• Published 2nd May 2017
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Fading Suns: A New World - David Silver



A new jumpgate is discovered, or rather a very old and decayed one that had been brought back online. House Hawkwood sends a bold explorer through to discover what riches await on the other end. He did not expect equines to be the result.

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112 - Friendly on the Field

Starlight reached up and up, exploring, encompassing the divine vessel in her magic. It was one of the largest things, the more complex things, she had ever attempted. It was full of so many little parts she could feel connecting with one another in ways she didn't understand. She didn't even try to understand it.

It was too much. Just a copy, all she had to do, and all she aimed to do. "Don't try to figure it out," she chastised herself as another field of magic began to grow, preparing the aether, a copy, an inverted copy, in which magic could be poured and a copy made. She could feel her energy waning rapidly, but she grit her teeth and kept her eyes focused. Her only choices were success or the potential end of the world.

She couldn't have that. All her friends were there.


Pinkie bounced along behind Laud, Lyra at her side. "So when she makes the other ship, she can do it again and I'll fly one and Laud will fly the other one and we'll go, fwoosh! And we'll save the day!"

Lyra nodded in agreement. "That sounds fun. Laud? Just checking--"

"Mm?" He was focused on his rapid walk, not looking towards them.

"Can that big thing be flown by one person?"

He glanced over his shoulder at his wife. "I admit naked surprise you thought to ask that. One person should be able to direct it, but there are many other things to do besides that, and one person is likely not enough."

Lyra rolled a hoof as she walked. "Alright, but, you're going anyway. You have a plan?"

"The church members who are here have joined our side. I will see which of them will fly alongside me. The others can remain with the original vessel, since it should still be here."

Pinkie clopped her hooves. "Ooo, that means I'll get some too! We'll go up, two ships, some church stallions in either, and we'll join that." She pointed at the confused light show above as if joining it was a good thing. "I can't wait!"

Laud let out a slow breath, unable to fully comprehend Pinkie's motivations. He needn't have felt bad about it. Braver souls had tried in the past. "Let me speak to them first." He could see a gathering of the church people outside their ship. Had Starlight succeeded in talking them into that part of the plan? That was, in some ways, already more than he expected.

"Hail." He raised a hand, waving towards them. A priest turned, clearly not a guard, not being armed. He nodded and Laud returned the gesture. "Well met. Is Starlight doing the impossible?"

"She is attempting it." The priest pointed ahead. "Though this may be too much for even a furry angel to complete."

Ahead of them, Starlight's horn was glowing so brightly that magic was sputtering out of it unevenly, her soft grunts of efforts filling the air. A strange, phantom-like copy of the ship stood beside the first, filling, then emptying, with magic. She tried so hard to fill it, but it leaked out faster than she could push it in. "Come on..."

Lyra sprang forward. "Star!" She landed beside her fellow unicorn, her horn glowing in sympathy. "I'll help."

"Appreciate... the thought... but I know what I'm doing." Starlight clopped a hoof. "You don't have it down."

"Nope." The ghostly copy of the ship began to color, turning towards Lyra's magic's color, matching her brilliant eyes as she took a firm hold of it. "I'll just hold it steady. You do your part."

Starlight quirked a little smile, resuming her attempt to fill it, the extra grip of Lyra keeping it from leaking quite as rapidly. "Yeah... maybe... This... maybe I bit off more than I can chew."

"I'll help," bellowed Pinkie as she hopped up, sending a lasso flying to drape over the ghostly ship.

Laud peered at the limp rope. "Pinkie, forgive me if I have forgotten some part of how ponies work, but you are the least magical of the pony breeds."

"That is incorrect," sang out Pinkie as she started running circles around the ghost-ship. "All ponies are magic, just different kinds of magic, silly. And Pinkie magic is especially magical."

Laud jumped at movement behind him, turning just in time to spot Gregor approaching. "Peace, child. It is ill often we see the work of non-liturgical magic so close. Blasphemous, on some counts."

"On many counts," admitted Laud. "Why did you allow it?"

"We have arrived at a crossroads." He began to make a sacred gesture across his front. "I must stride firmly along my chosen path, or be dashed aside. These beings are either angels, or demons, with precious room in the middle. The highest of highs, or the very thing we are trained to fight with all our heart and soul." He turned to regard Laud fully. "Which do you say they are?"

Laud made a soft noise of consideration, facing the trio of ponies that were working to do what humanity spent exorbitant amounts of time and money on. The magic had flowed higher, like a mug that yearned to be full, but Starlight, who still seemed to be in charge of the task, was looking ragged and drawn, heaving for breath as she struggled to force the level higher bit by bit. "I trust them enough to attempt flying the result, should they finish." That was proof enough, in his mind, of several things.


"Wow." Bon Bon had manned the telescope, at least accepting that she should lie down, but looking was something she could do while relaxing. But she wasn't looking up at the sky, which confused Twilight.

"What do you see?" she asked, brow raised. "You know most of it is up there?" She pointed to the sky of dazzling lights she could see without any help.

"They're working." She adjusted the focus with a twist of a hoof. "Starlight's looking pretty bad?"

"What?" Twilight nudged in with her face, pushing Bon Bon aside for a peek. There, through the viewfinder, was Starlight, sweat pouring down her as she struggled with the Sisyphean task of... "Oh, that's how she did it." Twilight recognized the construct they were working on, poorly. "She--"

"--needs you." Bon Bon smiled. "This seems poetic. Laud needs all his wives."

Twilight pulled back from the viewfinder to give Bon Bon a queer look. "You are one of those, I remind."

Bon Bon flopped over to the side, breathing softly. "Yes, we established that. My job... right now... is to relax. You, magic horse, go do yours." She pointed in the direction of the ships. "Go on. I can lay here on my own."

Twilight rolled her eyes at the description she was given. "That's Book Horse, thank you." And she vanished with a pop of purple magic.


A new bright beam of energy lanced out, joining the other two that caressed the struggling field of magic. "I'm with you," called Twilight, her magic blending with the others. "Let's fill this up."

Starlight gave a tired smile. "Oh, wow, good timing. Tell me you--"

"Aetheric field." The magic level began to rise anew, tainted the color of Twilight's magic as she worked to join in the process of filling it. "This is the largest I've ever seen one." She paused to regain her breath, a giddy smile on her face. "I'm amazed you even got it... up."

Pinkie had moved opposite of Lyra, her rope pulled taught, the two mares glowing as they did their part to try and hold the magic still. Even with both their labor, the magic wasn't fully sealed, but leaking so much slower than it had been when Starlight had no helpers.

"On... three," gasped out Starlight. "One..." She lowered her head, directing her horn directly at the ship. "Two." She glanced aside at Twilight, who had set her hooves firmly to the ground. "Three!"

A fresh wave ran up from the both of them, brilliant light flooding the area, but Starlight didn't get to see it, collapsing forward with a dull thud, out like a light.

"Star!" Lyra was at her side in a flash, cradling the exhausted unicorn.

Twilight was too busy gaping at the result of their effort. It looked like the first ship, but...

"It's... colorful," noted Laud in a fit of eloquence, speaking human, his collar echoing to the pony tongue. The ship was a patchwork of all the colors of the ponies involved. Only Pinkie had been denied expression, not that he ever saw her glow a color of magic to be impressed on the copied ship besides when she was reflecting the contained magic. "Does it work?"

Gregor brought his hands together. "I will see to any injuries she has received. In the meanwhile." He turned to his gaping and shocked people. "We have little, time least of all. Those who are capable of star battle, who would see this fight through, now is your opportunity." He gestured to the ship, "Accept Laud's orders until you have landed once more, Pancreator willing."

Pinkie bounced high, hooves flailing. "Ooo, me too! I'm helping!" And she darted aboard the new ship without waiting for consent or direction.

Still heaving, Twilight shook her head. "That... was entirely unreasonable, but it should be operational." She gestured at the ship. "Aside from the colors, it should be a copy of the original, assuming Starlight did that part right."

A big assumption. Laud could feel that hesitation. He was putting complete faith in that work of magic. "With me. I am not a royal, you are not priests. We are brothers in battle, and we will live together, or die the same." And he marched up the walkway, flanked with others who accepted the call to join the battle. "Let's tilt this battle in our favor and wait not a moment longer." A rough cheer erupted in the crowd, permission finally given to act, instead of pray and quiver in fear at the battle above.

Even if it meant joining that same battle. For some, doing something terrible was better than waiting for it to come to you.


Far above them, Paul gestured forward firmly. "Keep up the pressure. Their shields will fall, and we'll hammer them to pieces the instant it does."

"Our shields aren't looking that much better," noted a technician, watching a meter worriedly. The room shook violently, the impacts making the hull jostle and quake despite the void of space. "The merchants were a welcome break, but they don't have the arms to help us punch through first."

Paul slammed a fist onto his armrest. "We don't have a choice in the matter. There's no retreat from this battle." Trying to do so would fail disastrously, and they all knew it. "Besides, that isn't our way." A cheer, tired and haggard, rippled over the room. Even their family spirit was somewhat waning, the battle drawing on as long as it had.

"Sir!" A different tech was tapping at a panel. "A new ship is entering the field."

The main screen lost sight of the divine vessel they were fighting, instead showing a fresh ship blasting out from the atmosphere of Equestria into the void of space, its hull painted in outlandish colors. "The bloody... Are they hailable?" The design was hard to place, the completely absurd colors masking it. Who owned that ship?

"Joining the battle," came Laud's voice in the ear of the radio helmsman. "And I brought friends. Hope you don't mind that I'm flying a larger ship this time."

"You're welcome to the dance," assured the radio man. "Friendly on the field," he shouted to the room, a new cheer rising, more genuine than the last. "It's Laud."

Paul shook his head slowly. "By what manner... Regardless, that ship isn't a capital." That much was obvious, or it wouldn't have been landed on a planet to start. "It's another distraction, and a few more guns pointed at our enemy. Let's take full advantage of it."

"You won't be alone," came the radio chatter as the merchant ship dropped down around Paul's ship, coming into view. "Let's light up the sky." Easy to miss from above that the sky had been lit for some time.

It was time to make or break the fight.

Author's Note:

Technicolor assistance! The best kind, right?

Written early for patreons who got this ahead of everyone else. Want to get early chapters, or even your own story written? atreon!

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