Snap Ships: Battle for Equus

by Admiral Wyatt Stone

Act IV: Secrets of the Ancients

The tunnel was dark and vast, offering quite a spacious passage down the cave system as Golden Flare and his friends traversed deeper into it ahead of their escorting combat rover. The vehicle was built for combat drops during planetary assault missions and for defending allied structures on colonies and fortresses like F.R.O.S.T. Base. The front of the small rover sported a machine gun just under the cockpit while four arms extended out to sport wheels for travel.

The journey through the cave was, for the most part, peaceful. Barely any creatures were seen lurking in the darkness ahead of the group, saving the group more ammo than they believed would have been used up by the time they were done with the mission.

But on the downside of things, besides a meager few bats taking a few bolts worth of ammo, there was no visual sign of the temple. The signature was getting stronger on Sweet Star's scanner, but they couldn't see anything up ahead, even with their rifle lights shining throughout the cave.

Flare kept his newly modified rifle at his side as he took a look down one of two split paths through the cave, seeing nothing lurking down the left path as he looked to Sweet Star. "Star, which path?"

Sweet Star looked down at her scanner, seeing the line leading to the supposed temple leaning more towards the right path before looking back up and replying. "That way."

The stallion turned his head has he continued his trot down the cave, going down the specified path as his allies followed suite.

Flashing his rifle's light down the path, Flare took a breath as he saw no sign of any creatures hiding in the path's shadows. Trotting on further, Flare raised an eyebrow as he saw nothing but a rock wall down the path, blocking the way to the UJU signature.

As Flare stopped in front of the wall, Sweet Star seemed to look on in dismay as she examined the wall. "Well, this is quite a pickle we've stepped into."

"Ya need me to blast that wall open?" The driver of the gladius rover sounded through Flare's hoof radio before Aegis spoke up, raising a robotic hand into the air.

"No, wait." Looking to the rock wall carefully, Flare and Sweet Star looked to their companion with raised eyebrows before he hovered closer to the wall, stopping as he touched a spot on it before speaking again. "Some parts of this wall are synthetic, like this spot here."

Curiously, Flare trotted up to the spot of rock Aegis was talking about, feeling another part of the wall before touching the supposed fake material, checking for any physical difference.

Flare seemed to lift his head slightly as he noticed something odd about the synthetic part of the wall. "Hmm, this part here feels..." Then, without any sign of warning, Flare punched his hoof through the fake rock, shattering it inwards as Sweet Star and Aegis looked on in surprise. "Thin." The stallion finished as he looked to his two friends with a smirk.

Aegis let out a laugh as he began pointing at other spots at the rock, seemingly scanning them as Flare cleared out the broken hole he made in the fake rock. As he removed the last little bit of rubble from the hole, Flare seemed to notice a metal, hoof-sized hole in what must have been another wall behind the rock.

Aegis hovered down as Flare examined the hole, Twilight and her friends trotting over to see it as well before Sweet Star asked, "Flare, what is that?"

"I have no idea." The stallion replied in curiosity before placing his hoof into the hole, wondering what would happen. At first, he didn't notice anything change, but he brought his head upwards as he heard Silverstream cry out in awe. "Guys, look at the rock!"

Flare shared the shocked expression as he saw another section of the rock wall glow a faint gold, Aegis looking to Twilight before he asked her, "Twilight, do you think you could lend me a hoof here?"

"Certainly." The Princess of Friendship replied with a smirk as her horn glowed, Aegis flying into the air as Twilight shot a beam of magic at the glowing rock, busting it open with relative ease.

The glow became a good bit brighter as Aegis looked at it without any falter, Flare looking up to him as he began to translate what was on the metal wall behind the hole.

"Sul lon'i idi gri st'reh alia ma etra." Everyone but Flare and Sweet Star looked on in confusion as Aegis read a set of strange alien text that glowed on the wall. The expressions became ones of bewilderment, however, as the moment Aegis finished reading the text, the rock shifted shakily, Flare removing his hoof from the hole before backing away as the rock began to move. The rock wall began to descend into the floor as the way to the room beyond opened, Flare and the rest of the group looking on in awe as they stared at the large area before them.

At what was assumed to be the end of the room was a large, gold, temple-like structure that almost filled the area, bearing several architectural markings and details that left many in the group, especially Rarity, bewildered at it. In front of the temple were several tall stanchions lining up a path to the temple, above the lower sections of the stanchions were several balls with three extensions around it, seemingly hovering just above the poles below them as they shone in the cave thanks to a few artificial lights that, despite their age, still worked.

As Aegis descended down back to his friends, Flare stared on in awe as he examined the area. The path ahead lead to a large door that lead to the temple's interior, a good trot's worth, but whatever was in that structure would have most likely made it worth the trip.

As the group stepped onto the metal floor that led inside the area, Flare looked over to the rover behind them as he waved a hoof to signal the driver to stay at the entrance. The driver saluted back in response as she began checking her controls for the time being.

Curious of the translation, Flare looked to Aegis as he asked, "Aegis, what did that phrase mean?"

Aegis seemed to ponder for a moment before he answered. "I think it said something along the lines of "Only one who gains strong allies may enter"."

Flare seemed to smile as he looked over to Twilight, who raised an eyebrow at Aegi's translation before they looked back to the temple, trotting down onto the metal floor as the group began to make their way towards the UJU temple.

As they walked, Twilight and her friends looked around the massive cave that housed the temple, immensely intrigued at how an ancient civilization could have built something like this here. Twilight had read all sorts of historical and mythical books mentioning ancient structures, even depicting images of them at times. But this place, a hidden temple buried beneath the surface land that was Equestria, this place was one Twilight had never heard of until now. She almost seemed to beam at the wondrous structures present, almost wanting to fly around and give herself a tour of the area. But at the same time, there may be booby traps placed within the area, as almost any ancient temple was armed with, and who knew whether or not this place was inhabited as well.

The hoofsteps from the group echoed throughout the cave as they reached the stairs of the temple, Flare looking up to the entrance as he began trotting up to it. After a good few steps the group had finally reached the large door ahead, which began to split open as Flare and the others stopped in front of it for a moment, seeing several statues within as Flare thought of something.

"Twilight, can you prepare a shield around us? I have a feeling we won't be entering without some trouble." The purple alicorn nodded as her horn glowed, a pink bubble shield surrounding the eight ponies, dragon, and robot as they continued on into the temple.

Looking around, Flare checked to see if there were any objects or structures that seemed like traps or defensive mechanisms within the room, but took a calming breath of air as he did not see such equipment. Several more hoofsteps later, the group made their way to another door across the room, which opened as it revealed the next room.

Flare looked on in awe as he saw what was inside, there were several large stone tables built onto the floor, three of which held an item on them. Two of them had the same device, a curvy, finned device that glowed on it's front and aft sides. As for the middle table, it's device was a bit larger. It looked like some kind of cannon, with a smaller, cylindrical device within it's ringed launcher section.

Moving over to the middle device, Flare and Aegis looked to the device as the others looked around the room. Looking down at the table, Flare noticed a line of text on it, which Aegis noticed as well before he began to translate it.

"If I'm reading it right, it says that this device is an UX-DC Singularity Driver." Aegis said as Flare jolted his head up to him in surprise, the girls stopping in their walk as Flare replied.

"A-A singularity driver?!" The stallion's eyes went wide as he took in this information, Twilight sharing his stunned expression as she listened in.

"Is that good?" Rainbow Dash asked with a slight hint of worry in her voice as Aegis looked to the device once more.

Then, after a moment of scanning the device, he answered. "From what I'm able to tell, this thing is capable of creating a powerful implosion using a micro black hole."

Twilight's mouth almost fell to the floor as Pinkie decided to ask her own question, looking to one of the other two devices as she asked, "Oooooohhhh, then what's this one?"

Trotting over to the device, Flare made his way over to the second device, Aegis looking down at the text imprinted onto the stone table as he translated it.

"UX-38 TSM Cloak System." Flare's ears perked up again as he heard what his robot friend was saying, watching as he scanned the device to analyze it further as Pinkie spoke up.

"Cloak system?" Flare turned to her as he answered.

"If that title's correct, this device can turn the ship it's attached to invisible, rendering it difficult to detect, not to mention make the ship unviewable with the naked eye."

Rainbow whistled at him as she grinned excitedly at the information before speaking. "I think I'm going to like these things we found here!"

Flare shared the grin as he replied back. "Better than that, this could help us greatly in the war. Those scarabs won't stand a chance against that singularity cannon, there!" The two laughed as Twilight looked at them, then trotted over to the device as she raised a hoof to the device to touch it.

"Well, with that said, I think it's time we take this newfound equipment and put it to good use, should we not?" Rarity said as Twilight put a hoof to it, but immediately yanked it back as a gold energy field flickered upon contact.

Flare's ears perked as he looked to the entrance, which began to close as he turned to Twilight. "Looks like we've just tripped the security systems!"

The group turned to look at another door on the other side of the room, which began to open as several shadows could be seen moving out towards the room.

Not having much time, Flare yelled, "Hide!"

Not wasting a second, everyone in the group immediately ran to the edges of the room, taking cover behind several large statues that were placed around the room. As everyone hid in their spots, Flare and Twilight could hear several footsteps, getting louder as whatever that was causing them entered the room. As the stepping sounds stopped, Flare lowered himself to the floor so he could sneak a peek at the new arrivals.

Looking around the corner of the tall stone plate holding the statue above, Flare could see at least three humanoid entities decorated in golden armor, all of them wielding a fancy spear in their hands.

Taking cover behind the statue again, Flare looked over to Twilight on the other end as he spoke. "Guardians, looks like we'll have to fight our way out."

"Right, and if I might ask, have you faced these things before?" Twilight asked as Flare shook his head.

"Not these kind, unfortunately. I've seen booby traps and your basic defense turrets, but not these kind of defenders."

Aegis levitated downwards as he finished his scan of the warriors. "And they're also robotic sentinels. I figured since this place is centuries old."

Twilight put a hoof to her chin as she pondered an idea, then, she nodded in satisfaction as she explained her idea. "Okay, I can teleport us right near them, then unleash a magic shockwave right after. Once I do that, take them down as best you can. Sound good?"

"You bet, Twilight, I've been waiting to do something like this after that trot back there!" Rainbow said with a grin as Flare looked on cautiously.

"Alright, everyone else, stay where you're hiding, and as for us, be ready for anything." With that, Flare, Twilight, and Rainbow stood together, Twilight's horn glowing as she prepared her teleportation spell.

"Ready?" Twilight asked as her friends nodded in acknowledgement, prompting her to activate the spell. As her horn glowed brighter, the trio disappeared from their spot, reappearing right in front of three of the sentinels as they aimed their spears at the three. As the three other guards began to surround the group, Twilight unleashed her magic shockwave, sending the guards flying into the air before they crashed to the floor.

"Attack!" Flare said as he charged the closest guard to him, Twilight taking to the air as she fired a bolt of magic at another warrior.

As the guard began to get up, Flare pinned him to the ground as he smacked it's spear away with his hoof, the guard kicking him off of it's chest as it got back up. Rolling away from his opponent, Flare grabbed the spear he kicked away and held it in his mouth, the warrior in front of him raising it's metal fists as he jumped to take a swing at it's head. His effort was quickly countered, however, as the guard swiftly brought it's arm up to block the attack by the spear's hilt. Lifting it's leg up, the sentinel tried to strike at Flare, but failed as he ducked under, narrowly avoiding the hit as he took the staff from his mouth and thrusted it into the guard's torso, piercing it's armor as it's body let out a mechanical groan. Pulling the spear out, Flare took a breath as the defeated sentinel began to fall to the ground.

Flare's ears perked as he heard Twilight's voice cry out to him. "Flare, look out!"

Taking swift action, Flare rolled ahead of him as a laser bolt shot past him, just barely missing his tail as he steadied himself to get a quick look at the other guard nearby. The Forge pilot's eyes widened as he saw a section of the spear's blade opened up, a cylindrical cannon exposed and charging up as Flare rolled out behind the middle stone table, avoiding another shot from the sentinel.

Trotting around, Flare took a quick look at his staff as he tried to see how it worked. He smirked as he saw a button on the weapon's hilt, but the smirk faded as another warrior raised it's blade at him. Flare barely had a good grasp on his footing as he blocked the attack with a smack of his weapon, then jumping above the warrior as he prepared to attack from behind. The guard was faster however as it smacked him to the floor upon landing, flinging it's spear around to stab him as a bolt of magenta magic struck the drone, a hole being made through it's armor as it began to fall to the floor.

Rolling out of the way, Flare recovered his footing as he looked to Twilight, who smiled at him as another sentinel aimed it's now open staff at her.

"Twilight!" Flare cried out as the alicorn princess realized her mistake before the guard fired a gold bolt of energy at her. Twilight grunted a little as she activated her magic shield just as the bolt struck it, Flare rolling around and pressing the button on his staff before taking aim. As the guard fired at him, Flare followed suite as he was almost hit by the bolt, Twilight returning the favor as she activated a shield around him while Flare's shot struck down the guard, sending it down to the floor.

Looking to Twilight, Flare could see her sweating profusely as she was putting too much stress on her actions. Then, looking over to Rainbow Dash, the speedster mare rammed into two incoming guards as they flew across the room, Rainbow holding her hooves as she cringed in pain.

"Ouch, maybe not do that too much." Her short break had left her exposed as one of the guards quickly recovered and took aim at her.

"Not so fast, buster!" Pinkie yelled heroically as she sped around the warrior, Spike riding on her back as he unleashed a few green fireballs at it, burning the armor but not damaging the sentinel.

"Twilight, take him out!" Spike yelled to his friend as the princess did so, Firing a magic bolt at the drone just before it could take aim again.

As the warrior drone was sent across the room, Twilight looked to another warrior, which was engaging Flare in a duel as the drone took a swing at the stallion. Focusing, Flare smacked at the warrior's staff again before holding his forehooves to the ground and swinging his flank, smacking the drone to the ground with his hind hooves. Then, pressing the button on the hilt, Flare aimed the open blade at the drone just as it began to get up, hitting it clean in the head.

Steadying his footing, Flare looked over to Twilight as the last sentinel raised it's staff up at her, almost impaling her in the back as another spear penentrated it's armor through it's back, causing the robotic warrior to fall to the ground as Rarity trotted over to her friend.

"You're lucky you three had us around for this, darling." The fashionista said teasingly to Twilight as Flare trotted over to the two, Pinkie, Rainbow, and the others coming out as they took one more look around.

Seeing that none of the sentinels were moving any longer, Flare breathed a sigh of relief as he took in the fact that the battle was over.

"That was close, Flare." Sweet Star said as she trotted up to Flare, who smiled at her before replying.

"And we all made it, too." Then, looking to Rainbow, Flare raised a concerned eyebrow before asking her, "You gonna be okay, Rainbow?"

The pegasus nodded in acknowledgement as Star trotted over to treat her, Flare hearing a faint shift somewhere in the room as he looked around.

His curious search was halted when Aegis spoke up. "Boss?"

Looking to where his friend was pointing, he saw an open section in the table holding the singularity driver, the slot being big enough for the blade of the spear to fit in. Trotting over to it, Flare inserted the staff into the slot before the gold force field around the driver flickered away, allowing Flare's hoof to touch the device with no objections.

Flare smiled at the device as Twilight used her magic to lift the device off of it's table. "Looks like we've been granted our new weapons."

Twilight carefully lifted the driver onto the floor as she replied. "Yeah, not only that, but, this is a little lighter than I expected."

Flare chuckled as he trotted over to another table, spotting another slot as he inserted the spear into it, deactivating the shield around the cloaking device as Rainbow flew over it.

"So now we can leave with this stuff?" The stallion nodded as he trotted over to the other stealth device, preparing to open it as Sweet Star's wrist radio beeped.

Tapping a button on it, Star responded to the call. "What's going on?"

"I hope you've gotten your business with that temple over with, 'cause our people at the dropship want us back there immediately!"

The group gave worried looks as Star asked the rover driver, "Why? Did something happen?!"

"Not sure, but they said it's bad. Now let's get going!"

"We'll be back to your position in just a moment!" As the shield around the last stealth device faded, Flare looked to Twilight, "Twilight, can you and Rarity help with this tech here?"

"Don't ask, we're right on it." The Princess of Friendship replied with a smile as she and Rarity joined their magic grip on the three UJU devices, lifting them into the air as Twilight spoke up once more. "Okay, everyone go on, we'll be right behind you all!"

With that, the group began their gallop out of the UJU temple, Twilight and Rarity following behind as they carried the newfound equipment along behind them.

-Stratusburg-

The trip was as long as it was going in, but the group slowed down a little as they finally reached the entrance, Sarun and a few other officers looking back to them as they exited the cave. At this point, it was night time, the sun had already set and the stars shone in the night sky. The moon was also present, and lit the dark surface of Equus in a field of light as the day ended.

Stopping in front of his friend, Flare looked up to Sarun as he spoke to him. "Alright, we got the UJU tech, what's happened?"

"Take a look for yourself." The green humanoid said as he and Flare looked into the sky, the latter's eyes looking on in horror as he saw a dreaded sight.

In orbit of the planet near the moon was a large structure, a dome section with several mandibles sticking out downwards around it's hull. All over the dome were several red spikes that glowed brightly in the night, and a tall stalactite-like structure stuck out from the bottom of the dome.

"Is that a Komplex mothership?!" Flare said in alarm as Twilight and her friends looked up at the ship in horror, the six students with them sharing their fear as Ocellus spoke up.

"It-It's huge!" The changeling said as Sarun spoke to them.

"Yeah, and worse, it's got more than enough firepower to take this system." Then, looking over to the acquired UJU tech near the group, he continued. "That is, if we don't stop it."

Flare stared at the large starship in orbit, pondering for a moment before thinking of an idea. "Yeah, and I think I know just what to do." Looking over to his sabre, Flare trotted over to it as he spoke to Twilight. "Twilight, bring that singularity driver and one of those stealth devices over here!"

"Why?" The purple alicorn asked in confusion as she levitated the new weapons next to Flare's sabre, laying them down as Flare continued.

"I've got an idea, Aegis, reconfigure the ship with the new tech, if you wouldn't mind!"

"No problem, boss!" The robot replied as he flew into the sabre's cockpit, closing the window before tapping a few buttons on his controls. A moment later, the ship began to break apart, the pieces and the two UJU devices floating into the air as the ship changed its shape. After a moment of shifting parts around, Flare's ship was once again reconfigured into it's basic sabre design, save for a few changes. The grey vent on the dorsal section was replaced by the singularity drive, and the repair pack and a section of the ship's ventral space were swapped out with the cloaking device.

As the sabre set back down on the ground, Sarun walked over to Flare as he asked him, "What's the plan?"

"With that singularity drive, I think if we can use it to significantly damage the mothership, we may be able to save the planet."

The group pondered his idea for a moment, the gave multiple nods of agreement as Sarun gave his response. "That might work, if you can find an essential part of the mothership, you may be able to win this battle for us, pal."

Twilight trotted over to Flare as he looked to her and her friends, Sweet Star joining up a moment later as the Princess of Friendship spoke to him. "You sure you can make it through that?"

"Yeah, you sure they won't be able to hit ya with that stuff on?" Rainbow Dash asked worriedly as Flare replied.

"Don't worry about that, that UJU cloak is so advanced, they won't be able to find me." He smirked as Sweet Star trotted over to him, the stallion looking to her warmly, but frowning as he spoke to her.

"Sweetie, if... if fate does decide to take me out of the game, I-" He was cut off as Sweet Star held his head, kissing him as he held her other hoof after a moment.

As Star broke the kiss, she gave a determined smile at him as she replied to him. "I know you'll make it."

Flare smiled at her as she spoke once more. "Now, go up there and save our home!"

The stallion saluted firmly before turning around, Aegis already seated in the secondary seat as he began to climb into the ship.

"Flare! We're all counting on you from here!" Rainbow said as Flare seated himself inside, waving to his friends as he replied once more.

"Thanks, I'll need it!" With that, Flare closed his ship's window before speaking to his robot partner. "Hold on Aegis, I'm punching it."

"Already set, boss!" Aegis replied as Flare lifted his ship into the air, taking aim for the sky before sending the ship at full throttle, speeding into the sky as he pierced a hole through the clouds.

As his ship sped into the night, Flare spoke to Aegis once again. "Oh and activate the UJU cloak! We're going in silent!"

"Ya got it, boss!" The robot replied as he tapped his console, the UJU device under the sabre glowing as the ship began to turn invisible from the front. As the ship became fully cloaked, Flare continued speeding through the sky, racing against time to stop Equestria from facing total annihilation.