Orbiting a remote moon...
The message was delivered by means best left to the imagination. It was written down on a data slate and passed to an officer in the bowels of a massive command ship. The courier made his way into the command tower, passing the message into the gloved hand of an alien who made a dismissive motion with another gloved hand, sending the messenger bowing in respect as he took his leave.
A female voice purred as she read of the expected arrival of a Datrali fleet at Avol. Another servant arrived and bowed, having received a non-verbal summons. Orders were given in a hushed whisper, and the second messenger slipped away to carry out the orders.
A third servant entered and bowed. The golden-feathered Avolan Gryphoness closed her eyes, wings laid out to either side. "You summoned me, My Master?"
"I have received word from one of my sources, my pet. The Datrali have learned of your homeworld."
The Gryphoness looked up, concerned. She took a hesitant step forward, her beak opened but immediately closed. Worry, concern, and fear were in her eyes. If her homeworld had been discovered by aliens...
"The Quarantine Order still stands." The Master replied with a comforting coo, reaching out to stroke the Gryphoness' head. "We will deal with this affront to the Empire. Personally..." The vulpine alien concealed in a black hooded robe purred softly. "... Rade will see to it."
The golden Gryphoness smiled, leaning into the gentle caresses of the Alien. Master saved her, rescued her, and gave her love and protection. If Master said that Avol would be saved, then it would be saved.
-
Ships from several adjoining star systems assembled. Massive wedge-shaped Destroyers, boxy Cruisers and angular Escorts, and even several transports and support ships formed a massive sphere of war machines. Over a hundred ships of war gathered for a singular purpose. The vulpine aliens manning the ships alongside their war droids knew something was up when orders came from the Flagship directly.
Aboard this Flagship the Master sauntered onto a catwalk between two pits containing the control consoles. This was the Bridge of the massive 19-kilometer long command ship named Guardian. She stood alongside the Gryphoness whom was adjusting her black uniforms of the mysterious Cerinian Empire - a collection of races united to preserve peace in their part of the Galaxy. Despite being only an adviser to the Imperial Ruling Council, the Master still retained enough power and influence to assemble and lead this massive formation of Imperial Warships. The Avolan Gryphoness was her Aide and personal confidant, as well as Mission Advsior on this operation. First Contact procedures be damned when a Quarintine System was threatened by Interstellar War.
The Master made a motion; "Open Channel."
"Yes, Master." The Gryphon replied calmly, nodding to an officer in the starboard control pit. "Open."
"You all know who I am..." The Master purred, softly glowing emerald eyes shining out the armored viewports at the multitude of warships. "You know why you are gathered here today. The Datrali seek to remove what we have sworn to protect. You are assembled here to punish them for their arrogance. The inferno of my vengeance fills you! It will burn you, my bearers of Darkness, it will fill your veins with power and fire until their civilization is in ashes. As my power flows in you, so too will I see what you see, feel what you feel, and know what you know. With each death I will grow stronger. With every fortress burned my reach will stretch further. You are my army of dark righteousness. You are Kitsu'Ne and your name shall strike terror into their hearts! Go forward and take my fire to the Datrali! Burn them from their fortresses until no trace remains."
Emotions on each ship ran high, soldiers standing with pride at their Master's words. Especially at her final statement: "This is my holy word!"
-
Two days had passed...
Celestia was cautious when more ships arrived a day early. A Gryphon female stepped down the ramp of the shuttlecraft to deliver a message stating the planet was now a Protectorate of the Cerinian Empire, and they intended to defend Ponykind. The Alicorn was granted a private meeting with the Master who informed Celestia of certain conditions for the assistance of the massive War Fleet; among them was that Ponykind must remain independent of the Alliance and isolated from all exterior interference. The Master agreed that further talks would have to wait until the current threat was dealt with, but landing of additional defense troops would begin immediately.
Three Days had passed...
In another region of space close by the Datrali fleet was assembled. They had spent the morning completing final preparations for the final jump to their new target. In the holds of the troopships Prayers were said and weapons readied. They were ready to kill for the cause.
Their Faster-Than-Light (FTL) capable fighters were launched and assembling at the head of the fleet which was maneuvering into battle formation. When all were accounted for the Gunboat leading them reported to the Flagship; "My Lord, we are in position, all fighters accounted for."
On said Flagship, one of the largest in the Datrali armada, the Lord gave the final command to proceed with the countdown to Jump. On the command the fighters leap away, followed by the warships. Then, the troopships with their own escorts, holds filled with warriors.
Near Avol the fleet emerged from FTL. The comms channels were soon filled with commands and reports as the fighters spread out to clear the path for the fleet as their engines glowed to life. Each craft began the burn to take them into a descending orbit toward the lush green world and its attendant moon, shining silver in the depths of space, reflecting the light of its nearby star.
"Oddball, do you copy?" The lead Fighter called out.
"Roger, Bravo Leader."
"Mark my position and form your squadron up behind me."
From another Wing Leader: "Red Wing, Standing By. All Fighters report in."
And a third: "All ships assume Attack Formation."
On the gunboat leading them the sensors became confused. The officer watching the console reported this with a concerned glance back at his commanding officer. "Sir, I'm reading large amounts of energy from the Moon."
"What?" The Commander walked over. "What do you mean? That's actually good. That's why we're here!"
"That is just it, Lord! The sensors show that there is a shield around the moon!"
The Commander stared at the display, then out the forward viewports to witness the silvery glow of magic rippling and bubbling across its surface like a boiling cauldron. Horror soon come over his face, and he reacted on instinct; "... I think we're in trouble... Bring us about!"
"Lord?"
"I said bring us about! Emergency Power to the aft shields! All ships: Break-Break-Break!"
Receiving this command the wave of fighters headed for Avol broke formation like water spraying onto a wall. The warships soon followed with the commander of the lead cruiser barking rapid-fire over alarm klaxons: "Evasive Maneuvers! Reverse Engines; Full Astern!"
It became apparent their plan had gone horribly awry when the Fleet Commander's aide reported: "My Lord! We have Enemy Capital Ships! Bearing Two-Seven-Five!" They were quickly shown on the hologram display. It showed their own fleet, and another fleet coming around the moon. They were out-numbered by the massive formation of alien Battleships. Their fleet of a hundred Datrali Warships was pinned in by a formation nearly twice their number. What caught the Admiral's eye was that their position relative to his fleet appeared to pin them against the unknown magic of Avol's moon. To him it made things abundantly clear:
"It's a Trap!"
The Leader of Green Wing immediately reported; "Fighters, straight ahead!" A massive wave consisting of well over a thousand small, dagger-shaped one-man interceptors mixed with the Alliance Escort fighters emerged from the newly appeared fleet on a head-on course for the Datrali fleet. They clashed, squadrons knifing between squadrons as red and green explosions left dead pilots in their wakes.
"Oh, I have a bad feeling about this!" Another pilot reported as the two sides clashed in a deadly dance of death. Flashes of emerald burst-fire particle lasers from the alien ships and the red beams and pulses from the Datrali and Alliance ships killed dozens on both sides. "There's... too many of them!" A fighter pilot screamed as he was vaporized.
All of this in the first ten seconds of the battle.
On the Gunboat the Commander soon had a hold of himself. "All Fighters; Accelerate to Attack Speed! Try and draw their fire away from the Troopships!" In response the Datrali fighters soon looped back toward their own fleet, engaging the alien fighters that began to swarm over them.
The alien fighters were unlike anything they had encountered before. They were small, unshielded, and with little or no armor protection but they were fast, very agile as they lacked excess mass to redirect when changing course... and of course, there were simply so many of them! Their twin and quadruple rapid-fire guns could easily wear down Datrali shields and stitch bursts of ionized plasma across a hull and shatter the invader's fighters. It made them dangerous, and to top it all off the pilots were down-right mean! They ganged up on their opponents, swarming behind aces to overwhelm them, and one group would lead defending fighters away while another group launched attacks on important targets.
A cruiser and a Battlecruiser forced their way forward toward a trio of Imperial ships protecting a formation of empty transports in orbit of Avol. The Captain was intent on getting at least a few troopships to the surface, and if he died in the process so much the better. Carefully aimed volleys of plasma cannons struck the lead Imperial Destroyer, sending flickering electricity arcing across its hardened shields and forward turrets. The ships exchanged blows over continent-spanning ranges, multi-megatons of energy being unleashed with each salvo. While the Destroyer was distracted, the landing on Avol began under intense fire. The enemy forces headed for the central region of Equestria around Ponyville and Canterlot.
-
On the massive monster that led the Imperial Fleet, the black-robed Master sneered at the report that Avol had been tainted by the Datrali.
“Master?“ The Gryphoness, just returned from the surface as the enemy fleet approached, looked up in concern.
“Rade is in position.” The Master took a deep, calming breath. “She will intercept the landing forces. They are already entrenched in Central Equestria and additional sites in the Frozen North. She has her role, ours is up here to ensure the enemy does not escape.“
“Master, we are in attack position!“ A male vulpine in officer’s uniform walked up and clicked his heels at attention.
The Master smiled at the report. "Signal the Fleet to remain in formation. We will hold here."
"Master?" She looked to her Master.
Sharp fangs under glowing emerald eyes showed from the hood. The Master grinned at the silvery shapes facing off, a series of bright flashes of light constantly among them as ships died. "An old friend of mine has a nasty surprise for our unwelcome guests..."
-
Looping back past a Datrali Destroyer, the Gunboat found itself being assailed from all sides by these darting, flimsy yet dangerous fighters. The Destroyer itself was fighting for its own life, vaporizing entire squadrons only to have another 10% of its shields lowered by a single strafing run. Energy bolts were flying everywhere, fighters on both sides vanishing in red and white puffs of flame as their oxygen supply was consumed by the explosions that doomed their pilots to the great beyond.
The warships weren’t having a time of it either as the lead cruiser was nearly stopped dead by anti-ship missiles punching through weakened shields to explode in their crew decks. The Captain's intent to sacrifice himself to ensure the initial landing force made planetfall was being granted as a second volley opened up their engineering section to space, crippling her. The Battlecruiser accompanying her found itself between two Imperial Destroyers taking a fierce pounding. Any further attempt by the Datrali to get close to Avol was met with such fierce resistance.
The Gunboat Commander was having some luck as he barked commands to accompanying fighters, directing them toward enemy clusters and warning when an enemy squadron was pressing on another of their warships.
The aliens were skimming the shields of Datrali ships to protect themselves from enemy anti-fighter fire, hammering Datrali fighters and draining a warships shields whenever they had the opportunity. Their diligence paid off as a battlecruiser near the center of the formation found its conning tower ripped off by a near-sustained volley of anti-ship missiles released by successive waves of Alliance attack fighters. The burning ship began a slow roll before secondary explosions neatly snapped it in half.
The danger to such maneuvers was apparent when more than one fighter became smeared across a ship's shields or even hull by moving too close, resulting in a collision. A single puff of flame and then nothing. It was during such a maneuver to clear alien fighters off an Escort Frigate, and avoiding ramming it in the process, that the Commander noticed something odd about the unfolding space battle: "Only the fighters are attacking, I wonder what those heretic capital ships are waiting for?"
He soon got his answer when someone - somepony - on the Alliance Flagship heard a female voice purr into her ear from the aether; "Fire at Will, My Daughter!"
She complied.
The moon rippled. Truly obscene amounts of magic came to life and encased the silvery orb. A bulge of pure white appeared, moving across the surface to face a Datrali Battleship, then unleashing a knife-like beam that sliced into its underside. A blast erupted from the ruptured hull igniting the internal oxygen which swept up corridors to literally incinerate the crew and insides of the ship before blowing outward. The explosion began to encase the ship in a tremendous fireball that concealed a second, much larger blast that blew the massive ship into three pieces. The stern section containing the engines and main power core soon exploded as the core ruptured and touched off the fuel stores, leaving two large chunks of burning wreckage drifting through the battlefield.
The Gunboat Commander cursed under his breath. "That blast came from the moon! Its some kind of superweapon!" He called the Flagship for orders, only to hear confusion. The shock of a ship suddenly exploded had sewn chaos among the Datrali Fleet.
It took several seconds before the Fleet Commander could yell out a command; "All Ships, Prepare to Retreat! We're withdrawing!"
"My Lord! We won't get another chance at this!" The Gunboat Commander replied in shock.
"We have no choice! Our Adepts can't repel power of that magnitude!"
The Commander's reply was briefly interrupted by another blast that vaporized a troopship in a single shot. "-I say again; move closer to the enemy fleet! Engage those Heretics at point-blank range!"
The Fleet Commander fired back in surprise: "At that close of range we won't last long against those Star Destroyers!"
"We'll last longer than we will against whatever is using that moon as a weapon! And we might just take a few of them with us!"
The Gunboat commander put words to action, skimming the prow of one of the leading Imperial Destroyers and engaging in a desperate duel with both pursuing fighters and the defensive guns on the superstructure before him.
The enemy fighters continued the pursuit, soon squeezing the Datrali fighters between them and the battleships' defensive guns. More fire was quickly added into the mix as the two fleet's met and soon intermixed. The battle devolved into a bloody melee; capital ships on both sides exchanged broadsides at far less than point-blank range. Massive explosions and salvos blew open chunks of ships on both sides and vaporized more fighters that got caught in the crossfire between the juggernauts.
The Lunar Goddess was a patient one, and quite precise in her measurements. She was known for preferring to use an older calculating machine to ensure her numbers were correct down to the third decimal place. She let this be known, picking off the Datrali Flagship between two alien Destroyers, sending its front half drifting into the guns of a third.
The Gunboat Commander was now in overall command of one of the most powerful Datrali fleets ever, but this fleet was even now breaking under the strain of fierce void combat. Caught between a magic of obscene proportions and a ruthless Xeno race that sacrificed their fighter pilots wholesale to inflict as much damage on their opponents as possible. It was only a matter of time before they were ground down to nothing through sheer attrition. Checking the status on his displays he realized something terrible; he had no other choice but to preserve what forces he had left for another battle. As the one who gave the order he would accept the dishonor.
They had to Retreat.
The forces that had been landed were to be sacrificed. They could not help them as a squadron of enemy warships had reinforced the orbital defenses and word was coming that the enemy ground troops had regrouped to counter-attack. The problem was that were he to give the order, the enemy fleet was blocking their path to prevent their escape. He studied the hologram and found one hope; a thin part of the alien line held by an Alliance warship. It was the only one they had experience fighting and thus could exploit its known weaknesses. "All Ships! Concentrate all fire on the Alliance Battleship!"
Words were put into action.
-
"We are at war with forces too terrible to comprehend. We cannot afford mercy for any of its victims too weak to take the correct course. They come to kill, and we must stop them by killing them.” The blue vixen in black stood atop an empty ammunition crate, glaring at a formation of white-armored Stormtroopers arrayed before her. “Mercy destroys us; it weakens us and saps our resolve. Put aside all such thoughts for they are not worthy of the servants of our Master. For in our resolve we only reflect our Master’s pure purpose of will." Another pause. “Move.”
The elite of the Cerinian Empire snapped to attention before scattering to their posts on the north edge of the Everfree Forest.
The area was lined with hastily erected trench-works dotted by gun turrets for both anti-personnel blasters and anti-armor laser cannons. It was a quickly assembled line, but one that was going to give the Datrali cause for concern. Already the battle further up the Unicorn Mountains near Canterlot was becoming a bloody meat grinder, and the Cerinian Reserves had occupied Ponyville to seek out and protect five mares that had been selected by the Master for preservation. It was not her place to understand why those five needed to be protected, only to obey. So, Lady Rade obeyed, and focused on blocking the southern pincer directed at Ponyville. Her orders were then to sweep up behind the main force and destroy the Datrali offensive from the rear.
A soft buzz in her ear sent Rade toward the forward-most trench where the Datrali were advancing toward the small farming community. She put a gloved finger to her ear and responded to the Colonel's request for orders; “Kill them.”
The trench-line erupted in red and green flame, the volleys of particle disruptor fire scything through the advancing ranks. White bolts of plasma artillery screamed overhead to land in the advancing ranks of the enemy. Magic-shielded walkers staggered under hammer blows from Anti-Vehicle Lasers before tumbling to the ground to lay dead. The wrath of the Cerinian Empire soon followed the weapons fire as mechanical walkers emerged from gaps in the trench-works, spewing death from their weapons as Rade barked orders into her comm-bead. She would only commit herself to the fight when the leader was found. Master had decreed that whomever had leaked the location of this planet was to die, and Rade had no intention of disappointing her Master.
-
In space, a brutal exchange of fire commenced as the Datrali warships struggled to get close to the Alliance Flagship.
“Cry 'havoc' and let slip the dogs of war!” The Master cackled as another pair of Datrali Battleships were ripped asunder by her Flagship’s numerous ranks of Turbolaser batteries.
Another flash of light from the moon brought her attention elsewhere. She turned and paced to the other end of her Bridge, watching the lead Datrali Battlecruiser being sent tumbling by the Moon’s destruction of another Battleship. She sneered, cursing luck as the crippled warship was on a course to fall into Avol’s atmosphere. It appeared that some chunks of the ship, were it to survive burning up, might fall on land. She idly made a note to send sweep teams to purge survivors after the battle.
-
The blue vixen dressed in black chuckled, watching the corrupted Alicorn reform his body. He stood, surrounded by the bloody remains of the Datrali that had accompanied him in seeking out Celestia - only to be stabbed in the back by a Cerinian Counter-Offensive. He turned to find Rade grinning at the half-dead Pony from under her hood.
"Who... what... are you?"
"Pathetic." She responded, twirling her red energy blade. "You who claim to be a master of Ponykind are no more than a mere annoyance. What do you think you hope to accomplish? Gain ultimate power?" With a backhand, her red energy blade sliced a Datrali in two that had been playing dead and lunged at her. "Power isn't the energy you hold within yourself or siphon from others. True power is the ability to influence others. You are merely cheating, and gaining NOTHING." She sneered.
Xander glared at her with glowing eyes. "You have no idea what you are dealing with. I am a GOD !"
The vixen stopped before him, an evil, fang-revealing grin on her face. "The way you are going, you will be lord of a dead world, master of nothing. The most powerful of your kind not by claiming power... but by default."
He roared in defiance; "THAT IS THE POINT! I would have lead Equestria to a brighter future, but now I’m going to kill every last pony. And after this world burns, I'll move on to the rest of the galaxy and conquer it." He fired a bolt from his horn at her, only to be surprised when she easily deflected it with her energy blade.
"You underestimate the true nature of Evil, Mortal." She fired back verbally before exchanging blows with him. She ended with another slash which he parried. All the while, she talked; "What do you seek to accomplish by doing it? A Galaxy of order?" She cackled. "Do you even know what that is? The opposite of chaos?" She grinned, laying open his flank with a slash. "What is Chaos? Pain. Suffering, you might say." She was toying with him! "Oppression. Deceit. But could not all these things be said of the Datrali? You hunt down the talented and the strong-willed. You break them or sacrifice them."
A crater was blown to one side from a deflected fireball.
"You lie to the Galaxy and wage war on those who dare speak out. Your Datrali puppets assume guilt and execute millions on a whim. And why? Why do you do this?"
"Because I have taken this responsibility on my own!" He roared and lunged again.
Rade parried the strike, floating backward out of reach. "You do it because you know Chaos is there but you do not know how to fight it, so you crush everyone for fear that they might bring disorder. The Datrali suffer because of Chaos. No matter how hard you fight, that will never change. Chaos exists in a state of permanent victory over you." She sneered. "You dance to our tune, mortal one. You butcher and torture and repress one another because the Gods require you to. The Galaxy is founded on Chaos. My Master won your war a long, long time ago." She purred. "... before you were even born..."
He roared in frustration, again slamming her defenses with magic after magic, all the while wondering why this vixen resisted his attempts to tear her soul asunder.
"Let me open your eyes to the true nature of Darkness..." The dark vixen grinned before suddenly leaping aside...
... allowing the Nightmare-possessed Twilight to smash into him...
-
The Alliance Flagship was forced to break from formation, leaking gases and flames from several hull breaches. The shattered Datrali fleet struggled to reassemble their surviving ships and make a break through the opened hole in the lines.
It took several more hours for those ships that couldn't escape to be dealt with. Although most were simply destroyed by the large guns of the Imperial Destroyers, a few were captured. The shattered wrecks were silently handed over the Alliance. Their crews, however, ended up being taken prisoner by their new enemy.
Aboard the Guardian, the Master stared at the tainted world below. It would take months, if not years, to route all the survivors and wreckage from the invasion.
"I'm sorry."
"Master?" The Gryphoness looked up.
"I'm sorry. As Master, it is my responsibility to protect these worlds, these civilizations, under my charge. I have failed. An alien race has broken through and landed on Avol."
"It is okay, Master. Celestia and Luna are unharmed-"
"But Twilight Sparkle has been. We are lucky that she could control the Nightmare, otherwise this battle would not have gone our way." The vulpine alien sighed.
"Master." An Officer approached nervously. "The Alliance commander is requesting to meet with you."
She sneered. "Well... at least I can protect Avol from these... Humans..."
"Strange creatures." The Gryphoness replied. "So war like."
"They have their reasons, my pet." The Master caressed her tenderly. "And we have ours. Go. Return to the surface. You will act as Lieason between our search parties and the Royal Guard." A beat. "I understand you know the six mares that my old friend has told us to protect."
"It's been a long time." She ruffled her feathers. "We didn't exactly part on good terms."
The Master smiled. "Take this as a chance to make amends with your childhood friend."
She snorted. "I was such a pain back then..."
"I taught you humility, little one." Gloved fingers stroked her beak. "Use that, and Rainbow Dash will once again call you 'friend'."
Gilda smiled. "Yes, Master."
Author's Note
Yes... I was watching that movie at the time I originally wrote this. It took no more than an hour. Shirotora was amused at the idea and intended to post it as an April Fool's chapter, but computer crash prevented it.
Later it was posted as a blog post.
