Ale sat in his room, roiling in anger. He wasn’t necessarily raging about his lack of a ride home as much as he was mad at the ease of which Celestia judged that he should become a part of their society.
‘She’s a manipulative one.’
Ale heard a knock on his door and decided to ignore it. After a full minute had passed more knocks rang out, prompting an exasperated sigh from Ale. He stood up and opened the door to be greeted by Princess Luna.
“Ale! Are you okay?”
Ale stood in the room, swaying side to side ever so slightly. Luna let out a breath before looking at Ale with understanding eyes. “Listen Ale, I may not know what it’s like to be surrounded by those you don’t know or fully trust, but I do know what it’s like to be alone and without hope. My time on the moon has taught me that.”
Ale looked at her in confusion. “The moon? What do yo-“ Ale smacked himself at his stupidly when a thought raced through his head. “The Ember! I have to get to the Ember!”
It was Luna’s turn to look at him in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Luna, the ‘Enduring Ember’ is the ship I came in on. I have to get to it so I can travel back to UNSC controlled space.” Another realization ran through his head that caused him to lose his upbeat attitude. “I can’t get there though. I don’t have a vehicle here to get me out of atmosphere and you don’t even have a space program yet.”
Luna smiled and bopped him on the chest before gesturing to her horn. “Magic remember?”
Ale looked at her in confusion. “What d-“ Luna’s horn lit up and engulfed them both. Ale felt an incredible discomfort as he stopped breathing and was surrounded by blackness. He heaved in a deep breath of air as he stumbled forward a bit on the metal grating.
‘Wait, metal?’
Ale looked up and found himself in a metal hallway. He instantly recognized it as the Ember. It also helped that he could see a decal on the corner of an intersection sporting the UNSC emblem along with the ships name printed beneath it. He turned around to find Luna shaking off the effects of teleporting such a vast distance.
“Next time, warn me when you’re going to do that.”
Luna smirked playfully. “No promises.”
Ale shook his head, his small grin hiding beneath his visor. “Let’s go. Command deck is this way.”
They navigated through the ship; the hallways for the most part undamaged in anyway and still pressurized. Ale avoided the lower decks as they had sustained most, if not, all of the damage from the Covenant assault and the unstable slip space de-entry. Ale saw the steel doors to the bridge and typed in a code on a small panel next to the door. They slid open and allowed entry to the Spartan and alicorn of the night. Ale walked up to the A.I. holopad and addressed it out loud.
“Cassandra, are you operative?”
The holopad flickered to life as the A.I. designated ‘Cassandra’ showed herself. “All A.I. operations are active sir.”
“Excellent, how extensive is the damage to the ship?”
“Sub-decks D and E have sustained heavy damage and are void of atmosphere and power. There are large breaches in the lower hull. However, the low level landing thrusters are mostly intact and still have power directed from the bridge. Engines and all navigating thrusters are still active. The MAC and its secondary drives are still functional. Primary slip space drive is at 27% operating capacity.”
Ale smiled happily at the news. “Well then, set course for Earth and let us be on our way.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible sir.”
“What do you mean?”
“The coupling between the engines and the drives are damaged.”
Ale stared at the A.I. in disbelief. “Well, can I fix it?”
“I only have basic knowledge on maintenance and repair regulations. The ship lacks the necessary parts for such a repair and there are no tech crews on deck.”
Ale became unnervingly quiet as he thought carefully about his situation. He himself lacked the knowledge necessary to fix such a complex coupling and the A.I. even told him that they lacked the correct parts. He sighed as he came up with the only option available to him.
“Drop a beacon. What do we have in the hangar for transport?”
“Scanning… Most of the vehicles in the hangar have been destroyed from the Covenant attack and the violent slip space de-entry, but according to my scans there are prototypes locked in the cargo portion of the hangar.”
Ale nodded and turned around to find Luna looking at him with a small frown. “I’m sorry that you are unable to return home.”
Ale nodded before gesturing for her to follow. He led them down to the hangar and looked around. There were piles of debris everywhere. The broken and burned skeletons of the many fine UNSC war machines were scattered about. Ale cringed at the site of a disabled Scorpion lodged into the hangars control room. He only hoped that the occupants had died from the radiation blast before the tank smashed them. He looked to the far side of the room and spotted the doors to the secured cargo hold. Ale approached it and found that he needed a secure keycard to get in. He had heard rumors earlier about the machines in this room and knew that only two key cards existed to enter this room; the captain and chief engineer being the holder of these cards.
He turned to Luna. “Stand back okay?” Luna nodded while Ale walked to the other side of the room. He faced the doors and crouched in a sprinters starting stance. He breathed deeply before running at the reinforced door with all his strength. With a yell he collided with the doors and broke it right off its hinges. He turned around to find a shocked Luna. He smiled as he turned on his helmet lights and browsed the room. A Pelican, Sabre, and Warthog were locked securely in their loading clamps. Ale walked up to the Sabre and took a hold of its wheel locks. With a sharp jerk he broke them easily. Ale gripped the front landing gear and rolled the Sabre out of the room.
“What is that?”
“It’s our ride out of here since I don’t quite feel like teleporting again.”
“It wasn’t that bad was it?”
Ale remained silent as he visually confirmed the condition of the plane. He climbed up the side and pulled the external canopy release lever. With a hiss the glass covering slid back.
“Luna, I need you to ride in the back seat alright?”
Luna glided up to him and sat down in the alien seat. Ale helped her strap in before instructing her on the things she shouldn’t touch. He then strapped himself into the pilot’s seat and closed the canopy. After making sure that all systems were green and good to go he commanded the hanger doors to open remotely and watched as the atmosphere vented out. With a dull roar the Sabre lifted off the deck and was maneuvered out of the ship. Ale pushed the throttle to full and accelerated towards the planet.
As they neared the planet Luna became nervous.
“Ale, we can’t enter the planet’s atmosphere like this. Should I put up a shield?”
“There’ll be no need.”
Luna looked on in confusion. “But you crashed yourself after burning up after re-entry.”
“The Sabre I crashed in was damaged and I was performing a steep re-entry angle, thus causing the explosion that destroyed my bird. This one is perfectly intact and can perform the same steep angle of re-entry just fine. I am taking us on a safer approach vector though, so we should be just fine.”
Luna nodded and watched as the machine began to breach the atmosphere. All the front edges of the machine began to heat up and turn red, flames beginning to lick up past the canopy. Luna was astonished when the red heat stayed just that, red. The material must have been incredibly heat resistant if it wasn’t even turning white yet. This thought soon passed however as the Sabre finally began to cool down as it flew in the ice cold air. Ale steered the plane through the crystal blue skies and headed towards the distant mountain castle. As they approached Luna noticed that they were traveling much too fast to make a safe landing and voiced her concern.
“We need to slow down!”
Ale seemed unconcerned as he asked, “Tell me, what is Celestia doing at this time of day?”
Luna answered through her fear clenched teeth, “She’s usually having her afternoon tea.”
Ale smiled cruelly as he hit the afterburners and accelerated much faster…
---------------------------------------------------------
Celestia was having a stressful day. She remembered watching Ale storm off and hoped that Luna had calmed him down. Come to think of it, she hadn’t seen either of them in a while. After the incident with the Spartan Celestia had opened day court and listened to a particularly dull squabble between a few nobles. She sat through their arguments and was disgusted at their attempts of furthing their fortune and power.
‘Some things never change.’
Celestia just finished her sandwich and wiped her muzzle with a gold enshrouded napkin. She then lifted her tea up and began to drink from it when she spotted a black speck high in the atmosphere from the balcony. She stopped drinking and her eyes widened when it rapidly became larger at an impossible speed right towards her. The object flew by in the blink of an eye. There was a two second pause of dead quiet before a HUGE roar screamed past, causing all of the glass in her room to shatter including the tea cup she was holding. Her ears were pressed as flat as possible against her head, barely surviving the sound without exploding and caused Celestia to become incredibly disoriented.
She quickly cast a spell to get her bearings and noticed that she had spilt hot tea on herself. Ignoring the pain, she galloped over to the balcony and saw the craft banking far off in the distance. Fearing for her subject’s safety she cast her senses out to observe the object. She was slightly confused when she sensed Ale and Luna riding in a machine.
‘Is he attacking? What is Luna doing with him?’
She watched in concern as the machine started coming back for another pass. She was about to grab a hold of the machine to stop it and question the occupants before she saw panels all along the craft flare out, causing it to slow down drastically and almost stop by the castle. It was slowly moving forward and began to lower itself. Wheels popped out beneath it as it neared the ground, the guards that had rushed out blinded by the powerful winds it was creating beneath it. With a bump the machine landed and the loud sound of its engines began to wind down. After a minute it became quiet and the rectangular glass dome on the front of it slid forward. Ale climbed out of his seat and unbuckled Luna before turning around and facing a wall of spears.
Celestia quickly jumped off the balcony and glided down.
“Stand down! Everything is alright. Return to your posts.”
Many of the guards responded instantly to her command and left while a few lingered until Celestia’s glare sent them running. She turned towards the ones responsible for interrupting her break.
“Luna, Ale. There better be a good explanation for this.”
Luna came to Ales defence. “Sister, Ale suggested that I take him back to his ship so tht he may return home. He learned that his ship was broken and simply asked that we take his own method of transportation back to Equis.”
Celestia nodded, happy that she had gotten straight to the point. There was however one more thing to address as she turned her gaze to Ale.
“And the reason for breaking my tea set that I’ve had since I was a filly?”
Ales hands were clasped together as he twiddled his thumbs. “I may or may not have decided to exact revenge for getting Luna to toss me around by flying past your castle at very high rates of speed.”
Celestia burned him with her gaze for a little while longer before smiling slightly and shaking her head. “I may have deserved that then. Very well, I’ll let you slide past this time.”
Ale breathed in relief before Luna spoke up. “It’s not as if you could repair your tea set perfectly with magic sister.”
Celestia’s smile disappeared as she scowled at Luna. “I didn’t necessarily want him to know that. If he didn’t know that I had the power to do that it may have prevented future incidents in the future.”
Luna’s eyes widened in realization as Ale began to chuckle quietly while rubbing his hands together. His actions were stopped just as quickly however when Celestia fixed her steel gaze on him. He laughed nervously before coughing into a fist.
Celestia nodded; satisfied that she had gotten her point across to Ale. She was about to leave before Ale interrupted her.
“In all seriousness though, I have a request.”
Celestia perked her ears towards him as she faced him. “I’m listening.”
“I would like a place to land the ‘Ember’. It needs to be fairly large, clear, and flat. The airspace also needs to be clear so that no accidents happen while it is landing.”
Celestia thought carefully about his request. She responded slowly, “Why do you want your ship?”
“Well, I’m more comfortable to call it my home than anywhere else. It also helps that it has all the food and equipment I need.”
“Very well, but it will be under supervision at all times. I don’t expect you to share any technology, especially since it’s all military in nature and I’ve already had one scientist get hurt.”
“I wasn’t going to anyway.” Ale shut his lips after Celestia shot him a ‘be quiet’ glare.
“The skies will be clear tomorrow after I tell the guard to keep all pegasi grounded. You should land in the plains between here and Ponyville. Now if there are no further inquiries I am leaving to finish my tea.”
She turned around and began walking towards the door, smiling slightly as she saw Ale do a victory fist pump in the corner of her eye.
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A DAY LATER…
Celestia watched as a flying carriage approached the castle flanked by armed griffons. She stood by the main entrance to the castle with a few guards of her own as the carriage landed. After a few moments the door opened and five griffons stepped out. Four of them were dressed in short blue vests with two red lines running down their bodies. They sported a decal that pictured a closed book with a quill crossing over it. These were the signs of the griffon ambassadors’ assistants. The final griffon was dressed in flowing red robe with gold and blue spirals all along the robe. He had a decal that showed an open book with a wreath crown positioned above it. This was, of course, the ambassador himself.
“Good morning ambassador Tawny Feather. I hope your trip was pleasant.”
The griffon looked upon Celestia with contempt before replying, “Let’s not waste breath with pleasantries. I’m here for one reason and one reason only and I wish to get this over with.”
Celestia calmly blinked before nodding. “Very well. If you would please follow me we can begin as soon as possible.”
Celestia led them through the numerous hallways to a decently sized meeting room with a huge balcony that sported an impressive view of Equestria. The massive Everfree Forest, Cloudsdale, and the distant titans that were the Equestrian Mountain Range and border between the ponies and griffons were all visible.
“Will this do?” Celestia asked.
“It will work just fine.” With that said they sat down at the ancient oak table.
Celestia took it upon herself to start the meeting. “So ambassador, what is it that you wished to discuss with me?”
“The king has requested more land from Equestria. Particularly the area the Crystal Empire resides in.”
Celestia figured this would happen. Relations with the griffons had always been shaky at best and with the emergence of the Empire bordering so close to their territory it would only have been a matter of time before they requested this.
“I’m afraid the Crystal Empire is going to stay under our control and will continue to do so. As it stands, the empire is not in your territory.” The griffon looked as if he was going to explode in anger as Celestia continued. “In regards to your request of more land Equestria will not change its current boundaries. However, you are more than welcome to claim any of the uncharted territories.”
The griffon slammed his clenched talon into the table. “You know that only leaves the frozen wastes of the north and the changeling infested badlands!”
Celestia coolly sipped from her tea. “You very well know that this is untrue. You already have a colony across the Eastern Sea and have been very successful over there. You can expand as much as you want on the new continent.”
“The Griffon Empire is running low on resources and needs more sources closer to home! The land you currently own at the base of the mountains would be enough to supply this need.”
‘Now they’re demanding land from Equestria directly? Can they not make up their minds?’
“The mines in your mountains are plentiful judging from the trade rates that are currently occurring. I know for a fact that your small tracts of farm land are producing bountifully and are sustaining your population just fine due to the fact that I blessed that land myself. Now, is there anything else I can help you with?”
“You wench! We will take the land forcibly and crush any resistance! Since you are refusing to give into our demands we will punish you by taking over your whole country!”
Celestia stood and walked towards the balcony. The griffons began spouting threat after threat towards her and screamed at her disrespect for her guests. She simply scanned the sky and pulsed her magic far away through the atmosphere. She smiled when she sensed that a certain object had long since moved from its original position.
(Skip to 1:30 for full effect, some of you may recognize where this is from so cookie for you!)
The clouds high in the atmosphere shifted as a dark shape moved through them. A large shadow swept across the land as the clouds burst forth. The huge metal form of the ‘Ember’ moved rapidly through the sky. Parts of it were still red and steaming from re-entry as it began to move towards the earth. A shimmer could be seen rippling out from it and a large gust of wind smashed into the castle, causing the curtains and Celestia’s mane to billow behind her. She turned around and smiled at the griffons shocked faces as they watched the battle scarred alien ship settle towards the ground.
“Oh, I should probably mention that Equestria has made contact and befriended a space faring race known as Humans. Their main attributes are their tall height, silent integrity, fierce determination, technological prowess, and most importantly, their passion for fighting in what they believe to be just and right.”
The griffons donned a look of fear as they realized what this could possibly mean. Celestia simply turned back around as the griffons began spluttering apologies and begging for mercy. She raised her tea cup and took a relaxing sip of tea.