The year is 3347, the two great factions, the New Lunar Republic, and the Celestial Empire, have been comrades in arms against the Menataur, Griffin, and Changeling axis
The year is 3347. The allied forces of the New Lunar Republic and the Celestial Empire have just recently come to peace from a century long civil war, and now they must unite to face an even greater foe, the Outland Federation. A combination of Menetaur, Griffin, and Changeling powers battling for control of Equestrian space. Follow the soldiers and leaders of the NLR and CE as they fight to survive, and witness their sacrifices in the name of peace. Will the Equestrian people survive this conflict, or is this to be the end times?
The year is 3347, the two great factions, the New Lunar Republic, and the Celestial Empire, have been comrades in arms against the Menataur, Griffin, and Changeling axis. The two sides have been in a catastrophic and deadly stalemate for nearly two years. But it was not always so.
The New Lunar Republic and the Celestial Empire did not exist over one hundred years ago. The people of these two weakened powers were once part of a great and united government. The Equestian Star Federation. A great and powerful state that once reached the span of over half the galaxy. A state that was just, fair, and united under the cause of exploration and peace. However, all great empires must fall...
In the year 3214, the Equesrian Star Federation reached a breaking point, disagreements between key members in the Star Federation Parliament, as well as the dual monarchy between Princess Luna and Princess Celestia led to seperation of the once great house. The two states that branched from this once great federation became known as the New Lunar Republic, led by Princess Luna and her loyal followers and conglomerates from the Federations deep space colonies. The other state became known as the Celestial Empire, led by Princess Celestia and the great and wealthy houses of the federations planetary sector governors.
The secession of these great powers from the Federation was first taken to just be a battle of wits, and that neither party planned to keep up what many viewed to be a thoughtless string of actions by parlimentary leaders. However, in the year 3220, disaster struck. Near the borders of the New Lunar Republic's nearest sector to the Celestial Empire, a small cargo vessel carrying raw supplies for the New Lunar Republic's new star fleet was mistaken for a military vessel by nearby patrolling Celestial Imperial Navy vessels. Due to blatant mistakes made by both senior officers and command of the Celestial Imperial Naval Ship Horizon, the small NLR vessel was fired upon. The reasons stated in later reports would be stated as “Tresspassing of NLR Military vessel on Celestial Empire borders”
It would be later found that the officers and crew had miscalculated their position, and had in fact been tresspassing into New Lunar Republic space.
Outraged by what was now taken as a senseless act of military agression, Princess Luna and the leaders of the New Lunar Republic declared war on the Celestial Empire on the 23 of August, 3220. What would follow would be over one hundred years of bloody conflict.
The New Lunar Republic took the Celestial Empire completely by surprise. It's new and advacned star fleet swept across CE controlled space at speed that had never been seen before. Employing new technologies and capabilities that were once thought to be just theories.
However, although the New Lunar Republic's starfleet was vast, the Celestial Empire was able to keep them at bay with sheer manpower. The Celestial Empire's ground forces were vast, and their ability to hold their own in space after the initial surprise by the New Lunar Republic Navy caused both sides to eventually fall into a bloody stalemate.
Few ever thought that the war would end, and that these were the end times. When brother fought brother, sister fought sister, and machine battled machine in the ultimate fight for supremacy among the stars. But our tale does not end here.
In the year 3340, an encrypted and secret communique reached the offices of Princess Celestia. It was from Princess Luna. Within the message was a plea for peace. Both sides had grown weary of war, and both sides had lost so much. To continue in such fasion would lead to certain destruction for both sides, with no hope of recovery. Luna also detailed how she could no longer bear to cause harm to the people of the Celestial Empire, a nation whose people had once been hers as well.
The message fell upon an open heart, and Celestia communicated back almost instantly. It was agreed then, in secret, by the leaders of the two most powerful states in the galaxy, that a peace project was to be undertaken. The building of two sister ships, using shared technologies and knowledges, to create, in the name of peace, the most mighty fighting vessels ever seen. It was the plan of the sisters to unite the might of their nations once more, into a singular nation of peace and prosperity. But all in due time. After the comunication between the sisters stopped, military operations on both sides were scaled down to the point of nothing more than high alert. The attacks stopped, planetary and colonial attack warning sirens sounded no more, and the people of both sides drew hope and caution from the eerie silence.
Thus was the conceiving of the New Lunar Republic Ship Valiant, and the Celestial Imperial Naval Ship Steadfast. Symbols of hope and prosperity to be built and unveiled when the time was right. Production on the vessels took place almost immediately after communications from the two sisters reached their conclusion. The vessels would be constructed in secret, even from the two nations own military and government leaders. The only ponies who knew of the project were the two sisters, and those that they appointed to work on them. Their plans made in secret, both sides settled down and waited for the right time.
The moment came on the 30th of January, 3345. The people of the two nations were dumbstruck when a sudden governmental conference took place directly on the border between the NLR and the CE. Both leaders were present, standing side by side, and speaking in unison the creed of the Equestian Star Federation.
“It is for the prosperity of all that we venture forth into the black abyss of space, to expand and discover the opportunities that shall lead our people to peace. It is for the good of all that we hold our leaders accountable for their actions, so that they may lead our people with open hearts and gentle hands. It is in the name of peace, that we go forward like a breath exhaled from the great earth, to lead all into an age of prosperity, an age of discovery, an age of opportunity, an age of friendship. This we all do swear upon our sacred honor, In the name of peace.”
Throughout the galaxy, silence fell. Both sides suddenly saw a face of their leaders they had never seen before. It was then that the sisters looked upon each other truly for the first time in over a century, and embraced.
Thunderous applause rang out throughout the galaxy, the Equestian Civil War was over, and a peace treaty was to be signed the very next week, and the two ships, the NLRS Valiant, and the CINS Steadfast would make their maiden voyages to bring the two leaders to the ancient Equestian Star Federation's political center space station to sign the treaty. Although this treaty would not unite the NLR and the CE immediately, it would lay the groundwork for the two great houses to eventually become one again.
February 5th, 3345. The two sisters boarded their vessels, and the two sister ships began their first voyage. However, unlike the warships of the past hundred years, these ships were not setting a course for battle, but one of peace.
At 1800 hours on the 5th of February, 3345, the two ships met in the Harmony Sector, and within minutes both ships had docked at the once great political hub of the Equestian Star Federation. The station had not been used in a century, and it's lifeless husk had floated in space without purpose. Both ships fired power couplings from their hulls in unison, and the cables were guided into the sockets of the station. With a surge of energy, the station had life once more, to fufill the purpose it was made for. Both leaders walked into the central parliament room with nothing but a small honor guard, as was old Equestian Star Federation tradition. The sisters sat and waited as the scribes of each nation came and assembled the treaty. And when the final moment came, the sisters signed in unison. With the final stroke of a pen, the Equestiran Civil war was over.
Applause rang out once more from the people of the two great nations, and in the moments after the treaty was signed, the sisters looked upon each other with smiles on their faces, and hope in their eyes.
It was then that a small CINS support friggate exploede outside the grand viewport of the station. The great leaders were dumbstruck, and they gazed unbelievingly at the destruction of the vessel. Almost immediately, Celestia rounded on Luna. Luna feverishly denied the involvement of the NLR, to the point of tears. It was then that a call came over the stations intercom. Unknown ships were being detected on their scanners, an entire envasion fleet had arrived.
For you see, beyond the fringes of Equestian space, dark powers had been watching and growing, brooding until the moment was right. The Menetaur, Griffin, and Changeling axis had attacked. When this was realized, another volley was fired upon the station itself. Thankfully most of the barrage missed, however, a single shell was able to penetrate the stations kinnetic dampeners, and crippled the CINS Steadfast docking mechanism. The Steadfast could not try to disengage from the station without the risk of severely damaging the station, and possibly killing everyone aboard.
When Luna realized what had happened, a force of anger never seen in her before boiled to the surface. Without hesetation, she made her way back to the Valiant, and ordered it to remove itself from the station and engage the enemy.
Within minutes, the massive ship had brought itself to bear with the enemy fleet and launched it's entire compliment of fighters. At the order of Princess Celestia, all Celestial Imperial Naval vessels were to assist the Valiant. These measures were just a distraction, as Luna ordered the main armament of the Valiant powered up. The massive plasma weapon that took up the ships whole bow section, simply known as the Magic Cannon. Three minutes into the engagement, the cannon was ready, and all equestrian forces were ordered out of the danger area. With the final order, the cannon was fired, and half of the enemy fleet was immediately vaporized. All other ships in close proximity of the beam were severly damaged. With half of their fleet decimated by a single ship in only a few minutes, the enemy fleet went into full retreat.
It was then that a communication was sent to the ESF station. The Menetaur, Griffin, and Changeling empires had banded together, known as the Outland Federation, and were declaring war on the New Lunar Republic, and the Celestial Empire.
With this new threat now presenting itself, the equestian people of the two great nations became one again. Although not in name, but as comrades in arms. The New Lunar Republic and the Celestial Empire banded together.
What follows is the story and history of this war.
What follows is Harmony and Strife: The Final Battles For Equestria.
Gunnery Sergeant Ironworker sat in the briefing room. Over the last few hours, six other Ponies, mostly officers, had entered the room. While he had waited, he had sat and studied them. He knew who they were at least in name, and a few by reputation, and he also knew their specialties.
The first to arrive had been Grey Amahein, a NLR Petty officer, and a Medical assistant. He knew her personally, mostly due to the fact that they had been dating for about six months. They kept their cool however, greeting with only a hug and a peck on the cheek. After that, they had sat quietly while the other ponies arrived.
The next to arrive had been a CE Naval Commander, Twilight Sparkle. The insignias on her uniform indicated that she was a tactician, and judging by the ribbons on the left side of her jacket, one hell of a naval officer. He knew a bit about her, and he also knew that it was because of her tactics that the NLR had been stalled many times during the Equestrian Civil War.
After her had been a pilot. CE 2nd Leiutenant Ranbow Dash. He didn't know much, other than she had been recently promoted judging by her new shiny Squadron Leader Pin. It still had the plastic on it in fact, keeping it protected, but letting slip the fact that it was new.
A few minutes later, A Pink Mare entered with a haircut that was definitely against regulation. He had a hard time identifying what she was, due to the fact that she walked quickly, and slightly skipped, to her seat. He had enough time to figure out that she was a naval gunnery command specialist, and that she was a Leiutenant.
Next had been a yellow mare, with a pink mane. She walked slowly, cautiously even, as if she expected the very deck to jump up and hit her. She was a Warrant officer, CE, and a medical technician but he had been confused due to the fact that she also had a gunship pilots meritous service pin on her uniform.
He knew that there was supposed to be another, due to the empty seat, but apparently they were late as a NLR naval Captain walked in. With a clearing of the throat, he began.
“Ladies and gentlecolt, thank you for coming. This is a briefing on your new duty assignment.”
He paused as two other ponies walked up beside the podium. One was another NLR naval officer, another Leiutenant. He was tall, and slightly built. But he had the air of a person who knew his job, and knew it well.
The next, was a bit more... excentric. He clanked as he walked up to the podium. Both of his legs were fake, replaced with bionics. As was his right arm. It clicked and whirred as gears and servos moved. His right eye, as well as a good portion of the right side of his cranium, were also fake. He smiled, an odd and aloof smile, as if the world didn't have any problems. His right eye, a glowing red light, moved around in it's socket and focused as he surveyed the room, and the ponies in it. After his analysis, he just smiled even deeper.
“Hmm, interesting...” was all he uttered.
The captain continued.
“My name is Captain Cloudmatter, commanding officer of the New Lunar Republic Ship Valiant, and that is precisely the ship you all are going to end up in.”
A collective air of surprise overtook the room. Many knew of the two sister ships, the mightiest vessels in the entire combined navy, but none of them had expected to be stationed aboard it.
“To my left is Leiutenant 1st class Orion, he is the ships navigator and helmsman. To my right is Static, the ships chief engineer. They are both supremely qualified for their jobs.”
The two nodded their greetings to the group, and Captain Cloudmatter continued.
“The next I would like to intoduce is Leiutenant Pinkimena Dianne Pie. Our new Gunnery Commander. Her time during the Equestrian Civil War has made her an expert in her field. We're lucky to have her.”
The pink mare he had trouble identifying earlier stood up and giggled before sitting down again.
“Then there's Warrant Officer Fluttershy. She is a Medical technician, however, due to the fact that we don't have a medical officer aboard the Valiant, she's being promoted to Leiutenant Junior Grade, congratulations.”
Everyone clapped as the mare hid her face as best she could.
“Assisting her will be Petty Officer Grey Amahein.”
Ironworkers girlfriend stood up and acknowledged who she was.
“Next is Naval Commander Twilight Sparkle, my new tactician and executive officer. Welcome aboard.”
The purple mare stood up and nodded her greetings.
“Leiutenant Ranbow Dash. Squadron leader of the 155th Celestial Empire aerospace wing.”
The cyan pegasus remained seated, but nodded to all.
“The next member on our list seems to be...”
He was cut off as an orange mare walked in.
“Ah apologize captain. I'm afraid I was preoccupied with some paperwork that needed to be done and I lost track of time. Won't happen again.”
“See to it that it doesn't, but I understand, at least you made it here. Ladies and gentlecolt this is...”
“Second Leiutenant Applejack, Celestial Imperial Army, 212th regiment, 2nd batallion. Special operations. Served with distinction during the Equestiran Civil War on Planets Vir, Cintaur IV, and Manehattan.” Ironworker cut him off.
Sergeant Ironworker treaded lightly through the streets of the blown out city. Rubble lay everywhere and smoke filled the air. His squad was tired from hours of patrolling these streets, but they needed to keep moving. Their objective was to hunt down any enemy troops or vehicles still remaining within the city, and report their position back to command for a surgical orbital strike, unless otherwise stated.
Ironworkers squad had been with him since the beginning of this campaign. They were just normal NLR Marines, but it was his job to make sure that they operated like Reconnisance troops to best accomplish their task, like right now. Ironworker had been in Force Recon for several years, and he knew the ropes. And, not so surprisingly, the rest of the Marines were catching on quick.
Almost all of them...
One private just didn't get it, Private Smelter. He was constantly screwing up, and jeapordizing everyone. Whether it was because he couldn't keep his mouth shut about “Celestial Pigs” and was heard and blew cover, or the fact that sometimes he just moved too damn slow, there was just a disconnect. Ironworker had tried his damndest to break him of these things, but he refused to learn. It would figure, he was the son of a political and military aristocrat.
However, today he had been better. Even so well as to be able to call in an orbital strike without telling the ship the wrong grid coordinate and blowing the squad up. Ironworker hoped that this was a symbol that the kid was coming around. He may have been a spoiled brat, but he was a good fighter. Something that, unfortunately, they had to avoid on this particular mission.
Ironworker had the squad spread out, staggered formation, five meter spread. They were all watching as much as they could, keeping alert for any sort of movement that would give an enemy position away. They had been moving for about fifteen more minutes when Ironworker had light shine in his eyes. He squinted and moved his head out of the way, looking for the source. There was a broken window in one of the buildings. One of the shards must have been reflecting it. Or so he thought.
The shard moved.
'Scope glare'
It was a sniper.
“TAKE COVE...”
Ironworker didn't get to finish the sentence. An enemy machine gun opened up and shredded the left side of the squad. The sniper fired and took out another stallion on the right. The machine gun began to move back and forth, and Ironworker was making a mad dash for cover. He almost made it when he noticed Smelter wasn't moving fast enough, he was going to get hit. Ironworker looked into his helmet's heads up display. The other squad members status' were red. KIA. It was just him and Smelter.
Taking a chance, Ironworker tackled Smelter to the ground, and then dragged him by his belt to a pile of rubble. Now safe in cover, Ironworker put his M23 carbine over his head and started spraying .308 caliber rounds in the general direction of the fire. He heard a yelp, and then shouting.
'Well, at least that's one down...'
Reloading, he peeked over the rubble. Only to hear a clink behind him. Whipping his head around, he saw a grenade right at his feet.
“Shit!”
Kicking out, the toe of his left boot caught it and hurled it away from his position. It bounced against one of the adjacent walls of a building, and detonated, bringing a section of the wall down with it. Unfortunately, his kick has exposed part of his head, and the enemy sniper took a shot. It knocked his helmet off, and the force of the hit left him in a daze, ears ringing. He was in a fog, time had no meaning, and he was just trying desperately to get his bearings. He reached out to feel for Smelter, but only felt empty air and ground. He heard shouting, but he couldn't make out the words. Shaking his head, his senses came back to him.
“PUT HER DOWN, NOW!”
“MAKE ANOTHER MOVE, AND SHE'S DEAD!”
Ironworker turned his head, and felt his stomach sieze up.
When the grenade brought down the wall, it had exposed a family that hadn't evacuated. Private Smelter had apparently run over and held the families little girl hostage, his side arm to her head. Ironworker also noticed that the male with the family was wounded, a gunshot wound in his shoulder. Had Smelter done that?
“AH'M GONNA GIVE YA'LL TO THE COUNT OF THREE!!!”
“I SWEAR I'LL DO IT!!!”
Ironworker watched, the two sides at a standoff. And a little girl in the balance. He didn't know who was on the other side of the scene, the rubble he had taken cover behind was blocking his view, but he couldn't sit by and let one of his men, one of his Marines, do this. It wasn't honorable, and it made him sick.
“PRIVATE SMELTER, YOU WILL STAND DOWN IMMEDIATELY!”
Taking a chance, Ironworker stood up, hoping that he wouldn't get shot. The private looked back at him.
“What's the big deal, these are just another bunch of Celestial Pigs, all of em'.”
“Private, you are a New Lunar Republic Marine, this display is not honorable, and you are tarnishing the name of the Corps. Stand down, NOW!”
“Screw you, the Corps, and your old, oudated idealism's of honor. These pigs deserve what's coming to them!”
The private began looking back and forth between him and the Celestial Army troops. Ironworker took the chance to look out the corner of his eye, and saw six of them. Rifles raised, ready to shoot both of them if they tried something.
One of the CE troopers was an orange mare, and judging by how the others formed around her, she was in charge. A Sergeants rank patch was on her left sleeve, and she wore a boonie hat. Her shotgun was currently pointed at Smelter, but she kept shifting her eyes between the private and Ironworker.
“Jest listen to your squad leader over there. Stand down before Ah put a round through ya' boy.”
“Like I'll take orders from a Celestial pig, much less a woman.”
Ironworker could almost swear that he saw her finger tighten on the trigger a bit.
“That's it, no more chances. Ta' three.”
“You don't have the guts...”
“One...”
Ironworker mad a quick analysis. The CE sergeant was standing about ten meters away from Smelter. She was carrying a shotgun, and although the spread probably wouldn't widen that much at that distance, the odds still weren't good.
“Two...”
“You move, I shoot...”
Ironworker couldn't let this happen, they were civilians, and Smelter had dishonored the Corps. Taking a chance, he turned his head to the CE trooper that was aiming at him, and winked. The trooper cocked his head in confusion.
“THREE!!!”
The mare fired, and fired wide. Reacting to this, Private Smelter pressed his sidearm harder to the girls temple, he was going to fire. The girl screamed.
But when the shot rang out, it wasn't her blood that sprayed against the wall. Private Smelter's head jerked to the side. His lifeless hand dropped his sidearm, and he fell to the ground with a dull thud. The Celestial Troopers whipped their heads around towards Ironworker.
He was standing, right arm outstreched, his .45's barrel smoking from the shot that had just taken Smelters life.
The world stood still for a few seconds, neither the family, nor the CE troopers knowing what to do. Ironworker holstered his pistol, and moved forward. The girl's face was speckled with blood. Removing a hankerchief from his pocket, Ironworker wiped it away.
“Shhh, It's okay, I won't hurt you.”
The girl's sobbing soon quieted down. The family moved towards them, the male squatting down and scooping the girl up.
“Thank you.” the stallion said,
Ironworker nodded.
“You guys need to evacuate. Go on, get outta here.”
The stallion nodded his thanks, and grabbed his wife before moving through the building towards another exit.
Click
Ironworker tunred his head to see one of the troopers aiming at him. But the CE sergeant stretched out a hand and pushed the muzzle down to the ground. Ironworker looked at her, and she nodded solemnly to him. Returning the gesture, Ironworker turned around and grabbed his carbine and helmet, before running down the street back the way he came, towards friendly lines.
Sergeant First Class Applejack moved through the mud and muck at a slow pace. Her boots were caked in mud and she was tired. She and her squad had been running for a good three hours, and the rain did nothing to help their fatigue. Centaur IV had been taken by NLR forces early in the war, but now they were fighting to take it back. But planetfall had been disasterous.
Celestial Command had known that the planet would be well defended from orbital invasion, but they had never imagined that the NLR would have had anti-orbital defenses of such magnitude. Out of nearly 147 ships that they had entered the sector in, only 43 were left, half of them limping along about one astronomical unit away from the planet. To make matters worse, nearly two thirds of all the drop ships had been destroyed during their ascent to the planets surface from anti-aircraft fire. Including the one that had been carrying Applejack's squad.
The pilot had sacrificed himself to ensure that the crash landing wouldn't kill AJ's troopers in the hold, but despite his sacrifice, they had still lost two ponies. And as a result of the crash, the remainder of the squad had landed about 23 kilometers away from their objective. An orbital defense grid. Their task was to enter stealthily, or try to, and take out the grid's power stations or targeting mainframe.
So far, neither looked like it was going to be a success.
Their best bet looked to be taking out the grid's sensor station. A large complex that housed all of the targeting equipment and data for the grid. Although AJ's squad had covered the lost kilometers quickly, they were still approximately 3 clicks away.
“How we doin' back there?” she asked the squad.
In her goggle's HUD, all squad indicators winked bright green. They were doing fine.
“Only three clicks to go. Let's go ahead and stop here to rest before we go the rest of the way. We should be far enough away that we won't be spotted, but I still want a defensive perrimiter. Starshine, I want you to take Flicker and Gridiron and face east. Northway, I want you to take Brightwater and face south. Hawkeye, I want you to set up in that tree over there and provide overwatch towards the facility, if any of you see anything coming our way, I want to know about it so we can either set up an ambush, or start moving again.”
Squad indicators winked green again as they acknowledged. Without a word, her orders were carried out, and within two minutes, they were sitting in behind an old blown out wall.
“We'll set up here for about fifteen minutes, then we have to go.”
She gazed around the area again. Besides the blown out wall, there was one delapidated two story building, or what was left of it. Only the northeast corner was left, with much of the interior exposed. A quick cursory glance told her that there wasn't anyone inside.
She should have looked harder.
A loud crack echoed throughout the area, and Hawkeye's indicater on her hud went from green, to red.
Hawkeye was KIA.
Starshine's voice echoed over the radio.
“WHERE'S THAT COMING FROM?”
Northway cut in as gunfire erupted from his position.
“CONTACT, SOUTH SIDE!!!”
Another crack echoed, and Gridiron's indicator changed to red.
“REGROUP IN THE TWO STORY BUILDING!” Applejack ordered.
Stupid. She had been sloppy because she was tired, and two of her men were dead because of it. The squad members with her started running towards the building, and she followed behind, making sure everyone made it.
Another crack echoed out, and she was suddenly thrown to the ground. She lay there for a minute, her body numb from the force that had just knocked her down. Slowly, her senses returned to her. At first all she could feel was rain hitting her, hearing it pepper agianst her uniform and equipment. Then, slowly, a dull pain in her left shoulder trickled in.
'Ah'm hit...' she thought to herself.
She started to get up, but it seemed to her as if her limbs were moving at a slug like pace. She knew that the sniper had another bead on her, and she knew that she was about to feel the searing kiss of hot lead from another shot.
Suddenly, something rammed into her with the force of a freight-train, and again she was thrown into the mud. This time into an old impact crater. She groaned, her bones aching from the force of the blow.
There was a snap of a bullet that whizzed over her head, and then another crack. The sniper had missed because something, no, somepony had tackled her out of the way.
She opened her eyes to a grey blur holding her down, as the image cleared, the grey blur solidified into the familiar edges of something she had pointed her weapon at many times.
A NLR Marine was holding her down.
With a sudden surge of adrenaline, she rolled over and drew her revolver, and pinned the Marine to the ground. She pressed the weapon underneath the Marine's chin and began to pull the trigger...
But suddenly stopped as she recognized the face she was staring into. Those same brown eyes, hardened and dulled by years of conflict, the same look that she saw in hers everytime she looked in a mirror. The same brown haired face that had saved that little girl on Vir one year ago.
“What in tarnation?”
The Marine was staring at her, that same expression he had given her over a year ago. She looked him over wondering what had happened, when suddenly she heard a ping. Whipping her head around, she saw a grenade in his hand. The noise had been the safety spoon flinging off as he primed and activated the grenade. Shutting her eyes tight, she waited for the end.
'I shoulda shot this bastard myself then, I was wrong about you...'
Only to hear a pop and hiss. She opened her eyes to see a thick white smoke start to pour out of the grenade. She was frozen in place, puzzled, as the Marine threw the smoke grenade out of the crater, giving her and her men a shroud of cover to escape by. Quickly rolling over again, the Marine again pinned her to the ground. His left hand shot out and grabbed her right wrist, pinning her revolver to the ground as well. She looked up at the marine, even more stumped than ever, when the marine looked her right in the eye and leaned forward.
“We're even.”
And with that, he got back up and dashed out of the crater, into the smoke.
The station was occupied by both CE and NLR forces, and although it seemed as if both sides had started to scale down on combat action and patrolls, Leiutenant Applejack still found herself clearing out yet another building. The NLR Marines weren't firing or putting up a fight at all, but they were crossing the clearly set boundries that divided the station between the two forces.
Manehattan space colony was big, almost a planet in its own right. With a population of nearly 27 million, it was still a sight to see the colony from the outside. A massive floating space station basically, a feat of engineering that had taken decades to produce, and it was still growing. The colony had been around for almost two centuries, constanly expanding and being built onto by the population that called it home.
It boggled Applejack's mind that with a station this big, the NLR still had trouble keeping on it's own side of the colony.
'Ta' be fair though, you and your unit were technically tresspassing just last week...'
The thought caused Applejack to sigh before chuckling. With an atmosphere that was as close to peace as one could get during a war, she speculated that it was easy to push boundaries that were'nt really enforced with any real consequences. When her unit was found last week, all that had happened was that they were escourted by NLR Marines out of the area back to their side of the colony. And vice versa.
'Though, I swear that my ears are still ringin' from that flashbang they threw in the door.'
She did, however, find some satisfaction in the fact that they were about to do the same thing to a squad of NLR Marines that they had discovered in this building.
“Ready ma'am.” Starshine reported, her troops were stacked up on the door.
She took a quick look in her HUD, all squad indicators were green and outlined in a white square, they were all ready.
“Hit it.”
With a nod, Starshine kicked the door in, and another stallion threw in the flashbang, quickly slamming the door shut again, they waited until they heard a loud bang from inside the room. There were a few shouts from the occupants inside, and then the squad entered.
The room was a caucophany of noise as troopers shouted commands to the ponies inside. Most consisted of “Hands up” or “Don't move.”
However, the commands were unnecessary. Most of the NLR Marines were on the ground, their hands clasped to their ears, others were standing, but were in no shape to put up a fight. But, surprisingly, none of them were wearing their combat gear, and besides their sidearms, they didn't have any weapons.
What was even more surprising were the mares that were also in a state of panic.
'It seems as if I've ruined a party. Whoops.' AJ thought to herself with a chuckle.
The Marines were coming back to their senses, and none of them were happy.
“Hey,” one said with a dazed expression, “what'd you have to do that for?”
“Y'all know you're not supposed to be here, this is the Celestial Empire sector and you know it. Now, with respect, we're gonna have to escourt you and your marefriends back to the NLR green zone.”
“Aw man,” another started, "Gunny is NOT gonna be happy about this...”
“Not happy about what?” a voice came from the doorway AJ's squad had just entered.
The whole squad suddenly turned and trained their rifles on the door. Standing in it, was a brown stallion. One that AJ recognized with a quick jab of pain in her left shoulder.
The stallion recognized her, and smiled.
“We meet again it seems.”
“So it seems.” Applejack responded.
The stallion looked around her, looking for something.
“Sweetie, you okay?' he asked.
Suddenly, AJ realized he was looking for somepony, and not something. She moved out of his way and turned to see a brown mare stand up, stumbling a bit for balance because her equilibrium was shot from the flashbang.
“Y-yeah, I think” she started, her voice almost a shout from temporary deafness “Damn, no wonder you can't hear so well babe, that thing was LOUD.”
The stallion laughed.
“So now you know that I'm not ignoring you when I use that excuse.”
The mare looked up again, a half lidded and not so convinced expression on her face.
“Oh, I'm sure of it.” she said sarcastically.
AJ rolled her eyes.
“Listen, I don't mean to butt into y'alls conversatin', but the fact remains that you are all tresspassing on Celestial Empire territory, I'm afraid that we must escourt y'all back to NLR grounds.”
“Actually, we are not tresspassing...” the stallion began again, “You see, this is my home, and these marines and their dates are my guest.”
Applejack's eyes went wide.
“You're home? But you're New Lunar Republic citizens!”
The stallion nodded his head.
“Yes we are. However, I bought this appartment eight years ago, before the Celestial Empire had an occupying force in Manehattan. And, under your own rules, since this is my home, you do not have the right to remove me or my guest from the premises, as long as we are not engaging in any combative actions, which you can clearly see” the stallion gestured to the almost unarmed Marines and the mares around the appartment, “we are not. These stallions are friends of mine, and we are simply having a little get together on our day off.”
Applejack was about to reply with a not too polite remark when suddenly the TV monitor crackled to life and the emergency frequecncy alarm came over the speaker system.
“This is an emergency alert system update, please stand by....”
The image that appeared on the screen was a sight that had not been seen in over a century.
Princes Celestia and Princes Luna, standing side by side.
Everyone in the room was stock still, and it almost seemed as if all noise from traffic outside had stopped.
In fact, it had.
The message was being broadcast over every piece of video equipment in equestrian space. And everyone had stopped to see what was going on.
The group of soldiers and Marines watched, perplexed. Their minds almost couldn't comprehend what they were seeing. The two leaders of their warring factions standing shoulder to shoulder, and not saying anything. Just a calm demeanor and expression. Princess Luna parted her lips, as if taking in a breath, preparing to say something. Then, the two spoke in unison, something that hadn't been heard since before the war.
“It is for the prosperity of all that we venture forth into the black abyss of space, to expand and discover the opportunities that shall lead our people to peace. It is for the good of all that we hold our leaders accountable for their actions, so that they may lead our people with open hearts and gentle hands. It is in the name of peace, that we go forward like a breath exhaled from the great earth, to lead all into an age of prosperity, an age of discovery, an age of opportunity, an age of friendship. This we all do swear upon our sacred honor, In the name of peace.”
The group stood in shock, as did most of the galaxy.
The two princesses turned to each other, and embraced.
Applejack's brow furroged, trying to decipher what was going on.
“Sarge, what does this mean?” one of the Marines asked.
Turning her head to the stallion, she saw him wrap his arm around the waist of the mare he had talked to earlier.. His eyes were watering up, and he closed them as he smiled and let out a shaky laugh. Raising his head again, he opened his eyes. The hardness and dullness from years of conflict was slightly replaced by something that AJ hadn't seen in any of their soldiers eyes in a long time.
Hope.
“It means,” his voice cracked, “It means that the war is over son, we're going home.”
The silence lasted another full five seconds before everyone in the room let out a cheer.
AJ herself let out a whoop. Her heart bursting with the thought.
'After all these years, peace....'
She almost didn't see the stallion extend a hand to her. She looked up and saw his smiling face. That face that had managed to follow her throughout her later years in this conflict, and yet a face she had always hoped that she wouldn't have to see again, for fear of ending his life. Looking down at his hand again, she reached out and grabbed it, giving it a good shake.
Nothing was siad, nothing had to be. Despite the ways they met in the past, they were now what they never thought they could be.
“I see. Well then, since you have already been introduced Leiutenant, may I introduce to you your new platoon sergeant. New Lunar Republic Marine Gunnery Sergeant Ironworker, 5th recon batallion, 1st Marines.”
Ironworker stood up and saluted his new Leiutenant.
“It's a pleasure ma'am. I look forward to working with you.”
She returned the salute.
“Well then,” Cloudmatter continued. “ You all now know who you'll be working closest with. I want you all to report to docking bay 13 at 0600 tomorrow. You'll receive your orders and your work assignments when you get there.”
Taking one last look at the group of ponies now under his command, Cloudmatter cleared his throat.
Rainbow Dash sat in Bay 13 waiting for her name to be called. The ponies up at the admission counter were sorting through papers and calling out names as they came across them. While she waited, she had looked around for any other aerospace aviators like herself. After scanning around several times, she finally gave up with a sigh.
“Ease up, you'll meet plenty pilots after you get aboard and get settled in.”
The truth was, Rainbow was nervous. She had just recently been promoted to Squadron Leader after the battle of Harmony Station, day zero of the war. She was mostly worried about having to prove herself to the veteran leaders that she knew she was going to be working with. But, she didn't have much time to worry about that as she felt somepony sit down next to her on the bench.
RD opened her eyes to see that a NLR Aerospace pilot had sat next to her. Her dark black and purple uniform was adorned with patches and ribbons of past battles. The sheer amount of battle awards was astounding enough, but what was even more surprising was her. She was grey, with feral gold eyes. Her pupils were slits, and had the look of a fighter who knew her stuff, and had earned her place among the living. Her wings weren't like that of a pegasus, they were bat wings, a dark purple color. All of that put together made her look intimidating as hell. Then RD noticed the pilot's designation patch on her shoulder. The NLR symbol with a black fighter silhouette flying through a lightning bolt. .
This pony was a New Lunar Republic Shadowbolt. The elite of the NLR Marine Air Corps.
She turned to RD and nodded. Rainbow just nodded back in return. Turning away, RD's mind exploded.
'Oh my gosh, as if I wasn't nervous enough before, now I'm sitting by an aviator that's on par with the Wonderbolts. She could shoot me out of the sky like I was nothing but an annoying insect.'
Rainbow just sat there in awkward silence, her mind swimming in a mix of awe, and worry.
'I wonder what her name is?'
Trying to be as smooth as possible, she leaned forward and tried to seem as if she was looking across the hangar. While she was forward, she snuck a peak at the pilot's nametag.
STARSONG
Rainbow hadn't ever heard of her, but she froze at what she saw below the name tag.
NIGHT REAVER
That, she had seen once. During one of her last dogfights of the Equestrian Civil War. Night Reaver had nearly shot her down, her only saving grace was that she had managed to destroy Night Reaver's port side engine and cut her maneuverability down. With that, they both had retreated, sustaining too much damage to continue the duel.
Looking back up at the pilot, she cleared her throat.
“Say, you wouldn't have happened to be at the Battle of Nexus III, would you have?”
The pilot was a bit startled at her sudden question, but recovered quickly.
“Yeah, why?”
Rainbow pulled open her pilot's jacket and showed the patches on her flightsuit. One of the patches was the name of her fighter, Tank, named after her childhood pet turtle. She thought it was ironic, so that's why she chose it.
Starsong smiled as she saw the name.
“You sure didn't maneuver like a tank in that fight. It took the technicians nearly three days to get my fighter back into fighting shape you know.”
The two laughed.
“I can't believe I survived a fight with one of the Shadowbolts!” Rainbow exclaimed.
“You did more than that,” Starsong started, “ Had you pulled up on the stick a bit more when you made that turn, you would've had me. You only missed because you didn't have the right angle on me. You're a pretty good pilot, too bad you were on the other side, the Shadowbolts could use a pilot like you.”
“It was nothing.” Rainbow tried to say nonchalantly.
Starsong laughed.
“You certainly have the confidence for it.”
Starsong's name was called from the desk, and she got up.
“See you around Rainbow Dash, I look forward to flying with you.”
With that, Starsong made her way to the orders desk.
Rainbow sat happily, laughing at the irony of everything, and wondering how it was that she had come to fly alongside former foes.
'Because of Day Zero.' She thought to herself darkly.
The sound of the bay drowned out, and she was consumed by her memories. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
February 5th, 3345
Harmony Sector
C.E.N.S. Sunray
1845 Hours.
Rainbow Dash sat in the chow hall with the rest of her squadron mates. The peace treaty was being signed by the sisters, so her squadron leader had decided to celebrate with an early dinner. She was listening to her squadron mate Thunderlane tell a joke when her world was turned upside down.
A deafening explosion ran through the ship. The table that they were sitting at was lifted up off the deck before slamming back down again. Her head hit the table, and she passed out.
When she came to, fires were all around, and Thunderlane was pulling her out from underneath some of the ships wreckage. She got to her feet quickly, the only light they had to see with was that of the emergency lighting and the fires around the mess hall.
“What the hell happened?” Rainbow asked.
“I don't know.” Thunderlane coughed, “Did we get hit by NLR ships?”
The two looked outside of the mess halls viewport and saw a volley of shells pass by Harmony Station. One of the shells detonated, but the rest missed.
“No, because they wouldn't fire upon Luna.” Rainbow said.
The ship's intercom crackled to life, and the ships AI, came over the com.
“Attention all hands, order 57 is in effect. All hands abandon ship, I repeat, abandon ship. Make way to your nearest emergency pod station....”
The intercom shut off, and Rainbow saw ponies making their way to the mess hall's escape pods. Rainbow and Thunderlane were making their way to the nearest one. Thunderlane got in when Rainbow heard a cry for help. She turned to see a group of three CE troopers trying to lift a steel support beam off of a comrade. She turned back to the pod.
“Stay here.”
“What are you do...”
Rainbow pushed the activation button on the wall. The hatch closed and she heard the pod's boosters fire as it flew away from the ship. She ran back to the group of soldiers. Taking up a position across from one of the troopers, she began to count.
“On three,” She told them, “One, two, three!”
With a mixture of grunts and curses, the three lifted the beam off of the trooper just enough for him to crawl out from under it. With a surge of relief, the three dropped the beam.
“He can't walk, his leg's broken.” One of the troopers observed.
Another explosion rocked the ship.
“Well, he's going to have to move anyways, the ships' tearing itself apart.” Rainbow said.
She squatted down and got the troopers arm over her neck, one of the other troopers knelt down beside her and did the same with his other arm. With a nod, the two stood up and hoisted the wounded trooper with them.
“There should be a gunship in the hangar bay taking any stragglers left behind. If we go now we can make it in time.” she said.
Another explosion, followed by the ship's superstructure groaning.
“MOVE!” Rainbow ordered.
The five of them started in the direction of the hangar bay. Fires and explosions were happening all across the ship. The four of them finally reached the hangar bay, and sure enough, there was a gunship, waiting until the last possible second to pick up any ponies that hadn't made it to the pods in time. Waiving their free arms, the three got the attention of the gunships pilot.
The gunship fired its thrusters and moved over to their position before settling itself down gently on the hangar bay deck again.
“You got room?” Rainbow asked.
“Barely, we can only take four more.”
Shifting the wounded trooper back over to his comrade, she grabbed him by the waist and hoisted him aboard with some help.
“Okay, you three, hop on.”
“What about you ma'am?”
She cocked an eyebrow and pointed to her pilots wings.
“Oh, yeah...”
Another explosion rocked the ship, and wreckage started to rain down from the ceiling. Again it’s superstructure groaned from the stress. The ship was in its death throes.
“Get aboard, NOW! Get out of here!”
Not waiting for them to reply, Rainbow Dash sprinted to her fighter. She hopped in the cockpit and hit the canopy switch. She was going through her hasty pre-flight checks when she heard an explosion behind her. She looked behind her to see the hangar bay's ammo dump on fire.
Eyes wide with fear, she hit the master switch, activated the engines, and gunned them to full life. The sudden thrust forced her back into her seat, and she made it out of the hangar just as the dump exploded, the claw like tendrils of the fires reaching out to her fighter as she made it to full speed. Looking behind her, she saw the ship break in half, debris and explosions were littering the space around it.
Breathing a sigh of relief for her escape, she put her helmet and O2 mask on. Taking the cord attached to the helmet, she plugged it into her main console to activate her helmet's HUD. The display came to life, and with a series of rapid blink clicks, she activated her fighters targeting systems and waited for the pinpricks of enemy fighters to pop up. The data came in quickly and in a moment of sudden horror, Rainbow’s jaw dropped as her display lit up like a hearths warming tree.
Her communication headset crackled to life.
“All CE fighters, this is Princess Celestia, we have been attacked by an unknown enemy, you are to assist all NLR fighters and ships. Princess Luna is taking direct command of all NLR and CE fleets, follow her orders, and may Faust see us through this day. For Equestria!”
Her headset crackled again as she switched to the tactical channel.
I've got one on my tail, he's a fast sucker,
I'M ON FIRE, MAYDAY...
Enemy fighters in sector Delta 2, bearing point 76, where are they all coming from?
GYAAAAAAHHH!!!!
Finally, her squad leader, Octane, cut in to her channel.
“Rainbow, that you?”
“Roger that green leader, what's your location.”
“My bearing is 218 by 339, off the port bow of the Valiant. Link up with me. Watch your tail girl, they're smart son's a bitches.”
“Roger that sir.”
Turning her fighter in the direction of Octane, she gunned her engines and turned off all safeties to her fighters weapons.
Her HUD flashed as her proximity alert went off. An enemy fighter was directly ahead. Lining up her crosshairs, RD suddenly became enraged.
“Eat this!”
With a flourish, she pulled her weapons trigger and fired at the enemy. The fighter exploded violently.
'One down, the rest of them to go.'
Again, her proximity alarm went off as another fighter fell in behind her. Her missile lock warning started whining in her ears. Going in to full defense mode, Rainbow yawed right and pulled back hard on the stick. As soon as the lock warning shut off, she lowered her throttle to almost nothing, causing her turn to become even more tight while simultaneously letting the enemy fighter pass by her position. The nose of her fighter lined up perfectly, and she slammed the throttle lever back up to full.
She was now directly behind the enemy, and she didn’t hesitate. She fired again, the quad 20 mm. guns in her fighters nose spitting fire and death. The enemy fighter’s engines exploded, and the fire set off the fuel tanks. In a brilliant blue, green, and red flash, the fighter was gone.
Her HUD started flashing red, and her fighters computer came over her headset.
“Warning, incoming missile, recommend you take evasive action…”
Rainbow reacted almost instantly, throwing herself into a series of fast and hard banking maneuvers until the warning went away. She was getting closer to Octane’s position, and she started scanning her HUD for his marker.
“Coming up on your starboard…”
She turned her head to see Octane’s fighter, with its distinct green trim and snarling tiger paintjob.
“What’s the plan boss?”
“You and I were the only two from green squadron to get off of the Sunray, so we’re kind of on our own for this one. Right now, we need to focus on keeping ourselves alive. I’ve contacted the CENS Steadfast, and they’re sending a squadron of drones to us for backup.”
Rainbow smiled at that. The Falcon X-34 combat aerospace drones were a Faustsend when you needed them. Although in no way were they on par with living pony pilots, they were effective at giving an underpowered squadron more firepower and protection. With the drones backing them up, Rainbow and Octane just might survive this one.
“ETA on the drones?”
“Two minutes, they’re having trouble with the launch systems. They think a power surge from the damage they took caused it. In any case, when they get here, I have a plan. Do you see that strike cruiser at two o’clock?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Well, my sensors are showing that its kinetic dampeners are offline, so we’re gonna’ run along that trench leading up to their bridge, and wreak havoc. Get your payloads ready, were gonna’ give them everything we got, I plan to space that bastard”
Rainbow almost couldn’t believe her ears. They weren’t bombers, they were fighters, and only two fighters at that. The odds were definitely not in their favor. Plus, if the dampeners came back online while they were in the trench, they would be trapped.
“Sir, I don’t think…”
“It’s not your decision, it’s mine. Don’t worry, we’ll be fine, we can do this.”
As if on cue, the drones fell in behind them.
“All right, move in. Bearing 129 by 38, full combat speed, Tataurus and Centaur missile payloads armed and designated, let’s move.”
Without so much as a hiccup, Octane and Rainbow pushed the throttle to full, and with a flash of engines, sped across space, drones following right behind. Rainbow still wasn’t comfortable with this, but they had survived worse she supposed. Octane had a habit of pulling sheer dumb luck out of his ass, and she was sure it wouldn’t change this time.
“3000 meters and closing, get ready. I’ve already designated the drones to close strafing runs, here we go!”
Octane rolled and pushed his engines to the limit, with Rainbow following suit. Almost as soon as they hit the 250 meter mark, enemy anti aerospace fire and guardian flak systems reacted and started shooting at them. Rainbow thanked Faust that the Pegasus Mk.VI aerospace fighters were so fast and maneuverable. They were weaving in and out of enemy fire, dodging shots that by all rights would have scrapped slower fighters.
Rainbow’s console again flashed red.
“Warning, incoming missiles, recommend you take evasive action.”
“Drone 627 and 553, intercept the missiles closing on my position.” Rainbow ordered.
Without any acknowledgment, the drones banked in front of her, exposing their bellys to the incoming missiles. The projectiles slammed into the drones, and all were gone. The warning in her ears stopped again. Now the proximity readout flashed in her HUD, they were within 100 meters of the ship. Within a second, they would be in the trench.
“Start firing your twenties now, Tataurus missiles too. Save the Centaur payloads for the bridge.”
Rainbow followed her orders. She felt the vibrations as the four 20mm. guns fired, their explosive tracer shells flying through space. She watched as the shells drew a perfectly straight line across the hull of the enemy cruiser. Pushing the fire control button for the Tataurus missiles on her stick, she sent a full volley of 14 missiles streaking out towards the hull of the cruiser. She didn’t feel the explosions behind her, but she saw the glare of them on her canopy. Rubbernecking around, she watched as several orange blooms rose behind her, sending debris flying into space. A few of them had managed to penetrate and cause a hull breach, and Rainbow saw the vapor trails of atmosphere leak out into the black abyss of space. Turning forward again, she saw the conning tower and the bridge.
“Allright, lock all remaining ordnance onto that bridge.”
“Roger” rainbow replied as she designated all remaining missiles to the bridge with a series of rapid blink clicks on her HUD. “All weapons designated and primed, firing now”
With another push on her joystick, rainbow felt the clamps holding all remaining ordnance release, and 22 Centaur missiles flew to the bridge.
“Ordnance away, pull back and regroup on the Valiant, I’ll meet yo….”
Octane didn’t finish the sentence. His fighter exploded suddenly as he tried to pull up.
“Octane, OCTANE!!!”
Rainbow’s eyes suddenly grew wide.
‘Oh no…’ she thought, ‘The kinetic dampeners are back online, I’m trapped.’
The wall of the trench was speeding towards her With an enraged cry, Rainbow pulled back on the stick and the throttle, trying to turn as sharply as she could. The trench was only about 70 meters wide, and Rainbow feared that she wasn’t going to make the turn.
“Come on Tank, you sunovabitch!!!” she strained.
Her fighter made the turn, but her belly scraped and skipped across the hull of the cruiser, and she yelled as impact after impact jarred her in her seat. Finally it stopped.
“Warning, starboard engine damaged, thrust output at 17 percent”
‘Great, I’m trapped, and I’m slow, how am I supposed to get out of here?’
Suddenly, the flashes as all 44 Centaur missiles came off of the bridge. Rainbow watched as the structure caught fire, and then exploded, leaving just a smoking pillar of the bridge tower behind. She saw the space beyond her canopy ripple, and then go still again.
‘The dampeners are offline again, now’s my chance!’
Gunning her engine to full, she took off. Her fighter was groaning and rattling.
“Warning, structural integrity at 67 percent, recommend decrease in speed”
“Fat chance,” Rainbow snorted, at this point, speed was her only chance. But she was still only flying at about half of what she was usually capable of.
‘Poor Octane, it was an honor, sir.’
Flashes of the actions she had participated in with her commander flashed in front of her eyes, and her heart ached.
“How am I going to tell his family?” She wondered aloud.
Octane’s voice rang through her head.
‘Focus girl, wondering on thoughts like that will get you killed, keep your head in the game, and you’ll survive’
She stilled her thoughts to the here and now.
“Yes sir.”
Taking a look around her fighter’s diagnostic panels, she took inventory of what she still had. Ammo for her 20mm. guns was down to 15 percent, she was completely out of missiles. Her superstructure was damaged from the skip across the cruisers hull, and she was flying at 55 percent speed.
‘Man, can this day get any worse?’
She shouldn’t have thought that. Her communicator crackled to life again.
“All fighters in the area of the main battle, this is Princess Luna, pull back to the valiant immediately, we are preparing to fire the Valiant’s main weapon. All fighters caught within sectors delta 3 through foxtrot 7 will be destroyed by the blast. Pull back now, you have thirty seconds. Faust guide you.”
‘Figures,’ Rainbow thought.
Looking on her display, she found that the Valiant had moved a considerable distance from where it had been. The range was about thirteen kilometers, and at her fighters current speed…
‘If I’m gonna’ survive this one, I got to fly fast, now!’
Hitting the override button on her console, Rainbow allowed as much power to flow to the engines as they could take. Her ships computer responded without a pause.
“Warning, superstructure integrity at 60 percent and falling, recommend decrease in speed”
Rainbow’s hand gripped tighter on the stick. She started to sweat.
Eight seconds had passed since that warning. Her distance counter was at 11000 meters and falling quickly, but not quick enough.
“Warning, superstructure integrity at 55 percent and falling, recommend decrease in speed”
She ignored the computer. Distance was 10500 meters, time left…
Seventeen seconds.
“Override all damage control protocols to starboard engine, feed to full power.”
“Damage to starboard engine critical, further power feed to engine will lead to catastrophic failure, recommend…”
“Override all. Do it now.”
With a wink on her display, the starboard engine was fed to full life. Her fighter started making a horrible knocking noise as the damage to the engine started to increase. The gambit was working though, she was back at 80 percent speed. Distance, 5000 meters. Time, nine seconds.
Her radio crackled to life again, the voice that came over it though, shocked Rainbow.
Princess Luna.
“Pilot, you have to get out of there, I cannot hesitate to fire, this is our only shot, you must get out of there.”
Distance, 2500 meters, time, five seconds.
‘I’m going to make it…’ She thought.
Then, a horrible bang, followed by a dreadful groan, and a whining siren…
Rainbow looked at the display. Distance left, 400 meters, time…
One second.
With a scream of absolute terror, Rainbow reached down and pulled the black and yellow hazard marked lever between her legs. Explosive bolts on either side of her cockpit assembly blew out, and emergency thrusters fired, sending the entire cockpit casing flying away from the fighter’s body. Distance, 0 meters.
“I’M CLEAR, FIRE!!!”
As if in response, a brilliant blue light gathered in the bow prongs of the Valiant, and then, a beam of pure white light shot across space, enveloping the enemy fleet. When it was all over, the ships that had been in the way of the beam were gone, and many were floating in space, broken in pieces, or just without power. What ships that could turned and jumped to warp speed to escape the remaining NLR and CE ships.
“Rainbow? Rainbow? This is Thunderlane, you there? Listen, I’m moving up on your port side with my fighter, are you alive in there?”
Exhausted, Rainbow unclipped her O2 mask.
“Yeah, I’m fine, just get me out of here.”
“Actually, with your permission, I’ve got you covered.”
A NLR retrieval ship flew over her canopy, and the recovery clamps locked onto the sides of her cockpit assembly’s hull.
“You know something? I think this is going to be the start of a beautiful friendship.” Rainbow thanked the pilot, and then promptly passed out.
Rainbow was shaken back to reality when her name was called. Picking up her bags, she moved to the desk.
“A beautiful friendship indeed.”
Taking the papers for her orders from the NLR Lieutenant behind the desk, she walked up the ramp to the NLRS Valiant. A new ship, a new tour, a new war.
Fluttershy made her way down the corridor to her new assignment. The med bay for the Valiant was going to be huge, full of medical equipment and other ponies. The thought of all the action that was going to be surely happening in the bay made her stomach sink. She was used to med bays on small frigates and support ships. Her largest ship had been an old battle ship named CINS New Dawn three years ago. Nothing on the scale of a super cruiser though. The amount of chaos and movement that was going to be happening in the next few years was going to make her very nervous, and she felt as if she was already on the verge of a panic attack.
“Get yourself together Fluttershy, you weren't always like this...”
“Remember why you're like this though, you failed...”
She stumbled a bit as her own mind betrayed her and flashed memories of the accident. She extended a hand and steadied herself against the bulkhead. She clamped down on the memories and stopped them.
“Not here, not now.”
She took a few deep breaths and continued shakily down the corridor. She had a job to do after all.
She reached the med bay a few minutes later. The trip from the boarding ramp to her new working quarters had taken her nearly 45 minutes. She had gotten lost twice, but even without those detours the trip would have been long. The Valiant was huge, 13 kilometers long and 4 kilometers in width at it's widest part. The ship was its own world. With a crew of next to one million it could very well be a small nation. Massive rail and elevator systems had to be used in able to keep the flow of personnel and supplies moving. She had taken three trams, and four elevator systems to get here.
The door to the med bay was large. It had to be. As the main medical aid station aboard this vessel, it was expected to be able to take at least 30% of the Valiant's total projected casualty numbers during an unfavorable battle. That was nearly 30,000 sailors and troops. The scale of the bay itself would have been mind boggling, and Fluttershy felt as if she was going to shrink to nothing.
She stood at the control panel to the door for a minute. There was no way out of it. This was a prestigious opportunity, and it wouldn't have happened if not for her skill back aboard the New Dawn.
“Just because you took over a chaotic situation and took control of all medical personnel despite your being under-ranked by many of them, doesn't mean you're qualified for a position of such responsibility.” She belittled herself.
“You know different though, you remember what happened. A crew of 4500, and nearly 3000 wounded or dead. Remember? You helped save nearly 1200 with your assertiveness. Remember?”
She remembered all too well. Flashes of what happened aboard the ship danced in her head, before plunging her into total recall... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jan. 23rd, 3342
Sector 29-D, CE defensive line
Battle of Horse Head Nebulae
1245 hours...
Fluttershy was elbow deep in the stallions thigh, trying to clamp off the torn artery.
“HOLD HIM DOWN!” She yelled.
Normally she was meek and timid, shy and scared of almost everything. But she knew just as well as any pony else, that when the seconds counted, she did her job.
The Stallions squad mates were trying their hardest, holding down the stallions arms, legs, head, and one was even pushing down on his torso. The stallion was a Celestial Army trooper, and he had been tasked to a unit with the responsibility of repelling boarders. They had succeeded, but not before NLR Marines had pushed almost halfway through the ship. It was a miracle that they had pushed the boarders off the ship. But the damage had been done. New Dawn's personnel and critical systems had taken heavy losses. The ship was crippled, and what was left of the crew was desperately trying to get the ship out of danger. They were alone, the battle group they had been with was decimated, and she refused to look out the med bays armored view port because she knew she would see the floating debris and wreckage of the other seven ships. All those lives lost.
“Which is why you have to keep working, keep what few we have left alive. You owe it to them...”
She shook her head a bit to get back on track. The trooper had taken shrapnel through the inside of his thigh, close to his groin. When she saw him, she immediately knew that he was in grave danger. And the arterial spurt from when she ripped the trouser leg open to get to his leg only confirmed her fears.
“Firedust, you have to keep still, if you keep moving, I won't be able to help you, and you WILL DIE. So shut up and stay still”
She fixed him with a look to show how serious she was. Even in his panicked state, his fear filled eyes managed to convey understanding. He started to hold still, and she continued.
“I can feel blood pulsing on my fingers, but where the hell is the...”
She pushed her hand in a little further. She had to guess that she was close to his hip socket by now, so the artery was starting to draw into his pelvis. If she didn't find it soon, It would draw all the way in and she wouldn't be able to reach it with the clamp. She moved around a bit more feeling warm blood through her gloves, as well as fat and muscle, and she found it. A spongy tube about the size around as her thumb.
“Gotcha.”
Pinching down on the artery with her finger and thumb as hard as she could, she started to pull the artery towards the original wound. Firedust was yelping and whimpering, clamping his jaw down hard on the rubber tubing they had given him. His eyes were screwed shut and tears were running down his cheeks. His fist were clenched to the point that she could clearly see the muscles and blood vessels all the way up through his arms and his neck. The artery became visible, and she quickly brought her steadying hand up and removed the clamp from her mouth. As quick as her limbs would let her, she locked the clamp down on the artery half an inch from the tear. The blood flow stopped, and with a sigh of exhaustion and relief, she slowly released the artery. The clamp slid into the wound all the way up to the finger holes, but it stayed on the blood vessel, and nothing else tore.
“I've stopped the bleeding, but you're going to have to go into surgery immediately. All the surgeons are busy though, so I'm going to give you a sedative to keep you from moving around and tearing this again.”
Firedust's squad mates all breathed a sigh of relief. She grabbed a pre-loaded syringe from the tray, and injected it directly into his neck. When she pushed the button, there was a quick click as the needle punched forward and injected the pre-measured dosage. Firedust almost immediately went limp, a combination effect from exhaustion, shock, and the powerful drug now flowing in his system.
“You guys did good. Thanks to you, he's gonna be alright.” she tried to comfort the troopers who had brought Firedust in.
The troopers all nodded. They were exhausted from the hours of fighting and running. She had to give them credit though. All CE Army troopers were trained in combat lifesaving, but their care under fire had saved this stallion. Even though their emergency tourniquet hadn't been tight enough, it had at least slowed the bleeding down enough for them to move Firedust to the med bay.
“Manner! You have another one as soon as you're done!” she yelled to one of the surgeons.
“Got it, place the tag on his gurney, and I'll get to it... OH SHIT! HE'S GOING INTO CARDIAC ARREST!!!” Bedside Manner was cut off as she and her assistants began to go into a frenzy to save their current patient.
Fluttershy looked around the bay. Everywhere there were casualties and medical personnel. The bay had been in full workload for nearly six hours now, and the casualties kept coming in. Some walked, some limped, and the less fortunate were carried. She looked over to the entrance and saw all the bags and blankets covering those they couldn't save. 327. The bodies extended out the door well into the corridor. 327 confirmed dead, and many times that wounded. The New Dawn was large, and she feared how many more were to be added to the tally when they finally finished tending to the wounded and when search efforts stopped.
“This is terrible, but I'm not even phased right now...”
Not for the first time in her medical career did she stand wondering how she could be so calm in a horrible situation like this, and yet so terrified all other moments. She knew why, and she also knew that she'd be crying in her quarters for hours after this was all over.
She looked at a trooper who had walked in ten minutes ago. He had been carrying his left arm in his right hand. Not cradling it like a wounded limb, CARRYING it like a duffel bag. His bloody stump had been pouring blood all over the floor, and technicians were scrambling around him to stop the bleeding.
“This is war. It changes you, and Faust knows it's changed me...”
She looked down at the deck where the stallion had walked in. Blood had pooled there, and small cleaning drones were moving their way towards it. She stared, thinking about how odd it was that such a precious liquid, was being wiped away so insignificantly and in such quantity in this place. In this war.
Something rolled into the blood. A small sphere, with a square on one side.
Fluttershy's eyes went wide with panic.
“GRENADE, GET DOWN!!!”
She dived for cover as the grenade blew. Her ears rang, and she forced her eyes to open. What she saw was sheer panic. Medical technicians were running everywhere in terror, most of them were civilian contractors and not actual soldiers. Troopers and techs alike lay strewn about the deck and gurneys, each in various arrays of injury or death. She peeked over the table she had taken cover behind to see the door.
Nothing was there, just five CE troopers running in.
“Where in the hell did that come from?”
She looked everywhere. The vent system, the door, even the view port. Nothing, not a trace of a NLR Marine in sight. She looked back at the door, puzzled and scared. There weren't any NLR Marines anywhere.
The CE troopers caught her attention again. They were all walking fine, moving in sync as if clearing a room.
“Wait...”
They all had the same bandage on their right arm. No blood, just a white bandage tied exactly the same way...
“Oh Faust...”
Fear seeped in as she realized what happened, the CE troopers weren't Celestial Army at all...
They were NLR Marines.
“IMPOSTERS! EVERYONE GET DOWN!” She yelled as she drew her sidearm. Normally she didn't carry it, but when the NLR had boarded, she had secured it from her locker. She didn't like weapons, not anymore, but she would defend herself if she had to.
And now seemed like a pretty good damn time.
She drew a bead on the first marine as he realized that she had caught onto their ploy. She hesitated for a fraction of a second, but when he started to bring his rifle up, the decision was made for her.
Her combat training from long ago kicked back in, and she fired.
The round struck him in the open collar of his armor, and he fell. The other four rounded on her and brought their weapons up even as she fired five more shots at them. Three hit the next marine, who stumbled as two hit his chest-plate and one his exposed shoulder. The other three fired as she ducked back behind the table.
She screwed her eyes shut until the fire stopped. She popped back up and fired another two rounds, finishing off the marine she had hit in the arm. The other three opened fire again, and again she took cover behind the steel table.
“Can't keep this up much longer...” she thought as she reloaded the .45 caliber handgun. The slide locked forward as she hit the release. This time, the fire didn't stop. She knew that they were pinning her as the other member or members moved up to take her out.
“I'm sorry...” she thought, ghosts of the past flashing before her minds eye.
Gunfire erupted from in front of her. Firedust's squad got into the fight. One other stallion went down. The fire continued for a few more seconds, and then stopped.
She looked over the table again to see that the marines were all down. Dead or too mortally wounded to carry on. She heard boots run up behind her on the deck.
“Ma'am, are you alright?”
She stood dazed for a few seconds, she hadn't been in a firefight with her own weapon in a long time. Visions of the accident flashed in her eyes again, and she screwed her eyes shut and shook her head as she forced herself back to reality.
“Y-yes, I'm fine.”
She opened her eyes and looked around the bay, everyone was in panic. Techs ran around the room, soldiers who had been being treated lay on gurneys or had joined in the retreat if they could, no one was helping save a few steady soldiers and techs who were already trying to stabilize the new wounded.
She looked around for Captain Spade, the med bays commanding officer. She found him, dead on the floor, his eyes glazed over and his body broken from the grenade blast.
“Uh-uh... Everyone, p-please calm down...” she faltered.
“I DON'T WANT TO DIE!”
“WE NEED HELP OVER HERE...”
“OH FAUST, OH FAUST”
“WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE”
BLAM, BLAM!!!
Every pony stopped and looked. Fluttershy had given up on yelling, and instead had decided that her .45 would do the talking for her. She lowered her arm from the overhead and holstered her weapon.
“Every pony calm down. Captain Spade is dead, and no one else seems to be in control enough to even calm themselves. I'm taking control of this bay. Every pony, back to your work stations. We have more wounded, and I need you to finish treating your current charges before we can move on to them. I need triage teams to start stabilizing and prioritizing the new wounded. Surgeons, continue working on those who are on the tables, I need dressing and drug runners to start moving supplies back to the stations. Every pony keep working, it's over now, and nothing has changed. We still have a job to do. MOVE!”
Every pony in the bay stood for a split second more, before they simply stopped thinking and coped by following her orders.
She stood still and surveyed the bay for a moment. The fear could still be felt in the air, but it was slowly fading away as every pony busied themselves with the tasks at hand.
“I don't know where that came from, I was so assertive...”
She let the exhaustion from hours of work and the firefight she had just been in wash over her for a second. Her shoulders and head sagged, and she let out a jagged breath. She straightened herself a moment later, focusing on the size of the task she had before her, and realizing that she was probably not going to get any rest for the next 24 hours. The stallion beside her looked over.
“Nicely done ma'am.”
“Thank you trooper, now if you excuse me, I have more wounded to attend to.”
“Sure thing ma'am. Can we help? We're not medics, but we can still perform CLS.”
She looked at the stallion, and smiled and nodded.
“We're going to need all the help we can get, thank you ever so much.”
She felt a familiar thrum start to move up through her boots. The New Dawns engines were back online. The occasional vibrations of the ships guns joined the slight background noise and engine thrum, and she felt a little more relieved. The New Dawn was safe. A small battle group had joined up with them a few hours ago, and had assisted in forcing the NLR ships that had attacked them away.
"It's all over now. Well, not really, I need to report this to higher. The boarders may not be completely gone..."
She started walking to the bays phone just as the first tech started asking her what procedure to use on a wounded trooper.
"Well, you took charge, now it's time to start acting like it."
She put the tech on hold while she dialed the number for command. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fluttershy snapped back to reality and sighed.
“As horrible as it was, it showed that you CAN do this Fluttershy.”
For once, her conscience remained silent. She hit the door controls, and the blast door lifted to allow her entry into the bay. HER bay.
The bay was indeed, huge. It was its own hospital. There was a center atrium that showed five floors, each capable of containing 900 patients. Several ponies walked about, but there were more drones than living beings.
"Makes sense, it's easier to staff a ship with robotic techs that have a whole medical database than it is to fill it with so many ponies."
Her nerves calmed a bit, there would be fewer people to worry about now. The drones were autonomous, executing their tasks silently and according to their programming, or orders given to them by medical personnel.
She made her way through the bay, eventually finding her office on the third level. She sighed at the name plate on the door.
"1st Lieutenant Fluttershy, Head Medical Officer"
She sighed as her responsibility finally fully weighed on her, and opened the door.
Inside there was a brown mare in a NLR uniform typing on a computer. The mare turned towards her, stood up and saluted.
“Good morning ma'am, I'm Petty Officer Amahein, your new assistant.”
Fluttershy returned the salute, still not being used to the rank she now carried.
“Hello, and please, forget the formalities. I'm Fluttershy, a pleasure to meet you.”
"Only three years ago, I was shooting, killing, ponies in that uniform. Now I'm working directly with one. When will Faust stop tormenting me?"