Song of the Stars

by Jacker

The Road to Hell

Rainbow Dash gazed at the forest's edge, using the top of a large rock to support her crossbow as she held it with her wings. Behind her, Ponyville was silent. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie had passed by a second ago, saying they were still in the midst of trying to convey the word that everypony was to stay in doors. Apparantely, they had done their job. Still, she wished Twilight wasn't sleeping. If there was anyone the town looked towards for leadership in times of crisis, it wasn't the mayor or Rainbow Dash, it was her. Things always went smoother with her around, and her magical abilities would have come in handy in this situation.

The aliens had still neglected to show themselves, and Rainbow Dash was beginning to wonder if she let fear get the best of her. What if the aliens really were just trying to keep them away from their ship? She paused, and then shook her head at that. No, why try to kill them... There were other ways to deal with that situation then that.

A beat.

Kill them.

It then hit her. She was actually in a life or death situation. She had gone up against monsters and even the Spirit of Chaos, but this was the first time she knew her life actually in danger. Sure, she had come close to meeting the reaper before, but they usually came out of nowhere and passed quickly. She never had the sense of dread she did now. She was really beginning to hope the aliens weren't actually planning on attacking the town and were just acting defensively.

Another minute passed, but seconds were beginning to turn into hours for her. She glanced around. The Pegasi militia were spread out along the forest edge about fifty yards apart from each other. The earth ponies had taken their positions a bit further towards the town, ready to assist when needed, and the unicorns were both hanging back or on the front lines with the pegasi. It then struck her, the pegasi were pretty much the bulk of the defense. It couldn't have been more proper, they were once a mighty race of warriors after all. She smiled slightly at the role she once played as Commander Hurricane, leader of the ancient tribe of her people.

Nearest to her were Ditzy Hooves and Colonel Mustang, and if there was ever a morale booster it was that. Mustang was the text-book definition of disciplined, professional soldier. He didn't know as many spells as Twilight, but he was far more capable in combat. His battle spells, the most impressive of which consisted of flinging an exploding ball of flame, were something to be reckoned with. Hopefully, the aliens would be susceptible to it if nothing else, though a small part of her hoped they wouldn't be. Rainbow Dash herself had a few tricks of her sleeve, though. She wasn't going to be completely reliant on her crossbow.

She gazed back at the treeline. "Where are you..." she whispered hoarsely.

As if to answer her, a flock of birds flew out from the tree canopy a few meters into the woods. Afterwards, a few frightened dear galloped out. Squinting, she could barely see dark figures moving towards the edge of the trees out of the deep. This was it.

The line of militia remained silent, as they were under orders not to make a peep until the order to fire came. Iron Hooves wanted to 'Catch the bastards by surprise'. Rainbow Dash double-checked one last time to make sure her crossbow was loaded properly before squinting down its sights.

However, it seemed the aliens had other plans then to be caught off guard. A fury of the same lights Rainbow Dash had seen before came screaming out of the woods from all ends along with their familiar loud zapping sounds. Panicked, many a pony shrieked at the sight before ducking as they slammed into their cover with a thunderous chorus of bangs. One came flying towards Rainbow Dash's own cover, and reacting on impulse she ducked herself, praying that the weapon-fire wouldn't be able to eat through it. Fortunately, this wasn't the case.

She glanced up after a second only to notice another lance of light coming right for her. However, this time she caught a brief glimpse of its origin. Though she couldn't take in much details, what she saw was enough. Standing at the edge of the forest and holding a strange looking narrow rectangular-device with its wings was none other then a black pegasi. She was so shocked she nearly forgot to duck.

What in the name of Celestia was going on? When she pictured an alien she had always seen them as some sort of strange tentacle monster or other untrinity like sight, but here was an alien, a hostile alien at that, who looked just like herself. Were they even aliens after all? If they weren't, where did they come from? Where did they get that ship, those weapons? She shook her head, trying to break her chain of thought. No matter what the alien ponies were they still meant them all harm. But when she had rallied the militia, she had never expected to be fighting fellow ponies. She never wanted to hurt any of her own kind.

She popped up out of cover after the light-bolt whizzed over her mane. None of the militia were opening fire, apparently just as shocked as her about their opponents identities, but the aliens, or whatever they were, were certainly not so concerned about them. She could see more of them now, earth ponies with a small gray boxes attached to sides of their heads with a glowing red lights in the middle of their fronts. They also had some sort of thin, semi-transparent circular disks held in front of their one of their eyes each by a small contraptions attached to the other side of their heads.

She could clearly see the boxes were made for producing those strange lights, but whatever the disk was for was beyond her. She saw more pegasi as well, and was now certain that the strange rectangular objects they were holding were also capable of producing the same thing as the earth pony devices.

Unicorns were amongst them too. They wore a jagged set of coal-black armor with a strange symbol on it she had never seen before, and from it stemmed a wire that seemed to actually be attached to their horns. They were not producing the lights as she had seen with the other two races, but were instead using magic, magic more powerful then she had ever seen before save for Celestia's. To her horror, she saw one produce a solid red beam that blew apart the solid rock Ditzy Hooves was behind. The cock-eyed pegasi shrieked, flew backwards, and tumbled a few feet before standing up and then limping back towards the militia earth ponies.

Dr. Whooves' yell could be heard even from her position. "Ditzy!"

Her eyes flew open wide when she saw a few of the aliens take aim at the defenseless pony. This couldn't be happening. Nonono... this couldn't be happening. Ditzy was going to die. They were all going to-

"Rainbow Dash! Fire your weapon!" Colonel Mustang yelled.

With that, she snapped out of it and glared at the alien ponies. This was no time for doubt, she had to try to protect Ditzy. She was going to protect Ditzy. With new found determination, she took aim at the nearest alien.

It was here when she noticed their eyes. If there was anything alien about these ponies, it was them. They were as coal black as their hearts and featureless. It was like they had been gouged out and replaced with black ink. Rising from them were two streams of smoke, the same color as their origins. If she didn't see their spaceship, she would have thought they were dealing with demons. Perhaps they actually were.

Demons or not, their strangeness wasn't going to distract her any longer. With a growl, she fired her crossbow, not even bothering trying to hit her new enemies in the legs. Mustang joined in with a jet of flames whose heat she could feel even from her position. Her crossbow bolt struck the wing of the pegasi she was aiming at and caused it to drop its weapon, and the sound that emanated from its mouth when it did so nearly gave Rainbow Dash a heart attack. It was as hideous as their eyes, the shriek of a banshee. What in the name of all that was holy had they gone up against?

Around the same time, Mustang's spell had made torches out of the two others who were about to shoot at Ditzy. Their shrieks combined with the one Rainbow Dash had hit nearly deafened her. However, to her shock, and to her horror, they didn't even bother to retreat into the woods or try to put out the flames. Instead, they looked as if they were still trying to aim their weapons, but their bodies just wouldn't let them.

It was a sickening sight to say the least, one that she was sure would haunt her nightmares for the rest of her life. Nothing deserved that kind of death, nothing. She wasn't even sure she could ever look Mustang in the eye again if they survived this. How many people had he done this to in the past? How many living fireballs had he created in his time? She wanted to puke. She wanted to do anything but continue to watch them burn, but she couldn't take her eyes off of it. That's when she remembered Ditzy.

Panicking, she gazed back towards where she last saw the cock-eyed mare. She never inwardly sighed so hard in her life when she saw her behind a helpful unicorn's shield. Fortunately, the aliens didn't seem to be giving her their attention anymore. Instead, they were now turning to attack the two ponies who had caused their first casualties. She ducked as a barrage of lights flew towards her and struck her cover. Sweat dripped off the young mare's face as she wondered if her rock was going to be able to hold up much longer.

She heard a few cries from some ways down the line, cries she never wanted to hear again in her life. Ponies were beginning to die. Her friends. Her comrades. She hoped to god that Fluttershy and the rest of soul companions were safely in town. She wanted to punch herself for making them stay indoors and not evacuating. She didn't want her friends to be watching this, but if they were, she hoped they wouldn't come to her rescue. Please let them run. Even when her mind wasn't in panic mode, she faced the very real fact that they could very well lose this battle. The aliens were everything they were and then some. They were superior. If Celestia didn't show up soon, there may not be a Ponyville left to sav-

-NO, she couldn't think like that. She was Rainbow Freaking Dash, and no aliens, or demons, or anything were about to take down Ponyville with her protecting it.

At this point she was beginning to feel something rising inside of her... something primal. She felt the sudden, unexpected urge to sink another crossbow bolt into another alien, this desire not coming from anything her conscious mind could demand, but from deep within, and she did nothing to stop herself. Gritting her teeth in grim determination, she snapped another bolt into place, popped out of her cover, and fired. If this was the feeling a mother bear had when she was protecting her cubs, she never wanted to run into one in her life.

---

In town, Applejack watched the battle from the balcony of the library. She was joined by the rest of her friends including Spike. Fluttershy was weeping, while the rest gazed on with a mix between solemn and horrified expressions. Other then the former and a few gasps and cries, nobody had spoken a peep since the beginning. Finally, it was Applejack who broke the silence, her disgust at the whole situation finally driving her to it.

“They’re down there fighting while we just sit here and watch, it just aint right,” she growled. “We need to do something.”

“I know,” Spike said, “But what can we do? We don’t know how to fight!"

“Big Mac’s down there givin’ support. We can do the same thing.” She shook her head with a sigh, “I can’t believe I left him down there alone.”

Rarity gave Applejack a gentle nuzzle with a sympathetic smile. “I’ll go with you. I’m sure I can make myself useful somehow. Rainbow Dash and Big Mac would do the same for us.”

Applejack smiled at her, “Thanks, Rarity.” She really meant it. Despite her somewhat prissy nature, something that had sometimes driven Applejack off the wall at times, Rarity would never let her friends down just to keep her hooves clean. If there was anything to admire about the generous pony, it was that. She then turned to Fluttershy. “What about you, Fluttershy?”

The shy pony silenced her weeping at the mention of her name, and then gazed out at the battlefield. A moment went by before she turned back to Applejack, her eyes no longer filled with just sorrow and fright, but determination. “I-I can help with the wounded.”

Applejack then turned to Pinkie Pie. Her normal bouncy attitude was gone for now, and her mane had lost its usual curl. Applejack could tell this was hitting her almost as hard as Fluttershy. She would be losing a few of her friends this day.

“Pinkie Pie?”

Pinkie Pie remained silent for a moment, before saying, “I’ll do what I can,” without even gazing at the farm pony.

Spike sighed. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, but I can’t just sit here.”

Applejack gazed at him with a determined smile. “Then let’s help our militia kick some alien tail.”

---

Rainbow Dash was pinned down. Every time she tried to rise to shoot another streak of light came her way. Around her, the militia line was starting to crumble as the aliens advanced. Panicking, some of the militia had turned tail and ran, the lucky ones being protected by unicorns but the unlucky ones.... she cringed at the thought. Mustang held his ground however, and he and her were now the only two left in this sector. She counted five aliens nearby, and she was almost certain they were trying to circle the two. Luckily, Mustang had managed to hit the alien unicorn that had blown apart Ditzy's cover, leaving the rest to have to do things the old fashioned way.

She was actually somewhat surprised they had held out this long. The alien's had weapon technology ponies could only dream of, yet the battle had lasted more then five minutes and not five seconds. However, more and more aliens were arriving from their ship, and it would only be a matter of time before they were overrun. She silently thanked Celestia that their vessel was disabled, because if it wasn't there would likely be nothing to stop the extraterrestrial menace. Hopefully it was the only one they had near their planet.

"Rainbow Dash! To your right!" Mustang barked. Rainbow Dash quickly turned to where he was pointing, and to her horror she saw an alien pegasi aiming at her. The damned thing had circumnavigated her cover. As fast as lightning, and gritting her teeth, she brought her loaded crossbow to bear on the menace. They both fired at once. Rainbow Dash rolled to the left, making sure she was still behind cover, while the alien stood motionless. If she had more time to aim and adjust for the wind, she was sure she would have made the shot, but to her misfortune the crossbow bolt did not strike the alien, she had missed. Meanwhile, the jet of light sailed right through where she just was. The alien adjusted its aim, its black, soulless eyes gazing upon her as it gave her a cat-like grin

Rainbow Dash braced herself for impact, as she wouldn't have time to roll again. Her element had led her to her death. She would die for her friends. Her eyes flew wide as the alien pushed what she guessed was the firing button on her weapon-

-but it never made it down. Rainbow Dash's eyes flew wide as Applejack entered from nowhere and sent two muscle propelled hooves into the alien's side. It toppled over, letting out its banshee-like shriek.

"APPLEJACK! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" She screeched. Panicking, and not thinking, she lifted her head above her cover and noticed the other four aliens were now aiming at her exposed friend.

It was at this time she heard a ferocious growl. She turned her head and noticed Colonel Mustang had broken cover. He was now charging the aliens, wind kicking through his long, red mane. "Get the hell out of here, kid!" he growled, looking towards her one last time. He turned his head back towards the aliens and began mustering a spell. Rainbow Dash could barely hear his last words. A solemn, silent and stoic, "For Equestria."

In his last act, Colonel Mustang roasted two of the extraterrestrial menaces. He attempted to jet to the left when he was sure the aliens were going to fire, but they seemed to anticipate the move and adjusted their aim at the last second. Rainbow Dash could not bare her gaze elsewhere when the familiar zapping sound of their weapons filled the air.

"Come on, Sugarcube!" Applejack yelled, biting down on Rainbow Dash's wing and attempting to drag her away, but Rainbow Dash could not avert her gaze until Applejack threw a hoof at her cheek.

That got her attention.

She turned her head towards Applejack, her eyes filled with anguish and rage.

Applejack then took a deep breath. "Come on," she said solemnly.

As fast as they could, they began making their way back towards Ponyville. The unicorn support and and earth ponies had fallen back now along with the rest of the militia. The two friends were now completely alone. However, they didn't make it too far before streaks of light were streaming over their heads. She took a quick glance behind her. The alien ponies were advancing on them. It wouldn't be long before one of their shots meant their bodies.

"Combat is something to be as feared as it is to be respected. You will gain things from it, but you will also lose things from it. Whether its more of the former or more of the latter is up to the individual. Never forget that, kid." Mustang had said to her.

She was beginning to wonder if she would lose it all this day.

Authors note: Thanks Firefinder for the idea about the Pegasus :). I never considered that before as part of her motivation and I hope you don't mind me throwing that in.

Comments

[Ninja Locust]

dafuq? is that borg?

[Edragon]

This was epic...go Rainbow Dash.