Heart of Courage

Twilight Sparkle ducked behind the concrete barrier as a rolling wave of flame washed overhead. The divider absorbed most of the blast, but a wall of red fire still partially obscured the purple unicorn’s vision. Once the danger had passed, she checked the condition of her armor by glancing at the heads-up-display in her helmet. Everything looks good. If I wasn’t wearing this suit, I’d be in a lot of trouble.

She stayed low and used her suit’s auditory sensors to try and detect anything moving towards her position. Meanwhile, she determined her next plan of action, but before she executed it, she couldn’t help but glance at the night sky. A huge, wide expanse of stars cast the only heavenly light on the darkened city. Twilight Sparkle closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then, she made her move.

Taking advantage of the lull, the unicorn mare shot to her hooves and galloped across the debris-strewn street. Bullets flew by her, striking the pavement and blasting concrete shards into the air. Loud metallic pings from shrapnel reverberated through her suit. Twilight used her telekinetic grip to point the assault rifle she carried towards the source of the gunfire. Squeezing the trigger, a long burst of return fire silenced whatever adversary that had the pony in its sights.

Twilight made it safely behind a burning vehicle of some kind. She didn’t recognize the model but all she cared about was the fact that no one was shooting at her anymore. Quickly, she ran through her inner checklist. Armor status? I’m good. Radio? Twilight turned on her communicator. “Hello, can anyone hear me?” To her dismay, the only response she received was static. Still down. Rifle check? …reloaded and good. Ammo check? I have thirty seven rounds left; horse apples, that’s not good.

Sighing with frustration, she rummaged through her pack for any gear that might help. Deep in the bottom of the bag, a black handle caught her eye. Azure’s pistol? I don’t remember grabbing this. With practiced ease, she cleared and checked the weapon before placing it back. I have a full magazine but I hope I won’t need it.

A loud, high-pitched whine filled her helmet as dust and smoke blew across the burning street. Twilight retreated deeper in the dark shade of her cover as she looked upwards with dread. Please no. The long, rippling shadows cast from scattered fires vanished as the world became as bright as high noon. In the air, a large hovercraft floated above the street, its massive spotlight directed upon the insignificant pony below. Oh, manure.

Twilight Sparkle didn’t waste a second. She bolted towards the closest building, firing her assault rifle telekinetically as she went. She did not have much hope for her tiny rifle to do any damage, but maybe she could throw the pilot’s aim off.

A handful of strides from a doorway, a lower pitched hum grew louder. Just as she flew into the half demolished structure, a deep roar filled the air and her world seemed to end. Twilight galloped through burning hallways as the building disintegrated around her. Gritting her teeth, she fought back her fear as her eyes grew blurry. No, it will not end this way.

Up ahead, an open hallway led to the left of the gunship’s strafing pattern. Forcing her body to run even faster, Twilight ran for all she was worth before leaping safely out of harm’s way. Behind her, a cloud of fiery sparks and molten metal continued down the path she had been running along a second ago. That was too close, Twilight thought as she tried to regain control of her breathing. Remember your training. Take deep, long breaths. Slowly, she calmed herself down while resting in her new, temporary shelter.

With her short moment of respite over, Twilight forced her tired legs to stand up. Moving would make her a much harder target. The moment she stopped, she would be dead. Slowly and quietly, Twilight began creeping through empty rooms and eerie hallways.

Outside, like a cat chasing a mouse, the hovercraft circled around the complex. Long streams of white light danced between every crack and cranny, forcing her to move carefully. Every dozen seconds or so, the pilots opened fire on a section of the building, either because they thought they saw something or they were trying to scare her into making a mistake.

Keeping her fear in check, Twilight Sparkle made her way to a boarded-up window to look outside. She could see another wrecked street running parallel to her window, but what caught her eye was the intersection right in front of her. That’s the road I need to take in order to meet up with the squad.

The street filled with white light and the loud roar returned as the aerial predator made another pass along the avenue. Ducking down reflexively, she stayed below the probing spotlight. I’ll never make it as long as that hovercraft is looking for me, but I don’t have anything that can harm it. She thought about knocking it down with her magic, but that would require a clear line of sight and several long seconds of concentration to power up such a spell. I have a feeling the hovercraft pilot won’t be that generous, Twilight rolled her eyes at the thought with a small measure of sarcasm.

She wracked her brain for any idea that would get her safely across the street without becoming Swiss cheese. Twilight had taken to heart the piece of advice James had given her. My mind is my best weapon. Finding no solution with any of the gear she carried, she began looking around for anything that would give the little pony an advantage over the flying killing machine outside.

She found the answer when she took a break from thinking to look at the sky again. When the purple pony glanced upwards between the boards on the window, her eyes caught sight of a large neon sign hanging haphazardly on a tall building at the intersection. The building looked like it used to be a movie theatre before the battle in this part of town had begun. Focusing back on the sign, Twilight noticed that only a handful of steel cables kept it aloft. If I took out one or two of those wires, I could bring that sign down on the hovercraft. It looks heavy enough to do some serious damage.

With her plan decided, it was time to set it in motion. Now I need to lure that hovercraft back. Taking out Azure’s pistol and setting it down, the mare checked her assault rifle. Three rounds left; dang. Well, I hope they are listening, she thought as she aimed outside and fired the last of her rifle ammo into one of the few unbroken glass window of the movie theatre across the street.

Sure enough, the hovercraft picked up on the gunfire and flew over to investigate. Twilight remained hidden until the spotlight passed her window. Once it moved on, she peeked outside to see that sure enough, her hunter was hovering right where she wanted. She picked up her hand cannon and carefully aimed up at the sign. Remembering her training, Twilight slowed her breathing and put all her focus on the shot she needed to make. Once she felt satisfied, she took a deep breath and slowly exhaled half of it. Then she squeezed the trigger.

BOOM! The pistol rocked in her telekinetic grip but she compensated and quickly got back on target. Her first shot had flown true and cut cleanly through one of the steel wires, but the sign didn’t drop. With a deep groaning sound, it rocked back and forth now, making the remaining cables a much harder target. To make matters worse, the hovercraft’s spotlight swiveled right to her hiding place. Uh Oh.

With only a handful of seconds left, Twilight fired off as rapidly as she could at the sign. Four shots in, luck found the purple unicorn again. With a high pitched crack, one of the slugs found a cable and sliced through it. Now on top of the sounds from the hovercraft, a sharp metallic screech filled the street. Twilight watched as the sign slowly leaned forward off of the movie theatre, snapping the few remaining cables left.

The hovercraft pilot must have sensed something amiss because the gunship’s engines flared to life as it tried to avoid the falling debris. A throaty roar grew louder and the craft’s nose tilted forward. Unfortunately for its pilot, the heavy assault ship couldn’t accelerate out of the way in time, and the sign slammed into the starboard side of the hovercraft, followed by several tons of steel and concrete from the theatre.

Twilight watched as the ship’s right engine exploded in a bright ball of blue fire. The remaining engine’s whine increased in pitch as the pilot tried to regain control. Below the craft’s fight for survival, the little unicorn pony went unnoticed as the hunter became the hunted.

Spinning above the street, the ship knocked back and forth from building to building, pelting the ground below with shattered glass and concrete. One particularly harsh impact resulted in a large plume of yellow flame to erupt from the remaining engine. The ship shuddered once before its nose dropped and it dove straight towards the window that Twilight happened to be standing by. Oh, manure.

Wasting no time, she turned and galloped across the room, running perpendicular to the hovercrafts final dive. With a resounding crash, the ship barreled through the concrete exterior as if it were made of tissue paper. Floorboards erupted out of the ground in a wave, picking up the purple pony and hurling her through the wall into the next room.

Acrid smoke filled the air but the filters in Twilight’s suit managed to clear most of it and keep her from suffocating. Still, she coughed up a fit as she pulled herself up again for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Ouch, I really could use a hot bath; she thought with a grimace. Taking a look behind her, what was left of the hovercraft filled the next room and continued through the back wall. All over the place, flames from the wreckage cast eerie shadows throughout the building. I don’t think any survivors from that crash are going to be a threat to me anytime soon.

Walking to a window in her new room, Twilight turned and kicked out the boards covering it. She hopped through the new opening and trotted across the intersection to the shadows alongside the concrete and steel skeletons from what used to be a lively neighborhood. When she had reached about a hundred paces down the road, the sound of clapping could be heard behind her, resonating between the wreckage.

Twilight spun around while moving deeper into the darkness, expecting some sort of ambush. Instead, she saw Captain James Fletcher standing on the street in his uniform. He wore a wide, toothy smile on his face as he continued clapping his hands together. “Well done, Twilight Sparkle. For someone who didn’t even go through an official training regiment, you’ve done better than some other soldiers I know.”

Twilight calmed down and walked over to where James stood. “So I passed? Is the exercise over?”

Before the human could answer, a hazy pixilated cloud appeared next to them before resolving into a familiar brown coated, red maned earth pony. “That was awesome!” Dmitri Bearclaw yelled while rearing pack and throwing his fore-hooves into the air. “You were like; whoosh! But then, you were like; bang, bang! And finally, you were like; ka-pow!” Dmitri gave a hearty laugh before sitting down on his haunches.

With an annoyed look, James waited for the interruption to finish before smiling again. “You most definitely passed. Not many have made it through this simulation without being shot once or twice. In fact,” he added while glancing at Dmitri, “I remember one earth pony that ended up being shot seven times during his turn. I also think that same earth pony is supposed to be on the bridge right now.”

Dmitri waved a hoof in the air flippantly. “Ah, that average for me. I still beat Miss Sparkle’s time.” Then the earth pony fizzled out and disappeared.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Dmitri.” James rebuked before his avatar vanished as well. The world around Twilight grew less clear and focused. A white wall appeared on the horizon and rushed towards her before everything went black.

The sounds of the real world came back to her slowly. A series of clicking sounds circled her head before she could finally see light again. Twilight leaned forward and rubbed her eyes with her fore-hooves. Blinking away the blurriness, she saw James storing the pony version of the virtual training helmet she had worn. Next to it on the table were several more helmets. Some of them were more rounded and looked like they would fit human heads.

Twilight rolled off the inclined bed she had been laying on and landed on her hooves. Stretching out her sore muscles, she looked over at James. “The simulator always feels so real when I’m inside.”

“It’s a great piece of technology, that’s for sure. I personally think it’s a lot better than the classroom.” Fletcher finished locking away both helmets before turning to look at Twilight as she continued recovering. “You’ve done very well in your training. I’m extremely impressed with the progress you made, and I’m not too worried about your safety anymore. You sure can look after yourself.”

Twilight sheepishly averted her gaze. “Thank you; I just want to help.” She responded with a smile.

With a knowing smirk, James made his way out of the room while waving her on. “Follow me, Twilight. I’ve got something to show you.”

Eyes narrowing with distrust, Twilight followed the human captain. Both his grin and the light in his eyes reminded her of Pinkie Pie’s or Rainbow’s face right before they pulled some sort of prank. She still walked behind him but her senses were on high alert.

“I can’t help but wonder if you are about to pull a fast one on me, James.” Twilight spoke while scanning the hallways of the Dash with her eyes.

That drew a Dmitri-like laugh from the captain. “Why would you think that?”

“Because,” Twilight answered slowly, “you’re acting like how my friends usually would before tricking me.”

James slowed his walk to let Twilight catch up to him. His eyes were now wide with interest. “Really? Who were the great pranksters of your time? Let me guess, Pinkie Pie?”

Twilight snorted before replying. “Yeah, she always enjoyed her pranks. Nopony ever understood her but she could always make us laugh; even in the darkest times.” Twilight smiled at the memory of bubbly Pinkie Pie. “She could always enlist the aid of Rainbow Dash to bring a wave of pranks upon Ponyville.”

“Rainbow Dash was an avid prankster?” James asked; his tone slightly incredulous.

“Oh yes,” Twilight boasted with emphasis, “those two were unstoppable.” She gave a short chuckle and looked up at James. “I remember one time they switched out my ink with some invisible ink. Once it touched paper, it would vanish after a few seconds. They got me good with that one. I was so confused when my writing kept disappearing.”

James covered his mouth as he laughed. “I can just imagine the bewildered look you must have had on your face.”

Twilight gave him a glare. She might have looked legitimately angry except for the small upwards curl of her lips that she failed to hide. “Hmm, really? Well how about you tell me about any pranks pulled on you? Or are you the one pulling them?”

“Me? No, I don’t play tricks on anyone really. You know who does though?” James looked at her with one raised eye.

“Well, if I had to guess, I would say Dmitri.” Twilight mused.

That brought out another loud laugh from the human. “He tries so hard but nine times out of ten, his pranks backfire. It is always an enjoyable experience.” He paused for a second. “Actually, the most mischievous person on this ship is Isamu Zhang. The guy seems to be able to appear without a sound and he seems to always know what’s going on. For someone who has never outright lied to me, he still can be a pain in the ass. I know he can use magic and all, but that can’t be the only explanation for some things I’ve seen him do.” James shook his head side to side.

Twilight thought for a moment about this new side of Isamu that she never knew existed. “Has he pulled any pranks on you?”

The captain’s eyes lit up again and he grinned. “Hang on, we’re here.” He motioned her to pause as he put his palm on the scanner next to the captain’s cabin door. It flashed green and the door slid open before he continued. “So, back when I still attended in the Academy, I was up for a performance review. The day before, I made sure to set out my dress uniform, all pressed and clean. Well, I’m not sure how he did it without me noticing but Isamu switched my uniform out for one a size smaller.” James walked over to his desk and sat down in his chair. Twilight clambered up in one of the seats facing him. “By the time I realized it, there wasn’t enough time for me to find my real uniform.”

“Oh no,” Twilight’s eyes sparkled as she snickered, “how bad did it look?”

James typed quickly on his computer and pulled up a picture. What she saw immediately put her into a fit of giggles and laughs. In the picture, James stood in his military dress uniform shaking the hoof of a pony covered in dozens of medals, ribbons and badges. The Captain’s outfit seemed about a deep breath away from bursting completely open. Though he had a serious look on his face, she could definitely see annoyance in his eyes. “Wow James,” Twilight managed to get out between laughs, “I think you work out too much.”

“Ha, ha,” James sarcastically replied, “Isamu was very proud of this one. He circulates it around the ship every year on my birthday.”

“I hope he didn’t get you in too much trouble.” Twilight Sparkle slowly relaxed as her snickers died down.

The human leaned backwards with an amused expression. “Funny thing actually; after the ceremony, Admiral Comet Dust told me that he was impressed at how in shape I was. He then recommended that I should upgrade my uniform size to be more comfortable. I wholeheartedly agreed with him.”

“Well done, Isamu.” Twilight smiled, making a mental note to congratulate the lieutenant commander later.

James closed his computer before taking in a deep breath and slowly letting it out. Then he pulled open a drawer in his desk, lifted out a sturdy looking, black plastic box, and placed it in front of her. “Now,” he started, “this is why I brought you here.”

Curiosity wracked the inquisitive unicorn’s brain.

“Go ahead,” James gestured with an outstretched hand, “open it.”

Twilight picked up the plastic case in her hooves and inspected it closely. The grooved surface bore hundreds of small bumps and one side had a small handle too tiny for a pony to use. “This looks human made. Why do you want me to have it if I can’t use it?”

“Twilight, just open the damn thing!” The exasperated human exclaimed.

She let out a humf, before scrutinizing the strange box again, and she caught sight of two small clasps on the same side as the handle. They were too small for a hoof to click open so the unicorn resorted to her magic. Two clicks sounded, allowing her to open the lid of the box. Swathed in a violet aura, the case swung open on James’s desk, revealing a large black weapon inside; one very recognizable to Twilight. Leaning back into her chair, her mouth hung agape. “Is… is that Azure’s pistol?”

“Twilight Sparkle, I want you have this pistol as your personal sidearm. I am very impressed with your skills, especially your strategic and forward thinking abilities. I’m going to need those when we visit Midnight City. A battle mage is a very important asset to my squad makeup, and you’re probably the most talented unicorn I have ever met.” James then leaned forward and pointed a lone finger at her chest with a serious look on his face. “Trust me when I say that. It means something. I have seen some heavy magic users, but they pale in comparison to you.”

Twilight smiled sheepishly at the last remark. “Thank you James, that means a lot to me. Thank you for the pistol as well. I can definitely say; I was not expecting to ever see it again. I was very much surprised to have it during the last simulation.”

“Don’t thank me just yet. This means if needed, I can bring you with me down on the planet and you could be put in harm’s way. I want you to be armed with more than just your magic. Midnight City is a dangerous place.”

A realization swept through Twilight and her eyes widened with understanding. “That’s where you have been training me! The large city under a night sky. That’s Midnight City, right?”

“I was wondering when you’d figure it out.” James grinned. “Yes, lately I’ve been pitting you against the type of forces we could be up against if something goes wrong. I like to hope for the best but plan for the worst.”

Twilight nodded. She liked that quote as well, but something else bothered her. “James, why are you giving me Azure’s pistol? Why not another standard issue firearm? This one feels… different.”

“I don’t know if you remember from your research, but that weapon is not standard issue. That particular pistol was one of many given to ponies by humans during the first contact between our species.”

“Woah!” Twilight looked at the black metal weapon with newfound respect. “Should it be in a museum?”

James waved dismissively. “They have plenty. Hundreds of these guns were given as gifts, but this particular one is special.” He leaned over and pointed at the weapon. “My ancestors gave this gun to the ancestors of Azure.”

A pang of sadness stabbed into Twilight’s chest, and she glanced away before replying. “Why are you giving it to me then? Shouldn’t her family have it?”

James didn’t answer right away. When he did, he spoke slow and quiet. “It turns out that almost her entire family was wiped out when the cygs hit her home planet. That attack is still considered to be the deadliest in the war. Heck, we were so taken back by the sheer number of casualties that it led to the development and construction of the Warpgate on Luna’s moon.”

The Captain took a moment before meeting Twilight’s wide-eyed stare. “When I was searching for any living relatives from her family, I came across something peculiar. She has some family living safely on Harmony, but it turns out that she has a relative who lives on this very ship; a particular purple coated unicorn mare.”

“What!” Twilight yelled in shock. “How is that possible? I never had any foals!”

Her reaction brought a series of laughs from the human. “I can’t give you any specifics and all Twilight. The Wells Doctrine, remember? Anyway, you’re thinking too narrowly if I may say. You had a decent sized family in Equestria before you left, did you not?”

“Oh yeah, I guess I freaked out there for a moment. Still, this is strange.” Twilight thought about Azure which led to her wondering something. I wish I could have gotten to know my descendent better. Maybe we could have gotten along in the end. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

As if he read her mind, James answered with sorrow in his voice. “I’m sorry Twilight, I only found out while looking for Azure’s family. Before yesterday, I had no idea.” A grimace then crossed his face before he stood up and walked around his desk. “Here, stand up. Let me teach you how to arm yourself properly.”

Over the next half hour, James taught Twilight all of the ins and outs of this particular weapon. He told her its strengths and weaknesses so she could keep them in mind when planning any strategies. Also inside the case was a holster designed for a pony to wear. This allowed Twilight to keep the pistol on her without having to telekinetically hold it at all times.

Once he finished, the human took a step back and admired his work. “Damn Twilight, you look like you could kick some ass! Check your weapon for me one last time.”

Twilight Sparkle pulled the pistol from her holster with ease, quickly wracked the slide to make sure it was unloaded, then held it in her magical grip pointing upwards in a safe direction. “I just hope I will be of help. I still feel out of my element.”

“Well, if Twilight Sparkle out of her element can save the lives of my crew and my ship from utter catastrophe, then I’m slightly afraid of what Twilight Sparkle is capable of when she is in her element.”

She laughed at that remark and was about to ask another question when a pinging sound emanated from the computer on James’ desk. He flipped it up and hit a flashing green button which opened a video screen showing the cheery face of Dmitri Bearclaw.

“Captain, we arrive in system soon. Minute tops.” With his message delivered, the earth pony vanished.

James gestured towards the door. “Shall we?”

The pair made good time on their way to the bridge of the Rainbow Dash. Twilight followed James onto the raised dais in the room’s center and took her seat next to him. While she waited for the human captain to fiddle with his computer, a rumble sounded in her stomach.

Why am I so hungry? She quickly ran through the events of today in her mind. That’s right; I was in the simulator during lunch. I haven’t eaten since breakfast! Ugh, I'm starving. Remembering James’ advice from the Battle of Charybdis, as the crew called it; Twilight opened one of her uniform’s pockets and withdrew a food bar. Fueled by hunger, the lavender unicorn tore apart the shiny metallic wrapper standing between her and her meal. She then proceeded to scarf her food down in an unladylike way that would have made Rarity scoff in horror.

The voice of Rainbow Dash’s Artificial Intelligence pulled Twilight from her inner monologue. “Exiting subspace in five … four … three ... two … one.”

Twilight felt the usual tug on her horn as starlight once again filled the view screen. Off to the left, a deep-red star took up a decent portion of the front canopy. Even though this sun radiated more red light than Harmony’s sun, her eyes did not ache as bad when she looked upon the ball of fusion that made up the heart of this solar system. She could stare at the sun for a lot longer before she needed to avert her eyes.

“Welcome to the Tartarus System, Twilight. Midnight City is located on Erebus, the closest planet to Tartarus itself.” James said from her left. “Erebus orbits around its star less than a fifth of the distance Harmony is from her star. That being said, Erebus can support life because Tartarus is a tiny, red dwarf star. It is cooler and smaller than the yellow sun that gives life to Harmony. Actually,” James then pointed off to the right of the Dash’s front view screen,” you can see Midnight City right there.”

Pulling her eyes from the solar system’s cool burning sun, Twilight noticed a bright crescent that stood out among the starry backdrop of the Milky Way. That must be Erebus, she thought. The side of the planet that faced the sun shone a bright yellow, which gave it the illusion of a molten sea of gold. On the planet’s dark side, night was driven away by billions of artificial lights. This entire half of Erebus seemed to form a megalopolis of immense proportions. Twilight couldn’t believe that such a large city could survive the intense heat of the planet’s daytime. She guessed that even though Tartarus was a cooler star, Erebus should be close enough for its surface to bet still scorching hot.

Her thoughts were interrupted when James pulled up a zoomed in view of Erebus on Rainbow Dash’s view screen. “See how the side closest to the sun is partially molten? One of Midnight City’s largest exports are heavy metals collected by well shielded harvesters that take advantage of the planet’s rampant volcanism. Tartarus weakens Erebus’ crust, which makes it easier for magma to push up from the mantle…”

“Which fund the crime lords that live in the Outlier Systems.” Isamu completed James’ sentence from his seat in front of the captain’s chair, earning an agreeing glance from him.

Something bothered Twilight about this planet. “James, if the side of Erebus that faces its star is covered in molten rock, then how does city not burn?”

James pondered her question with confusion on his face for a moment before his eyes widened. “Twilight, Erebus is tidally locked. It rotates with its sun so that one side always receives sunlight and the other receives none. On the planet’s dark side, Midnight City keeps the atmospheric temperature stable with millions of vents that pump hot or cold air, depending on what is required. The entire city receives its electricity from massive geothermal power plants buried deep in the crust.”

Twilight nodded before studying the peculiar planet in front of her. It seemed so strange that a world cursed with eternal night could support so much life. Times sure have changed. Twilight thought as she was reminded time and time again that the universe was a strange and dangerous place.

As if it heard her inner monologue, the universe reaffirmed her thoughts when the warning klaxon blared to life on the bridge.

“Sir,” Isamu called out, “two small ships are accelerating in our direction. They look like pirate hunter-killers.”

James activated the ship-wide intercom. “All hands, man your battle stations.” Then he called up Rainbow Dash’s A.I. “Alice, I want a closer look at those ships, and can someone tell me where the Athens is?”

“She hasn’t dropped out of subspace yet, Captain.” The A.I. replied as she used Rainbow Dash’s external cameras to zoom in on the attacking ships.

They reminded Twilight of one of Rarity’s sewing needles; long and thin without any large protrusions extruding from the hull. A long trail of glowing blue plasma stretched out from each vessel, making them look more like gigantic missiles than spaceships. They sure are fast, but I don’t see many weapons, Twilight thought. “James, can Rainbow fight them off?”

“Normally, yes.” He said with a grim determination on his face. “But in our weakened state, they would chew through us and they know that.” Leaning forward and swiping through various screens on his computer, James searched for a solution to their predicament.

Twilight sat in her chair quietly as to not interrupt the human’s brainstorming when an idea popped into her head. Pulling up her computer from the seat’s leg rest, Twilight took an inventory of the Dash’s weapons and power supply. That should be enough, she thought. “James, I have an idea.” She said as the human’s eyes locked onto her face. “They can surely tell that Rainbow Dash has been weakened by the damage on her hull. What they don’t know is if she suffered any internal damage. What if you fire the main gun as a warning shot to scare them away?”

In front of her, Dmitri ran a hoof through his mane. “That might work, but they would be sure to try again. I fought these types before. Also, no way we could power up another shot in time.”

“We don’t have to.” Isamu called out, turning to face Twilight with an excited expression on his face. “We just need to buy us time for the Athens to show up. That is a great idea, Twilight.”

“I like it.” James nodded at her with a sly look. “Alice, fire a warning shot from the main gun across the closest pirate ship’s bow.”

“Yes, Captain. I am redirecting all non-critical power to the solar cannon.”

Twilight felt rumbling under her seat and through the front view screen, a warm red glow began emanating from Rainbow’s nose once again. On her computer, she could watch Alice redirecting electricity to the spine mounted gun from all parts of the ship. Because Rainbow Dash’s reactor wasn’t taxed from any recent engagement, such as avoiding anti-ship missiles above a planet sized maelstrom, it only took a short amount of time to fully charge the weapon.

“Firing.” Alice announced over the bridge’s speakers a split second before a column of searing energy flashed into existence. The virtual pony’s aim was true. Only missing the lead most pirate ship by a few hundred meters, the warning shot was far enough away to leave the ship undamaged but close enough to show them that Rainbow Dash still had teeth.

Isamu stared at his screen intently while calling back to James. “Sir, they are changing course. It looks like they are moving to a holding pattern a few hundred thousand klicks off our nose….” He then trailed off as a blinking icon appeared on the computer in front of him. “Captain, the Athens just dropped out of subspace a hundred klicks off our port side!”

On Twilight’s screen, she opened a window from one of Rainbow Dash’s cameras. Zooming in on the steel-grey UEN cruiser, she could see the Athens bristling with weaponry as she prepared to protect her charge. Next to Twilight, James laughed. “Looks like those pirate ships are fleeing. I would too if a fully armed capital warship dropped in to say hello.”

Dmitri laughed while working at his station. “Captain, I have Deval Aldridge on hold. He wishes to speak to you.”

James reached out and pressed his index finger on a blinking image on his computer. The bridge’s front view screen fizzled for a second before the face of a human replaced the solar system’s starry backdrop. This human had dark colored skin, much darker than Isamu’s, and his black hair coiled in long, thick dreadlocks traveling every which way. His smile brought a sense of unease to Twilight when she studied his pearly white teeth.

When she took a look into his eyes, she saw a very cold and calculating creature and it sent a wave of primal fear though her body. This human looked nothing like James, Isamu, Victoria, or any of the other crew. This one was purely a predator, and a very intelligent one at that.

“James Fletcher of the United Equestrian Navy, it is nice to finally meet your acquaintance.” Deval Aldridge spoke in a low raspy tone with an unfamiliar accent. “You are the Captain of the Rainbow Dash; a ship nearly as famous as her namesake. What could an Outlier world such as ours do for your…little flotilla?”

“We received some damage recently. Enough that we require the use of your dry dock and repair facilities.”

“Oh, is that so? Why should I help you? Are you going to threaten me with force?”

James let out a short breath from his nose. “I’m not stupid enough to threaten you, Mister Aldridge. The Athens is here just to keep the scavengers at bay.”

“Smart man.” On the view screen, Deval’s grin grew wider. “Back to business; how are you going to… compensate me for such expensive work?”

Now Dmitri spoke up from his seat. “By calling in favor from old friend.”

When Deval’s eyes found the earth pony, he let out a loud laugh. “Dmitri? Is that you?” He yelled with a wide smile on his face. “It has been a long time, my friend!”

“Too long.” Dmitri replied with a chuckle. “As you can see, we were scuffed up pretty bad.”

“Say no more,” Deval Aldridge said with a raised hand. “I’ll have my best repair workers take a look at the Rainbow Dash. She will be fully operational inside of a week. I guarantee it.”

James nodded at the screen. “Thank you, Mister Aldridge.”

“Please, call me Deval. A friend of Dmitri’s is a friend of mine. Make your way to docking bay A, and you have my word that no one under my command will accost you during your stay in system. Welcome to Midnight City.”