Chapter 1
The ship rocked as the shells slammed into its side. Fire Storm, captain of the Elysium, was practically thrown off the command pulpit, despite the restraints that were meant to hold anypony standing there.
“Status report, now!” he yelled at the officer manning the ship's systems monitor, a completely gray pony with a ship's blueprint as his cutie mark.
“We've lost the shields, sir, the armor absorbed the blast! We take another shot like that one and we're down and out! We've also lost the primary Party Cannon, but secondary and tertiary Dragonfire cannons are still operational!” he yelled back. Great, thought Storm, now I know we're screwed.
The Party Cannon had been their only chance against the destroyer now facing them. Dragonfire guns couldn't get through the thick shields and armor that protected the awesome Annihilator class spaceships that had become standard issue for high-ranking Imperial officials to have in their possession.
“Bring the ship around and broadcast a surrender signal. It's over.” he sighed despondently, “It's time to give up.”
“Sir, they're lowering shields and preparing to board us.” said the officer in charge of comms.
“Alright, bring us to ramming speed and send all available power to forward shields! We're taking this thing down, but it will cost nothing less than our lives!” he yelled, sounding more confident than he was, “Everyone to the escape shuttles! I'll take control of the ship and do this myself! Give me manual control!”
As everyone left to get to the shuttles, one ensign saluted to him before transferring control of all the ships systems to his pulpit. The escape shuttles launched one after another, and Fire Storm was left alone in his ship. He looked ahead and saw the gigantic ship against which he was supposed to win. He brought the ship to ramming speed and slammed into the enemy ship hull-first, firing everything available. The shock threw him through the glass, into space, and he got one final look at his ship before its reactors exploded, taking him and half of the other ship down with it. He smiled. He was definitely going down in history for this. The first pony to take out an Annihilator with nothing but a tiny Cruiser.
Thunder woke up with a start, his senses immediately alert for signs of an intruder. Something had definitely woken him, and it was probably somepony. Or something. He created a ball of light using his horn, and then grabbed the heaviest book on his desk, a ponderous tome on the theory of Warp travel. It was outdated, Warp travel had been mastered millenia ago, but it was still interesting. He walked out into the hallway and looked around until he spotted somepony moving. He sneaked up behind them and swung the book at their head, yelling. The intruder turned around, used their magic to whisk the book out of his hooves, and for the first time he got a look at the purple pony.
“My Lady Sparkle! I’m so sorry; I didn’t know it was you.” the red and silver stallion said, dropping to the ground in a bow, as before him stood one of the most legendary ponies ever, Lady Twilight Sparkle, Envoy of Celestia, and Headmaster of the School of Aspiring Captains.
“It doesn’t matter; I shouldn’t be sneaking around after midnight anyway. I heard you passed your captain’s exam at the top of your class. Have you received your assignment yet?” she asked, in her usual calm and strangely kind voice.
“No ma’am, but they did tell me that I’ll be commanding a brand new ship, fresh from the docks. A new mark, never before seen, they said.” he answered, excited to be talking about his favorite thing in the world: his achievements. He had just talked his friends’ ears off about it, before they had retired to their rooms.
“I’m happy for you, Thunder. Hopefully you’ll be as great a captain as Fire Storm himself.”
“Me too, though I hope I won’t have to crash my ship to win the battle.” he said, and they shared a laugh over the old joke. Captain Fire Storm had been caught in a battle against a rebel lordling’s battleship, and had somehow destroyed it even though it had been many times the size of his own ship.
“All right Thunder, listen up, I have something important to tell you.” Twilight’s voice dropped to a whisper, and Thunder leaned in to hear every word his teacher spoke. “I have a basic idea of what your assignment will be. I can’t reveal specifics, but many large responsibilities are going to be thrust upon you, and you are going to meet many ponies you respect. They will be different from what you expected. Some may be more, some less, but either way, do not take them at face value. They are much more than you could possibly imagine, and not taking them seriously could be extremely dangerous.”
“Thank you, Lady, but why are you telling me this?” asked Thunder, confused.
“To prepare you for what will come.” Twilight’s voice returned to normal. “Run along now, and get some rest. We wouldn’t want you to be tired during the big reveal tomorrow.” With that Twilight Sparkle left, and Thunder returned to his room, more confused than he had ever been in his entire life. He threw the book back onto his desk and went to sleep wondering what his teacher could possibly have meant.
The next morning, Thunder was taken by an imperial officer along a road towards a secret facility where the greatest ships were made. He had barely got any time to say goodbye to his friends, but the goodbyes hadn't been very tear filled, since the School was a very competitive environment, and true friends were rarely developed. The size of the two newest ships was such that Thunder spotted them while he was still several miles away. His jaw dropped to the ground and the officer escorting him, a blue mare with a white mane that was formed into points, laughed when she saw his face, almost crashing the hovercraft they were in as her laugh distracted her from the road.
“Impressed, eh? Wait until you get closer. Each one of them is the size of the moon on Equestria!” she said after she regained control of the vehicle.
She wasn’t lying, Thunder realized as they got closer. The true size was staggering, and on any other planet they would easily have been noticeable from orbit. But this was Canterlot, the second-largest planet in the known galaxy, after Equestria itself.
They arrived, and Thunder was escorted into a building near the base of the first ship, a black and dark blue piece of hardware that offset the other ship’s white and gold coloring. He was greeted by two legendary figures. Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard, a well-known order of shining warriors only dispatched to deal with the greatest threats to the Empire of the Queen Celestia, and Scythe, Captain of the Night Guard. If the Royal Guard was the subject of the happiest fairy tales and children’s book, then the Night Guard is the stuff of nightmares. They are dispatched by Luna herself to deal with inside threats. Where the Royal Guard look like golden armored angels, the Night Guard look like black and blue armored demons from the deepest pits of hell.
“Greetings, Thunder.” said Scythe as Thunder entered. “We are glad you have arrived.”
“Yes,” said Shining Armor, laughing at how official his companion was, “We couldn’t possibly do this meeting without the captain himself!”
“Hello, Captains. I’m glad to be here. Could you please explain why?” answered Thunder, incapable of keeping the awe off his face. He was in the presence of heroes of the Empire, and he was amazed.
“Of course, captain. We are here because of your ship assignment. You are to be given one of the ships out there. More specifically, the gold one. It is called the Celestia, and is the sister ship of the Luna, the far superior one next to it.” said Scythe.
“Really?” asked Thunder, “I’m being given such an important command?”
“Actually, Celestia herself was supposed to take this job, but being the Queen means she doesn’t have time for things like that.” answered the Captain of the Royal Guard, “So we wanted to give it to my sister, Twilight Sparkle. She refused as well, but suggested you as a viable candidate, saying you would be more than ready for a job like this once you graduated. So we gave you this command.”
“Thank you, my lords. I am honored to be given this job, and I will do my best to let down neither you nor Lady Sparkle.”
“No prob, there’s no way you could let down my sister. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say there was something going on between you two.” The Captain let out a laugh and left, saying “Scythe, get someone to show him around the ship and introduce him to the more . . . reputable . . . members of the crew.”
“Of course, Captain. Harmonica, show the new captain around his ship and introduce him to his crew please.” Scythe said, following Shining Armor out.
“Of course sir,” answered the mare that had brought Thunder, “Right this way, Captain.”
Harmonica led Thunder to an elevator, which brought them up to the boarding ramp to the ship, where crew members were carrying food, water, and personal belongings into the ship. She led him into his new ship, revealing that the inside of the ship was the same as any other ship, with the traditional somewhat rounded walls, and the metal beams that went up the wall at regular intervals, supporting the ship like some sort of skeletal structure. The coloring was also different, keeping to the traditional steel-grey that was standard throughout the Empire. Cabins lined the wall, and Thunder peeked inside one of them. It was a Spartan room, containing only a bed, a shelf for personal belongings, and a bathroom. It was about 9 feet wide and 5 feet tall, only large enough to accommodate one soldier, and every room was the same, Thunder knew, to keep soldiers from thinking someone was being favored. Except for officers’ rooms, he figured, since officers’ rooms were always more luxurious than those of the men under their command. As she led him to the elevator that would take them to the bridge, where he would meet his officers, Harmonica explained how the ship was outfitted.
“We have the latest tech. Four brand new Mark VI Party Cannons, more Dragonfire cannons than we can easily crew, and an Apple Buck class ram at the front of the ship. We are outfitted with the newest Mark V Sparkle Shield Generators, designed by your teacher herself. And that isn’t all…”
But before the mare could take the overwhelmed stallion any further into the tech that made the ship as efficient as it was, the elevator arrived at the command bridge. Thunder stepped out of the elevator and was immediately greeted by a salute from the dozen or so officers there. There were ponies of every color under the sun, pink and yellow, rainbow colored, red and yellow, and many other combinations, but each was sporting the standard gray uniform of the Imperial Navy and Army, which clashed with and unified the colors at the same time.
Thunder recognized some of them, more specifically the ones that had become legendary. Rainbow Dash was the blue pegasus with the rainbow-colored mane and tail, and the cloud shooting a rainbow-colored lightning bolt as her cutie mark. She was the leader of the 5th regiment of the Royal Guard, which made it weird that she was here, but no less awesome. Fluttershy was the one in the back with the pink mane and tail, as well as the light yellow body. She was known to be quiet, so she would probably in charge of the medicae staff. To her right was Apple Bloom, a grayish olive pony with an amaranth mane and the younger sister of the legendary Army Commander Applejack herself. What she was in charge of was a mystery. At her side was a white filly with a purple and light pink mane; Sweetie Bell, sister of the outfitter Rarity, who designed the clothes of over 4 fifths of the nobility in the Empire. Scootaloo was the orange pegasus with the fuchsia mane in the front. What those three would be doing on the ship was as much a mystery as what Rainbow Dash would be doing, as they were only school age, and had yet to receive their cutie marks, but it was not Thunder’s job to question the men who had assigned them here. There were also several unknown ponies on the deck, and Harmonica hurriedly introduced them.
“The blue-maned stallion with the black body is Star Chaser, your navigator. The all pink mare to his right is your comms officer Mist. The proud red stallion with the black mane is the lieutenant of the Imperial Army regiment that will be accompanying this ship. He hasn’t given a name; he just calls himself The Lieutenant or The Lt. He’s also in charge of the weapons.” said the mare, pointing at each of the officers as she named them. They puffed up their chests and tried to look important when she focused on them, making them seem like roosters showing off for a particularly attractive chicken.
“Okay, but what are the grade-school age sisters of some of the most important people in the Empire, and their friend Scootaloo, doing here?” asked Thunder, bewildered by the situation, and only paying enough to what she had said to register what each pony did on board his ship.
“Well, Scootaloo is in charge of our fighters, Sweetie Bell is the ship’s chaplain, she’ll be leading the battle hymns, the prayers to Celestia, and be performing the consecration required for a soldiers body before it is whisked into the cold, dark , infinite abyss that is space. Apple Bloom is in charge of maintenance and the engineers that make sure everything works properly.”
“We’re trying to get our cutie marks in spaceship operation!” yelled Sweetie Bell, jumping up and down as she realized that they were now the center of attention, “Don’t worry, we won’t get in the way, and we know what we’re doing!”
“Yeah!” intoned the two others right after she spoke, “We know what we’re doing!”
“Sure you do.” said Thunder calmly, lying through his teeth, “I never doubted you for a second. When do we cast off?” He asked, turning to Harmonica, “And, what exactly is your job on my ship?”
“Who me? Oh, I’m the first mate.”said Harmonica, smiling as she saw the sudden look of surprise on his face, “We cast off tomorrow morning at 0800 hours, so don’t be late.” and with that she turned her back on him and walked into the elevator, smiling all the way until the doors closed and the elevator went down.
Thunder sputtered, and his words finally became coherent enough to hear him say “Bu…but…don’t I get to pick my own first mate?”
“Nope”, said Rainbow Dash, “Not on this ship. Don’t worry though, from what I heard, she’ll make a fine first mate. You should probably get your things to your cabin; we wouldn’t want you to leave without a picture of Twilight to kiss at night.” A wicked smile bloomed on her face, and she pushed Thunder into the elevator and hit the button for the floor with the exit ramp, before stepping out. This was going to be an interesting ship to captain.