Celestia rushed about one of the Celestia's three main wings. Stopping for a few seconds to get her bearings, she glanced out the nearby window, spying one of the other main wings drifting a few hundred feet away. Its thrusters were firing, but not anywhere near full power. She was just grateful that the Celestia had held together long enough to teleport to friendly space, just in orbit over Equus.
"Shoot, I've got to get over there!" She took off again toward the airlocks. Twilight had been very thorough in her design of the ship. Each of the three main sections, or wings, had its own miniature engineering and communications sections that all linked up to complete the entire system's grid, and in turn were linked to the Supercharger chamber that held it all together. In the event of major structural damage to the linking harnesses and supports, and separation from the other two wings, the lone floating segment could operate on its own at reduced capacity, defending itself until recovery and repairs could be made.
Celestia thought back to how the day had started. The Troubleshooters had received not one, but three simultaneous calls for support. The first was a small freighter whose crew and cargo had been taken hostage. The second was a small station being pounded on by a pair of renegade battlecruisers, and the final call was for two frigates assaulting and immobilizing a large luxury cruiser.
She all but flew into the airlock as she recalled the first response. It had been easy, arrive, teleport herself and three of the crew's combat specialists over to the freighter, and she talked the pirates down without resorting to violence.
As she depressurized the airlock, she wove a spell about her head that generated a continuous bubble of air to breathe. As fate would have it, the magic that assisted pegasi in flight worked in space's vacuum, but the pony in question could only stay in space for short periods of time due to the extreme temperature changes. They also still needed to breathe, but for Celestia, that problem had already been solved.
Exiting the airlock's other side into space proper, she got a good look at what damage had been done before starting her journey over to the damaged wing.
The second call had been much more bloody. As the Celestia arrived on the scene, a third battlecruiser revealed itself and opened fire.
"Ambush!" Twilight had called out as the enemy ship's relatively basic weaponry scored multiple hits. "Helm, get us moving!"
"Already on it, ma'am." Helm called back, shifting and pushing the engines to a full burn.
"Gunnery, lock them up and shut them down," Twilight commanded over the intercom. Within seconds the enemy ships were all taking fire. She turned and looked over to Star Torus. "Torus, when will we have our shields back up?"
Without looking back he calmly responded, "Eighty seconds, Captain. We accidentally jumped the starting line and now the matrices need to be hard-reset." The Celestia had thick armor plating underneath her shields, but even the strongest rocks wear down and erode under constant assault.
The other two battlecruisers decided to join in and their guns targeted the Celestia as well, just as the first battlecruiser succumbed to the larger ship's retaliation.
"Hull breach in wing three, deck two!" A voice called over the intercom. "Emergency environmental shields deployed and holding. Several injuries, but no casualties reported."
"How long, Torus?" Twilight asked again, looking over the two remaining enemy ships. They'd split up to try to get away from the Celestia's guns, but only succeeded in sealing their fates to be destroyed as individuals.
"Twenty seconds, Captain." The second battlecruiser was blown apart even faster than the first, and Helm had started a fast turn to take on the final ship.
"Shields up, Captain." No sooner had he said it, the entire viewing window tinted a rusty red color and the 'Low Shielding Power' indicator stopped flashing on Twilight's console.
Twilight nodded and keyed the intercom again. "Good, I want us ready to teleport to the third zone as soon as we've finished this last one off. We're going to need to do more than buff these dents out when we're done."
The third battlecruiser started up in a ball of flame as it blew into several large chunks, drifting helplessly. After a small call to the station, the Celestia teleported away.
Celestia touched down on the separated wing, darting into the first airlock she spotted. ‘Please be alright…’ she thought as she made her way inside. The first thing she noticed were several environmental containment shields still running despite the damage to the wing, a good sign.
About ten seconds after the Celestia arrived onto the third scene, a communications channel opened. “Well well well, what do we have here?” A minotaur sneered over the video screen, reclined back in his throne of a chair. Celestia was sitting next to Twilight, her mask firmly in place. “A wayward ex-princess still trying to save ‘her little ponies’, and her little purple lover, falling right into my clutches.” He chuckled, the deep basso sound rumbling through the Celestia’s bridge. “There seems to be a small problem here, my crew and I were merely relieving these stupid nobles their money and belongings. I was going to drop them off on the nearest civilized planet, honest.” His smile turned vicious as he yelled, “I’ll settle for taking your ship, instead. Your heads will make fine trophies for my wall.”
“Captain! All three ships are targeting us!” The mare running the communications array yelled.
“Well, this chat was fun, but I must get down to business.” The screen went blank almost immediately afterward.
Celestia darted down the wing’s narrow passages, intent on finding her. During the ensuing battle, they’d been separated, and only now was Celestia able to start looking. She found several bodies, both friend and foe, but Twilight was still nowhere to be found.
A little tiny spot of lavender caught her eye as she sped down a corridor. She spun around and investigated it, finding a lone feather, still bloody at the tip. The corridor it sat just outside was sealed, and there was another bit of another feather stuck in the door. Celestia’s hope and fear both spiked as she looked at the two feathers.
Try as she might, she couldn’t teleport beyond the sealed bulkhead. She had no frame of reference, nor could she see past it. Bringing her power to bear, she scooped up the two feathers, as much as she could for the second one, and held them to her chest. ‘Hold on, Twily. I’m coming.’ Holding them delicately, she lit her horn again and touched it to the door. Slowly, she began the process of melting her way through the bulkhead door, trying not to vaporize whatever may or may not lay beyond.
Twilight soon found out how two little frigates had captured the much larger cruiser without damaging it. One of them maintained some kind of disabling pulse that disrupted the combat, propulsion, and shielding systems entirely, leaving the rest of the ship, like the life support systems, intact and running. She knew that, because no sooner had communications been cut, a pulse rocked the Celestia, knocking it into a helpless drift.
She watched through the windows as the other frigate and the cruiser pulled up and docked, while the other watched, rather large weapons for a ship it’s size trained on them. Twilight keyed the thankfully-still-working intercom, “All hooves, repel the boarding parties, the bridge will coordinate all defense efforts.”
Celestia watched her lover take command of the situation easily. “Twilight, what would have me do?”
“‘Tia, go to the supercharger, and get ready to teleport us. The teleporter should work, it’s on a closed loop.” She stood from her chair and pointed to Star Torus. “Torus, go with her. Protect her with your life.” He nodded and stood as she looked back to Celestia with a forlorn expression, her ears pinned back. “As far as where we go, I don’t care where. Just anywhere but here.”
“Crew, we’ve been boarded. I’m going out to help, and Helm has the bridge while I’m gone. Try to coordinate everypony as best you can.” She turned to the door and took several steps.
“Aye ma’am.” Helm released herself from her harness and took her place at the captain’s console. She saluted as Twilight walked past.
“‘Tia, Torus, get moving. I’m going to buy you as much time as I can. We need to get out of here to stand a chance.” She moved over to Celestia, and kissed her sweetly. “Be safe, please.”
“I should be with you, we always were better together…” Celestia spoke softly.
Twilight chuckled. “You’re right. But this time, we’re better off separate. I bet that bull is on the ship right now, looking for the chance to tear you apart. He’s only tangentially looking for me, to use me as some bargaining chip to get you to face him. He won’t kill me, not as soon as he finds me, anyways.”
Celestia nuzzled Twilight softly before moving over to Torus. “Let’s go.” Torus nodded and led the way.
The six-inch thick bulkhead door now had roughly a Celestia-sized hole, and she got a clear look into the room. It was almost like looking into a large storeroom. From what littered the shelves, this storeroom held the wing’s foodstuffs and water storage tanks. The feathers she’d been holding dropped to the floor softly seeing the other side. ‘So much blood…’ A crash inside the room set Celestia’s face into a firm scowl as she stormed in, her horn lit. “Show yourself!”
“‘T-Tia?” a voice replied weakly. Celestia took wing
“Twily? Where are you?”
“Ov–” A cry rang out. “–Over here.” Celestia followed the sound of Twilight’s voice, noticing the blood only pooled more and more.
“Keep talking to me, Twily. Help me find you.”
“Over h-here, ‘Tia.”
Celestia rounded a corner and found Twilight.
“Torus, keep them away from the consoles!” Celestia called out as she and Torus fought off a pair of gryphon assailants. Though she was not actively casting magic at them, the two were always wary of the way the ex-princess’s horn was lit.
A few seconds later, one of the two made the mistake of letting Celestia get too close and caught a hoof in the face for that mistake, dropping to the ground, unconscious. Torus caught the other with one of his arms, clotheslining the poor thing before pinning the bird to the ground.
The ship suddenly started rumbling. Helm’s voice called over the intercom, “Celestia, Twilight, this is the bridge. The remaining ship has opened fire, and engineering says it’s on the supporting harnesses. We need to get out of here, now!”
Celestia quickly made her way over to the teleporter console. “Torus, tie them up. We’ll deal with them when we’re safe.” She looked over the charge remaining in the banks and deemed it acceptable for a teleport. Her horn lit and she started channelling the teleport spell into the matrices.
Torus keyed the emergency intercom. “All hooves, brace for RTB. Repeat, brace for RTB.” A tear rang through the ship as their world flashed gold.
Twilight lay on top of the minotaur from earlier, her neck stuck at an odd angle, and her horn was missing. One of her wings was bleeding heavily, and she looked to be in pain. “‘Tia, a lit-little help here?” she asked weakly. “I can’t get free.”
As she approached, Celestia noticed Twilight’s horn stuck into the back of the minotaur’s skull at an odd angle. “What happened?”
“I was wro-wrong. He didn’t ca-care which of us he kill-killed first,” she stuttered painfully.
Celestia eased the pressure on Twilight’s neck by lifting the massive minotaur slightly. “There, try to pull your horn out now.”
It slid out easily enough, letting Twilight drop down to the floor. “T-Thanks.”
Celestia fussed over Twilight’s condition, giving her a good once-over. She’d broken her wing and a foreleg, that much was obvious. Touching Twilight’s barrel received a cry of pain and fresh tears came to the younger mare’s eyes.
Trying to get Twilight’s mind off the pain she asked, “Twily? How’d you manage to impale him like that?” Grabbing an emergency medical kit, she set about trying to patch up or diagnose Twilight’s wounds as best she could.
“I hi–” Twilight hissed again painfully. She motioned to the shelf that was toppled “–hit that sh-shelf while dodging one of his attacks. He hit the sam-same shelf and toppled over.” Twilight cringed as an emergency sling set about her broken leg. “The shelf clipped, twisted, and broke my wing, and I fell onto the back of his skull.”
Celestia chuckled. “Truly?” Twilight nodded. Celestia looked over the massive minotaur’s frame. “It is a good thing, then. I doubt you could’ve beaten him alone.” Twilight nodded and Celestia cuddled her wounded lover gently, wordlessly letting Twilight know she was safe now.
The Celestia flashed into existence in orbit around their home planet just as a series of explosions went off and warning klaxons blared. Twilight looked out the nearest window to see the Celestia now in several pieces and floating, but the other three ships were nowhere to be found. ‘You did it ‘Tia. We’re home and now we’ve got to stop these intruders.’
A crash sounded from nearby. Twilight looked to see the minotaur the videoscreen earlier down the hall. “I found you! Now I kill you!” he yelled, launching into a charge. Twilight fled down another corridor, narrowly dodging him. He charged again and she ducked into the storeroom. A sharp pain roared through her right wing and she saw him behind her with a pair of feathers in his hand. She took off deeper into the storeroom in fright.
Tossing the feathers behind him he shouted, “You’re too slow, little one. For that, you shall pay with your life!” His hand crushed the panel next to the doorway and it slammed shut. He stalked the aisles, ears and eyes constantly shifting, looking for his target.
A small squeak sounded from his right, and he lashed out at the shelves, toppling the entire thing to the ground. Twilight, scared out of her wits, screamed and took wing instinctively as the shelves fell. He charged, but misjudged the gap in the shelving, falling to the floor, taking another shelf with him.
Twilight screamed as the shelf caught her already bleeding wing and wrenched it from its socket and her from the air. The last thing she felt was her horn hitting something, hard.
The clopping of a pony approached, and Celestia helped Twilight sit up, wrapping a wing protectively over her. Helm rounded the corner. “Good, I found you. We’ve got rescue ships coming in.” Helm sighed. “The Celestia will need to stay in space for these repairs. Bringing her down will only make the damage worse. A frigate’s coming to pick us all up.” Helm noticed the dead minotaur and whistled. “Wow Captain, remind me never to piss you off.”
That caused Twilight to laugh, a short little bark of joy, before her chest reasserted its pain. Celestia chuckled before comforting Twilight. Coughing lightly she continued, “Thank you, Helm. I-I needed that laugh.”
“No problem, ma’am. Now, let’s get you out of here.”
Celestia nodded. Twilight made an effort to stand, motioning for Celestia to unfold her now bloodied wing. “Lemme up, please.”
“Twilight…” Celestia stood quickly, looking down to her lover softly.
“If I can walk, I will walk. If I cannot, then you can carry me, is that fair?” Twilight gritted her teeth as she stood. Taking a few tentative steps, the pain proved too much and she fell again. “I…” Her ears pinned back and tears welled in her eyes.
“Shh… shh… it’s alright, love.” Celestia knelt down and nuzzled Twilight, not worried about the blood accumulating on her coat now. Her horn lit and she stood, lifting Twilight gingerly. “Let’s go home.”