Celestial Lance

 Rainbow Dash slid out of the cockpit, mane brushing against the canopy. Her wings were blue blurs as she kept herself airborne to find her target. She found it – a duster-clad pony with a hat hiding her face. Flying down, Dash skidded to a stop just a few inches away from the pony, and using her momentum, she brought her hoof slamming into the other pony’s jaw.

 She stumbled backwards, hat falling off to reveal a long, tied back blonde mane.

 “So it is you,” Dash said as the other pony picked herself off the ground.

 Applejack rubbed her jaw and spat to the side. “I suppose I deserved that,” she said.

 “You’re darn right you do. You just up and vanished right when we needed you most. What kind of friend does that? Definitely not one who’s loyal to the end!”

 The other mare shook her head. “It was right terrible of me to do that. But my family…”

 “Family?” came a high-pitched, perky voice. “What’s that about family? Oh hey, Applejack.” Pinkie bounced in between the two, gaze oscillating between the two. “I haven’t seen you since we evacuated Ponyville.”

 “Yeah, about that,” Applejack said. “I think you two deserve an explanation about what happened. Aw, shucks, not just the two’a ya, all’a y’all. Are the rest on this here contraption?”

 “Twi and Rarity are, yeah. Fluttershy’s still in the capital. She teaches kindergarten now.” Rainbow Dash crossed her arms.

 Applejack looked down, eyes not meeting either Dash’s or Pinkie’s. “Get Twi and Rarity down here, and I’ll tell y’all what happened.”

 Once Twilight and Rarity had joined the three ponies – with many tears from Rarity – Applejack began her story.

 It was durin’ the evacuation of Ponyville that it happened, I guess. As y’all probably remember, it was chaos. Ponies runnin’ every which way, the rescue ships landin’ and takin’ off, and them Invaders burnin’ the place down.

 I was herdin’ ponies onto one of the rescue ships when I saw poor old Scootaloo lookin’ around like a lost puppy. The ship was full, so I thought why not, and ran over to see what was wrong.

 “Scootaloo! Why the heck ain’t you on one’a them ships? It’s dangerous down here?”

 She looked at me with a frown. “Applebloom said she’d meet me here, and she’s not here. I’m not gonna leave without her.” She stamped the ground as if to punctuate her words.

 I froze, realisin’ that I hadn’t seen Applebloom or any’a my family at all today. Sweet Apple Acres was far enough away that I didn’t think the Invaders would hit it, but at the same time, there weren’t no reason for ’em to stay. If they weren’t here, then they’d have to still be at home.

 With an uneasy look around, I made up my mind. I’d done enough around here, it was time to get my family outta this wreck.

 “Get on that ship, Scootaloo. I’ll go fetch Applebloom and the rest’a my family.” I started off, but stopped a few feet away. “And don’t let me catch you hangin’ round here when I get back. I mean it!”

 “Yes ma’am!” Scootaloo shouted, already on her way to the ship.

 I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, which as y’all know is pretty goldarn quick. The countryside was a blur. What little I saw of it was enough to haunt my dreams for a while. The Invaders had laid to waste to it – the cornfields, the little glens, even Daisy and Lily’s prayer garden.

 Before I even knew it, I was at Sweet Apple Acres. My breath caught in my throat when I saw it. Our apples, my apples – they were all burnin’ away, an Invader hovering over the trees, head movin’ from side to side like some sorta metal lizard.

 I slipped into the so-far untouched tree line and started headin’ for the house. The Invader seemed to be takin’ his time destroyin’ the apple trees. Maybe he thought he was invincible in that big ol’ shell’a his, I don’t rightly know.

 Well, whatever his deal was, it didn’t take long for me to get through the tangle of trees and reach the house. The front door was open. I took a peek over at the Invader, who was still workin’ on the trees.

 Takin’ in a deep breath, I bolted for the door. I slid into the house, losin’ my balance and tumblin’ head over hooves. I picked myself up and put my hat back on, takin a quick peek around. There was food – fried greens and taters with a helping of what else but apple pie.

 It was abandoned like they had been in a hurry. They musta left when the Invader came, I figured.

 “Applebloom? Macintosh?” I called out softly. Even then it still felt like I was shoutin’.

 “Keep your voice down!” somebody replied. It didn’t sound like anypony in my family. “That thing out there has its sensors trained on this house.”

 I craned my head, tryin’ to figure out just where this mystery voice was comin’ from. Tippin my hat up, I took a peek at the ceilin’. Sure enough, there was a pony layin’ across the rafters, a big ol’ rifle cradled in his hooves.

 “Now what in tarnation are ya doin’ on my rafters?” I asked, curiosity overcoming any other feelin’s I may have had.

 “Trying to get a bead on this blank flank’s cockpit, that’s what,” he snapped back. “I told you to shut up.”

 “I will when ya answer one question: Where’s my family?”

 With a sigh, the pegasus looked down at me, laying his rifle down. “Celestia’s rump, you don’t shut up. If you’re talking about the folks who lived here, we evacuated them when that thing showed up. We were gonna do it anyway – this was going to be our resistance hub in the area, but that machine out there cocked it up pretty bad.”

 My ears flattened at his dirty mouth, but I let it slide. “So they’re safe? Where are they?”

 “Look, if I knew I’d tell you. They certainly aren’t at my base, that’s for sure. Now seriously, hush! Any minute that thing out there is gonna –”

 He never finished that sentence of his. A thudding sound echoed through the house, and almost like it was in slow motion, I saw part of the house start to disintegrate. The Invader had noticed us while we were talkin’ and had opened fire, I guess.

 The rafters came down straight aways, as did that poor pegasus. I ducked down under the table, avoidin’ most of the debris. The sound stopped, leavin’ only the sounds of falling wood and my own breathin’.

 I crawled out from the table, and took what used to be my house. Buried in the rubble was the soldier, his rifle stickin’ out, just beggin’ to be taken.

 Shakin’ my head, I moved over to what used to be the window. The giant machine was hovering nearby, arm extended. Comin’ out of the arm was some kind of gun, still red from firing. In the sun, I could see the glint of the glass that separated the cockpit from the outside world.

 I dove down out of sight, landing on a piece of rafter. Right there in front of my nose was the rifle tip. I grabbed it, and wrestled it out from under the rubble.

 The only gun I’d fired before this was my paw’s shotgun, and that was only in the air to scare away some chicken hawks from our henhouse. I clumsily pulled the bolt back, releasing a bullet into the air. I said some rather uncouth things that I won’t dare repeat in front of such folks as you, and snapped the bolt to its original position.

 Slingin’ it around my shoulders, I made my way outside. The big machine still stared at the house, gun at the ready. I was hopin’ every step of the way it wouldn’t notice me.

 I ducked behind a fallen tree that was still burnin’.  Takin’ a quick peek out, I could see that machine still hadn’t noticed me. Good.

 I laid the barrel across the tree trunk like I had seen the soldier do. I’d never fired anythin’ with a scope before, so I was more than a mite bit nervous. Heart flutterin’ like a school filly seein’ her first crush and all.

 I peeked down the scope with both eyes open, then with one. Just seemed to work better that way. I aimed at the head of the thing, my aim bobbin’ all over the place cause I wasn’t quite used to guns. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw what looked like glass built into the head. That’s it, I thought. That’s how I’m gonna stop this thing.

 I took in a deep breath and put the dot in the middle straight on the glass. I squeezed the trigger.

There was a crack, and the gun jerked in my hooves, and I heard somethin’ shatter. Fumblin’, I aimed again and fired.

 The machine shuddered and died, falling forwards straight into… Straight into my home. Dust kicked up as it landed, and I heard a great crash. When I opened my eyes, I saw nothin’ left of that old house, nothin’ at all.

 My heart sank deep, and I felt like throwing up. Memories of all the good times – ah, well, bad times too – came bubblin’ back to me. Stuff like Applebloom’s first steps, my first applebuck season…

 The sound of jets broke my thoughts, and I glanced up into the sky. Up there were two, no three, strange machines. Unlike the one I had just killed, they were like metallic umbrellas – y’know, the kind with the straight handle. Out of their bottoms came a sweepin’, green laser. Or at least, I think it was a laser. If’n you’d seen it you’d like as not to know what it was, Twi.

 Nothing seemed to happen when the wide laser hit the ground, but I didn’t feel like findin’ out. Slingin’ the rifle around my shoulders, I burst into a run, and I’ve been runnin’ ever since. I ran with the bulls in Marecelona, with the refugees from Hollow Shades, with the gorilla guerrillas in the badlands.

 Sometimes I’d rest, and talk. Other times I just fought. Everywhere I went, there were those goldarn metal umbrellas, always sweepin’ the battlefield with those wide lasers of theirs. Then they’d pack up and leave, headin’ north.

 I don’t remember where, but one of the soldiers I met along the way told me about this big ol’ ship, and I decided that it was time to come home. And that’s about it, that’s my story.

 “That’s it, huh?” Rainbow Dash asked. She didn’t sound too convinced.

 “That’s it, Rainbow.”

 Pinkie Pie said nothing, though she sorely wanted to. It was pretty obvious to her that Dash and Applejack had some issues to smooth out, and she didn’t want to interrupt.

 “Well,” said Rarity, taking a step forward and breaking through the two other mares’ icy locked eyes, “I for one fully understand. Family is certainly important, and I wouldn’t blame you. At all,” she added after a moment, shooting Dash a dirty look.

 Twilight nodded. “It’s good to have another hoof on deck. Though I suppose you don’t know how to operate a CLOP…”

 “Twilight,” chimed in Pinkie. “We decided to refer to it as CLOPerate, remember?”

 “Yes… CLOPerate. Regardless, I am glad to have you aboard and back with us. It’ll be nice. We’re almost all back together.”

 Applejack smiled. “I hear ya. It’s good to be back. And this time, I will be dependable to the very end. Even if it’s the end of the world.”

***

 “I hope you had a nice reunion,” Time Turner said as Twilight stepped through the doorway.

 The CIC was, as always, bustling with activity. Time Turner stood in Twilight’s usual place, leaning over the guard rail. Twilight walked over to the opposite end of the holomap and looked up at him.

 “I did, as a matter of fact. It’s good to have a friendly face aboard. Is something wrong?”

 Time Turner shrugged. “We need to send out some probes. One above the cloud cover to get a star chart, and one below the cloud cover to map the surrounding regions. If we don’t have either, it’ll be impossible to find the enemy’s capital.”

 “I sense a but coming,” Twilight said with a sigh.

 “Mmhmm. In order to link the probes, we need to send up a steady energy burst. A column of power, piercing the heavens, so to speak. The problem is, it’ll broadcast our location to the enemy. We’ll be unable to defend the Harmony with its cannons or shielding and will have to rely on a squadron of CLOPs.”

 Twilight lowered her head, deep in thought. He was right – without a map of the area they’d be completely lost. For all they knew, the capital was the other way entirely. But a light show telling the Invaders just where they were? It was suicide.

 It was also the only way.

 She sighed again. “Alright. It’s our only option. Do it.”

 Time Turner smiled. “You got it, dear. I’ll get right to work on the probes. You just hand getting the defence force ready.”

 Twilight sucked in a deep breath. This was going to be their hardest fight yet. She hoped the CLOPerators – no, the pilots, not CLOPerates, that was a stupid, stupid name – were up for the challenge.

 If not… this whole venture was in vain. And Equestria was doomed.