were okay. He may not have agreed with their policies, but they were still Royalty, after all, and their presence was quite the calming influence on much of ponydom.
He continued trotting along the parapet, thinking about nothing and everything at the same time. Things were bad, he thought. Very bad-- ponies were starving, soldiers were dying, and the once proud Equestria was losing the shine that he taken comfort in for so long. But, he reckoned, things could certainly get a lot worse. The fleet had been rebuilding, and the Antarans hadn’t won a significant battle since Antara-- there had even been talk of some small victories on the Ant side of the border. Shining Armor may have been a bit too . . . dapper for Big Mac’s taste, but he had managed to keep the military from falling to bits in the early days of the war.
Eeyup, he found himself thinking, things are bad. But not that bad, when you think about it.
He continued to walk in silent contemplation until the shriek of the alarm klaxons nearly knocked him off of the catwalk.

“Pinkie?”
“Yes, Applejack?”
“How long have I been out?”
“An hour. You’ve been sleeping very soundly, though. You seemed so stressed out that I let you take a little nap. You can go back to bed, if you want.”
Applejack slowly opened her eyes to see a mass of pink staring back at her. She closed them again as the room began to spin.
“No thanks. What happened?”
“Cloud Reign cracked you good across the head and you fainted. I screamed and pretended to pass out too so she wouldn’t knock me out and I could try to escape.”
Applejack tried her vision again. The dark brig cell remained static enough for her to keep them open.
“And how did that go?”
“Not so good. Usually there are some screws or something that I can undo with my tail, but I guess any ship with Captain Applejack in charge doesn’t cut corners on its brig! Good job!”
Said Captain rose to shaky hooves and embraced her friend.
“Thank you for trying, Pinkie. And thank you for being my friend, even out here in the middle of space.”
Pinkie squeezed back, her elation never wavering.
“Of course, silly! That’s what friends are for, right? And besides, my escape attempts didn’t completely fail. . .” she said in a sing-song voice, gesturing past the force field holding the pair in the brig. Applejack looked outside for the first time and made eye contact with a yellow pegasus. The both ponies beamed.
“Spitfire!”
“Morning, Captain,” she said, putting emphasis on the title. Applejack raised an eyebrow.
“Relax, Applejack. Pinkie showed me what happened. I want to help. We’ve gotta save Rainbow Dash. I owe her that, at least.”
Applejack turned to her cellmate.
“How did you. . .”
“I was recording the whole exchange in your cabin. I thought it would be fun to show everypony back on Home, at least until Cloud Reign went nuts. I sent it to Spitfire while she was busy making sure you weren’t going to be getting up anytime soon.”
Accepting the explanation, as she usually did with things involving Pinkie, Applejack turned back to Spitfire.
“So what’s the plan?”
“We’re still in the system with the prison rock. Haven’t been able to find a way out undetected. Cloud Reign has the bridge locked up pretty tight-- I doubt you’d be able to get up there without her Shadowbolt tag. She only let me down here because I said I’d try to talk some sense into you.”
“What if she’s watching us right now?”
Spitfire rolled her eyes.
“Just because I’m a fly-girl doesn’t mean I don’t know how to set up a remote camera loop.”
“Fair enough,” said Applejack, now trotting around the room, looking for something that she could use to escape. The room provided nothing, as she expected.
“Pinkie, you wouldn’t happen to have any suits of armor and stun guns stashed in here in case of mutiny emergencies, would you?”
Pinkie laughed.
“Nope! The scientists tried to get me to do that kind of thing, too, but no luck. I guess they thought I had some sort of interdimensional portal power or something-- they never believed that I just love being prepared as much as I do!” She frowned for a second. “I wish I could have been as useful to them as they had hoped. They were such nice ponies.”
Applejack again reached out to comfort her friend.
“Pinkie Pie, you are so much more than useful-- you hear? No matter what any scientists say, you mean more to me than. . .”
Applejack trailed off, her mind racing. Pinkie looked at her expectantly.
“. . . you mean more to me than anything. And apparently, you mean more to Cloud Reign than anything. Which makes you a very, very useful pony, Pinkie Pie.”
Realizing what Applejack had in mind, Spitfire beamed. Applejack smiled back in acknowledgment. Pinkie Pie giggled and joined them.

Luna, the flagship of the new 6th Fleet, once again found itself holding together a shattered flotilla. The Antarans had jumped from Equus before most of the ships orbiting Home had even known that they had broken through from Deneb. Nopony knew what had happened to Shining Armor and his 5th fleet, but it wasn’t hard to venture a guess. The 4th Fleet was supposedly en route from Celestium, but their absence four hours into the battle was ominous.
The seventy two ships of the 6th fleet had held their ground for much of the engagement, but the attrition was starting to take its toll. The orbital defense cannons had proved their worth by keeping the Antaran fleet from holding position over any populated areas, and the EqCom force had used this to their advantage by keeping the enemy constantly at a distance. Some frigates and bomber groups had scored a few scalps, but the destruction of Faust had thinned the fleet’s fighter cover considerably. Planet based fighters had been involved, but their inexperienced and terrified pilots had failed to change the tide in any considerable way.
Twilight Sparkle observed all of this from Luna’s bridge. She had been on board by chance when the fleet had arrived, and refused to evacuate when the crew had beat to quarters. She’d thought and thought about the situation, but nothing in her considerable intellect pointed at a way out of the predicament. Over one hundred and fifty Antaran vessels still threatened her world, and the fifty odd remaining Equestrian craft were losing the power to resist the challenge.
Luna’s captain turned to Twilight.
“Ma’am, we just lost another guard frigate, and we’re going to have trouble screening all of the torpedoes that filter through. I’d really suggest you get off ship-- we still have some shuttles left.”
Twilight brushed him off.
“There has to be something I can do! Some strategy, some trick? Right?”
The captain shrugged and went back to his post.
Twilight continued to talk to herself.
“I just don’t understand why Shining Armor isn’t here. . . or why the 4th fleet isn’t here! Unless Celestium has been taken. . .”
She let closed her eyes and did some mental calculations.
“This is bad. Very, very bad.”
The bridge shook as Tree of Harmony, the heavy cruiser off Luna’s port bow, exploded into dozens of spinning pieces. With most of the Equestrian vessels out of range of the Antaran heavy stuff, the cruiser had likely been smote by a bomber, leading Twilight to conclude that the fighter screen had taken more of a beating than she’d thought. Another problem that she had no answer for.
Twilight shook her head and strode back to the captain.
“Captain, I’m going to need your quarters. I need to talk to the Princesses.”

“Captain, Spitfire is on the comm for you, says its urgent.”
Cloud Reign tried to hide her annoyance as she peered up from her new command post.
“Can’t you handle it, Lieutenant? I’m trying to find us a way out of here.”
“Negative, ma’am. She says you need to come down, won’t say why.”
Reign wordlessly rose and turned toward the stern of the ship. She took the elevator down to the cargo bay and used her medallion to enter the brig. Her relaxed manner evaporated the second she saw what was happening in the cell.
Applejack stood on two legs, her arms wrapped around Pinkie Pie’s neck. Reign could not see Applejack’s face behind the mass of seemingly deflated pink mane sprouting from a whimpering Pinkie’s head. Spitfire stood with her mouth agape.
“Captain! I was just trying to. . .”
“Shut it, Spitfire. Applejack, what the hell are you thinking? Do you want us to lose this war or what?”
“I guess I do, if it means I can get my lover back. Rainbow Dash means more to me than all of ponydom. And much more than this one here.”
“I’m not letting you out, Applejack. Let her go before you get hurt.”
“No can do, Reign,” said the former captain, her face still hidden from view. “If I can’t have the most important pony in my world, you can’t have the most important pony in yours.”
Reign considered her options. The easiest thing would be to flood the chamber with some sort of knockout gas, but that would both take time and involve other members of the crew. She realized now how grateful she was for Spitfire’s discretion when summoning her to the brig. She sighed and began to walk towards the force field.
“Applejack, in ten seconds I’m going to come in there. You do not want that. Trust me.”
She could almost feel the determination in Applejack’s reply.
“Try anything and I snap her neck. Pinkie Promise.”
Ears pointed straight back, Cloud Reign stepped forward into the cell. Applejack retreated as she approached. Only Pinkie Pie lay between them, her shaking figure preventing the Shadowbolt from laying a hoof into Applejack’s trachea. Regardless, she lunged forward, knowing that her speed would counter any move Applejack would chance. She knew that no matter how upset Applejack was over Rainbow Dash, she’d never hurt one of her closest friends.
She was wrong.
As she closed on the pair, Applejack twisted Pinkie’s head around in a way that no pony’s neck could possibly sustain. She pushed the pink body away just as Reign delivered a spinning kick to her chest, sending Applejack flying backwards into the bulkhead.
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?”
She rushed towards Pinkie’s limp form and gathered it in her arms. The body lifelessly slumped in her lap. Reign squeezed her, hoping to find a pulse. When none presented itself, Reign closed her eyes and shook her head.
“Laser Focus was wrong about you. He thought you could win the war. You don’t even understand what what you just did, do you? You may have lost us everything.”
Applejack slowly gathered her senses along the bulkhead. Reign rose and closed the distance between the two. Fire in her eyes, she reared back to strike Applejack.
Her hoof, though, would not move.
She looked back to see a pink hoof gripping her own.
“Wha. . .”
With alarming speed, Pinkie Pie pulled Cloud Reign in close, wrapping the pegasus with all four legs. She squeezed the shadowbolt in the tightest hug she’d ever given, and before her prey could react, the mare collapsed to the floor.
Applejack slowly approached Reign and gave her a cautious prod with a hoof.
“She’s not. . .”
A panting Pinkie Pie giggled as she answered.
“Nah, she’ll wake up in a few minutes. I told you that hugs are serious business, you know!”
Applejack smiled.
“I bet you did. Let’s get her Shadowbolt tag and get out of here before she murders us both, okay?”
After finding the tag, the two ponies stepped gingerly past the force field. Spitfire stood waiting for them with her mouth still agape. She stared at Pinkie, who had busied herself with getting the computer to read Reign’s vitals.
“Is there any point in asking how she did that?”
Applejack laughed.
“Short answer-- no. Long answer-- it’s probably best that we don’t know.”
“Fair enough. And what you said about Rainbow Dash?”
Applejack’s glared at Spitfire.
“Never mind.”
The captain cleared her throat.
“Now let’s go convince a ship full of ponies to go on a suicide mission within a suicide mission.”

Twilight gripped the bridge door as Luna trembled once more. The impact knocked several ponies off of their hooves, but Twilight could tell that it hadn’t done as much damage as some of the previous ones-- nopony was panicking. This time, at least.
She focused again on raising her protective shield around the bridge. It pained her that the shield could only cover such a small portion of the vessel, but she hadn’t quite mastered the spell the way Shining Armor had. The ponies in other parts of the ship would simply have to hope that their number remained unplucked by the fates.
Luna had been forced out of its orbit over Equestria proper, and what remained of the fleet-- perhaps two dozens capital ships-- had been scattered around the planet. A hand full of Antaran vessels, including a Sathanas, had followed Luna, and it was the dreadnought that the flagship now dueled with. The two behemoths traded beam cannons as Luna’s crew tried to rally the fleet. The attempt was not going well.
Twilight walked across the shaking bridge to the captain, who was none too pleased to see her.
“Ma’am, not a good time. . .”
“We’re evacuating Home.”
“. . .and we’ve got a lot. . . what?”
“We can’t hold the planet. The Princesses have agreed that we need to get as many ponies off world as possible. The others-- the griffins, buffaloes, zebras-- are on their way out now, but with the fleet over Equestria, they are stuck. We need to drive them back.”
The captain looked to his instrument panel.
“Ma’am, I’ve got 27 functioning ships. They have more than a hundred. We aren’t going to be driving them anywhere.”
“Then we need to buy as many ponies as possible as much time as possible. Get the fleet ready to attack from all angles.”
“Ma’am. . .”
“That wasn’t a suggestion, Captain. If you would like to take your leave, my shuttle is still on board.”
The stallion leered at her.
“Comm, contact all ships. Tell them to prepare to attack.”
The comm officer, a befuddled looking unicorn, answered with a look of concern.
“Uh, Captain, I’d like to, but you should take a look at this. . . we’ve got forty plus contacts entering the system from Equus. IFF can’t confirm if they’re friendly.”
The captain’s demeanor went from one of annoyance to one of worry. He peered at Twilight Sparkle.
“I don’t suppose we us being outnumbered 7 to 1 has changed you order, ma’am?”
Luna rocked again as a beam cannon tore into her port engines. Twilight stared back at the unicorn.
“I. . .”
She was unable to finish her sentence as, inexplicably, the Sathanas exploded.
Luna’s bridge tilted forty degrees. Anypony not strapped down-- including Twilight and the captain-- were flung across the floor as Luna rolled on the shockwave.
Twilight was the first to recover. She shot to a console and called up the scans. What she saw surprised her, to say the least.
“Shining!”

“. . . bottom line is we don’t leave ponies behind. Especially not in Antaran prison camps on the other side of the galaxy. Any questions?”
Applejack scanned the bridge for the inevitable outburst. When none came, she nodded in thanks to her crew.
“I understand that you may not agree with me. But what separates us from the Antarans is the fact that we are willing to risk our lives for the sake of others. It’s what makes us ponies and not monsters. We’ll get in, get out, and get home. Everypony to action stations, stand by for orders.”
A chorus of “yes ma’ams” filled the room as the crew filed to their stations. Beakerman approached as they dispersed.
“Captain,” he said, with some emphasis, “two items of note for you. First, good news and bad news. Good news is we think we’ve found the ship with Rainbow and the Griffins. Bad news is it left the system ten minutes ago, heading back towards Ribos. Spitfire is plotting a course as we speak.”
Applejack considered this while the science officer continued.
“But this might not be a bad thing.”
She raised an eyebrow at him. The bronze stallion stared off at Pinkie Pie.
“Cloud Reign was right. That mare can win the war. And I think I know how.”

“FALL BACK!”
Big Mac ducked as his flak cannon once again ran out of ammunition. Grunting, he whipped it off of his back and began the reloading process. Fifteen minutes earlier, he’d had a partner to assist, but the stallion was currently smeared across a the landscape a few hundred meters below the tower. Macintosh only hoped that the Antaran that had taken him down had finished the job before the poor colt had time to realize that he was a goner.
“REPEAT, ALL UNITS, FALL BACK! BACK TO EQCOM!”
Macintosh could barely hear what his commanding officer was bellowing over the comm unit in his helmet, but the panic on his comrades faces gave him all the info he needed. Things were certainly not going well in Canterlot, and, much as he’d predicted, the orbital defence tower hadn’t been a tremendous help. Sure, when the first dropships had arrived over the capital city, the two cannons in the mountainside tower had seen some success in swatting them from the the sky. But within minutes, there seemed to be more ships than clouds in the air.
Mac was still on the parapet at that point, firing his flak cannon at the smaller gunships that were darting in and out of the skyscrapers of Canterlot to attack his tower. He had just lined up a shot when the catwalk shook behind him. He turned just in time to see the Antaran swipe at him. He dodged and gave the creature a firm bucking, sending it flying into the city. As more began to fall from the skies, though, he descended the stairs into the tower’s command center.
For the past ten minutes, his flak cannon was the only thing keeping the horde of aliens from entering the secured position halfway down the tower. Only a handful of ponies had made it, and they were showing no inclination to stand their ground.
One of them, a brown unicorn, grabbed Mac as he rose to aim his weapon once more.
“Mac, listen! They’re pulling us back. We gotta go!”
Mac shoved him aside.
“Go where? Whole city’s overrun. And what about the guns?”
“Does it look like they’re doing any good any more? We’re going to lose this tower any second. We gotta get outta here, man!”
Mac paused for a second to look at the ponies that had made it back to the command center. Their shivering, paralyzed frames did not inspire him with confidence. The unicorn was right-- there was no way they could hold the tower. He grimaced.
“Fine. But how do we get to the palace?”
“The palace? Command wants us back at EqCom.”
“Why would they want. . .”
The unicorn grabbed him again.
“It doesn’t matter! We just gotta’ get back there!”
Mac sighed.
“Fine. Let’s go.” He paused, then smiled. “You think the lift still works?”
Nopony responded.
“Well, nopony up here brought a parachute, so it better.”

Daring flashed into the Ribos system and immediately began taking fire.
“Spitfire! Evasive pattern delta C!” yelled Applejack. She hardly needed to bother, though, considering that her pilot had initiated the move before the captain had realized its necessity. The craft weaved in and out of the blockade, benefited somewhat, of course, by the fact that the squadron of frigates was anticipating an attack from the opposite direction. By the time the Antaran’s big guns had been brought to bear, Daring had jumped to the other side of the system.
Her destination was the portal to Antara. Applejack had no idea what they’d find when they got there, but the ion trail left behind by Rainbow Dash’s captors pointed directly at the Antaran homeworld. All the better, she and Pinkie had agreed. The portal was two jump points from Equestrian Space, and therefore unlikely to be heavily guarded. Even if it was, though, Applejack intended to get Rainbow Dash back-- whatever the cost.
But, as if to sweeten the deal, Beakerman had added a major incentive to the chase.
“The HCDs are, essentially, mini-Pinkie bombs. We’ve got the real thing right here,” he said, gesturing the the intently listening earth pony. “If we can somehow upload her to the Antaran communication wavelength, the system probably won’t be able to handle it.”
“So instead of blocking a ship from receiving information from the hive, we block the hive from sending the information?”
“Exactly. But since we have pure, unfiltered Pinkie to work with, it will likely be much more of a shock than the normal HCD.”
“So we could knock out every single Antaran at once?”
“Yes. We wouldn’t be killing them, just cutting them off from the hive. We’d turn one omnipresent consciousness into billions of very confused ones. They don’t have any ways of communication besides the hive link, though, so they’d be useless at almost everything more complex than eating, breathing, that sort of thing.”
Applejack thought this over.
“Isn’t that worse than killing them?”
Beakerman frowned.
“With all due respect, Captain, but do we have a choice? It’s them or us, no?”
Applejack pouted, but nodded.
“So how do we get her uploaded?”
“The uploading part itself will be easy. Antarans communicate telepathically, but we’ve discovered tactile “nerve centers” in most vessels where an individual can plug directly into the system if their telepathic senses have been damaged. If we plug Pinkie into one that is high enough on the distribution chain, it could affect every receiving unit in the galaxy. Uploading her will be relatively easy. Getting to that point. . . will be considerably less so. We need a very high level communication source. Which means we need to be as close to one of the queens as possible. Which means. . .”
“. . .we’re going back to Antara, aren’t we?”
“We’re going to need to. We could look for a queen elsewhere, but we’d have no idea where to look. Antara will be the only place where we can find one for sure.”
And so Daring continued full speed ahead across Ribos, her captain and new first mate wondering if they could, indeed, end the war. After a few minutes of travel, their worries doubled.
Halfway across the system, a message appeared on the EqCom emergency frequency. After isolating the message probe and decrypting the signal, Pinkie and Applejack listened with bated breath.
“This is Admiral Shining Armor to all Equestrian vessels. Our offensive into Antaran space has failed. The fleet is currently en route to Home, where we expect to find a massive Antaran invasion force. All able vessels are to fall back to Home or to Celestium, barring further orders. We are anticipating an extinction level crisis if the fleet cannot hold Home. Message repeats. . .”
Applejack’s face whitened as Shining Armor’s message replayed. Pinkie Pie eventually shut it off. Her smile had disappeared.
“AJ. . .what are we gonna do?”
There was no hesitation in Applejack’s response.
“We push on.”
“What!?”
“If they are in that much trouble, Daring isn’t going to be much help. But we can get to Antara and plug you in. We can stop them before they destroy Home. Understood?”
Pinkie nodded, eyes closed. Applejack once again embraced her.
“What about Rainbow Dash?”
“We’ll get her too, sugarcube. Count on it.”

The 5th fleet exited FTL drive directly behind the Antaran invasion force, just as Shining Armor had planned. It had pained him to wait so long, but surprise was the key in his maneuver-- the Antarans had to be facing away from him for his approach to work. Once they had gained the upper hand on what was left of the 6th fleet, he came at them from beneath the moon, targeting the FTL jump to pass just barely within the sphere of its gravity, allowing the pull to slow the descent from faster than light travel. It was a dangerous move, of course, but, again, it was one Shining had to make. He just hoped that he hadn’t waited too long.
His 40 vessels had pulled up directly behind what we guessed was a fleet twice their size. The smaller vessels would be able to turn to face them quickly, but the cruisers and dreadnoughts would take some time. He planned to capitalize on the delay.
“All ships, fire at will! Hit the big boys before they can get turned around! Everything you’ve got!”
He watched from the CIC as his fleet unleashed the wrath of Celestia on the Antarans. Hundreds of torpedoes and dozens shots hurled from mass-accelerators flashed across his screen. Harmony still had three beam cannons functioning as well, and Shining directed them on the nearest Sathanas with extreme prejudice.
The comm clicked on from the bridge.
“Admiral, the forward guns can’t handle this power output-- we’ve got to slow down our rate of fire!”
He considered this.
“What’s the worst that could happen if we keep going?”
“The casing of the lasers will start to melt. Once they cool off and harden, we won’t be able to fire them until we get ponies out there to install new ones.”
“Then there is your answer, Captain-- don’t let them cool down. Keep firing at full power at anything that moves. Armor out.”
From there he directed the fleet in silence. The Antarans were eventually able to turn themselves around, only for the remnants of the 6th Fleet to jump them from behind. The battered defenders would not be able to stand on their own for long, though, and Shining began to slowly pivot his angle of attack to link with that of Luna’s.
Just as he had thought to contact the flagship, his secure frequency activated.
“This is Shining Armor, little busy at the moment. . .”
“Shining!”
The Admiral’s heart lept.
“Twily?”
“Where have you been!?”
“Forget where I’ve been, what the buck are you doing on Luna!?”
“Trying to save Equestria, that’s what! Forget it, I need your help.”
Shining nearly facehooved. He had forgotten how obvious (and oblvious) his sister could be.
“Yeah, I kind of figured. . .”
“We’re evacuating Home.”
“What!? Why?”
“Because even with your fleet we’re still outnumbered, and the Antarans already have thousands of troops planetside! We can’t hold Home!”
“But Twily. . .”
“No buts. The Princesses ordered it themselves. They’re in Canterlot, doing what they can to protect the city. Cadence is doing the same in the Crystal Empire. It hasn’t been hit yet, so don’t worry about her.”
Shining took a second to reprimand himself for not having thought of her in some time. Questions of extinction tended to do that to ponies, he supposed.
“Fine. What do you want us to do?”
“We need to push the Antarans off of orbit over home. We can’t get any transports off the surface until the skies are clear. Can you do that?”
“Affirmative. Upload what’s left of the 6th fleet into my CIC.”
Once she had done so, Shining took command and began plotting another maneuver. He radioed Twilight once more
“Twi, what is it that your friend says about clearing the skies? Ten seconds flat or some such nonsense?”
Twilight chuckled.
“Glad to hear from you too, BBBFF.”

Big Mac stretched out a hoof to stop his squadmates as he leaned around the corner. His head shot back immediately.
“Aint’ goin’ that way.”
Plow Hard, the unicorn directly behind him, peaked around the corner himself. The sounds of gunfire and destruction echoed through the city, but the alleyway the Home Guards had found was quiet-- for the moment.
“Mac’s right. There’s dozens of them. We gotta find another way to HQ.”
Macintosh snorted angrily.
“This is the sixth time we’ve been rerouted. We’ve almost run a mile long circle around HQ. Face it, Plow, we aint’ gettin there. Besides, what’s the point of defending EqCom? We should get to the Palace-- that’s where the evacuation is coming from.”
“What about our orders?”
“Forget our orders if they don’t make sense! That stupid oath we took said we serve the Princesses, not EqCom. If they want to hole themselves up in HQ, let them. We should go and help the Princesses evacuate.”
The squad looked at him like he was an Antaran. Plow was the first to speak.
“Forget him, guys. There’s a reason you can’t count on draftees. Mac, you’re welcome to follow, but frankly, you sound like you’re better off on your own. Let’s move out-- we’re getting back to EqCom.”
With a huff, he continued down the alley. The five others followed. Candy Stripe, a mare that he hadn’t spoken much with, hung behind, giving him a sad look. She reached into a saddle pouch and withdrew a pistol. She tossed it to him, then gestured at his shoulder mounted cannon.
“Can’t imagine that has much ammo left. Good luck, Mac.”
He nodded appreciatively.
“You too, Candy.”
She turned and jogged to catch up with the others. Mac holstered the weapon and set off in the opposite direction.

“Here’s the plan,” said Applejack, who once again had her crew’s rapt attention.
“Beakerman has tracked the ship with the Griffons and Rainbow Dash on it to this. . . large vessel.” She pointed to the holoprojection of a vessel three times the size of a Sathanas dreadnought, made almost entirely of concentric rings and stretching for miles.
“We believe it is some sort of space station. We also believe that the Queens on the planet are using it as a relay beacon, sending instructions across the galaxy to their fleets. Luckily, as you’ve probably gathered, we haven’t been detected yet, and the station doesn’t have much in the way of excorts. The thing itself probably has more firepower than Luna and Celestia put together though, but if it can’t see us, it can’t hit us. We’re going to board her with two teams. Alpha will board here” she said, gesturing to a point towards the stern of the vessel, “and Beta from this gunport on the opposite side. Both will head for the nerve center, which we think will be in the dead center of the station. With luck, we can shut the entire Antaran fleet down. I don’t need to tell you ponies how important this could be.”
“Home is under threat of invasion,” she continued, though she and Pinkie had resolved not to tell the crew just how immediate that threat was, “and though we are on the far side of the galaxy, we can do our part. If we all do our jobs, we can go home-- for good. We can end this war right here and right now. So let’s do it.”
The crew nodded silently and filtered back to their stations. Applejack strapped herself into her command post.
“Spitfire, you ready?”
“Aye, aye, Captain. Let’s get ‘em.”
“Take us in. Slow and steady as she goes.”
Spitfire grunted in ascent and activated the impulse engines. With few vessels in the system, the approach looked to be straightforward. The illusion did not last.
Seconds after Spitfire had engaged the engines, warning lights began flashing throughout the bridge.
“They’ve seen us!” yelled the pilot, snapping Daring around to avoid a lock on. Applejack clutched her control station as Daring was hammered by laser fire. The bridge shook at regular intervals.
“Status!”
“Direct hit to the port nacelle, Captain, we’re venting plasma! Deck three reports a fire, and we have hull breaches on all decks!” came the reply from Pinkie Pie, who had somehow slipped into Cloud Reign’s former position.
Applejack yelled into her own comm unit.
“Damage control, contain deck three. Helm, get us to that ship! All guns fire at will!”
The forward cannons opened fire, though Applejack doubted that Daring’s armament would be able to do any significant damage to a mass that size. At best, she hoped, they’d be able to disable some of the guns bearing down on her ship-- though given the way Spitfire was handling her, Applejack doubted that anypony on board would be able to hit anything they were actually aiming for.
The ship rocked again, more violently than Applejack remembered it could. Pinkie Pie yelled again.
“Direct hit to deck three! We’ve lost pressure, force-fields have failed!”
“Evacuate that deck!”
Pinkie Pie looked at Applejack and sadly shook her head.
“No use, Captain. They’re all gone.”
Another impact sheared a piece of the hull from the bridge, cutting off Applejack’s response. The force-fields held, though, keeping twenty ponies from getting a taste of vacuum.
“Spitfire!”
“Sorry, Captain, I’m losing control here. Port maneuvering thrusters are gone, I’m flying with one wing. . . and I don’t think I’ll be able to put us down all soft like.”
“Can you get us on that ship, Spitfire?”
“Not without crashing us into it!”
“Do it!”
“What!?”
Applejack ignored her.
“Beakerman, where is its armor weakest?”
“Haven’t been able to fully scan it yet, but. . .”
“Need an answer, Lieutenant!”
“Directly under one of the beam cannons!”
“Spitfire, find us a spot! Gunners, put everything you have into wherever Spitfire marks! Punch us a hole! All hands, brace for impact!”
As soon as the words were out of Applejack’s mouth, Daring tilted rapidly downward. Applejack’s readouts showed that all guns were firing, and that Spitfire had reached maximum speed. It didn’t look like it’d be enough.
“Engineering! Put all available power into the forward facing guns and shields! Lights, comms, life support, everything!”
“But. . .” came a nervous reply.
“Just do it!”
No reply came as the comms went dead. The interior lights and steady hum the ship’s systems faded to black. Only the steady pounding of enemy fire racing past the outgoing blasts from Daring’s cannons registered any sound as the crew held its collective breath.
Applejack closed her eyes and gripped her console once more. An impact stronger than she imagined possible threw her forward, and everything went black.

The Antaran’s body fell silently to the ground at Macintosh’s feet. He hadn’t been sure that snapping its neck would accomplish anything, but was pleasantly surprised to hear the crack as he had twisted the creature’s head clean off. He pushed the body to the side and snuck into the castle gardens.
Much of the city had been empty as Mac had snuck through alleyways towards the palace. He had seen that the front gates were under a massive assault, with the Royal Guardsponies putting up a stubborn resistance before the massing Antaran horde. A shield had been thrown over the castle grounds, protecting it from Antarans dropping out of the sky, but Mac was sure that it had been constantly shrinking as he approached. He could only guess why, but he was sure it wasn’t a good thing.
Trying the front door would have gotten him crushed under the massive cannon fire his compatriots were unleashing into the wall of Antarans, so Mac had snuck around to the back gate, which was largely unguarded. The dead bodies he found strewn throughout the garden-- both pony and alien-- suggested that this hadn’t always been the case. He was making his way towards the castle proper when the ground beneath him shook violently and gave way.
He tumbled downward, jagged pieces of rock tearing at him as he fell. With a thud, he landed on a solid stone floor in what he guessed was a massive cavern. He rose to see hundreds of ponies panicking all around him, and a dozen Antaran soldiers burrowing up from the floor.
He turned and fired the flak cannon at an alien lunging at a family of unicorns huddled against the rock wall, splattering its insides against them. Some of its buddies took notice of where the shots had come from and began advancing on Macintosh as he backed against the wall behind him. He fired into the mass from the cannon on his shoulder until it clicked empty, then switched to the pistol. Six dead aliens were the result of his efforts, but the remainder were closing in on him. One approached from his left and swiped for his neck, but the earth pony rolled out of the way and fired into the Antaran’s maw for its trouble. The creature absorbed the shot and pressed on, only to be improbably and violently severed down the middle a second later. Mac turned to see the rest of his pursuers similarly bifurcated, presumably by the dark blue alicorn standing angrily above their corpses. She leered at him.
“About time the Home Guard showed up!”
Mac sheepishly looked behind him to see if his compatriots had, in fact, arrived. He was not surprised to see that they had not.
“Uh, Princess. . . I don’t think the Home Guard is coming anytime soon. . .”
Her scowl deepened.
“Then why are. . . wait. I know you. You’re an Apple, no? Macintosh, is it?”
He nodded. Luna’s face softened.
“I am glad you are safe. I owe Applejack much, as you can imagine. I did not know you were in the city-- how did you get here?”
He quickly told her, and the scowl returned.
“I knew we were fools to trust the Home Guard. Even one thousand years ago they were useless. No offense to you, of course. It matters little though, I suppose. Come,” she said, indicating that he follow her further into the room, “This is the staging area for the evacuation-- the ponies you see here,” she said, gesturing with an outstretched wing to the mass of ponies huddling on the far side of the cavernous room, “are waiting to be ferried out of this place. But we do not control the skies, and the transports are unable to take off from the airfield outside the city. We cannot. . .”
She was cut off as the ground shook once more, and an Antaran appeared from the bubbling floor a foot from the conversing pair. Luna took to the air and gave a mighty bellow before swiping a leg at the creature. Its head exploded as if cleaved in half by an invisible sword. The Princess of the Night dispatched its companions with similar ferocity. Mac watched her work in silence.
A dozen more aliens fell before she returned to Macintosh.
“The Antarans are burrowing up from below the mountain. I must stop them.”
Macintosh nodded, and began to look for a weapon. Luna chuckled.
“This I must do alone, Macintosh, though I do appreciate your willingness to assist. But fear not,” she continued, seeing his look of concern, “for I have a task of much importance for you to complete. Find my sister and tell her what has happened here. She will be in the throne room. See if she can divert any of my guards from the main gates. Take the service elevators, and be quick-- I can only fight them on their turf for so long.”
Big Mac raised a hoof to protest, but the stern look from the Princess convinced him that the matter was not up for debate. He saluted and ran for the cavern exit. Luna hovered in the air for a second, composing herself. She opened her eyes and unleashed a cry of anger before diving into the hole from whence the Antarans had come.

“APPLEJACK!”
Words flowed through Applejack’s brain at random as her mind tried to grasp who she was and what had happened to her. She felt nothing but the pressure of a mask being forced onto her face. Applejack gulped down the clean air that it provided.
“APPLEJACK! WAKE UP!”
A voice had joined the cacophony, but Applejack had trouble placing it. She had trouble placing who she actually was, as well, but she guessed that Applejack was her best bet, considering that the name was being screamed in front of her face.
A hoof slapped her across the head, and her eyes opened slowly. Visual confirmation that she was not dead helped jar her back to reality, and things began to pull themselves back together. Another slap shook things up once more.
“Pinkie, stop that! She’s probably concussed as it is!”
“Yeah, but we gotta wake her up!”
Applejack tried to say something, but-- as far as she could tell-- nothing but a low moan escaped her mouth. A loud banging sound interrupted her further efforts.
“Pinkie, we do not have time for this!”
“I know, Spitfire! So help me wake her up!”
The banging grew louder as it drew closer.
“They’re almost in!” yelled a voice from the other end of the bridge. Applejack ceased concentrating on her surroundings and focused on opening her eyes. The effort worked, and the mare was able to discern two masked figures huddling over her. The one to her left nodded in relief before turning her back and hurrying away. The one on her right beamed.
“AJ! Thank Celestia. We’ve got to move, the Antarans are almost inside!”
Applejack finally forced her lips to form words.
“Wha. . .where are. .” she managed to force out before a coughing fit silenced her.
“We’re inside the big Antaran ship! About one hundred meters below the nerve center!”
Applejack tried to place the significance of that phrase but failed to recognize it. Her head swam, and her eyes lolled back into her head. She could hear gunfire and screaming.
“AJ! Stay with me! We made it into the ship, we can still upload me! But you gotta get up so we can get out of here! Then we could go get Rainbow Dash!”
Applejack’s eyes snapped open.
“Rainbow!”
Pinkie beamed and hopped in place.
“Yeah! Rainbow Dash is here, remember!?”
Applejack groaned and tried to right herself. Her front left leg felt like glass, though, and she cried out in pain.
Pinkie stabbed a hypospray into the appendage, causing Applejack to scream even louder.
“Relax, Applejack! That will get your leg healing, but it will take a few minutes. . .”
“. . .we don’t have a few minutes,” interrupted Spitfire, who had rejoined the duo as she fired towards the opposite end of the vessel. “You two have got to get out of here. I’ll try to hold them off.”
“No way!” protested Pinkie. Applejack tried to say something, but a hacking cough was all she could produce.
“No buts, Pinkie! They’re pouring in from below decks. Get topside and get up to the nerve center. End the war, save Dash. Understood?”
Pinkie’s hair deflated as she nodded her understanding. Spitfire grabbed her and Applejack and lifted them to a hole in the ceiling. She pushed them out, handed Pinkie a weapon, and ducked back into the ship. Pinkie and Applejack shared a nervous glance as they did their best to avoid hearing the screams and gunfire coming from below.
“One hundred meters?” said Applejack.
“One hundred and four, actually.”
“One meter at a time then, Pinkie.”
“Aye, aye, Captain.”
Leaning on one another, the two earth ponies dragged themselves off of the wreckage of Daring and into the cavern its forced entry into the Antaran vessel had created. Applejack guessed that the hundreds of Antaran body parts strewn around the impact zone explained the lack of active resistance in the corridor.
After what seemed like hours, Pinkie dragged a delirious Applejack into the nerve center. She quickly dispatched the pair of Antarans inside and somehow sealed the room. Applejack looked around and caught herself staring. The space was simple: hexagonal, but with no rhyme or reason to its design. The brown material surrounding them gave the impression that the two were underground. A single protrusion stuck out from the opposite wall.
“Pinkie. . . are you sure we’re in the right place?”
Pinkie examined the device.
“Yep. Beakerman pointed it out to me before you had woken up and he. . . never
mind. But yes, we are in the right place. I just need to. . .”
She fiddled around with the panel until a hatch opened up.
“It looks like it’d fit one of their arms,” observed Applejack, laying on the floor and panting.
“It’s where they facilitate a direct connection to patch directly into the hive signal.”
“So can you make it work for us?”
“I think so. It reads bio signs, so presumably it will read mine, and then I can upload myself into the computer.”
She held out a nervous hoof to Applejacks face.
“Ready, AJ?”
Applejack nodded.
“For Equestria?”
Pinkie smiled.
“For Equestria!”
She shoved her arm into the opening, and everything went dark.

Big Mac was firing as soon as the elevator doors opened. The two Antarans he saw dropped immediately as he rolled into behind some cabinets. He didn’t understand the need for the second kitchen twenty stories above the first, but was not about to complain, especially considering the commotion he heard from outside in the throne room. He made sure his weapon was loaded before bursting into the next room.
Chaos greeted him as he entered the Great Hall. The stain glass windows had all been shattered by gunfire, and several of the columns supporting the ceiling had been shot away. More pressing was the scores of bodies littering the area, and the large number of Antarans creeping towards the throne.
Mac peered around one of the more intact pillars at the scene unfolding. Princess Celestia hovered above her throne, oblivious to the madness surrounding her as she focused her entire being into casting the protective shield around the castle. What was left of her Royal Guard encircled the Princess as their Antaran foes closed closer. The guards, unarmed, exhausted and covered in blood, meekly postured at the advancing aliens.
As one, the Antarans charged. Macintosh sprung into action, firing wildly into the mass, hoping that at least some of his shots found their targets. However many did, though, it was not enough, and the Antarans began to shred the guards to pieces. Mac expended his clip and tossed his recently acquired rifle to the side, choosing instead to give the nearest monster a solid buck to the backside. He was once again satisfied to feel the crunch as his powerful back legs ended the creature. The feeling was cut short as an Antaran arm slashed through his front right leg. Macintosh fell as the limb was thrown from his body. He glimpsed up through his pain to see the creatures attempt to bring down Celestia. The first to try was vaporized by a blast of light from the alicorn’s glowing horn. She targeted a second, but screamed in agony as a bladed appendage pierced her back. The Princess fell next to the floor, blood shooting from her delicate frame. Big Mac tried to reach her, but felt himself losing consciousness. The two locked eyes as the Antarans surrounded them.
Their terror was matched by confusion as the aliens collapsed in a heap on the throne room floor.

Harmony pitched to starboard as her port guns fired as one. With Luna on the opposite side and firing from starboard, the two dreadnoughts had been able to push themselves into the center of the Antaran fleet, firing at everything that moved.
Shining Armor had been able to push most of the enemy formation off of the orbit over Equestria, and transports were still flying in both directions. He had his smaller vessels hunting after any alien ships heading down and escorting any on the way up while the two flagships dealt with the enemy’s main force.
Cruising barely twenty meters from each other, Luna and Harmony had been able to bully a path into the enemy center, giving them plenty of targets to smite. And smite they did.
Shining did not think that he could keep it up much longer.
“Twilight,” he said over their private line.
“Yes, Shining?”
“How’re you guys holding up?”
“Shields are down to thirty percent, and we’ve lost half of our gun crews. Once their Sathanases get turned around and get a firing solution we’re done for. You?”
“About the same.”
The siblings remained silent for several seconds.
“You know, Twily, you can still get. . .”
“I’m not leaving.”
“But. . .”
“No. We aren’t having this discussion, Shining Armor.”
He sighed audibly.
“Fine.”
Shining observed the CIC simulation.
“Twily, you see those two dreadnoughts right behind us?
“The ones that will be able to hit us in the stern in about thirty seconds?”
“Yep.”
“What about them?”
“Who do you think they destroy first?”
“Luna.”
“Why do you say that?”
“They know I’m ten times the commander you are, BBBFF. I’ve had a target on me for this entire battle. That’s why they’re here, I bet.”
Shining Armor laughed as he pictured the smirk his sister was no doubt sporting.
“You got me there, sis. But if you’re such an amazing commander, why have they stopped following you?”
Twilight returned the giggle.
“They must want to destroy you for pretending to be half as good as me.”
Shining smiled. He continued to observe the dreadnoughts in silence until he noticed something odd.
“Twilight, why have the dreadnoughts stopped moving entirely?”
No response came.
“Twilight?”
Finally, a frantic sounding Twilight Sparkle answered him.
“Forget the dreadnoughts, Shining, the entire fleet has stopped moving!”
He observed the CIC closely as dozens of communiques began flowing in to his earpiece. He shut off his fleet wide monitor and radioed Harmony’s captain.
“Captain, are you seeing what I’m seeing?”
“Roger, sir. The fleet nets are all lighting up. Something happened to the Ants, cuz’ they ain't’ moving.”
Minutes passed with Shining neither saying nor doing anything. The Antaran vessels followed suit by hanging lifelessly in space, failing to fire and moving only due to any momentum they had been carrying when whatever had happened occurred. He watched, mouth agape, as several smashed into one another. Dumbstruck, he radioed the one pony that might have an idea what was going on.
“Twily?”
“Yes, Shining?”
“You have no idea what just happened, do you.”
“Nope.”
“At least that makes two of us, then.”

Pinkie withdrew her leg from the slot as the lights came back on the in nerve center. Applejack had collapsed in a coughing fit at the base of the control panel. Pinkie Pie went to her.
“It done, AJ. I don’t know if it worked, but it’s done.”
Applejack did not respond.
“Come on, Applejack!”
Applejack stirred.
“Rainbow Dash!”
“Yeah, we gotta go get her! I know where she is, can you make it?”
Applejack grunted and tried to rise up. Her head throbbed and her lungs burned with the effort. Pinkie assisted her, and the two exited the room slowly.
Once more the two earth ponies clambered through the ship. Antaran bodies-- not quite dead, but not quite alive, either-- floundered about the corridors. Neither pony was in a state to entirely care why.
The ship began to shake as they walked, and several times the two found their way blocked by collapsed or collapsing corridors.
“The ship’s systems must be starting to fail with no one running it,” surmised Pinkie. “We should hurry.”
They picked up the pace, only for the demise of the ship to increase in speed as well. Pinkie eventually opened a door and pushed Applejack into what she surmised was the brig. A familiar voice greeted her as she sprawled on the floor.
“Applejack! What the buck is going on?”
Applejack raised her head from the floor and smiled at her friend, who was locked behind a force field in another earth brown room.
“Nice to see you, too, Rainbow Dash.”
“About freaking time, ponies.”
Applejack looked around the room and found herself staring at six griffons, each in their own electric cage.
“AJ, Pinkie, you remember Gilda. Gilda. . .”
“I remember your friends, Dash. I assume they’re here to rescue us?”
Pinkie found a nearby console and began to try and release the captives. Applejack turned back to Rainbow Dash.
“Something like that.”
Rainbow smiled.
“Good, because. . .”
She was interrupted by an explosion at the other side of the room. Applejack looked quickly to her left to see that one of the griffons’ cages had depressurized, sending the poor soul into space.
“Pinkie! Get these open now!”
Pinkie Pie focused intently on the console as the room began to shake. One by one the force fields began to fall, until only Rainbow Dash’s was left standing. The freed griffons crowded around Dash's cell.
“They’ve encrypted hers even more than the others! I need more time!”
Applejack and Rainbow Dash stared at each other, then at Pinkie.
“Uh, Pinkie,” said an anxious Rainbow Dash, “we may not have. . .”
She was again interrupted by an explosion, this time in the rear of Rainbow Dash’s cell. The rear wall buckled, cracking the surface and exposing the room to the vacuum. Air began to seep out of the room.
“Pinkie! Dash will suffocate if you don’t get her out!”
Pinkie Pie snapped back at Applejack.
“I’m trying! Let me work, AJ!”
Gilda came up beside Applejack and helped the mare to her feet. The two waited for several nervous minutes while Pinkie furiously tweaked with the panel behind them. Nothing came of it, and Rainbow Dash began to lose color in her face.
“Guys. . . getting a bit cold in here. . .”
“AJ! I need another minute! Keep her with us!”
Applejack fought the pain in her bones and climbed towards the force field.
“Rainbow. . .”
“AJ. . .I was thinking. . .”
“Stop talking, Dash, just relax. . .”
“No, this is important. . . I was thinking that if you end up destroying Daring, we could . . .”
She began to cough.
“Dash, shut it, seriously,” said Gilda.
Rainbow responded by falling against the still active force field. Applejack could not tell if she was breathing.
“Dash? Dash! Rainbow, listen to me, please. . .”
Rainbow sluggishly raised her eyes to match Applejacks on the other side of the forcefield.
“Don’t worry about me. . .”
“No! You can’t leave me, Rainbow Dash. . . “
Applejack began to panic.
“Dash! Listen to me! I. . . I know how you feel about me, but. . . you know how I feel you and. . .”
Rainbow Dash chuckled, despite the situation.
“I’m dying, and you’re reminding me that you don’t want to be my mare friend? Thanks, AJ.”
“Listen to me, Dash. I don’t want that for us. I love you like a sister. You’re my best friend. You’re the most important pony in the universe to me. . . I don’t want anything else for us. I want us to be friends for life. And your life is not going to end here, you hear me?”
Rainbow smiled.
“AJ. . . I . . .”
She closed her eyes and sagged against the force field.
Applejack pounded on the electric barrier.
“Dash!”
Pinkie squealed from the other side of the room.
“Got it!”
The invisible wall disappeared, and Rainbow Dash fell forward into Applejack. The mare summoned her last bit of strength to lay her friend on her back. She opened the mares lips and pressed her own mouth to them, hoping to force air back into Rainbow Dash’s lungs.
After several painful minutes, her efforts were rewarded by a wheezing Rainbow Dash. The mare coughed loudly, pushing Applejack off of her chest. She smiled and leaned back as if she had just woken from a pleasant dream.
“AJ,” she said softly, “you’re a horrible kisser.”