Heart of Courage

Muted detonations reverberated through the Rainbow Dash as the cygnul ships wore down her shields. Twilight Sparkle flinched with every strike, knowing that the Dash would eventually succumb to the heavy beating. Surprisingly, a sense of tranquility settled on the bridge crew as they continued to perform their duties in silence. Ponies and humans had accepted their current situation but they would continue fighting to survive right up to the end.

Twilight glanced over at James Fletcher. The human stared unblinkingly at his computer screen though his eyes remained unfocused. In front of him, Isamu diligently worked the Dash’s remaining guns in a losing battle, but that didn’t faze the resigned lieutenant commander. Dmitri’s face bore his usual grin, albeit it looked a bit more cynical. Even the impending shadow of death couldn’t dampen the earth pony for long. As if sensing Twilight’s gaze, he turned around and gave her a reassuring smile before returning to work.

Watching how Rainbow Dash’s crew reacted while death waited around the corner slowly calmed Twilight down, allowing the terror she felt to fade away. She stared down at her hooves and thought about her life. Sure, there had been a couple of bad times, but they were overshadowed by the wonderful memories she had gathered over the years.

She had grown up with a family that loved her, a big brother that supported her, and a group of special friends that helped her live. There may have been a few bumps along the way, but she learned a lot with each one. She wouldn’t trade those memories for anything, and a smile grew on her face as she joined the crew and accepted her fate.

A much louder series of impacts distracted Twilight’s thoughts and she looked up. Displayed on the front screen, one of the bat-like cygnul ships began to creep closer towards the Dash. “All of our secondary cannons are offline, Captain. Our shields are gone too.” Isamu spoke steadily, leaning back in his seat and taking his attention off his work station. “Unfortunately, it looks like we are only going to be able to take that frigate with us. The rest of the cyg ships are keeping their distance.”

James didn’t answer. Instead, he let out a deep breath and continued to stare straight ahead as the black hulled cyg closed the gap between it and the UEN frigate. Like a predator cornering its wounded prey, the ship took its time. A wounded animal could still cause a lot of damage, and the cygnul were taking no chances. Rainbow Dash was as good as dead.

Suddenly, Twilight’s breath caught in her throat. A series of brilliant motes of light dove downwards towards the lead cyg vessel as it stalked towards them. Half a dozen bright flashes soundlessly erupted on the topside of the enemy ship, filling the entire screen with light before the electronic filter could compensate. Temporarily blinded by the glare, Twilight averted her gaze to blink away the afterimage. When her sight recovered, she looked out to see a cloud of debris in place of their hunter.

Confused, Twilight turned to James. “What was that?” She asked, but he continued to stare at the remains of the cyg, mouth agape.

“What happened to their frigate?” He finally spoke.

Isamu feverishly worked at his computer again. “Sir, six anti-matter ship-to-ship missiles managed to sneak by their sensors and detonate on her hull. I'm not seeing anything larger than a basketball on the radar…. hang on a second.” He paused his talking, furiously typing with one hand while moving holographic screens around with the other. “James!” Isamu spun around to look back at the captain’s seat with a huge grin on his face. “It’s the Athens! She is engaging the cygnul ships!”

In front of Twilight, Alice brought up another feed from one of the few remaining cameras on the hull. The image appeared hazy and unclear at first, before it shifted into focus. High above the Dash, a steel-grey ship with a wide, rounded nose, and royal-blue painted edges dove downwards. With an exterior shell constructed from hundreds of overlapping segments, she resembled a deadly reptile of immense proportions. Dozens of panels slid open across her hull, revealing large boxy turrets that swung to face the cyg ships before opening fire.

A rolling wave of smoke and flame partially obscured the nose of the Athens as multitudes of flashes signaled the launch of more missiles. The glowing streaks arced in graceful curves towards the cygnul ships, which returned defensive fire now that the element of surprise had been lost. One of the cyg corvettes could not shoot down all of the attackers and several missiles slammed into her nose, blowing her to pieces.

Adjacent to the video feed, a three dimensional representation of the local battlespace appeared. The remaining cyg frigate and three corvettes converged, allowing them to take out the Athens’ missiles with interlocking fire. A stalemate seemed to have formed and Twilight didn’t know how much longer the UEN cruiser could continue the barrage.

James seemed to have noticed the dilemma too, because he asked Alice. “How long can the Athens keep this up?”

The A.I. pony appeared on his chair and answered quickly with worry in her voice. “They can continue firing for another forty seconds before they need to reload their main batteries.”

James continued without missing a beat. “Is our main gun still operational? Was it damaged in the attack?”

“No, but I’m sending all available power to our jump drive. We don’t have enough to power up the solar cannon.”

“Alice, you said it yourself.” James pointed at the missile cruiser on his screen. “They won’t have enough ammo to cover us while we charge our jump drive. We need to join the battle and even the odds. I want all available power into our main gun right now. Push the reactor as hard as you can and swing us around to face the closest cyg ship.”

“Yes, Captain” Alice replied before vanishing.

Twilight felt a rumbling through her seat. “James, what’s the solar cannon?” She asked.

James answered while his eyes analyzed the battle that was raging outside. “You’ve seen Rainbow’s secondary weapons, the turrets. They pack quite a punch, but she has a much more powerful weapon built into her hull. ” James tore his eyes from his screen to look at her before continuing. “That means we have to turn the whole ship just to aim, so usually we only use it in long range engagements, but drastic circumstances call for drastic measures.” He paused and started smiling. “I think you’re going to find this fascinating. The solar cannon itself is a weapon created from the melding of science and magic.”

Twilight’s eyes widened in interest and she leaned forward, hanging on his every word.

“Using human superconductors and pony arcane crystals, the solar cannon channels a searing beam of energy that can burn through nearly anything in its way. And because it uses superconductors, it’s only limited by how strong your power source is. The gun in Rainbow Dash is the exact same design as one in a battleship, though it is scaled down a bit. A battleship has a much larger power supply so their cannon is stronger than ours.”

Right after James finished speaking, Isamu spoke up. “Captain, the main gun is charged at sixty percent of full capacity but the Athens is running out of time.”

Twilight faced forward to watch the four cygnul ships situated close together in front of Dash. The three smaller ones had positioned themselves around the largest ship in a triangular formation. Every second, a couple of thin bluish-white lines flashed into existence before disappearing. Each time a line appeared, it was followed by one of the Athens’ missiles exploding. Twilight had not been counting, but it looked like there were fewer launches from the UEN cruiser now than before.

“Alice,” James began, “target the closest corvette. The main gun should have enough power to punch through her shields at this range. If we put a hole in their missile screen, then the Athens can get a few more hits in.”

“Yes sir. I am beginning the firing sequence.”

A low whining noise began emanating from somewhere behind them, deep within the ship. As the sound increased in pitch, the cygnul corvette fired small thrusters and turned its nose away from the Athens and towards the Rainbow Dash. “Um, James?” Twilight nervously asked.

“They know we are targeting them. Hurry up Alice!” James called out.

“I am, sir.”

Both ships now faced each other. The nose of Dash radiated a dark red glow while a bright blue light illuminated the bow of the cygnul ship. At this range, there was no point in attempting to evade. The winner of this duel would be the ship that managed to fire first.

“This one’s going to be close!” Isamu shouted before Alice’s voice came back on over the speakers.

“Firing!”

A red burst of light flashed before a scorching column of energy popped into existence, connecting the Dash and the cygnul corvette. The dark red beam punched through the cyg’s shields half a second before impacting her hull. Armor plates boiled away, spraying thousands of droplets of molten metal that spiraled into space like the sparks from one of Trixie’s magic shows.

The solar cannon fired for only three or four seconds before stopping, but it managed to completely burn away the front quarter of the cygnul corvette. Drifting dead in space, what was left of the ship’s front half glowed an eerie dark yellow. Streams of cloudy gasses spewed out of every seam, pushing the cyg corvette in a lazy corkscrew.

All of a sudden, the ship erupted in a blinding ball of fire that forced Twilight to look away. The shockwave of debris hit Dash hard, shaking her to her core. The explosion also pushed the remaining cygnul ships apart, breaking their formation. Now drifting away in a disorganized fashion, their point defense screen fell apart very quickly.

Like a shark smelling blood in the water, Athens took advantage of the opening that Rainbow Dash had provided. The last of her missile bays flung their deadly payload downwards at the cygnul who were still trying to recover. The cygs managed to only knock out a fraction of the last barrage before miniature suns flared amongst the remaining three ships. Filters darkened the front screen while the nuclear lightshow raged outside.

Once the glare died down enough, Twilight studied the devastation outside of the ship. In front of Rainbow Dash sat a large cloud of debris, slowly expanding and cooling. She couldn’t tell which pieces belonged to which ship anymore.

“Sir,” Isamu broke the silence. “I'm detecting no energy signatures. All cygnul ships have been destroyed.”

Next to her, James let out a long sigh of relief. “Hail the Athens.”

On James’ and Twilight’s computer screens appeared the face of a sky-blue pegasus mare. She wore a clean cut khaki uniform and had a short cropped white mane. A huge grin creased her face before she laughed. “I guess you owe us one, Captain Fletcher.”

James smiled before replying. “Technically, we are even, Captain Nightingale, but the next time we are at the Officer’s Club, I owe you and your crew a drink. Thank you for the rescue, but how did you know where we were? There is no way you could have gotten here from any manned UEN outpost that quickly.”

“You’re right, but we weren’t at the outpost. We were in the Serana system updating communication codes for the relay when your probe warped in. We assessed your situation, and my officers and I agreed that you needed help now and we didn’t have time to wait for backup.”

“Well, we are very thankful that you took the risk and saved our asses.”

“You did the same for us, James.” Nightingale smiled at him before growing serious. “Back to business, do you require any assistance? Your ship looks pretty badly damaged and I’m sure you probably have wounded.”

“Our medical bay is nearly overflowing, but there is another problem. The cygnul fortress is still out there.”

From his computer station, Isamu joined the conversation with Captain Nightingale. “Captain, we knocked out the station’s cannons but its missile batteries are still operational. Unless it changed position, it should pop up over the horizon within the hour.” Isamu glanced back at James before continuing. “There is something else….”

Before he could finish, James spoke up. “We were forced to leave before everyone returned to the ship. My mage, Azure Lightning, stayed behind and is still on the station.”

Captain Nightingale furrowed her brow. “This complicates things.”

“We haven’t heard from her since, and I’m not sure what her situation is.”

Nightingale leaned back in her chair. “What do you want to do then?”

James thought for a moment. “We can’t assault the fortress directly, even with your ship.” He lifted a hand to his race and rubbed his eyes before continuing. “The problem is we don’t know anything right now. We need to make visual contact and maybe we can reach her. A lone shuttle might be able to avoid their missiles and pick her up.”

The blue pegasus pony nodded an agreement. “Very well, Captain. Set a course and we will match your speed and vector. In the meantime, I’ll send a few shuttles over with medical personnel, supplies, and a couple of my engineers to assist your crew.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

Twilight watched the pegasus captain vanish as Alice closed the communication window to the Athens, replacing it with an exterior view once more. Outside, stars flashed by as Rainbow Dash spun around. Eventually, the cloudy Charybdis sky filled the upper half of the front view screen.

“Alice,” James said from his chair, “set a course for the cygnul station. Push the reactor as hard as you safely can.”

“Yes, Captain.” Alice calmly answered as the ship began to vibrate while she accelerated. Rainbow Dash had survived quite a beating, and it showed as she sluggishly picked up speed. But even with all of her damage, she was still in the fight.

Twilight rubbed her eyes with her hooves and took a deep breath, holding it in for a moment before exhaling. The stress had taken its toll and her falling adrenaline levels made it hard to stay focused. She also couldn’t remember the last time she ate something. I feel like I’ve been running a million miles per hour. With every second that passed, the mare’s eyelids grew heavier and heavier.

A yawn escaped from Twilight’s mouth and her eyes took advantage of the distraction to close shut. No, I must stay awake! She forced her eyes open with all her strength but they only managed to open halfway before slowly drooping again. Okay, I’ll just let them rest for a second….

Shining Armor, Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard and brother to Twilight Sparkle, sat on the cold stone floor in his room of the castle. The window curtains were drawn closed, effectively blocking the midday sun but sounds of construction could still be heard outside. A blank, unfocused gaze had replaced his normal, happy demeanor. On the table in front of him, the white unicorn stared at a picture of him and Twilight hugging. One of Shining’s favorites, it had been taken right after his wedding to Princess Cadence.

Behind him, a creaking noise disrupted the ambient hammering and talking of the construction ponies. Shining blinked and turned to see his wife enter through the door. Disheveled and dirty, dark circles hung under both of her eyes and she let out a large yawn as she walked over to her husband’s side. Princess Cadence sat next to him, closing her eyes and leaning on his shoulder. “How are you honey?” She turned her head and kissed his check.

Shining Armor took in a deep breath and exhaled. Standing up, the unicorn stallion walked forward, opened the drawer and slid the picture inside before closing it. Back next to the table, Cadence let out a sigh as her husband proceeded to walk into the bathroom and toss some cold water onto his face. After drying off, he faced his wife and gave her a feeble smile. “I’m fine, beautiful. Are you feeling well? How are the fortifications coming along?”

In a quiet, yet forceful voice, Princess Cadence stared into her husband’s eyes. “Shining Armor, please talk to me.”

Shining’s smile quivered but recovered. “Talk about what? I’m fine sweetheart.” His legs began to shake so he sat down, trying to keep his facade up.

The pink alicorn moved forward and sat in front of him. She lifted a hoof up and stroked his face. “It wasn’t your fault.”

His eyes dropped and he hesitated before answering. “I… know that.”

Cadence pulled her husband in a deep hug before whispering. “Oh, Shining, I’m so sorry.”

With those simple words, Shining Armor’s façade of strength faltered and collapsed. He pushed Cadence away with his fore hooves, holding her in front of him while he yelled. “How is it not my fault? Twilight is dead because of me! My job was to protect her! My little sister! My little baby sister! I failed her and now she is dead!” Breaking into sobs, Shining Armor drew his wife in, clutching her while burying his face in her tangled mane.

Tears flowed freely down Cadence’s cheeks as she held onto her trembling husband. “There was nothing you could have done.”

Shining Armor spoke much quieter this time. “Do you remember the story behind my cutie mark? When Twily was a little filly, I protected her from a group of bullies when they took her smarty pants doll.” He drew in a shaking breath before continuing. “I can’t even live up to my cutie mark anymore.”

Cadence pulled away and took Shining Armor’s face in her hooves. Staring into his eyes, she spoke with determination. “Stop that nonsense, my love. You do live up to your cutie mark. What would Twilight say to you now?”

The white unicorn’s breathing grew less ragged. “She would want me to keep protecting Equestria.” A smile grew on his face. “She would also probably tell me that everything was okay.”

Rubbing her husband’s cheek with her forehoof, Princess Cadence smiled. “Then let us go help save that which Twilight gave up her life for.”

Back on the bridge of the Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle bolted awake. Her eyes darted around the room in panic before she remembered where she was. Letting out a deep sigh, the lavender mare brought her hooves to her eyes to rub at the damp fur that had not been there before she fell asleep. Poor Shiny, I miss him so much.

Except for the typical humming sounds of the frigate, a blanket of silence had settled over the bridge as Rainbow Dash made her way around Charybdis. No one seemed to notice Twilight’s bout of time bleeding syndrome, until she turned to her left and saw James studying her with a slight worry on his face. Leaning back in his seat, his eyes darted over to his computer screen for a quick second as he typed something.

Twilight felt the air around them charge with magical energy before an opaque cylindrical shield popped into place, encompassing both her and James’ chair. Anything outside of it looked blurry and unclear, and it seemed to block all noise from the bridge and the ship itself.

“This is a privacy bubble, Twilight. Ship captains use them to have private conversations while on the bridge. No one can hear or lip read anything we say. Alice also is programed to not record anything said while one is active.” James told her and his gaze moved back to look at hers. “Now, Victoria has briefed me already about your condition, but I wanted to ask you face to face. How are you holding up?”

Twilight averted her eyes and scratched the back of her head with a hoof. “I…. I honestly don’t know.”

James waited for Twilight to continue, but when she didn’t, he spoke up. “It’s hard seeing loved ones who aren’t here anymore.”

Twilight only answered with a nod.

“You know, I served on the Samar when Aeries was attacked.” With that remark, Twilight lifted her head and turned back to James. The human still faced her but he now stared off into the distance. She could see his sadness in eyes clearly haunted by his past. “I lost many friends. I still sometimes see them in my dreams.”

He paused for a moment, taking in and releasing a deep breath before meeting Twilight’s gaze again. “I don’t presume to know anything about what you are going through. I won’t insult you like that.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “I just want you to know something. You are not alone in this.”

Twilight nodded and scanned her eyes around the bridge. Through the blurry shield around them, the crew of the Rainbow Dash worked hard to keep the ship safe. Even with the visual distortion, she could easily pick out Isamu and Dmitri. They had done so much to help her in this strange new world.

“You’ve accomplished so much with the hand you were dealt. You should be proud.” James smiled at her. “And just know this; I promise to do everything in my power to get you home safely. I won’t let you down.”

“Thank you, James.” Twilight smiled, then out of nowhere, her stomach let out a loud grumbling growl. Rubbing her belly with her forehooves, the unicorn blushed faintly. “I guess I’m hungry.”

James Fletcher laughed and produced a shiny wrapped bar from his pocket. “Time flies when you’re running on nothing but adrenaline, doesn’t it, Twilight? I’ve learned to keep something to eat on me at all times. It can be hard to grab a bite to eat on a mission.” Opening the wrapper, he handed it to her and continued. “Here, it’s peanut flavored. Doesn’t taste as good as the real thing, but it should hold you over.”

Twilight took ahold of the off-brown looking food bar with her telekinesis. She lightly nibbled at one end but the moment her brain realized it was food; she scarfed it down in seconds. “Wow, not bad. I guess I was really hungry.”

“Yeah, those food bars are great when you’re starving. You probably haven’t eaten since breakfast.”

“It feels like breakfast was yesterday.” Twilight quietly spoke before contemplating something for a moment. “Do you think we will be able to pick up Azure?”

James Fletcher’s smile dimmed and he didn’t answer right away. “I don’t know.” He pursed his lips before pushing a button on his console. The privacy bubble vanished, letting the noises from the bridge rush in to assail Twilight’s ears. She hadn’t realized how loud the ship actually was. After some time, her mind must have tuned everything out. If anyone on the bridge wondered about the conversation she had with James, they didn’t show it.

“Update, Alice.” James Fletcher said to the computer.

The AI pony’s holographic body appeared in response. “Victoria has stabilized all of our wounded, including Socket Wrench. She will apparently make a full recovery. The medical personnel and supplies from the Athens made that possible.”

Relief flooded through Twilight. James glanced over at her smile, returning it with one of his own. “I will need to thank Captain Nightingale again. We really do owe her one.”

After James finished, Alice continued speaking. “Repair crews have given us full control over our remaining reactor. All hull breaches have been temporarily patched, our shields are at ninety percent capacity, and I have regained control of turrets three and six.”

James mused for a second. “That’s better than I expected, but I still don’t like the situation. We need a dry-dock in order to get the Dash back to a hundred percent.”

“Captain,” Isamu spoke up from the front, “the fortress is about to pop up over the horizon.”

All eyes turned to the front where Charybdis’ sky continued to revolve over the frigate. Alice activated a flashing icon marking the fortress just behind the edge of the clouds. Slowly, it became visible as a bright star in the distance, and the front view screen quickly zoomed in, revealing the cygnul space station. Already, Twilight noticed parts of it moving around. Some openings revealed large metal dishes while others uncovered massive rockets; the same kind that chased Rainbow Dash earlier. A lump of fear began to grow in her throat.

Twilight focused on the scene in front of her intently when Alice suddenly yelled out. “James, I am picking up a transmission from the fortress! It’s Azure!”

“Put her on!” James shouted. Above, loud harsh static poured out of the speakers on the ceiling. Through the noise, Twilight could hear somepony talking but she couldn’t make out any of the words. James called out to Alice. “Clean up the signal!”

The static continued filling the bridge with buzzing but several pitch changes led to gaps in the sound that allowed the voice of Azure to become clearer. After a few seconds, Alice managed to bring the interference low enough to hear what the unicorn was saying.

“James, … you read me? I managed to…” Azure’s voice cut out again.

“Azure! I read you, and I’m going to send in a shuttle! Get to a hangar and prepare for pick up!” James Fletcher bellowed.

Alice worked to clean up the signal even more but Azure continued speaking as if she never heard James. “… they are coming soon. I have to act fast or they will retake the reactor room.” There was a long pause marked with only the sounds of white-noise in the background. It lasted long enough for Twilight to wonder if Azure had stopped transmitting, but her voice once again filled the bridge. “I hope you can hear me…. I hope the Rainbow Dash got away safely…. I can make sure nopony falls into this trap though. I’ve got a plan.”

During Azure’s communication, Isamu and Dmitri worked furiously at their computers. From his seat, James asked “Why can’t we reach her?”

Dmitri spoke up. “Fortress still block our transmissions. We can only hear her. She can’t hear us.”

“Well, I don’t like her tone. Get me a channel with Azure now! We need to let her know we are coming.”

As if on cue, Azure Lightning began talking again. “If you can hear me, stay away from the fortress. I’ve… rigged the reactor to overload. I’m no Socket Wrench, but it should happen any second.”

James started yelling. “No, Azure! We are coming! Abort the overload!”

The battle mage still didn’t hear him. “I don’t know who is listening… if anypony is listening…. I’m just so tired of this war. Goodbye, James. If anyone could get the Dash out of this mess, it would be y….”

Azure’s voice cut out to be replaced with a short, harsh squeal of static. On the view screen ahead, a blinding white flash blotted out the starry backdrop of space. The ball of fire flared out in a large expanding sphere before quickly cooling and faded away. Where the cygnul space station once orbited Charybdis, now there was nothing.

On the bridge of the Rainbow Dash, no one spoke. Twilight stared at the expanse of stars where the fortress once was. She may have never particularly liked Azure Lightning, but watching and hearing her death like that felt so personal. It felt like a kick straight into her gut.

A loud sigh came from Twilight’s left where James sat. In a low monotone voice, he murmured, not sounding hopeful. “Alice, scan for any life pods. Then contact the Athens. Let’s take care of our dead and leave this system.” The human stood up from his seat. “Isamu, you have the con.” Then he turned and left the room.

“The six coffins in front of us today should remind us that this war is not over.” Captain James Fletcher’s voice rang out through the large hangar bay in the belly of the Rainbow Dash. “They should also remind us of what we are fighting for. These brave souls made the ultimate sacrifice to make the universe a little bit safer for our loved ones back home. They took an oath, the same one you took, that they upheld until death. It is an oath to protect the innocent, to stand up against evil, to prevent genocide from happening again.”

Twilight Sparkle listened to James’ speech as she stood at attention like the rest of Rainbow’s crew. Several high ranking officers from the Athens were also in attendance, including Captain Nightingale herself. A heavily bandaged Socket Wrench stood next to Twilight. Even after a week in the infirmary, she still looked pretty worn down. Twilight had been very surprised that Victoria Schaefer allowed her to come.

In front of the lavender pony, the last metal casket in line caught her eye. Though a flag of the United Equestrian Nations lay draped over its metallic surface, Twilight still knew whose name was written on top of the lid. As the only empty one in the room, its presence was mostly symbolic. She found it hard to believe that the battle had been seven days ago. The wounds were still fresh in her mind.

Memories flooded through Twilight’s mind. She watched Socket Wrench nearly die twice; she relived the killing of her first cygnul; she felt the missile’s impact on Rainbow Dash’s hull. She remembered the vision of her brother and seeing how torn up he was. Then she heard Azure’s last words before they were cut off, replaced by a small, short-lived star. Azure was right. I am also tired of war.

Twilight picked up movement out of the corner of her eye and she realized that her mind had wandered off during James’ speech. In front of him, a human and a pony, three pairs for each coffin, were pushing the caskets into the airlock, a metal room that had a large closed door at one end. As each coffin entered the airlock, James would announce the name of the human or pony inside along with their rank, and place of birth. The pony and human pairs then collected the flag and folded it before taking it out of the airlock.

Dmitri and Victoria walked forward and joined two other pony-human pairs at the last casket in line. James’s voice once again filled the hanger bay. “Azure Lightning; Second Lieutenant; New Rhea.” When he finished, Dmitri and Victoria returned to their places among the ranks, with Victoria holding the now folded flag that had draped over Azure’s coffin. James then moved forward to the control panel on the airlock. With a few clicks, a metal door slid shut, sealing the six caskets.

A thick glass window allowed her to still see inside the door. Then, James activated a blinking red icon on the airlock computer which caused a flashing strobe light to spin in the room. The human turned and strode over to stand next to Captain Nightingale, when a new monotonous sound grew slowly in intensity.

Without turning her head, Twilight Sparkle glanced over to see five ponies and two humans marching towards the airlock. They all carried very ornate looking rifles that each had a large, bright orange device of some kind camped on the barrel. Twilight took note that the rifles held by the humans had much smaller triggers than the ones carried by the ponies. They also didn’t have as large of a reloading lever underneath.

The group of seven halted in front of the high ranking officers before turning as one to face the airlock. With a quick fluid motion, the ponies reared up on their rear hooves in a wide legged stance mimicked by the two humans. Each now pointed their rifle slightly upwards.

Twilight tried to figure out what they were doing when a deafening boom filled the room. The ponies and humans had fired their weapons as one, making her nearly jump into the air in fright. I forgot about the Honor Guard’s rifle volley! She remembered reading about it during her late nights researching on Socket’s Computer.

A sharp, metallic smell filled the room as the Honor Guard fire two more seven-round volleys. Because she now expected it, Twilight found it easier to not fidget anymore. Her ears did ring a little bit, but not as bad as when she first used Azure’s pistol on the cygnul space station. Because she didn’t hear any ricochets or see any impact damage, she mused that these guns weren’t firing real bullets.

After the last volley, James Fletcher bought his arm up in a salute. Except for Twilight, every other pony and human in the room followed suite. A few seconds later, the exterior door opened, revealing a backdrop of stars. All six caskets flew out of the airlock with the rush of air, before vanishing in the dark. The airlock door sealed shut and a loud hiss filled the room as air rushed back to fill the vacuum.

As the airlock slid open, the Honor Guard of humans and ponies turned and marched out of the hangar. Once they were out of sight, James walked forward to stand in front of everyone. Breaking the silence, he quietly spoke, “Twilight, stand by me.”

She hesitated for a heartbeat before walking forward as steadily as she could. Twilight felt everypony’s eyes on her. Reaching James’ side, the lavender unicorn turned to stand facing the room as well. I don’t want to mess up and make a fool out of myself. Her stomach churned from the unease she felt, but when her eyes caught Dmitri’s, he flashed her a quick smile, reassuring her.

“Return to your stations and await further orders.” James sternly announced to the crews of both ships. As one, every pony and human rotated ninety degrees and filed out of the hangar. Twilight stood there next to James until everyone had left the room, leaving them alone. Next to her, the human’s shoulders dropped down as his bearing changed from his earlier demeanor. Slowly, he began walking towards the hangar exit, followed by Twilight.

Only the sounds of heels and hooves hitting the steel deck punctuated the silence during the walk back to James’ cabin. When they reached his quarters, the human captain went over to his desk and sat down, facing Twilight. She crawled up into one of the guest chairs and sat down as well. “Twilight, I need to talk to you about what you did during the battle. You disobeyed my orders twice.”

Twilight Sparkle gave him a confused look. “But, you never gave me any orders.”

James leaned back in his chair while he glanced upwards and to the right. “Hmm, I guess I didn’t.” His eyes returned to her with a scowl. “But what you did was dangerous and it could have gotten you killed.”

“But I saved Socket’s life! Twice! And didn’t I also help save the ship?” Twilight Sparkle tried to defend herself.

The human’s facial features softened a bit. “Yes. Yes you did. That doesn’t change the fact that it was irresponsible. Luck was on your side that day. You just don’t have the training to keep doing stuff like that.” He turned to look at a picture on the wall. It displayed the Rainbow Dash parked in some sort of massive white-walled building with several dozen rows of uniformed humans and ponies standing in front of it.

Twilight thought over his words for a moment before she replied. “Then train me.”

That caught James’ attention. “What?”

“Train me. You said I don’t have the skills to help out around here? Then teach me. If I see somepony in trouble, I am going to try to help them anyway. So the least you can do is provide me with the experience necessary to do so.”

James stared hard at her and she cringed inwardly under his steely gaze. When he opened his mouth, he did not give the response she had been expecting. “Okay. We start tomorrow.”

“But you said it yours… wait, really?” Twilight’s counterargument halted in its tracks. She had been preparing for him to argue back.

As if reading her mind, James let out a light chuckle. “Twilight Sparkle, you forget. I know your history with your friends. I know you mean it when you said you would help anyone in need, but don’t think your training will be as easy as this argument was. It won’t.”

Twilight nodded, lowering her head to stare at her hooves. Unable to speak just yet, she mused over the fact that her life would soon take another dramatic turn. She also had to work through the shock she felt at the short amount of time it took to convince James to let her do this. It’s the least I can do.

When she looked back up at James, he stared off at another picture. This one showed a small group of ponies and humans all carrying weapons and looking at the camera. She recognized a scowling Azure Lightning standing next to a smiling James Fletcher. They both looked much younger. “Being in command is never easy, Twilight Sparkle.” James ran a hand through his hair.

The lavender pony glanced up at the human. She didn’t know how to respond, so she tried changing the subject. “What do we do now?”

Luckily, it seemed to work. “Now? We need a dry dock to fix up the damage to Rainbow Dash. The problem is that the closest one is just so far away and it will be very hard on our remaining reactor.”

A chime sounded from the entrance to James’ stateroom. He clicked something on his desk computer and the door slid open. “That’s not entirely true, Captain.” In walked Isamu Zhang followed by Victoria Schaefer, Dmitri Bearclaw, and a patched up Socket Wrench. “There is one other option.”

“We could go to Midnight City.” Victoria interjected before stopping in front of James.

James stood up, confusion on his face. “Isamu, how did you hear what…” He shook his head before crossing his arms in defiance. “No, that’s not an option.”

Socket Wrench coughed roughly before talking. Her voice still exhibited her usual strength, but a slight rasp gave away the punishment she had endured. “James, our ship won’t make it to a UEN dry dock. At least Midnight City has the facilities necessary for a full repair of the ship. It’s also only two jumps away. We could easily make it without taxing the reactor.”

“Do you know how much those repairs would cost? The Admiralty Board would never agree to it.” Fletcher retorted.

Dmitri looked away from the group and scratched his head with a hoof. “Well… I know Deval Aldridge. He runs the city. We go way back and he owes me big favor.”

Dmitri’s statement caused James to freeze for a moment before he continued. “You mean to tell me that the Deval Aldridge, the most powerful and influential weapons dealer in the Outlier Systems, owes you a favor? How in the hell did you manage that? How did I not know about this?”

“Well, he doesn’t only sell weapons.” The earth pony sheepishly answered.

“Dmitri!” James, Victoria, Isamu, and Socket all yelled in unison.

“Yeesh! Before I join Navy, I help him out with something. I promise him I wouldn’t talk about it again. No one got hurt and it wasn’t that illegal.”

“I'm going to forget you said that.” James rubbed the bridge of his nose with his hand.

Isamu spoke up after the distraction. “James, I see no other option. I know you don’t want to put anyone in danger, but trust me, this is the best course of action.”

James let out a deep breath. “Okay. We’ll do it. I’ll talk to Captain Nightingale about escorting us as far as she can, since we are a sitting duck in our condition. Go back to your posts. We have a lot of work to do.”