Prologue: Death of one life, and into another...

Year: 2495 - 4 Years Ago

Location: Equus System (Unexplored Space)

The stars twinkled in the vast ocean of space, silence filling the void as the large, earth-like planet orbited around it's nearby sun. Away from the growing chaos that was happening a few light years away, the world of Equus resided in isolation due to the current technological state of the many species and empires spread all around the planet. While there would be conflicts here and there from time to time, the nations and populations across Equus had not bore witness to the horrors that were occurring far away from their home.

But, as time would see it, the peace would not last for much longer. As the sun began to set on the Equestrian continent, the silence was broken by a large squadron of dark starships. Five of them bore bladed wings and two double-barreled cannons underneath their main hull, a purple glow emitted from the engines of the craft.

Three of them bore a different design from their escorts. At the sides of the bulky craft were two sharp wings with a cannon under each of them. On the dorsal section, four long fins extended out from the ship, and behind that was a long, tail-like section wielding six red pods underneath.

As soon as the ships zapped into the system, they swiftly began turning towards the planet nearby. The advanced technology that was rumored to be here according to a few scout ships would finally be in their grasp, and the enemy they had been facing for years would finally be snuffed out of existence.

At least, that was what the Komplex pilots believed, as another fleet arrived on the scene. Most of the newcomers, about six of them, were similar to each other. The front of the ship had a cockpit facing ahead of two large engines on the ship's side. On top of it were two racks of missile launchers, four in each one and painted with a light green color on the tip of each missile. Behind that and two large wings were a pair of large engines, two sets of fuel tanks and four fins spread around them.

The other three ships were different, and larger than the squadron of fighters escorting them. In between a large, bulky section that held the cockpit were two pylons carrying a large engine on each one. Behind it was a long section that formerly housed a small tank for ground missions, but was now carrying a box-like cargo container for recovery, something that would serve in the dropship's current mission.

Thanks to the intel provided by their own scouts, the pilots and commanders of the Forge would finally acquire the one bastion of hope they would need to combat the Komplex and end the war for good. But now, the enemy was here too, and they would have to fight them off in order to succeed in their mission. But the ancient technology they were sent to find were not the only task to fulfill, the scouts also reported large populations across the planet, and if the Komplex beat them there first, who knows what they would do to the natives there.

In the cockpit of one of the dropships, the pilot tapped a button on his control panel before speaking to the other fighters. "All right, everyone. You know the drill for this sort of trouble: dispose of the Komplex ships as fast as possible, and don't let a single ship reach the surface."

"Looks like there's a few troop transports, too." Another pilot said through the comms as a few of the Komplex fighters turned towards the incoming Forge squadron.

"Then let's take those ones out first!" Another excited pilot said gleefully, eager to blast the ships full of bots to space rubble.

"That sounds good, but don't get cocky, who knows what they have in store for us here." The dropship pilot said once more before finishing with, "Now, arm your missiles, everyone."

"Yes sir!" The squadron replied unanimously as four of the escorting fighters went ahead of their dropships, three of the Komplex fighters speeding towards them.

"Scarabs incoming!" One pilot said as another replied after him.

"Well handle the fighters, Tam, can you take out those transports for us?" The female pilot asked before her fellow pilot in question answered her.

"Ya got it, just keep me alive for a sec!" At that, Tam tapped a few buttons on his panel before it began beeping, signaling a lock on seconds later as the scarabs began firing red laser bolts at him and his peers.

Returning the favor, Tam's escorts fired back green bolts at the scarabs, both squadrons evading each others' attacks as Tam rolled around two of the incoming bolts. As his screen beeped a higher pitch a moment later, Tam pressed the buttons on his flight sticks before six missiles shot out from above his cockpit. Hoping to add a little distraction, the pilot fired several laser bolts at the dropships ahead, which began to fly erratically. Tam considered himself and his colleagues lucky that none of the bolts hit the missiles as they struck two of the now split up transports, one of them exploding a bright, fiery orange while another was sent spinning into one of the escorting interceptors, destroying both of them.

"Whoo! Nice one, Tammy!" The female pilot said as she formed up with Tam, the two now firing several more bolts at the two evasive scarabs as he replied.

"A tad crazy, but I think our luck hasn't run out yet, Vey." Not a second after he said that, Tam looked back to the trio of dropships, his excited expression turning to one of horror as two small Komplex ships appeared seemingly from the black of space, two missiles firing from one of them before striking one of the dropships, obliterating it in mere seconds.

Tam had regretted his poor choice of words as the lead dropship pilot spoke. "Locust stealth craft! They must've been hiding within that assault force!"

The two ships glowed a vibrant gold before vanishing completely out of sight, prompting a reply from Tam. "Keep an eye out, they could be anywhere with those cloaking devices on them!"

As the two Forge pilots broke off and continued their pursuit of the attacking scarabs, one of the stealth craft decloaked behind Tam's fighter, a missile detaching from one of it's launchers.

"TAM! BEHIND YOU!" Vey cried out as the missiles flew at Tam's ship.

Without wasting a second, Tam throttled his flight sticks forward, sending the ship forward like a rocket. As the missile pursued him, Tam flew towards the last Komplex transport and looped around it, the missile striking the enemy ship's hull as Tam flew away from the bright explosion produced from the weapon.

"There goes the last troop transport!" Tam said as another stealth craft decloaked ahead of him, only to be shot down by another ship.

"You're lucky you got us here with you, Tam, that bot almost shot you down!" Vey said in an almost scolding tone as she formed up beside her friend.

"Thanks, though. I owe ya." Tam replied as the two fighters flew back up to the lead dropship, the remaining scarabs and locust forming up once more as they sped towards the planet.

"They're heading for the planet!" The pilot of the second dropship said worriedly as his escorting dropship's pilot spoke up.

"Follow them, we can't let them reach the surface!" Without another word, the remaining Forge starships sped after the Komplex, hoping to prevent whatever disaster the Komplex would cause down below...

-Stratusburg-

The sun was slowly setting above the distant mountains as sunset was approaching the town of Stratusburg, most of the town seemed quiet and empty, barely anypony was out and about their homes or shops, save for one building.

At a large, decorated park near the town, a huge gathering of ponies was present. Mares, stallions, foals, so many ponies were here for a special occasion. Today was the day one of the town's residents, Golden Flare, would be marrying the love of his life, Swift Light. The two had fawned over each other for a long time, as the townsponies could attest. While her crush wasn't a pegasus, Swift adored Flare for his skillful effort in fixing and driving the zeppelins visitors would use to see the beautiful town they lived in. He even managed to get one zeppelin that got caught in a hazardous snow storm back home last Hearth's Warming.

As for Swift herself, Flare admired her fast reflexes when guiding her wingponies for weather duty, not to mention the tasty treats she learned to bake as a filly. He seemed to recall one day where the fillies were surrounding her for more of those delicious strawberry cupcakes she made for the foals at the party.

And today, they would both commit to a new life, one where they could live together and, perhaps, start a family in the town. And as far as Flare and Swift knew, everyone in the town wanted to be here to celebrate. Looking at the mirror in front of him, Flare fixed his buttons on his suit as one of the bridesmaids trotted over to him. "Your friend's all set, how're you holding up?"

"Just need to fix this one button, Star." Flare replied as he fixed said button on his shirt. Then, taking one more look at the mirror, he smiled in satisfaction before turning to face his friend. "Alright, I think that should do it."

Star nodded with a smile as she trotted over to him, the two of them then trotting out onto the stage, the crowd looking to the two as they stopped in front of another pony in the center of the stage.

As Flare looked beyond the crowd, he saw her: a gorgeous mare in a wedding dress. She bore a whitish-pink coat with a gold mane and tail, her two cobalt blue eyes returning his gaze as the mare began trotting over to the stage, a single stallion and Flare's closest friend, Thunder Show, escorting her.

As the two reached the stage's edge, Thunder Show stopped behind Swift as she stood herself onto the stage in front of Flare, the two looking into each other's eyes warmly as the mare in front of them began the proceedings.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join these two in mare-trimony. For many moons, these two have come to know each other more and more as the days went by, and as that time passed, they have become more than friends. Not just that, but everypony here has helped that bond grow, and today is the day that we celebrate this growing bond."

Looking to Flare, the mare spoke again. "Golden Flare, do you take Swift Light to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do." The stallion replied with a pleasant smile as the mare looked to Swift.

"And Swift Light, do you take Golden Flare to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"Swift Light returned Flare's gesture as she replied to the mare between them. "I do."

The mare smiled at the two before finishing. "Then with that said, I hereby pronounce you Mare and Colt!" And with that, the two kissed passionately, the crowd before them cheering and applauding the site for a good moment before the two broke their kiss.

As the applause died down, the mare in between Flare and Swift opened her mouth to speak, but stopped as she heard an odd sound from far away. After a moment, Flare and Swift's ears perked up as they took notice of the noise, which slowly grew louder as whatever was making that sound was getting closer.

Next to Sweet Star, her sister, Dawn, looked up to her sister. "What's that noise, sis?"

"I... I don't know, sweetie." The mare replied worriedly as the crowd began to look around.

The crowd's curious scans were halted by Thunder Show's cry of fear. "Up there!" He said as he pointed a hoof to a spot in the sky, the crowd following his direction to see.... something strange. What seemed to be several dark objects in the sky flew at a terrifying speed towards the town, the sound getting louder as they approached.

Swift held Flare's hoof as she asked him. "What are those things?"

Flare was about to speak to her, but his words died in his mind as the strange objects unleashed a flurry of red energy at the town. Several of the buildings near the park were struck by the bolts, exploding in a bright blaze as the strange objects flew overhead, many in the gathered crowd screaming at the horrific sight before them.

"We're under attack!" One of the mares in the crowd cried out as Flare looked to Thunder.

"Get everyone to the train, we need to evacuate!" The stallion nodded in agreement as he flew over to the crowd to get them ready for evacuation.

"I'll help get everyone to the trains, too." The newlyweds held each other in an embrace for a moment before Sweet Star and her younger sister trotted over to them.

"Flare, can you help me get the patients in the hospital to the trains?" Flare nodded without hesitation before the trio began trotting out to the burning town, Sweet Star grabbing Dawn and placing her on her back as they all raced down the streets to the hospital.

As the three ponies galloped through the burning streets of Stratusburg, Flare heard a loud zoom overhead before stopping to look up, his two companions doing the same as they saw a closer view of one of the attackers. The thing seemed to have large, sharp wings, and a tail splitting into four more tendrils.

At least, that was all that could be made out from the object as it sped past them, firing at another building on the other side of the town. As the building exploded, the trio continued their gallop to the hospital up ahead. The trio's gallop was once again cut to a halt, however, as one of the dark objects flew around, flying right at them.

"Look out!" Flare cried out in horror as the object flew at them, a section of it glowing an angry red as it prepared to fire.

But instead of a fiery death, the object exploded in the air, the shockwave blowing the manes of the three ponies far back as another object flew over them. As the trio observed the newcomer, Flare noticed a different look to this one. It's armor was a brighter grey, a faint tint of blue on some sections of it. It's hide emitted a blue glow as it flew over the trio, who all watched it fly away before they once again drew their focus to the hospital.

As the three of them continued onward to the hospital, they all saw the building in question partially shrouded in smoke from the other destroyed buildings. Their smiles still held upon seeing it, however, as they could now get all of the patients inside out and to the train station.

As the three of them stopped to get their bearings, Sweet Star looked to Flare as her sister hopped off of her back and stood next to her. "Okay, I need you to help me with the patients laying in the stretchers, we have to get them all out and take them to the train, it'll be an agonizing process, but what else can we do?"

"I'll do all I can, Star." Flare replied as the mare looked to her sister.

"And you, unless I tell you to do otherwise, you stick close to me while we do what we need to do to save everypony in there, understand?"

The filly nodded in agreement, but she quickly let out a horrified scream upon seeing one of the dark ships fly towards the hospital. As Flare and Sweet Star turned to look, they both shared Dawn's horrified gaze as they watched the attacker fire several more bolts of energy at the hospital, the building exploding as debris shot out from the blast.

"NO!!!" Sweet Star cried out in terror as she stared at the destroyed building, her body frozen with fear as Flare snapped out of his terrified trance and trotted over to her.

"Star, we can still save the others, let's get back to the station!" It took her a moment, but the mare was able to overcome her grief and reply to her friend.

"Right.. right, we should head back." With that, the three ponies turned and began to make their way back to the train station, Sweet Star once again carrying her sister on her back as they made the perilous trip through the nearly destroyed town.

As they galloped, the view started to become smoky, more explosions and bright red and green flashes above seemed to indicate something else was happening, and that thought was even more apparent as one of the dark ships spiraled down into one of the last intact buildings, both being engulfed in the blaze that followed as the three ponies continued onward.

Within a few minutes, the train station was visible, smiles growing on the trio's faces as they felt the nightmare seemingly coming to an end.

"There it is!" Flare said aloud as his friends looked to the train, Swift Light looking back to them as she waved a hoof out.

"Over here!" The newlywed mare yelled to the incoming trio, but they all stopped as Flare looked over the train in horror.

"Swift! Get away from the train!" The stallion cried out too late as one of the dark ships flew towards the train, shooting several red bolts of energy at it. Not a second later did the train explode, car by car. Swift didn't have a second to realize the danger she was in as the car closest to her exploded, sending her flying into a pile of burnt debris as Sweet Star and her sister screamed in terror.

"SWIFT!!!" Flare yelped horrifically as he and the two surviving sisters raced over to her, the mare seemingly still from the impact the crash had caused. As they got next to her, they could see several fresh wounds and blood starting to pour from them. Flare was horrified by the rather large wound in Swift's stomach, blood pouring out from it as Flare sat down, holding his wife in his arms.

"Egh-...F... Flare?" The mare choked out as Flare looked into her eyes, tears welling up in them as he spoke to her.

"Don't let go of me, I'm gonna get you somewhere safe, I promise!" The stallion said to Swift as she tried to speak, only for Sweet Star to speak up.

"Those wounds look bad, if we're going to get her to safety, we need to hurry!"

"No." Swift croaked out as she began to cough, blood spewing out of her mouth as she tried to find words. As she weakly opened her eyes, she looked to Flare and his friends, the mare forcing a smile as she spoke. "F-Flare....please, I-I don't think I'm going to-"

Flare cut her off. "Don't say that, I'm not going to lose you here!" He almost yelled before whimpering, a tear flowing down as he said, "Please."

Swift could only stare weakly at her husband as she tried to speak once more. "Flare... I-ugegh-....p-romise me one thing...." The stallion nodded as she said her last words. "..Keep your friends safe.... pl-plea...." She tried to speak further, but she began to hack and cough from the blood filling her throat as Flare held her.

"No, no no NO NO! SWIFT, PLEASE! DON'T GO!!!" Flare whimpered in vain as he held his dying wife, the mare choking up a few more times before falling limp, not an inch of movement from her body as Flare croaked once more. "...S-Swift?"

It was too much, unable to control himself, Flare buried his face into his wife's chest, sobbing loudly as Sweet Star held her sister tight, both shedding tears as they mourned the loss of the former's wife.

After a long moment of sorrow, Flare croaked again. "*sniff* Oh no...." The sound of burning buildings was interrupted by a loud noise from above, a bright light prompting Flare and the other two mares to look up at whatever was hovering over them. After a few seconds the light lowered itself to the ground, stopping when it seemingly landed on the dirt road underneath.

As the light dimmed, Flare got a good look at what had landed in front of them. It looked like some kind of alien ship, one unlike any he'd seen in his life, in between the large cockpit were two racks of missiles, a few of them having been fired at whatever it had been fighting up in the sky.

As he shakily stood up to face the strange ship, his grief slowly dissipated, replaced by burning anger. If these were the ones who caused his wife's death, he'd fight them until they shot him dead, assuming they had some kind of ray gun on them to use.

But those hateful emotions were sent spiraling out of his mind as a door on a cube-like section in the back of the ship opened, two bipedal creatures stepping out and running over towards the trio. As they neared them, one of them spoke up. "Thank God we found you, we have to get you all out of here! It's not safe!"

Dawn Star started to trot towards the two beings, but was stopped by her sister, who questioned them warily. "Who are you? What did you do to our home?!"

"Us? More like what did we try to stop?" The creature retorted as he waved his arm around the now burning city before repeating, "Now if we can stop arguing, let's get out of here before the smoke takes us!"

Flare was hesitant, but seeing as there was nowhere else to go, he forced himself up and steady, placing Swift's body on his back and joining up with Sweet Star and her sister as they followed the aliens into the ship.

As they entered the spacious section in the back of the vessel, the door began to close as one of the creatures spoke to them. "It's not much, but it should do until we get you all somewhere safe."

Flare set his wife's body down on the floor as the door shut, a clean white light filling the room as the other being went through an open section that lead to what must have been the cockpit. As he trotted over to Sweet Star and her sister, he called out to the other officer, who stopped as he heard his voice. "Who are you?"

The officer took a breath before answering, taking a seat as he began to explain the situation. "I'm Commander Haggs of the Forge. We tried to prevent an attack by an enemy force known as the Komplex." He started to point out through one of the windows showing the now burning city of Stratusburg. "If you're looking for who caused this mess, it's them."

Flare and his companions gasped in shock as Dawn asked Haggs, "But why? What did we do to them?"

"As far as I know, nothing." The Forge officer looked out to the window before continuing, "But from what we can tell, they were after something that lurks in this place, and they must've attacked to clear up any witnesses."

"What were they after?" Sweet Star asked the commander.

"From what our intel says, they believe there's some ancient weaponry belonging to the UJU KON, they inhabited the galaxy long ago, but when they mysteriously vanished, they left behind many powerful devices to be found... And if the intel's correct, then the Komplex has discovered some of that tech here on this planet." He took a breath as he finished with, "Unfortunately, we're not in the shape for digging artifacts. After that little scuffle up there, we've got to get back to base as soon as we drop you off somewhere safe."

Flare took his gaze away from the commander, looking to the view of Stratusburg, which burned brightly in the night before looking to his deceased wife once more. These Komplex beings, these.... monsters, they had taken everything away from him, all the ponies he cared about, his home, even his wife. If he was going anywhere, then it would be up there with the Forge.

"Actually, I think you can just make your way back right now, cause I'm coming with you." Flare said to Haggs, who looked to the stallion in puzzlement.

"What do you mean?" The officer asked before Flare replied.

"Everything I have, everything I cared about," Then, turning to look at his wife, "...Everything I loved... it's all gone. If you drop us off somewhere, there won't be a future for us after what happened here. And even if there were, I'm not going to just forget about what happened here let those... Komplex butchers take more lives away." Looking to his friends, then back to Haggs, he finished with, "So take me with you.... please."

Sweet Star added her own decision into the conversation. "I agree with Flare, we're the only three ponies we have left, and if we're going anywhere, then we're going with you."

Haggs looked to them for a moment, then after taking a glance to the cockpit, he made his decision. "Pilot, change of plans, set course straight for base, our friends here are coming along with us."

"Yes sir." The pilot replied as the ship started to shake, indicating it's take-off procedures were commencing. After a moment, the orange glow from outside became a dark black as the ship slowly but surely began to exit the planet's atmosphere.

As the ship steadied in flight, Haggs looked to the group once more, sharing the pained expression as he concluded his chat with the trio. "I'm sorry we couldn't save everyone there, and I understand if this change is difficult." The trio looked to the commander in understanding as he finished. "But, if I may, allow me to say.... Welcome to the Forge."

Flare forced a smile as he replied. "Thank you, Commander."

"It's the least we can do after what happened back there." Sweet Star added as Dawn sniffled a little, still shaken from the traumatic incident down below.

Flare's expression returned to a sorrowful one as he asked Haggs, "I think we'll need a moment, we... we had a rough day back there."

"I understand, if you need us, we'll be in the front." The trio nodded as he made his way back to the cockpit, the trio lying down together as Dawn sobbed into her sister's chest.

Sweet Star looked to Flare, who wiped his eyes as she spoke to him. "Flare... I'm so sorry about Swift."

"It's fine, Star... It wasn't your fault." Wrapping a hoof around the two mares, he continued. "But, now that we're safe, we have the chance to give those murderers some payback. I don't care if it takes years, or whatever jobs we get when we arrive at their base, if it helps in stopping the Komplex, I'm all in."

Sweet Star returned the gesture, holding Flare's free hoof as she replied. "We'll be with you all the way, Flare."

The widowed stallion smiled hopefully as he leaned into his friend, both of them shutting their eyes as they tried to rest for the time being. Indeed, the road would be rough, there would be tests, struggles, and even more pain to suffer through. But Flare was sure that someday, wherever he and his friends would be, they would eventually give the Komplex a taste of their own medicine. But, for now, all they needed was rest.

Act I: Mending Scars/The New Threat

View Online

Year: 2499 - Present

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- - -

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- - -

-Equus System-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-Canterlot-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Act II: The Explanation

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Golden Flare gritted his teeth as he steadied his flying, trying not to lose control as his sabre was starting to give out on him. Fortunately, he didn't have to fly much farther as he found a smooth spot near the edge of the forest, not wasting a second as he slowed the ship down.

"Come on, baby, don't fail me now..." Flare pleaded to his ship as he began to land, the ship's landing gear underneath extending out and slowly touching the ground. The ship bounced slightly as it landed, prompting a deep breath of relief from Flare as he relaxed for a second.

After finding inner peace for the time being, Flare looked behind him to Aegis, who was examining his console as he spoke to his partner. "Aegis, could you help me in getting the repair pack underneath?"

"Sure thing, boss." Aegis replied as Flare looked back to his controls, tapping a button on it before the window above opened, unleashing a wave of fresh air from the planet of Equus outside.

Standing up in his seat, Flare climbed over the edge of the cockpit before carefully letting go, landing on his hooves as Aegis hovered out of the ship effortlessly. Looking around, he saw no sign of any creatures, civilian or animal, near their position. Flare smiled warmly at the thought of getting his repair job with no distractions. Unfortunately, that pleasant feeling died as quick as it came as Flare realized another problem.

"I may be able to get her fixed, but until she gets more fuel in her system, she won't fly." Flare said aloud to himself, though Aegis had heard his words as he tried to mend the situation.

"That repair pack has a distress beacon, maybe we can call for help?"

Flare thought on the idea for a moment, then nodded in agreement before trotting over to the sabre's underbelly, tapping a button on the repair attachment behind the laser cannons.

"Let's just hope the Komplex don't get the signal too." The stallion added as a section of the repair pack opened up, Flare taking the toolbox in his hooves before mounting it onto his back like he would with a saddlebag. Turning back to the repair pack, he grabbed the portable distress beacon out from it before trotting out to an open spot near the sabre, setting the beacon up on the ground before tapping a few buttons on it, activating the device as a slit just under the antenna glowed a bright blue.

Satisfied at the sight of the activated beacon, Flare turned back to the sabre before remembering another minor detail. Trotting over to the repair pack, he looked around inside before spotting the emergency defense pistol he would need while on foot. Taking it with his hoof, he nudged the case carrying the pistol open before pulling it out with his mouth, taking the included holster that was also held within it and slotting his other hoof into it's opening before closing the container.

"Just in case things get any uglier from here on out..." Flare said to himself as he took the pistol out of his mouth and put it into the holster. Taking the now empty gun case, he placed it back into the repair pack before trotting around to the other side and tapping another button, opening another section as he pulled out a compact ladder for climbing. Trotting back to the starboard side of the sabre, Flare pressed a button on the side of the ladder, causing it to extend out before reaching a suitable height for Flare to climb up to the top of his ship.

Setting the ladder down, the Forge pilot began climbing up the ladder before finally getting on top of the sabre. Then, making his way to the damaged wing, he tapped a button on his toolbox before the top side of it opened, a fancy gun-like tool with a circular slot behind the firing barrel being pulled out as Flare sat down near the damaged spot. Pulling out a cylindrical container filled with a blue liquid, Flare inserted it into the gun before aiming it at the sabre's wound.

The blue liquid inside the container was given the term "stakmite" by Forge engineers, due to it's ability to easily connect and repair metallic materials without the many drawbacks that more primitive processes such as welding would attain. Of course, while located throughout the known galaxy, this material was mainly used for minor repairs such as a broken part or scrape on the ship's form.

As Flare pulled the trigger, the gun sprayed the stakmite matter all around the damaged spot on the wing, slowly changing from a blue sludge into a light gray metal, almost making the scar seemingly disappear.

Satisfied at the job, Flare put the gun back into the toolbox, tapping another button as it shut tight. Then, standing up and trotting over to the engines, Flare looked on at the second engine's empty tank slot in dismay.

Aegis, who was taking a fuel check on the ship, flew up to his partner before speaking. "Just as I feared, boss. We'll need another fuel tank after that little scuffle up there."

"I figured." Flare said as he looked to his robot friend. "Keep an eye out for any creatures or ships, I'll put a transmission on the beacon."

Aegis saluted without a word as Flare trotted over to the edge of the sabre, jumping down to the ground before continuing on to the beacon. Tapping a few buttons on the side of the beacon, Flare got near a small panel with a speaker on it as he began. "To any ships in range, this is Forge pilot Golden Flare, my ship is currently disabled and we require fuel and weapon supplies. I repeat, to any ships in range, this is Forge pilot Golden Flare, my ship is currently disabled and we require fuel and weapon supplies." Then, tapping a few more buttons on the panel, Flare sent the message through the beacon before looking up to Aegis, who flew over to him before speaking.

"Uh, Flare? We've got visitors." Flare's ears perked up as he heard hoofsteps approaching from his right. Looking out towards the dirt path, Flare's eyes widened to see a convoy of chariots parked near his position, several creatures, not just ponies, exiting them all and joining up together.

Seeing as they had nowhere else to go at this point, Flare looked to Aegis. "Aegis, stay with the ship, I think we've got some explaining to do."

"No problem, boss." With that, Flare's robot companion flew over towards the sabre, while Flare himself slowly trotted over to the approaching crowd.

As he approached, the approaching visitors gave varying expressions to his presence, some of them, mainly the dragons and yaks, were staring at him suspiciously, a hint of anger visible in their eyes. Others, such as the pony leading the group, seemed to have a cautious look to him, though at the same time seemed extremely curious and even surprised at his appearance.

Keeping his cool in the presence of so many persecuting faces, Flare trotted up to a mare that, while he didn't meet her in person until now, he did recognize her in some of the newspapers from his old hometown years ago.

Twilight's tone was somewhat split between questioning and frustrated as she began. "Well, I see that your little greeting up there was less than pleasant."

"If anything, your Highness, it was less of a greeting and more of a fight for my life against a pair of invaders." Flare replied as politely as he could before a cyan mare with a rainbow-colored mane zoomed up to him, her face on the verge of anger as she yelled at him accusingly.

"Okay, buster, spill it. Who are you, and why did you attack our city for no reason?!"

"Rainbow!" Twilight scolded the mare as she looked back to her, then backed away as Flare defended himself.

"If anything, I was trying to prevent an attack back there! And as you obviously saw," Flare said as he looked up to the city of Canterlot before finishing. "that didn't end so well."

One of the creatures in the crowd, an orange dragon with purple scales on her head, walked over to the stallion before asking a question of her own. "Okay, total subject changer, but what in the heck are you wearing?"

"Yeah! You look like one of us under that!" A pink, bouncy mare said as she tried to keep the air positive around her.

Flare tried to hide a laugh as he answered the group. "Well, maybe that's because," He took off his helmet before finishing, his hot pink and gold-streaked hair flowing in the air as he held the headpiece in his hoof. "I AM one of you."

The group gave gasps and looks of shock and bewilderment as the purple pony examined him further, Flare taking notice and returning the favor before speaking again. "Let's see, Princess... Twilight, wasn't it?"

Twilight shared the surprise her friends had as she asked, "How do you know my name?"

The Forge pilot looked to the Princess of Friendship smugly as he replied with, "Read the papers, your Highness."

"Oh." Twilight said as she forced a nervous laugh, Flare's smug look becoming stern as he continued.

"And since I have the opportunity, my name is Golden Flare, formerly a resident of Stratusburg," Flare seemed to cringe a little upon uttering that word from his mouth, but returned his former expression as he finished. "now a member of the Forge."

"The Forge?" Rainbow Dash said dumbfoundedly, but didn't get an answer as another pegasus mare flew down, followed by a stallion as the former spoke to Flare.

"Stratusburg?" The greenish-white mare asked in shock as Flare raised an eyebrow.

"Yes? What makes you curious?" The stallion replied as the mare in front of him answered.

"Name's Vapor Trail, this is my friend and fellow Wonderbolt Sky Stinger," Vapor said as she held her friend's hoof in hers before continuing. "We lived there too!"

"And we heard about what happened there a while ago. It... It was a rough day for us." Sky said as he held Vapor Trail, who seemed to be on the verge of tears at the mention of their old hometown.

"Yeah, and that day was the worst day of my life." Flare retorted, cringing once more as he heard another voice.

"Well, maybe you could tell us what happened? I know it probably isn't a pleasant topic, but maybe you could give us closure on that subject." The yellow-coated, pink maned pony asked hesitantly as Flare steadied himself, the rest of the flying pegasi above the group landing around Flare as he spoke.

"That sounds like the right thing to do, I don't like speaking of it, but seeing the circumstances, I don't really have a choice." The group listened on as Flare began his tale. "Four years ago, unbeknownst to me or anyone at the time, a task force of ships belonging to the Forge were sent here to prevent the success of a mission being carried out by those butchers known as the Komplex, more on them later." He said that last bit as Pinkie raised a hoof to ask about that new word, but lowered it as Flare stopped her.

"The battle above got out of hand as a pair of cloaked stealth ships caused the mission to go into disarray, and although most of the Komplex ships were disposed of, one transport and a few escorts got through to the surface." The stallion took a breath as he prepared to remember memories he tried so hard to bury long ago. "...That's where my home of Stratusburg comes into play. On that day, I was preparing to be married to a mare I loved dearly, Swift Light, gorgeous mare, I tell ya." Several mouths in the crowd gaped in awe and fear as they listened to Flare's story, afraid of what he would say next.

"But, the ceremony immediately turned into a deathly inferno as the Komplex came. They destroyed everything there and killed everypony but three of us," Flare hesitated as he tried to hold back his emotions, his eyes watering slightly as he remembered the sight that scarred him on that day. "...they even took away my wife. I could only watch her as she died in my arms."

Twilight raised a hoof to her muzzle as she took in the horrible news, the pink and yellow mares sharing his sorrow as they both held each other tightly. "But, miraculously, we were saved, two mares, Sweet Star and Dawn Star, along with myself were picked up by one of the Forge ships. At first, they were going to leave us off somewhere safe here, but after we admitted that we were all we had left, they took us in to become part of the Forge."

The group shared murmurs of surprise and curiosity as the pink mare wiped her eyes, her and her friend breaking their embrace as Rainbow looked to Flare. "I... I'm so sorry, I didn't kn-"

"It's fine, I think I would've reacted the same way back there." Flare replied before Rainbow could finish her sentence as an orange mare with a blonde mane and tail and sporting a cowpony hat spoke to him.

"Well, if ya don't mind my askin' what is it that ya do in this "Forge" group of yers?" The mare chuckled with a blush as she introduced herself. "Name's Applejack, by the way."

"Well, after we arrived at the Altair system, which was the closest place for us to rest at, I joined the flight academy there to learn how to pilot one of their fancy fighters like this beast here." Flare said before pointing to his ship, the crowd looking on in awe as he continued. "As for my friends, Sweet Star continued her profession as a doctor while Dawn hung out with us." He chuckled as he remembered one of her adorable antics as he finished with, "She seems to look up to me quite highly."

"I don't blame her, you seem to be quite skilled at flying, from what I heard on the way here." Rainbow said as one member of the crowd, a blue dragon similar in stature to the orange one spoke up.

"Well, while I'm glad we got that situation sorted out, you mind explaining what that scuffle back there was?"

Flare held up a hoof in agreement as he answered. "Ah yes, I was going to get to that." Clearing his throat, he began explaining the situation up in space. "During my research, I found that there's been a massive war going on for the past few decades, one started by a sinister power called the Komplex." He said as he looked to the sky, the crowd continuing their focus on Flare as he continued. "During that time, they've conquered countless species across the galaxy, even wiping many of them to extinction." The crowd was filled with gasps and cries of horror as Flare told them of the heinous crimes the Komplex committed. "But, fortunately for us, we've got our own weapons."

Looking to his sabre, Flare began explaining what his ship was. "We call them Snap Ships, powerful battle craft capable of being shifted and built with very sturdy objects known as core cubes."

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow as she asked, "Shifted? You mean you can change how that ship looks?"

Flare smirked with anticipation as he answered the rainbow-maned pegasus. "Indeed." Then, looking to Aegis, he called out to him. "Hey Aegis, you mind showing these guys what our little sabre there can do?"

"Absolutely, gimme a sec!" The robot replied as he hopped into the cockpit before closing the window, the crowd's eyes growing wide as the ship lifted up into the air, parts of it coming off as the ship began changing form. Twilight and Rainbow were awe-struck as the vessel reconstructed itself into another design, the wings were pointing down instead of up, and the cockpit was latched in between the two engines, which had been swapped around to seemingly face the other way.

The crowd was full of applause as they adored the capabilities of Flare's ship, who watched with a pleasant smile as the ship landed. After touching the ground, the cockpit opened up as Aegis flew out of it, returning to his task of guarding the ship as Rainbow flew over to Flare excitedly. "Okay, you have GOT to show me how to fly one of those things sometime!"

"Can't say I'm an expert, but I'd be happy to show ya a few tricks I've learned." The two ponies laughed for a moment before Flare's excitement drained to disappointment. "Unfortunately, we won't be flying for the time being. I had to sacrifice one of the fuel packs to save my hide from that last scarab up there."

Rainbow shared the look of dismay as Twilight spoke to the stallion. "That's unfortunate, but we've got plenty of airships to fly in."

Flare seemed to beam a little upon hearing those words. "Funny you say that, I used to drive those around back home."

Twilight returned a smile at Flare's statement, but the pleasant tone in the air died down as Aegis flew over to Flare. "Flare, my sensors are picking up signatures somewhere over there... I don't think that's good."

The group became alert as they all heard a growl from the forest, Flare pulling out his pistol as he looked out to the forest. Slowly trotting towards it, Flare kept his pistol aimed at the forest, two royal guards flying behind him as they prepared to fight whatever was hiding in there.

The growling quickly turned into barks as a timberwolf jumped out of one of the bushes, attempting to pounce on Flare, who proved to be too fast for the beast as he shot at it, the green bolt striking it's head, ending it's life.

The air grew more tense as Flare heard another, familiar voice. "Hey!"

Flare snapped his head towards the forest, eyes widening as he saw his downed wingman running from another timberwolf in pursuit of him.

"Sarun! Get Down!" The stallion warned as he took aim, Sarun dropping to the ground as his friend fired, shooting the pursuing creature square in the stomach as it jumped. The shot split the creature into two pieces, both broken ends burning slightly from the shots as Flare galloped over to Sarun, guards in tow.

Helping his friend up, Flare examined Sarun for injuries, then punched him playfully in the leg as he laughed joyfully. "Sarun, buddy, you're alive!"

"Yeah, managed to separate the cockpit from the rest of the ship just before I crashed." The green humanoid replied as his wingpony spoke again.

"I didn't think they'd get you that bad back there, I almost got you killed."

"Don't sweat it, bud, we're both okay for now." Sarun accepted Flare's apology before looking to the crowd of creatures in front of him. "I see you made friends with the natives?"

"Yeah, took a minute, but it's good now." Then, seeing the raised eyebrows of some members of the crowd, Flare explained his friend. "Everyone, this is my fellow pilot, Sarun. We uh... got into a little accident back up there."

"I can tell." A yellow pegasus with a orange and gold mane and tail in a blue suit replied back as she removed her goggles.

"What happened up there?" The yellow pegasus asked curiously as Flare answered.

"After we pursued and shot down a Komplex troop transport on the way down here, we tried to fly behind the two incoming scarab fighters chasing us. Unfortunately, they used that trick against us very well."

"Bladed wings, those scarabs are built to slice into anything that comes at them." Sarun added, eliciting a gasp from the crowd around the two of them before Sky Stinger spoke up.

"Well, since you're both together again, you don't mind explaining what brings you here today, do you?"

"Yeah, what do the Komplex want with us?" The pink mare said as she zoomed over to Flare, introducing herself. "Name's Pinkie Pie, by the way, expert party pony of Ponyville!"

Stunned by Pinkie's fast introduction, Flare shook his head before replying. "Nice to meet you, Pinkie. And yeah, about that." Flare steadied himself as he explained the reason they came to Equus. "Back during those four years ago, we had gotten some intel that claimed there was an UJU device somewhere on this planet."

"UJU what?" A blue griffon asked, puzzled.

"Ah, I should've explained that too." Flare said as he cleared his throat for another explanation. "Long ago, there was an ancient species who went by the name UJU KON. They had spread their civilization far across the galaxy, creating many incredible pieces of technology and vast cities." Flare's expression became sour as he continued. "But, one day, they mysteriously vanished. And in their absence, they left behind much of their advanced technology across many worlds." Then, looking up to the crowd, he finished with, "And, if that intel I mentioned earlier is correct, there's at least one piece of that tech somewhere near Stratusburg."

The crowd gasped in shock as they took in Flare's words, Twilight being the first to speak out of them all. "So that's why the Komplex have come here?"

"Exactly, and while both sides have managed to acquire some of that equipment to assist us in the war, we can't let the Komplex gain whatever lies hidden there. Worst case scenario, they might find something that could turn the tide of the war in their favor." Looking back to the group of creatures listening in, Flare finished with, "That's what we're here to prevent."

Twilight grew stern as she gave her thoughts on it. "Well, even if it only helps a little, we'd be glad to assist you in this endeavor."

"Thanks, we owe you more than we could give, your Highness." Flare said with a thankful smile before Twilight let out a chuckle.

"Don't mention it, and, please, call me Twilight."

The two Forge pilots saluted to the princess as Flare replied. "Of course, Twilight." Flare seemed to hold back a chuckle as he bowed in respect to Twilight afterwards, standing up as he began to trot towards the group. His legs stopped however as a low noise could be heard in the air, many creatures in the crowd looking around to see where it was coming from.

Flare turned his head to the sky as well when one of the royal guards cried out. "Up above!" Looking up, Flare could see a large ship flying towards him and the group. After closer inspection, he could tell what it was, a Gladius dropship, though it seemed to have another one of those cubical cargo pods that he'd seen some of them carry on occasions.

"Don't shoot!" Flare warned as the crowd watched the ship lower itself down to the group, preparing to land near Flare's sabre. "It's one of ours."

As the ship's landing gear touched the ground, the cargo container opened up to reveal several Forge officers, a few fuel tanks and missile packs stored inside, and a familiar face on board.

Looking to her, Flare galloped over to Sweet Star, who smiled warmly at the sight of him. "Star!"

As the two came up to each other, the crowd watched the Forge officers as the two embraced, holding each other tight for a good minute before letting go.

As she looked up to him, Sweet Star spoke to Flare. "I was worried you were hurt."

"Well, not me, but my friend there was." Flare replied as they both looked to Sarun, who walked over to the two ponies as Sweet Star pulled out her medical scanner.

After waving a small device around Sarun, she smiled in satisfaction at the results. "Nothing a little bit of treatment won't fix." As she put the equipment back into her saddlepack, Sweet Star looked to the crowd as Flare trotted up next to her. "Looks like you've made some new friends here, Flare."

Flare laughed a little as he replied to his marefriend. "Yeah, started off rough at first, but I think we'll make great allies on the field."

Noticing the two, Twilight trotted over to the group as she asked Flare, "I take it you're one of the survivors Flare mentioned."

Sweet Star nodded as Flare replied to the princess. "Twilight, this is Sweet Star, one of Stratusburg's doctors back home."

The mare seemed to cringe at that name, but shook it off as Flare wrapped a hoof around her back. "It... it was a rough day."

"I heard, I'm sorry you two had to go through that." Twilight said with a somber expression before continuing. "But, now that we've gotten everything settled, I think it's best we help you stop the Komplex."

"That would be great, Twilight." Sweet Star said before looking up to Flare. "I wish she could have come and said hello, but I thought it was too dangerous for Dawn to come with us down here."

"What's going on up there?" Flare asked Sweet worriedly as she explained.

"We've managed to dispose of the transports, but that wasp nearly took out the entire squadron. You and Sarun are two of the only pilots that made it!"

Twilight seemed stunned at the news, but seemed to gain hope after hearing the rest. "Fortunately, we scared him off for the time being, and we've got two tridents on the way here."

"That's good, hopefully we'll be able to find the UJU tech before they get back." Flare said as one of the Forge officers jogged over to them.

"Lieutenant Flare, we'll have the fuel tanks installed in a 6 minutes."

Flare nodded as he replied. "Thanks, and when we're done, we'll set out for Stratusburg, Princess Twilight and her friends have offered to help."

Twilight looked to the officer before speaking. "We'll bring a few of our own airships to assist however we can."

"Thank you, your Highness. It's an honor to meet you." The officer said before he made his way back to the dropship to acquire more supplies, Flare looking to Twilight as he thought of something to kill the time with.

"Hey Twilight, since we have some time, do you mind introducing us to the rest of the gang here?"

The Princess of Friendship beamed at those words. "I'd be absolutely happy to, Flare. If you'll both follow me." The two nodded as they began following Twilight to the others, hoping to make some friends and to get to know how much has changed in their absence while they waited for the repairs to be completed. Then, they could finally unravel one of Equus' biggest mysteries ever discovered.

Act III: Seeing Ghosts

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Location: Stratusburg, Equestria

Golden Flare focused his grip on his sabre's controls as he looked out to the ground below, examining the area that was once Stratusburg. Shortly after getting to know everyone from Canterlot, not to mention meet the newly retired Royal Sisters in person, Flare and his friends took to the air as they began their journey to their target. Twilight and her friends were offered a ride in the two Gladius dropships they had brought down to the planet, while Flare, of course, took to the skies in his newly changed Sabre in order to guard the task force alongside with the two trident gunships that came just as the team was getting underway.

The land below Flare and his allies was not as prosperous as the old town of Stratusburg, from what Sky Stinger and Vapor Trail had explained, after the tragic discovery of the burning remnants of the town, the broken town was cleaned up and rebuilt into a memorial, with only a mere few security buildings and dirt roads built around it to ensure that no one violates the site for whatever reason. Said security were initially concerned about the incoming Forge ships heading into the area, but with some swift convincing from Twilight and the two wonderbolt pegasi who formerly lived here, they permitted them to travel over the memorial.

Flare seemed to frown at the sight before him, reminded of the once prosperous town he lived in years ago as he spoke into the comms. "It's so different than before, I... I almost feel like I'm someplace else."

"I know Flare, I didn't think that this place would be fixed up so fast." Sweet Star replied on a small screen on his control panel as he looked down to her.

"You still remember which is where, Flare?" Aegis asked his maker as he took another look out into the land, trying to remember where his old home was before spotting an area near one of the security stations below the fleet.

"If I recall, there was a house I lived in that sat near where that station was, to the right of it, I think." Flare answered his friends as he looked around further, trying to remember more of the town before spotting another area.

His words were halted as Star said them for him. "And there's where the hospital was before the attack."

Looking down to the right of his ship, he saw another familiar spot he attended on that fateful day. "And there's where the park used to be." Looking up further, he noticed the large memorial built where the train station used to be. It made sense to place it there, since everyone evacuating from the wedding was in that train when it was hit. Flare seemed to cringe upon remembering that horrid image of the train being shot at, seeing his wife being sent flying into the rubble of a damaged building. The memory made Flare mumble to himself, unaware he was being heard. "Oh, Swifty... I'm so sorry I couldn't save you."

"Something bringing ya down, Flare?" Sky Stinger asked through the comms on screen as he sat next to Vapor Trail aboard one of the two Gladius dropships within the task force.

Flare shook his head as he took notice of his words. "Oh, no, sorry. I just... I think I was seeing a ghost."

"I feel the same way, this place hasn't been the same since that attack years ago." Vapor replied back as Flare thought of another thing to pass the time while en route to the location of the UJU tech nearby.

Then, remembering what Sky and Vapor told him about back at the Everfree, he looked ahead of his ship before saying, "So, you said you two were from here?"

"Yeah, and fortunately for us, we'd moved out by the time the town fell." Sky said with a hint of thankfulness in his voice, but that was swiftly replaced by Vapor's added words.

"Unfortunately, the rest of our families didn't. We got letters telling us of what happened, and," Vapor sounded like she was on the verge of tears as she tried to finish her story. "...W-We were devastated that day, seeing the papers after hearing about the disaster didn't help either. I didn't even want to come out and talk to anyone." Then, hearing a faint nudge over the chatter, Vapor finished with, "But Sky was there for me."

The stallion in question responded to his friend's claim in a stern tone. "We were all we had left, after that attack, we hung out together more, and after our little situation with the Wonderbolts, we uh... " Sky seemed to chuckle as he thought of his bonding with Vapor at the academy before continuing. "I think Twilight would say we've become more than friends since then."

Flare raised an eyebrow as Rainbow Dash spoke up through the comms as well. "Yeah, I'd love to chat with ya on that when we get back."

The stallion smirked mischievously as he replied back to the cyan mare, "Well, if we live through this, I suppose I wouldn't mind, that is, if your friends over there don't either."

There was a moment of silence, implying to Flare that Sky and Vapor were looking to Rainbow in a scolding manner. He imagined Rainbow looking disappointed at them as she replied. "Okay, okay, I won't spill it."

Flare let out a hearty laugh as he heard Rainbow's words, Sky and Vapor joining in too as they enjoyed their teasing of Rainbow. As he settled himself, Flare looked to one of the trident pilots before asking, "Anyhow, we should get back to business. Tam, what's the status of the sector scan?"

The comms were silent for a moment, but the officer in question answered not long after. "From what I can tell, the signature seems to be coming from that mountain up ahead, and fortunately for us, I've detected a cave near the base of it."

Flare's eyebrows raised as he remembered where this cave was. "I think I know where that might be. Everyone, follow me."

"Copy that, Lieutenant." Tam and several other officers replied back as Flare flew his ship in front of the others, taking the lead as he began to descend towards the mountain to his right.

The trip was silent for a good few minutes, with the group nearly reaching the cave entrance below them. However, Flare's ears perked upon hearing an alarm on his controls, as well as Sweet Star's panicked cry. "Flare! Watch out!"

Not wasting a second, Flare immediately rolled his ship upwards into the air, narrowly dodging an incoming missile as it flew under him before it struck the ground, spraying dirt all over the place. Looking around, Flare could see his attacker, a Komplex troop dropper flying past his allies and up into the air. Something was different about the ship, however. The long tail that held the drop pods was missing, replaced by a much smaller engine attachment behind it.

As Flare flew around and gave chase to the large gunship flying away from him, Flare heard chatter from his teammates, Tam's words being the most audible to him as he kept his eyes on the gunship. "Surprise attack, everyone! Take them out!"

Flare didn't reply as he turned to Aegis, "Get me a lock on!"

"Got it, boss!" The little bot replied as he did his work, Flare keeping his ship behind the scorpion as the long awaited beep sounded. "Now!"

Pressing the triggers, Flare fired a missile at the gunship, which tried to shake Flare off to avoid the missile, but failed as the missile hit it seconds after being fired.

As the Komplex gunship burned to the ground below, Flare flew into the sky before turning his ship upside down. Looking down, Flare could see another one of the same ship flying at one of the tridents, firing it's guns at it as Flare took the ship down for a dive. As he dove down at the gunship, Flare fired his laser cannons at it, a few of them striking the two cannons on the sides of the ship's fuselage, leaving only the two wing cannons and the ship's cockpit-mounted chin cannon left working.

Diving under the damaged trident, Flare began his chase after the second Komplex ship, Aegis speaking to him as he focused his grip on the joysticks. "Getting a lock-on, just a sec!" Trying to avoid it's pursuer, the Komplex ship flew for a large, natural arch near the mountain, firing two missiles at it before speeding through it. As the missiles struck the arch, Flare went full throttle under it, narrowly avoiding the broken rocks above his ship as he kept chase after the gunship.

"Let's give ya a hand there, Goldy!" A familiar voice said as one of the trident gunship's turrets fired at the incoming scorpion, which turned away from it's target as Flare kept up. The stallion could see some smoke coming from the ship's underbelly, indicating it had been hit by the trident nearby.

As it started to slow down, Flare heard Aegis call out to him. "Now!" As soon as he said that, Flare pressed the triggers once more, another missile shooting out towards the enemy craft as it tried to evade. The maneuver turned out to be futile as the projectile struck the large vessel, which exploded in a bright, purple-hued blaze as Flare flew through the fireball.

Steadying his ship, Flare heard Applejack speak through the comms from one of the Gladius escorts. "Yeehaw! That's some nice flyin' there, Flare!"

"Thanks, Applejack." The stallion replied with a smirk before hearing another voice, one he hadn't ever heard before in his life as he steadily gripped his controls.

"Enough with this futile endeavour!" A deep, menacing voice said as Flare looked around, eyes widening as he spotted another ship, one he saw earlier at the start of his mission here.

"Komplex wasp ahead! Evasive maneuvers!" Flare warned over the comms as the newcomer sped towards him, Flare rolling around to dodge the incoming laser fire as the attacker flew right past his ship.

As the wasp sped into the sky for a dive attack, Flare sped upwards as well, looping around to fly the other way before taking the ship straight up again. Taking aim, Flare fired at the incoming wasp above him, which returned the favor as it flew straight at him, Flare once again narrowly avoiding contact with his opponent's hull as it flew downwards.

"Golden Flare, do not engage that ship! I repeat, do not engage!" One of the trident pilots ordered before the turrets on the two gunships fired upwards, attempting to hit the diving Komplex commander but to no avail.

Stopping his ship's thrusters for a moment, Flare spun the ship around in a loop before reactivating the engines, boosting downwards after the elite fighter as it flew past the two tridents below.

"We'll handle that ship, Flare, take care of the guys behind us if you can!" Another voice said through the comms before Flare looked upwards, three more sabres were making their way down to his friends' position. But they weren't alone either, as two scarabs came down after them as well, firing red laser bolts at the two ships.

Flare steadied his grip before turning towards the enemy newcomers, both of them breaking off their pursuit of the two allied ships as he began his own chase after one of them. Firing his laser cannons, Flare kept up his pursuit on the scarab until a few of the bolts scraped the engine just enough for it to fail. As the tail of the ship began to emit a trail of smoke, Flare broke off from the doomed fighter before he hissed in alertness at the second incoming attacker. With no time to think, Flare rolled to his left as the scarab passed him, it's now opened wings closing as it's attempt at slicing his ship apart failed.

Pressing a button on his controls, Flare turned his ship at the turning Komplex craft, pressing the trigger and firing another missile at it just as it began to fly at him. Despite not getting a lock on his target, the missile hit the fighter just before it could evade in time. Turning away from the now burning fighter, Flare turned his ship back around to face his allies, who were shooting at the incoming wasp as it tried to evade the laser fire ahead of it.

Keeping his focus on the attacker, Flare spoke to Aegis behind him. "Get me another lock, buddy."

The robot did so without another word as Flare sped after the wasp, getting right behind it as the aft turret on the back, shot at him. Flare rolled around the shots as he tried to keep up his pursuit of the elite, grunting as he heard his partner's words. "Ready!"

Dodging another flurry of laser bolts, Flare growled in anger as he fired the missile. "This one's for Stratusburg, butcher!"

As the missile fired from his fighter, Flare broke off from the ship as he waited for the missile to strike, but this one wouldn't let it hit. Speeding away from Flare as well, the stallion's ears perked as his opponent replied back to him.

"Ah, so you are a survivor of that pitiful habitat from long ago?" Flare's eyes went wide as the wasp turned around back towards the task force, speeding right towards them as the enemy pilot continued. "You seem to think I am such easy prey for your kind? Well, allow me to show you the costs of your folly."

Tam's voice was one of fear as he spoke over the comms. "Vey, look out!"

The pilot of the other gunship didn't even have a chance to reply as the wasp flew past her trident, Flare's missile hitting her ship as she screamed into the channel. The screams quickly died down to static as Vey's ship fell to the ground below, crashing in a bright ball of fire as the Komplex commander flew upwards again, dodging the incoming laser fire from the other Forge ships as the ship's pilot spoke once more.

"Do you feel proud of yourself now, rodent? Does that sight make you feel as helpless as your colleagues down there were when my subordinates slaughtered them like the pests they were?"

As he heard those words, Flare felt a hateful blaze burn in his heart, he was infuriated at this murderer who insulted his wife, along with all those who had died on that fateful day, and he wasn't about to stand for it.

How dare you?! He thought in his head as he saw the wasp turn around towards him, the pilot laughing as he spoke once more.

"Unfortunately for you, you won't be able to learn from this for long." As the ship began to speed up towards him, it was immediately stopped by a bright, pink magical aura surrounding it, holding the ship in the air.

Turning his ship towards the wasp, Flare could hear Twilight speak up through the comms. "Flare! Take the shot! I can't hold him forever!"

"What?!" The Komplex commander said in surprise as Flare sped towards him. Enraged by his enemy's words, Flare screamed into the comms as he fired at the elite starfighter, scrapping it's dorsal section as well as destroying the turret at the back of the ship.

As Flare sped past the damaged craft, he could hear his opponent growl in anguish as he looped back around, preparing for another volley. Rather than continue shooting at him, however, the Komplex craft instead sped upwards as the magical aura dissipated, freeing the fighter from it's grip.

"Perhaps I misjudged your kind, insect, I had not expected such capabilities from them." The Komplex pilot scoffed as he continued. "No matter, you may have won your precious UJU tech from us, but it will be ultimately for naught!" As he sped away from the area and into the sky, Flare flew up after his smoking fighter as he finished his monologue. "Soon, Golden Flare, you and your lackey will see why we, the Komplex are, and will always be, immortal!"

"Come back here, you cold-blooded space fiend!" Flare yelled at the Komplex commander as he sped away, preparing to give chase as he heard Sweet Star call out to him.

"Flare, get back here! Well deal with him later! Please!" Star wasn't the only one to lend their thoughts over.

"Flare, return back to the squadron, that's an order!"

Looking up at his fleeing opponent, Flare took a breath as he replied weakly. "...Right. We've already given him enough trouble for the time being." With that, Flare looped back around before speeding downwards towards his allies, the two Gladius dropships preparing to make a landing as Flare neared the ground.

Slowing his ship down, Flare leveled his sabre with the ground as the landing gear extended out from the ship, touching the ground moments later as the cockpit bounced slightly from the recoil.

Opening the cockpit window, Flare stood up and climbed out of his ship as Aegis hovered out with him. Looking to his left, Flare saw Sweet Star, Twilight and her friends galloping over to him, all of them looking to him in concern as Rarity asked him, "Are you alright, Flare?"

"Yeah, just a bit... frustrated." The stallion replied as he removed his helmet, Aegis setting it into the sabre's cockpit as Fluttershy spoke up.

"Who was that back there?" The girls all looked to Sweet Star as she answered for Flare.

"We're both a little hazy on that, but judging by that voice, I'd say he's one of the Komplex commanders."

"And the one who caused the attack on Stratusburg four years ago." Twilight and her friends gasped in shock as Pinkie Pie spoke up next.

"Does that big meanie have a name? I mean, "Komplex Commander" seems kinda silly and bland."

Flare looked to the ground as he replied to the pink party pony. "Yeah, they do. I read a battle report from Forge Commander Dex about his conflict with the Komplex near the Virgo Defense Perimeter. Apparently, him and one of his recruits faced off against some other leader who, as far as we know, goes by the title, "The Truth"."

The girls seemed to share Flare's dumbfounded expression as Rainbow Dash spoke up. "So, judging from what that other guy said, I'm guessing he's something along the lines of... "The Immortal"?"

"Oooohh!! That sounds fancy!" Pinkie said as Flare nodded in agreement before speaking up.

"Alright, I guess that will be what we call him from now on." Sweet Star and the others all shared their nods of agreement as Tam walked over to the group.

"Flare, we've got a few weapons up in the dropship. I'd recommend getting one if we're going into that cave."

Twilight raised a hoof as she offered her thoughts. "That sounds wise, who knows what we'll find in there."

"Besides that UJU gear yer lookin' for." Applejack said as Sandbar and his friends trotted over to the group.

"Mind if we tag along, professor?" The young stallion asked as Gallus and Smolder took to the air before the latter spoke up.

"After what just happened back there, I think it's time we lend a claw for you guys."

"You might want someone like me with you too!" Ocellus said as she shapeshifted into her dragon disguise she used back when she first attended the school of friendship, a light brown dragon with whitish-tan scales and brown hair and gray horns.

Tam was about to say something, but stopped as he looked to Twilight for her confirmation. Looking to the cave, then back to the students, Twilight made her decision. "As long as you promise not to try anything crazy in there..."

The students saluted to the Princess of Friendship before Smolder spoke up. "Ya got it, Professor."

"Great!" Twilight said with a smile as she looked to Flare, who returned the gaze as she spoke to him. "You sure you'll be able to go on after what just happened up there?"

Flare smirked as he answered the purple alicorn's question. "I'll keep at it until I'm dead, Twilight."

Rainbow laughed a little at Flare's response as Aegis flew into the middle of the group with an eager expression. "I think it's best if I come too, I can translate some of the UJU KON's language and texts if we need to."

Flare and Sweet Star smiled at their robot friend as the former replied. "That sounds perfect, just stick close to us while we're in there."

"You got it, boss!" Aegis replied with a digitized smile before floating up next to Flare, who trotted over towards the Gladius dropships as the rest of the group followed after him.

"Alright, let's get ourselves geared up, there might be traps in there!" Flare said as he picked out a light laser rifle from the racket, Twilight and the others doing the same as they prepared for their descent into the UJU temple beneath Stratusburg.

Act IV: Secrets of the Ancients

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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.

Act V: Build to Battle

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-Equus System, Orbital-

Golden Flare pulled his control sticks back as he saw the Komplex mothership, slowing his fighter down as he examined the area. Near the moon in orbit was the Apollo, it's heavy cannons taking aim at the large enemy mothership nearby as loads of fighters engaged the Komplex attack ships. There were so many in the area Flare felt he couldn't count them all, though he could spot several sabres around the battlefield, along with a few trident gunships taking on the large scorpion dropships.

All in all, the battle had heated up since he was down on the planet below, and unless he did what he had to do, it would all be for naught and the Komplex would not only take the only friends he had left, but his homeworld as well.

Focusing his grip on the controls, Flare looked to Aegis as he asked, "Aegis, can you get me a scan on that mothership? I want a weak point for us to hit."

"Already on it, boss. Gimme a sec." The robot replied as Flare tapped a button on his controls, accessing the fleet comms as he overheard the chatter from many pilots around the field.

"Fire! Keep up the pressure on the orbital perimeter!" One female pilot ordered as another male one spoke up after.

"Don't even let them breathe on that planet!" Flare looked to the large mothership as he listened in on the transmission, seeing several fighters flying around the sector as they fought the Forge ships.

After a moment of watching the battle, however, Flare raised an eyebrow as he saw all of the Komplex ships break off from their opponents, fleeing back to the mothership as he watched in puzzlement.

Said puzzlement was apparently being shared by the other pilots nearby as one spoke up. "Are they... retreating?"

Flare seemed to ponder the idea, but his eyes were brought back to the mothership itself, seeing a bright purple surge of energy flashed around the exterior of the mothership.

Flare stared at the enemy flagship in surprise for a moment, only to look on in horror as several more electrical beams charged up around the mothership's hull.

His horror was amplified to a much higher degree as he watched the mothership charge up a good bit longer before unleashing an enormous wave of energy, decimating any and every fighter that was unfortunate enough to be in range. Flare's comms were overwhelmed with the screams of each of the pilots that were hit before being replaced by static.

"NO!!!" Flare cried out fearfully as he watched the Apollo, which was struck by the shockwave as well, though instead of exploding in a bright blaze it was instead shoved away from the mothership, drifting in space as several zaps of energy flashed around the damaged battlecruiser.

Tapping his console, Flare entered the comms network as he spoke worriedly to his peers on the Apollo. "Flare to Apollo, come in! I repeat, come in!"

The stallion pilot felt a small wave of relief hit him as he heard another voice. "Apollo here, we've been pretty banged up here from that shockwave! Weapon systems are down, and defensive plating is at critical integrity! What's your status, Lieutenant?"

The feeling of relief died as quick as it had come as Flare replied. "My friends and I have acquired the UJU tech, some of it's been installed into my ship, a stealth device and some kind of singularity weapon!"

"Excellent, Flare, can you give us a hand here with that tech of yours?" The Apollo captain asked as Flare responded.

"I think so, if I can get close enough to fire this singularity driver at the mothership, we might be able to cripple it, if not outright destroy it."

The captain seemed to ponder the idea with swift haste as he replied to Flare. "That sounds like a good idea, but hurry, our sensors indicate they're preparing for another wave!"

"What about you guys?" Flare asked as he watched the Apollo drift away from the field, then looked back to the mothership as the captain replied.

"Other than you, we've ran out of fighters to send out. You're on your own."

Flare gripped his controls as he replied once more. "Understood command, Flare out."

As Flare lifted a hoof to tap the fleet comms off, Flare could hear the voice of Dawn Star, who had stayed aboard the Apollo during his trip to the planet below speak to him. "Go get'em, Flare! I believe in you!"

The stallion smiled at the filly's words as he held his hoof over the button for a moment, then returning it back to his right control stick as he prepared to thrust his ship into the battle.

"Aegis, give me all the power you got and feed it to the engines, we're going full throttle at them!" Flare said to his robot friend as he did his work, Flare thrusting the flight sticks forward as he spoke to him once more. "And hold on!"

With that, the sabre shot out from the planet's atmosphere, hidden from enemy eyes and scanners as Flare tried to intercept the mothership.

As Flare guided his ship towards the Komplex structure, he squinted slightly as he saw a small set of ships flying close to his flight path, the stallion becoming alert as he saw what the new arrivals were. "Sawfly minelayers!"

Flare flew upwards above the incoming ships as he avoided the newly laid mines behind them, keeping his focus ahead of him as the mothership became slightly more close to his position.

"My scans say there's more of them up ahead! Watch out!" Aegis said as Flare spoke back to him.

"And the mothership?"

"Just a little longer on that!" The robot replied as Flare saw several more sawflies flying near his current path, the stallion rolling around as he narrowly dodged the mines laid onto the battlefield.

"Good thing they aren't locked onto us, just don't touch them and we'll be fine." Flare said to himself as he continued flying, his ears perking as he heard Aegis speak up to him.

"Got it, the mothership's power core extends all the way down through the lower section. If we can break it open with that weapon of ours, we might just win this thing!"

Flare smirked as he asked his partner, "Distance?"

Aegis tapped his console as he got a numerical counter, which decreased rapidly as their sabre inched ever so closer to the mothership. "We're about 1200 meters from weapons range, boss."

"Keep me informed!" Flare replied once more as he saw another wave of sawflies ahead, flying downwards to avoid their deployed weaponry behind them before steadying his flight path towards the mothership.

Flare almost screamed as he saw another wave of minelayers ahead, this time they were flying in a vertical formation, giving the stallion pilot almost no time to prepare as he rolled his ship to the right, slipping right past a set of mines laid behind the Komplex ships.

Flare looked around for a moment, not taking a moment to breathe as he kept his focus on reaching the mothership.

"800 meters!" Aegis said to Flare as he flew past two sawflies, not having to dodge the mines they were laying behind them as he sped onwards towards the Komplex warship.

Flare experienced another wave of panic as he saw more sawflies heading into his flight path, narrowly evading collision with them only to swiftly take notice of a squadron of incoming scarabs just above his ship. Flare jerked his ship downwards a little as he just barely missed them before steadying his grip on the controls, flying further towards the mothership as he looked out to the field of space ahead of him.

Another squadron of sawflies were heading into his path, once again in a vertical fashion. Gripping his flight sticks, Flare rolled to his right as he slipped past the Komplex minelayers, barely avoiding collision with the last one behind him as he sped closer to the mothership. Flare felt a spark of hope within him as he noticed the closer proximity he was not at near the mothership, but that thought was stopped as another minelayer squadron flew near him. Rolling to his left, Flare once again dodged the incoming squadron that was now laying mines behind him before wiping the sweat off of his brow.

"500 meters, just a bit more!" Aegis said as Flare noticed another wave of sawflies, flying above them as he dodged their freshly dropped mines. He prayed that they wouldn't have to keep this crazy flying up for much longer as he tried to keep focus on speeding towards the mothership.

Flare's prayers were answered for a short moment as he didn't see any minelayers ahead, but of course, it was only for so long as he spotted another squadron up ahead. Flying downward, Flare dodged the incoming squadron as Aegis spoke up again.

"200 meters!" Flare smirked as he took in the numbers, just a little more and this little operation of his would be finished.

The mothership was much closer now, Flare could see the large structure much better at this view, but he didn't have time for sightseeing as he spotted another sawfly squadron. Diving down again, Flare avoided collision with the enemy craft with ease, but then ascended upwards as another set of pre-deployed mines were seen just up ahead of his ship.

After dodging the set of explosives, Flare heard the que he had so desired to hear. "We're in range! The weapon's all yours, pal!"

Not wasting a second, Flare pressed his joysticks' triggers before the large UJU driver opened up, the cylindrical weapon inside the launcher being shot out towards the mothership.

As Flare pulled back his control sticks, he watched as the device activated, glowing a bright gold as it began to spin outrageously fast. Taking a bit of caution, Flare pulled the throttle sticks further back as he backed his ship away from the device, which began to pull on the mothership as the stallion looked to Aegis. "What's the status of the mothership?"

Aegis sounded confident as he replied. "I think it's working, the exterior hull near the device is being pulled off." Then, seeing a high energy signature on his console, he looked to Flare in horror before continuing. "They're preparing to fire!"

Alarmed, Flare turned back to the mothership as sections of it began to flash with purple energy, the flashes becoming more prominent as Flare closed his eyes, bracing for his demise.

But, when he noticed the light fading, Flare took another look to see that the energy surges had stopped, a large purple explosion appearing on a section of the mothership as the red crystal structures started to lose their color.

Turning to Aegis, he asked him, "What just happened?"

The small robot gave a thankful grin on his face screen as he answered. "...It worked, it damaged the mothership's core significantly as it pulled more and more of the exterior armor apart!"

Taking in the information, Flare smiled as he looked back to the mothership, more explosions appearing around it as Flare sped forward, pressing the firing triggers as he called back the device.

"Let's get out of here!" The stallion said as he slowed his ship down in front of the shiny driver, which hooked itself back into it's large launcher just as Flare thrusted his flight sticks at max throttle once more. Turning the ship around back to the planet, Flare's ship and the Apollo's hull reflected a bright purple glow from the mothership as it continued breaking apart thanks to it's damaged core. After a good punch of speed upward, Flare squinted his eyes as the light became almost blinding, the mothership exploding behind his fighter as he slowed down, turning his ship around to get a better look at the sight behind him.

Flare smiled as he saw a large field of debris that was once the mothership floating out into space, the deployed minefield below his ship exploding as the sawflies that layed them began to seemingly drift off into space like the mothership's debris.

"Did we win?" Aegis asked as he turned to look at Flare.

"Yeah... I think we did." Flare said as he began to laugh in excitement, Aegis letting out a whoop of his own as the two celebrated.

After the moment of excitement had washed over them, Flare heard a beep from his control panel, indicating someone was trying to call him over the comms. Tapping the button, he could see two screens open up, one showing the captain of the Apollo, while the other showed Sweet Star, Twilight and her friends looking to him with smiles as Sarun spoke from behind Star. "That was quite an explosion up there!"

"Yeah, almost got blinded up here." Flare replied with a laugh as the Apollo's captain spoke up.

"Well done, Lieutenant Flare. If it weren't for you, we probably would've been turned to space dust over here."

Pinkie jumped into frame as she added, "Yeah, and on top of that, you saved Equestria 'cause of that up there!"

The Forge pilot smiled warmly as he replied to the captain. "Just doing my job, everyone."

Twilight smiled as she gave her thoughts to her friend. "Nonetheless, you did amazing up there, and we're all proud of you."

"Thank you, Twilight." Flare responded as Sweet Star spoke up.

"We'll get ourselves ready and meet you back at the Apollo, Pinkie's been eager to meet everyone up there."

"Do you really think we will be burned away so swiftly, rodent?" Another, unwelcome voice emerged through the comms as Flare's ears perked, Aegis sounding worried as he spoke to his maker.

"Uh, boss? I'm picking up another ship emerging from the rubble, and it's coming right at us!"

The stallion gripped his controls steadily as he looked to his friends. "Guys, keep the hangar open for me," Then, turning his ship around towards the mothership's wreckage, he finished with, "..I'm not coming home just yet."

Seeing as they couldn't convince him to think otherwise, the two parties looked to Flare in concern. "Be careful out there, Flare!" The captain said as Sweet Star spoke in urgency.

"Hold him off, Flare! We'll be up there soon!" The medical mare then began to make her way towards the nearby gladius dropship behind her alongside her friends as the signal cut out, leaving Flare and Aegis alone to confront their new enemy.

"It's about time you came to me, now why don't we settle this like real stallions would, or, men, as my pals say it?" Flare said with slight embarrassment as he pushed his throttle sticks forward, speeding towards The Immortal's ship as it flew towards the Apollo.

"Enough of this pitiful effort!" The Komplex commander said in anger as he tried to spot Flare's ship, which was nearing his position as he finished with, "I'll destroy you, Golden Flare, if it's the last thing I do!"

"We'll see about that, butcher!" Flare responded in a similar tone as he prepared to decloak, permitting him the ability to fire as he closed in on The Immortal's wasp.

Aboard the Apollo, Dawn Star watched through one of the exterior screen ports on her console as she witnessed the imminent battle, feeling a little worried for Flare's safety as she watched The Immortal's fighter close in towards the Apollo.

Pressing a button on his controls, Flare pressed the triggers as his ship decloaked, firing a concentrated wave of green bolts at the enemy craft. Almost all of the shots struck the fighter's hull as Flare sped past The Immortal, tapping the cloak back on as he began to turn for another pass.

Dawn watched in awe as her friend's ship vanished after delivering the sudden blow, cheering in excitement with a few of the other officers watching from the windows as she rooted for Flare. "Get him, Flare! You've gotta do it!"

Her messages couldn't be heard by Flare however as he continued speeding into the starry void beyond, preparing for another attack. The stallion seemed to take pleasure in his opponent's frustrated growl as he began to turn his ship back towards the slowing wasp. Tapping the cloak button and taking aim, Flare fired another round of shots at The Immortal, hitting the starboard wing several times before it broke off, Flare narrowly dodging past it as he tapped the cloak back on again.

The Immortal seemed to sound impressed at his opponent as he spoke to Flare, who sped up high into the stars again as he prepared for yet another attack pass. "It seems I have misjudged your kind by much more than I expected, you have discovered how to use the awesome power that the UJU technology possesses."

"You might as well give it up, Immortal, do you really think you can shoot down something you can't even see?" Flare retorted at the Komplex commander as he turned his ship around, preparing for another pass as his opponent spoke up.

"Well, as you're about to find out," The Immortal replied as his ship began to roll around slightly, it's dorsal side turning to face Flare's ship before he finished his sentence. "I've learned to do just that."

Pressing the triggers, Flare fired another wave of laser bolts at his opponent, once again damaging the previously repaired turret at the back as he sped towards The Immortal's ship.

The Forge pilot would realize his maneuver would be a terrible mistake, however, as a small device launched out from the wasp, reaching a good distance away from the fighter before exploding near Flare's ship. The stallion cried out in pain as he was flung around in his cockpit, the shockwave sending him flying across the battlefield as sparks and smoke bled out from the sabre's armor.

Dawn yelped in horror as she watched Flare's ship spiral through space, the damaged fighter emitting smoke as she witnessed the ensuing fight outside the Apollo.

Flare grunted as he tried to grip his controls, shaking his head as he heard The Immortal speak once more. "Ah, and so it ends, while you showed me promise as a warrior, I'm afraid this effort of yours was a futile one."

Flare tried moving his control sticks, but his sabre wouldn't move. Looking to Aegis, he opened his mouth to speak, but was stopped as The Immortal spoke up once more. "Now, you die."

Looking out his window, Flare could see a single missile shoot out from The Immortal's wasp, flying right at him as Aegis spoke up. "Well, it was a nice run we had, right boss?"

Flare looked to his friend one last time as he replied. "Yeah... Yeah it was." The two looked away from the tense sight above them, Flare closing his eyes as he waited for death.

But death would not be taking his life today, as another flurry of green bolts shot out at the missile, destroying it before it could hit Flare.

The voice of a familiar mare spoke through the comms as the stallion's eyes opened in surprise. "Get away from him, you monster!"

"Sweet Star?! What are you doing?!" Flare asked in surprise as he looked out his ship's window, a gladius dropship being escorted by two other sabres and a trident flying past him as his friend replied.

"Saving you two, that's what I'm doing!" As Flare's rescuers flew around The Immortal's starship, Flare looked to Aegis as the little robot returned the gesture.

"Aegis, can you get us moving again?" Aegis said as he tapped a few buttons on his console before replying.

"Sure, I can get our emergency thrusters to turn us around, but it won't get us far."

Flare smirked as he spoke to his friend. "Well, seeing what's happening up there, we won't need to." Looking out his window, he could see the trident gunship fly past the damaged wasp, the two aft turrets firing at it's aft side before the engine exploded, leaving The Immortal dead in the water as it sat in it's place.

Holding onto his triggers, Flare sat in his seat as his allies flew next to his ship, surrounding The Immortal as Flare's ship slowly turned around to face him.

The Immortal grunted in frustration as he spoke once again. "Agh, defeated... by a bunch of natives! This... this is impossible!"

Twilight sounded stern as she spoke to the Komplex leader. "Yeah, well, you may have your powerful ships and advanced weapons, but there's one thing Flare and the Forge have that you don't!"

"And it ain't that fancy UJU tech we found back there!" Rainbow yelled at The Immortal through the comms as Flare spoke up.

"No, it isn't. It's the magic of friendship!" Flare said with a smirk as he looked to Aegis, mouthing a word to him as the robot saluted in understanding. Then, turning back to the wasp ahead of him, Flare continued. "Also, my not-so-immortal friend, usually we ponies don't like to take the life of another in the face of judgement."

Flare turned back to Aegis as the robot spoke up. "Missiles are ready, boss!"

"But after what you did to us, and to my home, I think it's time we make an exception." Then, taking hold of the control sticks, Flare spoke once more to The Immortal. "See ya in Tartarus, space freak!"

With the press of his triggers, Flare fired a single missile at The Immortal's wasp, the Komplex commander letting out a final cry of anguish as his ship was struck right in the cockpit, the rest of the fighter exploded, breaking into several pieces as the fiery purple blaze subsided, Twilight, Sweet Star, and the others letting out cheers of victory as they watched the ship burn away.

As the blaze subsided, Rainbow cried out in excitement once more as she spoke to Flare over the comms. "Woohoo!!! That was some nice flying over there, buddy!"

"Ayep, y'all really gave him somethin' to remember!" Applejack added as Flare let out a laugh of his own.

Taking a deep breath, Flare looked to his allies, smiling at the sight of them as he replied to them. "Yeah, but I wouldn't have made it without you guys." Looking out into the stars, the stallion felt a comforting wave of peace as he added, "...And, after that little ordeal... I feel like I finally fulfilled a purpose I swore to accomplish a long time ago."

"Yeah, I can tell, cause Vapor and I are proud of you, pal!" The voice of Sky Stinger said as Flare looked to the trident at his right, the stallion waving to him from the turret window as Flare returned the gesture.

Then, hearing a zap of static on his comms, Flare looked down at his control panel to see the Apollo's captain and Dawn Star on the two screens, both of them looking to him warmly as the former spoke to Flare. "I think we can all agree when I say that in defeating one of the Komplex's most powerful commanders, you have done quite a great service for the Forge, not to mention one for your home planet as well."

"Yes, and Flare?" Sweet Star said over the comms as Flare replied back.

"Yeah?" The stallion looked over to the gladius transport at his left as his marefriend continued.

"I think if she was here, your wife would be proud of you for what you did there." Flare watched as Star trotted over to the cockpit of the Gladius, the mare looking out to him through the window as they both smiled warmly.

"Yeah, I think she would." Flare said as he broke eye contact with Sweet Star, turning to face the two screens below him as he looked to Dawn Star on the second screen with a cheeky grin. "And when I get back, I'm gonna give this little filly a big ol' hug!"

Dawn giggled a bit as the Apollo's captain spoke to him once more. "Well, what are you waiting for? The hangar's opened up for you all."

Flare smiled sheepishly as he replied to the captain. "Yeah, only one problem." Moving the control sticks around, Flare showed the Apollo's captain that he couldn't move, prompting the trident to his right to slowly fly above him before Tam spoke up.

"Don't worry, old friend. We'll get you back home in no time." As he said that, a small hook descended from the gunship, latching itself onto Flare's ship at the aft.

"Thanks, Tam." Flare replied as the gunship began to pull Flare's sabre around, the damaged ship turning as it's escort pulled it back to base.

"Ooohh! I can't wait to meet everyone aboard your ship, Flare!" Pinkie Pie said over the comms as Flare replied.

"Yeah, you're gonna have one heck of a night, I tell ya." The stallion laughed as Twilight spoke through the comms as well, the Apollo getting closer as the other ships followed Tam and Flare back to the carrier.

"Oh, about that, before you guys leave, I have something special I want to do for you back in Canterlot tomorrow."

"Oh?" Flare said with a raised eyebrow as the Princess of Friendship answered his curious words.

"The Forge won't be the only ones to celebrate with you and your friends. Do you think we can send a ship down to the city to prepare for a party down there?"

The Apollo's captain responded warmly. "Unfortunately, we don't have any other ships to spare after that battle, but once you're all on board, we'll get those dropships you're in ready for that task."

"Good enough for me, uh... what should I call you, sir?" Twilight said in confusion as she tried to prompt the captain to give a name for her to use.

The captain stifled a laugh as he replied. "Captain Hales, ma'am."

"Thanks, Captain Hales, that works much better now." Twilight replied as she laughed in embarrassment, Flare and the other pilots joining in with her as they flew back to the Apollo. After all that had happened that day, Flare felt that him and his friends could use a good rest. He also felt comfort at the fact that in destroying The Immortal and his fleet, he had avenged all those who had died all those years ago. Of course, as Flare would find out the next day, the celebration would be a good bit longer than he would expect.

Epilogue: The War Has Just Begun...

View Online

-Canterlot, Equestria-

...The next morning...

The sun shone brightly above the horizon as Golden Flare flew his sabre through the clouds, a single gladius dropship joined in formation next to him as they both flew to the city of Canterlot, which could be seen just ahead as it glistened in the sunlight. The party aboard the Apollo was one for the crew to remember, Pinkie had shown them all how well she knew parties, albeit stunning a few of the pilots and science officers aboard as they drank some of their replicated food that the party pony had taught them to make. Of course, not having the pure components for the real food, the results were only so close, but Pinkie felt they tasted delicious all the same.

And there was a sort of private "party" between Flare and Sweet Star, but they chose not to discuss that part with the others.

And the next morning showed promise for the future of Equestria besides having Twilight Sparkle as it's leader, the Forge High Command had received word of the exploits of Flare and his allies, and had not only given the stallion a promotion to the rank of Commander, but they had now gained a new, powerful ally to their fighting force, on behalf of Twilight, of course.

But Flare's little celebration with his old and new friends wasn't over just yet, as Aegis the stallion guided his ship above the now cleared out coronation area, taking notice of the large crowd of creatures gathered around the area. As the crowd began to clear a space for the two ships, Flare slowly descended down to the floor of the palace entrance, the landing gear extending out before touching the ground, the interior of the fighter shaking as the recoil took effect briefly.

Tapping a button on his controls, Flare opened the cockpit window before standing up, his ears being filled with cheering from the crowd around him. As Aegis flew up from his cockpit seat, Flare began to climb out of the cockpit, some of the crowd backing away a little as he was given space to touch his hooves to the floor.

As he took off his helmet to let his mane flow in the air, he looked to his right to see the crowd part ways to create a path for Twilight and the others, who trotted over to him as Celestia and Luna flew down to the group below them. As the two former rulers of Equestria touched their hooves to the floor, Celestia looked to Flare as she spoke. "It's good to see you in one piece, Golden Flare."

The stallion in question bowed in respect before Pinkie jumped near him, grinning excitedly as she added, "Yeah, and he saved our home up there, too! Did you see that big explosion from the mothership?!"

Luna laughed a little as she replied to the pink pony. "Yes, many of us here saw it while we were cleaning this place up for your return."

Turning her head over to Twilight, Celestia trotted over to her before speaking. "I also heard from our adversaries earlier last night about our new alliance with the Forge."

Twilight returned the smile on her former mentor's face as she replied. "Yeah, now that we've given those Komplex freaks a blow to their heads, we have the opportunity to ensure the prosperity of Equestria."

Luna seemed to raise an eyebrow as she asked Twilight, "Yes, and about those Komplex invaders, you said we defeated one of their leaders, yes?"

The princess nodded as Flare added his own details. "Yeah, and while we've won the battle above for now, the war has now come to Equus, and I don't think the Komplex will tread lightly after that huge flop they took here." After looking to the ground for a moment, the stallion then looked back up to the princesses before finishing. "Fortunately, the Forge and I aren't going to let that happen without a good fight, and with the UJU tech we found, they won't have much of a chance."

Dragon Lord Ember touched her claws to the floor as she spoke to Flare. "Well, we're not gonna leave you hanging on that thread after yesterday. My empire and I will be eager to give the Komplex a taste of what we can do!"

"Yaks shall help too! Komplex won't be ready for Yak strength!" Prince Rutherford said aloud as he and his fellow yaks around him stomped the ground, a few ponies clapping their hooves with them as Thorax and Pharynx trotted over to the group.

"I hope you have room for some spies, we changelings could give the Komplex quite the surprise with our abilities." Thorax said as Flare looked to the Changeling king with a smirk.

"That sounds like it could work, we could gather intel from many Komplex bases with you on our side." The stallion said as Twilight looked up to Celestia, giving a smug look of her own as she spoke to the former princess.

"Oh, did you get those little gifts for Flare and the others?" The tall equine nodded as she looked over to the palace gates, a single guard with a small, rectangular box trotting town the steps ahead of him as he began to make his way to the landing party nearby.

Sweet Star trotted over to Flare as the crowd continued watching them, the mare's kiss on her coltfriend's cheek eliciting a few whistles and more applauding hooves from the large gathering in front of them as Sweet's sister trotted over to them. The filly seemed ecstatic to see everyone looking to them as she asked Flare, "They really like you, huh Flare?"

The stallion laughed as he replied. "Yep, they do." The surviving trio of Stratusburg turned to face Twilight, the mare trotting over to them as she held a box in her magic.

Then, looking to the crowd of creatures around her, the Princess of Friendship gained their eyes and ears as she began. "Citizens of Equestria, as you have already seen, our world was threatened by a dangerous force from the stars above, but thanks to the actions of these three ponies and their robot comrade, among countless others, our home is able to see the dawn once more. Not only that, but with their help, we now have a new ally, one that will ensure our lands continue to thrive for generations to come."

The crowd became filled with eager smiles as Twilight opened the small box in front of her, pulling out four shiny necklaces before continuing. "And to show our gratitude for their actions, I hereby present our heroes the Equestrian Pink Hearts of Courage!"

The crowd cheered at the three ponies and hovering robot as they bowed down for Twilight, the mare placing the medals around their necks before looking to Aegis, who gave a concerned look as he saw the small size the band on the necklace had.

Seeing as it would be too small for his head to go through, the robot lifted a hand out, prompting a understanding look from Luna and Thorax as Twilight lifted the medal into Aegis' hand. "I'll save you the trouble, your Highness."

Twilight gave a slightly embarrassed look as she looked to Luna, the crowd laughing along with her as she spoke to the four Forge members. "I think we can all agree that you all have done a great service for Equestria, and in doing so, you've helped us gain a new ally from the stars above, one that can assist us in stopping the Komplex once and for all."

Flare and his friends nodded as the Princess of Friendship spoke up on the topic. "Yeah, and speaking of that, Captain Hales back on the Apollo told me that they want to set up a branch for their fleet here, with a defense squadron ready to protect it in case things get rough in the future." Then, looking to Flare and the others, the stallion replied with a salute.

"We would be honored to do that, Twilight." As he lowered his hoof back to the floor, Sky Stinger and Vapor Trail flew down next to them, the other Wonderbolts looking down at them as Sky spoke to them.

"About that, I had a chat with Captain Spitfire over it, and she says that they'd be happy to add to that team of yours, Flare."

"We'll give it our all up there... Once we have training, of course." Vapor added before blushing in embarrassment from that last part of her sentence before Rainbow flew up to Flare, looking curious as she spoke to the stallion.

"Yeah, and about that squadron of yours, ya thought of a name yet?"

Flare looked to his friends, then to Sky and Vapor as he thought for a moment. Finally, looking back to Rainbow Dash, he gave his answer. "Stratus Squadron seems to have a nice ring to it."

"Yeah, it does!" The cyan pegasus replied as she and Flare bumped hooves, the crowd cheering at the group before Pinkie spoke up.

"Yay! And I know just the thing to celebrate this occasion," In an insanely fast amount of time, Pinkie pulled out her party cannon from behind her before lighting the string at the end of it. As the fuse finished burning, the cannon shot a large amount of confetti into the faces of Flare and his friends before they all looked around. Feeling their heads with their hooves, the four Forge officers could feel a party hat planted on each of their heads, Pinkie zapping back to her party cannon before finishing her sentence. "A party!"

Flare and his friends laughed along with the crowd as he replied. "That sounds perfect."

The heroes of Equus laughed once more as the crowd joined in once more, celebrating their victory before beginning the celebrations that would most likely last until nightfall. For Flare and his friends, today was one they would remember for a long time, having finally delivered a critical blow to the Komplex and saved their home in the process, they had avenged their fallen friends and family back at Stratusburg, and not only that, but with their new alliance alongside the Forge, the Komplex would soon be given a run for their money thanks to the love and unity being shared amongst the many creatures and nations of Equestria.

For now, however, they would need to take their leisure and enjoy the fun times that would commence later that day. For after it was over, Equus' war against the Komplex would begin, and they would be among it's many defenders working to ensure peace and prosperity would continue to last over the course of the coming 26th Century.

|||THE END|||

Snap Ships: Battle for Equus

by Admiral Wyatt Stone

Prologue: Death of one life, and into another...

Act I: Mending Scars/The New Threat

Act II: The Explanation

Act III: Seeing Ghosts

Act IV: Secrets of the Ancients

Act V: Build to Battle

Epilogue: The War Has Just Begun...