Applejack is off to the far corners of the galaxy to fight for Ponydom. If she can survive the horrors of war, will she return as the same pony that left?
Applejack had always dreamed of serving the Princesses and earning her citizenship- even if that desire required her enlistment in the Equestrian Military. When her friends put pen to paper on their own enlistment orders, her future was made even more clear. Unfortunately for Applejack, nothing is as simple as it seems, and as Equestria is plunged into an interstellar war against a merciless foe, she will see just how far one needs to be willing to go in order to save everything they know and love.
(Readers who liked this also may enjoy Wing Commander, Starship Troopers, Freespace and Mass Effect.)
Unknown System, approximately 114 Light Years from Home
The survey ship Diligent emerged from sub-space with a violent shudder. That much was expected- her frame was hardly as sturdy as it once was, and the new sub-space drive the ship’s employers had installed before leaving Celestium decelerated the tiny vessel much faster than the previous model had. Still, it was a small price to pay, as the new system had allowed the Diligent to reach this system in only eight months. Technically, the ship’s corporate representative Mr. Rich would be remembered in the history books as the first to reach the new planet, but the crew didn’t mind. Their bank accounts were too heavy for them to worry about such trivialities.
The ship’s computer set to the task of awaking its occupants. If it could be grateful, it would have been, as nobody had died in hibernation, and only two had woken up early. Diamond Spring, the hibernation technician, would be pulling in a significant bonus upon their return.
Slowly, the twelve crew members began to stir from their eight month long comas. Captain Amber, as usual, made his way to the bridge first, pausing only a few times to reorient himself to zero-g. He was surprised to see Mr. Rich strapped down in the command chair. He did not gaze away from the view screen as Amber entered the room.
“Morning, sir.”
“Good morning, captain. I hope your sleep was enjoyable.”
Amber swallowed hard. Had Mr. Rich been awake for eight months?
“Yes sir, but I’m glad to be awake. The crew will be along shortly.”
“Very good, Amber. Please see to it that they get to work straight away. The sooner we can leave this place, the better. And the sooner you all get paid, it would seem. I trust that the new engine hasn’t collapsed on itself?”
The inflection on the tail end of the sentence was hard for Amber to judge. Did Mr. Rich think that his crew would allow something that catastrophic to happen on his watch?
“I should think not, sir, but I will have the engineers double check everything straight away.”
Mr. Rich finally looked at the captain. His face betrayed nothing.
“Very good, Captain. That will be all.” He turned back to the view screen, clearly dismissing the red stallion. Amber gave a wanting glance at his chair before floating off to find the rest of his crew.
----
Diligent had been in the system for sixteen rather boring hours. The ship was equipped with some mining and survey gear, as well as a few landing craft to make use of them, but they remained stowed for the time being. Captain Amber had insisted on sending his fleet of tiny probes to scout the system for any dangers to the ship that their long range scanners had failed to pick up. I would take time, but the safe return of the vessel was Amber’s chief concern, no matter how restless his miners got. Mr. Rich had begrudgingly agreed with the decision, though, so the crew was compelled to wait for the results of the scan. Things had proceeded routinely, until a probe disappeared.
Amber hovered over his console with Mr. Rich at his side.
“I trust this will not delay us any further?”
“Well, sir, we can reroute one of the others to scan the area after it finishes its zone. It will add an hour or so, but that’s better than having a hole punched through our hull by an asteroid. Sir.”
Amber was briefly surprised by tone of his own response, but he stuck behind its content. Company bottom lines were one thing, but the safety of his ship was something else entirely. Mr. Rich seemed to understand, but there was no mistaking the frustration in his face. The two stallions remained at the console for a few minutes in silence, until another probe disappeared. It was followed quickly by two more. Mr. Rich raised his eyebrows at Amber.
“Captain, forgive my lack of surveying experience, but it would seem that your probes are not proving very helpful today.”
“Sorry, sir. I don’t know what happened. We just got these at Celestium, had to unwrap them today before launching.”
“Then perhaps there is indeed something out there that our long range scanner has missed? Or perhaps. . .”
Mr. Rich halted his sentence when he saw that Amber was no longer looking at him, but at the view screen. His jaw dropped at the sight.
Not two hundred meters from Diligent’s bow lay the largest ship either pony had ever seen. Jet black, its outline was hard to make out against the backdrop of space, but accents of a bright red emanated from various points of the ship. It hung, motionless, the dagger edge of what Amber presumed to be the bow pointing at the pony vessel’s bridge. Two equally sharp points hung below it, each vibrating the same red that covered the rest of the ship. How it had gotten there so quickly, Amber had no idea. At least the mystery of the probes was probably solved, though.
For what seemed like an eon, the two ship hung in space, nearly touching, the behemoth alien vessel looking like an ebony sea serpent ready to devour a fish in one of Home’s oceans. A bridge officer on board Diligent had the presence of mind to attempt a scan of the new arrival, but found herself blocked by some sort of shielding around the vessel. Finally, Mr. Rich broke the silence.
“Helm, get us out of here, if you please.”
The ship’s pilot, once nudged out of his trance by a crew mate, reached for the control labeled “full reverse.” He activated it, and the ship’s engines hummed to life. The pilot looked up at the teeth of the alien ship, and saw them glowing even stronger than before. He looked back to the Captain for instructions and reassurance.
Amber, however, was glued to his view screen. Mr. Rich began to speak, but was also distracted by the now nearly blinding energy building at the knife points of the vessel. As he reached for the toggle to polarize the view screen, everything turned white, and the Diligent ceased to exist.
----
ECY 995
Canterlot Palace
“. . . making this the twelfth diplomatic probe to be destroyed in the last year.”
Princess Celestia sighed at her adviser and looked back out the window. She had just raised the sun, and her fatigue was visible, but she could not be angry at Scrollbound for his intrusion. She had, after all, gave orders to be notified about any development on the Antaran situation.
Scrollbound continued with specifics on the missing probe, but Celestia tuned him out, her Royal countenance betraying nothing. It wasn’t as if she had nothing else on her plate, with the Griffons acting up again, a drought destroying much of Dodge City’s crops, and the nagging feeling, at the back of her mind, that very soon she would need to deal with. . . her.
Scrollbound raised an eyebrow, the tell tale sign that he was expecting a response from the Princess. Sheepishly, Celestia grinned at her trusted adviser, letting him know that, once again, her mind was elsewhere. Without missing a beat, the unicorn repeated his query.
“Should the question of mobilization be put to the Parliament, your Highness?”
“I do not think this is yet prudent, Scrollbound. We have yet to see any outward aggression from the Antarans, besides the unfortunate incident with the mining fleet. But they have done nothing outside of what we believe to be their own territory. Perhaps if we leave them alone, as I have said for years, we could avoid any more conflict.”
The adviser rose to disagree, but Celestia shushed him with a hoof. She welcomed the disagreement, and relished the times she and Scrollbound had argued over policy points, as he was one of the few to disagree with her over anything in nearly a millennium. But this discussion had run its course, and she did not want to have it repeated. Not today, at least.
“No, my most trusted adviser, we have had this discussion before. We will not mobilize anything at present.”
The stallion’s ears drooped in defeat.
“But, I trust that the. . . other plans we have made are progressing along smoothly?”
The ears perked up again.
“Yes, your highness. The whole process is being refined as we speak, but it is more or less finished. If you. . .”
He was cut off once again by the princess.
“Not today, Scrollbound. I hardly want to hear any of that unpleasantness so early in the morning. Besides, we must attend to that . . . other matter if we even want to consider our plans for Equestria.”
Scrollbound nodded in silent acknowledgement, and rose from his seat. Bowing, her turned to leave to room, but stopped at the door and turned back to the Princess.
“Highness, that reminds me of an odd report that came across my desk last week. It seems a rather peculiar unicorn mare has applied for your school. . .”
----
ECY 1000
Canterlot Palace
Princess Luna had not looked forward to her first night alone. The festivals and parades throughout Equestria had taken their toll on her psyche, especially considering that she went from complete isolation to being the center of attention in what seemed like an hour. The outpouring of affection and love was overwhelming, and she had broken down in tears several times during her welcome back tour. Regardless, she had dreaded being alone again, with nothing to keep her company but the stars and her former prison, high above her old room in the Palace. Being alone was, understandably, she thought, not something Luna was very fond of. Still, she was glad to be back in her old home, and gladder still to be free of the chains her sister had placed on her all those years ago. She had forgiven her sister, and the older alicorn showed no signs of not returning the favor, but both could tell it would take many years before either Princess truly allowed the rift between them to settle.
The moon now in place, Luna closed the bedroom window and turned into her study. The cushions felt brand new, and she took a few moments to become comfortable before beginning her ritual. The Princess’ banishment to the moon had not completely severed her ties to the world of Equestria’s dreams, but the shackles that bound her also prevented her from entering the illusions her subjects conjured in their slumber. For a millennium, she had been nothing more than a spectator, and it affected her deeply. At first, the dreams were frightful,giving her a taste of the pure terror she had inspired in the populace, but as time floated on, the prosperity of Equestria permeated the dream world as well.
Recently, though, the nightmares had been returning. For nearly a decade, the dreams of her former subjects were bathed in subtle fear of the unknown, as whispers of a violent force from the other side of the galaxy crept through Equestria. As Nightmare Moon, she had relished this trepidation, but Princess Luna allowed it to horrify her. She could hardly blame her subjects. Even she, the Princess of the Night, had reacted to the new neighbors with some shock. The populace, it seemed, took the revelation that they were not alone even more poorly. She silently promised herself to do anything in her power to allow her subjects peace in the night, even if she couldn’t promise the same during the day.
She didn’t know how long she had been wandering the dream world when the door to her study opened. Unsure of what to say, Luna opened her eyes and turned to the intruder. Celestia, absent her royal regalia, stood in the doorway.
“Sister.”
“Highness.”
Celestia chuckled, and walked in to the study, sitting across from Luna.
“Luna, you know you don’t have to address me like that. You and I are equals, the way it was meant to be. You also don’t need to keep on with the Royal Canterlot voice, you know. That went out of style quite a while ago!”
A small smile crept across Luna’s face. “Forgive me, Tia. It is just so strange to be back among you all, as you can imagine.”
The older sister continued to smile. “I can certainly imagine that the last few weeks have been hard for you, Luna. And I know that you must require some solitude to fully process what has happened, which I have surely robbed you of since your return. But there is something I must ask of you first, if you would do me the honor.”
“Of course, sister.”
The smile was gone now, replaced by a blank face that Scrollbound would mistake for blankness, but Luna knew masked deep and troubling thoughts.
“You know of the Antarans, I would guess.”
“I do. Your. . . our subjects seem to be most frightened of them. Their peaceful slumbers are often terminated at the claws of an alien. Even tonight, I have saved more than a few ponies from gruesome fates. I trust you have something in mind to remedy this, no?”
Celestia stared off into space, not meeting Luna’s inquisitive gaze.
“Sister?”
The Sun Princess sighed and turned back to her younger sister.
“I do have something in mind. It has been on my mind for a millennium, and had the Elements of Harmony failed against Nightmare Moon, I would have used it to combat her. But now, Equestria is threatened by something far worse than Nightmare Moon, and the ancient plans must be awoken. Streamlined or this modern era, of course, but basically unchanged.”
This was new information to Luna, who was, of course, not privy to the plans Celestia had made against her and Nightmare Moon. She could tell that the sharing of this information, which could enrage a lesser pony, or remind her of past sins, meant that things were quite serious.
“I understand, Tia, but what do these plans entail?”
Celestia told her. Luna listened intently, silently, her countenance betraying nothing. The elder sister finished and waited for a response.
None came. The silence hung between the sisters for some time.
Celestia continued.
"Of course, the foundations must be laid sooner rather than later. Ship construction, weapons research, the like. . ."
Luna finally interrupted.
“Tia, you know what this means, do you not? Our sacred oath to Equestria requires us protect the rights of our subjects. Going to war violates our contract with Equestria. Under dire circumstances, of course, but actively planning for war? Decades before we are even capable of waging it? This is wrong, Tia, and on too many levels.”
Celestia snapped back at her younger sister. “Do you think I do not know that, sister? Do you think that I would not even consider this if all of Equestria, all of Home even, were not in dire peril? Even with you returning, we together are not strong enough to fight this. And we will need to fight, I can assure you. These creatures are not to be reasoned with. If we want to fulfill our oaths and foster the growth of ponydom, we need to take action. Waiting to be struck will do no good for anypony. And I need you, Luna. I need you to help me. Equestria needs both of us.”
The younger Princess contemplated this. She was loathe to agree to such a plan, but despite her inner fear and anger, Luna understood. She knew that her sister would not resort to such measures if she didn’t feel that they were needed, and it was obvious that she had spent many years in deep thought. That she had waited for Luna's return to begin preparations also spoke to her need for assistance. Luna could guess what Celestia had in mind for her, as well.
“Alright Tia. I will trust your judgement, and I trust that you will not abuse your powers.”
“That is why you are here, Luna. Together, we can keep each other from betraying the trust our subjects have placed upon us.”
Luna rose and walked to her window, the deep blue of her magical aura silently opening it. She stared at the stars, once her only companions, and sighed.
“And I gather that you require my services to. . . suggest to our citizens why our their safety will require such measures? A subtle nod in the night, perhaps?”
“You know me too well, Luna.”
Luna looked back to the sky and closed her eyes. Life as half of Equestria’s regency never got dull, at least.
Applejack usually winked back at the stars, but tonight, it hardly felt appropriate.
It was a real shame, too, as she looked at one of the clearest and most luminous nights that Ponyville had had in a long while, especially considering that their best weatherpony had been gone for a month.
Applejack closed her eyes and sighed, her hooves following the winding path through the orchard by memory, letting the worn path guide her as always. Had it really been a month already? She felt a tear start to form, but forced it back. Not tonight, she thought. Please not tonight.
Instead, the farm pony continued between the trees until the clubhouse came into view, just as it had done for years. Although, Applejack had to admit, it had never looked as spruced up during her tenure as steward than it did now. A faint light slipped between the cracks in the wood.
Applejack climbed through the filly sized door and allowed her eyes to adjust to the light inside the cabin, which was softer and darker than the bright guidance of the stars and Luna’s moon outside. Apple Bloom’s huddled figure was wedged further into the corner than Applejack thought was possible, and she was shivering, though probably not from the cool breeze flowing through the orchard.
Applejack was too blunt for these situations, and she knew it; memories of comparing sisterhood to an apple pie popped into her head. She sighed once more, and decided that honesty, of course, would be the best tactic.
“Ah’ know yer upset sugar cube. But this is something ah just gotta do, ya see?”
The youngest Apple looked up at her sister with eyes the size of her namesake. Her voice was quivering and raspy, and giving away the fact that she’d been crying.
“But Big Mac doesn’t have to go!”
Applejack sighed. She knew that this was coming.
“That’s true, sis, but that is his choice. He thinks his destiny is to be a peasant farmer his whole life, and that his right. But me, ah have to . . .”
“But you don’t have to! You should stay here on the farm! Stay with me and Big Mac! Or with Fluttershy!”
“Ah’m sorry, Apple Bloom. Perhaps yer too young to understand. . .”. A thought struck Applejack. “What if ah told ya that ma wantin’ to enlist is a lot like yer lil’ cutie mark crusade?”
At the mention of her quest, Apple Bloom’s ears pricked up. She considered for a second.
“But ya already have yer Cutie Mark, sis! You’re done searchin’ for who ya are!”
Sensing a breakthrough, Applejack smiled at her sister. “That’s true, sis, but ah can’t stop asking myself- what if there’s more out there? What if, in this whole big galaxy, there’s hundreds of opportunities of self discovery just waitin’ for me ta, well, discover? Would you be okay with earnin’ yer cutie mark and then quittin’ yer search, even if ya knew that there was so much more for you to see and do?”
Apple Bloom wasn’t convinced, but she chewed on the thought for a bit. “I guess not. . .”
“And besides, haven’t ah always told ya bout yer duty to yer family?” Apple Bloom nodded. “Aint all of ponydom our family too? Don’t ah have an obligation to help ponies that need it? Who knows? Maybe they’ll have me on an orchard on some colony world, helpin’ build a home for some ponies, like we did with Braeburn and Appleoosa!”
Apple Bloom must have not thought of that before, as her smile slowly returned. Small and contained as it was, the room grew brighter with it.
“So you won’t be fighting those Antarans?”
“Course not! Why, ah reckon as soon as they see these here apples on ma flank, they’ll have me goin in the complete other direction! Probly some gardeb world those Ants don’t even know about. Green pastures as far as the eye can see, just waitin fer an orchard or two.”
Apple Bloom considered this for a few seconds. “Well, ah guess that won't be so bad . . .” she said with a bittersweet grin. Applejack thought she was in the clear, but as soon as it had appeared, Apple Bloom’s smile disappeared, replaced once more by that heart wrenching frown. “But that still means that ah won’t get ta see ya, Applejack. Three years is a long time, and ah should know all about waitin for things . . .”
Applejack was prepared for this thought process, and meant to cut it off before it could really deflate her sister. “Aww, Apple Bloom, you know yer not alone. Big Mac will never leave ya, ya hear? Plus, with Rainbow and Rarity gone, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle are gonna need you more than ever, ah’reckon. So ah’m countin on ya to keep them outta trouble, understand?”
The ploy worked as Applejack had hoped, and Apple Bloom perked up again with the chance to make her sister proud. The filly might not have too many things figured out in life, but she takes to a chance to prove herself like a fish takes to water thought the elder sister.
“Plus, I’ll be writin’ to ya every chance I get!”
Apple Bloom smiled in a way that would have seemed impossible ten minutes ago.
“Really!?”
“Count on it, sugarcube.”
----
The sun’s rays crept across Applejack's sheets the next morning to find a disheveled earth pony waiting for them. Her discussion with Apple Bloom the night before had comforted her for sure, but she had slept in fits and spurts regardless. Her brother’s glare when she returned from the clubhouse hadn’t helped matters either. Applejack tried to be as quiet as possible walking down the creaky stairs, so as to not wake him, allowing for a lecture free breakfast. His presence at the kitchen table robbed her of that hope.
“Macintosh.”
“AJ.”
The two stared at each other, neither moving an inch. Knowing that her older sibling could wait long enough to watch a pipe rust, Applejack sighed and sat down across from the red stallion.
“Going to start harvesting the west field this week?”
“Eeyup.”
“Ah can ask Fluttershy to get all her friends outta there, so ya don’t hafta . . .”
Big Mac slammed a mighty hoof down on the table, cutting his sister off.
“Don’t you go acting like today is some normal day, AJ. Cuz it aint, and ah reckon we won’t have one anywhere close to normal now that you’re runnin off.”
Applejack held her ground, and stared right back at the now fuming stallion.
“Ah’ve told ya a hundred times, big brother, ah aint runnin off. Ya’ll don’t need me round here, and you’ve certainly made up your mind about yer future. But ah just can’t go on thinking that I left anything on the table. Ah want to be a citizen. I want to vote, to protect our livelihood, maybe to run for office. And I want to serve the Princesses. Ah’ve respected your choice, so you let me make mine.”
“Do you really believe any of them horseapples? ‘Servin the princesses’ and all that? Please, AJ, I know yer friend Twilight has a hard on for those two, but you. . .”
“Don’t you talk about my friends that way! Or the princesses either! I know what this is all about. You know that ah’ll come back a citizen, and you’ll be wishing for the rest of yer life that you had what it takes to move up in life!”
Mac rose angrily, his chair flying backwards into a wall. The screech could be heard throughout the farmhouse. His voice rose to similar levels.
“Ah’ll be wishin that you didn’t come home in a box, and that I didn’t have to explain to Apple Bloom why her sister abandoned her!”
Applejack was yelling now, too. “Who says I’ll be coming home in a box? Heck, ah’ll probably not even get to the front. . .”
“You don’t honestly believe that, AJ. Ah may just be a simple peasant to you, but I know which way the wind is blowing . Those Antarans are done talking. War is coming, and Sweet Apple Acres needs you here and alive, not blown out of an airlock or ripped to shreds on the other side of the galaxy. Ya’ll can lie to me, and ya’ll can lie to yer sister, but ya can’t lie to yerself, AJ. If you get on that transport, the likelihood of this family losing another member . . .”
Her temper now completely lost, Applejack didn’t let her brother finish the thought. “And so what then! At least I’ll have done my part! Not sitting around here plowing something for the rest of my life! At least I’ll have been someone that. . .”
Applejack stopped short, noticing that her brother was staring somewhere behind her. The earth mare turned, slowly, and saw Apple Bloom in the doorway, tears streaming down her face. Her voice quivered.
“Ah thought you weren’t gonna fight, sis?”
Her own tears welling, Applejack turned back towards her brother, beseeching him. He sighed a heavy, defeated sigh, and walked over to nuzzle his youngest sister.
“Aw, shucks, sugarcube, yer sis and I were just havin a little fight is all. I’m just worried that AJ’s gonna get hurt, that somethin bad might happen. But I’m just being overprotective is all. S’a big galaxy out there, and I doubt any of them Ants will ever get a peak at yer sister here. ‘Sides, if any of them did, they’d be mighty sorry, right AJ?”
Sensing the opportunity borne of silent compromise, Applejack jumped right into the hole Big Mac had opened. “You betcha! Tell me, Apple Bloom, have any Antarans ever seen the business end of the best apple-bucker in all of equestria?” Apple Bloom smiled and shook her head. “Heck, ah bet if any of them get to see so first hand, they’ll be beggin’ for us to let them go back to their side of the galaxy all nice and peaceful like.”
Apple Bloom took the bait and perked right back to her normal self. It killed Applejack inside to have to lie to her sister, and Big Mac, sensing her discomfort, started to lead Apple Bloom outside. “Come on now,” he said. “If you’re gonna be our new apple salespony, Ah’ got to teach ya how to sell apples better than your sister did. Ah’ think Bon Bon still has half of last year’s harvest in her cupboard.”
Apple Bloom smiled at her older sister, and, after running over to give Applejack a hug, allowed herself to be ushered out of the room. The middle Apple child remained inside and sat to think. Her thoughts were not happy ones.
----
It was midday, and Applejack had already packed her bag with the meager amount of things she was allowed to take. The high speed rail to Canterlot, and to that big shuttle to wherever Celestia’s service deemed her necessary, didn’t leave for a few more hours, so she found herself wandering through town. Ponyville, despite its busy streets packed with lunchtime traffic, seemed empty these days, and with good reason.
The populace busied about, unaware and almost uncaring for Applejack’s mental anguish. The mare chided herself for thinking that way, though. Not their fault, I’m the least of everyone’s problems, what with this recession, Ponyville’s continuing hoofball championship drought and the threat of hostile alien invasion constantly on ponies minds.
She chuckled at that last bit, but halfheartedly. Big Mac had made a point earlier. Even simple folk like themselves knew that the situation with the Antarans was degrading rapidly, and war was being discussed more and more, albeit in hushed tones after the foals had gone to bed.
Despite this, or perhaps because of it, it seemed that Sugar Cube Corner was doing a brisk business, with the line stretching out the door as Applejack approached. She found herself wondering whether this was a sign of a booming cupcake trade within, or that the Cakes hadn’t yet found a way to make up for Pinkie Pie’s absence. She guessed it was the latter.
Pinkie had left a week earlier, a special chariot picking her up in front of the confectionery. Despite her reluctance to do so, the Pink earth pony had been coaxed into joining the mining service, and was bound for one of the many asteroid belt outposts surrounding Home. It made sense that Pinkie would choose this path, considering her upbringing on a rock farm. Her skills as a natural organizer had left quite an impression upon the recruiting officers that visited Ponyville, and Applejack was sure that Pinkie would be, in no time at all, in charge of both the happiest and most efficient mining crews in the entire system. Although she still doubted in Pinkie’s claim that she’d have her mining vessel painted bright pink within a week of her arrival.
It would be boring work, even for a pony as easily entertained as Pinkie, but she would be relatively safe within the Home system. Rarity couldn’t, however, make the same claim. It was certainly a coincidence that Applejack should wander by what used to be the Carousel Boutique at this point, but the earth pony couldn’t help but let her thoughts drift to her unicorn friend. Oddly enough, Rarity had joined the mining service as well, albeit in a much different capacity. Her talent for finding precious gems, once calibrated to look for metals needed by the Celestial Navy, would be invaluable assets for Equestrian Command. Unfortunately for Rarity, every possible mining target within reasonable distance had already been found, so her talents would need to be utilized thousands of light years from home. The not so well kept secret that Antaran space was minerally rich beyond compare made Applejack feel even worse about her fancy friend.
Of all her friends that had enlisted, it surprised Applejack the most that Rarity would have gone off to (possibly, hopefully not) war. But citizen businesses saw extremely favorable tax breaks, and the stallions of the Canterlot Elite were almost always citizens as well, so the choice made sense in the long term.
“Besides,” the snow white unicorn had told her friends, “What kind of Element of Generosity would I be without using my talents to benefit all of ponydom?”
And so Rarity had left on the same chariot as Pinkie Pie, keeping her composure throughout all of the goodbyes and well wishes, though the slight bags under her eyes hinted at a sleepless few hours the night before. Pinkie Pie was as excited as ever, and delighted in being able to throw a double good luck party before the pair departed.
Applejack remembered tracing the flight of the chariot over Carousel Boutique, which she now found herself staring at. It had only been a few days, but the place looked as if it had been empty for years. Sweetie Belle was too young to run things, and three years was a long time to be paying taxes and rent on an empty building, so Rarity had sold the shop to Filthy Rich. Applejack wished she could have bought the place herself, if only to keep Rich’s hooves off of it, but the mare knew that any price she would have offered would both have been much lower than Rich’s, and accepted by her friend at a considerable loss.
Continuing her trot through town, Applejack paused to admire the beautiful, cloudless day the weather ponies had conjured up. With Rainbow Dash gone . . .
Applejack swallowed hard. She didn’t want to think about Rainbow Dash right now, or about the unopened letter, addressed simply to “AJ”, that was sitting on her nightstand back at the farm. Rainbow was her best friend (and nothing more, she would remind the town gossips) and they had parted amicably, but there were some memories too painful to recall without a lot of time having passed.
Instead, Applejack wandered towards the town library. She knew that Twilight had been gone for over two months, but it felt only natural to wander over this way. Even Spike’s subsequent departure hadn’t dampened her internal compass enough to keep the farm pony from wandering to the giant tree in the middle of Ponyville. Much to her surprise, a bright yellow Pegasus was already there, sitting peacefully under the shade of the tree.
“Howdy Fluttershy! Fancy seein’ ya round here these days.”
“I know,” the pink maned pegasus timidly replied. “But I figured you would walk this way eventually. I know I can’t help myself from doing so.”
Sitting down next to the pegasus, Applejack removed her hat and ran a hoof through her mane. The two sat in silence for several minutes, watching passers-by go about their daily business. The sun continued on its course through the sky, stretching the shadows in front of the pair.
“Fluttershy, can ah ask ya something?”
“Of course, Applejack.”
“Do ya ever, ya know, regret your decision?”
Fluttershy sighed, but smiled at her friend. “I figured you’d ask that.” Applejack started to apologize, but the pegasus waved a hoof to calm her down. “It’s fine you know, everyone else asked me the same thing. There are times when I do regret not going with you all, but then I remember that my place is here, with my animals and my cottage. And Angel of course, although he’d never admit it.” She chuckled at the thought, and Applejack joined her.
“But what if ma place isn’t out there, and it really is here with the apples? What if ah’m making a mistake?”
“Oh Applejack, you’re not making a mistake. For me, I was absolutely sure of where my place was from the moment I got my cutie mark. I can care for animals, and I love doing it. I’ve never once looked to the stars for more than anything but a glance. But you, Applejack, you’re destined for more than that. We’ve all seen the way you look to the sky for so much more than the rest of us. Plus, you’ve always wanted to be a citizen, even more than Twilight. And I just know you’ll make a great one!”
Applejack blushed a shade similar to the apples on her flank. “Wait a sec, yer saying Twilight doesn’t want to be a citizen? Have you been listening to her for the past two years?”
“Oh, of course I’ve been listening, but I’ve been seeing, too. I think that citizenship has never really been the goal for Twilight. I think she wants to impress the princess, and citizenship has been an end to that goal. She also gets to do her research in the best laboratories in the Galaxy and not a rather flammable basement, so that definitely doesn’t hurt,” she added with a smirk. “But you’re citizen material! And how can the Element of Honesty not be a citizen?”
“What about Kindness?”
“Oh no. Sometimes I think that our society has no room for kindness anymore.” Fluttershy’s ears dropped, and she looked as dejected as Applejack could remember. “And I’m sure that when those nasty Antarans attack, kindness will be the last thing on anyone’s mind.” A tear rolled off of Fluttershy’s face, landing with a soft splash in the grass. She continued, “Oh, look at me, crying on your big day. I’m sorry Applejack, I know you want me to be strong for . . .”
This time it was Applejack’s hoof that shushed her friend, and the earth pony shuffled sideways until she had Fluttershy in a full on hug, the kind reserved for a sick Apple Bloom or, in this case, a distraught friend.
“Now listen here, sugarcube. Ya once told me that sometimes, we all need to be shown a little kindness. Never forget that, ya hear? Never, ever forget that, and never stop being who you are. Celestia knows that kindness might just get us out of this mess someday. Understand?”
The pegasus peered through her long, pink mane and smiled at her friend.
“Good. And as fer me, don’t you worry. This old farm pony can handle herself no problem. And when ah get back, you’re gonna show me all the new bunnies we have to count up, ya hear?”
For the second time that day, Applejack had brought a mare back from the brink of tears.
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
“Pinkie Pie promise?”
“Now don’t you start with that too, sugarcube.”
----
The train was in the station, but Applejack knew that it wouldn’t depart for at least twenty more minutes. She had said goodbyes to everyone else in town, grabbed her things from her room, and passed her hat down to Apple Bloom, who’d likely never wear it off of the farm. That suited Applejack just fine, as the bow worked much better on the filly anyway. Still, the ritual was important, and Applejack felt very odd to be walking around without her trusty stetson. She hadn’t been hat-less (on purpose, at least) since before her mother had passed it down to her.
She checked once more to be sure that the sealed letter from Rainbow Dash was secure in her saddlebags. She didn’t know why it remained unopened, and had no idea when she would actually read the darn thing. Perhaps she wanted something to look forward to during her future ordeals. Perhaps she was afraid it would contain only pain, although she wasn’t sure what kind of pain that would include, regardless of what Aloe and Lotus would tell their clients.
She made her way to a worn apple tree a ways off from the farm itself. The aromas of the orchard, the grass and the rich soil wafted through the earth mare’s nose as she sat in front of three large stones, one of which was still rooted in dirt, as opposed to the grassy surroundings of the other two.
“I know ya’ll said that its no place for a farm pony to go running around the stars but . . .” This time, Applejack started to tear up, the combined emotions of a month of agony pouring out all at once.
“Ah want to go and make something of ma self. This farm, these apples. . . this was all you three. You three and Big Mac. Ah want to do somethin for ma self. Ah’m mighty grateful, of course. But. . .” Struggling for words now, Applejack was openly sobbing.
“Ah just want to make ya’ll proud of me. Ah want to serve and for my service to mean something. Ah know its dangerous, but ya raised me to be able to handle anything and ah love you guys, and ah just want to prove it so bad, but ah can’t. Ah just can’t. So I need to prove it to myself first, ah guess.”
She sat for a few more minutes, allowing the tears to flow down her face. The whistle of the train, which years of experience told her would leave in five minutes, sounded across the orchard. She rose up, tears still falling, and wiped the dirt off of her hooves.
“And if things go wrong, we can keep each other company.”
The train whistled through the Equestrian countryside, going faster than Applejack had remembered it being capable of. Perhaps it was imagination, or, more likely, anticipation. She checked her watch, and saw that an hour remained before she’d reach Canterlot. The trip had been uneventful. She sat alone, towards the back of a passenger car, across from two pegasi stallions in full military dress uniform. She thought of striking a conversation, but the pair had been ambushed a stop after Ponyville by a gaggle of starry eyed fillies looking to marry into citizenship, and Applejack sensed the moment was long for her to join in without appearing to be one of their ilk.
She busied herself by watching the green pastures of Equestria’s central plain give way to the mountains of the Capital region. As the train gained elevation, the activity Applejack observed beyond the pane of glass was steadily increasing. Large telescope-like structures, probably 20 meters high, dotted the landscape in varying stages of completion.
“They’re Planetary Beam Cannons” she had heard one of the officers describe earlier. “300 kilometer range, 300 kilo-cells a blast. Going up all over Home. Not like we’ll ever need them, right G?”
His companion, whose name tag read “FORCE”, didn’t even look up from the mare on his arm. “Hell no. Not if Manticore Squadron has anything to say about it. And don’t you worry your pretty little mane about it. Because we will, trust me.”
Applejack had turned away, not so much in disgust, but more so in frustrated amusement. There seemed to be a heck of a lot of those cannons going up around Canterlot; it seemed like a lot of bits to spend on something that wouldn’t see any use.
But it wasn’t the overconfidence of the the Pegasi that bothered her. It was obvious from their dress and demeanor that the two were fighter pilots, and Manticore Squadron was one of the best in the Navy. Which is why Rainbow Dash had made it her stated goal to fly with them. Subconsciously, Applejack reached into her saddlebags, feeling the weightless shape of Rainbow’s letter. It was still there, unopened. But the time wasn’t quite yet right, so her hoof slunk out of the bag and back to her lap.
Rainbow would be fine, Applejack thought. She’s much better than those two, right? They could talk all they want, but nobody could pull of a Sonic Rainboom besides the Element of Loyalty.
“Not that that matters in space.” she said quietly, turning back towards the window.
The scenery had completely changed by now, with the crags of the Canterlot highlands replaced by the sparkling white of Canterlot proper. Applejack had always loved looking up at the massive spires of the Palace, letting their enormity wash over her. But today felt much different than any of her previous visits. She hadn’t been in the capital for some time, not since the Crystal Empire incident years before. She missed those days, when she and her five friends had been able to tackle almost any challenge through (and it pained her to use such a cliche) the magic of friendship. Even wielding the Elements of Harmony had been a fun part of the job, despite the horrors of her frue-fruey necklace that came with such power. She let the nostalgia occupy her mind until the train glided into the station.
After retrieving her bag, Applejack sat in the area designated for new recruits. Trains from Hoofington and Baltimare were still on their way, so the farm pony knew she had some time to kill. She let her mind wander to the last time she’d even thought about the Elements of Harmony.
----
It was a summer afternoon, three months ago; one of the last times all six had been together without the specter of their separation clouding the future, but the first time it had become a real possibility. Mail had arrived for each mare, not from Ponyville’s clumsy mail pony, but from the official Equestrian Selective Service. The six had gathered in their usual pony-pet-play date spot to open their letters together.
“All right! Lead Manticore Rainbow Dash, at your service!” The cyan pegasus had torn her envelope opening it, and the contents drifted to the ground while their recipient did a celebratory back flip through the air. She was joined mid maneuver, somehow, by Pinkie Pie.
“Awww yeah Dashie! You’ll be a super duper ace in no time!”
The four ponies remaining on the ground giggled together, and the two airborne mares gradually made their way back to fill in the circle in the grass.
“Hey Rarity! Bet you’ll never guess what I got!” the Pink confectioner asked her unicorn friend in a teasing, sing-song voice. The fashionista sized up Pinkie Pie, who was buzzing with excitement. She made a show of thinking hard, and then replied in her practiced, sophisticated tone.
“Well darling, I think you obviously were the first choice for the Equestrian Naval Band, hmm? Playing every instrument, no doubt.”
“WRONG! Guess again!!”
This time Rarity scratched her chin, putting some more thought into the equation.
“Victualing service? Baking cupcakes for the troops?”
“Nnnnnope!”
“Personal Assistant to the Sapphire Shores and the Sapphire Soldier Band?”
“Nnnnnoooooope!”
“Starship Painter? Medical Pony? Smile. . . maker?”
“Nope, nope, nope!”
By now, Pinkie had scooted along the ground until she was inches from Rarity’s delicately arranged face, and her smile had doubled with each negative answer. Out of logical ideas, the answer finally came to Rarity, whose inner personal space alarms were no doubt wailing in agony.
“It wouldn’t be the,” she squeaked, her voice dropping to almost a whisper, “mining service?”
“YESSSS!” Pinkie Pie screamed, and launched herself into the air for the second time in as many minutes. Rarity recoiled from the impact of her energetic outburst. “Aren’t you excited, Rarity! I mean, I know you’re going on to deep space and all, but we’ll still have boot camp together! Isn’t that great! 8 weeks of us living together! Ooooh! Maybe we’ll be bunk mates!”
Applejack thought that Rarity was going to magically pull her couch out of somewhere, but the unicorn maintained her composure despite her obvious discomfort. Applejack doubted that Pinkie would have noticed anyway, as the always energetic mare was bouncing in circles around Rarity, going on about the barrels of fun they’d no doubt have while blasting rocks apart in the blackness of space. Somehow, Applejack figured, Pinkie would make it all work.
The farm pony turned to her left to join in on Twilight and Fluttershy’s conversation. After listening in for a few seconds, Applejack revised that observation; it was more of one of Twilight’s patented lectures than a conversation.
“. . . I’m sorry Fluttershy, but there’s just no way I can make it any clearer. The Elements of Harmony won’t work against the Antarans. Princess Celestia was adamant about that throughout my communications with her.”
“But Twilight, how could anything withstand the Elements? I mean, between Nightmare Moon and Discord, and even the Changeling Queen was afraid of what the Elements could do! They’re the most powerful magic known to Ponydom!”
“That’s just it, Fluttershy. The Elements are a creation of Ponies. The Antarans aren’t ponies. Even if they were, the Antarans would be immune to the powers of the Elements anyway.”
That bit caught everyone’s attention. Pinkie Pie was caught mid bounce and crashed to the ground behind Rarity. Rainbow Dash broke the silence.
“I’m with Fluttershy here Twilight. How could anyone be immune to the Elements? Especially with the most awesome ponies in the galaxy wielding them!”
“It doesn’t matter how powerful the Elements are, or who wields them,” Twilight retorted. Applejack sensed that Princess Celestia’s student had had this discussion before, though probably with Twilight playing the role of disbeliever.
“The Elements of Harmony are based on the traits that make ponies good. Loyalty, honesty, kindness, generosity, laughter and magic. Antarans don’t understand our virtues. For all we know, they could be a hive-mind to which values like ours mean nothing! The Elements work to turn ponies towards good and away from evil; you saw what they did to Nightmare Moon; and don’t even get me started on Discord- as we learned the hard way, they hardly provided a concrete solution to that . .”
The student paused mid sentence, interrupted by a pink burst of laughter. “Concrete solution!!! Hahaha, Twilight, you’re brilliant!” Pinkie snorted, before seeing the stares being directed at her. “Oh. . . sorry.”
“Anyway, the point is that the Elements work by bringing the good in somepony or something to the surface. Antarans have no good in their souls to be revealed. They are bred for one purpose: to kill. They're soulless automatons, as close to pure evil as a living creature could be.”
Her last point hung in the air for a few moments. Fluttershy, from underneath the picnic blanket they had brought, gave a fearful squeak. Sensing the heavy news she had piled upon her friends, continued, albeit with less certainty.
“But we shouldn’t need to worry about that. I’m sure cooler heads will prevail, and Princess Celestia’s negotiators will have this sorted out before Pinkie digs up her first cobalt deposit.”
----
Applejack pulled herself back to the present. It had only been a few months, but Twilight’s prediction was not looking so good. Canterlot had transformed since Applejack had been in town last. Gone were the festive decorations hanging from lamp posts, replaced by security cameras and perches for guard pegasi. The once colorful walls of cafes and shops were plastered with recruiting posters, news updates and public service announcements. The populace had changed, too. The once vibrant atmosphere of the capital of Equestria had taken a sharp turn towards downright somber. It reminded Applejack of when she’d first arrived in the Crystal Empire. Ponies of all sorts wandered throughout the streets, but Applejack could tell that their hearts weren’t all there, even from a distance. It wasn’t so much of a ghost town -- far from it, in fact -- but there was no denying that the cheer and hope was gone from these ponies hearts.
Applejack checked her watch again. Still a few minutes until the train from Hoofington arrived, and then the recruits would be off to processing. She reached back into a saddlebag and pulled out a letter, this one very much opened. She flicked through it for the hundredth time.
PROSPECTIVE CITIZEN,
CONGRATULATIONS ON THE SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF YOUR APTITUDE TEST. YOUR RESULTS AND SUGGESTED CAREER(S) ARE BELOW. SHOULD YOU ACCEPT YOUR PLACEMENT, RETURN THE ATTACHED FORM TO YOUR LOCAL RECRUITER. WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU IN THE RANKS OF EQUESTRIA’S CITIZENRY.
The emotional part of the score bothered her the most. She was mighty pleased with the near perfect for physical talent, and the well below average mental score was to be expected, given that she’d left school well before receiving a diploma. Heck, Apple Bloom probably had seen more of that school room than she had.
But it was the five for emotion that irked her most of all. The tester had explained that this category was to measure the state of a pony’s well being. It wasn’t so much a test, however, as a prolonged period of observation. Applejack had sat with a few mares from town that she was unfamiliar with in a room for several minutes. She had no idea what was expected of her, and the examiner, removed from the circle of four ponies, wasn’t giving any clues. So Applejack, to her shame, let her self conscious side get the best of her and said nothing. For fifteen minutes, she hardly moved, save to wipe the sweat from her brow and to watch the others.
The result was the five on her record for the rest of time. What bothered her was not that it was too low. In fact, she almost would have preferred a lower number. That would have meant that she’d have some sort of flaw to improve on, something to work at. Instead she was average. Simple. Easily figured out.
In other words, she was nothing special. And that really ate at her nerves.
Still, it could have been worse. She had gotten labor as a top choice, and that was paradise for someone from the Apple family. They’d surely put her in labor, she thought, especially considering the worldwide prominence that the Apple Family brand had risen to over the past few years. And, unlike some ponies she’d heard about through the town gossip circles, her choice hadn’t been limited to a year of having to run tests with experimental technology, or worse, having the tests run on her. Due to the smaller time commitment involved, both Applejack and Rainbow Dash had considered volunteering for "Testing" when the option had been presented to them. It wasn't until the details of just what the test subjects were subjected to, and the reason for their extremely high turnover rate, became public that both ponies had hurriedly scratched the option off of their lists. Voluntarily giving up a limb to some scientists was not Applejack's idea of serving the Princesses.
The Hoofington recruits had arrived, and the transport from Equestrian Command, or EqCom, as the recruits surrounding Applejack called it, followed soon after. The ride was short enough for the mare to wonder why she hadn’t just taken a half hour to walk the distance. After all, it wasn’t like you could miss her destination.
EqCom was an addition to the Canterlot skyline that Applejack hadn’t seen before, and were she completely new to city, she might have mistaken it for the Royal Palace. Hundreds of meters tall, the sweeping, concave, white walls of the building rose in an hourglass shape, with what appeared to be a network of elevators moving in all directions around the outside of the building. Unlike the surrounding city, the structure was adorned with color, banners and flags representing the various branches of Equestrian Command hanging from every surface. Were it not for the large missile banks perched atop the structure, or the heavily armed guard ponies patrolling in droves, Applejack would have considered it a mighty cheerful place.
Processing proceeded quickly, with the attendants running the show obviously having had much practice. Applejack passed through the first round of scans, blood tests and other (rather invasive) procedures, and moved into the main hall of the building. She stepped out of the line she was being ushered through to gander up at the structure. The walls seemed to bulge in on her before billowing back out as the building climbed. It made her feel very small, all the way at the bottom of the building, both literally and figuratively. Applejack caught herself wishing that she’d not have to travel too far above the ground before remembering that she could be launching into space in a few hours. She rolled her eyes at her foalishness, and continued on with the line.
She moved through more rounds of processing before being ushered into a small, dark, metallic room that seemed as far removed from the bright purity of the rest of EqCom.
A unicorn stallion entered from a door opposite her and sat down across from a gulping Applejack.
“Miss Applejack . . . hmmm. Your surname seems to be missing. What might it be, so I can add it to your file?
Applejack thought for a second. The question caught her off guard; she was certainly not expecting that to be an issue.
“Well, um, ma family never really was big on the whole first name, last name thing, seein as we’re the Apple family, and uh, it’d usually be kinda redundant. Applejack Apple, Apple Bloom Apple, ya see?”
The unicorn peered curiously at her over his glasses.
“If you say so. But they won’t be happy with that down the line.”
Applejack tried to respond, but the stallion continued on.
“So, Miss . . . Applejack. Your file has you set up for infantry, so we will see about getting you straight to Camp Frost Hoof. . .”
This time, Applejack was able to interrupt.
“S’cuse me sir, but ah believe labor was also on ma form, and seein’ as ah’m a farm pony and all . . .” She tailed off, with a hopeful smile. The unicorn sighed forcefully, and removed his glasses. He spoke, to nopony in particular, while massaging his brow.
“Not another one of you mud-trotters with your farm pony excuses. I swear, they must hold conventions were you discuss this stuff!”
Applejack was taken aback. “Now ya’ll listen here! My family . . .”
The unicorn jumped to his feet violently. “Watch your tongue, recruit!”
Startled, Applejack sat back down.
“I don’t care if your family goes all the way back to your beloved Chancellor Puddinghead. I don’t care, and the Equestrian Military certainly cares even less. Now, you may have some idea in your head of what serving your Princess requires, but I happen to KNOW that the service requires more infantry. And so you shall fight, Miss Applejack, because the service requires it.” He stamped her fate onto the file open between them.
“Now out of my sight, recruit, before an Antaran’s claws are the least of your problems.”
----
The day continued with much of the same theatrics, as each uniform fitting and physical measurement came with disapproving looks at her surname-less file. Finally, Applejack joined a few hundred other recruits, dressed in various uniforms, in the grand hall of EqCom. From her position towards the back of the gathering, the farm pony could sort of make out a few well dressed unicorns and pegasi on a ledge several meters above the ground floor. Uniformed and armed officers patrolled up and down the ranks, though Applejack couldn’t figure out why.
The unicorn in charge, a mare, from the sound of it, began to speak about the honor of citizenship and the responsibilities of a servant of Celestia. Applejack would have listened intently, like the exemplary soldier she told herself she’d be, but her mind wandered.
Big Mac was right. She’d been lying to herself all this time. It pained her to think that not only had she ignored his advice, but that she’d lied to her sister as well.
“What have ah gotten ma self into?” she said softly to nopony in particular, though she figured that a good part of the assembled recruits were thinking the same thing.
Suddenly, hundreds of hooves were raised in the air, and a cacophony of voices sprung to life. Remembering what she’d been told about taking the Equestrian oath, she quickly followed suit, and trained her gaze to the view screens raised in front of the assembly.
I [your name], being of sound mind and of my own free will. . .
Applejack followed like a good soldier would.
“Ah, Applejack, uh, Apple, bein’ of sound mind and of ma own free will. . .”
. . . having been informed of the dangers and consequences of my decision . . .
“Havin’ been informed of tha dangers and consequences of ma decision. . .”
She could hear what sounded like a snigger coming from outside her field of vision to the right, but paid it no heed.
. . . do now enroll in the Service of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, for the duration of at least three years and as much longer as should be required. . .
“Do now enroll in tha service of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, for tha dura’shun of at least three years and as much longer as should be required. . .”
The snigger continued, and Applejack heard footsteps rapidly approaching her position. She tried to glance around for the source of the disturbance, but found nothing.
. . . I swear to uphold and defend the values and laws of Equestria to the best of my abilities. . .
“Ah swear to uphold and defend tha values and laws of Equestria to tha best of ma abilities . . .”
The footsteps were quite loud now, and Applejack felt a tug on her flank. She turned to look at the offending groper, only to see two large earth ponies with angry looks across their chiseled faces. One of them, with an off white coat and black mustache, grabbed her by the leg and dragged the mare to the ground.
Applejack was shocked, so much so that she didn’t even bother to kick out. Even more surprising than her abduction was the immense strength displayed by this earth pony as he dragged her into a side room much like the one she had received her orders in earlier that afternoon. She doubted that she’d even be able to break free if she tried.
The stallion threw her into the room and slammed the door.
“What the hell was that, recruit?”
Applejack stammered and searched for an answer.
“Beg yer pardon?”
The stallion hit her across the face. Hard. Tears started to form, but she held them back.
“I am an officer, recruit. And you are just that. A recruit. I could have you tossed outta here so fast your little farmstead won’t even realize that you were gone. Now you will address me as sir, recruit, and you will answer my question. What the hell was that?”
“Ah. . . sir . . .” she added quickly. “Ah don’t understand. What did ah do?”
He hit her again, in the stomach this time.
“Don’t give me this farm pony accent bullshit, recruit. I’ve had dozens of friends die for that oath. When you say it, you say it with respect. None of these ‘ahs’ and ‘thas’ or your hickville talk. You’re about to join the a conflict with the deadliest creatures ever known in this galaxy, and this military does not have the resources for you to get someone killed because you can’t pronounce ‘duration’! Am I understood, recruit?”
“Yes, sir, ya. . .you are. Uh, sir.”
Applejack squeezed the words out, somehow, taking her time with each syllable. She was too panicked to even attempt to rationalize what had just happened.
“Better,” the pony spat at her. “But still shit. Now, the oath is over and you’re about to miss the transport for wherever hellhole you’re being sent to. I’d let you figure it out on your own, but I can’t have you wandering around or getting your head stuck in a toilet while your transport leaves. So I’ll bring you myself.”
Applejack stood up and regained her balance. The stallion made an exaggerated, sweeping bow, and, disdainfully, asked, “Where to, madam Apple? Shall I fetch a chariot? I haven’t got all day.”
Applejack swallowed and tasted blood as she did. She looked at her tormentor, and seeing the opportunity to be rid of him, replied through rapidly swelling lips.
“I’m ordered to Frost Hoof, sir.”
The stallion’s face lit up.
“Really now? Ain’t that a pleasant surprise!” He turned and left the room, leaving the door open. Applejack stood frozen to the spot.
“Well, hurry up then, recruit. We can keep each other company on the trip.”
He turned and kept walking away from the door. Applejack swallowed again, with more blood this time. She sighed, spit on the floor, and galloped after the stallion.
Sorry I haven’t been able to write you more often. They don’t really give us much time to do anything indoors around these parts. We have the day off today because. . .well, I’ll explain that later on.
I know you’re still mad at me about this whole infantry thing, but you also know that I’m sorry for having misled you. I misled myself more than anyone else, I think, because I honestly thought that they’d let me go farming somewhere. Your brother was right about that. But don’t tell him I said so.
Things aren’t so bad here though. The work is backbreaking, just the way we Apples like it, and I’ve finally started making friends with some of the others in my unit. They make us take showers with the stallions, though, and I suppose you’ll figure out why that’s weird in a few years. Or a decade, if it were up to me!
But I do get lonely a lot, and I think of you and Big Mac and Rainbow and all the rest, and it helps me get through the day. Yesterday I was thinking about all of you a whole lot, and I guess that’s why I’m writing you, Apple Bloom.
We lost someone yesterday. Mistle Toe, who I wrote to you about last week... he’s gone. We were doing a training exercise, and well, you remember how I said some of the guys teased him about his name. Not because of the festive part of it, but because of his temper. “Missile” they called him. Well, poor Mistle finally snapped, by the looks of it. We were underneath a solid barricade we had built, and some of the newer recruits were using it for target practice. It teaches you how to be calm under fire, having shots bounce off of the other side of the wall you’re hugging. Or so they say, at least. I was just grateful for the chance to relax, really. Somepony must have gotten to him, though, and he stood up to throw what looked like a punch- I couldn’t tell exactly from where I was sitting. But whatever the cause, he raised his head out of cover, and well, it wasn’t pretty. I’ve never seen so much blood.
Why am I telling you this? Well, I’ve felt so bad about the terms we parted under that I decided to never lie to you again, Apple Bloom, for as long as I’m out here. And part of that is me being honest about what you knew before I did- that I might not make it back from this craziness.
Oh Apple Bloom, I’m so sorry for getting myself into this. I love you so much, and it hurts me so much to be away from you. But I need you to be strong for me, understand? I’m going to do my absolute best to get back to you on the farm, but I need you to promise me that you understand the realities of our situation. . . of my situation. I don’t want to leave anything between us unsaid. If things go pear shaped, you need to be the big filly that I know you are and take charge around the farm. Big Mac will need you, and you’ll need him for sure. You know the power of family more than anypony else.
Well, its almost lights out, and I need to go brush my teeth (they’re really big on personal hygiene around here- Rarity must be having the time of her life!) so I’ll have to say goodnight. And Apple Bloom, I know I’ve asked you this in my other letters, but could you please just respond to this one at least so that I know these are getting to the right place?
I love you so much.
Best,
AJ
----
ECY 1007.12
Camp Frost Hoof, Home
The letter submitted, Applejack walked to the head to take care of said hygiene. She didn’t mind having to take care of her self like this- in fact, her teeth and mane probably looked better than they had in years- but the whole process of it seemed so useless, especially considering that they’d probably be rolling around in the muck for days at a time in the coming weeks.
As the brush, specially developed for hoof-use, sloshed through her mouth, Applejack considered the letter and wondered if it was appropriate for a filly. She hadn’t wanted to be so blunt about Toe’s death, but her decision to keep things honest trumped her misgivings. The sight of her new friend’s head torn in half by a .50 caliber slug had really driven the reality of her situation home. The day off her company had been given hadn’t helped, either-- Applejack reckoned that the inactivity was worse than plunging the group of weary soldiers into some task that could have taken their minds off of things. Cracker Barrel, a mare she had also befriended that bunked above her, surmised that the day off was more for their company officers, what with all the paperwork that needed to be done as a result of the incident. It made sense to Applejack, but she tried to keep believing that life wasn’t so cynical.
Keeping a positive outlook, however, was getting tougher by the day. In the five weeks since she’d been at Camp Frost Hoof, a desolate yet busy outpost far north in the hinterlands of the Crystal Empire, it seemed like the everything in the universe but the Antarans were out to get her. The prediction of her assignment officer- that her lack of a last name would be an issue- came true on the first day of basic, as the registration officers, base commandants and even the mares making the uniforms all insisted on calling her “Jack” rather than the preferred Apple. Applejack knew that it wasn’t a big deal, but it felt extremely strange to be referred to as something so generic as “Jack”, and she eventually bribed a secretary to change all of her records to “Apple” with a week’s worth of lunch rations. She figured that a week without lunch wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, considering the many completely food less days she’d gone through on the farm, especially during apple bucking season. The decision turned out to be a horrid one, as that week of training included four long distance forced marches that covered over 120 kilometers in total, each one faster than the last by a considerable margin. The workload for most aspects of the camp was, in fact, much tougher than Applejack had anticipated, and the amount of food they were given was designed to leave no spare calories hanging around. As a result, the farm pony began to lose weight, not to the point of concern, but rather to a point of discomfort and ill fitting clothing. Applejack hadn’t felt this skinny since she’d had to starve herself into her Grand Galloping Gala dress. Another thing Rarity would have loved about the infantry was its clothing requirement. Applejack didn’t really mind having to wear clothes every day, and the leggings kept her knees from being covered in mud or snow, but her rapid weight loss caused her to already be on her third set of refitted clothes, which of course came out of her pay.
Upon her arrival, Applejack had set up her account to automatically deposit her weekly earnings to Big Mac. It was slightly less per week than she’d earn for the family if she were home, but with the need to purchase anything herself removed from the equation, it could build up to a nice rainy day fund after three years. Big Mac had permission to use it if the need arose, but Applejack didn’t anticipate anything the stallion couldn’t handle happening while she was gone. In reality, something like the barn collapsing was more likely to happen with her around than without-- and with Pinkie gone, the possibility had shrunk even more. Most of her company kept their bits on hand, though, and spent their odd free Friday night in the base canteen blowing much of it. Using her version of Big Mac’s brilliant poker face and taking advantage of what those around her assumed was a bad case of country girl simplicity, she’d helped some of those colts lighten their purses the first chance she got, and had built up quite a reputation as the company’s best five card mare.
She enjoyed night time the most, which was odd for a pony that hadn’t gotten up later than eight A.M. in three years. When the moon was out, she’d hang around outside the barracks for as long as she could and watch the stars. They looked much different at this latitude than they did at home, but she could make out some of her favorite constellations. Sometimes she’d just stare, content to let the majesty and size of it all envelop her. Other times she’d peer into the blackness and think of her friends. Light Dancer, one of the few unicorns in her company, had worked as a planetarium assistant in Hoofington and was able to point out Celestium, the first planet pony kind had colonized, over 18 light years away. She knew that Pinkie Pie and Rarity were likely in orbit around Celestium’s moon, learning the ropes for their careers in the mining service. She knew enough about physics to understand that the planet wasn’t in the same place she was watching, but it comforted her to know that her friends could be looking right back at her across the blanket of space. Rainbow Dash was out there, too, but it was impossible to know where.
The letter remained unopened. Safely hidden under her mattress, the envelope sat, innocently driving Applejack insane. She knew that there was no real reason to keep procrastinating on it, but something prevented her from opening the damn thing. The closest she had gotten was to shake it a few times to make sure there actually was something still inside. There was, but deep down she knew that already. Cracker Barrel, thinking it was a letter from her marefriend, had offered to pre-read it, but Applejack politely turned her down. This was something she had to do on her own. Just not yet.
Cracker Barrel had become Applejack’s best friend within their platoon. They came from similar rural backgrounds, with Cracker’s family owning a general store in Dodge Junction, and were assigned to the same basic roles within their platoon.
The two belonged to “E” Company, known to most as Easy Company, of the third battalion of the 402nd brigade, nicknamed Cadenza’s Spear. Applejack was glad to belong to a brigade so named, considering the more brash names other units chose for themselves, especially the ones selecting Prince Shining Armor as their patron. It also helped to be fighting for someone she knew and respected as well as Princess Cadance. Some of the more gung-ho colts in her unit had expressed dismay over fighting for the physical embodiment of love, but Applejack saw it as an honor. On the first day of camp, the Spear’s commanding officer, Colonel Charger (nopony knew his first name, but Applejack had ten bits on it being “Credit”) had described the brigade’s nomenclature. . . poignantly.
“Men,” he said to the masses, following EqCom’s protocol of referring to any large group of males and females as masculine, “You may be wondering why the best damn artillery company in the whole damn galaxy is named for our Princess of Love. But let me tell you that when we thrust our spear into the hearts of an Antaran, you’ll feel the kind of love that no amount of large flanked tail can ever provide you!” He paused for dramatic effect.
“The love of ammmm-you-nition!”
The assembled crowd cheered, but Applejack had rolled her eyes. She’d learned a long time ago that bravado was useless when it was really put to the test.
After talking with her new platoon mates, with whom she shared a barracks, Applejack gained a sense that many of the earth ponies in her company were quite glad to have been assigned to this particular detail. As much as the colts in Easy would brag about their killing skills, the real spear, as it were, was companies A and B, which consisted entirely of unicorns. These unicorns, many taking a commission directly out of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, powered the cannons that hurled death, in the form of magic bursts, kilometers in any direction, though at the cost of great stamina and focus. The job was so demanding, in fact, that the officers involved would often completely lose track of their surroundings, enemy presence included. And so for each artillery company in a brigade, there would be two companies of infantry tasked with protecting them. Common sense said that it was less dangerous work- arrive at a location, build barricades (which Applejack excelled at, much to her pride) and watch the unicorns work their magic. But Applejack had misgivings. From what she could tell, the cannons were one of the most powerful assets on a battlefield, and any good commander on the other side would make their destruction a priority. Plus, the Antarans had artillery of their own, and Applejack’s research showed that it had a longer range than the pony version. What was to stop the Antarans from simply bombing them once they’d set up a position?
Like many other things in the military, Applejack found it better to not think about it. She’d do her job, protect the unicorns, and hope that they’d hit their targets before any shells could be lobbed on them. But with at least two and a half years in the field to look forward to, Applejack knew she was playing a dangerous game of chance. It reminded her of one of Rainbow Dash’s favorite board games, and it didn’t help matters that Applejack had never escaped that particular activity without so much as stinging Rainbow’s Bumblebee before being eliminated completely.
For the second time that evening, Applejack found herself thinking about Rainbow Dash, and she sighed out of frustration. She considered making a go for the letter, but was interrupted by the barracks lights shutting off, the silence of their absence permeating the darkness. She put the thought away for the night and went to sleep.
----
She awoke at the sound of reveille with a rather unexpected pony staring over her. It was the mustachioed face of an earth pony stallion she had gotten very used to over the past five weeks. He smiled.
“Gooooood morning Private Applejack Jack Apple! And how are you doing this ab-so-lutely lovely morning?”
It was always too early in the morning to deal with him, but Applejack shot straight out of bed and managed a practiced salute.
“Sir, good morning, sir!”
She stood rock still, careful to pronounce each syllable the way it was meant to be said. The stallion didn’t blink.
“I asked how you were doing, private.”
Like a filly tiptoeing over eggshells, Applejack focused on the movements in her mouth, making sure each tongue motion was smooth and precise.
“Sir, just fine sir. Ready to get back to work, sir.”
Sensing she was at least on her way out of danger, Applejack hazarded a glance around the barracks. Her platoon mates, well accustomed to this charade, went about their morning routines as if their soon to be company commander wasn’t standing amongst them trying to coax improper grammar out of a trainee. Applejack didn’t blame them; there were enough odd mannerisms and accents within the platoon that the ribbings were dished around fairly evenly, and Applejack gave as good as she got, so she didn’t need or expect any pity. Still, she knew that the platoon had to be tiring of dealing with this particular situation.
“Really, Apple? And what exactly are we going to be doing today?”
Applejack honestly had no idea. She knew that there was a vague schedule posted at the beginning of each week, but she barely looked at it, preferring the bliss of being able to pretend that what would undoubtedly be physically draining labor might be, say, a map reading seminar. She glanced around for a hint, and, seeing none, grasped at an answer.
“Sir, Whatever you tell us to do, Lieutenant Focus, sir!”
“Is that so?” Lieutenant Laser Focus replied, pulling at his mustache. He walked to the middle of the room and stamped a hoof for attention. “Fillies and gentlecolts, I have an announcement for you all! Private Applejack here thinks that, today, we are going to be doing whatever it is that I want you to do. Now, you were originally supposed to defend The Hill against second platoon, but I think Applejack has the right idea. You’ll be attacking it today,” he said, eyes never leaving Applejack. A chorus of groans went around the room. “Transports leave in five. See you there!” He winked at Applejack and strode out of the barracks.
Steel Beam, the platoon sergeant, entered from where he’d been waiting outside and echoed Focus’ orders. The groans continued. Applejack hung her head and began to collect her things for a simulated combat mission. She had barely gathered everything when the room became silent, everypony having left for the transports. Abandoning her winter gear to save time, Applejack started for the door. Leaving it, she was confronted by Beam, who was waiting for her in the snow.
“Don’t worry about it, Apple. We were attacking today anyway.”
Applejack sighed and gestured at the twenty eight ponies waiting in the transports.
“They don’t know that.”
----
The ride to The Hill took about an hour, and was mostly done in silence. Squeezed in between Barrel and Beam in the last transport, Applejack considered the ordeal that her platoon was about to go through.
The Hill was Camp Frost Hoof’s signature location and exercise. The formation itself was more of an icicle, if anything, sitting nearly a kilometer tall and overlooking the ice plain it dominated. It was located in an odd pocket of the same anti-magic that kept the Everfree forest outside of the realm of pony control, and as a result had both unpredictable weather and fierce, mysterious creatures. Surrounding the pocket, which was about two kilometers in diameter, was the woodland of the north that Frost Hoof sat in miles to the south.
On top of the Hill was a simulated artillery camp, and it was the attacking platoon, or platoons, job to capture it. The area surrounding the makeshift base was large enough to accompany an entire division in a simulated attack, and the situation could be tweaked to allow for different scenarios. Applejack had been on the defensive end once so far, and remembered the experience rather fondly. She and the rest of Easy company had sat on the top of the Hill for three hours, called out targets as the enemy approached in all directions, and engaged in some skirmishes after a few brave souls had crested the ridge. The position held, as it had done every time for the past 77 tries, she was told.
Her two tries attacking were quite a different experience. Without the trenches of the summit to huddle in, her platoon nearly froze to death both times while various officers tried to coordinate a viable attack. The first time, after two hours of shivering, three platoons had spread out to attack from all directions. This lessened the effect of the artillery, but made the attack ineffectual once it crested. The second time, six companies took four and a half blistering hours to decide on a full out attack from one angle, two more hours to gather everyone in the narrowest of alleys, and fifteen minutes getting slaughtered moving up the Hill.
The worst part was that the losers were expected to walk back to camp, placing them in their beds just in time to wake up the next morning. And when they began their trek tonight, it’d all be Applejack’s fault.
But it couldn’t, she reasoned. It absolutely couldn’t end that way. She’d have to figure out how to beat The Hill. She’d defeated Nightmare Moon and Discord, she figured, so how hard could this be?
Except it was. The Hill had multiple paths of ascent, but he kilometer or so between the forest and the slope of the hill was completely void of any sort of cover, and revealing oneself before they were ready would bring a reign of simulated hellfire down from the peak. The side opposite where Applejack saw the transports landing had a enough outcropping rocks and crags to provide cover for an ascent, at the cost of any speed. The ponies at the summit couldn’t see into the woods, so they knew neither where the attackers were coming from, nor how many of them there were. But that was, really, the smallest of advantages.
The transports landed silently in a part of the forest that Applejack hadn’t seen before. Large spruce and pine trees surrounded a small clearing with an all too inviting fire pit. Nobody was stupid enough to use it, however, as the thermals it gave off even after being extinguished would give away their position. Its presence only made Applejack miss her winter gear even more.
The attacking group- in this case, first platoon- arrived first, and then had to wait a half hour for the defenders to arrive, so as to keep their position concealed. With no other platoons to consult with, the attackers sat and waited in their zone until the all clear to move about was given.
Applejack sat towards the edge of the area by herself, thinking. What Beam had said only made her feel worse. She knew that no matter what she or anyone else said, the blame for a loss today would be placed squarely on her shoulders. She had to figure out a way around the situation.
“What would Twilight do?” she said softly, to nopony in particular. Twilight Sparkle was the smartest pony Applejack had ever met, and would no doubt have solved the Hill by now. But try as she might, Applejack couldn’t even pretend to match the brainpower needed to emulate her purple friend.
A small, brown squirrel scurried past Applejack without much of a glance. The creatures in this part of the forest knew from experience that nopony would hurt them, and bustled about looking for handouts. Applejack watched as the squirrel hopped up the trunk of a nearby tree and made its way into the branches.
“What would Fluttershy do?” she mused with a small smile, knowing that the answer would probably involve hiding until the enemy got bored and went home. Thinking of her friends made Applejack feel better. She looked at her watch and saw six minutes until the exercise would commence. Six minutes, six Elements of Harmony. If only she could use the Elements to beat the Hill. She thought about it for a few more minutes. And a few more. Finally, a minute before the game was on, Applejack jumped off of her seat and ran to find Steel Beam.
----
“That is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard, Apple. Crazier than ‘crazy enough to work’ crazy. Where do you come up with this kind of stuff?” Obviously, Sergeant Beam was less enthusiastic about her plan than she was.
“But Sir, it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t work. We both know what happens if we try to take that hill the same way everyone else does. Hell, we might as well just head home now if we’re going to try that. At least if we try something different, we stand a chance, you know?”
Beam considered the plan again, then looked to Light Dancer, recently promoted in the domino effect caused by Toe’s death to Beam’s second in command. Dancer looked at Applejack and spoke in a plain tone.
“Sir, it probably won’t work. But Apple is right. We’re going to lose out here no matter what. We might as well have some fun doing it.”
"You two do realize that, to do this, we’re probably going to need to be out here for a day or so, right?”
“Yes sir. But the way I see it, a day up here, if we can get some proper shelters set up, might be a bit of a break from the screaming and yelling back at base,” replied Applejack. “And we know the rules. There’s no time limit on us.”
“Speaking of rules, we’re going to be bending them quite a bit here, Apple.”
“Sir, I think we both know that, while the battle might have rules, this test really doesn’t.”
Beam smiled at her and nodded.
“Fair enough. Dancer, get the squad leaders in here. Apple, take Barrel and get going with what you need to do. I’ll go see if anyone happened to bring a chainsaw with them. Dismissed.”
[
center]
----The word freezing really didn’t do Applejack’s shivering justice, she thought. Unable to sleep from both nervousness and an inability to actually feel parts of her body, the earth pony had trodden around most of the camp, making sure that the preparations were ready. Surprisingly they were, the company having taken to her idea. Beam had made sure that everypony knew it was her idea, which was fine, even if it blew up in their faces- she wanted to claim it regardless. And if it went off without a hitch, well, that’d be nice too.
It had taken most of the day to arrange everything. Despite the impracticality of having it in a simulated exercise, Private Coral had actually brought a chainsaw bayonet attached to his rifle, making the chore of harvesting lumber go much easier. How he was comfortable with having a chainsaw essentially balanced off of his right shoulder, inches from his face, Applejack would never know. To each his own, she guessed.
Thanks to Rarity’s tendency to opine about her magical talents, Applejack was able to explain enough of the gem finding spell to Light Dancer for him to grasp it in a very rudimentary sense. Luckily for the whole operation, the area had a few gems of the kind Applejack wanted, and the platoon had set them up in various places throughout the woods, encircling the Hill. Private Glaze, who had abandoned his family jeweler’s shop for the excitement of serving Celestia, was able to shape them properly before they did so.
Applejack and Cracker Barrel had spent most of the day gathering and training the woodland creatures for their assignment. She thought it would be near impossible to get them all together, but by bribing the assorted deer, bunnies and even a bear with most of the platoons food, mixed together, Pinkie Pie style, with a heck of a lot of sugar, she had been able to get an audience. The best part was that by simply mentioning Fluttershy to the creatures, Applejack was able to get almost complete allegiance and smiles all around. It had taken hours to explain exactly how the animals were going to earn their pay, but Applejack was confident that they understood her orders.
And so, with this task completed, the platoon ate what was left of their rations and took to the makeshift trenches they had dug to keep warm. As the sun crept over the horizon, Applejack couldn’t help but think that the night’s sleep might be their biggest advantage of the day; after all, her platoon had slept relatively soundly, while the defenders had to be weary of an attack all night. Steel Beam hadn’t even bothered to post sentries.
As the camp awoke around her, Applejack looked to the fading stars above.
“Thanks girls. I owe y'all big time.”
----
On the peak, Private Peach Fuzz crawled out of her makeshift bed to peer over the precipice of the Hill. She had slept through her night watch, so getting a report on the situation was critical. The entire platoon was surprised, anxious, and, more than anything, pissed off at first platoon. She had heard of attackers playing the waiting game on the Hill, but this was ridiculous, especially in a one on one situation. The ponies down the hill should have just taken their lumps and gotten this mess over with. Shaking her head at the stupidity of it all, she clambered down to her observation post and got a look across the frozen plain between her and the forest. Her jaw dropped to the base of the glacier.
“Sir! You’d better get over here! Sir!? Please!?”
----
Hidden underneath a (naturally) felled tree, Applejack and Steel Beam watched the hulking box glide across the ice. It had taken hours to build, including a redesign to include their ursine volunteer, but the completely woodland creature-powered mobile cabin slid across the ice rather effortlessly. Better still, it was big enough to fit, say, a platoon of ponies inside, making the ploy that much more believable. Best of all was the way in which the artillery unicorns, only firing practice rounds that worked by shorting out a pony’s training suit, had no effect whatsoever on the contraption. The ruse had come dangerously close to being revealed when the bear had tried to run from the sled after it started taking fire, but Applejack had learned enough about Fluttershy’s stare to convince it otherwise.
The ruse was working, and first platoon knew it. Beam motioned for them to quiet down, as the real work was still to be done, and had to be done quietly. Applejack looked back into the woods for the signal from Light Dancer. The platoon had radios, but, at this point in the ruse, the risk of their deception being discovered was too great to chance being overheard. Dancer was in a tree somewhere, using a pair of crystals as binoculars. A red light flashed in the distance for a brief second. Applejack looked at her list of colors that she and the unicorn had come up with that morning.
"Red- enemy has bought ruse. Massing on west side."
West suited Applejack just fine, considering that the other 29 members of her platoon were massing on the east side of The Hill. Beam read the list as well, and hoof signaled to the platoon to ready themselves. A blue flash met Applejack’s gaze, and without consulting the list, she knew what needed to be done. Beam nodded his agreement, and signaled the platoon to, silently, advance across the ice field.
"Blue- enemy has committed to stopping sled."
Favoring stealth and speed over everything else, First Platoon had abandoned most of its equipment in their original campsite. No heavy armor was worn, with some ponies even abandoning their clothing all together. Few carried more than their rifle mounts over their shoulders, with meager ammo resources to boot. They all knew that this attack would be over quickly, for good or for bad. Diesel and Stacks, the heavy machine gunners, had even left their favorite tools behind, favoring instead akimbo pistol mounts and heavy doses of eyeblack. Applejack, not liking the rifle mount she had anyway, went with a hoof bayonet setup. The bayonet was of course virtual, and wouldn’t do anything but short a training suit, but it was designed to simulate the weight of the real version, giving Applejack a slight limp as she struggled with it on her right front hoof.
After about ten minutes of clambering up the slope, the platoon reached the east precipice. Beam looked over the edge for a split second, and came back down with a grin on his face. On the other side of the line, Applejack returned it. Now was just time to wait.
They didn’t wait long, as sequence of events happened very quickly. The defending platoon, realizing that their artillery wasn’t effecting the sled, stood and opened fire on it, no doubt as cover for a flanking squad to get in behind and finish the job. Dancer signaled as much, filling the forest with violet for a split second. Applejack steeled herself. Any second now until...
Rainbow.
Seeing the flash of the spectrum illuminate the forest, First Platoon charged over the precipice, shouting war cries as they went. The technicolor beam also illuminated the inside of the sled, causing a dozen squirrels, six rabbits, four foxes, three deer and one bear to break out through the flaps Applejack had designed in the sides of the giant box. Unfortunately for the bear, somepony had the good sense to tag it with an electrically charged training round, sending it, in a fit of rage, up the hill towards its attackers. The offending ponies, having nothing to defend themselves with, turned and ran back up the hill, into the waiting muzzles of First Platoons rifles. Confused, tired, and deathly afraid, Second Platoon was dispatched in seconds. A few stragglers managed to take cover, but with an advantage in numbers like First Platoon had, their actions did little but prolong the misery. In the end, the bear had been subdued, the blue flag of Second Platoon lowered, and the Hill taken. It was over in ten minutes, and First Platoon lost only three members, whose suits all showed bad, but not fatal, injuries.
It was a few hours before anyone from Frost Hoof showed up to deactivate the stun locks on Second Platoon’s training suits. When shorted, the suits froze up completely, preventing most movement inside, and nobody on the victorious team had a way to unlock them. First Platoon tried to arrange them in comfortable positions, but for some, especially the ones hit whilst running or jumping over something, the torture was no doubt immense. The groans and moans were audible throughout the camp when the suits were released.
While this was being done, the members of First Platoon, silently furious with Applejack twenty four hours before, treated her like a hero. Beam stepped back and allowed her to soak it in, and by the time command arrived, Applejack was as red as her namesake. She couldn’t wait to write home to Apple Bloom.
A transport landed on the edge of the Hill, and an officer stepped out. Applejack at first recoiled when she saw it was Focus, but she allowed herself a smug smile. She’d beaten him. And he knew it.
Laser Focus stepped out of the transport and looked around at the expectant ponies. He coughed to clear his throat, and pulled a data pad out of his pocket.
“Section 17, subsection R, part ii of the Code of the Equestrian Service reads as follows: Where it can be avoided, the forces of the Equestrian Military shall not coerce, utilize, enlist, or otherwise endanger indigenous flora or fauna for the accomplishment of an unrelated Military goal. As a result, this exercise was forfeited by First Platoon eighteen hours ago. Second Platoon, your transports are on their way.” He paused, and looked directly at Applejack.
“First Platoon, we will see you back at camp.”
He spat on the ground and turned back into his transport. The silver craft lifted off. The Hill was silent.
The cargo ship lurched to a stop, and Applejack was the first to unbuckle and rush towards the toilet. Her second foray through sub-space hardly went better than her first, although this time she was aware enough to make it to the head before spewing her lunch throughout the zero-g environment of the cabin.
She finished hurling into the vacuum sealed toilet and washed out her mouth, pausing to look at herself in the mirror for a second. Her mane tie having come loose at some point during the journey, allowing the blonde locks to float freely through the confined bathroom. Unfortunately, the chaos of once again being in constant free fall got to Applejack’s stomach again, and she kneeled back in front of the toilet.
It wasn’t as if the last few weeks weren’t enough to make her vomit in the first place, she thought, grimacing between wretches.
It was four weeks after the incident on the Hill. Once Focus’ transport had taken off, making the trek that would take First Platoon all night in an hour, she’d tried to keep a brave face, but it was no use. The tears came, soft at first, but then harder than she’d be able to hide. Her fellow soldiers, punished for her idiocy, comforted her as good friends would, but it was a hollow comfort, the kind Applejack would use when Apple Bloom nearly poisoned Big Mac and Cherilee. I’m not mad at you. But you still screwed up. And I’m mad at that.
----
Half way down the glacier, Second Platoon joined First out of either solidarity, pity or some sort of unspoken code of sportsmanship. After learning who had designed the plan that beat them, the soldiers of course paid Applejack their compliments, but it hardly made her feel any better. The remainder of the trip was made in silence. On her previous two treks back to camp from this area, songs had been sung, conversations held, pride showcased. Nobody really felt in the mood this time. Upon their return, they were warned not to speak of the incident to anypony- which of course meant that the entire camp would know what had happened in an hour. Applejack didn’t care. She ate, exercised and trained as a shell of her self for that day, and the next few. Falling into a depression, she became feverish and weak, and was given a day to remain in bed and recuperate. It didn’t help, as the inactivity made her feel more worthless than she’d felt in a long, long time. It was around this time that she had made up her mind that she didn’t have what it took to make it into the infantry or the Federal Service.
Applejack had always, in the back of her mind, had doubts about how far she could have gone in the infantry. Ponies dropped out every day, it seemed, and there was no real penalty attached to doing so. Dropouts forfeited half of their accumulated pay, but no fines or penalties were assessed besides, and Applejack knew that, while annoying, the hit to her finances wouldn’t have hurt too much. She’d dealt with worse shortfalls on the farm, for sure.
What really hurt a drop out, however, was the permanence of their decision. Unless there was a medical excuse attached to it, a “Discharge- Service Incomplete” could really hurt a pony down the line. Some, like Big Mac, would see the DSI as a mark of honor, telling everyone that the bearer had stood up to the Equestrian Service bullies and refused to play their game. More ponies, however, would see it as a horrible smear on one’s record, telling everyone that the pony was either a quitter or had been kicked out. It wasn’t exactly a dishonorable discharge, but it came close.
At first, Applejack guaranteed herself that she wouldn’t shame her family's name with such a black mark, but as her condition worsened, that transport back to Canterlot looked better and better each morning. After the Hill fiasco, it looked downright welcoming.
She was on her way towards what the recruits had taken to calling washout lane when Lt. Focus called her into his tent.
----
Shaking the water she’d splashed on her face off, Applejack finally exited the head, contorting her body towards the cargo compartment her platoon had been living out of for the last two weeks. Space was precious in the Celestial Navy, and an Artillery Support Battalion fresh out of boot rated no higher than a converted cargo hauler for their first deployment. They’d been told that reassignments would push individual companies where they were needed, and, as a result, split them all over the fleet, but Applejack doubted it. From what she gathered, most veteran units would prefer to fight shorthanded than with soldiers as green as those in her company were.
The compartment was empty, as Applejack had suspected it would be. She barely wanted to be in it anymore herself, but through it lay the only ladder to any other deck. The voyage from Home to First Fleet Headquarters at Celestium took two weeks of sub-space and faster than light drive travel, meaning it was too short for any drug induced hibernation spells but long enough to drive the recruits somewhat crazy. Lt. Beam tried to keep things interesting with daily, zero-g fitness routines and the like, but the cramped quarters prevented anything useful from happening while the recruits, most of whom had never left Home before, figured out how to live without gravity. The two sub-space jumps they’d made hadn’t made matters any easier. Applejack was barely able to keep down the vitamin supplements they force fed ponies to prevent bone decay.
She reached the ladder and pulled herself up, towards the crew deck. She had never seen a ladder until this one, actually- the design wasn’t very conducive to a four legged being such as herself. However, in zero gravity, she was able to use her forehooves to pull herself along, her bottom half floating freely below her. The freighter, three hundred meters long, was remarkably manned by just twelve, and the crew of Venture Gambit, all civilians, had graciously allowed their facilities- showers, entertainment systems and vitamin-d beds- to be used by the troops on a platoon by platoon basis. It wasn’t her platoons turn to use the facilities, she knew, but Applejack had her sights set on another feature of the deck.
Reaching the habitat level, she disembarked from the ladder, grabbed a hoof hold, and spun herself into the corridor. Two weeks had been enough to somewhat master maneuvering in the zero gravity environment, and with each push off of a wall, Applejack felt more and more like a Pegasus. She’d even attempted a Rainbow Dash style roll once, but had smashed her head into a bulkhead, leaving a dent in both. Once the room had stopped spinning, she resolved to emulate Fluttershy for the remainder of the trip instead.
The corridor was empty, which suited Applejack just fine. It wasn’t as if she didn’t like her compatriots, but sometimes, solitude was better than any amount of inane conversation. She rounded a corner via a hoof hold, and reached her destination.
The observation room was sealed during hyperspace and faster than light travel, but with the ship now in orbit, it had opened and was currently empty. Grasping the hoof hold, Applejack finally got a close up look of another world. And after two seconds, the view convinced her that the previous ten weeks had indeed been worth the trouble.
----
“Apple! In my office!”
Applejack sighed and dropped her head even lower than she’d been carrying it. She knew that passing Focus’ tent would have been a mistake, but it was the quickest way to the base command center. Knowing that she was on her way out, it was tempting to blow him off or even to give him a piece of her mind, but she thought better of it, as she didn’t want to ruin things even more by flirting with a dishonorable discharge. She passed through the flaps into Focus’ living quarters. He motioned for her to sit on his bed, which was immaculately made, giving her the suspicion that he didn’t sleep on it at all (a common occurrence in the early stages of camp, before ponies knew how to properly make a bed). She noticed that the rest of the room was Twilight-level spotless, though, and reasoned that he probably slept in a hotel off base, leaving this room as a reminder of his presence and using it to bully trainees. She sat on the bed and stared at the Lieutenant.
“Have a nice walk back?”
“Yes, sir.” She wasn’t going to play his games, and answered without emotion.
“Where you off to now? Doesn’t Easy Company have PT in a few minutes?”
“Just taking a stroll, sir.”
He nodded, and lay back in his chair, hooves coming to a rest upon the desk separating them.
“So you want to know what I want with you, I suppose.”
“I wouldn’t mind, sir.”
Applejack was expecting him to take a deep breath and start some sort of diatribe against her, possibly after he lit up a cigar. He spoke, emotionless, not looking at her.
“We’re going to war, Apple, and we’re going to lose.”
Applejack had certainly not expected that. At this point in her training, the war’s inevitability had become a certainty, so the first part was not a surprise. The second, however, was, considering that it could be considered treason to voice such a concern as a fact the way he did. Wary of a trap, Applejack wanted to say nothing, but her curiosity got the better of her.
“How do you figure, sir?”
“Because I’m supposed to punish trainees that actually have the brains to figure things out for themselves and promote the ones that might as well be changelings with army hats on.”
Confused, Applejack just stared at the stallion. He continued.
“Your play on the Hill was the best idea we’ve seen here at Frost Hoof. We watched the whole thing from here, betting included. I didn’t wager, before you ask. When it was over, we had no idea what to do with you. That’s why it took so long to get any recovery craft out there to pick you up. Arguing amongst ourselves. Some wanted you discharged, others promoted. We had to call above the pay grade of anyone here to get a recommendation. That took two hours. It took another to find that little "regulation" in the handbook.”
He finished, and looked at her expectantly, but she had no words.
“I’ve been particularly hard on you, Applejack, and I know that. And when you leave this tent, I will continue to be. But it is all for a reason. Trust me. Let me show you something.” He stood and walked towards his hoof locker. “Do you know what a Shadowbolt is?”
Applejack recoiled instantly at the mention of the term. Focus raised a hoof, chuckling.
“Relax, Apple. I guess you’ve heard of us. But not the whole story, I suppose.” He reached into the locker and withdrew a small ornament, passing it to Applejack. She held the pitch black crescent moon with reverence.
“The Shadowbolts are Princess Luna’s personal. . . problem solvers. Yes, we do much, much, more than those silly Wonderbolts are even capable of. No, we don’t kidnap, torture or conduct any of the idiocy that The Equestrian Enquirer says we do. But what we do, we do incredibly well. And part of what we do is to identify the talent that will save the Pony race. I’ve been watching you for some time, Apple. Your tests show a lot more than you realize, you understand?”
Applejack finally caught herself and forced out a response. “But my tests were nothing special... heck, two of them weren’t anything special at all!”
“Oh, of course, your intelligence test was almost on idiot level. But it was the mental exam I considered. Not me personally, you understand, but a very. . .sensitive unicorn friend of mine. She was able to read you like a map. But I didn’t need her. We both saw it. You question everything, like the Element of Honesty should, you know, and try to figure it out for yourself. As a result, you are far more valuable to this war than any regiment of Earth Ponies could ever be. And so I picked you to follow and ensure that you’d make it through boot, and beyond, so that, when you're ready, the high-ups can use you. You, and people like you with actual brains in their heads are what will win us this war. Someday, we might need some ridiculous ploy that only you could think of to win this thing. Understand?”
Applejack nodded, taking it all in. Focus grabbed the medallion and threw it back in his locker.
“Good. Just don’t forget that, and don’t forget who really pulls the strings around here, and you’ll be fine. Now, you’re late for PE. And for that, you get to do double PE. Get out.”
----
Applejack stumbled back into focus as Cracker Barrel floated into the room. The mare silently grabbed a hold next to Applejack, and the two stood in silence for a bit, watching Celestium spin below them. After a few minutes, the cargo ship appeared to round the horizon of the planet, and the First Fleet, in all of its glory, drifted slowly by.
The two former farmers looked on in awe. The Venture Gambit may have looked immense when they had boarded two weeks earlier, but it was a minnow compared to the might of the Celestial Navy’s toys. Accentuating that point was the dreadnaught Celestia, which, going on size alone, could probably only be bested by its namesake. Six kilometers long, the purely white vessel hung in orbit around Celestium with a powerful mixture of grace and purpose, the sweeping, gentle curves of its exterior coming to a point at its forward beam cannons. It looked somewhat like a diving pegasus, with two FTL drive nacelles jutted off the rear of the ship like two wings tucked inwards. The command tower, longer than the Venture Gambit and then some, fell back at an angle off of the top of the vessel, adding to the impression that the vessel was moving very, very fast. A closer inspection revealed scores of smaller gun emplacements dotting the exterior, turning what looked like a deftly smooth hull into a forest of prickly add-ons. Applejack was glad to see them, however, as she was sure that the four thousand souls on board the flagship needed each and every one of them.
Just as it had appeared, Celestia gave way as the freighter overtook it. In its place appeared the hundreds of vessels making up the First Fleet. The Fleet consisted of 76 capital ships, with scores of support ships, victuallers, fuel haulers and frigates running various errands throughout the area. Venture Gambit passed fairly close the the carrier Hurricane, which Applejack knew served as home for Manticore Squadron. Indeed, the carrier’s hangar was open, allowing a wing of fighters to exit and begin their patrols. Trying to avoid thinking about Rainbow Dash, Applejack tilted her head away from the vessel.
The freighter continued to weave throughout the fleet, looking for a larger ship to latch onto and divulge its cargo. The cruisers Everfree and Manehattan passed along, and Venture Gambit snuck in between the two masses, revealing a third, similar vessel. Before Applejack could get a good look at it, the freighter turned to face the craft, and docking tendrils extended from both ships. As the two vessels converged, Applejack could see the writing on what she was sure was her new home.
"EC Starswirl the Bearded CN-1313"
Laughing at the irony of the her placement, Applejack motioned to Barrel that they should head back down to their quarters to prepare for departure. Time, after all, was still bits, even in the Service. The two mares pulled themselves down the ladder tube, and were met in the cargo container by the rest of their already assembled platoon. Focus was with them.
“Glad you two could join us. Do your pals a favor and carry their stuff on board Starswirl, will you?”
----
Two weeks more had passed aboard Starswirl the Bearded before the Fleet jumped from Celestium towards destinations unknown, at least to the infantry it was carrying. The heavy cruiser, a kilometer long, was normally crewed by eight hundred ponies. It had most of its weaponry and hangar space removed or converted into living space for transporting infantry units. Unfortunately, no amount of alterations could have prepared it to carry two entire brigades, forcing Applejack to share the space with nearly six thousand other ponies.
The event precipitating these cramped arrangements occurred a few days after Cadenza’s Spear had arrived on board Starswirl. Laser Focus’ prediction had indeed come true, and he delivered the news in the same somber, flat tone he had reprimanded Applejack with on the Hill. He read from a prepared statement.
“At 2200 yesterday, Antaran units destroyed our colony at Elysian Fields. Equestrian Command, with the blessing and support of the Princesses, voted unanimously to mobilize for war. The First Fleet will be leaving Celestium within the week, destination to be announced. Due to operational security fears, all shore leaves are cancelled and all correspondences will be withheld indefinitely. Instructions from your Regimental commanders will follow shortly. Celestia and Luna help us all.”
That last bit scared Applejack. On the one hoof, she had seen Celestia in action, and had to say she was hardly impressed. On the other one, part of the whole point of the Equestrian Service was ponies aiding the Princesses, not the other way around. In fact, she wondered, if it were that easy, what were they doing out here in the first place?
She didn’t have time to dwell on it, however, as within hours of the announcement, the First Fleet was being mobilized for action. Cadenza’s Spear was joined by the 115th “Blueblood’s Fist” Mobile Infantry brigade. MI ponies had probably the worst lot out of any assignment- they were the first in an hostile area, launched from space in special drop pods and armor, and often overwhelmingly outnumbered or surrounded. Their job was to secure landing spaces for everyone coming behind, a job only groups as well trained as they could; MI troopers were all volunteers, and their training course was twice as long as any other unit. Applejack admired them. Most were male, and a few would have been absolute hunks if they didn’t look like snapping necks was the only thing capable of making them happy. Applejack doubted that even Pinkie could crack smiles on their sculpted faces.
What bothered Applejack the most, however, was that the state of emergency prevented her from writing letters. Combine that with the two weeks she’d spent in FTL drive, and Apple Bloom would have not gotten a letter, or an explanation, in at least a month. She knew that her younger sister could handle herself by now, but it hurt all the same. Applejack tried not to think about all of the crazy ideas about her sudden absence that her sister’s friends would come up with. “Cutie Mark Crusader Interstellar Rescuers” was not something she wanted to deal with.
Two days after the alert, the First Fleet was on the move. A video message from Admiral Chessmaster was played to the fleet, complete with a whole bunch of messages about “duty” and “honor”. Applejack tuned him out; it was the same as boot camp- useless words without action. She tuned back in when a very familiar pair of faces flashed on screen.
A white unicorn stallion stepped forward, his blue mane being brushed aside as he spoke.
“Greetings, warriors of Equestria,” said Shining Armor in an unfamiliar, deep voice. He wore four stars on his lapel- one less than Chessmaster.
“Today we begin the quest to defend Ponydom from the Antaran threat, and to eliminate the danger to our civilization once and for all. The Princess and I,” he said, indicating the pink alicorn to his side, “have full confidence in your abilities, and will do all we can to support your efforts. That said, we don’t need any heroes in this war. Heroes more often than not get themselves killed. No, we need soldiers and sailors that will do their jobs and stick to the plan. You have a duty to yourselves, to your comrades, and to all of Ponydom to get back home safely. Understood?” He of course was speaking into a camera, but Applejack was sure that the assuring way in which he said it (if she came away believing him, despite knowing that he was putting on a show of being regal, then she wagered that the rest of the fleet would buy it easily) resulted in a chorus of resounding “oohas!” around the galaxy.
Back on the screen, Shining Armor nodded and then disappeared. A model of the galaxy replaced him, with most of the Equestrian Colonies highlighted in blue. Antaran territory appeared in a menacing red.
“Now, this operation is going to be simple and, ideally, over quickly. The First Fleet, at Celestium (which was unmarked on the map, as only a very select few actually knew where it was anyway) will sweep in to Antaran territory from Galactic North, engaging any fleet they encounter, but bypassing any Antaran target until they reach Antara. The Second Fleet is going to punch through the neutral zone at New Fillydelphia and head for Antara as well. The new Fourth Fleet, with Harmony bearing the flag, will occupy the Antaran reinforcements in the Orion sector, and the Third Fleet will remain behind in reserve.”
Shining Armor returned to the screen.“We anticipate that, seeing our thrust upon their home world, the Antarans will give ground to engage a pitched fleet battle with their orbital defense network in play. Your individual superiors will give you more info about unit specific instructions as we near our destination. Now, Princess Cadence will address you all. Best of luck to you all, and I will see you at Antara.”
He stepped aside, and Cadence took his place, to a cheer from the members of the Spear that were watching. Her presence, even on a view screen light years away, was comforting.
“Warriors, Equestrians, friends, I bid you good day. I especially want to acknowledge and thank the members of our griffin, dog, buffalo and zebra ranks. Together, you all make up the greatest fighting force in history, and the best hope for a peaceful future on Home and throughout the galaxy. As my husband said, you are all already heroes, and there is no need to go doing anything rash for any reason. Just do your jobs, and take care of each other. The love of brothers ans sisters in arms is one of the most powerful forces in the galaxy. Use it. Feel it inside you each step of the way. Also feel the love from thousands of light years away coming from me, the Princesses, and every soul living under the Equestrian Flag. Together, we will pierce the darkness of our times and assure that that love can spread, in peace and harmony, to every corner of the galaxy. Good luck. I await the return of each of you.” She finished with a smile, and the screen went black. The entire auditorium cheered, including Applejack.
----
Once again, Applejack awoke to see Laser Focus looking down on her through the Cryo tube glass. She thought that they’d outgrown this particular ritual. She tried to move, but realized that her body was still tied down. And heavily sedated, judging by how the room was spinning. Focus released her from the restraints and said he’d be back when she was awake.
It took about an hour to completely gain all of her senses again. Looking about, she saw that nopony else had been released from their drug induced slumber. Curious, she pushed herself towards the exit and into the hallway, where a note was taped to the door, pointing her down the hall. She made a right, and threw herself along until she was grabbed and pulled into a small room.
Focus joined her, hovering awkwardly on the ceiling. Applejack oriented herself so it became the floor.
“Sorry to wake you. I don’t have much time here, so I’m going to dispense with my usual pleasantries. You’ve been under for a month, we are about a week from Antara, and we’re walking into a trap. We haven’t seen an Antaran ship in weeks. EqCom thinks they're running back to defend the home world, but I don’t think so. Something is up their sleeve. Figuratively, of course. Understand?”
Applejack nodded, still a little drowsy.
“Now, tomorrow, our plan of battle is going to be filtered down to you through hypno suggestion. Anyone who gets a week of that drummed into their subconscious will know our part of the plan inside and out. I need you to know it better than that, and to be able to analyze it. Find what is wrong, what we can do better, where the weak points are. I already know a few, but a second pair of eyes won’t hurt. Unfortunately, I had to steal this,” he said, thrusting a data cube in her hoof, “and even I’m not supposed to be awake right now. Don’t ask how I am. You are even less allowed to be awake, but with just a week left, they won’t put you back to sleep. Go back to your bed, lay for a while, then hit the ‘I woke up too early’ button. You’ll have a week to figure things out. Understand?”
She nodded again.
“Good. Now get going before they notice you. See you on Antara.”
He pushed out of the room and was gone. She considered the cube and sighed.
“This certainly is not getting any easier, is it?”
Rainbow Dash had never felt so alone. She knew that, in reality, she was far from alone, especially with the remainder of Manticore Squadron surrounding her, Hurricane set to emerge from FTL drive 34 seconds after she did, and the rest of the combined Equestrian Fleet following closely behind. In reality, Lieutenant Dash was just a piece of a puzzle over two hundred thousand ponies strong.
She still felt very, very small. Space was still very big and very empty, no matter how many ponies you stuffed it with.
The timer on her display showed fifteen seconds of FTL remaining before her Falcon-II emerged in orbit around Antara. She had no idea what to expect upon arrival. The previous four engagements Manticore Squadron had flew in consisted of arriving in system, making initial contact with the Antaran fighters, and watching them turn tail as quick as she and her mates had arrived. The strategy was somewhat confusing and, for Rainbow Dash, at least, annoying, because she remained the only Manticore on the flight deck without a confirmed kill, or that glowing red “X” spray painted under her canopy.
Twelve seconds left. Her back legs, locked in place sticking horizontally behind her, gave the impression that she was indeed flying on her own. They shook, the vibration buzzing through the cockpit. She toggled a switch below her, tightening the restraints, and the shaking stopped.
Ten seconds. This time would be different, she thought. No way the Ants run from their own home world. Not when the might of Celestia’s finest was bearing down on them.
Seven. Although she’d come a long way from the paralysing nerves and fits of self doubt that plagued her in her youth, Rainbow Dash still felt a nagging bit of self consciousness. She had almost no combat experience. What was to say that she’d even last a second in a real battle, let alone get a kill?
Five. “Relax,” she said aloud, knowing that her comm was off. “You were picked for the Manticores over hundreds of applicants. Only the best even get invited to try out, and I beat them all. I can do this.”
Three. Rainbow suppressed a gulp for air and checked her readouts. Green all across the board.
Two. She looked at the picture taped to an empty space in the cockpit. It was faded, but she could still make out the six figures posing for it.
One. She touched it for good luck, as she’d done countless times before.
Zero. The empty space around her canopy flashed a brilliant white.
----
Applejack clambered into the transport and buckled in. She felt squished the moment she sat down, what with the fifty odd pounds of equipment she carried pressing at her. The closure of the transport’s door, sapping any light from the compartment, only made the feeling worse. Never had she felt so trapped.
The lights flickered on, and Steal Beam stood in the middle of his platoon. Focus had addressed them all earlier on the plan. Land after the MI secured somewhere to set down, establish a beachhead, as it were, and let the unicorns do their thing with specially designed long range guns. The designated drop area, codenamed “Rico”, was to serve as an artillery post for the long haul, set with covering the rear of the Third Army Group, and Cadenza’s Spear was tasked with defending it. Luckily, the spot was a hundred square kilometers of solid rock with iron deposits underneath it, allowing the ponies to work without fear of Antarans burrowing up from underneath them. Most of the Equestrian Invasion Force was not so lucky.
Applejack had gone through the plan dozens of times during her week of solitude. It was a good plan, she thought. It covered nearly every eventuality, including retreats, or “reverse advances” as they liked to call them. Only one thing really bugged her- the isolation of it all. The Spear was very alone, hundreds of kilometers west of any other unit. EqCom obviously thought that they’d be able to handle themselves, and that the Antarans wouldn’t commit too many troops to attacking them whilst leaving their underground cities in the east. If, Applejack surmised, the Ants really wanted them gone, though, the position could be surrounded quite easily.
Still, there was little she could really do about it. She hadn’t had time to chat with Focus, so she stowed her concerns for the time being. She perked her ears as Beam began addressing his platoon.
“Remember what the Princess said. Stick to the plan, watch each other’s backs. We don’t need any heroes. Just keep your ears up, heads down, and make sure you’re there when we leave. By the numbers. Understood?”
“YES SIR!” came the reply, Applejack joining in.
“Good. Do it for yourselves, for the Princesses, for Equestria. I have faith that each and every one of you will absolutely shine. We have a few minutes before we enter the system, so you can unbuckle.”
He sat down. A few of Applejack’s companions got up to stretch their legs, joke around, or talk to friends. Cracker Barrel nodded at Applejack from across the room. She smiled back.
The colt to her right got up, allowing Applejack some space to readjust herself and her equipment. Seeing that it was satisfactorily arranged, she reached into her ammo pack and withdrew a faded, yellowing envelope.
“Now or never.” She said aloud, tearing it open.
----
Momentarily dazed by the explosion of light, Rainbow Dash recovered quickly and checked her 3-D display. Seeing that she had room to maneuver below her, she dove, hitting her afterburners for good measure. The rest of the squad scattered as well, breaking off in twenty different directions. They had expected the flare, and Rainbow was annoyed that she’d allowed it to affect her, even if it was just for a split second. A split second in the cockpit was all it could take.
She checked the long range scanner and smiled, the pre-combat nerves draining and being replaced by pure, honed adrenaline. Sixty large contacts clocked in orbiting the planet, and hundreds of smaller ones began spewing from the largest. Luckily, they wouldn’t reach Manticore’s position for several minutes.
Much closer to home, she registered the source of the flares-- two Antaran frigates and a complement of fighters with a bearing on her. She kicked the burners again and sped towards the approaching force, the cockpit filling with flashing red indicators. A missile launch was detected, but Rainbow saw the trajectory and shifted shield strength to compensate. The blast rocked her port deflector, but the shield held. Two targets clicked into focus, but Rainbow ignored them. She had bigger fish to fry.
Leaning on the burner toggle, Rainbow’s fighter leapt forward, one of the two frigates coming into range. Her computer scanned it and found her target- the nerve control center. The Manticores had learned the hard way that the only way to disable an Antaran ship completely was to neutralize its link to what they thought was the hive mind somewhere else in the system. She logged the target and calculated the trajectory needed to hit it precisely. The computer displayed it on the holo projector, and she throttled forward.
The Antaran vessel noticed her, and anti-aircraft fire started pinging off of her shields. Rainbow set her Falcon-II on a slight roll to starboard, keeping the flak from hitting her in one place for more than a moment. She changed trajectory, leaping up above the frigate. She was in range of hitting it, but needed to get closer to ensure that the flak wouldn’t knock her bombs out mid-flight. As she reached the apex of her climb and used the retros to turn towards the frigate, a warning sounded that Hurricane and its escorts would be in system in five seconds.
“As if speed was ever my problem!”
She hit the burners again and launched towards the Antaran vessel, shield power rerouted to the forward deflector grid. Indicators lit up, signalling that she’d picked up two tails behind her, but she paid them no heed. If this trick worked, she’d not have to worry about them. If it didn’t, well....
She drove the thought from her mind and willed her fighter to dive faster. The forward shield was taking an absolute hammering, and starting to buckle under a constant stream of red starbursts from the deck of the frigate. The deflector couldn’t take much longer, but Rainbow wasn’t close enough to launch yet. With her shield power meter at 8 percent, however, one of the guns pasting her cut out, and then the other. Two Falcon-IIs below her flashed by, strafing the guns to confirm their handiwork. The coast was clear.
Rainbow Dash pulled the trigger just as Hurricane warped in off of her port bow. Two torpedoes leapt from her undercarriage, each finding their target, drenching it in flames. As Rainbow pulled out of the dive, away from the frigate, it went completely dark. Her two hangers-on disappeared as well.
She checked the short range radar and saw that the other frigate had gone dark, too. The nearly empty screen light up bright green a second later, and Rainbow looked about her canopy.
The sight was truly something to behold. In quick succession, blue points of light crackled around her, as hundreds of shapes materialized around Rainbow, from ten meter long Falcon-II’s like her own to the colossal forms of Celestia and Luna, which appeared at the center of the Equestrian Line. In all, Rainbow saw one hundred and ten capital ships enter the system. She allowed herself a moment to take it all in, as she-- nor anyone else, for that matter-- had never seen such an armada. It was, in a word, awesome.
Her comm clicked on, breaking her from the trance.
“Manticores, return to ship by wings. Refit, and recharge. Back out in ten.”
Rainbow smiled. This was shaping up to be a good day.
----
Applejack,
You know that I’m no good with letters or words. I couldn’t even get Spike to write this one, so enjoy my drool all over it.
I understand why you said what you said, and I’m not angry at you. I just thought that, with so little time left, if it were going to ever be between us, it should have been then, you know? It just felt, I don’t know, right.
But I guess it wasn’t. And we both know that our goodbyes in public will be awkward, so I just wanted to tell you, while I could, that I’m not mad at you. I still love you, AJ, but you don’t have to return the favor. Just keep being my friend, okay? Please?
I understand if you never want to see me again, but if you get the chance, send me a letter? I’m sure you can figure out how to get it to me.
And if we never see each other again, you will always be my best friend. Always.
Love,
Rainbow Dash
Applejack read the letter, once, twice, three times. By the third go through, tears began streaming down the page. She hadn’t known what to expect, but it definitely wasn’t this. And what a horrid time for it, too.
She had thought that their conversation was, once completed, forgotten. Hadn’t Rainbow agreed that things were best as they were, and no further? Hadn’t they parted with the pegasus disappointed but understanding? And if they had, why didn’t Rainbow keep it that way?
A wave of emotions overtook Applejack. Her famous temper flared for a few brief seconds. How could she do this to me, she thought, when we had settled the matter? Hadn’t she made herself clear on that issue? Nothing could ever happen between the two best friends. It would upset the natural order of things. Wouldn’t it?
She looked over the text a fourth time, and it distracted her from Starswirl exiting FTL drive. She was still buckled in, so the impact wasn’t jarring enough to disrupt her thought process.
“If you get the chance, send me a letter?”
She became physically sick after reading that sentence. How could she, the most dependable of ponies, neglect her best friend that way? Rainbow was out there somewhere, dead, for all she knew, and probably had thought that Applejack was ignoring her. Why hadn’t she opened the letter sooner? Why had she been so selfish? So stubborn? So afraid?
The view screen atop the transport’s entrance flashed on, with a fifteen minute counter beginning. Steel Beam stood up.
“First Platoon, lock and load! Welcome to Operation Ant Hill!”
----
The brilliant gold of one of Celestia’s turbo-lasers tore through yet another Antaran cruiser, shedding its outer hull like Rainbow Dash shredding through a cloud. The cruiser went dark, then exploded in a burst of greenish flame. Were Rainbow able to hear the explosion, she would have been even more impressed.
She noticed the cascade of emerald as she let another missile fly, this one finding its target with the accuracy she’d come to expect in the Harpoon model. Most of her squad mates preferred the newer, sexier Tornado swarm missiles, but the Harpoons were much faster. Naturally, Rainbow Dash had taken quite a shine to them. She’d racked up three kills already with the projectiles, and another two with her guns. The fleet seemed to be doing just as well, as the rather large red patches she saw on her displays upon entering the system were halfway gone by now. The readout to her right showed that four Equestrian ships had gone down, but that over forty of their Antaran counterparts had joined them. Even the largest of the Antaran vessels, a dreadnought her computer labeled “Sathanas” had crumpled under assault from Luna and her cruiser escorts. Even better, none of the bombers targeting Hurricane had got so much as a radar lock on the carrier before Manticore Squadron smote them.
Rainbow was searching for something to sink her final missile into when the comm clicked in, and Lieutenant Swivel, the flight deck operator on Hurricane’s bridge, addressed her.
“Manticores. Mission update. The carrier carrying the 39th Escort Wing just went down. Reroute to these coordinates to escort landing craft, then remain on station for support roles. Bridge out.”
Sighing, Rainbow checked her 3-D display to find the coordinates. She punched them in and let the autopilot take her there, giving her a chance to stretch a bit. It had only been twenty odd minutes, but it felt like a lifetime since they’d warped into the system. Guard duty would surely make things slow down, though, and by a considerable degree.
After a few minutes of cruising, her escortee appeared on the radar. She read the ID tag below its avatar and chuckled. She hadn’t even considered that there would be a Starswirl the Bearded in the fleet.
“If only Twilight could see this!”
----
Applejack felt Starswirl shudder at constant intervals as the MI drop pods were launched towards the surface. She did not envy those ponies. If they didn’t get smeared on the way down, they’d be surrounded and alone, with nobody to rely upon but themselves. Still, she thought, it could be worse, and if any unit could handle such a task, it was the Mobile Infantry. They wouldn’t have given it to anyone else.
The shuddering stopped, and she could feel the momentum of the cruiser begin to slow. The timer above her read one minute. Beam stood up from his harness in the middle of the transport.
“This is it ponies! Remember, the Princesses expect you to shine!”
Applejack swallowed hard and buckled her helmet, switching on her heads up display. All of the readouts showed green except for the safety on her weapon, which was strapped to her right shoulder. She left that one red for the time being.
At fifteen seconds, a female voice piped in to her comm up-link.
“My Royal Subjects,” cooed the voice of Princess Celestia. “Go now with honor and bravery. We are so very proud of all of you. Best of luck, and we will see you when you return. Luna and I thank you for your dedication.”
Surprised, Applejack took the message in silence, as did the rest of her platoon. This was no time for bravado. As the timer hit zero, she made eye contact with Cracker Barrel across the room, and the bottom dropped out of her stomach.
She’d never experienced anything this intense. The platoon could tell instantly that this was the real deal, as the transport immediately engaged in evasive maneuvers. Even their practice drops weren’t taken with such ferocity, as the transport ducked and dodged unseen projectiles. A very close impact shook the cabin as it dropped, seemingly in free fall. Suddenly the landing craft went vertical, and Applejack was lifted upwards, now facing down at the planet’s surface; if she wasn’t strapped in, she’d have fallen to the other side of the cabin. She again made eye contact with Barrel, who was facing upwards at her. The fear in her eyes was unmistakable. Applejack tried to smile, but the force pushing back against her face made it difficult. Looking around the room, she saw ponies in various states of excitement, some screaming or enjoying the ride, others looking as horrified as Cracker Barrel. One colt was vomiting, sending the sick throughout the cabin. Applejack was glad she hadn’t been able to stomach breakfast. Another very close, and loud, impact, this one much more forceful, spun the cabin, but the pilots were able to regain control and continue the descent. Finally, after an eternally long two minute ride, the transport righted itself and touched down on Antara.
The first thing first platoon felt was the biting cold. As transport door lifted upwards, an almost unnatural chill swept into the compartment, followed quickly by an even crisper wind. Through shrieking gusts, Applejack was able to hear Steel Beam shout as he unbuckled and rushed down the platform. Her armor, magically enhanced to counteract the incredibly strong gravity of Antara, groaned under the strain.
“Come on you donkeys! You wanna’ live forever?”
The platoon rushed onto the frigid surface, hooves digging into the soft dirt. Several other transports were down already, and the soldiers they were disgorging were running about, shouting orders, firing weapons into the air. Applejack reached the ground and looked to her left, expecting to see second platoon’s transport. It wasn’t there. With a start, she realized what that second impact her boat had felt must have been. The laser fire, directed upwards from the surface all around the landing zone, silently confirmed her fear.
She didn’t have time to dwell on it, though, as the mass of ponies behind her forced movement away from the landing zone. To think that there were forty ponies on that transport, all gone. . .
She shook her head violently, trying to buck the thoughts from her mind. Grieve later and do your job is what she’d been taught. She’d been doing it her whole life, now that she thought of it. She never mourned her parents, or Granny Smith, but just got right to working the next day. She’d have to maintain that dedication here. And if she couldn’t mourn the loss of Rainbow Dash’s friendship, she thought, maybe there wasn’t a part left in her that was capable of feeling loss. Was there?
She stopped short, and was knocked to the ground by the soldiers behind her. Avoiding a certain trampling beneath the hooves of her highly amped compatriots, she crawled over a rock, off of the path the company was taking to the rendezvous point. The mare tried to hold it in, but the tears started coming anyway. Nothing had ever hurt this bad before. She had abandoned her friend, and there was no excuse but her own fear.
Applejack lay there, shaking, for a few minutes until the company moved past her. She peeked her head above the rock serving as her cover and came face to face with Laser Focus. He glared at her, and was choosing some choice words to chew her out with, until he realized that what paralyzed her was something completely different from fear. Her face was not the one of a coward, but of a victim, helpless and numb. He sighed and extended a hoof.
“I don’t know what happened, but we can’t worry about it now. We have jobs to do. Understand?”
When she didn’t stir, he jumped behind the boulder with her.
“Come on trooper, on the bounce. I need you, Applejack.”
He smiled at her. It was a warm, genuine smile, not the kind he gave before inflicting misery, but one of true concern. The force of the smile alone picked her onto her hooves.
“Thatta girl. Now lets go do this thing and get off this rock, alright?”
She put on a brave face.
“Yes, sir.”
----
Manticore Squadron had never had such an easy day. Sure, they’d lost one of their assigned escort transports, but that was from ground fire, and, as the Falcon-II’s weren’t capable of atmospheric flight, it wasn’t their fault. Regrettable, of course, but unavoidable. Besides that hiccup, though, it was a banner day for the squad. Over fifty confirmed kills, including six capital ships, would be added to the killboard that day. And Rainbow Dash could lay claim to eight of the little ones, plus the frigate she bagged earlier. It was a downright enjoyable afternoon.
Rainbow stood on the flight deck of Hurricane and watched the killboard light up. Her brilliant day tied for second best in the squad, and finally allowed her to order some spray paint for her fighter. Even better, she’d be allowed into the officers lounge that night for the first time. It was, once again, simply awesome.
The killboard was replaced by a 2-D model of Antara, showing the progress of the battle below. It had been three hours since the first MI units had touched down, and things were progressing decently. She’d been told that EqCom had been concerned about Antarans digging up from underneath the soil to ambush entire divisions, but the ground-pounders hadn’t seen such tactics yet. In fact, Operation Ant Hill itself was turning into quite a digging expedition, as Equestrian Units were finding themselves having to dig several hundred meters to make contact with quickly withdrawing Antaran soldiers. But, the model showed, they could only dig for so long before the Antarans were backed up against their own cities. Until then, the Diamond Dog units would keep digging, and the grunts would smoke out any Ants that stuck out their heads.
Rainbow Dash almost wanted to join them. Her adrenaline hadn’t ebbed one bit since she’d jumped into the system, and she was chomping at the bit to get another swing at the Antarans. Her Falcon was being recharged (and the mechanics were not happy about her burning out three more shield generators), but any second now she’d get the call from Captain Fox to get back out there.
But first, she decided, she would hit the head. It got hot in that cockpit sometimes, and she had “accidentally” replaced her vitamin water pouch with Sweet Apple Acres cider, so the trip was long overdue. She barely made it out of her flight suit in time.
Her business concluded, Rainbow returned to the flight deck to find Captain Fox waiting for her and wearing his normal scowl. She beamed her best smile, and he shook his head towards the hangar opening. Still beaming, she saluted, and zipped to her fighter.
“This gets better and better!”
----
It had been four hours, and nothing had happened anywhere in sector “Rico”. Cadenza’s Spear arrived, met up with the MI that secured the place, set up barriers and began to wait. No Antarans had been sighted, no tremors felt. Even the artillery was silent, with nothing above ground to shoot at, and the absence of second platoon was hardly noticed at all. Everypony was coping in their own way, but the stillness was unsettling. The planet had rotated into daytime while they were waiting, and the warm rays of the local star had taken the chill out of the alien atmosphere, making it nearly comfortable, if slightly irradiated. Some ponies had even managed a nap.
Applejack sat, watching the perimeter and letting the Antaran soil flow through her hooves. She felt no connection with it, as she did on Home. At Sweet Apple Acres, she could feel the life coursing the soil, and it usually lifted her spirits to silently witness the power of the bond between pony and nature. Over time, she had come to understand this power, and to draw strength from it. The dirt here, on Antara, gave no such warmth. As a pile slid from her loose grip, the aura of death was all she could feel.
The mare still felt sick, and not just from the rad-away pills. All this inaction had given her too much time to think about Rainbow Dash. She had stopped hating herself hours ago, but the feeling that she had abandoned her best friend when she needed somepony was still a heavy weight to bear. She still couldn’t wrap her head around why she hadn’t opened the letter earlier.
“Probably because I was terrified of this happening.”
Hearing her speak for the first time since they’d landed, Cracker Barrel looked up at her friend. She had dozed off while Applejack watched the perimeter.
“Anything to report?”
“Nothing at all, sugarcube.”
Cracker giggled. “Sugarcube? That’s a new one.”
Applejack blushed. “Sorry, Cracker Barrel, my head was somewhere else. Anywhere else, really. I was. . .”
She tailed off, looking into the sky above the horizon. The atmosphere was thinner on Antara, so despite the sun’s glow, she could make out distant stars and the flashes of impulse engines hanging in orbit. But something else caught her eye.
It was a flash of red, followed by two, then dozens more. Soon, much of the eastern sky was alight with dots of red in all different sizes.
Then the proximity alarms went off, and everything went to hell.
----
If Rainbow Dash hadn’t been staring at her radar, searching for something to shoot at, she wouldn’t have noticed them. First a small dot, appearing very near the planet on the opposite side of the horizon, where much of the fleet was orbiting. Then more dots began to appear in all directions, and before she could count them, the entire radar was solid red.
The comm exploded, with cries of alarm, laced with fear, filled the network. She switched off of the main band and on to the Manticore frequency as dozens of ships began to materialize around her. There wasn’t an alarm in her cockpit that wasn’t sounding, but she tuned them out to listen in to the comm.
“Mayday, mayday! All units scramble! All units scramble!”
It was Swivel, but his normally calm voice was cracking with tension. He sounded panicked. Terrified, even.
“All Manticores get back to Hurricane! We are under attack, repeat, under attack. Several dozen Antaran fighters are inbound! On the double, pilots!”
Mouth agape, Rainbow punched in the coordinates and gunned the burners. She’d make it in two minutes, after she rounded the planet to the fleet held side. When she crested it, the pegasus could tell that Swivel was lying.
There were hundreds of Antaran fighters, enough to send her targeting computer haywire. The radar counted over four hundred fighters on scope, and even more spewing from the ungodly multitude of Antaran capital ships now in system. She had never seen so much metal in one place, and most of it was gunning for her. As if on cue, the target lock indicators shrieked in alarm. Rainbow licked her lips and gripped the control stick tighter. The Antarans would need to try a lot harder to catch the fastest flyer in Equestria.
----
Cadenza’s Spear was being overwhelmed. The Spear had designed their entire strategy, their entire purpose, even, around defending a solid point of ground. What they hadn’t counted on was needing to put a roof on their fortress, as the Navy was supposed to handle that dimension of things. But, for the 402nd at least, the Navy had abandoned them.
Not that Applejack could blame them, though. In the few minutes between the appearance of the enemy fleet and the attack on their position, she and Cracker Barrel had counted hundreds of new vessels in the system. Even the might of the combined fleet above them was really going to struggle with numbers of this scale.
They obviously were not coping well. Within minutes of the new arrival, Antaran drop pods were assaulting their position from above. Dozens of aliens fell from the sky, razor sharp, jagged claws beckoning. During the week that she had stared at the plans for Ant Hill, she had never once guessed that the Antarans would end up invading their own planet hours after trapping the Equestrians on it. The mare shuddered. Thousands of ponies were underground at that very moment, with blood lust bearing down on them from all angles. Some of the units the furthest down were out of comm range, and would have no idea what was going on on the surface. It would be a bloodbath for sure.
Applejack had tagged two aliens before she and Cracker had been forced to abandon their outpost, falling back towards the center of sector “Rico”. The rest of the brigade was moving that way, clustering around the still silent artillery pieces or hopping the metal wall forming a poor pony's perimeter around them. There was no cover and no place to hide between the outskirts of their position and the center, though, and the resulting carnage was maddening. Startled and confused, organization was rapidly breaking down. Ponies were clustered into small groups, being herded into corners and torn apart with extreme prejudice. Applejack managed to get a good look at the attackers while covering Cracker as the two withdrew, leap frogging towards the center of the formation. Two meters tall and dark green, the creatures stood upright, their four sharpened legs giving them extreme mobility. Two more pincer equipped appendages rose horribly to pierce the skin and armor of any pony in their way. A circular maw rife with over one hundred teeth completed the horror show. Applejack reasoned that these creatures looked a lot more formidable in the field than they did in the simulations.
Perhaps the numbness she had felt for the past few hours had relaxed her, because Applejack’s aim was steadier than usual. She’d hit two more of the creatures as she and Cracker edged closer to the artillery pieces. The mass of ponies grew denser, but the returning fire became shakier as more targets presented themselves. Applejack knew that only a head shot could really cripple an Antaran, and even blowing off a limb would just leave one slightly annoyed. Her compatriots knew that as well, but they seemed to be forgetting. The horde of Antarans continued their approach.
Fifteen meters from the makeshift defensive perimeter, Applejack stopped to turn and suppress the oncoming onslaught, yelling for Cracker Barrel to get inside. She lined up a shot, and was about to give her helmet’s neural scanner the command to fire when an impact behind her shook the ground. She turned in time to dodge out of the way of slicing death, missing decapitation by inches. The creature slashed again while she recovered, and caught her front left leg, leaving a bright crimson gash half a foot long. Luckily, it missed the bone, and the impact turned Applejack away from the creature.
“Big mistake, partner!”
She reared up, allowing years of experience and instinct to take over. The wound on her leg seared, but didn’t buckle under her weight as she reared back, unleashing a solid bucking upon the Antaran. The impact felt soft, unlike an apple tree, and she felt her hooves sink into the creature. She spun to see it fall with a satisfying, sickening crunch. She gathered her composure and turned towards the wall surrounding the big guns.
Laying in front of the wall was Cracker Barrel, her insides splayed about on the ground, a look of abject terror still on her face, betraying her final thoughts. Her blood continued to leak out of the body, but lacked the forceful spurts of a heart beat. Applejack barely had a chance to comprehend the sight before being pulled through a gate, the heavy metal door shutting behind her.
----
“Manticore one, come in.”
“. . . .”
“Manticore two? You there, G?”
“. . . .”
“Manticore three? Four? Anyone? Manticore Squadron, where are you guys?”
“. . . .”
“Anyone? Please?”
Rainbow Dash was a pilot without a home, and, it now seemed, without a family. Hurricane had gone down before she could reach it, taking half of her squadron before they could get to their fighters. Swivel’s frantic cries for assistance continued until the hulk finally burned up in the atmosphere.
The fleet was in shambles. Rainbow Dash had long since run out of missiles, and her shields were more or less null. She had only survived this long by weaving in and out of the wreckage of what was once the greatest fleet in the galaxy. She counted three confirmed kills, possibly four, and at least two more if steering enemy fighters into debris counted. More frequently, though, she saw the frozen bodies of ponies bounce off of her canopy.
She had two tails, but they were merely patrolling the bone yard. They’d been on her for a few minutes, and each time she sprung a trap, they bugged out before she could get a lock, only for them to bring reinforcements. Five fighters waited for her above the junkyard that was once Celestia.
The dreadnought had fought valiantly, taking on two Sathanas class giants at once, and nearly crippling the first. But with Helios having burned up and Firefly snapped in half, her fighter cover was nonexistent, and her beam cannons were disabled. As far as Dash could tell, her reactor had gone critical, although it wouldn’t have surprised her if the captain had pulled the self destruct button. If he did, it was worth it, as the explosion had also fragged the Sathanases on either side of Celestia.
It didn’t seem to matter at this point, unfortunately. The fleet had regrouped over where Dash had flown earlier on her escort mission, which seemed lifetimes ago. From what she could tell, Luna was still kicking, as well as Manehattan and Blueblood. The radar showed twenty six friendly capital ships alive, with still over two hundred Antarans closing on them, although scores were breaking off to launch infantry at Equestrian positions on the surface.
Dash looked at her console. Most of her systems were still intact, including her warp drive. She could bail if she wanted to, and fall back as far as the neutral zone, where she could signal for help. Somebody had to, right?
But she knew that that was not an option. Element of Loyalty or not, she wouldn’t abandon her brothers and sisters in arms. As long as she had air in her lungs, she’d do her job. Having power left in her chain gun didn’t hurt, either.
The pegasus considered her options. She could reach the fleet with power to spare, and then do what she could from there. She only needed a way to escape the debris field and lose her tails-- eight of them now. A plan came to mind, and Rainbow shifted power from nearly every system to engines. She turned the radio off as well.
Her hoof found its way to the picture of her friends. She touched it, just below an orange earth mare, as she had done so many times before.
“Love you guys.”
Her hoof found her missile countermeasure toggle and spammed it for all she was worth. Six CMs, her remaining supply, shot from beneath her cockpit. Picking up on the radar signals, the Antarans dove at the drones. Before she could talk herself out of it, the cyan pilot throttled the afterburner and shot in the opposite direction.
It only worked for a few seconds, which, thought Rainbow, might be all she needed. She kept pressure on the accelerator and willed the fighter to move faster. It obliged, pushing itself well past its intended top speed. The frame started to shake, but it held. The pilot grinned to herself.
“Take care of your ship, and it will take care of you, right old boy?”
The fighter groaned in response, the strain of its speed taking a heavy toll. She was nearly thirty seconds from the relative safety of the fleet when her port side engine began to fizz out. The Falcon-II sputtered for an agonizing split second, allowing the generator to catch up, and soon regained full speed.
As any pilot knows, though, a split second is all it takes sometimes. A blast of green energy caught the port engine, knocking it out completely. Rainbow dove, trying to lose her pursuers, but it was to no avail, and her starboard engine was shot out as well. She still had maneuvering thrusters, but for all practical purposes, Rainbow was dead in the water. The momentum of her dive pushed the Falcon-II into the atmosphere, and the Antaran fighters let her go, turning towards the rest of the fleet.
Luckily for the pegasus, her power generators were largely intact, and she was able to redirect everything into her shields. If they could hold long enough, she could tempt fate with a crash landing. She could try to bail and fly herself down, but a readout of the atmosphere showed that the much stronger gravity of Antara would overcome the strength of her wings immediately. She grinned with determination.
“Lets do this the hard way!”
----
The Antarans had stopped falling from the sky, at least. Applejack could take credit for that, as she had suggested, rather forcefully, that the unicorns cowering underneath the big guns turn them on the Ant cruisers above them. Two were swatted from the sky before the remaining three withdrew. Applejack had also suggested that the surviving soldiers man the walls and attempt to hold their position, instead of crowding around the comm system screaming for extraction.
Steel Beam was gone. He had been the one to pull Applejack into the compound, and he had climbed the wall after closing the gate behind her. The mare sat on the ground for a few seconds, catching her breath, when his body fell back on top of her. His head, however, did not.
She was about to give up on Focus as well when he somehow hopped over the wall. His armor was torn in a dozen places, many of which were bleeding profusely, but he was alive, and immediately sought someone to tell him what was going on. Applejack noticed that he looked relieved when somepony pointed at her. He trotted her way, half a dozen pairs of dog-tags hanging from his neck. His mane was splattered with green gunk and blood.
“Apple! Glad to see you. Take these,” he said, handing her the tags, “and this.”
He hoofed over the night black Shadowbolt emblem, which Applejack recoiled at. Focus laughed.
“You’re just borrowing it. Get to the comm station, use this to activate the subnet. Don’t ask what it is,” he added, seeing her confusion. “It will patch you to anypony you want up there. Get whoever you can, tell them that we need an extract. The emblem has some extremely important information, but we can’t transmit it. It needs the pickup, not us. Understand?”
Applejack nodded, but he was gone before she could respond. Still confused, she sprinted to the now empty comm shack, closed the door, and looked at the transmitter. As she had suspected, it did not have a crescent moon shaped slot to fit the emblem in. Her presence, though, seemed good enough for the machine, as the view screen went dark. The chatter of the fleet, broadcasting on the emergency channel, died suddenly, and Applejack picked up the microphone.
“This is Private Applejack in sector “Rico” and we need immediate extraction. One company of ponies, a few wounded, extremely important intel. Repeat, we need a pickup now, over.”
The screen remained black, but nothing else happened. A reply came from an agitated sounding mare.
“Private, in case you hadn’t noticed, we have bigger problems up here. Stay off this frequency.”
“But. . . I. . . we have very important. . .”
“Shut it!”
The comm went dead, and the chatter of the fleet was replaced by the sound of an object falling very fast. Applejack hung her head, and the room shook from the concussive force of a powerful impact what sounded like a high speed smashing into the ground very nearby, knocking her to the floor. The noise level outside picked up, and the shouts of ponies added to the din of screeching Antarans and small arms fire. Without her noticing his entry to the room, Focus’ voice added to it.
“Fleet, this is Shadowbolt one fifty six, and you had best recognize the penalty that comes from disobeying an order on the subnet. We suggest a retrieval boat be sent down, or your families will soon come to understand that Luna’s wrath can haunt even from beyond the grave. Over.”
There was a pause before the mare from before spoke up.
“Boat coming down, sir.”
He dropped the mic and smiled at Applejack.
“Sometimes its good to have a reputation.”
She rose to her hooves and tried to smile back when a scything claw punched through the comm room wall. Two more claws tore through the metal, and finally the wall gave way, an Antaran still clinging to it as it fell. Applejack turned to open fire when a second beast tore through the hole, slicing a gash across her face. It disrupted her aim, enough to prevent a headshot but not enough to keep the Antaran from taking a direct hit to the torso. It raged at her, only to be taken down by fire from Focus. He stepped in front of her as two more Antarans tried to enter the room.
“Go!”
“But sir. . .”
“I’ll catch up! Just go!”
The pain in her face searing hot, Applejack ducked out of the room and rounded the structure. Two more Antarans were attempting to gang up on Focus, but she flanked them and put a bullet through the first’s brain. The second would have fallen had she not run out of ammo.
The creature lunged at her, and swung through air on the first go. The second found skin, and Applejack fell to the ground, the green monster standing over her. Just above it, she could see the metallic shape of the retrieval boat beginning a final descent, two gunships providing cover fire around it.
“Almost made it. . .” she whispered, the strength draining from her as quickly as the blood from her newest wound. Her killer reared up to put the finishing touches on the farm pony’s life, and Applejack closed her eyes. There was a commotion above her, and when she looked up, the Antaran had been knocked to the ground, Focus laying on top of it. The alien had speared him through the chest with a spare limb, and the two ponies made eye contact. The sound of the transport landing behind Applejack resounded through the small compound. Focus ripped the limb off of the Antaran, and stood up while two more approached him from behind
“Sir!”
“Shut it, Apple! Get the data to command!”
He grinned at her through his wince, and winked a swollen eye.
“Well done, Private.”
Focus turned and charged at the Antarans, tackling one, then disappearing beneath two more. Applejack wanted to go after him, but she found herself being dragged by two ponies towards the transport. As the doors closed on Laser Focus and operation Ant Hill, Applejack collapsed on the steel grey floor. A cyan pegasus in a flight suit lay next to her.
Shining Armor stepped away from the podium, happy to finally be free of the flashbulbs in his face. His two security guards flanking him, the white stallion slowly dredged his way through the forest of microphones. He had stated several times that he wouldn’t be taking questions, but the media, as usual, didn’t care. The shouting was unbearable.
“Why is General Chessmaster being given a full burial?”
“Do you have any more details on the draft?”
“Where is Princess Celestia?”
“When will casualty lists be made public?”
“What are you hiding?”
The lift doors closed, and the noise stopped. The guard to his left punched in the code for Shining’s office, and the flock of cameras disappeared below the rapidly rising elevator. He’d soon be moving into Chessmaster’s former space, but the blood splattering all over the wall would take a few days to be disinfected. The newly promoted Supreme Commander didn’t really mind, as his office was well hidden within the labyrinthian halls of EqCom. In his youth, it had been perfect for sneaking Cadance in for some late night rendezvous, but today he just wanted a reprieve from being asked questions that he didn’t know the answers to.
The lift stopped, and the trio of stallions stepped into his office’s antechamber. His secretary, Due Diligence, had been given the day off to be with her family; her brother was an officer on Celestia. He entered the office, leaving the guards in the first room, and trudged to his desk. The room was normally quite messy- Twilight had flipped when she witnessed the chaos on a visit the previous year- but today it was a total disaster zone. Papers lay on every possible surface, containing everything from long range sensor data to reservist rosters. All of it would have to be sorted through, at some point. Maybe, he thought, I can wait until I move offices, and some of it will get lost on the way.
Levitating some of the papers out of his chair, the unicorn sat behind his oaken desk. He liked the feel of the wood beneath his hooves, despite the laughs he got from some of his comrades that were sporting magically woven glass versions. It reminded him of home, of a simpler time when being Captain of the Royal Guard meant nothing more than dealing with some changelings. He longed for those days.
He used magic to activate his viewscreen and saw that he had over three hundred messages. He looked for a place to bang his head on the desk, but couldn’t find a space devoid enough of paperwork. With a heavy sigh, he started browsing through emails.
The bulk of the communiques were casualty confirmations and officer promotion orders. Nopony really knew how bad the Equestrian Invasion force had gotten smeared, but initial reports were much worse than anybody had originally imagined. Entire battalions, and in some cases, entire divisions, had simply disappeared. A few had been lucky enough to see the writing on the wall and get off of the planet in the early stages of the counterattack, but they were in the extreme minority. Nearly 10,000 infantry ponies were certainly dead, and over 70,000 remained unaccounted for from the ground based units alone, and most of them would eventually become KIAs. Intelligence suggested that as many as ten thousand were being held captive, but it was impossible to know for sure. The non pony units had fared just as poorly, and Armor guessed that their casualties could reach 75%. Looking at the data, he guessed that it would take weeks to get a remotely accurate account of just how bad the infantry had it.
Arguably, the fleet did much worse. Many ships had been able to launch some escape pods, but with nopony to pick them up, the actions were tragically in vain. The ones that didn’t, however, saw total losses. Luna had limped back to celestium, as well as twenty other vessels, but over ninety wrecks would remain in the system for the Antarans to pillage.
He read the list of confirmed fleet losses. Hurricane had burned up, presumably with half of Manticore Squadron still in it. Manerheim broke in half, Canterlot was abandoned, and Celestia self-destructed. The list went on. It would take years to rebuild.
He had very little solid numbers to go on, but it was looking more and more like he’d have to lead the Equestrian Military with only two operating fleets. The ranks could be filled easily, as EqCom would no doubt spin the loss in a way that would double volunteering, and a draft of sorts was being discussed in Parliament. But without a fleet to put the troops anywhere, the numbers could be utterly useless. Worse still, he had to keep the Fourth Fleet at Home, leaving Celestium largely unguarded and most of the colony worlds completely vulnerable. It was a risk he had to take, however, as the Antaran fleet’s actions above their homeworld showed just how much of a threat they’d be to Home if they reached it.
Shining went through the rest of the emails, and looked up at his clock to see that three hours had passed. He had a fairly good idea of what he was up against now; an army that was largely untested and very afraid, and no navy to put them anywhere. He wondered if anyone else had ever been “promoted” to such a mess. It was really too bad that Chessmaster had taken the easy way out- Shining could have at least used a tour around his new facilities, if nothing else.
His gaze found the picture of Cadance on his desk. She had flown to the Crystal Empire earlier the previous night, knowing how fragile the collective mentality of her people was. He longed for her embrace. She was the only pony that could ever hope to calm or soothe his nerves, and he missed her more than anything. She didn’t even need to use her magic to warm his spirits; just seeing her or hearing her angelic voice could do the trick. But she had her duty, and he had his. It was getting late, and he hadn’t slept in days. A good nap, at least, would give him the energy to read more casualty lists, as they would certainly pour in as more information was collected
He was about to shut down his terminal and head home when another email popped into his inbox. He wanted to ignore it, but figured that, as the new Supreme Commander, he should devote at least a glance to the subject line. He was immediately glad that he did.
The subject simply read “EC Starswirl the Bearded CN-1313 Recovered Survivor List”, and the word survivor was not something he had seen in the batch of 300 emails he had chugged through so far. Hooves shaking, he opened the document.
It was far too short. He counted before reading the names and saw that thirty seven ponies had been pulled from the planet’s surface. Thirty seven. Not even an entire company. Armor shuddered. If the rest of the “survivor” lists were like this, the casualty count would certainly climb above 100,000. Distraught, he read through the list of ponies, if only to prove that the thirty seven indeed existed. Two names caught his eye near the bottom of the list. He smiled, probably for the first time in days, and clicked to forward the message, dictating out loud to the terminal.
“Dear Twili. . .”
----
Celestium
Applejack lifted her head and a stab of pain greeted her entire body, followed by a soothing wave of numbness. Glancing around the room, she took note of a magical medicine dispenser to her left, thus explaining the euphoric feeling coursing through her veins. There were dozens of tubes sticking out of various parts of her body, some with liquids flowing in, others draining things out. Unlike Rainbow Dash, she had never woken up in a hospital bed, so she was quite unsettled by the entire situation.
She tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness met her, suggesting that she had been in stasis for some time after a sub-space flight. Loosening the straps lashing her to the bed and floating upwards confirmed that she was at least on board a space going vessel. Which one, or how she had arrived there, remained a mystery.
Feeling spasms of pain in her wounded leg, Applejack tried to lay down, but the lack of gravity prevented it. Rolling her eyes, she searched for a nurse call button, but none was in reach. She lay there, suspended, for a few more minutes before someone walked in. Applejack recognized her immediately.
“Joy! What are you doing here!”
Nurse Joy Redheart smiled at Applejack, and lowered her back onto the bed.
“Same thing as you, Applejack. Serving Celestia and all that. But not quite as dangerously as you are, it would appear. How are you feeling?”
Applejack told her, the white earth pony listening as she read the readouts on the various consoles surrounding the bed. Seeing that things were normalizing, the mare took some notes on a datapad.
“Joy, how long has it been?”
“Eight weeks. You’re on board the medical ship Mercy, and we’re orbiting Celestium. We’ve kept you in stasis since you returned on Starswirl the Bearded. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how lucky you are to be here, do I?”
Applejack grimaced at the thought.
“How bad was it?”
“I have to go check on some of the others, but activate the console to your right.”
The nurse spoke harshly, her demeanor doing a complete one eighty. She didn’t make eye contact as she spoke, and she left the room quickly after speaking.
Somewhat shaken, Applejack activated the console. She was even more displeased by what she saw. After a few minutes of catching up, she’d seen all the she could bear and turned the screen off, wishing that the magical medicine device was manually operated.
----
Two more weeks of crushing inactivity passed before she was released from Mercy’s care. Rainbow Dash had already been transferred to an intensive care unit on the surface, and with most of the ponies onboard Mercy still in various states of physical decay, Applejack had not had anyone to talk to besides her doctors. With her leg still not properly healed, she wasn’t even allowed out of her room until day ten of the confinement. She spent her time writing letters, searching for news, and crying. Only 36 members of Cadenza’s Spear had survived Antara. Only six from her company, and one from her platoon. First platoon, the people she had spent every waking moment with for half a year, was completely gone, with Applejack having witnessed the brutal slayings of many of its members. She hadn’t felt so alone, or guilty, in a long, long time. Time passed in a haze, and she found simple tasks frustratingly difficult. Pointless, even. Even a letter from Big Mac sucked all of the energy out of her. It was a heavy burden to bear, and not the physical kind she was used to.
She had been relatively lucky, though, even among survivors. Her wounds were not too bad in comparison- she hadn’t lost any limbs or organs- and she still maintained most of her sanity. As she would come to find out, a significant portion of the seven thousand or so infantry ponies to make it off of Antara had completely lost their minds at the sight of the carnage the planet held. Applejack would eventually come to wonder if they had seen a worse fate than their fallen comrades.
Her discharge transport landed at Port Royal, Celestium’s largest space port. With orders to report to the barracks, Applejack began to walk, slowly and clumsily, down the main avenue of the city. At the second crossing, she waited for the stream of automated chariots to slow before attempting to hobble across. A jet black vehicle stopped in front of her, and the door opened. A black unicorn mare sat inside, levitating a pistol at her.
“Get in.”
Too weak to resist or even to shuffle out of the way of the gun, Applejack clambered in. The door slammed behind her, and the chariot took off. The mare lowered the weapon and smiled.
“Sorry about that, but I’m not really supposed to be out in public, Applejack.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow.
The mare lowered the weapon and smiled, releasing a violet aura from her horn. The magic filled the cabin, radiating with a familiar warmth, and Applejack was forced to shield her eyes from the incredibly bright shine. An popping noise fizzed about, and when Applejack looked up, the glow was gone, replaced by a jittery, unkempt Twilight Sparkle.
“Its great to see you alive, AJ. How have the last two weeks been treating you? I wanted to wake you sooner, but the doctors said you needed rest, and who am I to argue? I mean, I am the head of Equestrian Intelligence now, but that doesn’t make me a doctor, so “let her rest!” I said. Anyway, it seems to have worked, because you look a whole lot better now, although with all the tubes removed and the bruises gone that is kind of a given. How is your leg? We were worried that the Antaran’s would have some sort of poison in their claws, but you don’t appear to be suffering any ill after effects. Are you?”
Applejack’s mouth fell open. She hadn’t seen her friend in months, and it had been years since she’d seen her in such a nervous state. A familiar twitching of her right eye accompanied nearly each sentence the unicorn said.
“Oh no! You’ve been deafened, haven't you! This is horrible! But I may be able to find some spells. . .”
Awoken from her shocked stupor, Applejack cut her friend off.
“Relax, sugarcube. I’m not deaf, just surprised to see you.”
Twilight visibly relaxed, the presence of her fully functional friend calming her. Still, her eyes seemed to be going a million places at once, her ears struggling to keep up.
“Now, would you mind telling me what the hay this is all about?”
Twilight, invited to give a lecture, smiled a devious grin. Applejack nervously mirrored it.
“This is going to be a long ride, isn’t it?”
----
It indeed was a long, but informative, ride from Port Royal to a much smaller, secret spaceport some ways away from the city. In Twilight’s office, deep beneath the planet’s surface, Applejack stared at a 3-D schematic in front of her. The orange light of the projector contorted and wove itself into a sleek, pointed form, looking like the dolphins that Apple Bloom had once sought to train. This shape, though, looked much more aggressive than a dolphin, and had the metaphoric teeth to back up its stature. Torpedo launchers, laser banks, disruptor cannons; the ship was loaded for one purpose- hunting.
“I still don’t understand, Twilight. I get that these ships. . .”
“The Friendship Class,” interrupted Twilight.
“The Friendship Class, are all stealth. . .”
“And fast! Celestium to Home in three days!”
“. . . and fast. But how can these help us, especially if we’ve only got one of them?”
“That is where you are going to come in! You take one of these ships behind enemy lines, and figure out what they are up to. While you’re at it, annoy them! Smash their ships, supply lines, anything you can get at. It is very, very important, Applejack. You of all ponies should appreciate how difficult it must be to feed an entire army!”
“But Twi, how is one ship going to make any difference? And how am I supposed to even find their supply lines? We obviously aren’t very good at tracking them, remember?”
Twilight’s eyes lit up, as if something of extreme importance had suddenly manifested itself within her cavernous intellect. Her horn glowed, and a familiar black disk, now on a chain, appeared around Applejack’s neck.
“I completely forgot! As it turns out, your Lieutenant Focus, or “agent one five six” as they have me call him around here, although I suppose that is you now, isn’t it, was able to do a little bit of intelligence gathering before things got. . .bad. He was able to find two things- first, that the Antarans definitely are a hive mind, although we kind of knew that already, and second, that their collective brain wave signal can be detected by our sensors! Isn’t that great!”
For the second time in a few hours, Applejack’s jaw dropped. She hadn’t thought of Focus in quite a while. It was hard to believe that he was really gone, and she hadn’t fully processed the absence yet, and it seemed that Twilight wouldn’t give her any time for grieving, either.
“Well, it is great, and I’ll tell you why! We can’t tell what they are saying, but we can tell where they are saying it from! With this data in your system, you can see every Antaran vessel for five light years!”
Applejack’s ears perked at that tidbit.
“For real? Every single one?”
Twilight beamed with pride.
“You bet! Told you it was great!”
Applejack, for the first time in a long time, felt a deep sense of optimism. If the Friendship class could really stay hidden, and it could see the enemy at that kind of range, then the prospects of success were a lot better than any plan she could have devised. Especially with the arms it bore, and the speed it had to get out of dodge when the situation got too hairy.
“Well, Twi, I think this might actually work then. And you sure you want me in charge of it? I’m not even really in the Navy, right?”
Twilight’s smile somehow got bigger.
“Oh, don’t you worry about that, AJ. You have some friends in very high places. Some rather Shining friends, if you catch my drift. Friends wearing some very nice Armor, if you know what. . .”
“I think I got you the first time, sugarcube.”
“Sorry! It’s just so exciting!” Twilight blushed. “My two best friends working with me on a mission to save all of ponydom! Sort of just like old times, right!?”
Furrowing her brow, Applejack gave Twilight a quizzical look.
“Beg your pardon, but, your two best friends?”
Again, Twilight seemed to explode with energy.
“Oh my gosh! How could I have forgotten! I’m so sorry!” She turned to a console, and activated a comm unit.
“Send her in, please!”
She turned back to Applejack and smiled. The earth pony returned the grin, and the two stared at each other for a few uncomfortable moments. Finally, the door to the room opened, and a cyan figure strode in.
“‘Bout time you showed up, Applejack! I was about to go take our new ship out for a spin myself!”
Relief washed over Applejack, as she found herself galloping towards her friend. Of all the people she had seen that day on Antara, Rainbow Dash was the only one she had seen alive. The mare was about to give the pegasus a Pinkie Pie caliber hug when she stopped short, staring at Rainbow’s back, noticing for the first time something very different.
While Rainbow Dash’s right wing reflected the same cool blue it had always been, her left wing was now a metallic silver, with the pegasus’ six color motif streaked across it. At first, Applejack thought it was some odd paint, adopted by the Manticores, or even just a trick of the light, but closer inspection proved her wrong. The entire apparatus, from the base of rainbow’s back to the feather tips of the wing, was metal. It gave Rainbow a very weird look, as if she were not fully pony- which, in reality, was correct.
“Like the new wing, aye Applejack? Or just jealous of the awesome new paint job?” Rainbow extended the appendage, allowing her friend to take in its majesty. Shape wise, the wing was largely identical to its twin on Rainbow’s right side, but the similarities ended there. Fully extended, Applejack could see the rainbow streaks formed a sort of lightning bolt down the length of the design- it made Rainbow look quite formidable.
“Rainbow! What happened to you?” Applejack’s first reaction was shock, and then concern. At the back her mind, a nagging feeling that she had some seriously unfinished business with Rainbow Dash festered, but she chose to ignore it. For now, at least.
“Left my old wing on Antara. No biggie, we just have to go get it back some day, right? Besides, this bad boy is sweet- just as fast as my old one, and a million times less likely to break. I even told them to leave take the fake skin off of it- looks cooler that way. I designed the paint myself. Like it?”
The pegasus was absolutely beaming, and Applejack sensed that it was not just because of the new wing. Applejack felt it, too- the first bit of real happiness she had experienced in a long time. Despite all that had happened, she honestly felt that, with a friend back at her side, things could only get better, even with the baggage they would need to work out.
“I sure do, sugarcube. But lets be a little more careful this time- I’d hate to see you with a matching set.”
“Fair enough,” replied Rainbow, blushing. “But before we do that, I’ve been telling Twilight here for three weeks that Friendship 1 is not exactly a great name for the best ship in galaxy.”
The two ponies looked at Twilight, who’s blush now matched Rainbow’s.
“Well, I told Rainbow that it was symbolic, especially with you two on board, but I guess the captain can change the name, if she wants. What do you think, Applejack?”
Applejack considered for a second, but her thoughts were interrupted by Rainbow Dash frantically waving, begging for attention. Applejack could guess where this was going. She exhaled loudly.
“We’re not naming the ship Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow seemed to deflate a bit, and Twilight laughed at her consternation. Undaunted, Rainbow pressed on.
“Sonic Rainboom? Wonderbolt? Best Young Flier? Daring Do?”
Applejack raised an eyebrow, and raised a hoof to quiet her.
“How about just Daring?”
Rainbow Dash considered for a moment.
“I could deal with that. Not as cool as my idea, but cool enough.”
Sorry I haven’t been able to write you more often, and that the letters you do get are fairly short. I’m on a pretty tight leash here, and even when we’re back at [REDACTED], so my messages are probably thrice filtered before they get to you.
[REDACTED] is doing well, if Scootaloo was wondering. Her new wing looks, as she would say, awesome, and she is settling in well to life on board [REDACTED]. I, on the other hand, am really not! Its strange, being in a ship 24 hours a day. We’re lucky enough to have one of those new gravity generators on board, so we’re not floating around all day, except when [REDACTED]. The lighting is pretty horrid though, and it can get mighty cold at times, despite the [REDACTED].
We just got back to port last week after quite a while in [REDACTED]. I’m sure I can’t tell you what we’re up to out here, but I really do think we’re helping the war effort. It took some getting used to, what with the new crew and all, but I think we may be saving some ponies, in the long run, at least.
I don’t have much else to say, except that I love you and I miss you. I just hope I am making you proud, Apple Bloom. You’re a big pony now, but I know that even big ponies can get scared- I am a whole lot these days. But be brave, just like we talked about, and like I’m sure you already are. With any luck, I may be able to come home soon, but don’t get your hopes up. Although, since I’m now reporting to [REDACTED], it might happen sooner rather than later.
Until then, keep your chin up. I love you, sis.
Applejack
----
ESV Daring hung in space at the edge of the system, completely still. On board, in her cabin, Captain Applejack squirmed. Nothing about Daring’s current situation made her want to do much else.
Eighteen hours earlier, Daring had intercepted an Antaran supply convoy and wasted it before most of the vessels could raise their shields. For the first time, though, the convoy was accompanied by an escort cruiser, and while it was easily dispatched with a high yield torpedo, its mere appearance bothered Applejack. On the one hoof, if the Antarans were worried about their supply chains to start protecting six vessel convoys in their own systems, Daring must have been doing quite a job of annoying the enemy, as Twilight Sparkle had requested. On the other hoof, the job certainly was going to be a mite more difficult over the coming weeks.
After inspecting the cargo of the transports and being sure to leave nothing salvageable, the science officer on board Daring found an ion trail around the wreckage and called it to Applejack’s attention. The earth pony had no idea what the officer was saying, but he held back a roll of the eyes long enough to explain.
“The concentration of fission ions in this area suggests a heavy traffic area- a highway, if you will. If we follow it, we may stumble upon something- a station, depot, even a small planet we’ve yet to discover.”
Applejack thanked the unicorn and considered her options. Daring had a nearly full complement of torpedos, very little structural damage to consider, and the stealth systems were working as well as Twilight had hoped. When engaged, as they were now, the ship gave off zero heat, reflected zero light, and could hardly even be seen against the backdrop of space. Applejack (and even more so Rainbow Dash) felt confident that, with the element of surprise on her side, Daring could take on even some of the largest Antaran cruisers. At one hundred meters long, the Equestrian vessel was barely larger than the fleet’s escort frigates, but its armament equalled that of a Cloudsdale class destroyer. The extra teeth came at the cost of liveability on board; Daring had no entertainment systems, a meager galley, severely reduced hangar capabilities, and only one rest room (two, if Applejack’s private shower was counted). The crew, to Rainbow Dash’s dismay, used bunks on a shift basis, but it was a sacrifice most of them were willing to make for the opportunity to serve on such an important mission.
All of this filtered through Applejack’s mind while she planned her next move. The crew was not quite in love with having somepony so inexperienced in charge, but her service on Antara, and the single, black bar she wore on her lapel to signal it, had them convinced to follow her wherever the mare wanted to go; they would not object were they to follow the ion trail. And, even if they did find a significant Antaran presence at the other end, the gunners could use their equipment to an exhilarating effect.
Despite this, Applejack knew she must tread carefully. Daring was small and maneuverable enough to avoid almost anything the Ants threw at her, but all it took was one lucky hit on an essential subsystem to end the voyage prematurely. Even a glancing blow of enough intensity could puncture and depressurize the hull, which, given the size of the vessel, could kill everypony instantly. Worse still, if something frivolous was hit, Daring was weeks from any form of assistance, and Applejack couldn’t afford to be leaking fluids all over Antaran space. Any engagement could very well be the end of Celestia’s first Friendship class vessel.
But she had a job to do, and like she had told Apple Bloom, she wanted to do it right. If they could find and destroy a supply depot, it would be an edge that Equestria might need, and she couldn’t afford to back down from such an opportunity.
She toggled the comm at her station.
“Helm, lay in coordinates to follow the ion trail. Not too close, though. And get Rainbow into the cockpit. No risks here. Applejack out.”
----
Three hours later, Daring was starting to get uncomfortably warm. Applejack had laid in a course running parallel to the ion field but a few thousand kilometers away from it, requiring the helm to zig and zag in order to regain the trail every so often. It added time to their journey, but the risk, at least from her original order, was too great for Applejack to consider following the trail directly. Now, with the temperature steadily rising and collars steadily unbuttoning, the rookie Captain started to wonder if the caution was really necessary.
The Friendship class’ stealth systems were a mixture of simplicity and brilliance. Applejack hadn’t understood most of what Twilight meant when she spoke of “laser scrambling ablative armor” or “electro-magnetic counter measures”, but the former farm pony did understand one element extremely well: heat. In the cold vacuum of space, nothing could give an object away to Antaran sensors easier than the heat it emitted. Daring consisted mostly of modules designed, with the help of some serious unicorn magic, to have zero heat signature. The drive core, weapons systems, and shield generators were actually “cold blooded”, and could match the temperature of the environment outside the ship. To the untrained scanner, a sub-light speed Daring would be invisible on infrared scans, and it would take some doing to pick out its FTL drive signature to boot.
While the unicorn scientists were celebrating with champagne back on Home, though, the crew in charge of making this new system work was running into a significant oversight. Because the vessel was designed to not emit heat, it was not equipped with heat emitting equipment. The result was a paradox that only an engineer could overlook: the body heat of seventy nervously sweating ponies in very close quarters, as well as the on board equipment not enchanted by the heat spell, built up with nowhere to go. Consequently, Applejack often found herself in command of a rather drowsy crew, and even she herself found the moist, thickening air to make her want to take a nap. She tried to put on a brave face for the crew, but the condensation on her brow gave away her consternation. Even Rainbow Dash had dropped any pretense of weathering the proverbial storm, although Applejack suspected that her drooped ears might have been more a result of nobody laughing after she joked about opening a window on the bridge for the eighth time.
Uniforms unzipped, the crew continued to work silently, the hum of the ship’s systems droning in the background. Applejack had come to appreciate their quiet collectiveness. Unlike her army compatriots, she thought with a hole in her stomach, she found the Navy to be almost eerily understated. Every order was relayed with efficiency and carried out without her having to check in on anyone. There was no open boasting, nor reckless bravado; Rainbow Dash seemed to be the only exception. Perhaps, thought Applejack, it was a fighter pilot thing.
Her comm unit clicked on and Cloud Reign, her peculiarly named second in command, addressed the captain.
“Captain, we think we’ve found something.”
“On my way up.”
Applejack wished that Reign would be more sure of herself. The pegasus was smart, quick witted and knew her way around Daring like Applejack knew her way around Sweet Apple Acres. Her official title was “Ship’s Master”, meaning that she had been on board Daring, either figuratively or in reality, since it was nothing but a design. In all likelihood, she’d stay onboard the ship until she retired, or, perhaps more likely, went down with the ship.
Applejack rose from her command position at the rear of the bridge. She could have looked at whatever Reign saw from her terminal, or even from a viewscreen in her freezing cold shower, if she wanted, but she liked being up at the bow, both because of and despite Rainbow Dash’s presence there. Rainbow was conspicuously absent at the moment, though, her pilot’s matrix sitting empty.
The matrix was easily Rainbow Dash’s favorite thing in the entire universe at the moment, and with good reason. Daring could be piloted from four stations on board; the navigational station, which sat across the gangway from the matrix, or from emergency consoles in Applejack’s terminal and in engineering. The navstat was sufficient for setting waypoints, moving through subspace and in FTL drive, and for moving clumsily about in port. It was under the influence of the matrix, and especially of Rainbow Dash’s guidance, however, that Daring really showed her strength.
The matrix was housed within a pony length, watermelon shaped pod, set off the starboard side of the bridge. The gunmetal silver of its framework gleaned in contrast to both the glass windows it housed, and to the dark blue of Daring’s interior. Inside lay a simple bench which, at present, had a silver headpiece atop it. And it was from this rather bare platform that Rainbow Dash was able to make Daring dance.
Applejack had never been inside the pod, and had never been able to see its spell working, as the magic was tuned only to Pegasi. She did, though, remember the first time she saw Rainbow Dash exit the matrix. The mare was drenched in sweat, eyes wide open, and panting like she had just been in The Running of the Leaves. Applejack raised an eyebrow at her friend, who beamed.
“I. Was. The. Ship!”
“Beg your pardon?”
“I saw myself. . . outside in space, I was flying out there! When I thought to go one way, I did! When I wanted to speed up, I sped up? Can you imagine how fast I was going? I must have been. . . well, really freaking fast!”
She hadn’t stopped talking about it for four days. But by the end of her first week, Rainbow Dash had been able to weave Daring through space like she was in a Falcon-II. After two, it was like she really was the ship, and Applejack was very glad indeed that her bridge was installed on a very sensitive gyroscope.
The matrix remained vacant unless Daring was in a combat situation, saving the vessel the severe stress that came with her maneuvering. In theory, any pegasus could operate it, but the crew found out fairly quickly that their collective odds of survival tripled with Rainbow Dash at the helm. As a result, the device was treated with a homely reverence; even the ship’s cleaning bots were programmed to ignore it, letting its occupant smudge the windows to her heart’s content.
Applejack watched her reflection in the curve of the glass as Reign described the phenomenon, seventy five thousand kilometers off of the port bow. Thankfully, Reign understood her superior’s lack of scientific understanding.
“It’s an Antaran device, and it’s giving off a whole lot of tachyons. In Equestrian, it’s an artificial sub space portal. Where it goes, we have no idea. But we’ve hit the end of our highway, that’s for sure.”
She brought up a visual on the view screen. The construction was a massive, jet black group of rounded pylons, each orbiting a free floating obelisk. Alone, it would have been one of the most impressive constructions in the galaxy- indeed, it must have been twice the size of the original Celestia- but the fact that it could, somehow, create a sub space opening was startling. If the Antarans had this technology, EqCom would need to know.
“Scan it. Get all we can. Helm! Get us out of here, back to communication range. On the double,” she barked to the bridge crew. Reign looked back with concern written across her face.
“Don’t think that’s a good idea, Captain.”
She pointed at the sensor screen, gesturing towards six new contacts it didn’t take a genius to figure out where they were headed.
Moving quickly, Applejack brought up a display of the system Daring had been navigating. The portal, which likely led to another system in Antaran space, was in fact on the opposite side of the system from the natural one that allowed the vessel to enter the system in the first place. Unfortunately for its crew, the battle group (growing ever closer by the second) lay directly in between the two, and deviating enough to avoid them would put the ship dangerously close to inhabited planets. Applejack didn’t want to risk either option, because, as much as she believed in her ship’s stealth capabilities, six ships were a lot to sneak by, especially in FTL drive. There was only one real option on the table. Reign nodded, apparently coming to the same conclusion as the captain.
“You see it too, right ma’am?”
Applejack sighed and began to walk back to her command station. She replied without looking back.
“Indeed. Clear for action and beat to quarters, if you please, Miss Reign. And get Rainbow Dash up here immediately. We’re going through that portal.”
Applejack smirked as Rainbow poked her head around the Captain’s quarters. She did, indeed, have a full bathroom in her cabin, and she had taken advantage of it many times. Rainbow Dash and the rest of the crew had to make use of a portable sonic sterilizer for their bathing needs, and the cramped conditions aboard Daring did nothing to make that deficiency any more bearable.
“Rainbow, I know you’ve never seen a working shower in your life, but could you come out here and tell me what Reign said? Did she figure out what the holdup is?”
Rainbow shrugged and started pushing the buttons above the sink. After activating the automatic toothbrush and getting a spurt of toothpaste in her mane, she called back to the Captain.
“She has no idea. She knows that we won’t be exiting the portal any time soon though. How, I have no--” she was interrupted by a stream of water blasting out of the showerhead, catching her in the face. Applejack caught herself laughing.
“RD, would you get out of there before someone comes up here and sees you? I don’t want anyone to think that I invite my officers to my cabin to seduce them in the shower.”
Rainbow finally found the off switch and exited the washroom, dripping reclaimed water everywhere. Applejack gave her a look, and she sheepishly reached for a towel.
“Sorry, capt’. If it makes you feel better, I’d really hate to have a commanding officer that invites her underlings up to her cabin to seduce them. Or to feed their fish.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Feed whose fish?”
“What, you haven’t heard of Commander Shep. . .”
She couldn’t complete the thought, as the comm unit on Applejack’s desk chirped in. Cloud Reign’s voice came across as Applejack hit a switch.
“Captain, sorry to disturb you, but I think we know what is going on with this portal.”
Applejack let out a sigh of relief. They had been inside the portal for over four hours now, seemingly not going anywhere, and unable to get a sensor lock on their position. Some news, even if it was bad, would be very welcome.
“Well, we haven’t been able to figure out our position. But we have noticed something very telling. This part of subspace is full of tachyons, suggesting that we aren’t only traveling in space, but also through time.”
Over Applejack’s shoulder, Rainbow chirped in. “Tachyons?”
“Tachyons are. . . well, put it this way. Sometimes scientists can observe fluctuations in time, usually in subspace. When those instances happen, we observe lots of these things called tachyons. We have no idea what they actually are, but they seem to have something to do with time.”
Rainbow looked puzzled. Applejack felt no less certain about what this news had to do with anything. A new voice spoke over the comm. It was deep and impatient, suggesting that Lieutenant Beakerman, the lead science officer, was addressing them.
“If we observe something happening to time, we attribute it to Tachyons. It’s a made up concept, really. But it lets us describe things we have no idea about. And what it tells us now is that we are, in fact, travelling through time as well as space.”
Rainbow looked very, very excited at that news, but Applejack felt somber. She knew how Twilight had handled time travel; how would it affect her and her crew?
Reign was back on the radio. “But don’t get too excited, Captain. We aren’t really ‘time-travelling’, per se. We entered the portal at 09:47 EQST, and, if our calculations are correct, we will exit the portal in three hours at 09:47 on the same exact date.”
That was something to think about. Normal subspace travel would take hours both in and outside of subspace. If the Antarans had this technology, their already considerable technological advantage was increased significantly. Applejack needed confirmation on what she had heard, though, before she could believe it.
“So we are going to be travelling thousands of lightyears instantly?”
“To us, it won’t be instant. But anyone that could see both sides of the portal would see us enter and emerge at nearly the same time. Microseconds apart, most likely. And we will be passing through the portal in about two hours, based on the rate of Tachyon Deceleration in the portal right now.”
Applejack thanked her and ended the call. She tapped some commands out in her console, standing the ship down from red alert, intending to let the crew have an hour or so to themselves. Rainbow shrugged and began to explore the rest of the cabin. Applejack followed her into the main area, which served as both her living and sleeping space. She remained pensive.
The existence of such a portal was very, very big news. Twilight Sparkle had sent Daring out here to find out what the Antarans were up to, but nobody had anticipated anything like this. There were several natural portals between Equestrian and Antaran space, and while EqCom couldn’t actively guard them all, each was monitored on both ends, and any enemy incursion would set off enough alarms to allow the still incredibly understrength Celestial navy to mount a defense. But if a fleet could pass through such a portal instantly, the entire strategy would be invalidated, and an Antaran fleet could slip past all of Ponydom’s defenses without them knowing it. Exactly how they’d set up such a portal was something to think about, but Applejack would let the eggheads like Twilight figure that out. She had to give them the question first, though, before she could hope for an answer.
Rainbow Dash, hovering across the room, was saying something that Applejack didn’t quite catch.
“I said that you really need to add some Daring Do to your collection here, Captain!” she teased, pawing at the bookshelf. Applejack didn’t have the heart to tell her that none of the books were real, and that a switch on the side of the shelf would open it to reveal her wardrobe and weapons locker. It was a nice touch, to be honest. Rainbow continued going through her captain’s stuff, her back to the earth pony.
“So what did you want to talk about?”
Applejack sighed heavily. She had been dreading this moment for a long time.
“Us.”
Rainbow paused, her hoof hanging in the air where she had been investigating the trinkets on Applejack’s nightstand. She didn’t turn as she spoke.
“What about us?”
“You know.”
Rainbow landed softly and turned to face her friend. Her face was unreadable.
“Enlighten me, sir.”
“Why’d you have to write that letter, Dash? You know we’d always be best friends regardless of anything else. I thought I told you. It will never work between us.”
Rainbow looked to the side and shrugged.
“Maybe I disagree.”
Applejack showed her confusion, and let some of her anger show as well. Rainbow reacted by going on the defensive.
“You said that with a war on, it would never work. Well we’re out here now with a chance to end that war. I say we deal with the Antarans, and then. . .”
“No, RD, you know that isn’t going to happen. We’re friends. Best friends, always. But nothing more. War or not, I just don’t feel. . .”
Rainbow Dash rose into the air again, and brought her face next to Applejack’s, her voice rising to a yell.
“Don’t lie to me, AJ! You know that isn’t true. I know that isn’t true! Everybody sees it! Why can’t you just give us a chance!”
Applejack tried to reply, but couldn’t find the words. Why can’t I just give it a chance? What have I got to lose?
Everything, she thought. I can’t lose her. Not now. Not ever.
“I just. . .”
Rainbow landed with more force than was necessary. She brushed past Applejack and trotted to the door.
“See? You can’t think of a good reason. Am I dismissed? Or do you want to open more old wounds?”
Applejack began to tear up. This was not how things were supposed to go.
“Go.”
She stood, motionless, for several minutes after Rainbow had left. Tears continued to drop as she walked into the washroom to clean the mess the pegasus had left, her anger and frustration building. On the way out, she gave the tiled wall a good buck. She punched through to the other side of the bulkhead.
----
“This is the Captain speaking. Four minutes until we breach the portal. All stations report.”
“Torpedo tubes one and two ready.”
“Three and Four standing by.”
“Forward laser bank charged, awaiting targets.”
“Ventral side is ready.”
“Rear guns ready.”
“Disruptors armed, ready to rock.”
“Anti-Missile system is online.”
Applejack watched from her control station on the bridge as her officers counted off, repeating the pattern for what seemed like the hundredth time. In reality, the seven ponies at the tactical stations laid out along the corridor that stretched from the Captain’s chair to the cockpit had practiced this maneuver over a thousand times before Applejack was even in the military, and it made her feel a pang of guilt for intruding on what seemed like a sacred act. As the final station chimed in, Applejack focused on Lt. Reign, manning the engineering station just to the captain’s left. After conversing with her teams throughout the ship, the Ship’s Master gave Applejack a nod.
“Engineering reports green across the board. Stealth systems are at max capacity and ready. Damage control teams are at their stations.”
“Are we getting any readings from the system?”
“Nothing at all, Captain. All we know is that it exists, and we’ll be there in three minutes.” She lowered her voice, even though only Applejack could hear her over the comm.
“Not too late to turn around, Captain.”
Applejack had been thinking the same thing for a few hours, but steeled herself and shook her head.
“Negative on that, Reign. We’ve come this far.” She looked down at the clock on her display. “Helm, ninety seconds. Is the Lieutenant strapped in?”
The helm officer, normally relegated to the sidelines when Rainbow Dash was strapped in, confirmed, and asked if the comm link between her and the matrix was down. Applejack replied that it was not. She didn’t mention that talking to her pilot was not something she wanted to do for the next few days.
The clock hit sixty seconds and Applejack activated the red alert; why she actually needed to when everpony on board was already at their stations was still a mystery, but it was the easiest way to divert power and computer processing away from Daring’s few non-essential systems.
At forty five seconds, she nodded to Reign, and the stealth systems were engaged. A blue glow of processed magic emanated throughout the hull until the entire cabin was bathed in a slight hue. When it finished, a new countdown appeared on every HUD on the bridge, showing 4 hours until things would start to melt. Applejack had a feeling that remaining in the system for anywhere near that long would be a very, very bad idea.
At thirty seconds she transferred control of the ship to the matrix, and the ship shook rather violently as the pegasus controlling it metaphorically stretched her wings. Had the gyroscope not been in use, anyone not strapped in would have likely lost more than their lunch. Applejack’s terminal showed that the matrix was in full command of the ship, but Rainbow’s usual verbal confirmation was not forthcoming. Applejack let her be for the time being.
As the timers continued to click down on her display, the rookie captain let her thoughts wander. She wondered what Apple Bloom was getting herself into. It had been over a year since she last saw her sister. The same questions she’d been asking herself since that night in the clubhouse floated amongst her thoughts. Should I be doing this? Should I be home with my family? Will I ever see them again?
The trepidation made her want to kill the engines and head for home as fast as possible. But the other half of her subconscious, the one that got her in this mess in the first place, overruled its counterpart; nevertheless, the call to run was very loud indeed. So loud, in fact, that Applejack barely noticed Reign counting down from ten, her face glued to her station. She reached zero, and the ship shuddered, then abruptly came to a stop.
A cacophony of noise rang about the cabin as every passive sensor available began to take in data. Applejack observed it all, and, like the rest of her crew, hardly noticed anything except one detail. She swallowed hard and looked up at Reign, who returned a panicked stare. Rainbow Dash’s voice came over the comm.
“Uh. . . Captain? Any thoughts here?”
Applejack couldn’t find an answer. She flipped a switch to activate the external camera, hoping against all hope that it would prove that every single other device on the ship was malfunctioning. It didn’t.
Daring had emerged in the middle of an Antaran Fleet, less than a kilometer from several warships twice the Equestrian vessel’s size. Rainbow Dash must have hit the brakes as soon as she realized where the ship had materialized; if she hadn’t, no stealth system in the universe would have protected them from the collisions that would have followed. The viewscreen showed what looked like a forest of jet black vessels, some of which made Daring look like a runabout. Two Sathanas classes formed the centerpoint of the armada, and dozens of escorts surrounded each. The computer counted over eighty vessels, none of whom’s configurations matched those of any craft recorded at the Battle of Antara. If the data Applejack was seeing was accurate-- and she had no reason to doubt that it was-- EqCom intelligence was vastly underestimating the strength of the Antaran navy. If they completely outnumbered us at Antara, and had reserves to spare, thought Applejack, we might be in a lot of trouble.
The more pressing issue of not getting smeared forced itself back into Applejacks subconscious. Reign was now looking at her intently, as were the seven sets of eyes that should have been monitoring the tactical stations. They weren’t helping. Rainbow Dash again hailed the captain.
“Applejack? What are we doing here? We’ve got about twenty seconds before the Rakshasa class behind us runs up our exhaust ports.”
Applejack looked at her 3-D readout. There was no room to maneuver in any direction. She took in the sensor data that Daring’s computers had been producing since it had entered the system. It was a binary system, apparently one of few known to exist, and the two suns sandwiched a small, barren looking planetoid in between. The Antaran fleet appeared to be orbiting the system on an elliptical path, and, of course, was as far from the bodies as Applejack guessed it was likely to be. The flight path of the vessels, as was usually observed with Antaran fleets, was spherical, with the smaller vessels surrounding the larger ones in a constant loop. This gave Applejack an idea, and with seconds to spare, she found and marked a Lilith class frigate passing 700 meters to starboard.
“Rainbow, put us right underneath the Lilith. Match its course and speed. Real gentle like, understood?”
“Are you sure. . . we can. . .”
“Just do it! We don’t have time!”
Applejack looked up to see that her subordinates had witnessed this outburst. Before she had time to react, though, the ship turned on its side and accelerated. Reign spoke to her, again in a whisper.
“Captain, I’ll calibrate the shields to match the Lilith. You’re right that its sensors are too weak to get past the stealth system, but it would have noticed the interference our shields caused their uplinks to the hive. Good idea, though. We should have a few minutes to figure out what next.”
This information shook the Captain. She hadn’t thought of the interference, and while she did know that the Lilith wouldn’t be able to detect them, she had almost made a grievous tactical error. She shook her head and took a deep breath to steady herself. Now was certainly not the time for any more doubt. I’m ready for this. Twilight wouldn’t have given me command if I wasn’t.
If only I could make myself believe that. . .
Rainbow Dash angled the ship just below the frigate and slowed to match its speed. The black vessel was slightly wider than Daring, but the nose of the Equestrian vessel poked a few meters beyond the pointed edge of the windowless Antaran. Applejack and the crew held their breath, waiting for the red beams of light to rip the life from them. When, after thirty long seconds, they failed to come, Applejack released both the air and trepidation she had been holding. She again called up the 3-D map of the system, and was able to confirm that the flotilla was indeed lazily patrolling the system. What bothered her about the pattern, however, was its odd shape; the path had an elliptical look to it, and while this was certainly nothing out of the ordinary, it seemed somehow wrong to Applejack. She pushed a few buttons and sent her readout to the tactical stations.
“Anypony else see what I see here?”
Of all the ponies aboard, it was Rainbow Dash who saw it first.
“One of the vertices on the long axis is where we came in to the system. . .”
Reign cut her off.
“. . . and the other end is where our friends are heading.”
“So maybe there’s another point of entry at that point? I can fly us out when we get there? Or should we just turn back the way we came?”
Applejack was surprised that Rainbow Dash was willing to turn tail so quickly. In her youth, she would have needed some serious convincing to back down from even this momentous a challenge. Perhaps she had matured since Applejack last saw her.
Or maybe she’s just as scared as I am.
“Negative on going backwards. We’re too far into the formation to make it out without being seen. Let’s ride it out and hope we’ve got a better path on the other side. Reign, get as much data as you can about this fleet. RD, keep as low a profile as possible. Everyone else, stay frosty.”
Her last comment earned her a few looks from the less cliche-inclined naval personnel, but Applejack let it slide; they’d have to try harder than that to take the infantry-pony completely out of her.
Several minutes passed with little happening besides Rainbow Dash subtly guiding Daring towards the point in space she had assumed and hoped would hold another artificial portal. As the formation rounded the mass of stars at the center of the system, Daring’s computers were able to confirm, via a long range visual scan, that the point indeed held such an anomaly.
As the fleet inched closer to the portal, sensors across the board began to pick up a flood of tachyons emitting from the aperture. Seconds after they appeared, a blue burst of energy flashed across space, and an Antaran Arjuna cruiser emerged from nothingness. It adjusted course to meet up with the mass of ships moving towards it and the portal.
Rainbow Dash announced that she wouldn’t need to adjust course to avoid it, and Rainbow Dash breathed another sigh of relief. She checked her subspace drive readouts to make sure they had cooled significantly to be used again, and was about to order their prep to begin when Reign frantically yelled for her attention, this time abandoning both her inside voice and her comm unit.
“Captain! About that cruiser. . .”
“We’re going to avoid it, aren’t we?”
“Yes, but, well. . . if I’m reading it’s configuration and stats right, and I’m pretty sure that I am, that Arjuna is the same one sighted in the Beta Eridani system two months ago. It smeared some transports and vanished without a trace. Beta Eridani is on the other side of the galaxy, well within our borders. . .”
As if she had been waiting for the opportunity, Rainbow Dash now interrupted the first officer.
“Are you saying that this portal leads to Home’s back door?”
A new voice joined the group.
“Captain,” said Beakerman, from his station a deck below the bridge, “sorry to interrupt, but I’ve done an analysis, and I believe Reign is correct. The cruiser has sustained damage that only could have come from Equestrian weapons. And if it was in Beta Eridani two months ago, and didn’t have a portal directly here, it would still be at least four weeks away, even at it’s highest FTL speed. Unless it ran one of our blockades, of course, in which case we probably lost the war last week anyway. This system, to put it bluntly, has just become the most important piece of real estate in the galaxy.”
“So what do we do about it, Captain? Destroy it, right?”
“Sorry, Lieutenant Dash,” replied Beakerman, “but even if we could, we shouldn’t. If we can secure this portal, we can not only use it for our own invasion, but we can force the Antarans to devote a fleet to protecting it. Captain, I suggest we slip through the portal, and inform EqCom. They need to reinforce Beta Eridani immediately.”
Applejack considered this. She didn’t like the idea of leaving the portal unguarded while they sought reinforcements, and was doubly concerned about being seen using the portal; if the Antarans guessed that Equestria knew about the portal, the logical thing to do would be to act first and launch an invasion. That said, Beta Eridani was by no means a system that would win or lose the war on its own, and perhaps forcing the Antarans to attack before they were ready would indeed pay dividends.
The captain rubbed her temple, realizing for the first time that she felt very, very tired. She looked at a reflective piece of metal on her console and saw a grizzled, wrinkling ball of stress looking back at her. It was hard to witness.
“Beakerman is right. Even if we wanted to destroy it, we have no idea how to. Let’s try and sneak in and get back to Home as soon as possible. Rainbow Dash, quietly, if you please.”
Rainbow Dash grunted her acknowledgement of the order and slowly edged the ship away from the flotilla, which had come close enough to the portal for the pilot to sneak away unnoticed. She was successful in that regard, and Daring slipped out from under its escort and towards the gateway. She glided, near invisible, until the aperture of the portal beckoned. Reign began activating the subspace drive, and Applejack felt herself relax.
It was at that moment that the portal exploded in a shower of blue energy and another Antaran vessel, this one much larger than the Arjuna, exited the tear in space less than a hundred meters from Daring.
“Evasive action!”
Rainbow Dash dove before the words were even formed on Applejack’s lips. Daring dove, steeply, the gyros keeping her crew from being crushed but doing little to prevent her frame from shaking violently. Applejack, strapped into her chair more out of habit than necessity, checked the sensors to see what had nearly pulverized them. It was a Rakshasa, twice as big as Daring and, while not as well armed, twice as well armored. The former fact did little to help Applejack’s state of mind as the vessel opened fire, Daring shuddering even more as the disruptor bolts singed the shields.
The crew needed no instruction on how to return the favor. Rainbow Dash’s dive had put the Rakshasa’s cylindrical form within the 180 degree targeting arcs of both the forward and rear guns. As Daring passed almost directly underneath the enemy vessel, Ensign Calibrator called the shots from his station on forward lasers. Applejack couldn’t hear what he was saying, and was too distracted to tune in to the gunnery frequency; if she did, she’d have heard him directing fire at the spike along the rear of the Rakshasa housing the rear weapons array. The result was a barrage of fire from the forward and rear lasers poking a hole in the green tinted shields just large enough for a torpedo to slip through. After it did, Applejack’s viewscreen showed only smoldering ruins where the weapons array had once been. The entire maneuver had taken less than fifteen seconds. It also, rather unfortunately, put Daring well off course for the portal.
Rainbow Dash spoke to Applejack, the pegasus’ voice rampant.
“I’ve overshot it! We need to do a pretty big loop to get back around! Sixty seconds, tops!”
“Just do it then!”
“Roger!”
The ship swung in a wide arc, rotating as it flew. More impacts rocked the hull, the more intense being strong enough to knock Rainbow Dash off course. Daring swing high above the Rakshasa, showing it the top half of the vessel. Reign adjusted shields to compensate as the enemy’s dorsal weapons array laid into the ship, moving at top speed into a position directly above the Antaran.
Applejack observed this and planned her next move. She could feed Rainbow Dash course data, and was searching for a path that would put them as far from harm as possible so that the stealth systems could at least be recalibrated to avoid the sensor heavy Rakshasa. As she nearly found one, six new contacts appeared on her radar, and she called them out to the pilot.
“Rainbow! Six fighters on our six!”
“I see them! Hang on!”
Hanging on was not totally necessary, but Applejack appreciated the sentiment as Daring flipped 180 degrees and dove straight at the enemy cruiser, the six fighters in close pursuit. Applejack didn’t have time to wonder what Rainbow had in mind by charging at the vessel, which had turned towards Daring almost enough to bring her substantial forward batteries to bear; as she formed the thought, the gunners raked the ship with disruptor fire, scrambling the shields in a wide enough area for the forward cannons to hammer away.
While the forward banks fired for effect, the stern chasers were having a harder time fending off the fighters. Ordinarily, six fighters wouldn’t pose too much of a threat to Daring, but even a glancing blow to a critical system could seriously hamper her ability to escape the system. Both the laser and disruptor cannons were firing at will, but the shiftiness of the fighters combined with Rainbow Dash’s less than smooth evasive maneuvers restricted their aim. One fighter was hit, more by luck than anything else, but the others followed closely, targeting Daring’’s engine casings. One scored a direct hit, causing warning lights to flash throughout the bridge.
That development didn’t faze Applejack, however, as she was too busy watching the increasingly solid looking Rakshasa getting bigger and bigger in her viewscreen.
“Rainbow, what. . .”
“Not now! Concentrating!”
Applejack closed the channel and looked back at her terminal and saw Daring begin to pitch towards the stern of the Antaran vessel. The gunners had done enough damage to prevent it from returning fire from above, and Rainbow took advantage by guiding the ship on an intercept course. Just before impact, when Applejack had resigned herself to the scrap heap, Rainbow first pulled the nose of the craft up, avoiding crashing directly into the Antaran, and initiated a burst from the rear ventral thrusters, kicking the stern of the ship forward enough to barely avoid scraping the Rakshasa’s engine ports. The five fighters couldn’t react quickly enough, though, and slammed en masse into the stern of their ally, each causing a green tinged explosion. As Daring passed by unscathed, the ship went dark, and the telltale shockwaves signalling a reactor breach began to emanate from its stern. Daring’s frame buckled as Rainbow returned to a path perpendicular to the enemy ship, eventually flattening out of the dive, without losing an ounce of speed.
The Rakshasa completed its demise with by quickly imploding, followed by the shockwaves of the explosions brought about by its munitions exploding. Daring was just able to outrun the blast, the ship again shaking as it was overtaken by plasma, debris and the pure energy once housed within the former vessel’s drive core.
Rainbow opened the comm again.
“Sorry about that, boss. Little closer than I thought.”
Flabbergasted but, somehow, not surprised at her friend’s audacity, Applejack replied.
“Where in the hay did you learn that?”
“It’s called drifting. Manticore trick. Except you’re supposed to do it horizontally, not vertically. You like it?”
“Yes. But let’s try not to need that particular move anymore, understood?”
“Fair enough.”
Lt. Reign broke up their chat.
“Sorry to interrupt, but we’ve got about eight ships and a few hundred fighters coming our way. I think they finally figured out why their buddy was firing at something they couldn’t see on sensors. I’d suggest we get in that portal while we still can.”
Fluttershy sipped her tea, but it did little to ease her troubled stomach. The discomfort got to her for a second, and she felt her cheerful countenance lapse into revealing how she really felt. Right on cue, Angel looked up from his meal, staring inquisitively, as if he knew something was wrong. Luckily for Fluttershy, their years together had given her a good sense of her favorite companion’s quick actions, and she was able to restore her normal, complacent smile before he could tell anything was amiss. Seemingly convinced, Angel turned back to his greens, and Fluttershy felt herself relax. The feeling didn’t last, though, as the pain from her stomach growled with a vengeance.
She returned to the tea, which had cooled a bit beyond her liking. There were some carrots stored away in a cabinet in the kitchen, and some of last night’s soup in the icebox, but the pegasus forced herself to drink instead. The soup would need to suffice for dinner, and the carrots would need to hold out in case any more bunnies showed up on her doorstep in the night. She shuddered at the thought, and then felt shame at her aversion to the new guests.
I can’t turn away innocent creatures! How could I even think that?
She rose from the couch and walked towards her front door, not too weak to fly, but too tired to bother trying. The dozen or so rabbits and squirrels on her living room floor payed her no heed as she passed; they were focused on savouring each and every morsel she had laid out. As Fluttershy closed the door behind her, she felt herself wishing that she could join them.
Slow steps carried her towards town. She didn’t know what she’d be looking for, but she figured that being out of the house would at least prevent her from eating any of the food that she hadn’t allocated for her own use, a thought that again made her feel shame.
Things hadn’t always been this bad, she thought. Her stipend from the government, compensation for taking care of Ponyville’s creatures, had never been very much-- Rarity sold dresses that would have taken her months to even dream of purchasing-- but it was enough for her to live comfortably, and to keep both her and her animals well fed. When the government cancelled her funding due to the “Indefinite State of Emergency,” there had been fear, but not panic. She had a bit of a nest egg saved up, mostly from her modeling career (the thousands of bottles of Carrot Cola she’d also earned having lasted far longer than she could bear to think), but it was sucked dry quicker than she had expected. It was then that the panic set in.
That was three months ago now, and she counted herself lucky to still be. . . not alive-- she had no fear about starving to death, despite the circumstances-- but lucky to still be herself, to not have given in to the dreariness. And just as she could have, even should have, expected, it was the Apple family that had kept her going this long.
----
It was the end of summer, and Fluttershy, bored and lonely, was trying to find something else to clean-- for the thirtieth time-- when there was a knock at the door. It frightened her. None of her friends were in town to visit, and ponies had stopped bringing her animals to care for weeks ago. Ponies had stopped doing much of anything, in fact, with the restrictions on power and food usage seemingly getting worse every day.
The knocker tried again. She walked to the door, opened it a crack and peeked out. She didn’t see anypony.
“Hey Fluttershy!”
Startled by the disembodied voice, she slammed the door shut, took a deep breath, and opened it again, this time aiming her gaze towards the ground. A cream coated filly smiled up at her.
“Oh, hi Apple Bloom. What brings you by? Will you come in? I’m sorry, I don’t think I have any tea or snacks to offer you. . .”
Apple Bloom smiled in her usual, charming way and entered the cottage as Fluttershy apologized for the state of her abode. The pegasus noticed that the filly, still blank flanked, had lost both weight and some of the shine from her mane. Regardless, she seemed as peppy as ever. Fluttershy also noticed that her saddlebags were full of apples.
“Aw, that’s okay Fluttershy! Big Mac said that I should bring you some apples before I asked you to come work for us, cuz’ then you’d be all ‘buttered up,’ he said. . .”
Apple Bloom’s face scrunched up as she realized what she just said. She blushed and smiled up at Fluttershy. The pegasus returned the gesture.
“I couldn’t take your apples, Apple Bloom, especially after how hard you’ve been working to get them. Apple bucking season must be right around the corner, right?”
Apple Bloom dropped her saddlebags and, after looking for permission from her host, hopped on the couch. Her smile sagged.
“Yeah, and Big Mac says ah can’t go to school until all the apples are harvested. That’ll take forever! And Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle aren’t around any more to make it any better, either.”
This was news to Fluttershy. She joined the filly on the couch, keeping one eye on the bags of gleaming apples.
“Oh dear! What happened to your friends, Apple Bloom? Are they okay?”
“Yeah, ah guess. Sweetie Belle’s parents decided to look for work in Fillydelphia, so they’ve been gone a week. And Scootaloo’s mom moved back home to Cloudsdale after her dad got drafted, so ahm here all by mah self. And still no cutie mark, of course.”
Fluttershy reached a wing out to comfort Apple Bloom. The draft notices had hit many families in Ponyville hard. Caramel, Cloudchaser, Lyra and Carrot Top had all received their notices soon after Antara-- the thought of which made Fluttershy tear up at the thought of all those dead ponies. Even Cranky Doodle Donkey had been recalled to his post as a Vice Admiral in the Navy. Big Mac had only been exempted because of Apple Bloom, and even that took some luck. Fluttershy knew that both her flying skills and test scores would keep her out of the military, and with no real education to speak of, she was in little danger of being drafted into any type of profession. Still, the idea that the government-- and not even Princess Celestia, who probably had much bigger things to worry about-- could decide her fate was unsettling.
“I’m sorry, dear. I wish I could help some way. . .”
Apple Bloom sniffed, and trying not to show how much she missed her friends, looked up at Fluttershy.
“Well, that is what ah came here for, Fluttershy. Big Mac said to ask you to come and help us with the harvest. We’d pay and feed ya, he said.”
Pausing to think, Fluttershy ran a hoof through her mane. It had lost some color in recent weeks, as her favorite shampoo-- one of the pegasus’ few pre war ways of spoiling herself-- hadn’t been on shelves in a while. Still, the pink shone warmly, reminding its owner of Pinkie Pie, the thought of whom brought a smile to her face. She turned back to Apple Bloom and the untouched apples.
“Well I’d love to, but I don’t think I’d be much help on a the farm.”
“Don’t be so modest! You were great at Apple Bucking when Flim and Flam came round, and when my sister almost killed herself when Big Mac was hurt. Besides, we have lots of other things that need doin’, like cooking and cleaning and taking care of the animals, of course!”
Fluttershy smiled. She hadn’t thought about that part.
For the next two months, Fluttershy rose at dawn and crept under her sheets when the moon was directly overhead, spending almost every moment in between at Sweet Apple Acres. In addition to offering Fluttershy all the apples and apple related treats she could even dream of eating, Big Mac and Apple Bloom always insisted that the Pegasus stay the night in Applejack’s old room. She politely refused each time, preferring to head home and feed her animals. Big Mac said that she could take a few extra apples home for the critters, meaning that her friends would be patiently waiting for the door to open each night once the sun had set. It was much more work than Fluttershy was accustomed to, but her full belly combined with a sense of pride in her work to dull the pain in her back and joints. She went to bed each night utterly exhausted, but content; no wonder Applejack loved her work so much, she thought, almost as a mantra.
On the first Wednesday of the third month of the arrangement, though, the web of happiness she had built fell apart. Fluttershy was in the south field, collecting the apples that had been missed in the major harvest of the previous week, when she noticed it without actually realizing what it was. The sound of birds chirping overhead combined with the gentle autumn breeze to give the orchard an eerie stillness. After observing the calm, for a second, her synapses found the missing piece- the constant thump, thump of Big Mac’s bucking had fallen silent. Fluttershy dropped her basket and took to the air, racing for the barn.
She was overjoyed to see both siblings unharmed, and chided herself for jumping to conclusions so quickly. She would have sheepishly apologized for leaving her post until she saw the red envelope laying in the dirt.
Apple Bloom was reading the letter it contained, her eyes rapidly darting across the parchment. Big Mac sighed, and with a mighty heave, tossed his collar aside. Fluttershy realized that she had never seen him without it before. The stallion looked beyond Fluttershy, then to the sun high above. The wind blew through his mane, as if to dramatize the situation further, and Fluttershy briefly thought back to a forgotten time when this act of nature would have made him look even more handsome. In the present, it merely highlighted the deep stress lines in his face.
Big Mac finally made eye contact with Fluttershy. He sighed again and turned towards the farmhouse, speaking slowly as he trotted away.
“Mail came.”
----
Fluttershy found herself in the center of town. She looked around for any familiar faces, but was not surprised to be disappointed. Ponies tended to avoid it these days, except to watch as the black clad military police carted off the latest batch of new recruits. Fluttershy had stood in the same spot nearly a fortnight ago as she watched Big Mac and Apple Bloom tearfully part, the stallion being torn away from his sister and shoved into the carriage along with six other ponies.
She carefully trotted through the empty town, keeping as quiet as possible. The silence was unsettling, but Fluttershy’s gentle steps did little to add anything to it. Judging by the position of the sun (the town clocks had been shut down, either to save power, or because nobody was around to wind them anymore), dusk was approaching, and she needed to be home before dark. Calling the recently passed law a “curfew” was inaccurate, to be sure-- she had every right to be outside after dark, and nothing legally prohibited her from doing so. Still, it was a small price to pay to avoid the inquisitiveness of the night watch. They frightened her as much as anything else these days.
The quickest path home took Fluttershy past the train station. The last time she had been here, too, was a fortnight ago, an hour after Big Mac had been whisked away. Apple Bloom was smart enough to board the train to Appleoosa on her own, but Fluttershy had promised Big Mac that she’d see the filly aboard and wave as she departed. Apple Bloom fought tooth and nail to stay on the farm and keep things running, but Big Mac remained resolute. The point became moot, though, as Big Mac was able to lease his apples-- an entire year’s worth, including what the three ponies had worked so had to collect over the past two months-- to the government in lieu of the property taxes that were now sure to go unpaid. Although she would never dare admit it, Fluttershy had wished that Big Mac could have saved a few apples for her animals. Even weeks later, the thought made her conscience stir with shame.
The walk to the train station with Apple Bloom had been uneventful. Fluttershy tried to talk with Apple Bloom about seeing Braeburn and Bloomberg again, but the mare was silent from the moment Big Mac left until the moment she boarded the train. She had stopped crying as well; Fluttershy figured she’d lost the will to do even that. The thought made the pegasus hang her head.
She sulked along for a few more yards, trying to stay rooted to the present moment, oblivious to her surroundings.
I need to stay strong. Angel needs me. All of my animals need me.
Fluttershy sighed audibly and tried to formulate a plan for the next day’s food. She had given up scrounging around Sweet Apple Acres, and none of the other farms would allow her to access without paying bits that she simply did not have.
Well, she thought, with much trepidation, I could always try the Everfree Forest. . .
Had Fluttershy time to fully process the thought, it would have shaken her with fright. Thankfully for her psyche, though, trotting face first into a baggage laden mare with three apples on her flank jarred the idea from her brain.
The Antarans aboard the jet black Rakshasa set on the receiving end of the Horsehead Nebula jump point had one job to do, and they did it extremely well. In fact, were accolades something that existed in the collective, every member of the crew would have been swimming in medals. The destroyer-- six hundred meters long, and coming to a sharpened point at the bow-- hadn’t moved in two Equestrian months. The crew knew exactly what they were doing, but had no concept of why they did it, or why what they did was so important to the Antaran war effort.
Like they had hundreds of times before over the course of the war, the sensors showed that something had entered the portal Equestrian side, and the Rakshasa’s killing field was pinned on its exit point. As one mind, the Antaran crew understood what this meant, and the ship went into an alert mode. Telemetry started flowing in, and as the being possessing the eyes that read data processed it, so did the rest of the ship.
Another probe incoming. Heavier than the usual model. Destroy it.
The probe, which was indeed larger than the standard model, arrived in the system with a flash. The larger profile gave the destroyer more to shoot at, and within four seconds, one of the forward beam cannons blazed to life, catching the cylinder full on. The device exploded spectacularly, sending electromagnetic shock waves in all directions.
The collective thought about why this was. The probes usually didn’t explode like that-- in fact, the beam cannons usually melted them instantly. Together, the hundreds of minds aboard the Rakshasa sought an answer. When none was forthcoming, the inhibitor was deactivated, and the thought was passed on to the Queen.
The Queen will know. The Queen always knows.
It took more time to formulate the thought that something was wrong than it did to actually notice the error. Much more time, in fact, as the Antarans had never experienced something quite like this. Where there should have been the only voice they ever heard, there was only. . . nothing. The colony had, suddenly, inexplicably, been severed from everything it understood to be constant.
The collective pondered this for several seconds. Nothing within their eons of stored experience had prepared them for something like this. All activity within the ship ceased, and suddenly, the silence was broken by a cacophony of panic.
Where is the Queen?
Where is the Queen?
WHERE IS THE QUEEN?
The portal opened, and, much to the Antarans’ surprise, eight small vessels shot out.
----
Twelve Home Hours Earlier
Rainbow Dash was not a happy squad leader.
“Lt. Greaves! Remind me where you should be during yellow alert!” The griffon stood at what may have counted as half way to attention and mumbled something. This made Lt. Commander Dash quite a bit angrier. She left the hangar floor and hovered in front of her subordinate, placing her muzzle an inch from his beak. The other two griffons sucked in their guts and stood rigid, each trying to steal a glance at the explosion sure to occur. They were not disappointed.
“WHAT WAS THAT, LIEUTENANT?”
“. . . in the ready room, Sir.”
“THAT’S RIGHT, GREAVES. WELL DONE.” Rainbow landed, feigned applause, and walked up the line of pilots.
“AND WHY IS THAT, LIEUTENANT MERCKS?”
The female griffon, two spaces to the left of the visually relieved Greaves, spoke sharply.
“Because yellow alert means we need to be out of the hangar at 90 seconds notice, sir!”
Rainbow took to the air again and put her face in Greaves beak once more. The pilot nearly tripped over himself trying to avoid any contact between the two.
“AND WHY IS THAT, GREAVES?”
“Because Platinum goes down after 91 seconds, sir.”
“Damn straight. And last I checked, the holodeck is NOT in the ready room. The flight deck is locked down during yellow alerts for a reason. You and your buddy in security could have compromised this entire ship. How are your wings supposed to do their jobs down a wingman?” She raised her voice on the question, expecting an answer. When none was forthcoming from the shaking griffon, she sighed and turned her back on the wing.
“Forget it. And take some time to study. All of you. All holodeck time is cancelled for three weeks. Replicator rations too. Now get off my flight deck. Dismissed.”
The wing shuffled out of earshot, waiting to lay into Greaves for costing them three weeks of hot food. Rainbow Dash let them go before she moved, checking her watch as she did. It read 16.55, meaning that Beta Wing would be returning from patrol soon. Right on cue, Gamma exited the ready room and approached their Falcon-II’s, each of which was being busily attended to by a swarm of flight crew ponies. Alerts began flashing around the hangar, and the door at the far end swung open, exposing the cold vacuum beyond to the dozens of beings on the flight deck. Rainbow Dash observed all of this as she made her way back to her private ready room. She was finally back where she belonged: on a flight deck, and in command of her very own squadron.
Rainbow Dash hated it.
She hated serving on Platinum while the new Hurricane was still being field tested. She hated her promotion, the stupid chevrons she had to wear with it, the fact that nobody bothered to actually call her “Lieutenant Commander,” and the isolation that the position brought. She hated her assignment, out here in the least important theater of the war, spending half the time testing technology that hardly ever worked, and the other half babysitting twenty griffons. She hated how Applejack had caught so much heat for almost getting Daring captured, and she hated no longer being able to fly the coolest ship in the galaxy.
But what she hated most was her second in command, and as Beta 1 was pushed into in its customary spot, Rainbow Dash hated herself for hating its pilot.
She entered the ready room and sat down, stretching her wings. She had increased the resistance setting on the metal one in order to build back some of the strength in the muscles that were actually attached to it, causing her immense pain in the rest of her body as other muscles tried to compensate. She didn’t really need to do it; after all, the bionic wing worked just fine, and it wasn’t like she’d need to pull off any rainbooms anytime soon. But she persisted, partly as a way of giving her something to focus on, and partly as a self imposed penance. For what, she didn’t exactly know, but it made her feel better.
Rainbow was about to kick her feet up on the desk and get back to the Daring Do volume she had picked up back on Home when the door buzzed. Glancing wantingly at the book, she set it down, lowered her legs and faced the entrance way, hitting a key to open it. An imposing griffon walked in, stopping to salute once she had crossed the threshold.
“Ho, Commander.”
“At ease, Gilda.”
Gilda stood rigid, and, looking more annoyed than relaxed, blew a tuft of feather out of her eyes. Dash motioned towards one of the seats facing her desk. The griffon remained standing.
“Nothing new to report. The HCD charges have just as little range as ever. Eggheads say we should be fine, but I doubt it.”
Dash nodded.
“Do they work, at least?”
The griffon avoided her commander’s gaze and answered tersely.
“I guess so. That’s what the observers said, anyway. We sent Beta two into the blast radius, but it didn’t do anything to her sensors or comms.”
Rainbow Dash turned back to her desk.
“Very good, Lieutenant. If that’s all, you can get some sleep.”
Gilda saluted and turned to leave. As she hit the doorway, Rainbow’s voice stopped her.
“Gilda, I. . .”
The griffon sighed audibly, and blew more feathers out of her face as she turned back to her squad leader.
“Did you really have to do the whole ‘tell me something just as I’m leaving thing?’”
Taken aback, Rainbow Dash forgot what she was going to say.
“What?”
Another sigh, and more feathers.
“Nothing.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, but decided to let the matter drop.
“Greaves was out and about when he shouldn’t have been again. I told Alpha that they are banned from the the holodeck and from the hot chow for a few weeks. Tell them that you talked me out of it, and its only the holodeck that they lose. Understood?”
Gilda stepped forward with some menace. Rainbow felt her muscles flex instinctively.
“No, Commander, I won’t do that. Don’t pretend that you care about these guys. If you want to punish them, punish them. And don’t pretend that you care about what they think of me. No matter how much neither of us wants it, they’re your squad now. So deal with it yourself, Commander.”
She turned and exited the room with a swish of her tail, leaving a trail of displaced feathers in her wake. Rainbow Dash let her go, and the door shut soundlessly.
Rainbow Dash’s inner mind screamed.
You think I like the “you’re so stupid I have to wipe your butts” style of leadership? You think I want to punish Greaves for something I’ve done dozens of times?
She wanted to shout, to call Gilda back in and give her a piece of her mind, but the resisted the temptation. Commanders, she had learned, sometimes needed to be the bad guys. And while punishing the whole squad so severely was harsh, it was in no way out of the ordinary for Zu Squadron. Rainbow Dash had been told two things about Zu: that it was an unruly, undisciplined group of bickering griffons, and that, after Antara, it was the best squad that Equestria had left in the war.
Both claims were spot on. Rainbow had seen Zu Squad, when it’s members were up to showing off, pull of some mind boggling feats in their Falcon-II’s. Rainbow Dash may have been able to coax more seed out of her craft than anypony-- or Griffon, for that matter-- could, but these pilots could make their fighters dance on a needles edge. Gilda, especially, was more a part of the ship itself than she was it’s pilot. She could stop on a whisker and pounce in another direction faster than most pony pilots could find their emergency retro-thrusters. The result was, as Rainbow Dash had discovered during training exercises, that members of Zu Squad were incredibly hard to lock on to, let alone hit.
This ability had been explained to Rainbow as coming from the Griffon’s genetic predisposition to avoiding predators. Where for centuries ponies had been their own worst enemies, Griffon society had developed in a land fraught with predators, making their fight-or-flight reflexes tend sharply towards the latter. Zu Squadron itself was named after a progenitor of the Griffon race who, in one of the many creation myths the species subscribed to, avoided a dragon’s flame for eight days before it exhausted itself, letting Zu claw the beasts eyes out. Rainbow didn’t buy into the veracity of the story, but she liked the various retellings she’d heard nonetheless.
But for every advantage Griffon genetics gave its pilots, it seemingly piled on two disadvantages. As the Admiral who assigned Rainbow Dash to Platinum had told her, the centuries of living in fragmented and threatened communities had long favored distrust and combativeness over cohesion. This cantankerous nature had, of course, manifested itself in the modern Griffon military, which was (somewhat justly, Rainbow Dash would probably concede) looked down upon by Ponies, Buffaloes and Zebras alike. It was no well kept secret that the small but well armed Griffon units had not been deployed to Antara because they could not work well with large fleet actions. Post Ant Hill, this meant that the Griffons, while still making up less than twenty percent of the combined military, retained the service’s most intact corps of both officers and enlistees. As a result, Zu Squadron had been thrust into a position of prominence that it was neither prepared for nor desired.
That was where Rainbow Dash was supposed to fit in. As one of the very few fighter pilot survivors of Ant Hill, every unit in every fleet was clamoring for her services. Once her assignment on Daring had been suspended, EqCom decided to give her Zu in the hopes that she would turn them into a replacement for Manticore Squadron. She had done well, she thought, but the climb was only getting steeper. She could only drill the need for real wing based tactics so much-- the squad needed real combat for her lessons to have any real meaning. Without the danger of swift and unforgiving death to prove why her lessons were needed, nothing would actually stick. And, she thought, sitting out here for weeks testing new tech-- no matter how important the egg heads thought it was-- was a waste. At the very least, Zu could be patrolling a border and racking up some experience. A glance out her ready room’s window at the large screen projecting the ship’s killboard made her feel even more frustrated. The board carried only three names, and the other two-- ponies in Platinum’s other squad, located on the lower flight deck-- had less actual sorties than Rainbow Dash had kills.
Her comm badge buzzed, and a pegasus whose name she hadn’t bothered to remember addressed her.
“Commander, our scouts have found a way through to the Capella portal. We should be there within twelve hours. The Captain wants Zu ready to test the HCDs when we get there. Understood?”
“Yes sir.”
“Good get all your people back in. We leave in fifteen. Bridge out.”
----
Beta wing took the lead and ran straight at the destroyer’s forward batteries. The beam cannons, deadly to a Falcon-II, even with at full shield strength, proved the prognostications of the eggheads correct by firing wide repeatedly, and the fighters capitalized, burying a full salvo-- 36 anti material missiles-- into the teeth of the Rakshasa. Had they been making any noise in the vacuum, the guns would have fallen silent. Out of ammo, the four Falcons fled the field, jumping back into the portal to rendezvous with Platinum before it made the jump itself. With the destroyer’s close range armaments disabled, the carrier could enter the system unabated.
“We’re not done yet. No witnesses to give them a clue,” Rainbow instructed her remaining fighters. “Alpha, hit the bastards where it hurts!”
With Beta on its way out, Alpha dove on the destroyer. The impact of the first salvo had actually hit the craft hard enough to start it listing to starboard, presenting Rainbow Dash with the opportunity she’d been hoping for. She broke formation and dove beneath the enemy, dodging fire from the still active beam cannons on the underside. A red blast grazed her aft shield, overloading it and setting off alarms throughout the cockpit, when the guns stopped firing. In the second before he was certain they’d open again, Rainbow looked through the canopy at the hulk 20 meters above. The guns, mounted on swiveling turrets, were abandoning his current position and aiming to where she’d be in less than a second.
About time you guys got your heads screwed back on.
She inverted the Falcon-II and dove away from the destroyer, barely missing out on what looked like a fence of burning hot red beam fire by several feet. She reversed out of the dive and, now moving in the same direction as the Rakshasa, climbed to face it. A quick instrument check showed that Greaves had destroyed the starboard batteries and punched a hole in the ship, Mercks had, for good measure, melted the already fried communication array and Teak had torn away the port side engine. Only one thing left at this point had to be done, and Rainbow Dash armed her warheads to do it. Gilda, who for some reason was still in the system, popped in on the comm just as she was going to pull the trigger.
“You’ll get caught in the shockwave. Don’t launch until you’re within 20 meters, then accelerate past the ship. Don’t turn, just go!”
Twenty meters was approaching rather quickly, and Rainbow was rather confused about what she’d just heard. What was Gilda still doing here? And what made her think she could call the shots for her squad leader? Still, Gilda was probably right-- Rainbow had not considered the shockwave of the new, Griffon developed Pincer torpedoes. She wouldn’t get another shot, as Platinum was due in the system any second. It killed her pride to do it, but the pilot released her grip on the trigger and floored the afterburner.
I’ll do you one better, actually.
The target indicator confirmed that the destroyer, obviously doomed, was moving forward rapidly, the result of the helm’s abortive attempt at escape. Rainbow readjusted her heading, pounded the accelerator, and simply released the clamps on the two warheads, allowing her to barely avoid clipping the bow of the enemy ship as she flew past perpendicularly. The torpedoes, flung forward by the momentum of release, found their targets and imploded spectacularly, punching a hole in the as yet untouched bottom of the destroyer and separating the first hundred meters from the rest of the ship. The resulting internal explosions of munitions and fuel sent pieces of the craft thousands of kilometers in every direction.
The Rakshasa was unequivocally destroyed.
Completing the picture was the light show announcing the arrival of Platinum, with its hangar bay opening and the emergency return to ship broadcast wailing on all frequencies.
Rainbow Dash took her time heading back, savoring the moment. It wasn’t until the bridge informed her that eighteen large contacts were due in system in ninety seconds that she engaged the burners and touched down on A deck.
The hangar doors ground shut behind her and Platinum jumped to the other side of the system. The entire engagement had taken less than four minutes.
I could get used to this, thought Rainbow Dash.
----
“To eternal glory of Zu Squadron!”
“To first blood!”
“To Platinum!”
“To the eggheads and their Hive Connection Disruptors!”
The twenty griffons raised their glasses of ale and shouted as their commanding officer looked on, gently nursing her cider. None of the beverages contained actual alcohol, of course, but they were no less satisfying after a hard day’s work. It certainly had been a good day for Zu Squadron. Granted, any day where every ship that went out came back in was a good day, but, for Rainbow Dash, this one was special. Alpha and Beta wings hadn’t been perfect by any means, but they had operated on the same page as individuals and as units. She didn’t want them to get too excited-- they’d only taken down one destroyer that was crippled before they arrived, after all-- but she allowed this christening to go on as long as it was kept within the confines of the ready room. She took another sip of her drink and tried not to think of Applejack. She didn’t want the positive emotions to die-- not until the party ended, at least.
A griffon sat down next to her.
“Don’t make a speech,” Gilda said quietly.
“Huh?”
“If you’re planning on making a speech, don’t. Griffons don’t react the same way that ponies do to oration. You’ll lose most of the respect you earned today.”
“What respect?”
“That stunt you pulled to take down the destroyer. That was ballsy.”
“Ballsy? What does that mean?”
“Would you shut it for two seconds? I’m trying to help you here. You proved that you had guts today. You may not have noticed, but not many Zus were happy about having a pony in charge, even if I did vouch for you. But today, you proved your worth. Don’t ruin it by saying anything they may perceive as pandering. Got it?”
Rainbow Dash took a pull from her mug to buy a second to think.
“Yeah, I got it.”
Gilda got up out of her chair.
“Good.”
“Thanks. And, uh. . . thanks for the assist today,” Rainbow said uneasily. Gilda did not answer.
“So that’s how its been, huh?” Rainbow wondered aloud. Her cider didn’t respond. She drained it and got up to leave the room. None of the griffons noticed her absence.
The next few weeks were eventful, to say the least. Platinum’s mission was twofold; after completing control tests on the Frontier, the ship was to jump into the relatively unimportant Capella system for field testing. EqCom knew that testing its new toys, especially the HCDs, would require not only live targets but a backwater sector to do it in, as anything the Antarans observed on the front lines would be filtered through their entire navy in seconds. But the Antarans still required subspace portals for intra-system communication, and here, three jump nodes away from any enemy system, Platinum could operate without having to look over its shoulder-- as long as the Vega-Beta Eridani blockade held, anyways.
Shielded with an extremely refined version of Daring’s stealth system, Platinum patrolled the Capella system, picking and choosing its targets at will. The system held many small asteroids full of minable resources, giving the Antarans reason to occupy it, but little else of any importance, making it an easier place to operate within. Not easy, as Rainbow Dash had to keep reminding her squad, but easier.
With the tedium of friendly territory replaced by the ever present stress of a hostile system, Zu settled into a routine fairly quickly. On its two flight decks, Platinum held forty active fighters in two squadrons, with Zu playing the role of assault team. The other group, Tartarus Squadron, was the intercept team, tasked with hunting down enemy bombers and torpedoes. Tartarus was a solid, if unglamorous, group of veterans that had been in the neutral zone during Antara, and they flew the smaller, nimbler Hornet fighters in circles around Zu’s Falcons. Rainbow Dash loved the Hornet’s speed, for sure, but wouldn’t trade her Falcon-II’s teeth-- and armor-- for anything. Especially after the model had gotten her through a forced re-entry without either engine working.
Though Tartarus was the designated intercept squad, Rainbow kept Zu in the normal patrol rotation out of both solidarity and the need to train as much as possible. And so, every other day, the griffons woke at 0500 and climbed the ladders from their living deck to the ready rooms. There, after eating, grabbing as many stimulants as possible and donning their flight suits, they waited in silence for Rainbow Dash to arrive. She entered the room at 0530 each morning, gave her briefing, asked if there were questions (even though she knew none were coming) and was out the door at 0535. The squad followed her soon after, each pilot performing a systems check both on their own craft and on a wingmate's. At 0555, the hangar door opened, and Alpha squad took off, the Falcons screeching as their tires dug into the worn metal of the flight deck. After watching their departure from the ready room windows, Beta hung about, trying to kill the two hours before their own turns to kick the tires, while Gamma, Delta and Epsilon went back to sleep, albeit with one eye and one ear open.
Two shifts each covered twenty hours of the day, but eventually Zu came to live for the final four. Rainbow Dash had the entire squad out for training for at least a portion of the remaining time, and she made sure that they enjoyed it by throwing in as many curve balls as she could; if she could think of it, she decided, it could happen. So Zu worked on attacking a target as one without radio, fighting without radar, without missiles, without optical enhancements. One day, they spent an hour firing off operator guided missiles and having wingmates attempt to steal control before they hit their targets. Much of what they did was useless in the long run, but it was fun-- and Rainbow Dash enjoyed seeing her comrades start to care about her exercises.
On even days, Zu hunted. Platinum had probes scouring the system, looking for anything Zu could smite. Their harvest was bountiful. Platinum would deposit the squad just outside of the enemy’s radar range and pick them up after they’d finished things. The targets were often lightly defended, but the lasers they fired back were just as deadly as if they’d come from a Sathanas, so Rainbow Dash kept every griffon-- and herself-- on their toes at all times. It was during the twelfth such mission, though,that Zu got caught off guard.
----
“Gamma, go for the gas miners, but not too close-- use the Trebuchets. Delta, you’re on the corvette, Epsilon, watch our backs. Alpha and Beta provide cover. Just like we planned. Go!”
The Falcon jumped forward as, having finished repeating instructions that everyone already knew anyway, Rainbow Dash leaned on the afterburners. Epsilon held its position as Alpha formed up behind her, with Beta to her left, Gamma and Delta below. The sixteen fighters moved as one until eight enemy contacts engaged an intercept course. Rainbow looked to her port side and was barely able to discern Gilda’s form in her Falcon’s cockpit. Gilda looked at her commander, gave a quick nod, and spoke to her wing, who changed course towards the corvette, hoping to draw its escorts while Delta was able to tackle it unopposed.
Rainbow was immensely grateful that she and Gilda had formed a decent working relationship over the past few weeks. They still were far from friendly, for sure, but the griffon had, as far as Rainbow could tell, stopped merely tolerating her existence. Rainbow’s impressive kill count-- still more than the rest of the squad combined-- may have had something to do with that.
The Antarans took the bait, and four of the fighters (Mara class interceptors, as it turned out) changed course to engage Beta Wing. Delta dove underneath their trajectory towards the corvette, aiming to come in from astern, bypassing the ship’s considerable forward flak cannons.
While Rainbow watched this, the other four Maras doubled back towards the gas miners, mixing in with their charges. The miners looked and handled like bloated insects, presenting massive targets for the long range Trebuchet missiles that Zu had spent the last three missions testing. Slower and larger than a Harpoon, the Trebuchet packed twice as much punch and could fly three times as far; they were designed for intercepting enemy bombers, but Zu had discovered their anti-material potential after Gamma wing nearly bought the farm attacking a gas miner-- and its rather volatile contents-- earlier in the week. Dax and Vish had gotten quite a talking to after that, but even Rainbow had to admit that the explosion they caused was massive considered to projections they’d seen. Minus one for the eggheads, it seemed.
“Treb locked. Firing!” said Dax, Gamma’s wing leader. The white projectile streaked away, and both wings waited lustfully for the shockwave.
It did not come. At the last possible moment, a Mara darted out from behind the target and shot down the missile before disappearing behind another miner.
Well. That was unexpected, thought Rainbow Dash. She opened a channel to the entire squadron.
“From this range they’ll track down anything we throw at them, and we won't get a lock on the Maras. Alpha, we’re moving in. Epsilon and Gamma, get any we flush out. Gilda, how are we doing?”
“Little busy, Commander! All crafts still alive, but these Maras won’t sit still! Can’t get good locks!”
“Alright, keep on it, get help if you need. Alpha, lets get in there. Careful what you shoot at, and keep talking. Out.”
She broke the formation and dove at the miners, still a few hundred klicks away. Her squadmates followed obediently, but broke into different directions as they neared the targets. There were eight of them, each armed with a popgun of a anti-fighter beam; on one’s own, they stood no chance, but en masse they could concentrate fire with deadly efficiency. A beam that struck Dash’s forward shield illustrated this point.
She rounded a miner and saw a Mara racing in the other direction. Her Falcon gave chase, but Rainbow knew that it would eventually be for naught; while the she could just about match the Antaran’s speed, it could maneuver with alarming sharpness. She broke the pursuit and changed directions, hoping to find another target.
“Alpha! We’ll never corner them in here. Try and flush them out!”
She saw something flash away to to her right and spun the Falcon to face it as the craft ran along the side of a miner. A Mara rounded it barely ten meters ahead of her, followed closely by a Falcon. Rainbow gasped in surprise and rolled to starboard, away from the larger craft, as the Falcon, which she saw belonged to Greaves, passed just over her while unleashing a few hundred bolts from its chain gun.
“Whoa there! Calm down, Greaves!”
“It’s under control, Commander. I want to get smoked out here by my own fire just as much as you do.”
“Fine! But call out what he’s doing, I’m gonna’ try to get in front of him!”
Rainbow looped around and leapt forward, dodging fire from a miner to port. She swerved and took out its beam cannon with a blast from the forward gun.
Greaves yelled into the comm. “He’s rounding another miner! Dax, can you see him? Lead the Commander to him, I’ll stay on his tail!”
Dax replied quickly, and Rainbow saw him plotting a course and a target for her on the radar, which was linked between each vessel, allowing for any pilot to mark anything for their squadmates.
“Affirmative. Commander, continue on this heading until you pass two miners, than hold up at the edge of the third. Greaves, stay on him, but push him to the end of the formation. Teak, can you swing by this miner and take out its cannon? The commander is going to be sitting still for a few seconds.”
Rainbow had engaged her burners as soon as she heard his instructions, then cut them as she passed the second Antaran vessel. She came to a stop within feet of the third and immediately began taking fire from the anti-fighter beam on the adjacent craft. Teak swooped in and silenced it.
“Thanks Teak, watch my back. Dax, ETA?”
“Ten seconds!”
“Roger.”
Rainbow stood still, sweating bullets as the seconds wore on. A red blip directly behind her showed on her radar as the third tick passed.
“One on your tail, Commander!”
“I see it! How long!?”
“Five sec. . .shoot, the Mara’s gone vertical! Fifteen meters above you!”
Rainbow swore, and two things happened in very quick succession.
First, the pegasus routed all engine power to her ventral retros and jack-in-the-boxed vertically. As she moved upwards, the black shape of the Mara flashed in front of her cockpit, only for a quick burst from her guns to overwhelm its shield and decommission the vessel. As she was rising, Mercks appeared below the two and put a volley through the trailing Mara, causing explosions to ripple through its crab like form. The Antaran’s momentum carried it forward at a some speed though, and Rainbow noticed with some concern where it was heading.
“If he hits a miner they’ll all go up! Get out! Get out! Get out!”
She again spammed the afterburners and sped in the opposite direction, her fellow Alphas following suit like birds being shooed from a field. Rainbow checked her mirror as the Mara impacted a miner and exploded. Rainbow realized that there was no way she’d escape the shockwave and braced herself. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes and realized that while the Mara itself exploded on impact, the large cargo compartment of the gas miner had merely buckled under the strain of the collision. This was puzzling, considering how the millions of gallons of refined stellar dust should have gone up with the ferocity of a dozen sonic rainbooms.
“How are we still alive?” radioed Greaves.
“Corvette is down, all Zus accounted for” replied Gilda, with no sense of timing whatsoever. “Whats going on on your end, Commander?”
Rainbow didn’t answer. She was busy performing a scan of the miners. After analyzing three of them, she came to a conclusion.
“They’re empty!”
“What? Empty?” asked Dax.
“There’s nothing in these things. Scan them yourselves.”
There was a moment’s silence as the griffons did.
“What the hell? Why would they defend empty gas miners?” said an annoyed Mercks.
It was Gilda that figured it out first.
“We haven’t heard from Platinum in a while.”
Rainbow’s eyes went wide.
“All Zus return to ship! Now!”
Half of the squad had jumped to FTL drive before she finished the sentence.
----
Rainbow Dash’s first observation was that Platinum was in bad shape. Her second was that Tartarus Squad was no longer escorting it. Thankfully, it seemed that they had not gone down without a fight, as the carcasses of two Antaran Cain class cruisers suggested. Two live ones, along with dozens of contacts that likely were their bombers, were in pursuit of the carrier, whose rear beam cannon was in constant operation. Rainbow had been hailing the ship since she exited FTL, but had yet to receive a response. She guessed that the Antarans were blocking communications, but the significant damage to Platinum suggested that its comm array had been disabled. The ship was venting plasma in all directions, its shield was phasing in and out of operation, and in many places large chunks of hull-- including one running diagonally down the port side of the ship, exposing one of the flight decks-- were missing. She listed slightly to starboard thanks to a disabled port side engine bank.
“Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, run bomber patrol! Nothing touches Platinum! Alpha, Beta, we’re going for the first Cain! If they catch Platinum, we’re walking home! Go for the engines!”
Aware that two FTL jumps and a mild engagement had strained her power supply, Rainbow transferred power to the engines by reducing the juice her shields received. Her wingmates followed suit.
I’m not losing another home.
“Alpha, pattern Zeta at the dorsal guns, draw their fire! Beta, crack the engines!”
She climbed as flak began to pop around her cockpit. Attacking a Cain head on was not a smart move, but time was not on Zu’s side, and sweeping around to hit the engines from behind would take far too long, especially when there were two cruisers to be dealt with. Rainbow knew that the Cain was most vulnerable from the top and rear, so having her two wings dive at it would be the best course of action-- as long as she could take the heat of of Beta for long enough for them to take out the engines. After reaching her jumping off point, she rolled upwards and accelerated from the loop’s vertex directly at the guns while diverting power from her weapons to shields. They began rocking as the flack enveloped her view, but the fire quickly died down as the cannons found three new targets. Alpha wing flashed across Rainbow’s cockpit, drawing fire from some of the guns, and she took the chance to fire off two Trebuchets. The warheads flew from her chassis and skipped between Greaves and Teak, whose Falcons shielded them from the flak cannons until it was too late. Rainbow flew past the Cain’s stern as the missiles impacted the cannons. Beta Wing, seeing the opportunity, attacked the point where the engines protruded from the cruiser’s hull, and with no cannons able to deter them, their ordinance hit home with a brilliant flash. Rainbow scanned the vessel, and was pleased with what she saw.
“Good shooting everyone. That’ll slow them down. . .”
She was interrupted by a frantic Dax.
“Commander! We need help! We’re down three fighters, they keep sending Maras with their bombers!”
Rainbow had been wondering why this Cain had not fighter support.
“Roger, we’re on it!”
Alpha and Beta about faced and raced back to Platinum. Over three dozen enemy contacts surrounded it. Rainbow locked on to one, a Nephlim-class bomber, and let fly with a Trebuchet. She took the Treb’s “fire and forget” motto to heart and found another target to pursue, and the buzzer that signaled a confirmed kill went off as she unleashed another missile. It, too, found a target.
As she reached Platinum, her radio crackled on the emergency frequency.
“. . . FTL drive being repaired. . . to hold them off. . .”
She tried to reply, but the message repeated, so she figured that whoever was making the broadcast couldn’t hear her. She radioed her squad.
“Zu! Platinum needs time to get the FTL going! Hold them off!”
Gilda responded on a private channel.
“Exactly how long are we talking here, Dash?”
“No idea.”
“Great.”
Gilda went back to the open channel.
“Zu Squadron! To the death!”
The griffons that remained repeated this cheer across the comm link. Rainbow Dash would have felt proud, had she not been concerned with the second Cain, now rapidly gaining on Platinum. Worse still were the Nephlims seemingly materializing out of nowhere all around the carrier. Some of her anti-fighter weaponry was still kicking, but Dash realized that Zu was the only thing standing between it and oblivion. As if in answer to Rainbow Dash’s concern, the Cain unleashed a massive blast from its forward beam cannon that ripped straight through Platinum’s starboard hull. The carrier began listing even further, and many of its running lights dimmed.
Gilda spoke to Rainbow once more.
“Commander, Platinum can’t take a broadside from that thing. We need to take out its big guns, now.” Rainbow considered this. Gilda was exactly right, but her plan was near suicidal. The Cain’s broadside cannons were, besides being able to fry a Falcon instantly, guarded by both flak cannons and anti-fighter beams. Rushing directly at them, though, was the only way to find the right angle to disable the guns.
“Gilda, if we go for the cannons, we don’t make it back.”
“We’re already dead, Dash. We both know that.”
Rainbow Dash had no answer. She flipped on the open channel.
“Zu! We’re taking the cruiser down with us! To the death!”
The griffons again repeated her cry, with just as much enthusiasm but with much fewer numbers. Rainbow Dash vectored towards the Cain as eight Falcons formed up behind her. They barreled at the Antaran at full speed, flak bouncing off of their shields. The Falcon directly to Dash’s port side exploded as it caught an anti-fighter beam head on, and Rainbow Dash instinctively rolled to occupy the space it once existed in; her instincts were proven correct, as the beam tore through the space she had just vacated.
The Cain had caught up to Platinum, with the remnants of Zu in between the two capital ships. Their targets zeroed, the pilots launched everything they had at the cannons. As Rainbow could have predicted, the flak cannons swatted most of the missiles before they could hit their targets, though she could have sworn that at least a few got through. The forward cannon fired into Platinum, punching another hole in her once proud frame, while the rear aperture sputtered, proving Dash right.
“One down! Zu Squadron! You know what to do!” yelled Gilda, her confidence never waning. She hit her afterburners and sped towards the remaining cannon, Rainbow Dash and the others following close behind. One hundred meters from the gun, though, it fired.
Dash closed her eyes.
Seconds passed, and they slowly opened.
“What?”
She was alive-- unless the afterlife was eerily similar to life itself, of course-- and, more than anything, confused. The other Zus had also defied the odds by continuing to exist.
A greenish haze, protruding from the beam cannon, surrounded their ships. Rainbow tried to escape it, but the controls of her fighter had gone completely dark. She tried to radio Gilda, but the comm, too, was dead. She could see a griffon in a Falcon ten meters from her own banging on his console as the craft drifted aimlessly.
Gradually, Rainbow dash realized that the six surviving Zus were being pulled towards the Cain. As they reached the ship’s hull, a compartment opened, and the Falcons were pulled inside. Each landed with a thud. Rainbow Dash managed a look outside the door as it slowly shut. Two more Cains had arrived on the scene, and each was using a similar green haze to drag Platinum out of sight. She noticed that Gilda, her fighter laying at an odd angle to Dash’s right, was watching their carrier too, her mouth agape. They locked eyes, each searching for answers that would not come.
The hull sealed tight, and the compartment went dark.
The train pulled in to Ponyville station, releasing a smattering of ponies onto the platform and some smoke into the air. Applejack watched it rise with pain in her heart. it wasn’t the smoke that made her sad-- it certainly wasn’t good for the environment that the trains had been forced to switch back to coal, for sure, but she had other things on her mind. The train would leave in twenty minutes. She would board it soon enough, and by the next morning, she’d be in Appleoosa. With Apple Bloom. Somehow, that fact did not make her feel much better.
She had arrived in Ponyville three days ago, and bumped into Fluttershy, of all ponies, minutes after disembarking the train. The poor girl was a wreck, with saggy skin and a dazed look that spoke of despair. Fluttershy refused to admit to it, but she hadn’t been eating anywhere near properly for weeks, and Applejack felt ashamed that she had let things get so bad for her friend.
The thought was ridiculous, of course, given the fact that Applejack had been on the other side of the galaxy for almost a year, but she felt it all the same. She had vowed to never forget her friends after the incident with Rainbow Dash, and Applejack did not break promises. Usually, at least.
With 18 months of back pay in her account, Applejack had no qualms about taking Fluttershy out to eat right away. Over heaping plates of food, the pegasus told her about everything-- her job at Sweet Apple Acres, Big Mac’s call up, Apple Bloom’s departure. Applejack was both saddened and relieved to know that she hadn’t missed her sister getting her cutie mark, but the news that the farm would be empty when she got there was met with indifference. She’d been anxiously avoiding the idea of facing her family again, and the reprieve was strangely welcome. With train services to Appleoosa running so infrequently, she’d have a few days to wait before trekking west to meet the sister that had no doubt grown tremendously in her absence.
After forcing Fluttershy to eat a third helping of hay fries, Applejack had trotted to Sweet Apple Acres. Again, she was filled with indifference over the new fence the government had erected around what was once her land-- what did it matter who owned the farm if all of ponydom could starve, anyway? She bucked a hole in the fence, snuck into a secluded part of the orchard and found a hidden cellar that she’d buried long ago for emergencies. She emptied it and dragged the contents-- a month’s worth of apple preserves, flour, popcorn left over from the Discord incident, and cider-- and dragged it to Fluttershy’s cottage. She let Fluttershy have the lot, on the condition that she not give it all to the animals. Applejack even made Angel promise to keep her honest. She also, somehow, took Angel aside and showed him where in Fluttershy’s garden she hidden half of her savings account, so that he could give it to Fluttershy once she’d left town. At least that way, Applejack reckoned, the shy pony wouldn’t have to make a scene about refusing it.
And so Applejack sat, waiting to board the train. No other ponies waited with her. She looked at her watch, and then raised her head to find herself staring into the eyes of a barely familiar jet black unicorn. She gasped in realization.
“Twi. . .”
The mare shoved a hoof in Applejack’s mouth. She took the hint and waited in silence. The mare looked around suspiciously, and motioned for Applejack to follow her off of the platform. She sighed and followed slowly.
“Somehow, I knew I wasn’t getting on this train.”
----
The carriage door shut automatically behind Twilight as she sat down across from Applejack. With a flourish of energy from her horn, the unicorn shed her disguise. Applejack gasped. Her friend looked worse than Fluttershy-- her mane was in tatters, with bits of paper tangled in it, and the wrinkles under her eyes stretched well beyond her face. Her ears twitched at the slightest sound, and her wide eyes, red with stress, refused to blink.
“You okay, sugarcube?”
“Fine, fine! Just great, Applejack. Balancing four hundred things in the air at once, but still great!”
Twilight smiled. Applejack nervously reflected it.
“And how are you, AJ? Been a while since Celestium!”
“Uhh… I’m okay, I guess. Being grounded has its advantages, I suppose.”
“Great!” Twilight’s voice shrieked as she spoke. She fidgeted in her seat.
“Too bad you aren’t grounded anymore, though!”
“What?”
“Isn’t it great! Shining Armor even requested you specifically!”
“Your brother? Isn’t he the Supreme Commander now? What would he want with me?”
“I can’t tell you! But it must be really, really exciting! You even have a new pilot, specially requisitioned for your new mission!”
“What happened to Rainbow Dash?”
“She’s on assignment with the 5th fleet, and they wouldn’t give her back! So you get Spitfire instead. I hope. . .”
Applejack cut her off.
“Spitfire? The Spitfire? The Wonderbolt?”
Twilight nodded.
“I thought she retired!”
“She did! But before she did, we used her to test the Friendship class, including Daring. She probably knows how to fly it just as well as Rainbow Dash!”
“Fair enough, but why me? I almost got Daring captured, remember?”
“I don’t know! Which is weird, because I know pretty much everything else! But Shining Armor definitely has a reason!”
Applejack failed to wrangle any more information out of Twilight after that. She worried about her friend as the two sat awkwardly across from each other. She worried just as much about Rainbow Dash, even though the two had hardly spoken since that night in the Captain’s quarters. It pained her to think so, but she was relieved that Rainbow would not be joining her on whatever mission Shining Armor had in mind.
The carriage stopped on the outskirts of Canterlot, touching down near a small spaceport. Applejack hadn’t even known it existed, and she guessed that very few did; it was surrounded on all sides by the orbital cannons she had seen going up all those months ago, and the launch pad was recessed deep into the ground. Twilight opened the door for Applejack, but she did not join her friend on the tarmac.
“Not joining me, Twi?”
“Sorry, AJ, we’re heading in different directions. I’ll see you soon, though, I’m sure!”
“But I don’t even know where I’m going. . .”
“Oh, well, there’s only one transport down there. And you’re the only passenger. So just head on down, I suppose. Have a nice flight!”
“But. . .”
Applejack’s question was cut off by the slamming of the carriage door and the swift kick of its engines. She rose a hoof to keep her mane from flying about as it took off, only momentarily feeling the subconscious desire to hold on to her long parted with hat. She watched the carriage depart. It did not head towards Canterlot.
----
Celestium
A week later, aboard EqCom’s new flagship Harmony, Applejack quietly found her seat in the rear of the ship’s large briefing room. Shining Armor did not acknowledge her entrance, which was understandable, considering the dozens of ponies intently focusing on him as he spoke.
“. . . this is going to be a quick turnaround between Equus and New Fillydelphia. We don’t know what kind of sensors they’re using, but we aren’t going to take any chances.”
The screen behind him changed, now showing a closeup of a system labeled “Deneb.” He pointed to the left side of the screen, where a virtual representation of the Deneb-New Fillydelphia portal deposited dozens of white ovals into the display.
“The Fifth Fleet will enter Deneb en masse and engage the garrison here. We are estimating over ninety capital ships on the other side of the portal, and all of their guns will be pointed at us from the moment we exit the portal. This would normally be a problem, but with the Hive Connection Disruptors in place we shouldn’t have to worry, at least for a few seconds. Once you’ve entered the system, get moving right at your targets. As we’ve discussed, we anticipate a standard three-tiered defensive line, thirty ships long and three high. “Sword” group will attack the left flank, “Hammer” will feint at the middle and then join “Sword”, and Shield will occupy the right. With luck, we can overwhelm the left and destroy it before they can reform. Once we’ve secured a foothold, the strike team will jump in and head for Vega. Once we know they’ve destroyed the artificial portal, we mine the Deneb side and bug out. Questions?”
One captain spoke immediately.
“What good will mining the portal do? They can just blow it once we leave, right?”
“We’ve designed what is called a self-replicating minefield. If a mine is triggered, it replicates an identical nearby. Eventually they’ll figure it out, but it will slow them down long enough for our fleets to rebalance themselves on our side of the galaxy.”
A hopeful murmur filed through the room. Eliminating two entry points to Equestrian space, even temporarily, would provide some desperately needed respite for the Celestial Navy. With the added need to patrol the Beta Eridani system after the discovery of the artificial portal, the three functioning fleets left in the Navy had spent months taxed almost to the breaking point, leaving the Vasuda and Orion blockades vastly undermanned. Shining Armor had even resorted to dressing up cargo freighters as destroyers in order to fool Antaran scans. It was his idea, then, to attack the Antarans. The idea was incredibly unpopular-- especially so soon after Ant Hill-- but incredibly necessary; if the status quo held, EqCom was going to eventually overstretch its resources. Once roll of the dice could both buy time to repair the aging hulks currently guarding the colonies and free up assets to properly blockade the critical jump points. It was a roll Shining Armor was glad to take.
The meeting parted soon after, with a few of the captains asking questions that Shining had already explained dozens of times. He answered them without actually engaging his brain (Twilight wasn’t the only one in the family with a superior intellect, after all) and scanned the room. He spotted Applejack, trying her best to act like she understood what was going on, idly leaning a hoof on her face. Her adjourned the meeting, and she walked down the terraced aisle towards him. She saluted.
“You asked to see me Admiral?”
“Captain. Good to see you.” He returned the salute, but brought his hoof down when he saw that the two were alone in the room.
“I’d let you call me Shining, but I’m still trying to get used to people calling me Admiral. Cady says I need to embrace it, but…. never mind that, how are you?” He beckoned her towards the rear of the room and into his office. As far as offices go, it was certainly fit for the supreme commander of the Equestrian Navy, but the papers and food wrappers covering the place made it feel much more plebian. Shining Armor motioned to a seat, which the mare took.
“Sorry about the mess. The worse this place looks, the less people want to spend time in it. Lets me get some work done.”
She smiled nervously, so the Admiral decided to get straight to business.
“My apologies for cutting your shore leave short, but this is fairly urgent. As Twilight probably told you, we need you to take Daring on a mission for us deep behind enemy lines. We need you, before you ask, because, despite the fiasco of a few months ago, you proved that you can handle Daring. And the crew seems to like you, so that’s always a plus.”
Applejack blushed.
“So you want Daring to jump to Vega and destroy the artificial portal?”
“No, actually. That task force will be a few Victory class destroyers and smaller frigates. I have something much more. . . sensitive for you to handle. Which is why I had to talk to you directly. This doesn’t leave this room, understand?”
“Understood, I suppose.”
Shining Armor sat behind his desk and leaned in close to Applejack. He spoke slowly.
“The Antarans have started taking prisoners. We don’t know why, nor do we know how many they have. What we do know is this: one of our research stations was attacked, and several of our top science minds, including the one responsible for the HCD concept, were captured. Very few people know that the research team even exists, let alone that it’s MIA. We have reason to believe that they are still alive, and being kept in a prison facility in Beta Cygni. We need you to get them out. I wouldn’t say that this operation is entirely designed as a diversion for you to run the Deneb-Beta Cygni blockade, but it certainly was part of the decision making process. With me so far?”
Applejack blinked a few times and nodded blankly.
“Good. Daring will follow the fleet to New Fillydelphia. After we’ve made the jump to Deneb, engage your cloak and follow through. Turn off your IFF so nobody knows you’ve arrived. When you arrive we should be fully engaged with the Antaran fleet, giving you the chance to jump to Beta Cygni. When you get there, find the scientists and get back. Be quick about it though-- we’re only sticking around long enough for the Vega strike team to do their thing and return. Maybe 36 hours at most. It’s a small window, and I can’t hang around for long. Once the minefield is up, you need to find another way home.”
“Fair enough. But why all the secrecy?”
Shining leaned back and rolled his eyes.
“EqCom doesn’t think sending Daring on a rescue mission is the right call. TO be honest, they aren’t convinced that the prisoners are even alive. They don’t think it is worth the risk, and they’ve officially denied the request. But I know things that they don’t, and we need those scientists. Trust me. Besides, what kind of supreme commander would I be if I let people tell me what to do?”
Applejack sat silently for a moment. Shining was not sure what was going through her mind; it looked like contemplation, but, as he had learned, one could never be sure with mares.
She looked up at him and exploded.
“All due respect, sir, but I don’t get it. I just don’t get it. You cut into my leave time, drag me out here and then tell me to risk my life, and my crew’s life, for a mission that is near suicidal, and we don’t even know if the scientists are still alive? I’m sorry, Admiral, but I don’t see how I can do this. If you want me to help win this battle, I will, but risking everything for your pet project is not something I’m willing to do.”
Shining Armor tensed up, but his voice remained calm.
“This is an order, Captain, if I wasn’t clear.”
“An illegal one, Admiral. It would be my duty as a soldier to report you, some might say.”
“You wouldn’t dare, Applejack.”
“Try me. When was the last time you were on Home? Ponies are starting to get tired of the draft, of the war rationing. How would the newspapers like to get a story about the supposed supreme commander wasting resources like Daring, not to mention a hero of Antara and the last living Wonderbolt on a suicide mission while the rest of the fleet did some real fighting?”
Shining Armor fumed on the inside. She was right, of course. The whole mission was a massive gamble. But, just like the Deneb operation itself, it was a call he had to make. He sat back and let the anger consume him for a second. Then, as Cadance had taught him, he released it, and came back to his senses. Rubbing his temple, he spoke with eyes shut.
“Fine. What do you want, Captain Applejack?”
“Beg pardon?”
“I’m bribing you. I’ve got a thousand other things to take care of right now and I can tell that you won’t be swayed by me just saying ‘trust me.’ It’s a risky operation but the end product is completely worth it. I can’t tell you why now, but, well, you have to trust me.”
“Why can’t you just tell me?”
“It would compromise you and the mission. Let’s just leave it at that. I need you completely focused on this, understand?”
“Fine.” She paused and closed her eyes, thinking for a second.
“I want Big Mac.”
“Your brother?”
“Yes. He’s been drafted into a Mobile Infantry Unit. You know, a replacement for the ninety percent casualty rate they sustained on Anatara.”
“I understand, but I can’t just get him out of the military.”
“Then put him somewhere else. On Home. In Appleoosa, preferably.”
“Are you sure, Applejack? That is your big favor?”
“The moment I see his transfer orders is the moment I jump to Deneb. Not a second before.”
Shining Armor put his hooves together.
“Fine. I’ll see that he is transferred. I can’t promise Home, but he’ll be off the front lines.”
Applejack sighed, then smiled at him. She leaned back.
“Then you’ve got yourself a Captain.”
----
Eight days later, Shining Armor strode into Harmony’s bridge. Dozens of expectant eyes followed him as he strode to the admiral’s station. Hearty, Harmony’s Captain, greeted him with a salute.
“As you were, Captain. Are we ready to get underweigh? “
“Aye aye, Admiral.”
“Good. Get us into position, and she’s all yours, Captain.”
Donning a headset, Shining Armor activated his command station. A three dimensional diagram of all 72 ships in the fifth fleet came to life.
“All bridges, this is Admiral Shining Armor. We will be jumping to New Fillydelphia momentarily. All battle groups report.”
He counted off as a comm mare counted off. All seven groups, each anchored around a heavy cruiser, reported in.
“How are our carriers?”
“Ingram and Lapide have launched our picket screen,” said the officer. “All others report ready.”
“Good. Lets go then.”
The officer looked at him.
“Would you like to address the fleet, Admiral?”
“No. They know what the plan is. But put me through to Daring, please.”
“Aye aye.”
When the connection was made, he spoke quietly to Applejack.
“You ready, Captain?”
“Yes, sir. We are right behind Winsome.”
“Good. Remember, you’re on the clock from the moment we hit Deneb. Thirty six hours at most. Best of luck.”
The connection clicked off. He nodded to the captain. Hearty cleared his throat.
“Helm, engage subspace drive.”
The trip from Equus to New Filydelphia took three hours. After arriving, it took fifteen minutes for every ship’s engines to cool off, but as soon as each battle group reported in, Shining Armor ordered the fleet back into subspace. This time the fleet only needed to wait two hours. Ten minutes from the portal exit, he spoke into the headset.
“All vessels, prepare to engage the enemy. Designated ships, launch your HCDs. Remember, we need to get in close as soon as possible, so don’t hang around once we exit. Good luck all. I’m moving to the CIC. Armor out.”
Streaks of gold flew forward from the armada, carrying the HCDs out ahead of the fleet. If they didn’t work, Shining Armor caught himself thinking, this was going to be a very short trip. He rose from the Admiral’s chair and nodded to his comm assistant, who took up the space. Flashing a salute to the bridge crew, he exited the room, which had grown dark in as the ship moved to general quarters.
In the hallway directly opposite the bridge, guarded by two saluting stallions, lay the Command Information Center. Derived from the same cloth as Normandy’s matrix, it was going to be Shining Armor’s home for much of the next few days. He entered the room and cracked his neck, then activated the small console in the center of the darkened space.
The room lit up, with navy hued light strips outlining the walls.
“Testing,” he spoke into the headset. “Bridge, you hearing me?”
“Aye, aye, Admiral.”
“Good. Bringing up the matrix.”
He punched in a control on the console, which sunk into the floor. Little points of orange light took shape all around him, shimmering for a few seconds before solidifying into holographic representations of each ship under his command. He touched one at random, at it changed color to green.
“Mustangia, this is the Admiral, CIC test, do you copy?”
“Yes sir, all good on our end.”
“Good. I’m going to run some test maneuvers.”
He dragged the ship’s avatar to the side, and cued up a three dimensional map of the Deneb system. The next few minutes were spent ordering putting the system through its paces. While the CIC could not physically take control of a ship, it allowed Shining Armor an incredible view of the battlefield. He could either set waypoints for a ship or designate a destination and let it find its own path, and switch to designating targets (from fleet level down to individual fighter craft) with minimal effort. For the next few hours, Shining Armor could, if he chose, make almost every single decision for the Fifth Fleet’s vessels.
That was not his plan, though. Antara was doomed to fail once the enemy fleet had appeared, but he felt that more ships could have survived had they not been so micromanaged. Celestia was effectively dictating half of the fleet, and her destruction left Luna completely overwhelmed. Shining Armor had faith in his captains, and would let them do what they needed to do-- until he found the moment to strike.
“Admiral, we’re reading green on all CIC screens here.”
“Great, thank you. CIC out.”
Shining took a deep breath and cracked his neck. A timer appeared, counting from sixty seconds. He thought of Cadance, whose memory gave him strength. As the timer hit ten seconds, he found a smile creep across his face.
The room shuddered as Harmony dropped back into normal space. Telemetry began filling the CIC from the instant the jump completed, with the amount increasing exponentially as thousands of small probes were launched from various ships in the fleet, their combined mass ringing the battlefield and giving Shining Armor the information he needed. Within five seconds of entering the system, he had holographic representations of all seventy two of his own vessels and, as he had both anticipated and feared, ninety Antarans. He strode between the two holographic fleets and watched as the orange of his own charges organize themselves as planned. Turning his back on them, he observed the Antaran ships hanging motionless. He allowed a few seconds to pass, and, when their positions did not change, his smile grew. He hoofed the toggle to talk to all ships.
“All craft, the HCDs worked. Let’s get in there. Full speed ahead!”
He closed the channel and got to work.
----
Daring slipped into Deneb without so much as a shudder. Spitfire had insisted on flying the ship through sub-space, and Applejack was happy to oblige her. The two had briefly met before the war at the Wonderbolt Academy, but they had little in common, and they hadn’t talked much since Applejack had returned to her post. The earth pony mostly kept to herself, despite the crew’s (and First Lieutenant Reign’s) assurances that they were happy for her to be back.
While she waited for the FTL drive to warm up, Applejack observed the battle in progress. Shining Armor’s plan was equal parts bold and dangerous. She didn’t understand how he could risk a third of his fleet to allow the rest to gang up on a third of the enemy’s-- as she spoke, in fact, two arms of the fleet, led by Harmony and Canterlot B, had converged on what Shining had designated the Antaran’s left flank. They were having success, by the look of it, but it was coming at a price, with their rear being guarded by the very exposed “Shield” group.
Reign buzzed her on the comm.
“Ready to go, Captain.”
“Full speed ahead then, Spitfire.”
“Aye aye.”
As far as combat zones were concerned, Deneb held little excitement for Daring’s crew. Spitfire zipped away from the battle, and soon enough, the unguarded Beta Cygni jump point appeared. Daring exited Deneb as quietly as it had arrived.
Two hours passed before the vessel dropped from sub-space again. The ship was immediately hit by a smattering of automatic beam cannons guarding the portal, but Spitfire was able to weave in and out of the formation at just the right speed-- fast enough to avoid the oncoming fire but steady enough for Daring’s gun crews to eliminate their attackers. When Reign and Beakerman assured her that the turrets hadn’t given away Daring’s position, Applejack set a course for the center of the system.
“Stealth systems online.”
“Roger,” said Reign. “Captain, you’ve been informed of the improvements to the heat exchange system?”
“Affirmative. We’ve got a few more hours to work with. Let’s hope we don’t have to use them.”
The trip to the twin star of Beta Cygni and Albireo (why the system wasn’t named “Albireo,” instead of the clunky “Beta Cygni,” remained a mystery to Applejack) took up three more hours of the missions allotted time. Sensors confirmed that no planets existed in the system, but a small chain of asteroids lay dangerously close to the star complex at its center. A dozen small Antaran signatures patrolled the formation.
“Beakerman,” radioed Applejack, “can you get some long range scans going?”
“Yes, ma’am. Let’s see. . . four Rakshasa class vessels, plus a few frigates and fighters. Not exactly an engagement we’d be likely to win.”
“Understood. What about the rocks? They have what we are looking for?”
“I can’t tell from this range. Need to be a couple hundred light years closer. But if the Antarans have twelve ships guarding it. . .”
Spitfire chimed in, her smile obvious even over the intercom.
“. . . they must have something they don’t want us to get our hooves on.”
Applejack nodded to nopony in particular.
“Full speed ahead, Spitfire, if you please.”
The crew sat in silence as Spitfire guided the ship towards the asteroids. Twice, she had to drastically change trajectories in order to miss outgoing patrols, but the Antarans remained in the dark about their position. Daring was equipped with a complement of HCDs, but Applejack did not want to use them until they had to escape the system-- hopefully with the science team safely aboard.
With that thought in mind, she broke the silence and radioed down to Beakerman.
“Lieutenant, how exactly do the HCDs work?”
“Well, Captain, I’m not exactly sure. They certainly aren’t telling ponies like me how the most important weapon we’ve developed in decades actually functions, unfortunately. . .”
“Sorry, Beakerman, I didn’t mean to. . .”
Reign cut her apology off mid sentence.
“The HCD overloads the output processors of any individual Antaran. It fills the transmission vehicle with so much useless information that the thing short circuits. Even though its an organic device, the HCD frys it. Unfortunately, they can fix themselves quickly. But before it does, the Antarans become individuals. The ensuing chaos usually cripples a ship for at least a few seconds, and it takes even longer for them to figure out what happened.”
Applejack stared at her first officer with a raised eyebrow. The pegasus mare looked back and shrugged.
“What? First officers hear things every now and again, you know.”
“Fair enough. Beakerman, you have a scan for me now?”
“Aye, aye, Captain. I’m not getting any pony life signs-- the shielding on the asteroids is too thick to get through-- but look at this.”
On her command console, a representation of a large asteroid came into focus, with a large device embedded in the side highlighted.
“That machine is obviously not a natural growth of the asteroid. That doesn’t tell us too much vis a vis prisoners, but wait until I do this. . .”
The image changed from solid green lines to a blur of colors, none of which Applejack knew anything about. The machine, though, was glowing a vastly different color from much of the asteroid.
“I’ve run the image through the long range spectrometer. What you are seeing is the different types of elements present in the asteroid. Nickel, cobalt, that sort of thing. But this construct is producing two elements in abundance-- nitrogen and hydrogen. And it is producing them in the exact same ratio that ponies breathe to survive.”
“But Antarans breathe the same air we do, right?”
“Not necessarily. For example, when we invaded Antara, as you probably recall, you had to take a nitrogen hypospray before you touched down. They don’t need as much of it, so there was less on Antara. But this mix is almost identical to Home’s atmosphere. Unless they’re trying to grow some poison joke, we’ve found our prisoners.”
“Great,” said Applejack. “Spitfire, bring us in close, but stay quiet-- you know the drill. Reign, get a shuttle ready and have the marines meet me in the shuttle bay, you have. . .”
“Captain, I don’t think you need to go down. . .”
“Lieutenant, I appreciate the concern, but I’m probably the only one on this ship that has actually seen a live Antaran, let alone gone toe to claw with one. I’ll go with the Marines.”
Reign frowned.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Your objection will be noted in my log. You have the comm.”
Applejack felt giddy with excitement as she strapped on her firearm and boarded the shuttle. She hadn’t felt like she’d made a contribution to the war effort-- a real contribution, not a supply dump raid-- in a long time. Her excitement waned a little, though, as the shuttle landed on the asteroid. Sure enough, a small airlock was embedded in the side of the rock. She switched on the comm and addressed every pony on the net.
“Alright, we know what we came for. The strike team will go extravehicular and put a force field around the airlock so we don’t space everypony inside. After we blow the door, we won’t have much time to make this count. We get in, grab the scientists and anypony else, then get out. Spitfire, stay hidden as long as you can, but don’t use the HCD until you are ready to come pick us up. Any objections?”
None were raised. Applejack closed the channel and nodded to the marine next to her, who opened the shuttle’s airlock. Holding down her nausea, Applejack stepped into the void and pushed herself towards the floating rock.
By the time she reached it, the eight pony marine team had established the force field generators and sealed a second airlock-- complete with atmosphere-- around the original. She waited as charges were set to blow the door, eyes closed the avoid the vertigo of free fall that she had come to hate in her days on the gravity-less Venture Gambit. Had it really been barely a year ago when she was just a private in a doomed company?
She shook the thought from her head as the marines signalled their readiness to blow the airlock. As she was about to give the order, though, something banged on the inside of the hatch.
Nine guns pointed at the door, and Applejack held her breath. If they’d been discovered already, things were about to get very bad, very quickly.
Whatever banged on the interior of the door did so again. And again. Applejack began to pick up a pattern.
She removed her helmet and put an ear up to the door.
“Soft, loud, loud. Soft, loud. Soft, soft. Loud. And again. What in the. . .”
She thought for a few seconds before it came to her.
“It’s code! Horse code! Reign, you hearing this!?”
“Yes ma’am,” replied the First Officer, with more excitement than usual. It says. . . ‘wait’.”
“Okay, but we haven’t got. . .”
“No! Captain, the message says ‘wait’!”
Applejack facehooved.
“Great. So what are we waiting for?”
As if in answer, lights around the door flickered on, and the hatchway began to retract sideways. Before Applejack-- or the eight marines with her-- could react, a powerful force crashed into the captain, squeezing her with the strength of a dozen ponies. Applejack, disoriented from the surprise, recoiled and tried to grab at her attacker. Her hooves stopped short, though, as her brain realized that she was not in fact being attacked. She looked down to see a face beaming back up at her.
“Applejack! I knew you’d make it! Well, I knew that somepony would make it, not specifically you, but somepony! And you’re right at the top of my list of rescue ponies, so thank Celestia!”
The marine ponies pushed themselves beyond the pink prisoner as she hurriedly talked in Applejack’s direction. Their captain might as well have been wearing a full space suit, though, as she failed to hear-- or at least comprehend-- a single word her friend was saying.
“. . . and then when my neck started creaking, I knew help would be on the way because my neck always creaks when I’m about to catch up with an old friend! Although usually when you are going to drop by, my back right knee. . .”
Applejack continued to not listen while she stared at Pinkie Pie. The past year had been a whirlwind of excitement, for sure, but for the most part it all made some sort of sense. This discovery, though, made very little. An explosion further down the corridor stirred her from the trance.
“Pinkie Pie!?”
“You already said that, silly! What, were you not expecting to see me?”
“Not quite. . .”
Before she could explain, the marine sergeant floated back towards the airlock.
“We’ve got them all, Captain. We’re good to go.”
“What was the explosion?”
“Had to blow a door. Thought we’d need more than just one charge, but it gave way real easy. Too easy, one might say. Where are the bad guys?”
Pinkie replied before Applejack had a chance to process the thought.
“If you check cellblock B, you’ll find about thirty Antarans locked in.”
Applejack’s jaw dropped a few inches closer to the floor.
“How. . .”
Pinkie smiled, but before she could elaborate, Applejack’s radio crackled to life, with Reign’s calm voice seeming somewhat stressed.
“Captain, you might want to hurry up down there- we’re showing some increased activity in the fleet. I think they know something’s up.”
“Roger. Send the shuttle for a pickup.”
“Roger. Reign out.”
Pinkie looked at Applejack expectantly. The captain raised an eyebrow.
“You’re going to ask me what I’m doing out here, right?”
----
Shining Armor had not slept in 16 hours, most of which he’d spent in his command center. He was tired, obviously, and the hunger he felt did little to soothe his aching backs.
Had he been asked, though, the Admiral wouldn’t have traded places with any pony in the universe.
The battlefield had devolved into a chaotic scene within minutes of the Equestrian fleet’s entry to the sector. This, Shining Armor figured, was not entirely a bad thing. His idea for a three pronged attack had been based on the need to quickly dispatch as many Antarans as possible, and he was only slightly surprised that it had worked. Sword and Hammer had eliminated the left flank of the enemy formation before most of the Antarans could get their shields up, and Shield, while it took heavy losses, was able to hold the right flank from rejoining the battle proper. The strike force had departed for Vega as planned, and Daring, presumably, had snuck through to Beta Cygni.
Over twenty Equestrian vessels had fallen in the early stages of the engagement, including the carrier Ingram and the cruisers Dodge City and Hoofington. Shining Armor aimed to ensure that their sacrifice was not in vain. After holding his cards for much of the battle, he finally saw an opening.
Hooves flew across the room as he directed the fleet. Lama Jax and her carrier group were being beaten up after he sent them into the center of enemy lines, and the Antarans had pounced on what they perceived as a mistake. As the enemy’s guns drew inwards, he pulled Shield group away from the right flank and towards the center. He gathered the remnants of Sword and Hammer groups and plunged them in the same direction, surrounding a large portion of the Antaran fleet between the canons of nearly every Equestrian gun in the system. By the time they realized their mistake, half of the Antaran fleet had been vaporized.
From there things became almost too easy. Shining had kept a carrier group out of the worst of the action, giving the Krogers’ bomber squadrons free reign once the battle had fully swung in his direction. Within the next hour, most of the enemy had retreated through the Ribos portal, leaving behind a small group of frigates to keep an eye on things. They were probably not observing much, but they were certainly annoying the Admiral; as they’d jump back through any time he sent a vessel to deal with them, and as much as he wanted to keep a complete overwatch, he could not spare the vessels to do so.
Aside from the computer’s voice informing him of ships going down in various manners, he hadn’t been disturbed for some time, meaning that the voice over the intercom startled him more than he would have liked.
“As if somepony would like being startled,” he muttered to himself. He opened the comm without looking at his console, still choosing to devote his gaze to the rapidly changing orange figures in the CIC. Though the twenty vessels lost in the battles opening moments was a significant loss, only six had been destroyed once he sprung his trap on the Antarans. Still, once the ships too damaged to continue-- including two carriers-- had been sent back to New Phillydelphia, he’d lost nearly half of his original fighting force. Harmony had come through the fracas relatively unscathed (and with four confirmed kills from the forward beam cannons alone), as had most of his cruisers. He left Winsome near the portal with the carriers while the minelayers got to work, taking the rest of the fleet into positions in and around the debris field that had once been an Antaran fleet. Using the debris as cover, he could force any approaching fleet to engage at short range, assuring the EqCom ships that they did not need to stray from their exit point. The chunks of metal probably would not withstand a blast from the forward cannons of a Sathanas class, to be sure, but Shining figured it was better than nothing.
“Sir, Winsome reports that the minelaying is on schedule, and the self replicators are functioning within parameters.”
“Good. Do we have anything on long range sensors?”
“Negative.”
“Also good. Send frigates to the four portals leading out of Deneb to plant sensor probes, if you please. Contact me on my comm if you need me for the next fifteen minutes or so.”
“Roger. Something wrong with the CIC, sir?”
“I haven’t pissed in over seven hours.”
“Understood. Bridge out.”
----
“. . . thus overloading the Antaran’s cerebral cortex to the point where it needs to reset. Like you after you drink too much cider! You take a quick nap and you’re right back to it! Although the Antarans don’t really need to vomit as much. . .”
Pinkie Pie tapered off as she observed Applejack’s look of confusion. It hadn’t changed much since she’d started her explanation as they’d boarded the shuttle with the other scientists. The small craft decelerated as it began the approach on Daring’s hangar.
“Okay Pinkie, let’s try again. And this time, pretend I’m. . . lets go with Snails. Real simple like, okay?”
Pinkie Pie giggled.
“Sure!”
“Okay. So you never were joining the mining corps?”
“Nope! Poor Rarity, we didn’t get to bunk together after all!”
“And you had to pretend that because you got picked for Starside Research and Development, which is top secret?”
“Yep!”
“And they assigned you, of all ponies, to work on the HCD program?”
“Not right away. They wanted to use my Pinkie Sense, but it’s too vague to be of any use to anypony but me.”
“I guess that makes sense. Then. . .”
“. . . so the scientists were really sad, and that made me really sad that I couldn’t help them! So I started to try and list things that I was good at, and then one of the scientists was all ‘I can’t think with you jammering on in my ear all day, Pinkie!’, and then everypony got real quiet, and they all had these looks on their faces, you know, the kind that Twilight gets when she has a really good idea? So they wired me up to some science-y stuff that made me look really funny and then. . . voila! Hive connection disruption!”
“And so when we use the HCDs, the Antarans are bombarded with. . . you?”
Pinkie squeed.
“Yep! Turns out that hearing my voice bouncing around in your skull millions of times at once over and over again really messes with an Antaran’s brain! Who would have thought that, right?”
Applejack stared at her friend. Pinkie smiled back at Applejack.
The shuttle landed in the hangar, and Pinkie skipped out the door. Applejack followed slowly behind. As they reached the turbolift, Pinkie came to a sudden halt, causing Applejack to bump into her flank.
“Something wrong, sugarcube?”
“Well, my neck is creaky, which means I’m going to meet a friend soon, but I already met you! Is somepony else onboard?”
Applejack started to answer, her head cocked to the side.
“No, it’s just me. . .”
She would have added something had Pinkie not shot off of the floor like a bottle rocket. She spun around in mid air and landed on her tail, using the pink ball of fuzz as a spring to rocket right back up. She floated down to land softly at Applejack’s hooves. Being an absolute believer in the power of the Pinkie Sense, Applejack waited for a prognostication with bated breath. Pinkie looked up with true fear in her eyes.
“Somepony near by is in trouble. . . and I think it’s Rainbow Dash!”
----
“Sir, we’ve lost contact with Defence.”
Shining Armor shook visions of a certain Crystal Princess out of his mind as the comm buzzed through the CIC.
“What?”
“Defence, sir. They missed their check in, and we’ve lost them on sensors. They were monitoring the portal to Ribos.”
“The Ribos portal? That’s, what, two hours from here?”
“Roger. We haven’t heard from them in twenty minutes, and they aren’t registering anywhere on sensors.”
Shining furrowed his brow. They hadn’t expected a counter attack so soon-- though he had no real proof that that was indeed what had swallowed Defence. A thousand things could have happened to the frigate in deep space, after all. Things happened all the time out in the deepness of the galaxy, as Shining knew all too well.
He also knew that this train of thought was wishful thinking at its worst.
“Understood. Send Indefatigable to investigate. CIC out.”
He stood from the chair a Lieutenant had dragged into the CIC for him and reactivated the holoprojectors, allowing him to toggle the comm link with Winsome.
“Captain, how goes the mine business?”
A harried sounding mare replied.
“Slowly, captain. One of the minelayers caught some flotsam from the battle, so we’re behind schedule.”
“How behind are we talking?”
“A half hour, maybe? We’re still looking at a few hours at least, Admiral.”
Shining Armor did not respond. Winsome’s captain understood at once.
“We don’t have that long, do we?”
“I don’t know yet. But suffice it to say that sooner is better, Captain.”
“Understood. We’ll get things moving, sir. But we’ve got a bigger problem, I think. The ML that went down was the command module. All of the mines were slaved to that one for instructions, so we could deactivate the field if we wanted to. Without it, if we want to use this portal, we have to either leave someone behind or deactivate part of the field completely, and all of the field still needs to be at least disarmed. We can’t risk a faulty component blowing the whole field with the fleet in it.”
“So either we leave it unfinished or we find another way home?”
“Correct. And the deactivation process would take a while. At least a half hour, maybe more.””
“Fine. Just get it done, we’ll think of something. Armor out.”
Shining left the CIC and wandered back to the bridge. Nodding to acknowledge the salutes he received, he strode to the Admiral’s chair, dispossessing the lucky Ensign that had been keeping it warm for him.
“What is the status of the strike team? We should have heard back from them by now, no?”
The comm officer frowned at him.
“Nothing yet, sir. They should be on the return leg by now though. A communique probe was expected within the last hour or so.”
Shining closed his eyes.
“Does anypony have any good news for me?”
The bridge officers looked around nervously. Shining Armor laughed.
“Relax. Just keep doing your jobs the way you have been, and I’m sure we. . .”
The comm pony cut him off.
“Sir! Incoming from Indefatigable!”
“Already? They shouldn’t be able to see anything. . . unless. . .”
The viewscreen changed to show a live feed from Indefatigable’s long range sensors. The bridge went silent.
“Captain,” Shining Armor said to the frigate, “can you confirm what we are seeing?”
“Yes, sir,” came the frightened reply. “We count over one hundred Antaran vessels through the portal already, and new ones continue to arrive by the minute. The whole lot of them too- Sathanases, Rakshasas, Cains, plus some I don’t recognize.”
“They look like troop transports!” volunteered a pony to Shining’s right. He had to agree. He stood up, dozens of eyes following his movements.
“Captain, I need you to keep an eye on things. As soon as they start moving we need to know. Understood?”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
“Good. Armor out.”
The comm shut off, and the Admiral looked around the room.
“We all know what that is, and where it’s headed. If we panic, we die, and Home dies with us. Everypony needs to stay calm. Maintain comm silence. I’ll be in the CIC.”
He strutted out of the room, trying to mask his fear with bravado. As he entered the CIC, though, he did so with defeat on his face.
What now?
He sat back down in the darkness of the Command room, hoping for an answer to appear from the technology surrounding him. None came.
How am I supposed to win if they’re holding all of the cards?
He thought back to his youth, when Twilight and he would play board games to pass the time before their parents got home from work. Things seemed simpler then.
He and Twilight had gotten pretty competitive at times, and they’d both learned a lot from the experience. One thing he had learned very well was to not challenge Twilight to any game that involved her brain too much. He rarely won those matchups.
Too bad I have to play this game.
Or do I?
He sat forward, eyes closed, and tried to think. He ran some calculations through his mind, then had the computer run them to check. Both came to the same conclusion. Feeling ten pounds heavier than he did when he sat down, Shining Armor arose and left the CIC.
The dozens of eyes followed him intently as he entered the bridge. He stood tall and nodded to the comm officer.
“Open a channel to the fleet.”
When she confirmed that it had been opened, he began to speak.
“All bridges, this is Shining Armor. If you haven’t noticed yet, about one hundred and twenty Antaran vessels are about two hour’s cruise from here. That figure appears to include troop transports, which means that they are most likely heading for Home. We don’t have many options here. We cannot hold them if we try-- even if we take an equal number of them with us, we’ve done no good for Equestria. We need to regroup with the other fleets and make a stand as one. If that stand is above Home itself, so be it. We stand a better chance together than on our own out here.”
Shining looked around the room, and the sea of nodding faces prodded him along.
“It appears as if the strike force has failed to reach the Vega system and destroy the artificial portal that leads to Beta Eridani. That’s our ticket home. We’re going to get that minefield up and take the long way back. If everything works out, we’ll be back at Equus before the Antarans reach New Fillydelphia.”
“It sickens me to run, believe me. But throwing our lives away here won’t help as much as getting back to Equestrian space and linking with the other fleets. The Antarans haven’t won a battle where we’ve matched them toe to toe yet, and they never will. Prepare to jump to FTL drive and to the Vega portal. Armor out.”
Once the channel closed, he closed his eyes and looked at his feet.
“Give me Winsome,” he said quietly.
“This is Winsome.”
“Captain, how far are we from having the minefield up?”
“Too long, sir.”
Shining felt his head drop further.
“Then forgive me for what I’m going to ask of you, Captain.”
He expected silence on the other end, but was surprised to hear back immediately.
“I understand, Admiral. You need all the time you can get for your end around to work. The minefield will go up. I promise.”
“Thank you, Captain. Go with Celestia.”
“And you, Admiral. But don’t you worry, sir. We won’t go down without a fight.”
----
Head tilted to one side, Cloud Reign blinked several times before responding to her superior officer. She paced around the Captain’s cabin, where Applejack had briefed her on the mission’s new developments.
“So, Captain, you are suggesting we disobey our orders, risk the lives of our crew and the ponies we just rescued as well as one of Equestria’s most important war resources because Ms. Pie here thinks that Lieutenant Commander Dash on one of the dozens of Antaran vessels in this system?”
Applejack stood her ground. Pinkie, to her credit, did her best to simply stand on the ground.
“To be fair, Lieutenant, Pinkie doesn’t just ‘think’ Dash is in the system-- it’s more of a. . .”
“Yes, I’m aware of the merits of the ‘Pinkie Sense’. But,” she said, visibly tensing, “even if I was convinced by Ms. Pie’s. . . inclinations, I don’t think it’s a good idea. The life of one pony, no matter how important she may be to us, is not worth the success of this operation.”
This time it was Applejack that raised an eyebrow in confusion. Cloud Reign had never been this. . . professional about things. She’d often been sort of a mentor for the rookie captain, giving subtle guidance and assistance. Why the sudden change of demeanor?, thought Applejack.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Reign. The Antarans would agree with you, but we ponies don’t deal in such cold calculations. If we have a chance to rescue even one pony. . .”
Pinkie Pie interrupted, almost exploding with excitement over the prospect of reuniting with Rainbow Dash.
“Don’t forget the Griffons!”
“. . . and six Griffons, we take it. That’s what separates us from them. Have Beakerman meet us on the flight deck, if you please, Lieutenant. I’m going to trade my EV armor for something a little more comfortable.”
Applejack turned away from Cloud Reign and took a few steps towards her bedroom area. After a few seconds, though, she paused, and slowly turned back. The first officer had not moved from her position in front of the doorway.
“Something wrong, Lieutenant?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Applejack turned completely to face the pegasus, who stood up straight. Pinkie Pie watched from the side, enthralled and worried at the same time. Her nose tingled.
Reign spoke clearly and slowly.
“Captain, I cannot allow you to undertake your current course of action. I suggest you stick to the original plan as given to us by the Admiral. Failure to do so would be. . . unwise.”
Applejack stepped towards the mare, trying to mask both her confusion and her anger.
“What are you saying, Lieutenant?”
Reign gestured angrily at Pinkie Pie.
“Your friend here is the most important pony alive right now. Whatever is going on in her head is going to win this war. I’m not going to risk her so you can go on some swashbuckling adventure to save your mare-friend.”
Applejack’s attempt at keeping a level head shattered as she stomped closer to the Lieutenant. An inch from her face, the Captain prepared to lay into her.
“Now you listen to me, that has nothing to do with . . .”
Reign smirked, causing Applejack to step back. Regaining control of her bubbling rage, she collected her thoughts and spoke quickly.
“Well, Lieutenant, your opinion is all well and good, but I happen to be in charge here, so if you’d be so kind to step aside. . .”
Reign’s smirk grew into a fierce grin.
“I wouldn’t be so sure, Applejack.”
Applejack recoiled.
“What do you. . .”
“Oh Applejack," the pegasus teased dramatically, "you don’t think we would have lost track of you that easily, do you?”
As she spoke, the pegasus stuck a hoof inside her uniform, quickly withdrawing it and, with a flourish, tossing an object to Applejack. She caught it and drew her gaze downward on the small pendant-- a jet black crescent moon. The realization hit Applejack at about the same time as Reign’s hoof hit the back of her neck. The room spun as she collapsed in a heap.
----
“. . . We won’t go down without a fight.”
The bridge of Winsome fell into a hushed silence as the captain ended her conversation with the Admiral. A dozen pairs of eyes stared at her, silently begging for their to have been some mistake. They would soon be disappointed.
The captain rose to her feet and punched a code into the arm of her chair, opening a channel to every pony on board.
“All hands, this is Captain Lightning Dust. The fleet won’t be able to get through the portal, and they need time to withdraw. We’re going to buy them that time.”
She paused to gather her thoughts.
“I’m issuing a ship wide evacuation order for all non-essential hands. All class one and two departments are to go to minimum strength. We’ve got about thirty minutes before we need to seal the minefield, so let’s get the escape pods through as quickly as possible. Everypony else-- we have a job to do. Let’s get it done-- and let’s give them a reason to remember the Winsome while we’re at it. Dust out.”
She sat back down, doing her best to remain strong in the face of her mortality.
“I can do everything important from up here on my own. Begin the Coal protocol: arm everything, start overheating the engines, you know the drill. Helm, have us ready to jump to FTL at a moment’s notice. Understood?”
The room nodded as one.
“Good. I’ll be in my quarters. Best of luck to you all.”
The next twenty minutes flew by for Lightning Dust. Returning to her room, she allowed the tears to flow for a few minutes, relishing the release of the emotions that had been building. Soon enough, though, her composure returned, and the pegasus tried to come to terms with her fate. It was not an easy task.
The bridge was empty when she returned. She was glad to see it that way-- she really could operate everything on her own, and didn’t want to see her crew mates throwing their lives away just to make her feel better.
She sat in the command chair and observed the view screen. Over two hundred Antaran vessels were bearing down on her. She could just barely make out the EqCom fleet’s engine trails on the far side of the system. Hopefully she could buy them-- and Home-- a few minutes.
And here I was thinking that being a Wonderbolt was the only way to become a legend.
The minefield was still not completely replicated, so she needed to keep Winsome alive for at least a little while longer. Cracking her neck, Lighting Dust decided that she was more than up for the challenge.
“This is the Captain speaking,” she said to the hoof full of ponies still on board. “We will be entering mass driver range momentarily. We’re going to give them a few broadsides before they get a bead on us, so strap in-- this won’t be good for the spaceframe, to say the least. Out.”
She hovered down to the helm and grasped the controls. Once she calculated that the broadside cannons were at a range where they could hit something, she rolled the ship hard to port.
“Starboard battery! Fire as she bears!”
Winsome lurched slowly as the starboard gun batteries opened their gunports. She could see bright lights coming from the approaching fleet, and the corresponding beams of energy passing by as she rolled Winsome over. The ship shook as thirty two guns unleashed upon the mass of jet black Antarans.
“Port battery! Prepare to fire! Strap yourselves in!”
Lightning Dust wiped the sweat from her brow as she rolled her cruiser in a way that would have baffled its designers. She realized with a start that she had forgotten to buckle herself in to the pilot’s chair, but a few flaps of her wings kept her glued to the controls as Winsome rotated one hundred and eighty degrees over, the port side now facing the enemy.
“Fire at will!”
Thirty two more batteries unloaded. She saw some impacts, but was unable to confirm anything from where she was hovering. She began to roll the ship back upright while setting a course for the center of the Antaran fleet.
“Good shooting, ponies! Get reloaded and fire at will here-- you’re going to have plenty of targets real soon!”
Winsome shuttered as it caught the blast from a Sathanas’ beam cannon flush on the starboard side. The impact caused the ship to list, but she compensated to bring it back to stability.
He efforts were soon outdone as another blast of energy ripped through the starboard shield and into the hull, cutting across the gun deck and presumably spacing dozens of ponies. As if in confirmation, seven cannons on the punctured side went dark.
Shrugging off the bad news, Lightning Dust drove Winsome forward, bypassing the picket of frigates at the lead of the fleet. The ship was constantly rocking from both impacts and cannons (including, finally, the fore and aft chasers) firing. Another blast from a Sathanas tore away the conning tower-- though the captain doubted that anypony was still there. Seeing that her gambit was just about up, the pegasus rolled again, weaving in and out of the Antaran crafts relentlessly pounding her cruiser. By the time she had oriented it towards the portal, only thirteen guns were reporting in. An automated message telling her that the minefield had finally gone into operation made her feel less annoyed by this deficiency.
“All hands, the mines are good to go. Get off the ship if you want-- we’re not going down without taking one of them with us. Celestia be with you-- Lightning Dust out.”
As she spoke, she began the FTL drive sequence and aimed directly at a Sathanas that she had flown past earlier. She knew that jumping to FTL at this range would only destroy both ships, though, and her aim was to do much more damage than that. Impulse engines maxed out, she begged Winsome to push forward. It crawled in pursuit of the Sathanas, still taking fire from the rest of the armada, but managed to catch the larger vessel just as it began to about face towards the cruiser.
Seconds before impact, Lightning Dust fired everything she had at the dreadnought, shorting its shields just enough for the Equestrian vessel to sneak through. She closed her eyes as the two crafts collided, making sure to engage the FTL drive before she disappeared from existence.
Winsome exploded in a ball of octarine flame. The Sathanas it had lodged partially inside of followed suit. Its explosion was significantly larger.
In another plane of existence, Lightning Dust smiled.
Big Macintosh trotted across the parapets of the Canterlot Defense Tower in his usual silence. He was supposed to have a companion for his watch, but the stallion hadn’t bothered to show up-- again. Big Mac didn’t mind in the slightest. The colt had an amazing talent for being able to talk constantly without actually having anything to say, and Mac didn’t miss his company. On the plus side, the four hour long shift at least gave him fair amounts of solitude and fresh air, both of which he struggled to find during the rest of his waking hours.
He hadn’t been told why he’d been transferred from the Mobile Infantry, but he had his suspicions. He’d learned long ago not to worry about things he could do nothing about. One of those things, he’d discovered, was his sister. Applejack had been galavanting about the stars for nearly two years now, and he had accepted that her fate was completely out of his hooves. It broke his heart to think that his younger sister, who he had helped raise like a daughter, could be in danger on the other side of the galaxy. It broke his heart even more that Applebloom had been taken from him as well, but he understood why. He was against the war from the start, but he wasn’t so naive as to think that the Antarans would leave ponydom alone-- especially after having their planet invaded. And at least Applebloom wrote him once a week, helping to break the tedium of life in the Home Guard.
The Home Guard, for lack of a better term, was useless. Consisting mostly of reservists and stay at home moms, the group was in charge of Equestria’s civil defences-- such as they were. Big Mac very much doubted how much use his flak cannon would get in the event of an invasion. He doubted even more that it would make much of a difference should the Antarans somehow breach the orbital defences. But he slung the heavy cannon over his back and did his patrol every day in silence. Had his superiors not known that he was a draftee, he would have been considered a perfect soldier. Instead, they let him go about his business, knowing that he had two years to warm up to the idea of fighting for Equestria.
Big Mac completed a lap of the parapet, bringing him back to face the Royal Palace and Canterlot proper. His tower, one of four ringing the city, hung from mountain across the city from the Palace. Two orbital defence canons lay nestled within its depths, and the Big Mac was one of a few dozen ponies tasked with defending them. His position-- high above the city, on what amounted to little more than a catwalk-- was not usually suited for ponies of his stature. The fact that he could carry a heavy repeating cannon on his back waylaid any concerns his superiors may have had.
He looked across the metropolis at the Palace. Unlike his sisters, he had never been inside; he still hadn’t figured out why Applebloom was a flower-girl for Princess Cadance, but, again, didn’t bother himself with the details. As he did every day, he tried and failed to spot one of the Princesses. This too did not bother him, as he wasn’t alone in that regard-- nopony had seen the Princesses in public in some time. He hoped that they were okay. He may not have agreed with their policies, but they were still Royalty, after all, and their presence was quite the calming influence on much of ponydom.
He continued trotting along the parapet, thinking about nothing and everything at the same time. Things were bad, he thought. Very bad-- ponies were starving, soldiers were dying, and the once proud Equestria was losing the shine that he taken comfort in for so long. But, he reckoned, things could certainly get a lot worse. The fleet had been rebuilding, and the Antarans hadn’t won a significant battle since Antara-- there had even been talk of some small victories on the Ant side of the border. Shining Armor may have been a bit too . . . dapper for Big Mac’s taste, but he had managed to keep the military from falling to bits in the early days of the war.
Eeyup, he found himself thinking, things are bad. But not that bad, when you think about it.
He continued to walk in silent contemplation until the shriek of the alarm klaxons nearly knocked him off of the catwalk.
---- Twenty Hours Earlier Beta Cygni
“Pinkie?” “Yes, Applejack?” “How long have I been out?” “An hour. You’ve been sleeping very soundly, though. You seemed so stressed out that I let you take a little nap. You can go back to bed, if you want.”
Applejack slowly opened her eyes to see a mass of pink staring back at her. She closed them again as the room began to spin.
“No thanks. What happened?”
“Cloud Reign cracked you good across the head and you fainted. I screamed and pretended to pass out too so she wouldn’t knock me out and I could try to escape.”
Applejack tried her vision again. The dark brig cell remained static enough for her to keep them open.
“And how did that go?”
“Not so good. Usually there are some screws or something that I can undo with my tail, but I guess any ship with Captain Applejack in charge doesn’t cut corners on its brig! Good job!”
Said Captain rose to shaky hooves and embraced her friend.
“Thank you for trying, Pinkie. And thank you for being my friend, even out here in the middle of space.”
Pinkie squeezed back, her elation never wavering.
“Of course, silly! That’s what friends are for, right? And besides, my escape attempts didn’t completely fail. . .” she said in a sing-song voice, gesturing past the force field holding the pair in the brig. Applejack looked outside for the first time and made eye contact with a yellow pegasus. The both ponies beamed.
“Spitfire!”
“Morning, Captain,” she said, putting emphasis on the title. Applejack raised an eyebrow.
“Relax, Applejack. Pinkie showed me what happened. I want to help. We’ve gotta save Rainbow Dash. I owe her that, at least.”
Applejack turned to her cellmate.
“How did you. . .”
“I was recording the whole exchange in your cabin. I thought it would be fun to show everypony back on Home, at least until Cloud Reign went nuts. I sent it to Spitfire while she was busy making sure you weren’t going to be getting up anytime soon.”
Accepting the explanation, as she usually did with things involving Pinkie, Applejack turned back to Spitfire.
“So what’s the plan?”
“We’re still in the system with the prison rock. Haven’t been able to find a way out undetected. Cloud Reign has the bridge locked up pretty tight-- I doubt you’d be able to get up there without her Shadowbolt tag. She only let me down here because I said I’d try to talk some sense into you.”
“What if she’s watching us right now?”
Spitfire rolled her eyes.
“Just because I’m a fly-girl doesn’t mean I don’t know how to set up a remote camera loop.”
“Fair enough,” said Applejack, now trotting around the room, looking for something that she could use to escape. The room provided nothing, as she expected.
“Pinkie, you wouldn’t happen to have any suits of armor and stun guns stashed in here in case of mutiny emergencies, would you?”
Pinkie laughed.
“Nope! The scientists tried to get me to do that kind of thing, too, but no luck. I guess they thought I had some sort of interdimensional portal power or something-- they never believed that I just love being prepared as much as I do!” She frowned for a second. “I wish I could have been as useful to them as they had hoped. They were such nice ponies.”
Applejack again reached out to comfort her friend.
“Pinkie Pie, you are so much more than useful-- you hear? No matter what any scientists say, you mean more to me than. . .”
Applejack trailed off, her mind racing. Pinkie looked at her expectantly.
“. . . you mean more to me than anything. And apparently, you mean more to Cloud Reign than anything. Which makes you a very, very useful pony, Pinkie Pie.”
Realizing what Applejack had in mind, Spitfire beamed. Applejack smiled back in acknowledgment. Pinkie Pie giggled and joined them.
---- Home
Luna, the flagship of the new 6th Fleet, once again found itself holding together a shattered flotilla. The Antarans had jumped from Equus before most of the ships orbiting Home had even known that they had broken through from Deneb. Nopony knew what had happened to Shining Armor and his 5th fleet, but it wasn’t hard to venture a guess. The 4th Fleet was supposedly en route from Celestium, but their absence four hours into the battle was ominous.
The seventy two ships of the 6th fleet had held their ground for much of the engagement, but the attrition was starting to take its toll. The orbital defense cannons had proved their worth by keeping the Antaran fleet from holding position over any populated areas, and the EqCom force had used this to their advantage by keeping the enemy constantly at a distance. Some frigates and bomber groups had scored a few scalps, but the destruction of Faust had thinned the fleet’s fighter cover considerably. Planet based fighters had been involved, but their inexperienced and terrified pilots had failed to change the tide in any considerable way.
Twilight Sparkle observed all of this from Luna’s bridge. She had been on board by chance when the fleet had arrived, and refused to evacuate when the crew had beat to quarters. She’d thought and thought about the situation, but nothing in her considerable intellect pointed at a way out of the predicament. Over one hundred and fifty Antaran vessels still threatened her world, and the fifty odd remaining Equestrian craft were losing the power to resist the challenge.
Luna’s captain turned to Twilight. “Ma’am, we just lost another guard frigate, and we’re going to have trouble screening all of the torpedoes that filter through. I’d really suggest you get off ship-- we still have some shuttles left.” Twilight brushed him off. “There has to be something I can do! Some strategy, some trick? Right?” The captain shrugged and went back to his post. Twilight continued to talk to herself. “I just don’t understand why Shining Armor isn’t here. . . or why the 4th fleet isn’t here! Unless Celestium has been taken. . .” She let closed her eyes and did some mental calculations. “This is bad. Very, very bad.” The bridge shook as Tree of Harmony, the heavy cruiser off Luna’s port bow, exploded into dozens of spinning pieces. With most of the Equestrian vessels out of range of the Antaran heavy stuff, the cruiser had likely been smote by a bomber, leading Twilight to conclude that the fighter screen had taken more of a beating than she’d thought. Another problem that she had no answer for. Twilight shook her head and strode back to the captain. “Captain, I’m going to need your quarters. I need to talk to the Princesses.”
---- Beta Cygni
“Captain, Spitfire is on the comm for you, says its urgent.”
Cloud Reign tried to hide her annoyance as she peered up from her new command post.
“Can’t you handle it, Lieutenant? I’m trying to find us a way out of here.”
“Negative, ma’am. She says you need to come down, won’t say why.”
Reign wordlessly rose and turned toward the stern of the ship. She took the elevator down to the cargo bay and used her medallion to enter the brig. Her relaxed manner evaporated the second she saw what was happening in the cell.
Applejack stood on two legs, her arms wrapped around Pinkie Pie’s neck. Reign could not see Applejack’s face behind the mass of seemingly deflated pink mane sprouting from a whimpering Pinkie’s head. Spitfire stood with her mouth agape.
“Captain! I was just trying to. . .”
“Shut it, Spitfire. Applejack, what the hell are you thinking? Do you want us to lose this war or what?”
“I guess I do, if it means I can get my lover back. Rainbow Dash means more to me than all of ponydom. And much more than this one here.”
“I’m not letting you out, Applejack. Let her go before you get hurt.”
“No can do, Reign,” said the former captain, her face still hidden from view. “If I can’t have the most important pony in my world, you can’t have the most important pony in yours.”
Reign considered her options. The easiest thing would be to flood the chamber with some sort of knockout gas, but that would both take time and involve other members of the crew. She realized now how grateful she was for Spitfire’s discretion when summoning her to the brig. She sighed and began to walk towards the force field.
“Applejack, in ten seconds I’m going to come in there. You do not want that. Trust me.”
She could almost feel the determination in Applejack’s reply.
“Try anything and I snap her neck. Pinkie Promise.”
Ears pointed straight back, Cloud Reign stepped forward into the cell. Applejack retreated as she approached. Only Pinkie Pie lay between them, her shaking figure preventing the Shadowbolt from laying a hoof into Applejack’s trachea. Regardless, she lunged forward, knowing that her speed would counter any move Applejack would chance. She knew that no matter how upset Applejack was over Rainbow Dash, she’d never hurt one of her closest friends.
She was wrong.
As she closed on the pair, Applejack twisted Pinkie’s head around in a way that no pony’s neck could possibly sustain. She pushed the pink body away just as Reign delivered a spinning kick to her chest, sending Applejack flying backwards into the bulkhead.
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?”
She rushed towards Pinkie’s limp form and gathered it in her arms. The body lifelessly slumped in her lap. Reign squeezed her, hoping to find a pulse. When none presented itself, Reign closed her eyes and shook her head.
“Laser Focus was wrong about you. He thought you could win the war. You don’t even understand what what you just did, do you? You may have lost us everything.”
Applejack slowly gathered her senses along the bulkhead. Reign rose and closed the distance between the two. Fire in her eyes, she reared back to strike Applejack.
Her hoof, though, would not move.
She looked back to see a pink hoof gripping her own.
“Wha. . .”
With alarming speed, Pinkie Pie pulled Cloud Reign in close, wrapping the pegasus with all four legs. She squeezed the shadowbolt in the tightest hug she’d ever given, and before her prey could react, the mare collapsed to the floor.
Applejack slowly approached Reign and gave her a cautious prod with a hoof.
“She’s not. . .”
A panting Pinkie Pie giggled as she answered.
“Nah, she’ll wake up in a few minutes. I told you that hugs are serious business, you know!”
Applejack smiled.
“I bet you did. Let’s get her Shadowbolt tag and get out of here before she murders us both, okay?”
After finding the tag, the two ponies stepped gingerly past the force field. Spitfire stood waiting for them with her mouth still agape. She stared at Pinkie, who had busied herself with getting the computer to read Reign’s vitals.
“Is there any point in asking how she did that?”
Applejack laughed.
“Short answer-- no. Long answer-- it’s probably best that we don’t know.”
“Fair enough. And what you said about Rainbow Dash?”
Applejack’s glared at Spitfire.
“Never mind.”
The captain cleared her throat.
“Now let’s go convince a ship full of ponies to go on a suicide mission within a suicide mission.”
---- Home System
Twilight gripped the bridge door as Luna trembled once more. The impact knocked several ponies off of their hooves, but Twilight could tell that it hadn’t done as much damage as some of the previous ones-- nopony was panicking. This time, at least.
She focused again on raising her protective shield around the bridge. It pained her that the shield could only cover such a small portion of the vessel, but she hadn’t quite mastered the spell the way Shining Armor had. The ponies in other parts of the ship would simply have to hope that their number remained unplucked by the fates.
Luna had been forced out of its orbit over Equestria proper, and what remained of the fleet-- perhaps two dozens capital ships-- had been scattered around the planet. A hand full of Antaran vessels, including a Sathanas, had followed Luna, and it was the dreadnought that the flagship now dueled with. The two behemoths traded beam cannons as Luna’s crew tried to rally the fleet. The attempt was not going well.
Twilight walked across the shaking bridge to the captain, who was none too pleased to see her.
“Ma’am, not a good time. . .”
“We’re evacuating Home.”
“. . .and we’ve got a lot. . . what?”
“We can’t hold the planet. The Princesses have agreed that we need to get as many ponies off world as possible. The others-- the griffins, buffaloes, zebras-- are on their way out now, but with the fleet over Equestria, they are stuck. We need to drive them back.”
The captain looked to his instrument panel.
“Ma’am, I’ve got 27 functioning ships. They have more than a hundred. We aren’t going to be driving them anywhere.”
“Then we need to buy as many ponies as possible as much time as possible. Get the fleet ready to attack from all angles.”
“Ma’am. . .”
“That wasn’t a suggestion, Captain. If you would like to take your leave, my shuttle is still on board.”
The stallion leered at her.
“Comm, contact all ships. Tell them to prepare to attack.”
The comm officer, a befuddled looking unicorn, answered with a look of concern.
“Uh, Captain, I’d like to, but you should take a look at this. . . we’ve got forty plus contacts entering the system from Equus. IFF can’t confirm if they’re friendly.”
The captain’s demeanor went from one of annoyance to one of worry. He peered at Twilight Sparkle.
“I don’t suppose we us being outnumbered 7 to 1 has changed you order, ma’am?”
Luna rocked again as a beam cannon tore into her port engines. Twilight stared back at the unicorn.
“I. . .”
She was unable to finish her sentence as, inexplicably, the Sathanas exploded.
Luna’s bridge tilted forty degrees. Anypony not strapped down-- including Twilight and the captain-- were flung across the floor as Luna rolled on the shockwave.
Twilight was the first to recover. She shot to a console and called up the scans. What she saw surprised her, to say the least.
“Shining!”
---- Beta Cygni
“. . . bottom line is we don’t leave ponies behind. Especially not in Antaran prison camps on the other side of the galaxy. Any questions?”
Applejack scanned the bridge for the inevitable outburst. When none came, she nodded in thanks to her crew.
“I understand that you may not agree with me. But what separates us from the Antarans is the fact that we are willing to risk our lives for the sake of others. It’s what makes us ponies and not monsters. We’ll get in, get out, and get home. Everypony to action stations, stand by for orders.”
A chorus of “yes ma’ams” filled the room as the crew filed to their stations. Beakerman approached as they dispersed.
“Captain,” he said, with some emphasis, “two items of note for you. First, good news and bad news. Good news is we think we’ve found the ship with Rainbow and the Griffins. Bad news is it left the system ten minutes ago, heading back towards Ribos. Spitfire is plotting a course as we speak.”
Applejack considered this while the science officer continued.
“But this might not be a bad thing.”
She raised an eyebrow at him. The bronze stallion stared off at Pinkie Pie. “Cloud Reign was right. That mare can win the war. And I think I know how.”
---- Canterlot
“FALL BACK!”
Big Mac ducked as his flak cannon once again ran out of ammunition. Grunting, he whipped it off of his back and began the reloading process. Fifteen minutes earlier, he’d had a partner to assist, but the stallion was currently smeared across a the landscape a few hundred meters below the tower. Macintosh only hoped that the Antaran that had taken him down had finished the job before the poor colt had time to realize that he was a goner.
“REPEAT, ALL UNITS, FALL BACK! BACK TO EQCOM!”
Macintosh could barely hear what his commanding officer was bellowing over the comm unit in his helmet, but the panic on his comrades faces gave him all the info he needed. Things were certainly not going well in Canterlot, and, much as he’d predicted, the orbital defence tower hadn’t been a tremendous help. Sure, when the first dropships had arrived over the capital city, the two cannons in the mountainside tower had seen some success in swatting them from the the sky. But within minutes, there seemed to be more ships than clouds in the air.
Mac was still on the parapet at that point, firing his flak cannon at the smaller gunships that were darting in and out of the skyscrapers of Canterlot to attack his tower. He had just lined up a shot when the catwalk shook behind him. He turned just in time to see the Antaran swipe at him. He dodged and gave the creature a firm bucking, sending it flying into the city. As more began to fall from the skies, though, he descended the stairs into the tower’s command center.
For the past ten minutes, his flak cannon was the only thing keeping the horde of aliens from entering the secured position halfway down the tower. Only a handful of ponies had made it, and they were showing no inclination to stand their ground. One of them, a brown unicorn, grabbed Mac as he rose to aim his weapon once more.
“Mac, listen! They’re pulling us back. We gotta go!”
Mac shoved him aside.
“Go where? Whole city’s overrun. And what about the guns?”
“Does it look like they’re doing any good any more? We’re going to lose this tower any second. We gotta get outta here, man!”
Mac paused for a second to look at the ponies that had made it back to the command center. Their shivering, paralyzed frames did not inspire him with confidence. The unicorn was right-- there was no way they could hold the tower. He grimaced.
“Fine. But how do we get to the palace?”
“The palace? Command wants us back at EqCom.”
“Why would they want. . .”
The unicorn grabbed him again.
“It doesn’t matter! We just gotta’ get back there!”
Mac sighed.
“Fine. Let’s go.” He paused, then smiled. “You think the lift still works?”
Nopony responded.
“Well, nopony up here brought a parachute, so it better.”
---- Ribos
Daring flashed into the Ribos system and immediately began taking fire.
“Spitfire! Evasive pattern delta C!” yelled Applejack. She hardly needed to bother, though, considering that her pilot had initiated the move before the captain had realized its necessity. The craft weaved in and out of the blockade, benefited somewhat, of course, by the fact that the squadron of frigates was anticipating an attack from the opposite direction. By the time the Antaran’s big guns had been brought to bear, Daring had jumped to the other side of the system.
Her destination was the portal to Antara. Applejack had no idea what they’d find when they got there, but the ion trail left behind by Rainbow Dash’s captors pointed directly at the Antaran homeworld. All the better, she and Pinkie had agreed. The portal was two jump points from Equestrian Space, and therefore unlikely to be heavily guarded. Even if it was, though, Applejack intended to get Rainbow Dash back-- whatever the cost.
But, as if to sweeten the deal, Beakerman had added a major incentive to the chase.
“The HCDs are, essentially, mini-Pinkie bombs. We’ve got the real thing right here,” he said, gesturing the the intently listening earth pony. “If we can somehow upload her to the Antaran communication wavelength, the system probably won’t be able to handle it.”
“So instead of blocking a ship from receiving information from the hive, we block the hive from sending the information?”
“Exactly. But since we have pure, unfiltered Pinkie to work with, it will likely be much more of a shock than the normal HCD.”
“So we could knock out every single Antaran at once?”
“Yes. We wouldn’t be killing them, just cutting them off from the hive. We’d turn one omnipresent consciousness into billions of very confused ones. They don’t have any ways of communication besides the hive link, though, so they’d be useless at almost everything more complex than eating, breathing, that sort of thing.”
Applejack thought this over.
“Isn’t that worse than killing them?”
Beakerman frowned.
“With all due respect, Captain, but do we have a choice? It’s them or us, no?”
Applejack pouted, but nodded.
“So how do we get her uploaded?”
“The uploading part itself will be easy. Antarans communicate telepathically, but we’ve discovered tactile “nerve centers” in most vessels where an individual can plug directly into the system if their telepathic senses have been damaged. If we plug Pinkie into one that is high enough on the distribution chain, it could affect every receiving unit in the galaxy. Uploading her will be relatively easy. Getting to that point. . . will be considerably less so. We need a very high level communication source. Which means we need to be as close to one of the queens as possible. Which means. . .”
“. . .we’re going back to Antara, aren’t we?”
“We’re going to need to. We could look for a queen elsewhere, but we’d have no idea where to look. Antara will be the only place where we can find one for sure.”
And so Daring continued full speed ahead across Ribos, her captain and new first mate wondering if they could, indeed, end the war. After a few minutes of travel, their worries doubled.
Halfway across the system, a message appeared on the EqCom emergency frequency. After isolating the message probe and decrypting the signal, Pinkie and Applejack listened with bated breath.
“This is Admiral Shining Armor to all Equestrian vessels. Our offensive into Antaran space has failed. The fleet is currently en route to Home, where we expect to find a massive Antaran invasion force. All able vessels are to fall back to Home or to Celestium, barring further orders. We are anticipating an extinction level crisis if the fleet cannot hold Home. Message repeats. . .”
Applejack’s face whitened as Shining Armor’s message replayed. Pinkie Pie eventually shut it off. Her smile had disappeared.
“AJ. . .what are we gonna do?”
There was no hesitation in Applejack’s response.
“We push on.”
“What!?”
“If they are in that much trouble, Daring isn’t going to be much help. But we can get to Antara and plug you in. We can stop them before they destroy Home. Understood?”
Pinkie nodded, eyes closed. Applejack once again embraced her.
“What about Rainbow Dash?”
“We’ll get her too, sugarcube. Count on it.”
---- Home System
The 5th fleet exited FTL drive directly behind the Antaran invasion force, just as Shining Armor had planned. It had pained him to wait so long, but surprise was the key in his maneuver-- the Antarans had to be facing away from him for his approach to work. Once they had gained the upper hand on what was left of the 6th fleet, he came at them from beneath the moon, targeting the FTL jump to pass just barely within the sphere of its gravity, allowing the pull to slow the descent from faster than light travel. It was a dangerous move, of course, but, again, it was one Shining had to make. He just hoped that he hadn’t waited too long.
His 40 vessels had pulled up directly behind what we guessed was a fleet twice their size. The smaller vessels would be able to turn to face them quickly, but the cruisers and dreadnoughts would take some time. He planned to capitalize on the delay.
“All ships, fire at will! Hit the big boys before they can get turned around! Everything you’ve got!”
He watched from the CIC as his fleet unleashed the wrath of Celestia on the Antarans. Hundreds of torpedoes and dozens shots hurled from mass-accelerators flashed across his screen. Harmony still had three beam cannons functioning as well, and Shining directed them on the nearest Sathanas with extreme prejudice.
The comm clicked on from the bridge.
“Admiral, the forward guns can’t handle this power output-- we’ve got to slow down our rate of fire!”
He considered this.
“What’s the worst that could happen if we keep going?”
“The casing of the lasers will start to melt. Once they cool off and harden, we won’t be able to fire them until we get ponies out there to install new ones.”
“Then there is your answer, Captain-- don’t let them cool down. Keep firing at full power at anything that moves. Armor out.”
From there he directed the fleet in silence. The Antarans were eventually able to turn themselves around, only for the remnants of the 6th Fleet to jump them from behind. The battered defenders would not be able to stand on their own for long, though, and Shining began to slowly pivot his angle of attack to link with that of Luna’s.
Just as he had thought to contact the flagship, his secure frequency activated.
“This is Shining Armor, little busy at the moment. . .”
“Shining!”
The Admiral’s heart lept.
“Twily?”
“Where have you been!?”
“Forget where I’ve been, what the buck are you doing on Luna!?”
“Trying to save Equestria, that’s what! Forget it, I need your help.”
Shining nearly facehooved. He had forgotten how obvious (and oblvious) his sister could be.
“Yeah, I kind of figured. . .”
“We’re evacuating Home.”
“What!? Why?”
“Because even with your fleet we’re still outnumbered, and the Antarans already have thousands of troops planetside! We can’t hold Home!”
“But Twily. . .”
“No buts. The Princesses ordered it themselves. They’re in Canterlot, doing what they can to protect the city. Cadence is doing the same in the Crystal Empire. It hasn’t been hit yet, so don’t worry about her.”
Shining took a second to reprimand himself for not having thought of her in some time. Questions of extinction tended to do that to ponies, he supposed.
“Fine. What do you want us to do?”
“We need to push the Antarans off of orbit over home. We can’t get any transports off the surface until the skies are clear. Can you do that?”
“Affirmative. Upload what’s left of the 6th fleet into my CIC.”
Once she had done so, Shining took command and began plotting another maneuver. He radioed Twilight once more “Twi, what is it that your friend says about clearing the skies? Ten seconds flat or some such nonsense?”
Twilight chuckled.
“Glad to hear from you too, BBBFF.”
---- Canterlot
Big Mac stretched out a hoof to stop his squadmates as he leaned around the corner. His head shot back immediately.
“Aint’ goin’ that way.”
Plow Hard, the unicorn directly behind him, peaked around the corner himself. The sounds of gunfire and destruction echoed through the city, but the alleyway the Home Guards had found was quiet-- for the moment.
“Mac’s right. There’s dozens of them. We gotta find another way to HQ.”
Macintosh snorted angrily.
“This is the sixth time we’ve been rerouted. We’ve almost run a mile long circle around HQ. Face it, Plow, we aint’ gettin there. Besides, what’s the point of defending EqCom? We should get to the Palace-- that’s where the evacuation is coming from.”
“What about our orders?”
“Forget our orders if they don’t make sense! That stupid oath we took said we serve the Princesses, not EqCom. If they want to hole themselves up in HQ, let them. We should go and help the Princesses evacuate.”
The squad looked at him like he was an Antaran. Plow was the first to speak.
“Forget him, guys. There’s a reason you can’t count on draftees. Mac, you’re welcome to follow, but frankly, you sound like you’re better off on your own. Let’s move out-- we’re getting back to EqCom.”
With a huff, he continued down the alley. The five others followed. Candy Stripe, a mare that he hadn’t spoken much with, hung behind, giving him a sad look. She reached into a saddle pouch and withdrew a pistol. She tossed it to him, then gestured at his shoulder mounted cannon.
“Can’t imagine that has much ammo left. Good luck, Mac.”
He nodded appreciatively.
“You too, Candy.”
She turned and jogged to catch up with the others. Mac holstered the weapon and set off in the opposite direction.
---- Antara System
“Here’s the plan,” said Applejack, who once again had her crew’s rapt attention.
“Beakerman has tracked the ship with the Griffons and Rainbow Dash on it to this. . . large vessel.” She pointed to the holoprojection of a vessel three times the size of a Sathanas dreadnought, made almost entirely of concentric rings and stretching for miles.
“We believe it is some sort of space station. We also believe that the Queens on the planet are using it as a relay beacon, sending instructions across the galaxy to their fleets. Luckily, as you’ve probably gathered, we haven’t been detected yet, and the station doesn’t have much in the way of excorts. The thing itself probably has more firepower than Luna and Celestia put together though, but if it can’t see us, it can’t hit us. We’re going to board her with two teams. Alpha will board here” she said, gesturing to a point towards the stern of the vessel, “and Beta from this gunport on the opposite side. Both will head for the nerve center, which we think will be in the dead center of the station. With luck, we can shut the entire Antaran fleet down. I don’t need to tell you ponies how important this could be.”
“Home is under threat of invasion,” she continued, though she and Pinkie had resolved not to tell the crew just how immediate that threat was, “and though we are on the far side of the galaxy, we can do our part. If we all do our jobs, we can go home-- for good. We can end this war right here and right now. So let’s do it.”
The crew nodded silently and filtered back to their stations. Applejack strapped herself into her command post.
“Spitfire, you ready?”
“Aye, aye, Captain. Let’s get ‘em.”
“Take us in. Slow and steady as she goes.”
Spitfire grunted in ascent and activated the impulse engines. With few vessels in the system, the approach looked to be straightforward. The illusion did not last.
Seconds after Spitfire had engaged the engines, warning lights began flashing throughout the bridge.
“They’ve seen us!” yelled the pilot, snapping Daring around to avoid a lock on. Applejack clutched her control station as Daring was hammered by laser fire. The bridge shook at regular intervals.
“Status!”
“Direct hit to the port nacelle, Captain, we’re venting plasma! Deck three reports a fire, and we have hull breaches on all decks!” came the reply from Pinkie Pie, who had somehow slipped into Cloud Reign’s former position.
Applejack yelled into her own comm unit.
“Damage control, contain deck three. Helm, get us to that ship! All guns fire at will!”
The forward cannons opened fire, though Applejack doubted that Daring’s armament would be able to do any significant damage to a mass that size. At best, she hoped, they’d be able to disable some of the guns bearing down on her ship-- though given the way Spitfire was handling her, Applejack doubted that anypony on board would be able to hit anything they were actually aiming for.
The ship rocked again, more violently than Applejack remembered it could. Pinkie Pie yelled again.
“Direct hit to deck three! We’ve lost pressure, force-fields have failed!”
“Evacuate that deck!”
Pinkie Pie looked at Applejack and sadly shook her head.
“No use, Captain. They’re all gone.”
Another impact sheared a piece of the hull from the bridge, cutting off Applejack’s response. The force-fields held, though, keeping twenty ponies from getting a taste of vacuum.
“Spitfire!”
“Sorry, Captain, I’m losing control here. Port maneuvering thrusters are gone, I’m flying with one wing. . . and I don’t think I’ll be able to put us down all soft like.”
“Can you get us on that ship, Spitfire?”
“Not without crashing us into it!”
“Do it!”
“What!?”
Applejack ignored her.
“Beakerman, where is its armor weakest?”
“Haven’t been able to fully scan it yet, but. . .”
“Need an answer, Lieutenant!”
“Directly under one of the beam cannons!”
“Spitfire, find us a spot! Gunners, put everything you have into wherever Spitfire marks! Punch us a hole! All hands, brace for impact!”
As soon as the words were out of Applejack’s mouth, Daring tilted rapidly downward. Applejack’s readouts showed that all guns were firing, and that Spitfire had reached maximum speed. It didn’t look like it’d be enough.
“Engineering! Put all available power into the forward facing guns and shields! Lights, comms, life support, everything!”
“But. . .” came a nervous reply.
“Just do it!”
No reply came as the comms went dead. The interior lights and steady hum the ship’s systems faded to black. Only the steady pounding of enemy fire racing past the outgoing blasts from Daring’s cannons registered any sound as the crew held its collective breath.
Applejack closed her eyes and gripped her console once more. An impact stronger than she imagined possible threw her forward, and everything went black.
---- Canterlot
The Antaran’s body fell silently to the ground at Macintosh’s feet. He hadn’t been sure that snapping its neck would accomplish anything, but was pleasantly surprised to hear the crack as he had twisted the creature’s head clean off. He pushed the body to the side and snuck into the castle gardens.
Much of the city had been empty as Mac had snuck through alleyways towards the palace. He had seen that the front gates were under a massive assault, with the Royal Guardsponies putting up a stubborn resistance before the massing Antaran horde. A shield had been thrown over the castle grounds, protecting it from Antarans dropping out of the sky, but Mac was sure that it had been constantly shrinking as he approached. He could only guess why, but he was sure it wasn’t a good thing.
Trying the front door would have gotten him crushed under the massive cannon fire his compatriots were unleashing into the wall of Antarans, so Mac had snuck around to the back gate, which was largely unguarded. The dead bodies he found strewn throughout the garden-- both pony and alien-- suggested that this hadn’t always been the case. He was making his way towards the castle proper when the ground beneath him shook violently and gave way.
He tumbled downward, jagged pieces of rock tearing at him as he fell. With a thud, he landed on a solid stone floor in what he guessed was a massive cavern. He rose to see hundreds of ponies panicking all around him, and a dozen Antaran soldiers burrowing up from the floor.
He turned and fired the flak cannon at an alien lunging at a family of unicorns huddled against the rock wall, splattering its insides against them. Some of its buddies took notice of where the shots had come from and began advancing on Macintosh as he backed against the wall behind him. He fired into the mass from the cannon on his shoulder until it clicked empty, then switched to the pistol. Six dead aliens were the result of his efforts, but the remainder were closing in on him. One approached from his left and swiped for his neck, but the earth pony rolled out of the way and fired into the Antaran’s maw for its trouble. The creature absorbed the shot and pressed on, only to be improbably and violently severed down the middle a second later. Mac turned to see the rest of his pursuers similarly bifurcated, presumably by the dark blue alicorn standing angrily above their corpses. She leered at him.
“About time the Home Guard showed up!”
Mac sheepishly looked behind him to see if his compatriots had, in fact, arrived. He was not surprised to see that they had not.
“Uh, Princess. . . I don’t think the Home Guard is coming anytime soon. . .”
Her scowl deepened.
“Then why are. . . wait. I know you. You’re an Apple, no? Macintosh, is it?”
He nodded. Luna’s face softened.
“I am glad you are safe. I owe Applejack much, as you can imagine. I did not know you were in the city-- how did you get here?”
He quickly told her, and the scowl returned.
“I knew we were fools to trust the Home Guard. Even one thousand years ago they were useless. No offense to you, of course. It matters little though, I suppose. Come,” she said, indicating that he follow her further into the room, “This is the staging area for the evacuation-- the ponies you see here,” she said, gesturing with an outstretched wing to the mass of ponies huddling on the far side of the cavernous room, “are waiting to be ferried out of this place. But we do not control the skies, and the transports are unable to take off from the airfield outside the city. We cannot. . .”
She was cut off as the ground shook once more, and an Antaran appeared from the bubbling floor a foot from the conversing pair. Luna took to the air and gave a mighty bellow before swiping a leg at the creature. Its head exploded as if cleaved in half by an invisible sword. The Princess of the Night dispatched its companions with similar ferocity. Mac watched her work in silence.
A dozen more aliens fell before she returned to Macintosh.
“The Antarans are burrowing up from below the mountain. I must stop them.”
Macintosh nodded, and began to look for a weapon. Luna chuckled.
“This I must do alone, Macintosh, though I do appreciate your willingness to assist. But fear not,” she continued, seeing his look of concern, “for I have a task of much importance for you to complete. Find my sister and tell her what has happened here. She will be in the throne room. See if she can divert any of my guards from the main gates. Take the service elevators, and be quick-- I can only fight them on their turf for so long.”
Big Mac raised a hoof to protest, but the stern look from the Princess convinced him that the matter was not up for debate. He saluted and ran for the cavern exit. Luna hovered in the air for a second, composing herself. She opened her eyes and unleashed a cry of anger before diving into the hole from whence the Antarans had come.
---- Antara
“APPLEJACK!”
Words flowed through Applejack’s brain at random as her mind tried to grasp who she was and what had happened to her. She felt nothing but the pressure of a mask being forced onto her face. Applejack gulped down the clean air that it provided.
“APPLEJACK! WAKE UP!”
A voice had joined the cacophony, but Applejack had trouble placing it. She had trouble placing who she actually was, as well, but she guessed that Applejack was her best bet, considering that the name was being screamed in front of her face.
A hoof slapped her across the head, and her eyes opened slowly. Visual confirmation that she was not dead helped jar her back to reality, and things began to pull themselves back together. Another slap shook things up once more.
“Pinkie, stop that! She’s probably concussed as it is!”
“Yeah, but we gotta wake her up!”
Applejack tried to say something, but-- as far as she could tell-- nothing but a low moan escaped her mouth. A loud banging sound interrupted her further efforts.
“Pinkie, we do not have time for this!”
“I know, Spitfire! So help me wake her up!”
The banging grew louder as it drew closer.
“They’re almost in!” yelled a voice from the other end of the bridge. Applejack ceased concentrating on her surroundings and focused on opening her eyes. The effort worked, and the mare was able to discern two masked figures huddling over her. The one to her left nodded in relief before turning her back and hurrying away. The one on her right beamed.
“AJ! Thank Celestia. We’ve got to move, the Antarans are almost inside!”
Applejack finally forced her lips to form words.
“Wha. . .where are. .” she managed to force out before a coughing fit silenced her.
“We’re inside the big Antaran ship! About one hundred meters below the nerve center!”
Applejack tried to place the significance of that phrase but failed to recognize it. Her head swam, and her eyes lolled back into her head. She could hear gunfire and screaming.
“AJ! Stay with me! We made it into the ship, we can still upload me! But you gotta get up so we can get out of here! Then we could go get Rainbow Dash!”
Applejack’s eyes snapped open.
“Rainbow!”
Pinkie beamed and hopped in place.
“Yeah! Rainbow Dash is here, remember!?”
Applejack groaned and tried to right herself. Her front left leg felt like glass, though, and she cried out in pain.
Pinkie stabbed a hypospray into the appendage, causing Applejack to scream even louder.
“Relax, Applejack! That will get your leg healing, but it will take a few minutes. . .”
“. . .we don’t have a few minutes,” interrupted Spitfire, who had rejoined the duo as she fired towards the opposite end of the vessel. “You two have got to get out of here. I’ll try to hold them off.”
“No way!” protested Pinkie. Applejack tried to say something, but a hacking cough was all she could produce.
“No buts, Pinkie! They’re pouring in from below decks. Get topside and get up to the nerve center. End the war, save Dash. Understood?”
Pinkie’s hair deflated as she nodded her understanding. Spitfire grabbed her and Applejack and lifted them to a hole in the ceiling. She pushed them out, handed Pinkie a weapon, and ducked back into the ship. Pinkie and Applejack shared a nervous glance as they did their best to avoid hearing the screams and gunfire coming from below.
“One hundred meters?” said Applejack.
“One hundred and four, actually.”
“One meter at a time then, Pinkie.”
“Aye, aye, Captain.”
Leaning on one another, the two earth ponies dragged themselves off of the wreckage of Daring and into the cavern its forced entry into the Antaran vessel had created. Applejack guessed that the hundreds of Antaran body parts strewn around the impact zone explained the lack of active resistance in the corridor.
After what seemed like hours, Pinkie dragged a delirious Applejack into the nerve center. She quickly dispatched the pair of Antarans inside and somehow sealed the room. Applejack looked around and caught herself staring. The space was simple: hexagonal, but with no rhyme or reason to its design. The brown material surrounding them gave the impression that the two were underground. A single protrusion stuck out from the opposite wall.
“Pinkie. . . are you sure we’re in the right place?”
Pinkie examined the device.
“Yep. Beakerman pointed it out to me before you had woken up and he. . . never mind. But yes, we are in the right place. I just need to. . .”
She fiddled around with the panel until a hatch opened up.
“It looks like it’d fit one of their arms,” observed Applejack, laying on the floor and panting.
“It’s where they facilitate a direct connection to patch directly into the hive signal.”
“So can you make it work for us?”
“I think so. It reads bio signs, so presumably it will read mine, and then I can upload myself into the computer.”
She held out a nervous hoof to Applejacks face.
“Ready, AJ?”
Applejack nodded.
“For Equestria?”
Pinkie smiled.
“For Equestria!”
She shoved her arm into the opening, and everything went dark.
---- Canterlot
Big Mac was firing as soon as the elevator doors opened. The two Antarans he saw dropped immediately as he rolled into behind some cabinets. He didn’t understand the need for the second kitchen twenty stories above the first, but was not about to complain, especially considering the commotion he heard from outside in the throne room. He made sure his weapon was loaded before bursting into the next room.
Chaos greeted him as he entered the Great Hall. The stain glass windows had all been shattered by gunfire, and several of the columns supporting the ceiling had been shot away. More pressing was the scores of bodies littering the area, and the large number of Antarans creeping towards the throne.
Mac peered around one of the more intact pillars at the scene unfolding. Princess Celestia hovered above her throne, oblivious to the madness surrounding her as she focused her entire being into casting the protective shield around the castle. What was left of her Royal Guard encircled the Princess as their Antaran foes closed closer. The guards, unarmed, exhausted and covered in blood, meekly postured at the advancing aliens.
As one, the Antarans charged. Macintosh sprung into action, firing wildly into the mass, hoping that at least some of his shots found their targets. However many did, though, it was not enough, and the Antarans began to shred the guards to pieces. Mac expended his clip and tossed his recently acquired rifle to the side, choosing instead to give the nearest monster a solid buck to the backside. He was once again satisfied to feel the crunch as his powerful back legs ended the creature. The feeling was cut short as an Antaran arm slashed through his front right leg. Macintosh fell as the limb was thrown from his body. He glimpsed up through his pain to see the creatures attempt to bring down Celestia. The first to try was vaporized by a blast of light from the alicorn’s glowing horn. She targeted a second, but screamed in agony as a bladed appendage pierced her back. The Princess fell next to the floor, blood shooting from her delicate frame. Big Mac tried to reach her, but felt himself losing consciousness. The two locked eyes as the Antarans surrounded them.
Their terror was matched by confusion as the aliens collapsed in a heap on the throne room floor.
---- Home System
Harmony pitched to starboard as her port guns fired as one. With Luna on the opposite side and firing from starboard, the two dreadnoughts had been able to push themselves into the center of the Antaran fleet, firing at everything that moved.
Shining Armor had been able to push most of the enemy formation off of the orbit over Equestria, and transports were still flying in both directions. He had his smaller vessels hunting after any alien ships heading down and escorting any on the way up while the two flagships dealt with the enemy’s main force.
Cruising barely twenty meters from each other, Luna and Harmony had been able to bully a path into the enemy center, giving them plenty of targets to smite. And smite they did.
Shining did not think that he could keep it up much longer.
“Twilight,” he said over their private line.
“Yes, Shining?”
“How’re you guys holding up?” “Shields are down to thirty percent, and we’ve lost half of our gun crews. Once their Sathanases get turned around and get a firing solution we’re done for. You?”
“About the same.”
The siblings remained silent for several seconds.
“You know, Twily, you can still get. . .”
“I’m not leaving.”
“But. . .”
“No. We aren’t having this discussion, Shining Armor.”
He sighed audibly.
“Fine.”
Shining observed the CIC simulation.
“Twily, you see those two dreadnoughts right behind us?
“The ones that will be able to hit us in the stern in about thirty seconds?”
“Yep.”
“What about them?”
“Who do you think they destroy first?”
“Luna.”
“Why do you say that?”
“They know I’m ten times the commander you are, BBBFF. I’ve had a target on me for this entire battle. That’s why they’re here, I bet.”
Shining Armor laughed as he pictured the smirk his sister was no doubt sporting.
“You got me there, sis. But if you’re such an amazing commander, why have they stopped following you?”
Twilight returned the giggle.
“They must want to destroy you for pretending to be half as good as me.”
Shining smiled. He continued to observe the dreadnoughts in silence until he noticed something odd.
“Twilight, why have the dreadnoughts stopped moving entirely?”
No response came.
“Twilight?”
Finally, a frantic sounding Twilight Sparkle answered him.
“Forget the dreadnoughts, Shining, the entire fleet has stopped moving!”
He observed the CIC closely as dozens of communiques began flowing in to his earpiece. He shut off his fleet wide monitor and radioed Harmony’s captain.
“Captain, are you seeing what I’m seeing?”
“Roger, sir. The fleet nets are all lighting up. Something happened to the Ants, cuz’ they ain't’ moving.”
Minutes passed with Shining neither saying nor doing anything. The Antaran vessels followed suit by hanging lifelessly in space, failing to fire and moving only due to any momentum they had been carrying when whatever had happened occurred. He watched, mouth agape, as several smashed into one another. Dumbstruck, he radioed the one pony that might have an idea what was going on.
“Twily?”
“Yes, Shining?”
“You have no idea what just happened, do you.”
“Nope.”
“At least that makes two of us, then.”
---- Antara System
Pinkie withdrew her leg from the slot as the lights came back on the in nerve center. Applejack had collapsed in a coughing fit at the base of the control panel. Pinkie Pie went to her.
“It done, AJ. I don’t know if it worked, but it’s done.”
Applejack did not respond.
“Come on, Applejack!”
Applejack stirred.
“Rainbow Dash!”
“Yeah, we gotta go get her! I know where she is, can you make it?”
Applejack grunted and tried to rise up. Her head throbbed and her lungs burned with the effort. Pinkie assisted her, and the two exited the room slowly.
Once more the two earth ponies clambered through the ship. Antaran bodies-- not quite dead, but not quite alive, either-- floundered about the corridors. Neither pony was in a state to entirely care why.
The ship began to shake as they walked, and several times the two found their way blocked by collapsed or collapsing corridors.
“The ship’s systems must be starting to fail with no one running it,” surmised Pinkie. “We should hurry.”
They picked up the pace, only for the demise of the ship to increase in speed as well. Pinkie eventually opened a door and pushed Applejack into what she surmised was the brig. A familiar voice greeted her as she sprawled on the floor.
“Applejack! What the buck is going on?”
Applejack raised her head from the floor and smiled at her friend, who was locked behind a force field in another earth brown room.
“Nice to see you, too, Rainbow Dash.”
“About freaking time, ponies.”
Applejack looked around the room and found herself staring at six griffons, each in their own electric cage.
“AJ, Pinkie, you remember Gilda. Gilda. . .”
“I remember your friends, Dash. I assume they’re here to rescue us?”
Pinkie found a nearby console and began to try and release the captives. Applejack turned back to Rainbow Dash.
“Something like that.”
Rainbow smiled.
“Good, because. . .”
She was interrupted by an explosion at the other side of the room. Applejack looked quickly to her left to see that one of the griffons’ cages had depressurized, sending the poor soul into space.
“Pinkie! Get these open now!”
Pinkie Pie focused intently on the console as the room began to shake. One by one the force fields began to fall, until only Rainbow Dash’s was left standing. The freed griffons crowded around Dash's cell.
“They’ve encrypted hers even more than the others! I need more time!”
Applejack and Rainbow Dash stared at each other, then at Pinkie.
“Uh, Pinkie,” said an anxious Rainbow Dash, “we may not have. . .”
She was again interrupted by an explosion, this time in the rear of Rainbow Dash’s cell. The rear wall buckled, cracking the surface and exposing the room to the vacuum. Air began to seep out of the room.
“Pinkie! Dash will suffocate if you don’t get her out!”
Pinkie Pie snapped back at Applejack.
“I’m trying! Let me work, AJ!”
Gilda came up beside Applejack and helped the mare to her feet. The two waited for several nervous minutes while Pinkie furiously tweaked with the panel behind them. Nothing came of it, and Rainbow Dash began to lose color in her face.
“Guys. . . getting a bit cold in here. . .”
“AJ! I need another minute! Keep her with us!”
Applejack fought the pain in her bones and climbed towards the force field.
“Rainbow. . .”
“AJ. . .I was thinking. . .”
“Stop talking, Dash, just relax. . .”
“No, this is important. . . I was thinking that if you end up destroying Daring, we could . . .”
She began to cough.
“Dash, shut it, seriously,” said Gilda.
Rainbow responded by falling against the still active force field. Applejack could not tell if she was breathing.
“Dash? Dash! Rainbow, listen to me, please. . .”
Rainbow sluggishly raised her eyes to match Applejacks on the other side of the forcefield.
“Don’t worry about me. . .”
“No! You can’t leave me, Rainbow Dash. . . “
Applejack began to panic.
“Dash! Listen to me! I. . . I know how you feel about me, but. . . you know how I feel you and. . .”
Rainbow Dash chuckled, despite the situation.
“I’m dying, and you’re reminding me that you don’t want to be my mare friend? Thanks, AJ.”
“Listen to me, Dash. I don’t want that for us. I love you like a sister. You’re my best friend. You’re the most important pony in the universe to me. . . I don’t want anything else for us. I want us to be friends for life. And your life is not going to end here, you hear me?”
Rainbow smiled.
“AJ. . . I . . .”
She closed her eyes and sagged against the force field.
Applejack pounded on the electric barrier.
“Dash!”
Pinkie squealed from the other side of the room.
“Got it!”
The invisible wall disappeared, and Rainbow Dash fell forward into Applejack. The mare summoned her last bit of strength to lay her friend on her back. She opened the mares lips and pressed her own mouth to them, hoping to force air back into Rainbow Dash’s lungs.
After several painful minutes, her efforts were rewarded by a wheezing Rainbow Dash. The mare coughed loudly, pushing Applejack off of her chest. She smiled and leaned back as if she had just woken from a pleasant dream.
“AJ,” she said softly, “you’re a horrible kisser.”
Applejack slunk further into the hot tub as Rarity answered Twilight’s question.
“. . .two years of back pay, times one and a half for two years of being in a hazard zone, of course, plus the tax breaks, plus the interest on what I had put away after selling the Boutique. And besides, with the Macintosh Act passing, I was able to buy it all back for pennies on the dollar. Only the best for our returning heroes, right?”
Twilight was not convinced.
“But Rarity, that still doesn’t explain how you were able to buy the entire Aloe and Lotus company! You own half the spas in equestria by now!”
Pinkie Pie surfaced in between the two and removed her snorkel.
“Plus two Spas on Celestium!”
Rarity giggled as Pinkie dove back beneath the surface.
“Well, I suppose I forgot to mention the bounty. . .”
Twilight’s eyebrows rose.
“Bounty?”
“Yes, it seems that our glorious leadership decided that the production of gems in deep space would go a lot smoother if the ponies doing the actual work got a cut of the action.”
“How much of a cut are we talking?”
“Twilight, you know a lady doesn’t discuss such things! Especially after the somewhat . . . unladylike negotiations we miners had to go through!”
Twilight did not appear amused. Rarity blushed.
“. . . or I suppose I could just tell you. We got twenty percent.”
Twilight’s eyes lit up.
“Twenty percent!”
Rarity nonchalantly examined her hoof.
“Yes, darling. We could have gotten more, you know, but there was a war on, after all. And don’t give me that look. I found the gem that powered the new Luna, you know.”
Twilight facehooved and sunk beneath the water. Rarity and Applejack shared a glance and a laugh. Rarity leaned back against the wall of the hot tub.
“Rainbow Dash, are you sure you don’t want to join us? The water is absolutely perfect for those frazzled feathers of yours.”
A relaxed voice answered her.
“No thanks, Rarity. You know the water makes my wing feel funny.”
Applejack climbed up to get a view of her friend, who was receiving a massage at the base of the tub.
“Dash, you sure? You know I’m not much into the whole spa routine, but whatever Rarity has got in here is . . .”
Rainbow glared at Applejack, causing her to cease talking and to sink back into the tub. A second later, though, Rainbow’s facade broke, and she burst into a laugh.
“That’s alright, AJ. I gotta get rolling soon anyway. Fluttershy needs help teaching the new hatchlings how to not crash into things. Why she wants somepony as awesome as me, I have no idea, but I said I’d help.”
“How is she? I haven’t been out there in a few days.”
“She’s good. She’s gained most of the weight back, and the animals are starting to return.”
Applejack smiled and sunk into the water once more, feeling utterly content.
“And she likes my idea.”
Applejack rose quickly from the water.
“No!”
“Yep. She thinks Daring Deux is a great name for my new ship.”
“You’re not naming my ship. . .”
“. . . my ship.”
“. . . you’re not naming any ship after a fictional character, and you’re certainly not going to do it in ‘fancy!’”
“It’s called french, and it is an actual language, I’ll have you know.”
Applejack jumped out of the tub and grabbed her Stetson.
“Is not!”
“Is too!”
“Is not!”
“Is too!”
The two ponies glared at each other, faces inches apart. Rarity broke the silence.
“Girls, I’ll not have you fighting in my spa. . .”
The frown on Applejack’s face retreated. Rainbow Dash followed suit, and before Rarity had time to finish her sentence, the two were on the floor laughing. Pinkie joined them for no reason discernible to anypony but herself.
----
Later that evening, Twilight and Applejack strode through Sweet Apple Acres. The setting sun reminded Applejack of something she had forgotten.
“Twi, I can’t thank you enough for getting the Princess to give us the farm back. . .”
“Nonsense, Applejack. Even if Big Mac hadn’t saved her, Celestia would have given your farm back. I had nothing to do with it.”
“Still, we’re all mighty grateful.”
“Don’t worry about it, AJ!”
The two continued in silence.
“How is he, by the way?”
“Mac? He’s fine. His term is up in a few months, just in time for cider season. They want him to come back, but six months as ‘emergency civilian consul’ is quite enough for my brother. How’s Shining doing?”
“He’s fine as well. They’ve only just cleared the final Antaran vessels from orbit, so he’ll be supervising their disposal fairly soon. I don’t know how he managed to get over ten thousand brain dead Antarans into cages and back to their own planet, but he did it somehow. I just hope he can get back to Cadance soon. Even alicorns have biological clocks, you know.”
Applejack laughed.
“I have to get back to Spike,” said Twilight, who turned to leave. “See you tomorrow!”
Applejack bid her goodnight and watched Twilight trot back to town. The unicorn had relaxed quite a bit over the past few months, but the occasional eye twitch still bothered Applejack. On the whole, though, she was content with her friends progress. Celestia was right-- not being able to read anything but comedies for six weeks had definitely calmed the mare down.
Applejack hurried back to the farmhouse. Apple Bloom had promised to earn her “Appleloosan Fajita making” cutie mark by the end of the day, and her older sister expected to be either spending the night cleaning dishes or waking up at dawn the next day to buy new ones.
Over 70,000 words and 16 months later, and Citizenship is finally complete. It has been a wild ride, and each step has been part of an incredible journey for me. I want to thank all of you for your support throughout Applejack’s journey. I don’t want to name names so I don’t forget someone, but you guys know who you are. The support I received was incredible and I owe you all a debt of gratitude.
Thank you. Sincerely, from the bottom of my heart.
This story has gone in many different directions since I began it. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I started, but I am glad that I took the challenge. It really was a pleasure to create something that was appreciated by others, and, again, I thank you all sincerely.
This will likely be the end of Applejack’s story, but not of mine. I have plans for my next tale (see below) but I will not be starting it for some time as I get the rest of my life (finding a job, graduating) on track.
Until then, I wish you all the best. Thanks, Colgate is best pony
COMING SOON:
The charmer. The boss. The brains. The sneak. The psycho. The rookie.
Six partners. Fifty million bits. One plan. A hundred ways for it to go wrong.
