Pony-kind has always looked to the stars with interest. Now they can reach them.
Pony-kind has always looked to the stars with interest. Now they can reach them.
Twilight Sparkle, of Equestria, is daringly kidnapped by a completely unexpected force above Earth. That force is known as the New Lunar Republic.
A new story that's been nagging me. I do not have an editor. Inspired by Star Wars, Halo, and, of course, the New Lunar Republic. Teen for violence and language. And, like a lot of my stories, you'll find a little spice of a lot of the tags that aren't posted.
Pony-kind has long looked to the stars with interest.
Millennium after the first fall of Nightmare Moon, just after the return of the Crystal Empire, the country known as Equestria launched the first manned rocket. Soon after non-alicorns reached the moon.
Five years later, the machine known as the Teleportation Drive was invented, allowing large objects to be launched great distances at faster then light-speed. Within two months, Equestria, now the Solar Empire, had colonized two close star systems.
However, no empire is right without insurgencies. Soon after, the Discordant Insurrection rose up in the star system Alpha Centari. The Solar Empire was on top of them immediately. A new power was discovered. Celestia, ruler of the Empire, could, within a light year of a star, manipulate it's properties. Most cheered as the Discordant Insurrection surrendered as Alpha Centari's sun flickered under Celestia's might.
However, not all were happy with Celestia's new-found power. A few, lead by Celestia's sister, Luna, broke away from the empire, forming the New Lunar Republic.
It has been three years since the invention of the Teleportation Drive. The Solar Empire spans dozens of light-years. Yet still, in the height of it's power, it is being torn apart by a civil war.
Aboard the E.S.S. Gazer, a cargo ship in orbit around Earth, capital of the Solar Empire, a certain student of the Princess is to learn what this war really means.
Twilight stared out of the view port of the starboard observation deck of the E.S.S Gazer. The cargo ship had taken her aboard for who knows reason, but she was still on board faithfully. As she walked around, she noticed that the observation deck was nearly empty. She sighed out of loneliness. She wished the rest of her friends were with her.
She heard hoof-steps behind her. She turned around to see a stallion unicorn. He wore a red vest, the common uniform for crews of Solar Empire ships. He had blue eyes, contrasting his orange mane and white coat.He walked up to her and promptly announced; "The captain wishes you to your cabin, Ms. Sparkle. I have been sent to escort you." Twilight nodded. She didn't know what it was about, but she did it.
After about three minutes of walking, she realized they weren't heading to her cabin. She immediately refused to budge. "Who are you?" she asked. "What do you want with me?"
The stallion sighed. "Ms. Sparkle has caught on to us. Bring the ship in." Twilight realized he was not talking to her.
"Who are you?" she repeated, finding fear in her own voice.
The stallion looked down, as if in thought, then looked up and answered. "One that does not wish to hurt you, but only to educate you." With that, he popped out of existence with a teleport spell.
Twilight readied herself for worse, but what she got was something she never suspected, but she should have seen coming from what the Unicorn had said.
Suddenly, alarms blared, coloring the white hallway red in emergency lights. A panicked voice came over the intercom, stating simply "Unknown ship, coming out of teleport!" Instantly, almost as if it just came into existence out of thin air (which it technically did do), a massive ship, easily five times the size of the Gazer, came up next to the Gazer.
The thing was massive. It was long and cylindrical, like a can tipped on its side. From its front and back protruded long rectangular pieces, like two blocks of wood on the can. As it slowed to match the Gazer's speed, Twilight noticed an insignia on the side she had hoped would not be apparent. It was a crescent sprouted wings, with a star just below. The sign of the New Lunar Republic.
Twilight panicked, her mind racing. The New Lunar Republic? What were they doing here? The Gazer carried nothing of major value, except... her.
At that moment, she heard a boarding latch clamp onto the Gazer's hull. She looked over at the nearest airlock in fear, realizing that almost all the crew were probably in on the Republic getting at her. The crew must be simulating a violent boarding maneuver to show her that the Gazer's crew was on her side. Thank goodness for her hyper mind.
Then the airlock blew open.
The explosion echoed through the ship. Dust and debris littered the hallway. The smoke blocked Twilight's field of vision. She heard no orders being shouted, nothing. She thought that if soldiers were coming aboard, then she would hear them coming. At first, she was relieved, as she thought they were not coming aboard. But then her hopes were dashed. That would make no sense if they weren't coming aboard. But something had to be coming, but what? What made no noise?
Her answer came in a figure coming out of the smoke, fulfilling her worse thoughts. It was no creature. It was a pony. It was a soldier. However, a soldier Twilight had only heard of. He was nearly eight feet tall, clad in black armor that completely covered his body. The helmet's black visor completely obscured his face. On his back was a large Magic Missile weapon, probably an assault rifle. He said nothing as he approached Twilight. His hooves made no noise as he walked. He was a Moonjumper.
Moonjumpers were legendary figures. They were formed early into the interstellar expansion. They were the elite, but they served no one. They completed only there own objectives, then disappeared without a trace. The Moonjumpers who had been know to the public were the best of the best. They were known to take on dozens of normal ponies and pull out without a scratch. Stories accompanying unknown Moonjumpers were no less grand.
The Moonjumper gestured behind him with his left hoof. Twilight gladly walked past the forbidding figure, and the smoke finally started to clear. When it fully cleared, the Moonjumper was gone. At the airlock, two Republic Marines stood at attention in there blue uniforms, and in between them, in a captains uniform, on her hind legs, was the one pony who Twilight didn't expect to be doing those things. Actually, she was better described as a griffon.
"Twilight Sparkle." Gilda deadpanned, her face one of absolute calm. "I'm afraid you'll have to come with me."
Twilight stood her ground flabbergasted. "YOU!?" she shouted. "What are you doing as captain of a NLR vessel?!"
Gilda sighed. "I'll explain later. You'll have to come with me peacefully."
Twilight sneered. "You and what army?"
Gilda raised an eyebrow. "I don't need one." She said with her old menace. "Last warning Twilight Sparkle."
It was Twilight's turn to raise her eyebrow. "No." she said flatly.
Gilda looked like she anticipated her choice. "At you command, Ms. Sparkle." She said with her signature sarcasm. She pulled out a weird looking firearm. It was no MM weapon Twilight had seen. It was vaguely pistol shape.
Gilda pulled the trigger.
To late, Twilight realized it was a changeling weapon. No, not weapon, more like torture weapon. She tried to put up a protective spell, but she was too late. With nearly enough electrical volts to knock a grown dragon off its feet, the changeling shock attack gun was by far the most fearsome handheld weapon in the hives armory.
Normally, such an attack would have killed somepony outright. However, Twilight was one of the most protected ponies in the universe. For a split second, she felt the tug of her magic as every single one of her magical wards was torn away.
For a split second, Twilight still stood. Then, she fell to the ground, pain filling her body in extreme agony. The last words she heard was Gilda saying "Sorry for the inconveniences, but welcome aboard the L.S.S. Crescent.
Twilight woke several minutes later. She found herself on what looked like the bridge of the Crescent, next to the captains chair. And what a chair it was! It looked more like it belonged in an antique shop. It had a cushioned seat and backrest. The arms were pure gold, inlaid with diamonds and other precious gems. Yet, it still had the technological look of a commanders chair. Wires wound there way all around. On the arms, along with the gems, were flashing lights. And, most impressive of all, a 2D hologram of the entire ship stood in front of it. On the chair, sitting grandly with her claw scratching her chin, was Gilda.
Suddenly, a shout brought Twilight to look at the rest of the room. It was no less grand. The controls were outlined in beautiful designs, the most grandiose of which was a platinum dragon curling its way around the helm. Around a dozen different ranking personnel of the Republic rushed about, one staying situated on the helm, several others on various consoles, and a couple overlooking there peers to provide assistance.
Twilight didn't catch the initial shout, but it caused Gilda to flinch. "Bring us about." She ordered, "We need to get the Drive time to recharge for the jump."
"Ma'am," came one stallion, "Message incoming! Its from the Celestia!" The Celestia was the flagship of the Solar Empire fleet, a Solar-Class Battleship.
Gilda sighed. "That would be the negotiators. Patch them through."
A crackle sound filled the room as Shining Armor's voice came through the comm. "Unknown Lunar Republic ship, we request you surrender and disable your weapons and engines."
Gilda snickered, putting on a performance for her audience of Solar Empire military men. "Oh really? What is stopping us from leaving right now?"
Shining Armor returned the snicker. "An Interdictor-class Cruiser." He deadpanned.
Every person on the bridge paled. An Interdictor was a weapon not because of her guns. Because of her ability to stop ships from using Teleportation Drive is what made them truly fearsome.
With a click, the comm went off.
Gilda, terrified, asked quietly; "How long do we have until the Interdictor's generators are online?"
An officer shakily replied "Two minutes ma'am."
Gilda shook herself. Then, her good old demeanor returned. "Well?!?!" she shouted. "What are you dweebs doing! We have to try to outrun that charge!"
Utter silence. Then, the officer who had spoke smiled and nodded. "Yes Ma'am."
The ship shook violently at that moment. One of the marines guarding the door fell over. Red lights flashed.
Gilda started shouted. "REPORT!!! What in the name of Tartarus just hit us!?"
A tech at the one of the consoles replied "Magnetic Accelerator Cannon round Ma'am! Shields are at ten percent charge!"
Gilda's mouth contorted into a grimace. "There firing on us? The little sons of bit..."
She was cut off as another MAC skimmed the shields. Immediately, shields failed, and alarms blared.
"Captain! Interdictor field will be charged in twenty seconds!!!"
Gilda sighed. She fingered a button on the right arm of her chair.
The officer, Twilight supposed he was the first mate, paled. "Ma'am, we don't know if the Drive is fully charged!"
Gilda smiled. "Well, we're just going to find out, aren't we?"
On the stroke of the twentieth second, Gilda pushed the button.
For a quarter second, the ship gave a sickening lurch. Did the Interdictor have them?
Then, gloriously, the view-port flashed, and the void of space was replaced by the sparkling, ever-shifting colors of inter-dimensional travel.
All was quiet for several seconds. Then, the entire ship broke out in cheers as the crew celebrated their close call. Even Twilight tried to cheer, but as she tried to stand, agony rocked through her body. Once again, she found her head against the ground, the last thing she saw was Gilda noticing her, and rushing over to her side.
This time, Twilight woke up in a cabin. It was about ten feet by fifteen feet, and had a nice bed and a desk.
Twilight got up, and noticed her pains were gone. She gazed at herself. All her wounds were cleaned and looked good. Healing magic, most likely.
She walked over to the door, only to find it locked. Apparently, Gilda didn't want her walking around the ship.
She then looked over at the small view-port in the wall opposite of the door. They were in a solar system. She didn't see any other ships. The planet below was green and lush, with large bodies of water.
She then turned her attention to the desk. It was immaculately clean, with a stack of parchment on one side, an inkwell and quill on the other. She sat down, and took one of the parchments, and began writing the events leading up to this. When she was done, she remembered something. Every time she was out cold, a small line would play in her mind. It had happened twice now. She knew she should recognize them, but she couldn't.
Suddenly, a knock came on the door. "Come in." She said politely.
The door opened and in came the first mate. He nodded to her. "The captain wishes you to head down to the ground with me. It will not be a long trip." He informed her, so straight and focused that it was almost like a royal guard.
She replied quietly, "Of course, but, just asking, where are we?"
The first mate smiled at her. It was a warming, charming smile. "Caronia IV, Caronia system, ma'am."
Twilight noticed he addressed her as ma'am, as if he wanted her to like him. The Republic were going to have to try better than that.
They walked through the mostly silent ship. It was almost spooky. There was hardly anypony walking the halls.
"Where is everypony?" Twilight asked.
This caused the first mate to frown. "We have been very short staffed. There is barely anypony who thinks the Republic is still a cause worth fighting for."
Finally, they reached the hanger. They both got into a two person fighter, which was very cramped.
The launch was jarring, as was the atmosphere re-entry. But they made it to the ground in one piece.
They landed in a small clearing, with no fortifications, no troops, nothing. Just a grassy clearing.
Twilight eagerly got out to stretch her jarred bones. Meanwhile, the first mate grabbed a basket and hopped down.
Twilight eyed the basket suspiciously. What evil items could be concealed in it?
The first mate sat down, opened the basket, and produced... a fully equipped picnic, complete with blanket, candle, and sandwiches.
Twilight's eyes shot up. So, it was just an innocent picnic. She scanned it with her magic, and found nothing wrong with it. The drinks were not poisoned, the sandwiches not tampered with. All in all, an innocent picnic.
The first mate gestured her to sit down. It's just a picnic! Come on Twilight! she silently swore to herself. She sat down carefully, and picked up a sandwich. She bit into it carefully. Not poisoned, not tampered with, nothing. Just a normal daisy and sunflower sandwich. Twilight silently scolded herself. If they wanted to kill her, they would have just blow the Gazer out of the sky.
The first mate poured himself a cup of lemonade. After taking a sip, he spoke. "The captain wishes for me to tell you my story. My name is Fury Comet."
Twilight studied the first mate carefully for the first time. He was middle aged, with a blue-white mane, a silver coat, and sparkling brown eyes. His cutie mark was obscured by his uniform. He was a unicorn.
Fury Comet continued; "I was born and raised in Canterlot. Not much of interest there. When the interstellar age arrived, I was married and had two kids."
Twilight tried to image this stallion before her leading a normal life in Canterlot. To her surprise, she thought he was better suited for Canterlot life than this military one.
Fury continued; "When the age began, I signed up for explorator. I was there when Celestia forced the Discordants to surrender. I, along with others, believed that this new power was unfair to Luna."
"So you joined the Republic?" Twilight reasoned.
"Nope." he said. "I joined the Republic because my wife was thrown in jail for supporting them." He said it with so much malice, Twilight remembered that she was dealing with a high ranking soldier in her nations enemy. Still, his story surprised her.
They sat in long silence.
After they finished the meal, they packed up, got back in the fighter, and sped back towards the Crescent.
When they got aboard, a voice over the intercommm announced "Twilight Sparkle, you are needed on the bridge immediately."
When they got to the bridge, Gilda was frowning.
"What's wrong?" asked Fury.
"Nothing." Gilda said calmly. "other than while you two were on the ground, the Solar Empire decided to send guests."
"Are you sure?" asked Twilight, hope flaring in her chest.
Suddenly, an alarm sounded, along with the call to battle stations.
Twilight blinked. She felt a presence, and heard the words. Now that she thought about it, she had been hearing messages a lot. What were they all about?
"Two frigates, captain. Equestrian-class." called a pony at a radar console.
Gilda nodded. "Send them a comm."
"Yes captain. We're open on comm."
Gilda took a deep breath and began. "Hello, Solar Empire warships. This is the LSS Crescent. We do not wish any harm."
A harsh laugh came over the comm. "Not wish any harm? What do you take us for? Idiots?"
Gilda shook her head. "No, we just wish for no lives to be harmed."
Twilight could tell Gilda's temper was running short. She wondered what would happen if Gilda got angry like her old self.
"No harm?" came the voice again. "Damn NLR gits saying they mean no harm? This chat is over!"
The comm clicked out. Gilda immediately started barking orders. "Prep the jump system! I want us out of here! Fury, time to ju"
She was interrupted as a blast shook the Crescent. This would have been fine if not a console exploded, sending a tech flying. Twilight, Fury, and Gilda all rushed over.
Fury got there first. "MEDIC!" he shouted.
Gilda knelt down. "Come on, come on, stay with me."
The tech, obviously dying, smiled. "Gilda, I forgot how wonderful your eyes are."
Gilda looked at him, and Twilight realized she was tearing up. "Don't leave me. Not another crew member."
The techs eyes sparkle. "It was a honor serving under you, Captain."
Gilda's eyes widened. "No. Don't say those words. Don't say them!" She was openly letting the tears flow down her cheeks.
The tech closed his eyes, and said these simple words; "We will meet again in the land beyond the stars, Gilda." It was the traditional last words of all space fairing ponies.
And he was gone. Twilight found herself crying, along with multiple other crew. She was flabbergasted at herself. Crying at an enemy who she didn't even know.
Gilda stood up, and walked up to her thrown, and said something Twilight didn't catch.
Fury found a smile creeping onto his face. "What was that, captain?"
Gilda smiled, in spite the tears flowing down her face. "The weapons. Prime them. We are engaging the enemy."
Fury's smile broke into an ear to ear grin, and he turned to the assorted ponies in the bridge. "Well? You heard her! Prime the weapons!"
The ponies around them all broke into grins. "Lets go!" one shouted.
After several seconds, no other shots had been fired by the frigates, as if they were seeing if the Crescent was going to retreat or stand her ground. Unfortunatly for them, it was the latter.
Gilda uttered one word. "Fire." If you blinked, you would have missed the entire battle.
In a brilliant flash, the gargantuan main gun fired, and then only one frigate remained. Directly afterwards, as if not to be out done by a single gun, every Magic Missile cannon, torpedo, missile, and MAC on the Crescent turned the second frigate into nothing but space dust.
Twilight stood stoke still all as cheers rang through the crowd of soldiers. First, that was the most violent thing she'd seen done by the New Lunar Republic, and it was done purely in defense. Secondly, the frigates had fired on them for no reason, just because they thought the same thing she did about the NLR. Third, her supposed Solar Empire 'friends' had just fired apon her, by accident or not. The same thing with the ships above Earth.
Twilight simly looks at Gilda and says, "Why?"
Gilda looks at her, shakes her head, and states simply, "We Have Our Reasons, Twilight Sparkle. We Have Our Reasons."
The Crescent, while in teleport jump, was a madhouse. Apparently, they hadn't engaged an enemy for a long time.
Really, this just brought back old disgust for Twilight. These barbarians who slaughtered innocents. But again and again, she reminded herself that they had done it in defense. Their crew was small, almost an extended family, and they had to try to protect that family.
Finally, she found Gilda. Twilight was surprised to see her alone. She immediately trotted up to her.
Gilda noticed her pretty quickly. "Ah, Twilight, you're here to shout protests to why I ordered the death of all those on board those ships?" she said with a sarcastic smile, while grabbing an apple from a tray and biting into it.
Twilight shook her head. "No. I want to know why your so polite. Why you've changed. And why are you on the Republic's side?"
Gilda choked on her apple. After a moment, she swallowed and said; "Alright. Come to my quarters if you want to find out."
So, after getting through to Gilda's quarters, the pair found themselves seated in a lavishly decorated room.
Gilda sighed. "What do you want to know."
Twilight immediately started bursting out questions. "What happened after you left? Why are you so nice? How did you get into the space program? Why did you join the Republic? How did you become a captain?"
Gilda sighed. "Well, let's go in order, shall we?"
Twilight nodded.
Gilda smiled, "No interruptions please." she laid back in her chair and started her tale. "Well, not long after I left you at and your friends at Ponyville, I started contemplating what Dash said. Dash really had been my only friend, and I realized I'd just dug myself a hole. I had no friends, no one to get help from. So, realizing what Dash said about being a bully was probably true, I shaped up. I stopped stealing, I started being kind and generous, etc. When the space programs began, it sounded like my type of thing, so I signed up. By now, my reputation was getting better, so I was allowed to join up. I fought among the soldiers against the Discordiant Insurrection, where I met Fury. That's where we gained renown. Then, when the Republic started up, Fury and I signed up. We both saw how corrupt the Equestrian govenernment was getting, and we decided to do our part against it. Because of our previous fame in the battles against the insurrection, we were both elevated to status of Lieutenant. I soon took over this ship, and Fury was made my right claw stallion. And, finally, I took control of this ship because of a certain resident on board. You've already met."
Twilight frowned. "Who?"
Gilda laughed at Twilight's confused expression. "The moonjumper." she said.
Twilight's eyes widened. "He's on this ship?"
Gilda shook her head. "No. She is on this ship."
Twilight's jaw dropped. The Moonjumper was a mare?
Suddenly, the alarm again sounded, and the ship lurched out of light speed.
Fury's voice came over the comm; "Gilda, bridge. Now. Interdictor AND an enemy fleet!"
In front of them was a lonely solar system, inhabited only by a small sun and a belt of asteroids. Among the asteroids were a few abandoned mining facilities, but not much else. Scanners showed it as the Carrot System.
Of more pressing concern was the large Solar Empire fleet heading their direction, including six frigates, a pair of cruisers, a battleship, and an Interdictor cruiser, all surrounded by dozens of fighter escorts.
Twilight simply stared at the fleet. It was either her salvation or her doom, depending if they knew she was on board.
Meanwhile, Gilda sprinted into the command chair and started messing with the holographic projector.
Suddenly, her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Those ships bear fleet markings I've never seen before. They're Solar Empire, but not of any battle group I know."
Suddenly, with a crackle, the comm chattered on, to hear a young, masculine, polite voice come through. "Hailing Lord Captain Gilda of the L.S.S. Eclipse, of the NLR. This is Rear Admiral Dagin Drake, from the E.S.S. Sol, of the Solar Empire. Me and my stallions kindly request that you do not fire on us for the time being. I believe you have someone aboard my fleet and I are looking for. I believe, however, that we can settle this over a table with words, not in the void of space with weapons."
Gilda almost fainted from relief from that speech, and kindly replied over the comm, "Of course Admiral. I see you are more intelligent than the last Empire ships we met. If you have a face-to-face projector, please put it on, so we can see each other."
After a few seconds of silence, the center panel of the glass on the Eclipse lit up, showing the face of a young pegasus stallion. His coat was a deep blue, with his hair black. He was smiling through the camera.
"Hello!" said Drake "An honor to meet you, Ms. Gilda. Ah, and you must be Twilight Sparkle. A pleasure to meet the Princess's primary advisor and personal apprentice. I do, however, believe this is not the place or way for possible negotiations. Bring an armed guard and Ms. Sparkle down to the mining asteroid at the coordinates I will send you momentarily. Drake out."
Then, the screen winked out. By the time Twilight had half turned, Gilda was almost out the door.
Running to catch up, Twilight reached Gilda just as she told four soldiers to follow her to the armory. Twilight followed.
"Do you really think they'll be peaceful?" asked Twilight.
"No." Replied Gilda, "It would be nice not to be a trap, but I'm bringing these troopers and Fury on this. Fury is priming our ride."
When they reached the armory, Twilight was awed by the sheer weaponry that was displayed. Every type and sort of handheld Magic Missile weapon, for starters. Shotguns, rifles, pistols, tripod mounted machine guns, everything. And then they had support weapons. Missile launchers, explosive detonators, grenades, etc. Even a dozen "Lunar Grenades", which create a globe of darkness impossible to see through.
The soldiers grabbed assault rifles, except one, who grabbed a heavy rifle, suited for sniping. All the soldiers grabbed blue-white camouflage vests and helmets. Gilda, meanwhile, grabbed a shotgun, along with an monocle sensor, which, like it's name suggests, fits like a monocle over one eye, and also provides tactical information. Twilight, meanwhile, grabbed a simple pistol, just in case. Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight noticed Gilda sneakily tuck some sort of a grenade in a pouch.
After arming, they all ran for the hanger. There, they were met with Fury, who looked very different from normal. He wore a vest and helmet similar to that of the soldiers, along with the assault rifle. However, he had a grenade launcher on his back, a belt of grenades, and a bandolier of spare energy crystals.
Behind him was an extremely impressive ship. With an upgraded fighter on top, and a large carrying crate on bottom, it had nearly a half dozen different guns, including an Anti-Capital Ship Space Born Torpedo(ACSSBT), with enough explosive punch to blow a moderate sized hole in a frigate.
The group walked into the carrying crate, whose doors slid shut, and they jarred as they left the ship, along with the always weird feeling of lacking of gravity.
As Gilda floated up, she opened a comm panel. "Yarrick, see anything suspicious from their ship?"
Another voice, that of another officer of the Eclipse, came on. "Negative, captain, just their own shuttle."
Gilda nodded, then they landed in the facilities hanger bay.
"We got air out their, pilot?" said Fury up into a hatch above them.
"Negative. No gravity either. Warm though. Only breathing masks are needed."
Gilda nodded, and opened up a case of various sized masks that cover the entire face, made of a bendable plastic, along with oxygen tanks. Everyone put on a mask, and the doors opened up.
On the other side, Drake and eight Solar Empire Marines were also rushing out of their transport.
Gilda slowly floated over to them, followed by Fury, the soldiers, and Twilight respectively.
Drake smiled at the sight. Then, turning to two of his stallions, he gave them a set of orders, and they floated into a nearby corridor.
Gilda smiled. "Hello, Admiral. It's always good to talk things out. I believe you want Twilight Sparkle."
Drake nodded. "Indeed. What are your terms?"
Gilda smiled. "You, first of all, let us have Twilight for a little while longer."
Drake raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
Gilda continued. "And, simply, that you do not fire on us until we're out of the system, once we are done with what we're doing."
Drake frowned. "What? No ransom? No weapons? That's all you want?"
Gilda nodded.
Suddenly, a scream came through the radio.
Drake bolted upward. "Soldiers, report!"
"Arrgh! We're under attack! Help! Ahhhhhh!!!" Then, it shorted out into static.
Drake gestures towards the passage that the marines had gone down.
Immediately, everyone floated as fast as they could toward the hallway. Then, stepping onto the floors, they began a small hop walk down the hallway, guns up.
That's when things got messy.
"Ugh. You might want to have a look at this sir." came the voice of one of the Empire Marines.
Everyone walked over, only to find a horrifying sight.
There were their two soldiers, in various cases of dismemberment, floating around the corridor.
Gilda was the only one who seemed more scared than disgusted. "Those slices were caused by needle sharp weapons, and burn marks as well. This was no ordinary weapon that shredded these two men."
Twilight muscled the nerve to get a good look, and found Gilda was right. No normal sword could have caused such perfect cuts, nor the scorch marks.
"Alright," started Fury. "We need to leave now!"
And things only got creepier.
"Hello." came a deep, dark, evil voice. "There will be no leaving. You have only just arrived! So put down your weapons, and let my servants help you!"
Immediately, every gun went up.
Then, another man, a Republic soldier, screamed.
This time, everyone whipped around, to see the attacker.
It, for there was no telling it's gender, was made of floating black stones, completely enveloped in fire. It had no legs, it simply hovered. It's face was an evil, sadistic grin into black stone. It's arms needed in neat cut points, sharper than any normal sword.
Gilda met it with a shotgun round, sending it backwards, where it melted into the wall. "What was that thing!?" she shouted.
Twilight was a pale white color. "It must have been a extra-dimensional being from the plane of fire..."
"Speak english!" shouted Fury, his gun at the ready.
Twilight shook her head. "A fire elemental. A demon."
They could hear the roars of demons behind them. None of them bothered even turning around, less they suffer the same fate as the three casualties already.
Finally, they reached the hanger. With a slam, Gilda closed the three foot blast door, only to see that their transports had been destroyed by more demons.
Immediately, they all knew what they had to do. For three years, this idea had been unthinkable. But here it was. The New Lunar Republic and the Solar Empire, working together.
Then, the gunfire began.
Twilight blasted a hole in ones chest as it rushed her, and killed another one with a headshot from her pistol.
Gilda aggressively slammed her enemies with punches and mauls, punctuated by a shot from her shotgun.
Fury, to the awe of everyone there, was able to wield oth his assault rifle AND grenade launcher at the same time, rapid bursts of magic missiles and grenades falling all around.
Finally, and probably the bravest, was Drake. He used a special magically energized long sword along side his pistol, slicing through enemy after enemy.
But, there was just to many demons to fight off. After loosing another soldier, they finally folded. Twilight closed her eyes, realizing this is the end.
Bang bang bang! Suddenly, the whole front line of demons was annihilated by a barrage of fire.
Twilight looked up, only to see the obvious. The Moonjumper.
Immediately, every Demon was on top of her. She was a Pegasus, and fought with no fear and astounding agility.
Finally, Twilight took her eyes off the combatent for just a moment, and saw the Evac transport arrive.
She eagerly ran up and into the transport, and turned around, only to her much asteemed awe.
The Moonjumper was performing the Dance of Death. An ancient fighting technique that the Pegasi developed, the Dance of Death is a long series of complex attacks, and requires complete concentration. The Moonjumper obliterated score after score of the demonic host. Finally, she ran into the transport. At the last second, Gilda grabbed Fury's grenade launcher and plopped her mystery grenade in, promptly chucking it into the army of demons.
Then, they took off, all do speed towards the Crescent.
Twilight looked at Gilda. "Why'd you throw that last grenade?"
Gilda smiled, and replied. "Because, that wasn't a grenade. It was five hundred grams of antimatter, enough to turn that station and the asteroid into nothing but scattered electrons. In half an hour, it'll go off. Enough time to see us off this rock. Pilot, get us out of here!"
Immediately, the transport sped off in the direction of the Crescent.
...... Two hours later...
Twilight walked calmly into the bridge, after being washed up from the terrible fight.
Inside was by far the heaviest debate the entire ship, along with the Solar Empire fleet, the 12th Fleet as it happened, the newest Solar Empire Fleet. That debate was where the hell were they going to go.
Gilda was completely on going back to the Republic base, New Equestria, but Admiral Drake insisted upon returning to Earth.
Twilight walked quietly in and took a sip of coffee, ignoring the loud yelling and bickering.
Finally, she would have no more of this arguing. "Everyone STOP!!!" she screamed.
Naturally, everyone quieted down.
"Admiral,"said Twilight, calm again, "You're going to dislike this, but I would like to go to New Equestria."
Drake looked at her shocked. "But the Republic tortures ponies!" he said in a hissing tone.
Gilda laughed. "Only the old Republic did that. This Republic is almost completely pascifist. Anyway, the only reason that the old Republic was so evil was of Nightmare Moon, aka Luna. And the only reason she was Nightmare Moon was because she had been..." Gilda stopped dead. Her eyes widened.
Drake frowned. "She had been what?" he asked.
Twilight also felt the same uneasyness.
"Possessed," replied Gilda, cheek twitching. "By a demon that wanted power. Open up comm on all channels! To all Solar Empire ships in 12th Fleet, we are sending you coordinates for New Equestria! Prepare to follow us in a jump!"
Drake looked furiously at her. "Why are you doing that!?"
Gilda turned to him, an old, evil gleam in her eyes. "Emergency Override Code Alpha, so don't think your ignoring my order. Drake, the reason is, if one demon could possess a princess, who said another demon can't do it again?"
Drake turned pale. "You don't mean to suggest that Celestia is..." he trailed off.
Twilight looked at Gilda, and that fact clicked. She was right.
The second the Crescent left jump, along with the 12th Fleet, Twilight was awed.
New Equestria was a large green orb, made up of almost completely of grasslands. In the center, around the equator, was a massive circular city, bristling with lights.
The orbital details were no less astounding. With twin moons, there was plenty of places to set up military bases. One such moon was almost untouched, but the other was covered in shipyards and defensive stations. The same with the orbit. Dozens of defensive satellites floated around, and at least two hundred warships of various sizes, including four more Eclipse-Class.
Gilda smiled. "Welcome to the seat of the New Lunar Republic, Twilight Sparkle. You know, it wasn't my descision to kidnap you."
Twilight looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean? Who did?"
Gilda smiled. "Who do you think?"
Suddenly, the comm exploded into chatter. "The Crescent is back! And they've got a whole Solar Empire Fleet with them!"
Gilda hit the comm. "Don't crowd us! I just want a landing zone planet side, or at least a shuttle! And, to all you idiotic dweebs out there, if you get in our way, we will fire on you! Just a fair warning. I need a shuttle to the ground for four. Intended destination: the Royal Palace."
.... Half an hour later...
The city looked even more amazing up close. Twilight was awed by the magnificent architecture sprouting from colossal skyscrapers. Drake was even more so. Dozens of ponies lined the streets, and vehicles were common. However, they could only barely hint at what was on the street, as they were on a landing platform nearly two thousand feet in the air.
The Royal Palace was almost nothing like the one in Canterlot. Instead of being spread around over several miles, this building was a single garganutan skyscraper. This one was also more heavily guarded, with AA turrets sprouting from the corners of the square roof, and regular guard patrols ever minute.
The doors were large, but not very ornate. Four guards stood on watch. When they saw Gilda, they saluted, and immediately opened the doors.
Inside was, again, a very bland throne room. Sitting on the throne was somepony Twiight expected, but still was hoping she wouldn't see. Princess Luna.
However, she looked different, almost sad. She was definitely tired, and her jewelry looked like it no longer fit her. Still, when she saw them, she smiled weakly. "Twlight. How was your ride here?" she said, her Royal accent all but gone.
Twilight felt pity for the Princess, but still answered her mind. "Well, if you call being kidnapped by a force hostile to my nation, being fired upon, attacked by demons, and being dragged halfway around the darned universe fun, then yes."
Luna smiled all the way until she heard demons. After Twilight was done, she turned to Gilda. "Demons?"
Gilda nodded. "Afraid so. And, worse, I have rights to believe Celestia is possessed by a demon."
At this, Luna's eyes shot up. "That would explain a lot. Alright, we"
Suddenly, she was cut off by an air sine, and the call "To all units! Intruder alert! Unknown hostiles on roof! Unknown point of entry! We are under attack! This is no drill!"
Immediately, Luna, abound with old vigor, hit a button on the throne, and a holographic female alicorn popped up on a nearby table.
Twilight recoiled. "Is that an artificial intelligence?" she asked, awed.
Luna ignored her, and asked "Dusk, I need info. What's attacking us?"
The A.I. tunred to her. "Hold on, a sec," she said. "Ummm, Luna, you aren't going to like this..."
Luna frowned. "What is it?"
The A.I. looked at Twilight. "Well, I think their idea is correct. We have multiple Solar Empire transponders, along with several magical sentient energy sources. Extraplanar."
Twilight paled. Extraplanar sentient energy sources. Demons had come to the capital of the Republic.
Twilight ran for all her worth. When the call had come, the entire group was running down the hallways, to the bottom. In a three hundred story building, you can imagine how exhausting this was.
Finally, Luna stopped them for breath. No pony argued.
Drake slumped against the wall, panting. "The Empire, working with demons? This makes no sense, especially if they're together."
Gilda turned to him, too tired to do her normal cruel remarks. "What makes you say that? We already know that Celestia is probably possessed."
Drake nodded. "Yes, I know. And I believe you, truly. What makes me curious is the fact that other Solar Empire military are working along side. If Celestia didn't want ponies to know about her secret, she wouldn't have soldiers working with demons. Anyway, I was raised a militaristic colt. Almost the entire army, traitorous or no, would never EVER work with a demon."
The group exchanged glances. He was right. Luna, who had been quiet, said to a computer panel, "Dusk. I need to know more about those transponder signals. Particularly, what race are they composed of."
The same female hologram poped up again. "First of all, Twilight Sparkle, yes I am an A.I. I am the first of my kind." She turned to Luna. "The transponders are that of the Marines. They are exclusively unicorn. Led by a stallion named Devil Fire."
Luna's eyes lit up, a look of confusion dawning on her face. "Devil Fire is dead. He was found dead a few days ago. He was a Republic pony!" Suddenly, understanding shown upon her face. "Of course! Dusk, run a bio-scan on Devil and his friends. Highest frequency."
Dusk nodded. She blinked. "That's odd...."
"What?" asked Fury, the first time he'd spoke since they departed from the Crescent.
"I'm reading strange, resounding magical residue on the bodies. Devil is no different. This is probably necromancy, but I've never seen any necromancy spell that gets the organs pumping blood again. Wait... The blood in a particular blood vessel, a few actually, it cuts off at the torso, then pops back again a few centimeters later, as if their missing a limb. Pegasus normally have their wing blood vessels at that exact point, but these are clearly unicorns.... Unless they're somehow Alicorns in disguise...."
Luna shook her head. "Looks like Celestia may not be behind this after all. What race, besides ponies, do we know to have both wings AND and unicorn horn, and are masters of disguise?"
Twilight nodded, along with everypony else. Changelings. It made so much sense. They were masters of deception, and Twilight wouldn't put summoning demons past them. But still, something didn't feel right....
So once again they were running down the corridors. Finally, they reached a small monorail system. Immediately, Luna slide into the drivers seat, and, as soon as everypony was on board, she sped off at extreme speeds.
They all sat down, wondering what came next in their frantic running from enemies.
Gilda looked at Twilight. "Hey, Twilight," she said, "I realize this is a bad time, but, just out of curiosity, how's Dash?"
Twilight flinched at the name of her old comrade. "Oh, well, about that..." she said nervously, her hoof scratching her neck.
Gilda eyed her. "Dweeb, what happened?"
Twilight sighed. "Our mutual friend, Rainbow Dash, unfortunately, she, er, well.... She crashed. At the beginning of the interstellar age, she crashed in the middle of the Everfree during one of her many practice flights. We sent ponies to try and find her, but all they found was some torn-up trees and evidence of Timberwolves. As you military ponies call it, she's M.I.A."
Gilda shook her head, a single tear evident in her eye. "I've never seen any pony be M.I.A. for so long and have lived. She's dead..."
With stunning surprise, the entire car shook, and the sound of hoof beats were heard on the ceiling.
"We've got boarders! Prepare to evacuate the shuttle."
"Everyone, belay that order! Luna, keep driving!" barked Gilda, with a tone in her voice Twilight knew, but couldn't recognize.
Then, Twilight looked at Gilda. She was holding her shotgun tight, and a wicked smile spread across her beak. Twilight immediately remembered where she'd last heard that voice. So long ago, in Sugar Cube Corner.
Gilda laughed, and everyone immediately realized old Gilda was back, and the newer Gilda would just have to wait.
"Alright," Gilda chuckled. "Let's see what these dweebs got!"
She then rammed the side of the car, busting it open easily. She lept out of the gaping hole, using her wings to support her on the speeding shuttle. Opening up with a shotgun round, she lept up onto the top, to see six unicorns and a single demon.
Dusk, implementing herself into Gilda's small power coupling in her vest, appeared next to Gilda. "You realize the chances of you winning this fight is twenty to one. I might advise that..."
"Hey, Dusk. Could you do something? Shut the hell up."
Obliterating the first pony with a shotgun round, Gilda flipped the shotgun around and wielded it like a bat. The dead pony revealed itself to be a changeling, which just made Gilda all the angrier. She didn't care if they killed Dash or not. They still were in her way of seeing if, by some small chance, Dash was alive.
"Who's up for some baseball?" she asked.
Not a second later, the closest changeling went flying off the car, his skull probably shattered. The next walked up slowly, more prepared. Using his gun in a similar fashion as Gilda, he lasted longer. He actually managed to block a single hit before he tumbled to join his late friend.
The next three armed with assault rifles, all brought their weapons up. Two of them never even got the chance to fire. The third fired off a few rounds before his head shattered. Let's just say it resembled a watermelon.
Finally, it was just Gilda and the demon.
.....
Bang! Bang bang!
Twilight nearly had heart failure when Gilda swooped back down, burnt but OK.
"Alright." she said. "I think we're safe."
Just typical that the rail in front of them blew up, sending the shuttle plunging into the lower parts of the city.
And, just when things seemed like they couldn't get any worse, a changeling swooped down and grabbed Twilight out of the sky.
.....
The first thing Gilda felt was roaring pain. The next was the sound of crackling fire, accompanied by the acrid smell of blood and smoke.
Slowly, she opened her eyes. She was lying flat on concrete. A few feet away was the burning monorail car. Wreckage was scattered throughout the street. It appeared to be abandoned.
The first thing Gilda physically did was grip her shotgun. It was her favorite one. She loved that firearm more than she did her own life.
She stood up, agony again devastating her body. She looked down, and immediately regretted it. Her entire body was covered in cuts and bruises, and her feathers were plastered together with blood.
She looked around, hoping everypony made it through. It looked unlikely. The first pony she noticed was Fury. She immediately ran up.
No pony really knew, although it seems kind of obvious, Gilda had feelings for her first mate. She was hoping to maybe start dating him soon, but that was out of the question if he died.
She checked Fury's pulse. He was alive, thank Luna.
Gilda lept up. LUNA!
She ran into the shuttle, holding her breath against the killing smoke. She ran into the portion devoted to controls. That area, for some reason, was devoid of smoke. Gilda soon found out why.
Luna sat loyally at the controls. If Gilda looked bad, then Luna was worse. Blood streamed from multiple wounds. It amazed Gilda that she was still conscious after loosing so much blood.
"Your highness..." she said, mortified.
Luna turned. A small amount of blood trickled out of her mouth. "Gilda," she tried to smile, failing. "Is everypony all right?"
"Are YOU all right!?" replied Gilda, rushing up to her, ignoring the pain of her own body.
Luna nodded. "Dusk..." she whispered.
The hologram appeared above the dashboard, but she was blurry, and constantly staticed, like a TV getting a bad reception. "Yes, Luna?" she too sounded hurt.
Luna grimaced. "Dusk, shut down."
Dusk stared at her. "L-Luna?" she said, and Gilda noticed that the A.I. actually sounded scared.
"Shh..." Luna said, again attempting a smile. "Shut down. Save your energy. You're damaged. I can't, can't loose you."
Dusk shook her head. "But, but, Luna, you need medical attention! I can't let my creator, no, mother die."
Luna shook her head. "I'm so sorry Dusk. Emergency Shut Down Procedure 19."
Dusk flinched, actively resisting the technical code. Finally, a tears streaming down her holographic cheeks, she sobbed out "C-Complying." Then, she shimmered and vanished.
Luna finally looked up, but could not stand. "Here." she moved her seat, revealing she had protected none other than Drake from the blast. "Take care of him. I don't know of the others. You know..." she smiled. "I think I'm going to take a nap."
Gilda was so astounded, she couldn't even stop the Princess of the Night from lapsing into unconsciousness. She let tears flow out of her eyes.
She had lost. Luna was dying. Her love interest was lying outside, also probably dying. She was severely wounded, and the only pony relatively unharmed was Drake, who may or may not be a traitor and who started this city fiasco. Finally, she had no idea where Twilight was.
The NLR was probably over. Without Luna, they'd crumble. The location of their home had been revealed. Soon, the entire Solar Empire fleet would converge upon them and glass the beautiful planet to dust.
Eight years. She had been trying to shape up, trying to get her old, cruel self under control. Eight years, she had been trying to remake friendships lost and forge new one. Yet, here she was. Rainbow Dash, her old true friend, was dead. DEAD. And, if she died here, no forging new friends. She layed her head into her hands and cried.
Now, here is where a story might very well have ended. However, no story like this, that got so far only to suffer disaster, ends like this.
By some stroke of obscene luck, Gilda saw a single light still operable on the dashboard. The comm. Now, fate had to be with Gilda, because the chances of the communications equipment of a civilian transport surviving a several dozen story fall are infinitely small.
Yet, the communication worked.
"Mayday, Mayday! This is Lord Captain Gilda of the L.S.S. Crescent. I have crashed deep in the city. I have Princess Luna here, but she is desperately in need of medical assistance. Emergency Evac Code 0! Mayday, Mayday! This is Lord Captain..."
Twilight shook her head, and tried to get a feeling of what happened.
She couldn't move. That was bad. She was stinging from several cuts and bruises and had a throbbing headache. That too was bad. She was in a dimly lit room with a changeling. As if things couldn't get worse.
The changeling smiled. "Ah, the lady awakes." he hissed.
Twilight scowled, trying to think clearly. She remembered that they were on a train or something, and she was grabbed, and an explosion...
"If your wondering where you are," the changeling spat, "Don't bother. I won't tell you. What I will tell you is that it's aboard an Empire ship."
Twilight shook her head. "If we're on board an Empire ship, you wouldn't be in your true form. Only one ship is small enough for a crack team of changelings to use and not need a backup crew. A Cockatrice-Class Stealth Ship mark one."
He changeling raised an eyebrow. "Well, you are smart, that much my employer told the truth about."
Twilight smiled. "Who is your employer?"
The changeling shrugged. "By now, Twilight Sparkle, you should know that."
Twilight frowned in thought, although, truthfully, she already knew the answer, but she just wanted to play dumb, lure the changeling into a false sense of security.
"Chrysalis?"
"No."
"Shining Armor and Cadance?"
"The poor pair of the Crystal Empire, which are nothing to the Solar Empire? No."
"My parents?"
"No."
"Princess Celestia?"
The changeling smiled. "Oh, close, but no cigar."
Twilight sighed. "The demon in possession of Celestia?"
"Bingo!" shouted the changeling. "Yep. He wants you dead. Out of the way, removed. Thus, we're bringing you to Earth for formal execution."
"So, we're not at Earth yet, simply on route?"
The changeling recoiled. "Oh, well then, you're trying to figure stuff out, aren't you?"
Twilight nodded and grinned, which frightened the changeling considerably, although he tried (unsuccessfully) to hide it.
Twilight spoke "Yes, but I have figured almost everything out. You never left New Equestria. We are still in orbit, as the entire system is under lockdown, no jumps in or out, after the disappearance of my company. It is the standard procedure of all interstellar governments. Thus, your ship can't power her teleport drive up, less you draw attention to yourselves. You are working for money, nothing more, to help your own government get back on its feet. At the same time, Celestia can use you, mold your government into what she, no, the demon, wants. Only one question remains. What's the name of the demon you work under?"
The changeling was visibly sweating gallons at this point. "Still, once the lockdown is loosened, we may get away, and you still have no way to find out about the name of our master!"
Twilight grinned even wider, causing the changeling to take several steps back. "Indeed, you will get away if the lockdown is loosened. True, I have currently no way to figure out your masters name. But, in the meantime, you should realize I am the most powerful non-Alicorn magician in the galaxy. While we've been having this chat, I used my magic to examine your ship. While I did so, I opened up your comm and intercomm to all channels, and any scanning this area would pick up the conversation we're having right now. Now, you may think I'm lying because of the singular demon you have aboard to oppose my magic. If you check on this demon, he is naught but a pile of ash. Anyway, on the subject of the comms, you still believe that this ship can't be detected by New Lunar Republic scanners, so they can listen in, even talk if they want, but they can't see or shoot you. And you're right. They can't see or shoot at you. However, Solar Empire scanners have the key to finding a cloak ship, isn't that right, Twelfth Fleet?!?!"
Another voice came over the comm, that of the captain of the Solar battleship at the front of 12th fleet. "Yea, Twilight. That is true. So, to the Solar Empire stealth ship. We are relaying your coordinates and the key to cloak scanning to the Republic fleet. If you try to run, your dead. Drop all power to your engines and weapons now, or be destroyed!"
The changeling was up against the door right now, and a growing puddle was by his hooves. He was an unusually light shade of black.
Twilight looked at him, smiling maniacally. "So, any last words?"
The changeling was on his knees begging before you could blink. He was blathering for mercy, forgiveness, etc.
Twilight sighed, the sympathetic performance actually soothing her nerves. Wow, it felt GOOD to act bad for once. She always acted the goodly librarian and student of the princess, but this felt exhilarating. She rolled her eyes. "Why don't you start on the way of forgiveness by disengaging my restraints.
"B-But of c-course!" the changeling blathered, presssing a button.
Immediately, her bonds were released, and she stood. "Good. Now, do as the good captain said."
The changeling nodded vigorously, and Twilight wouldn't have been surprised to see his head fly off, he did it so violently. "Sure." he pressed another button and said "Hey, guys, could you please lower weapons? And engines? So we can live? Please?"
Thirty seconds later, the sound of a boarding latch clamped onto the ship. As the Republic marines stormed the ship however, all they found were a dozen traumatized changelings and one smug looking Twilight Sparkle.
She was not so smug, however, when she noticed her new-found friends were not among the rescuers.
"Where are my friends?" she asked.
The commander of the boarding party flinched, and answered her as truthfully as possible.
....
"Mayday mayday!" Gilda sputtered.
It had been hours. Absolute radio silence besides the echos of her own message. She peered at Luna. She was bloodied, but she seemed stable. She would probably be ok.
Gilda, on the other hoof, wasn't so sure of herself. She was openly bleeding from several wounds, by the feel of her head she had a concussion, and probably had uncountable broken bones. She was feeling faint. Just as she finished relaying that last message, her eyes started to go blurry.
No! I can't die. I can't! she yelled at herself. Luna will die, I don't know about Fury, and Drake,
She could think no more, as the wondrous embrace of sleep enrapped her...
And then, a knife cut through that veil, and a voice startled her.
"No you don't!" Drake grunted, placing pressure on Gilda's major wounds. Gilda's body exploded into pain, but she was alive. And she had never been happier to see an Empire admiral in her entire career.
She smiled weakly as the pain continued to turn her headache into a dagger being thrust into her brain. Pain meant she was alive. The more pain, the more alive.
Drake looked at her, and Gilda realized that this rear admiral was scared. "Don't worry, we'll get through this."
With that, Gilda nodded, and fell into a fitful, painful, ALIVE slumber.
"Ms. Sparkle, I'm sorry. We are doing all we can to find the princess, but you must give us time. Please, PLEASE Ms. Sparkle, I need you to stay calm!" General Nightshade, overall commander of the Republic's ground forces, pleaded.
"I realize that, General Nightshade, but I cannot sit ideally by while my friends are possibly dying!" Twilight snarled.
They were standing in a command room inside the Capital Tower of the city, surrounded by scanners, computers, and other apparatus. General Nightshade stood hopelessly arguing with Twilight, while she paced the diameter of the circular room.
"With all do respect," replied Nightshade, "I clearly remember you being a loyal member of the Solar Empire, yet you claim the very leaders of the Republic and an Empire traitor as your friends?"
Twilight nodded. "Yes. In this almost month away from Earth, I have seen things I never thought I'd see. My pride toward the Empire blinded me to trying to look how the Republic feels. Because of that, I wrongly judged the NLR. If you had never kidnapped me, I would never have seen the truth. That was the original purpose of the mission. I will not allow those people that showed me that to die an unknown death."
Nightshade nodded. "I absolutely hate to say this, because I'm truly moved by that, really. But, I just can't send stallions down there blindly to look for them. If the A.I. of the city was working, we could severely shorten the search, but..."
Twilight stopped him. "Wait! Dusk! That A.I. transferred herself to the tram before it was blown. Even if she's cut off from the main system, she is able to amplify signals!"
Nightshade shook his head. "Nope. She must have been damaged and shut down, because no such signal exists at the moment. I hate argueing with you, but I have tried that already."
Twilight sighed and sat down into a folding chair brought up for her. She was on the virge of giving up. If only they could contact Dusk...
Twilight hit the roof. Literally. When she hit the ground, she started shouting. "That's it! The creation of an A.I. theoretically requires extreme magical power. An energy crystal of high ability, maybe!"
Nightshade nodded. "Yes. Dusk's primary storage unit, a small chip, has a Lunarium based core. But how does that help us find them?"
Twilight laughed. "It's obvious! A crystal that outputs power like that should be easily tracked!"
The general nodded, starteing to get at what Twilight was saying. "Ok, I see you want us to try and track the power source, but we have no possible equipment to track an energy crystals that are shut down. Again, I tried that."
Twilight nodded. "Too true. However, from what I know, Lunarium is a preciously rare element! Rarity, one of my old friends, taught me a gem-finding spell, and that spell can be tuned to frequencies to detect rarer gems. Energy crystals are no different. And, best of all, Lunarium is the rarest of the rare!"
The general nodded. "Could you tell me the spell? I may be only a bat pony, but I could tell my unicorn troops and send them to find it!"
Twilight nodded. Then, things got complicated.
A tech at a scanner turned to them nervously. "Um, your going to want to see this."
......
Gilda's eyes slowly opened. Her wounds had been treated, apparently, and she could stand. That was a relatively good sign.
She sat up, and saw she was still next to the crashed shuttle. Nearby, Drake stood over a fire.
She stood, a pain streaking through her ribs. She bore through it however. "Drake. I'm up."
Drake turned, and Golda noticed Fury and Luna laying together, still unconscious, but there wounds were also mended.
Drake walked over to her. "You've been out for nearly twelve hours. Be careful. I could stop the bleeding and close the wounds, but I need magic for broken bones. Here, drink this. Stay hydrated." he handed her a glass bottle of clear liquid.
Gilda eagerly grabbed the bottle and downed the drink. It had an odd salty tang to it, but it kept her hydrated. She placed it down and said "Huh. It's ok. I've tasted worse."
Drake nodded. "Made it myself. Concoction of our little remaining water and some things."
Gilda nodded and stood. "How are they?" she said, eyeing Fury in particular. His cloak still covered his flank, for which Gilda was thankful, but it was torn and in tatters.
Drake sighed. "Their fine. I've been feeding them. Thankfully, their mouths will still accept soup. If not, they would probably starve to death. As for Fury, that friend of yours, I checked all his wounds..."
Gilda froze. Fury had had a secret, and had kept it from everypony but her.
Dake sighed. "Yea, I saw his secret. You like him, don't you?"
Gilda, defeated by this, nodded. Then, she turned. "Ur, I need to use the bathroom."
Drake nodded. "Here." he tossed the empty bottle, which she caught deftly. "Fill that up while your at it."
Gilda blinked and glanced at the bottle. Oh.
Twenty minutes later, Gilda and Drake were feeding upon a small soup.
Drake sighed. "Gilda, I know you don't trust me, or, at least not completely. But, I need you to understand that I left with you and the Crescent because, for a moment, I thought I was nothing. For a moment, I thought that really, the Republic were were nothing. The Empire is nothing. This entire war is nothing but a chess game for a tournament of chess games, run by one thing. That demon you claim possesses Celestia. If that was true, I thought, then I was just doing the bidding of the wrong side of the chess board. So I switched."
Gilda nodded. That made sense. Anyway, she didn't think he had anything to do with the attack. Well, at least not entirely.
They both had their guns up and loaded within seconds.
Drake whispered "You heard it too?"
Gilda nodded. She ran over to the shuttle and grabbed Dusk's computer chip, slipped it into one of her pockets. Then, she lifted Fury onto her back.
Drake, a Pegasus as he was, flew over Luna and loaded, prepared to guard her to the end.
"Well well well," a richly deep voice cooed. "What do we have here? A princess and a trio of soldiers. You should realize that Drake is correct. You are all part of a bigger game. A game in which my master wins either way, if the Republic loses or if the Empire looses. Although, I think it's the former."
Out of the darkness, to the pairs horror, came demons. Lots of demons.
...
"What do you mean, multiple portals are opening across the city!?" Nightshade very well screamed.
The tech flinched. "General, multiple portals, all leading to the fire plane of Tarterus, have opened across the city. The demons from the enemy troops must have created them to bring in reinforcements. The entire planet is suffering from a major demonic incursion."
Nightshade sighed. "Ok. Go code red. I want all planetside military units to hoof it to the city to protect the civilians. Also, signal the fleet. I want air superiority throughout this. Now!"
Twilight shook her head. "They can't be here for me! The changelings and them taking me back was just a diversion. Meanwhile, several demons could open the portals and bring the Republic to its knees. Nightshade, if we don't find Luna now, this war is over as we speak!"
"Ehem." coughed a tech, at a large magic sensing apparatus. "Actually, those demons may be the least of our worries."
...
Fury started as this all was happening, and he said one deft thing. "Gilda, if you love me, hold on tight."
To Gilda and Drake's surprise, Fury lept off Gilda's back, grabbing Dusk's chip as he went, and placed that chip up to his horn. Immediately, a blue shield surrounded the four, blocking the demons from getting close. A strong light began to propagate between Fury and the chip.
Gilda looked at Drake, and they both had a good idea of what was going on.
Using the Lunarium crystal inside the chip, he would power a spell to destroy the demons.
...
"I've never seen such a high magic output! Ever!" stuttered the tech at the paled faces of Nightshade and Twilight. "If such a powerful destructive spell misfires in any way, well, I can only guess what would happen..."
Nightshade shook his head wearily. "Must be the Lunarium crystal. Lunarium, unlike other crystals, has almost infinite energy. They must be using it to power the spell. I realize the consequences. ALRIGHT! You heard the tech. Code Black! All non-military units are to be evacuated OUT OF SYSTEM! Move it!"
Twilight knew better than any pony the possible backlash effects of the spell. "Nightshade, I need a squad of your stallions. I'm going to find my friends and help your troopers out there."
Nightshade looked at her helplessly, then nodded. Not like it mattered. Current output levels of the spell meant the planet and everything in a 100,000 kilometer radius would be nothing but dust.
Freedom Bridge. Once the greatest highway in the city. It was nearly two hundred feet across, and spanned the length of the entire city and out into the nearby facilities. It would normally be crowded with the cities nine million residents, whom would be driving, walking, or flying on their own business. Now, it was a shambled, cratered wreck as fighting raged across the city.
The civilian evacuations had begun an hour ago, and dawn was soon approaching. Meanwhile, the night still persisted, and flashes of gunfire showed the bloody city fight was far from over. The scariest part about the attack was cultists. The demons had brought with them innumerable cultist fanatics. They made up for the demons lack in numbers, and what they made up for in quality, they crushed with quantity. Freedom Bridge was almost neutral ground, scarily quiet as Twilight and several Republic soldiers walked along it.
Twilight was moving towards the spire that supposedly held the source of the strange spell. She was worried, and slightly distracted. Being so distracted, she felt her hoof fall into some liquid.
She immediately froze. She closed her eyes, preparing herself, and looked down.
Seconds later she was see her lunch fly down far below at the side of the bridge. It had been a republic soldier. Had been.
She felt a hoof pat her back. He's turned to see the leader of the squad, a sergeant. She never knew his name. He politely eyed her and said; "Come on. We need to keep moving, or we'll end up like that." he said, gesturing to the grotesque remains.
So they continued. Twilight was with four moderately armed troopers. She thought it was peace meal, but she never said so. Unfortunatly, she was to prove all too correct when a dozen cultists jumped out of hiding.
Immediately, the five ponies found themselves hiding behind rumble, pinned. Then, the sergeant nodded at his soldiers, and they all went up and let loose their guns.
At first, it worked. The cultists stopped firing. Then, realizing they were superior, returned fire, and took hit.
Twilight looked down at the dying soldier, who would never see his friends or family again, and looked back at the cultists. They had made a fatal mistake. They made Twilight angry.
Several minutes later, the squad, one pony short, continued on, with Twilight in the lead, and several traumatized troopers behind her.
Several minutes after those several minutes, they arrived at the off-road to the tower, which, to Twilight's magic sensitivity, was like a sun going supernova.
She couldn't do anything.
She simply turned, and it was simply too late. A portal had opened behind them, discourging a dozen demons before dissapitating. She watched helplessly as the soldiers were cut to ribbons.
Slowly, the demons walked towards her, ready to kill. For the second time in this adventure, she closed her eyes, resigning to her fate.
BANG! "No you don't, you DWEEBS!" cackled a voice all too familiar. Twilight turned to see Gilda and Drake, smiling. Their smiles vanished a minute later, however, and Gilda's jaw dropped. "No... No, your DEAD!"
Twilight turned, and her own jaw hit the ground. "B-but, how?"
The Moonjumper, helmet heroically belted onto her side, an assault rifle in her hoofs, above a smoking pile of demonic corpses, her smiling face revealed to all. "What? You miss me?" said the peculiar maned pegasus, who's hair was striped with the different colors of the rainbow. "You eggheads best get moving. We got fighting to do. Try to keep up." Rainbow Dash smirked, and flew off.
Immediately, Gilda smiled and shook her head. "They say war changes ponies. And it does sometimes. But sometimes, ha, it doesn't do hell." With that, the trio ran off in pursuit of the long lost friend.
...
They weren't all smiles a few minutes later walking down the stairs of the giant building. Dash chuckled. "So, Twilight, hows the gang? Since I joined up, I haven't heard much."
Twilight managed to pant; "Bit of a bad time, Dash!"
Dash shrugged.
Then, they got to the bottom., out into a courtyard.
Twilight had to shield her eyes. When they adjusted to the light, they simply blinked, trying to figure out if this was an illusion or not. The room was covered in demons and the results of demonic presence, like warped walls, etc. but they all seemed to stand frozen. In the center, there was the crashed shuttle. Next to the shuttle, Fury floated in the air, suspended. At the tip of his horn was Dusks chip, the source of the light. On the ground, still unconscious, laid Luna.
Immediately, they opened up on the demons, who broke out of their trance and attacked. However, by far the most efficient character on the field was Dash. She went from demon to demon, killing with ruthless efficency.
They quickly decimated the demons. However, just as the fight was dying down, a demon floated up to Twilight's ear and whispered "Look to the leader of Moonjumpers. She may be against my master, but she is the true enemy!"
Twilight ignored it and shot a hole straight through the things head.
Unfortunatly, at that exact moment, the spell was finished.
The last thing Twilight saw was a great flash of light, then nothing...
...
General Nightshade panicked. "What do you mean the spell is discharging!? I want to"
He was knocked flat, out cold.
...
The navy, in orbit, also was hit.
"This is Admiral Dogtag, all ships mo..."
Suddenly, ever ship became a possible tomb. All the crew were rocked, and every system besides life support went out. They were out of power, gravity, and, worst of all, engines. They would soon begin to collide.
...
Celestia's eyes lit up, and she stood in her bed with lightning speed just as the maid walked in.
"Um, your majesty, are you OK?"
Celestia nodded lightly. "Yes. I'm fine. I just felt a disturbance in magic, nothing more."
When the maid left, Celestia looked out her balcony, toward the stars just starting to be outshone by the rising sun, and sighed. "Twilight Sparkle, what have you done this time." Inwardly, the true Celestia smiled. But the one in control frowned. This would complicate things...
All Moonjumpers solemnly swear this oath, and will die following it...
"Twilight!"
Twilight shot up, and the understanding of the messages came to her. It made sense.
Then, she looked around. She was aboard what looked like a hospital ship, by the dozens of medical beds lying about. Around her was Gilda, Fury, Luna, Rainbow, and holographic Dusk. She frowned. "What happened?"
Gilda sighed. "When the spell was discharged, the demons were destroyed. However, it also put everypony nearby into a nigh comatose state, you included. Everypony not nearby felt the aftershock, and the fleets ships were temporarily disabled. It's been a day. We left, and Drake stayed behind to guard New Equestria."
Twilight nodded, then recoiled. "Wait, left? Where are we going?"
Everypony looked at one another, and Rainbow finally said it. "We're going to finish this fight." she said, as though it was set in stone.
Twilight blinked. That's it then. This is it. They were going to hit the capital of the entire Solar Empire. They were going to hit Earth.
....
Several minutes later, when everypony else had left and Twilight had a soup to eat, Luna sat on her bed. "Twilight, may I tell you a story no-pony has heard in a thousand years?"
Twilight, of course, nodded, very interested in any kind of story.
Luna sighed. "One thousand, two hundred some odd years ago, there were two starstruck lovers. One was a princess, my sister, and, just a week before this happening, became mother of a child named Cadenza."
Twilight's eyes widened. This was about another Princess, and Cadances mother!
Luna continued. "The other was not who he made himself out to be. He disguised himself as a pony, for he had fallen desperately in love with that princess, who's name was Io. However, he soon found out he was the father of this filly. He was dumbstruck, for he was nowhere near a pony. Then, suddenly, after an assassination attempt on me and Celestia, when we were very young, Io quickly looked into it. Soon, she found the perpetrators to be of the same race as her love, although she had no idea that her love was one. So, in a fit of rage, she ordered the genocide of the entire race. Left with no choice, her love, her passionate friend, came up to her and revealed himself. Io was shocked and disgusted. The poor lover tried to convince her to not kill off his race, but it was of no use. She murdered them. All of them. Until only he remained."
Twilight was terribly disheartened by the horrible story, when a sudden thought occurred to her. "What was the stallion's name?"
Luna smiled. "Discord. Lord of Chaos. Last of the Draconequus."
Twilight's jaw hit the covers, as did her head, lying against the pillow of the bed. "Discord?"
Luna nodded sadly. "In a last ditch attempt to stop the extermination, he used his magic to banish Io, to which he regretted. From this regret grew hatred, and eventually he took over all Equestria in madness. Only me and my sister stopped him, for Cadance was too young. Io was lost."
Twilight sadly nodded, to which Luna left. "Twilight," she said, "Would you like to go to the Crescent?" Twilight nodded more vigorously this time, and lept out of bed, running to the hanger of the hospital ship.
...
Gilda sighed on the Crescents bridge. They were closing in on the target. It was going to be ugly. That she was sure of. "Alright, I want all units at their battle stations. It will be a fight as soon as we come out."
"Oh really? You were planning on going in without me?" Gilda whipped around, only to see Twilight standing there, being smug.
Gilda smiled. "Yeah. I guess I was. Rainbow Dash went for another ship. Me and Fury are with you, though."
Suddenly, the speakers came on, and Luna's voice came through, bearing this message:
"To all Republic craft! This is Princess Luna aboard the L.S.S. Eclipse. We are engaging the enemy for what may be the last time. You are to only fire to cripple, not to kill. However, if killing is unavoidable, do it. Enemy units will have no such mercy. Many of you may not survive. I hate to say this, but those that do die will be remembered. We will not retreat, nor surrender. All New Lunar Republic craft, this is Princess Luna aboard the L.S.S. Eclipse, and today, we end this war!"
Suddenly, the teleportation drives died, and they were out. And there was Earth, in all her glory, along with the entire Solar Empire fleet.
"But I am, Io! He is the one for you! Truthfully, do you really think that Celestia and Luna, young as they are, need all the attention? You forget about my own love, and what happened to him!"
"Aye, sister, I remember. I will ask."
...
"To the Solar Empire fleet, I kindly request you lay down your arms! We wish no harm!" Luna's voice again came though the comm, to no avail.
Immediately, all hell broke loose. Ships were firing, exploding, and maneuvering. Twilight couldn't follow it, so she focused solely on the Crescent.
Gilda was shouting in her usual manner, "Alright, all stallions, fire at will. Aim to cripple, and pick your targets. Aim for important stuff, like Interdictors, comm relays, or orbital installations. Main gun, aim for those battleships, or they'll make lunch meat out of our escorts and non-combat ships! Shields to full front and sides. Missiles, I want you on anti-fighter duty. I don't want them dropping bombs on our heads!"
Meanwhile, the crew obeyed to the letter. Soon, the Crescent was the house of dozens of weapon systems firing nearly constantly.
Twilight did a very special job. Using her long range magic, she refilled energy crystals, added power to a particular spell or section of shielding, and cooled overheating electrical and magic circuits, and aided ailing crew.
Outside the Crescent, the battle looked grim. The Solar ships outnumbered the Republic at least three to one, and had the advantage of multiple orbital stations, including the all-famous Orbital Friendship Cannon. The Empire fleet slowly began to dismantle the NLR armada.
However, for those few ships lost, the New Lunar Republic fought admirably. In space, every fighter pilot took many of the enemy with them, and the great Capitol ships disabled multitudes of enemy vessels. Even the non-combatent ships attacked with the few weapons they had. In the case of the cargo ship Moon Light, it was the ships hull itself, smashing apart an entire orbiting heavy MAC gun.
But, all in all, after thirty minutes of harsh fighting, it was clear that the Republic stood no chance, for as the Republic got closer to the planet, all the ground-to-space installations on the Earth added their firepower to the already considerable power of the fleet.
Twilight thought they were dead. They all did.
"Hailing all units! This is Rear Admiral Drake of the 12th Imperial Fleet in BOTH her majestys' service. Hold your damn fire or be fired upon by my fleet, and hear this mare through!"
Immediately, firing stopped, curious as to what the hell Drake was doing. Then, suddenly, a mystical, female voice came through the speakers. "To all units. This is the Grand Master of the Moonjumper organization. All units stand down, and allow Princess Luna and her entourage to land on the planets surface. If you refuse, I will personally board your ship and rip your guts out and send you to the nine layers of hell!"
Expectedly, not another shot was exchanged as the 12th fleet stood between the two armadas. Quickly, Luna boarded a shuttle, and Twilight, upon her request, teleported aboard.
...
Several minutes later, the small transport, containing Luna, Twilight, Dusk, and two elite night guard, approached the great city of Canterlot, which was surrounded by a glowing bubble shield.
The pilot was the first to speak. "Alright ma'am, I've gotten you as close as I can to the city without being within firing range. Even if we could get past the guns, that shield would reduce us to atoms the instant we make contact. Suggestions?"
Twilight spoke up. "I could open a quick hole in the shield using my magic. It should allow us through."
Several moments later, the comm chattered; "This is the Eighth Army Corp of the Empire. Luna, the guns are silenced. You're on your own on the shield though. We'll do the best we can to disable it, but my stallions and I are hard pressed by the Royal Guard already, so I can promise no assistance forever. Eighth out."
Luna nodded. "Twilight, do it."
Using her magic, Twilight managed to open the shield for several moments, allowing the small transport to get through.
Several moments later, they landed on one of the balconies of then Royal Palace, to find a half dozen Royal Guards in their way.
They never stood a chance. Luna immobilized all of them using a stun spell.
The group ran through the great halls, tossing stun grenades and freezing guards as they went.
Then, just as they were nearing the thrown room, three dozen guards, along with several automated turrets, poped out of the walls from hidden compartments, surrounding them.
Luna looked up. "Twilight, glass above. Shield the group."
Twilight, doing as she was told, quickly put a shield up around the four, along with Dusk, who was tucked away in Luna's vest.
Just in time. The glass shattered, and several Pegasus with weapons dropped in, and others joined them by using rope. They wore Solar Empire army vests, but had painted a blue streak on the vests shoulds to show their allegiance. They numbered around four dozen, armed.
Twilight laughed, something scary in its own right. "Guardsmen, lay down your weapons! A princess has come, and yet you treat her with hostility? Shame."
In response, the Guards, seeing only death ahead, dropped their unique Spear-Guns, and surrendered.
The leader of the traitors walked up. "Princess Luna, an honor to meet you. My name is General Kane, and I command the Eighth Corp. My stallions will stay outside here, and make sure you are not interrupted while you deal with your sister. Oh, and the shield is down. I saw several of your ships coming in for landing when I came in."
Luna nodded, and walked up to the great doors. Twilight looked at them. They had always been a source of grandeur to her, but now they simply were another obstacle.
Luna spoke then. "Twilight, in these doors, I want you to know one thing. Follow your heart. If you think you should aid Celestia, then do so. You will decide who wins this fight. And, if I don't make it... Inform Gilda she now has the rank of High Admiral. She has complete command of the Republic. I trust her to make the right choices. And, finally, if none of us make it, I just want you to know that I believe in you, even if it's you wielding the executioners blade above my head, I will think you made the right choice."
Twilight was dumbstruck by those raised against her. A dozen guards, Cadace, standing off to the side, Shining Armor, Celestia, and, most seeing of all, her final four friends.
Celestia smiled at their entry. "Traitors. Seize them."
"Stop!" yelled Twilight. "What in the name of Tarterus are you all doing? Every one of you!"
The group looked at each other, confused. Applejack spoke for them; "Uh, Twi, you sure thats right, cause I thought...." she trailed off, looking very confused.
Twilight continued. "Really, truly. You do not notice Celestia is possessed by a demon?"
Celestia recoiled. "What are you talking about, Twilight?"
Twilight laughed a second time. "Celestia, when did I once say to you I was a traitor? I could be plotting against Luna this very second, but you wish me executed, your own student!"
Celestia blinked. "But you have actively resisted..."
Twilight shook her head. "No. I haven't touched a hair on anyponys' head that weren't trying to hurt me just now. Otherwise, when did I resist you? When the 12th fleet tried to capture me? They made the choice of turning traitor themselves. When the two frigates attempted to destroy the Crescent? The Crescents crew fired upon them, not me, and it was solely in self defense. When the changeling crack team YOU hired attacked me at New Equestria? I simply talked to them and opened up their communication system. And, finally, and most recently, the demons you sent with the changelings to create portals in New Equestria, bringing the Republic to its knees? That, I did actively resist, but Celestia, according to article 24 paragraph C of the Equestrian book of laws, the consorting with demons of any kind, no matter whom is doing so, is illegal, with a death sentence."
Utter silence. Then Celestia spoke up. "Still, you have no proof! Captain..."
Twilight again interrupted. "Which brings me to YOU brother. You would arrest your own sister? I also believe that the Captain of the Royal Guards gets to execute traitors. That's saying right now, if you agree with Celestia, that you will be PERSONALLY killing your own younger sister! And you are also the Empires filing ant AGAINST demons, yet you work with Celestia right now, when she is possessed by one."
Shining stood dumbfounded. "Twily..."
Twilight held up a hoof. "I. Have one more party to talk to. Friends. Why? I do not mind you standing against me. You have done that many times. But you are standing in the way of saving lives. Applejack, Element of Honesty, do you truly believe how the Republic is being treated now is fair? Fluttershy, Element of Kindness, this war is shredding ponies apart. Do you not resent that? Rarity, Element of Generousity, you should give the Republic something extremely generous; a second chance. Pinkie Pie, no pony likes laughing during a war, right? You do not realize the evil at the heart of this."
Celestia shook her head. "No! She speaks lies! She is trying to trick you, to think that I am an evil demon trying to take advantage of you and take over this portion of the galaxy. Yet you believe this filly who is convinced that I used demons I had summoned to kill her!"
Shining blinked. "Of course. Guards, I politely request you put Princess Celestia under arrest for the act of summoning demons and high treason against both the Solar Empire and the New Lunar Republic! Oh, and Celestia, if your wondering, you said 'demons I had summoned', which concludes that you did summon extraplanar creatures. And, next to that, I know Twiley. She isn't the type to lie about something like that."
Celestia's jaw dropped. "Alright then, my turn."
Time froze. Suddenly, Twilight was hovering in her spirit form above her body. The only other that was with her was the demon. Twilight smiled. "Fancy it being you all along."
The semi-demon, being only part demon, nodded, a glass of chocolate milk appearing in one hand. "We have much to talk about, Twilight Sparkle." Discord replied.
Two chairs appeared out of no were, and floated in the air for the two spirits to sit.
Twilight sighed. "Why Discord, why did you betray us?"
He sighed. "I guess I have to start from the beginning. You may or may not know this but once upon a time I fell in love with Princess Io, the second oldest sister in the Princesses family."
Twilight interrupted, curious. "Wait, second oldest? Who was the oldest?"
Discord smiled. "The oldest is the reason I'm doing this, but that's another story. I was madly in love. I changed my look into that of a young unicorn and began courting her. Soon, she gave birth to a young filly named Mi Amora Cadenza. I immediately the child was mine, for she had been virgin until she met me. I became worried. Then, a pair of hooligan Draconequus snuck into the castle and attempted to murder the young princesses Luna and Celestia. Io looked into it, and when she found it was the Draconequus who were responsible, she flew into one of her famous rages. She order the extermination of all Draconequus. Soon, my kind were dying all around me. So, one day, at high noon, when none of the other princesses were there, I walked into the thrown room and revealed who I truly was. She was disgusted and called me a lying, cheating monster, and even blamed me for the attempted murder! I pleaded for her to forgive me and my kind, but she would hear none of it. Soon, I was the last of my kind, being held prisoner by the one I once loved. So, in final retribution, I walked up to her one day, when she allowed me too. She was wearing a beutiful gown that day, and I recognized it as the same one she had worn on our first date. I asked her to forgive me, and I banished her with my power. After that, I went quite mad, until Celestia and Luna put me into stone. You know the rest up to the recent. When I betrayed you, and created the insurrection, I had too. Long ago, in an attempt to save myself from Io, I made a pact with demons. Thus, I had to do their bidding when the insurrection rose. I never wanted to abandon you, especially Fluttershy. But I had no choice. When Celestia thought she had put down the rebellion, I told my lieutenants to remain in hiding with many of our still loyal subjects. With that, I snuck into Celestia's mind and took control."
Twilight stood at him dumbfounded. She had never heard such an odd story. Then she asked. "Who was the fourth princess, the eldest?"
Discord sighed. "She was quite beutiful. I cannot tell you her name, but I am looking into if she's still alive or not, she had also found love, so much so that she granted him the traits of an Alicorn, including the long life, so they could be forever together. However, one day, on a research expedition, he dissappeared. For a year the princess held out, thinking he'd come back. He never did. He had been gone four decades by the time me and Io got together. She went crazy. She concealed it quite well, until the Nightmare Moon crisis. Then, she aided Luna, helping the evil. Eventually, she was banished, and I'm looking into if she came back or not, for she was bound by the same spell Nightmare herself was. She was quite sweet, although depressed."
Twilight nodded, intrigued.
Discord sighed. "Well, I should be going. Tell the gang that I left Celestia, honest. Oh, and the Grand Master of the Moonjumpers will be entering soon. I don't what to be here when she is. Goodbye Twilight. I do hope we meet again."
Just as she did so, Celestia fell to the ground, to which several guards ran up, worried. But Celestia got back up, looking very confused.
Of course, that was the least of the interesting facts. Especially when the door blew open.
Suddenly, eight Moonjumpers, Rainbow included, helmets on, galloped into the room. Immediately, they took up positions in two separate lines, looking at each other, and gave a brisk right hoof salute, just as the most unexpected pony walked into the room.
Luna's eyes widened, and her mouth hung loosely open, unable to speak. Celestia, freed of Discords influence, looked at her in awe. But Cadance reached the most surprisingly. She dropped to her knees and said one word; "Mother!"
Twilight looked in amazement at the fourth Alicorn, the third sister. She was a deep black coat color. Her hair was a deep red, and her eyes were a orange color. Her eyes were most startling, for they were constantly changing, a rainbow of light. Her cutie mark was that of a solar system with the rings. Her glory, however, was hard to see, for Io's face was contorted in fury.
"Where is he!" she shouted. "Where is the treacherous scum!" she blinked. "Blast it, he's gone! Major Dash!" the Moonjumper in Dash's turned toward her. "I need a scan of the area! He had to go somewhere..."
Just as she said that, a soldier from outside ran in and screamed "MAGIC RUPTURE! EVERYPONY GET DOWN!"
No sooner then that left the mouth of the trooper than every window in the room shattered. This massive blast was followed by a tremendous sound, louder than any explosion. When everypony recovered, they saw a massive ship hovering above the city out the broken windows.
It was gargantuan, easily the size of the Crescent. It was long and ovaloid, with a pair of great fins. It bristled with weapons, sensors, and other things. It was painted a maroon color, and was DEFINITELY not a ship of either the Republic or the Solar Empire. Within a few moments, it jumped again. Disappearing in similar noise and blast.
Io was the first to recover. "He got away, damn it!" Slowly, her temper began to defuse, and she panted heavily.
Celestia stood up, wobbly, but OK. "Sister, I'm sorry. I was not prepared when he attacked me. Forgive me."
Io nodded. "Indeed. I forgive you, but that traitorous cheater got away! Discord, I swear I will kill you!"
Luna sighed. "That's a bit harsh. He was your love after all. And, if I remember anything about the time you were in love, everypony was happy. Even our oldest sister..." she trailed off.
Celestia nodded. "Never speak of her as our sister. She betrayed us all. But Twilight..." she looked up, only to find the mare gone, inexplicably. "Twilight?"
Io joined her, but for a different pony. "Major Dash?"
....
Gilda sat at the captains chair in the Crescent. They apparently we're the only ones in the fleet that got the unknown ships coordinates before it jumped. She certainly wasn't going to tell the other units. She wanted this prize for herself and her crew, even of it was suicide. Anyway, a Draconequus was too hard to pass up.
"Leaving without us?" came a familiar voice through the comm. "Is this a private party or can anypony join?"
Gilda smiled. "Drake, I'll send your ships the coordinates, but don't give any of the other ships the numbers. I want this to be you and me only. Follow us out."
Gilda sighed. "Alright, all units, stations."
"You know Gilda, I understand you to dissapear without a trace twice, but a third time? Without me?"
Gilda lept out of her chair and looked around. There, standing in the doorway, was a lithe Moonjumper with a cyan coat and rainbow colored hair. Next to her was a young purple unicorn. Both were smiling.
Gilda smiled and tipped her hat. "Good to have you aboard, but you realize how dangerous this is?"
Rainbow nodded. "I know."
Gilda raised an eyebrow. "We may never come back, and you may never see your friends again!"
Rainbow smiled. "I kicked a dragon in the nose."
Gilda blinked. "Never heard about that one. But still, we could come out of jump in a star!"
Rainbow laughed, a great, cheerful sound. "Gilda, if we come out of here in a star, then I swear I'll be unhappy you were right. But, does it look like we're in a star now? No. So, until then, push the bloody button."
Twilight licked her lips. "Yea, let's get this over with. It's been years since I was in my prime. I don't want anymore adventures."
Rainbow and Gilda both laughed this time and simultaneously said; "When your around me Twilight, theres no such thing as no more adventures!!!"
Then Gilda pushed the button.
Once again, they found themselves pulling into the reccesses of space aboard the Crescent. When they got to their location, they fought, and fought. Eventually, after following Discord across the galaxy, they met up with the new United Equestria, and the true adventure began. It involved fighting, romance, suspense, mystery, to keep you on your hooves until the very end, asking the very question: "Who's the bad guy?" But not this time. Why, you ask, I do not continue this story right now? Well, I have my reasons, do I not?
One month later, aboard the prison ship Forward Unto Dawn...
The door to the prison cell opened quietly, but Chrysalis heard it still. She looked up, even though she knew the light shown on her and the darkness around her concealed the identity of the interrogator.
"What do you want?" she hissed.
A chuckle came from the other end of the table. "Only a little information, dear Chrysalis."
"Ha! I told you everything I knew about my own nation! You know it.... Wait. What did you call me?"
"Dear Chrysalis." Came the voice, a maddeningly familiar one, a male. She had heard it before, so long ago...
Chrysalis sighed. "Who are you. You do not what information on the Hive! Your no Equestrian! You..."
The voice suddenly got serious. "I want you to tell me about Nightmare Moon."
Chrysalis blinked, surprised to an extent beyond believing. "The demon that controlled Luna? She's dead. Nothing more."
The voice chuckled again. "We both know that's poppycock. She was a prominent figure when you were young."
Chrysalis nodded. "Indeed she was. Wait, if you know that, then you know who she was, what place she held in society! That she was...." she trailed off, blinking, trying to oppress memories of old, when she was a young changeling princess serving under the original Elements of Harmony.
The voice continued. "Say it, and I'll tell you who I am. At the same time, I have two changelings disguised as guards outside, they'll take you away."
Chrysalis sighed. "She was the fourth."
"Good." came the voice. "Now tell me where she is."
Chrysalis snarled. "She's dead, and we both know that."
A sigh came from the other. "Oh really?"
Chrysalis frowned. "Who are you? Then I'll talk."
Silence. Utter silence. Chrysalis began worrying that the interrogator would use force, when something happened.
A single object, a glass, slid out of the darkness into the light.
Chrysalis slowly let her jaw drop. No it couldn't be. Him, asking those questions? What for? He was with her all those years ago. And yet, here it was. The evidence the liquid in that little glass. And not even a rare liquid, just something you might see in the everyday household.