Snap Ships: Battle for Equus

by Admiral Wyatt Stone

Act I: Mending Scars/The New Threat

Year: 2499 - Present

Location: Altair System, F.S.C. Apollo

The stars twinkled brightly throughout the Altair system, shuttles zooming around one of the six planets present within the system. For almost a century, the sector had been a crucial part of Forge space, even before the war. Formerly serving as a long range outpost for exploration craft, it became one of the largest bases the Forge had built, from building and repairing allied starships to holding several flight academies across the system, Altair was one place that shone out to the galaxy as a beacon of hope. The enormous, dark pink nebula near the system also acted as a disruption field for enemy fleets, next to the even farther out Gemini Defense Perimeter, one of several security fields for alerting the Forge of an enemy attack.

And today was better than most. In orbit of the large, populous world of Cygnus, a large structure hovered near the moon of the planet. Four large mandibles extended out from the center section, going higher than the command structure in the middle, bearing a similar appearance to the various outposts near the edge of Forge space. But one striking difference besides it's larger size was that there were two sets of vertical hangar bays on each of the station's arms, most carrying a single starship within them.

And one of those ships was the Apollo, a Leviathan class battlecruiser. Heavily armed, the ship bore a large bridge in the middle area, standing tall in front of a small hangar bay and the nose of the ship. At it's sides were two sets of heavy cannons, powerful enough to slice a Komplex destroyer into dust. Behind the vessel were eight large engines, currently deactivated as the ship was docked.

Within a section of the ship, Golden Flare stood near a window in his room, admiring the sight of Cygnus and the shuttles flying to and from the station. The past few years had been tough, but he had made himself a skilled pilot. When the station's command staff heard of his zeppelin experience, they felt that flying one of their agile starfighters would be the best spot for him. These starfighters, known by their designation as "Snap Ships", were an advanced spacecraft capable of being shifted into another type of starship. During his training, Flare had taken a liking to the agile Sabre starship, she was a fast and maneuverable fighter, and over the days, he grew attached to them. He felt that that ship would be the perfect choice against the Komplex in a head-on battle.

As for his friends, Sweet Star decided to continue her duties as a medic, albeit with more advanced equipment. She also wanted to ensure her understanding of the technology and practices by studying all of the various diseases and methods to taking care of Forge patients. On some occasions, Flare had been treated by her a few times himself, and every time he became more and more impressed at her increasingly determined skills.

The surviving trio of Stratusburg had also become more close as friends, and in the case of Flare and Sweet Star, perhaps even more. As Sweet's sister, Dawn, was enjoying her time with the other young ones aboard the ship, she seemed to treat Flare like a surrogate father since they arrived at Altair, and wanting to amend the wound Flare had gotten from the loss of his wife, she tried to keep the three of them as close as possible. Sure, most Forge ships didn't really try to permit young members onboard their starships, but with the growing threat of the Komplex and their new weapons, anywhere could be a target.

As Flare continued stargazing the system, the door to his room opened as a small, hovering robot Flare worked with, Aegis, entered the room. During his time at the flight academy, Flare was taught how to manage and repair his ships during a mission. Taking advantage of the lessons, Flare gathered some scrap and materials from some of his first missions, eventually acquiring enough to construct a small robot assistant. While the small robot usually performed tasks that impressed and bettered the state of the Forge itself, Flare still considered him to be a close friend, just as much as Sweet Star and Dawn.

The droid was small, yet appeared quite flexible in appearance, his head was rectangular, slimming down as it went back, the face appearing as a screen with pixelized expressions appearing to indicate Aegis' feelings and decisions. At the sides of his triangle-shaped figure were two arms, a pair of small, cylindrical bars holding the thicker, bulbous extensions which themselves bore a set of metal fingers. Underneath Aegi's body were two small thrusters, allowing the small robot to move via hovering. All in all, he seemed to have a sort of cartoonish look for a robot, yet still reasonable all the same.

Flare smiled as his mechanical partner entered the room, turning to face him as he greeted the droid. "Ah, morning, Aegis. Anything new today?"

"You bet there is, boss." Aegis replied in his high pitched robotic voice as he continued. "I hate to have to tell you on such short notice, but the captain wants you and the other pilots to get ready for another attack mission. Our scouts have reported another Komplex attack on the Equus System."

Flare seemed to hesitate upon hearing those last two words. "The Equus System?"

"That's right, they said that they might be making another run to that planet after the long delay we gave them." Aegis added as Flare took in the information carefully. When he was being asked about his life, he explained where he was from, and how primitive his civilization was during his time there. Seeing how vulnerable the planet was to Komplex attack, several security forces were sent to perform regular patrols to ensure the safety of the planet. However, they did not try to make direct contact, especially due to the disastrous incident Flare and his friends were involved in. They feared that the inhabitants may attempt to attack them under the assumption that the Forge were responsible for the attack thanks to that horrid event.

Aegis understood his maker's expression as he asked, "I hope I'm not causing a problem by telling you this."

"No, it's fine, Aegis." Flare replied with a forgiving smile as he gave his reasoning. "It's just... I'll be reopening old wounds while we're there." Then, looking to the window, he asked, "How long until we depart?"

"We'll be undocking in any minute now, if my timing system is working right." Aegis answered just as a rumble sounded, the ship shaking slightly as it began to undock from the station outside.

"I guess that's our cue, huh?" Flare said with slight sarcasm as he tapped a button on his mechanical dresser, which opened as the stallion began to dig for his pilot uniform.

As he picked out his choice of attire with his free hoof, Flare asked Aegis, "Aegis, could you get my helmet please?"

"Definitely, boss." The bot replied happily as he flew to a chair which held the object in question, taking it in his arms and turning to fly over to Flare, who was finishing putting on his uniform.

As he zipped his jacket on, Flare took the helmet from his assistant, putting it on his head before looking back to Aegis. "What about you, buddy?"

"Ready when you are!" The small robot replied, the two of them sharing a smile as they both made their way to the door.

As they entered the hallway, several other officers were making their way to their stations, some heading to the bridge to Flare's right, while others were heading to the hangar bay, the place Flare was going.

Heading left to the hangar, Flare and Aegis' trip was interrupted by two others. "Flare! Are you heading to the hangar?"

"Yeah, gotta get my ship ready." Flare answered as Sweet Song and her sister trotted up to them, sharing the stallion's jog as Dawn smiled at him and Aegis.

"Hi Aegis. You and Flare on another mission?" The filly asked almost excitedly as the bot in question answered her.

"That's right, and from the sound of it, it's seems to be a personal one for Flare here."

"Yes, we're heading to the Equus System." The jog almost came to an immediate halt as Sweet Star took in the words.

"E-Equus? You mean... home?" The mare asked with a stunned expression.

Flare shared the unnerved expression as he replied with a sigh. "Yeah, it seems that the Komplex are up to no good there again. Judging by the first attack those few years ago, we're just going to make sure they don't reach the surface this time."

"What do they want with our home now?" Dawn asked worriedly as Aegis answered her.

"Well, with the additional intel, we believe there's some kind of UJU device buried somewhere on the planet, and this seems to be their second attempt at acquiring it."

"And we can't let them succeed." Flare said as he looked to Sweet Star, the pegasus looking concerned as he asked her, "What about you?"

"I've been ordered to help any injured we get during the mission, I just got out of my own quarters too." She laughed a little out of embarrassment, but returned her former expression before continuing. "Do we know what ships are part of the assault force?"

Flare shook his head as he answered her. "I'm not sure, Aegis?"

As he looked to his robotic friend, he gave a look of dismay on his screen, but it changed to one of alertness as another voice spoke from behind the group. "From what I've heard, they're bringing more than the last time."

Looking behind him, Flare spotted one of his fellow pilots, a green-skinned humanoid male jogging over to them.

Flare smiled as he replied to the newcomer. "Ah, Sarun, Glad to see ya up and about."

"Same to you, buddy." Sarun replied as he asked his equine friend, "I'm assuming you're all heading to the hangar?"

"Yeah, Aegis told me about the mission we're on." As he said that, the doors in front of them opened, leading to another windowed hallway. As the group made their way through, Flare looked out the windows to see the system outside, the sight of the sun would have obscured his vision had he not squinted his eyes. As the ship moaned a low growl, Flare could see the sight of the Altair system shifting to another image: a bright flash followed by several stars zooming past the Apollo as it entered warp.

Taking in the sight, Flare returned his focus to the hallway, him and the others nearing the elevator as they made their way to the hangar bay.

- - -

Near the edge of the Altair System, the Gemini Perimeter seemed barren, no sign of enemy attack was seen by the defense drones patrolling the scanning field guarding the system. In the case of enemy attack, the field's highly charged energy beams would slice any ship that flew into it.

But the Komplex had no reason to send ships through for a suicide run, rather, they merely needed to watch and listen. Just outside of the perimeter, a single Komplex ship hid from the sight of the drones, shrouded under a cloaking device attached atop it's fuselage. Within the cockpit sat a single pilot in dark purple armor, seemingly staring out into space as he watched for any signs of his target. After a good minute of visual scouting, he saw it: a zap of light from afar indicating a ship leaving the system. He had them now, just one last thing to do.

Gripping the control sticks, the scout flew his ship away from the area, then tapping a few buttons on his ship's panel before a screen activated on it, static appearing for a short second before being replaced by another face.

As the scout faced his commander on the screen, he began. "Ah, at last, have they departed from the system yet?"

"Yes, sir, they are heading for the target. Now is the time to begin the operation." The pilot answered his leader as he spoke again.

"Excellent, we shall set out for the planetoid and commence our task there. Soon, the Forge will be no match for our new weapons that we will find there. Soon, they will know why the Komplex are, and will always, be immortal!" As the Komplex commander laughed victoriously at his minion's efforts, he finished the conversation with, "Set course for our position, we will require your assistance in our mission."

The pilot nodded in understanding before tapping a button on his console, cutting the transmission back to static before grabbing his controls once more and continuing his flight back to his fleet far from the Altair System...

- - -

-Equus System-

The doors to the hangar bay opened as Golden Flare and his team arrived into the room, several other pilots standing at their fighter ports as they prepared for battle. The room was spacious for a hangar, a runway-like floor lead out into space, and on either side of the room were several snap ship construction ports, a total of eight in the area.

Seeing an open slot to his left, Flare began to make his way to it while Sarun split off to another slot. Sweet Star, Aegis, and the others followed Flare to his port as he began to examine his console.

"Going with the usual, right boss?" Aegis said to Flare as he nodded in agreement, tapping the console as he began the constructions.

"You know how they say it, time to build to battle." Flare added with a smirk as he tapped the console once more, the launch pad glowing a bright blue as a large door within the port opened. As the doors fully parted, several cubes and parts flew out of the space inside, combining together and slowly but surely creating a fully functional starfighter. Of course, it was Flare's personal choice of fighter, the Sabre, one of the Forge's fastest and powerful fighters available to them for the war.

As Flare began to enter his fighter, Sweet Star stopped him before speaking to him. "Flare, promise me you'll come back. Please?"

The stallion smiled to his marefriend as he replied back. "I promise." With that, the two parted ways as Flare hopped into his starfighter, Aegis sitting in a small seat behind his as he spoke up.

"All systems check out, boss, we're ready for launch!"

"Thanks, Aegis, you got those missiles?" Flare asked as his companion replied.

"Absolutely." As the two seated themselves comfortably, a screen on Flare's control panel activated before showing a human officer looking to him.

"Alright, everyone, remember your objectives, take out the Komplex ships, and should any of them reach the surface, protect the natives at all costs."

"Understood, sir!" Flare responded along with his other pilots as the officer spoke once more.

"Good, now move out! We'll keep any heavy ships off your back." With that, the screen cut out as Flare gripped his control sticks, steadily thrusting his sabre out of the port and forming up with the other ships. Taking a second for a role count, he could see at least eleven sister ships of his fighter along with three trident gunships. With this amount of firepower, this fight shouldn't be a problem.

As another rumble sounded, the hangar bay doors opened up to reveal the beautiful blue world of Equus, sitting silently as the Forge fighters began exiting the hangar.

At least I can save the rest of the planet from them. Flare thought as he flew alongside his peers in their starfighters, all of them flying out of the hangar and into the open space of the Equus System.

As the squadrons of fighters flew towards the already present Komplex assault force, Flare counted each of them. nine scarabs, four scorpion troop droppers, and three locusts. Quite the number, but the trident gunships wouldn't lose to those ships.

Hearing an electric whir from his console, Flare looked down to see one of the gunship pilots speaking up. "Okay, sabres, split into teams of three and assist the gunships with the defending fighters, we'll need cover if we're going to take them out!"

Without saying a word, Flare formed up to the closest gunship ahead of him, two more sabers joining his group as some of the Komplex ships turned towards them.

Steadying his grip, Flare waited as the incoming fighters came closer, Aegis peeking behind to see the imminent battle. "Any baddies coming at us?"

Flare nodded as he answered. "Yeah, just wait for my signal." As he said that, the incoming scarabs opened fire, the shots missing his fighter as the squadron evaded the attackers flying at them. As the scarabs past them, Flare turned and began pursuing one of the scarabs that passed them, gaining up on his tail. Firing his laser cannons, Flare flew his ship behind the attacker as it evaded most of the lasers. As one of them hit the scarab clean on the engine, the stallion gave the scarab a few more bolts until it blew apart, flying through it's explosion before spotting another scarab that was pursuing one of his teammates.

"I need a little help here!" Sarun said through the comms as Flare followed his friend's attacker.

"I'll be right there!" He said as he flew behind the scarab. Then, still keeping his eyes on the enemy fighter, Flare turned to Aegis. "Aegis, get me a lock on!"

"Ya got it!" The metallic sidekick replied as he began targeting the scarab with the missile launchers. After a few seconds of pursuing the fighter Aegis' panel beeped. "Now!" He signaled aloud as Flare pressed the triggers, two missiles firing from the sabre and towards the scarab, which began to break off as it tried to avoid the missiles following after it as Flare formed up with Sarun.

His target apparently had been blown to bits as Sarun excitedly called out to Flare. "Whoo! Another one down!"

Flare smirked as he spoke to him through the comms. "Let's stick together, we can give them a bigger smack if we both attack at once!"

Sarun did so as he flew beside Flare, the two returning towards their gunship as it shot down an incoming locust with ease. As another scarab came at them, Flare fired his weapons at it to ward it off. Scoring a hit on it's wing, the fighter broke off, bleeding smoke as the two drones underneath the trident detached and formed up with the squadron.

Looking to Aegis again, Flare spoke up. "Ready the missiles again, bud. Let's see if we can give those transports a hard time!" Aegis did so without replying, Flare returning his focus to the Komplex dropships and their remaining escorts. Hearing the beeping from his partner's console, Flare fired another flurry of missiles as the trident near his ship fired it's laser cannons at the enemy fleet. As the missiles flew into the assault force, only two of the transports were hit, the other missiles missing and exploding far ahead. The two damaged transports attempted to recover from the impact, but only ended up crashing into each other and exploding in a brilliant fireball.

As the fireball dissipated, the Komplex ships broke off once more as one of the two remaining transports turned towards the planet, two scarabs flying after it as one of the gunship pilots spoke up.

"Stop that transport! Don't let it reach the surf-" Her voice cut to static as a bright explosion illuminated Flare's ship. Looking up, he saw a large fireball that was one of the tridents in their fleet. But after a moment, he saw another ship, one he had rarely seen in all the missions he participated in. It had four wings, two long and two small ones, and behind it was a long section sporting two long fins extending out to the sides of the ship.

Flare's eyes widened as he realized what ship it was. "Watch out! They brought a wasp with them!"

"Flare, form on my wing, let's take out that transport before it reaches the surface!" Flare obeyed without a word as he flew next to Sarun's ship as the two pursued the third dropship.

Flare's ears perked as he heard one of his squadmates cry out to him. "Flare! Look out!" He only had a second to think before a flurry of red laser bolts flew past his ship, forcing an audible yelp from Aegis as Flare flew erratically. He considered the fact that he didn't get hit a miracle.

As he rolled around in an attempt to avoid the incoming shots, Flare heard another one of his squadmates speak to him. "I got your back, Goldy!" Shortly after hearing that, the red bolts were mixed with a few green ones. Someone was trying to pull the attacker off his tail. After a moment of bright laser fire, the shots stopped. Flare didn't take the opportunity to look back as he formed back up with Sarun.

"Flare, Sarun, we'll hold off the other ships here, you take out that transport!" The bridge officer ordered as Flare replied.

"Copy that, command!" With that, the two followed the Komplex scorpion into Equus' atmosphere, the three ships becoming glowing balls of fire as they flew through the atmosphere.

The three flew through the cloudy sky for a good few minutes until they reached the surface. Fortunately, it seemed to be a forest, easing Flare's tension over saving the natives. As he focused on the transport, Aegis' console beeped as Sarun fired his cannons at the scorpion.

"Missiles are ready, boss!" Hearing his partner's cue, Flare fired the last two missiles at the dropship, pursuing after it for a good few seconds before finally striking it, reducing it to a burning fireball.

"Whoo! Good shot, Flare!" Sarun exclaimed victoriously as several red laser bolts shot past them, snuffing the celebratory attitude the two pilots had as they evaded the attack.

"We've been followed!" Flare said as he rolled his fighter, avoiding more laser fire before he thought of an idea. Grinning, he spoke to Sarun. "Wait, I got it, let's pull max throttle on reverse, then we'll turn the tables!"

"Sounds good, on your mark!" As the two tried to evade more laser fire, Flare steadied his grip on his flight sticks as he spoke.

"Now!" At that, the two fighters' thrusters threw them back towards the pursuing scarabs, almost smashing into them. Flare was lucky to not even scratch the attackers, but one scarab struck Sarun's ship, the former's bladed wing slicing one of his wings off.

"AGH! I'm hit!" Sarun cried out as Flare realized what a horrible mistake they had made.

"Sarun!" Flare cried back to his wingman, but got no response as Sarun's ship fell into the tall forest below. Unable to determine his friend's exact fate, Flare quickly turned his focus back to the scarabs, who took advantage of his distracted state and were flying right at him.

"Hold on, Aegis!" Flare warned as he flew up, evading the incoming laser fire before lowering back down and flying erratically as he tried to survive his pursuers' attack.

As he tried to focus, he could spot a large mountain in the distance, along with what looked like a large city built onto it. He could tell what city it was, but didn't bother trying to remember as he rolled his ship around once more, evading the attacks from the two pursuing scarabs as the three fighters flew closer towards the mountain...

-Canterlot-

The city of Canterlot was bustling, specifically at the royal palace. Today was a special occasion, today was the day that Princess Twilight Sparkle would become the new ruler of Equestria, with the Royal Sisters of the sun and moon, Celestia and Luna, retiring from the same duty. After all Twilight and her friends had been through, all the struggles they endured and the villains they had faced, defeated and, in the case of some, redeemed, the many nations of Equestria had become united under the banner of friendship. And now, their new leader, the Princess of Friendship herself, would officially be recognized today in a grand ceremony.

Inside the palace, Twilight entered the hallway leading to the balcony outside, the regal sisters taking notice of Twilight's frazzled appearance as Princess Luna asked her, "Princess Twilight, are you aliright?"

"My friends and I had a few hiccups on the way, but everything's fine now." Twilight defended, smiling nervously and sweating a little as a sheep ran down the hallway behind her.

Ignoring the oddity behind her, the Royal Sisters looked to each other smugly before looking back to Twilight. "We really are just so proud of you. If you need a moment, that's alright, it is YOUR coronation."

Twilight began to bow in respect, but her body shot up upon hearing a trumpet sound through the air. Looking forward, Twilight could see a few birds flying into the air as Celestia and Luna looked to Twilight as the latter spoke. "Although, it would be nice to get started. Are you ready?"

"NOOOOOO!!!!!" Twilight wasn't even given a second to answer as Rarity galloped into the room, Twilight's coronation dress in her magic grip as she continued. "She can't possibly be crowned without her coronation gown!"

"Very well." Celestia said in understanding as she and her sister trotted out to the balcony, a crowd of creatures present at several tables as they prepared to witness the coronation.

"Citizens of Equestria and beyond," Celestia began as she stepped up to the balcony's edge, her and her sister visible to all of the now cheering creatures in the crowd.

"My sister and I have ruled this land for quite some time, but even we know that change eventually comes to us all. And though we know it can be unsettling, it's as natural as the rising and setting of the sun and moon, both of which my sister and I feel confident leaving in the hooves of the pony I taught my ways to."

Back in the hallway, Rarity finished her work on Twilight's gown, spinning her around as she wrapped part of it around her before setting her friend down.

"You look amazing." Rarity said to her friend before remembering one last thing. "Oh! I almost forgot..." Looking into her special spider silk case, Rarity pulled the ceremonial wrap out and placed it onto Twilight, who looked to her one last time with a smile before turning for the balcony. Rarity wiped her eyes as she prepared to witness the momentous sight before her.

Celestia smiled as she prepared for the crowd to applaud their new ruler. "And now, without further ado, I give you the new ruler of Equestria, Princess Twilight Sparkle!"

As Twilight stepped out of the throne room, her forehoof got caught on the dress, causing her to flip around and hit the floor. The audience below gasped in shock at the sight above, Twilight recovering after a moment of dizziness before looking to the princesses. "Sorry." She said before shifting her gaze to the crowd below. As the crowd watched, Celestia and Luna removed their royal crowns from their heads before using their magic to fuse them into a single crown. As Luna looked to Twilight, she noticed some of the spiders from Rarity's silk tank, which had latched onto it when she had ripped it out of the container.

"Uh.. Twilight?" Luna warned the princess, but she didn't heed her warning. "Twilight?" The Princess of the Night warned again, this time she heard her fellow princess' call of caution as she looked onto her gown. Seeing the spiders, Twilight tried not to panic as she carefully lifted them off of her dress and placed them on the floor of the balcony. As they walked back into the hallway behind her, Twilight turned her head back to the crowd and awaited the flock of birds Fluttershy was supposed to send out for the ceremony.

But, they didn't come. Twilight looked around for a moment before spotting Fluttershy in the air, flying down to her before she spoke nervously. "Uhm, Twilight? We have a problem."

Twilight became worried upon hearing the dreaded words. "What's the problem?" She asked as the crowd below began to chat amongst themselves about the stall in the ceremony.

"Well, I tried to get the birds to come out, but... something's scaring them, and I don't know what it i-" Fluttershy was cut off as she heard a rumble from far away, the crowd's murmuring falling silent as they heard the noise as well.

Celestia and Luna's eyes widened slightly as they heard the sound, looking around to see where it had come from.

"Over there! Look!" A male hippogriff high in the air cried out as he pointed in the direction opposite from the royal palace. The crowd below turned to look, some of the winged guests taking flight to see what their fellow guest saw.

As Twilight and the regal sisters joined the airborne crowd, they gasped along with the crowd as they spotted their culprit. Three fast, strange objects were flying around each other, one of the darker targets emitting smoke as the other dark object seemed to turn away from the other two, flying towards the city.

Luna became uneasy as she nudged Twilight lightly. "Uh, Twilight?" The Princess of Friendship was as silent as her sister as they and the crowd watched the anomaly approach the city, a low, robotic roar sounding louder as it neared the city's edge.

The group was swiftly filled with horror as they watched the lone object fire several red energy bolts at the closest building to it, which caught fire and collapsed in mere seconds as the entity came closer to them.

Not wanting to see any creature get hurt, Twilight cried out, "Every creature get down!" Her words were swiftly heeded as everyone dove down to the rest of the crowd, Twilight using her magic to created a shield around the gathering near the royal palace.

As she set her hooves down on the floor, the entity flew above them, screeching as it passed overhead. Despite how fast it flew, Twilight got a better look at the attacking object above her. It's wings were sharp, and it had a tail with four fins extending out from the back. Another detail she could just barely make out was it's material, it looked to be some kind of vehicle, as a purple glow emitted from the back of it.

As it passed over the palace, the crowd was in a state of panic as Twilight held her shield. Celestia and Luna landed next to her as Rarity and Fluttershy raced over to their friend. "What was that noise?!" Rarity asked frantically.

"I don't know, but it's attacking the city!" As she said that, she heard the same sound the first attacker had made, but it was coming from up ahead. Following the first object was another similar to it, and in pursuit of it was a third object, though it bore a very different design from it's target as it fired green bolts of energy at the ship in front of it. It's armor looked lighter, and the wings were swept back, and a blue glow emitted from it's two engines.

"Every-creature stay calm!" Twilight ushered to the crowd around her as the sounds of energy bolts and roars of the crafts' engines screeched into the sky, Celestia and Luna joining Twilight strengthening the shield as the battle raged on above Canterlot.

Above the city, Golden Flare spun his ship around in an aileron roll as one of the scarabs flew behind him, firing a flurry of red laser bolts as he tried to chase the second one. After a moment of playing cat and mouse with the Komplex fighter, Flare pressed his triggers and fired his own volley of lasers at the enemy ship, many of the shots hitting it as it burst into flames. As the ship fell to the ground below, Flare pulled his ship upwards into the air as the pursuing scarab behind him fired, one bolt striking the back of his wing.

"Oof!!" Flare groaned as his sabre shook from the hit, the scarab following his maneuvers as he tried to think of some way to take out this last attacker.

Then, it hit him. Focusing on evading the incoming laser fire from behind, he spoke to Aegis. "Aegis, cut off all connections to the secondary fuel tanks! We're going to use it against that scarab behind us!"

"Ya got it, boss!" Fiddling with his console, Aegis spoke once more as he tapped a button on his panel. "Detaching... now!" As he said that, Aegis and Flare felt the sabre vibrate slightly as the fuel tanks for the second engine broke off from the ship. Having no time to evade, the last scarab crashed right into the incoming fuel tank, creating a bright, blue explosion above Canterlot as Flare steadied his ship from the force of the shockwave.

As Flare regained control of his ship, he took a deep breath as he looked around. "We... we did it."

"Woohooo!!! Heck yeah we did, boss!" Aegis celebrated as they relished in the calm after the storm, only for it to immediately fade as a warning flashed on Flare's controls.

"Crud, low fuel. Hold on, Aegis, we gotta find a place to land." With that, the two fell silent as Flare turned his ship around and flew towards the Everfree Forest, hoping to find a suitable place to rest for the time being.

As the strange savior in the sky flew away, Twilight reluctantly deactivated her shield, the creatures at the now crashed party looking around as she looked to one of the hovering royal guards keeping watch for anymore attackers. Then, curious of where the third ship went, she took flight before ascending high into the air, looking around the sky for a moment before spotting her target.

"It's heading for the Everfree Forest!" Twilight said to herself before flying back down to the ground, Rarity, Fluttershy, and the rest of her friends galloping over to her as Twilight asked them all, "Are you all okay?"

Yeah, we're fine, but what in the hay was up there?!" Applejack asked in worried anger as Sandbar and his friends joined the girls.

"Yona scared of those things in the sky!" The yak said as she held Sandbar's hoof.

"Yeah, what in the world was that?!" Pinkie exclaimed as Twilight answered.

"I have no idea, but I saw one of them heading to the Everfree, and... it looked different from the other two."

"Whaddya mean, Twilight?" Rainbow asked with a hint of anger in her voice.

"Judging by what just happened, I have the feeling that who or whatever those things were, that one I saw might have been trying to defend us."

The group seemed to ponder the idea, but Ember flew down to the group to add her thoughts. "Well, maybe they ran off to get help?"

Prince Rutherford trotted over to the group as well. "Yaks agree with dragon! Why enemy stay if they take on Equestria alone?!"

"Either way, I think it's best that we go see this being, whoever it might be." Celestia said as she and her sister joined the group, a few royal guards joining up with them as well as they listened in on the plan.

"That sounds like a good idea, and if they're friendly, maybe we could get an explanation for what just happened." Thorax added as he and Pharynx trotted over to the group.

Twilight pondered for a moment, then looked up to her friends as she gave her decision. "Alright, I say we go and meet this individual and figure out what's going on, and should things get nasty, we'll have the guards to help us out."

Sandbar raised a cautious hoof as he asked his former teacher, "Um, Princess? Do you mind if we come along? Assuming whoever we're about to meet is friendly, maybe we could get to know where they're from."

"Yeah, that'd be a whole book for me to write about in a study!" Ocellus added as Twilight thought over it, then gave her answer.

"As crazy as I might sound, sure. But if things do get bad, you take cover behind the guards and don't break away from your hiding spot until I say so. Understand?"

"Yes Ma'am!" The six students unanimously said in agreement as Twilight finalized her plan.

"Then I think we know what to do, Everyone, to the docks!" With that, Twilight and the group made their way out of the decorated plaza made for the coronation ceremony, determined to find out what in the world was going on. Unfortunately, as Twilight would soon find out, the crazy stuff was just beginning.

Author's Note:

Hey there, readers! I was going to insert an image of the Apollo ship described in the story, however the image insert would not allow it under the claim that the image was "invalid". Fortunately, I have a link to a gallery made for the ship, so you can have something to visualize: https://imgur.com/gallery/qHAhb2B

Also, I did not make this ship, this was a custom build I saw on Reddit and I thought it was so cool I felt it would look good in this story. The maker of the ship was this guy in this link, so go check him out for any more cool builds: https://www.reddit.com/user/Stercrazy/

Comments

[Arcayjuh Two]

I'm enjoying this so far. Excited for the next chapter!