Chapter 1: Faust Prime
“You should be proud,” they said. “Faust Prime is one of the first colonies Earth ponies established after their ascension. As commander you’ll be in charge of the entire planet’s military forces. This is a big chance for you to further your career.”
“Horse-apples, this is nothing but a political move. They’re just using me as an example to further their own gains,” said the blue pegasus pacing what was now his commander’s quarters in the Faust Prime barracks.
For Soarin, this was no different than the rest of his military career, however. Ever since his birth, one of the few foals born out of a union between an earth pony and a pegasi, he’d been lauded about as more of a trophy rather than a child by the Equestrian Confederation. After earth ponies discovered the Luna mass relay, named for the moon it was hidden inside, they realized they weren’t alone in the universe. They created the EC to show the rest of the galaxy that they were united and strong.
Soarin was just the newest link in a chain of symbols to boost Earth Pony importance in the galaxy. A symbol of how earth ponies and the other races of the galaxy can work together on a more universal stage! He had heard those words more times than he’d ever want to count.
“Excuse me, Commander, you got a sec?” he heard a voice call from outside his chambers. Opening the door, he saw that this intrusion upon his woes was an orange earth pony.
“Thank you sir, mah name’s Applejack,” she said. Soarin could detect a heavy southern drawl in her voice. “Since Ah’m set to be your new gunnery chief, I figured Ah’d come an’ introduce mahself. It’s an honor to serve with you sir!”
Well, somebody’s a model soldier. “You can relax Applejack, this isn’t Equis, and chances are I won’t really be your commanding officer,” said Soarin.
“Now what do you mean by that?” she asked. “Yer the commander of this barracks, so yer gonna be mah commanding officer, right?”
“I might be the commanding officer, but I’m more of a figurehead,” Soarin sighed. “The EC just put me here to show the pegasi that earth ponies think they’re important.”
“I’m sure that’s not true commander. The confederation never promotes a soldier to command without proper cause,” Applejack said with a smile.
“Well, then you must’ve never been involved with politics,” Soarin laughed. “And you don’t need to keep calling me “commander,” just call me Soarin.”
“Sure thing Comm– Ah mean, Soarin,” Applejack said with a smile. “Now as much as Ah’m sure ya’d love to sit here and do nothing, the mess hall is serving pie. What say we get ourselves a slice and continue this chat there?”
Soarin could feel his lips dripping with saliva. He had always had a particular weakness for pie ever since he was born. He swallowed, trying to clear the overflowing drool from his mouth. “Of course, Applejack. Pie sounds nice.”
“C-Commander! Commander Soarin!” A voice shouted from the hallway. Soarin opened the door to his office to see a young stallion, dressed head to hoof in battle armor. From the sound of his voice and the speed of his steps, he could tell the stallion was panicked.
“What is it? I was just about to head out for pie with Gunnery Chief Applejack,” he asked.
“Just Applejack is fine, if that’s all right with you Soarin,” Applejack interjected.
“It’s…it’s…we’re,” the stallion struggled to speak, his voice broken and raspy as he gasped for air. His face was uncovered, and from the sweat dripping down his muzzle Soarin could see that he had been running for a decent while. “We’re under attack sir! Faust Prime is being attacked!”
“What!” Soarin and Applejack cried in unison.
Applejack stepped up to the stallion. “Who’s attacking us?” she asked scanning his armor for a symbol of his rank. Her eyes fell upon the small symbol, two diagonal lines that rose to a peak. “Private, Ah’m gonna to need a status report of everythin’ we know.”
“It was almost instantaneous, chief. It was like they came out of nowhere. This huge ship, bigger than I’ve ever seen just swooped down and suddenly everything’s gone to Tartarus,” The solider said, his breathing getting haggard as his eyes went wide. “Oh, Celestia, I saw so many men d—”
“Get a hold of yourself, private!” Applejack shouted. “The commander and Ah need to know what we’re up against before we can help you!”
Soarin was impressed by her leadership skills. Maybe she should be commander here instead of me. He saw the private taking deep breaths as he attempted to calm himself down.
“It was the Geth, they came through the Utopia relay. There’s dozens of dreadnought-class ships out there, plus that giant one. Hundreds of Geth troopers have already made landfall. So far, they’ve all been converging on the dig site, killing anyone and anything that gets in their way,” he explained.
“That can’t be!” shouted Applejack. “The Geth haven’t been seen outside the Pegasus Veil since the end of their war with the donkeys.
“No disrespect ma’am, but tell that to the several dozen Geth platoons outside,” the private said harshly. “They’ve surrounded the dig site, and killed anypony who’s tried to get close.”
“Wait a second, what dig site?” Soarin asked. “I thought this was just a normal colony.”
“It was sir, until they found the ruins,” the soldier explained. “They were alicorn in origin so a team of expert archaeologists were brought in to excavate and determine just what it all was.”
“And how come neither the Confederation, nor the Council has heard any of this yet? I would have expected unearthed alicorn ruins to be big news,” said Soarin.
“They weren’t sure what they had found,” the stallion said, “it was a big building made out of some strange metal. They hadn’t even excavated the inside until yesterday. The Geth are probably after the obelisk that was found inside.”
“Is that all, private?” asked Applejack.
“Yes ma’am,” the private said in response.
“Good, then call the Confederation and the Council and have them send whatever aid they can,” she said, “and tell them we need it here ten minutes ago.” She turned to Soarin. “Sorry bout this Soarin, but looks like yer gonna be leadin' the charge against these things. Are ya ready for some flashlight hunting?”
Flashlight hunting? Soarin knew there was no choice in the matter. Even as a figurehead, he was still commander of this colony’s military, and as such it was his job to lead them against the invading forces. “Applejack, grab your gear and meet me outside. You too, private. We need to fight our way to that dig site to secure that obelisk before it gets taken, is this understood?”
“Yes, sir!” they shouted in unison.
As Applejack and the private left the room, Soarin opened the cabinet that contained his military gear. Upon his assignment to Faust Prime, he had been issued the same basic grade weapons and munitions that the soldiers here were given. In an attempt to be prepared for fighting at any range, he had picked out a Kesler pistol, a Mantis sniper rifle, and a Lancer assault rifle. The sniper rifle had always been a specialty of his, while the pistol served as a trusty sidearm for when people got too close. Recently he had been trying to use the assault rifle as a mid-range crowd-control weapon, though he was having no such luck.
His armor was custom-made after his time in the Neighllian Blitz. The individual pieces were dyed a deep blue, with a golden chestplate and similar golden trim. The right breast proudly displayed the Star of Equis, the medal he was given for his bravery and courage. To him it was just a reminder of everyone who died there. All his friends, everyone he was close to, gone in an instant. It hurt to think about. Though now was not the time for that, he had people to save and a colony to secure.
It took him several minutes to fasten each piece of his armor together. It all fit as one cohesive unit and had to be equipped and connected to function properly. Once he was fully dressed, he grabbed his weapons from the cabinet and began affixing them to their spaces upon his back, satisfied as he heard the mag-lock system on the back of his chestplate lock each one into place. Lastly he grabbed his combat harness, a metal overlay attached to his armor designed to hold his weapons in combat. Once his harness was locked in place, he extended the harness’ eyepiece to his face. As his armor went through its start-up operations, initializing it’s shields and other modules, his eyepiece glowed to life, an orange glow covering his left eye. His eyepiece lit up up with a small HUD displaying the ammo for his weapons as well as the capacity for his shields. In the corner of his eye he could see a small mini-map indicating his position and orientation on a small map of Faust Prime. Ready for combat, he left his office and made for the exit to meet with Applejack and the private.
Once he reached outside however, his opinion changed on whether this was actually possible. The “huge” ship the private mention turned out to be an understatement. He could see that it had almost landed and yet it still stretched what seemed to be kilometers into the air. That’s got to be the largest ship in any fleet in the whole universe.
“Commander, hey Soarin, over here!” he heard Applejack shout.
Soarin joined Applejack to survey the damage that had been done by the Geth assault. Most of the settlement had been destroyed and Soarin could see metallic spikes with ponies hanging from them dotting the landscape. Through the cloudy sky, tinted red by flames, Soarin could see the gargantuan beast of a ship looming over all of them. He still had no idea who or what was controlling that ship. It wasn’t anything like the other Geth ships, and the Geth hadn’t been known to make alliances with any other races in the galaxy.
“Soarin!” Applejack’s voice shook him from his thoughts. “Come on, yer our commander, what’s the plan?” she asked.
“Oh, sorry,” he apologized. “The Geth are after the obelisk, right? Well then, our first plan of action would be to secure the dig site and protect it until Confederation forces can back us up. What’s the ETA on our back up, private?”
“I told them we needed back-up ‘ten minutes ago,’ like you said commander, though they said they couldn’t rally much help from the other fleets unless they had hours. They did say that the Confederation’s Seventh Fleet was stationed in Eques Nova, one system away. They should be here in about fifteen minutes.”
“That’ll have to do then. It’s our to job get to the dig site and protect it until they arrive,” said Soarin. “I know this is going to be dangerous, and has a good chance of getting us killed. That is why I am not issuing this as an order. If you would like to leave, and save yourselves, please do so.”
“Sorry Soarin, but Ah’m staying,” Applejack said confidently. “Besides, how would it look if Ah let mah commander die on his first day on the job.”
“I’m…I’m sorry commander,” said the soldier. “My family is somewhere out there. I need to find them, make sure they’re safe from the Geth. I…I just can’t go with you without knowing they’re safe.”
“That’s entirely understandable private. You have leave to do what you need to do. Good luck, and godspeed,” Soarin said. As the private ran off in the direction of Faust Prime’s residential area, he turned to Applejack. “Are you sure you don’t have any family or friends you need to find or rescue, Applejack?”
“Nah, Soarin. Mah whole family’s Confederation. People usually joke that there’s an Apple on every ship in the EC. Ah do have plenty of family, though they’re all on their own assignments in different parts o’ the galaxy. Nearest one of ‘em would probably be Granny Smith back in Equestria.”
An Apple on every ship? How big is this mare’s family? Soarin dismissed the thought, they had work to do. “Whatever the case, I’m glad to have you here Applejack. Wasn’t too keen on facing all those geth alone.”
“Sure thing Soarin, Ah got yer back,” she said.
Soarin examined his newest ally. Her armor was much bulkier and protective than his own, with large metal plates interlocking to cover just about every part of her coat. It was a darker orange than her coat was and had crimson trim along the hooves and back. On her flank, a more metal version of her cutie mark was bolted into her armor depicting three red apples. She had forgone any sort of helmet, instead wearing a weathered-looking stetson. On her back she had chosen to take an assault rifle, a shotgun, and a heavy pistol. It seemed to him that she preferred her combat up close and personal, a far cry from Soarin’s own choice. We might work well together, actually, he thought. With her running into the fray, she’ll probably attract most of the enemy attention giving me more time to line up shots with my sniper as well as back her up from behind.
“So where is this dig site, Applejack? Is it nearby?” he asked.
“It should be about five minutes from here, just across from the main barracks,” she said.
“All right, let’s get moving then,” said Soarin.
* * * * * * * *
Two minutes into their trek towards the dig site, Soarin and Applejack had run into a Geth scouting party. They had managed to hide before they were detected, though after Soarin’s first shot took out one of the troopers, the rest were alerted to their presence. Applejack had moved to his left and was laying down wave after wave of suppressing fire with her assault rifle.
It had been difficult due to the proximity the Geth had reached, less than ten hooves distance away from where they had taken cover, yet Soarin was still managing to effectively use his sniper rifle. Applejack’s ability to pull all of their attention from him allowed him a much greater amount of freedom to aim and make precise shots. He had taken taken out another two of their troopers with shots placed square in the middle of the lightbulb that seemed to be their eye, though the remaining three were proving to be difficult. Unlike the others, they had divided their attentions between Soarin and Applejack, keeping both pinned down and not giving them any chance to retaliate. He had considered using one of his gadgets to overload their weapons though each device could only overload a single weapon at a time, the moment he tried one of the others would gun him down.
“Applejack, can you move to the cover on your left?” he asked. “Try to flank them. If we can pull them out of their cover than I’ll be able to get a better shot.”
“Ah’d love to Soarin, though Ah’m kinda busy right now!” Applejack shouted back.
We need something that could get all three at once. Soarin scanned the area for anything helpful when his eyes fell on a storage container stuck in some rubble near Applejack’s cover. The symbol on the side of the tank seemed to indicate that the tank’s contents were kept under extreme amounts of pressure.
“Hey, Applejack!” he shouted.
“Yeah, Soarin?” she replied.
“You see that canister to your left? The one in the rubble,” he said pointing his hoof at it. “I want you to grab it and toss it as best you can over to where our Geth friends are hiding, I have a plan that might just solve this.”
“Ah’m not sure ‘bout this Soarin,” Applejack said hesitantly, “but Ah’ll try.
He saw her move to pull the canister from its resting place, and once she had it away from the side of the wall she was using as cover, he saw her pivot on her hooves and give the canister a sharp buck, sending it soaring over to the other side of the field.
Gotta time this just right he thought as he watched it fall. Watching the trajectory, he counted down, 4…3…2…1…Now! Leaping from his cover, he tossed one of his overload mines onto the canister just as it fell behind the cover the Geth had been using. As he materialized the Omni-tool attached to his hoof, he aimed it at the where the canister had fell. Moments later, the gadget detonated, setting off a chain reaction with the gas canister blasting the nearby Geth off their robotic hooves.
“Now, Applejack! Let’s move while they’re stunned!” he shouted.
He ran forwards as Applejack leapt from her cover and they rushed towards their disoriented foes. Using his wings as a boost, Soarin leapt into the air, coming down on top of the nearest Geth, pinning it to the ground. He removed his pistol from the mag lock at his side and pumped several rounds into the fallen Geth’s single eye, making sure it was dead. Looking over he saw Applejack leap over the cover the Geth had been using, shotgun at the ready, as she unloaded a two rounds into each of the remaining Geth.
“Ooh, boy! Now that was some fine work, Soarin!” she cried, tossing her hat into the air. “Now I’m sure they didn’t just promote you for no reason.”
“Thanks for the compliment, though we honestly still have plenty more to go before we reach the dig site,” he said. “How’s about once we finish this, we can compliment each other all we want?”
“You got yerself a deal Soarin,” said Applejack. “Let’s get moving then!”
They encountered several more groups of Geth on their way to the dig site, yet each group seemed easier than the last to defeat. Each battle gave Soarin more insight into Applejack’s style and preferences combat-wise, which allowed him to more effectively strategize and plan around her. Before long they had reached the dig site, only to find it deserted and empty.
“Dang it! All that work and we were too late!” Applejack shouted.
Scanning the area, Soarin noticed that there were tracks leading away from the dig site, followed by what looked like hoof prints. Upon closer inspection, Soarin found that they were pony hoof prints, not Geth. The obelisk was gone before the Geth even arrived. That would explain why there were less and less Geth the closer we got.
“Applejack, is there any reason the dig team might have moved the obelisk from this building? Perhaps transporting it to a different area for study?” he asked.
“Ah had heard mention that they were gonna to send it to a Confederation lab on Mars to have it analyzed,” she said. “If that were true, then it would’ve been taken down to the docks where it would’ve been prepped fer transport.”
“What’s the fastest way to get to the docks from here?” Soarin asked.
“That’d probably the freight lift,” said Applejack. “The scientists used it to move everything they found from the dig site. Shouldn’t be too far from here neither, if Ah recall correctly it was at the top o’ that hill.”
Soarin and Applejack made their way towards the freight lift only to find it missing from its port. There was a small screen that indicated that the lift had been used hours ago to move the obelisk but never returned. As Soarin went through the files on the interface, he noticed a that it could be recalled to this station for maintenance. Using the recall option he set the lift to return to the platform, though as saw it approached he noticed the Geth had sent back a small surprise.
“Applejack, get to cover!” he shouted. “We’ve got a Destroyer inbound!”
As Applejack dove behind the nearest piece of rubble, Soarin took aim with his sniper rifle. Lining up his rifle with the Destroyer’s eye-bulb he took a shot only to have it harmlessly bounce off of a hard-light shield. Once the lift had docked with the station, the Destroyer took to advancing, carrying it’s shield with it. The pair could only sit by while all their efforts were grounded by his shield.
“Soarin,” he heard Applejack call. “You know that overload-thingy you did earlier? Could you do it again?”
“Sure thing,” he answered. “The program for it is built into my Omni-tool and is deployed through–”
“Ah don’t need to know the specifics!” she shouted. “All Ah need is fer you to use that overload-thingy on his shield when I say so, all right?”
“Sure,” he said. Soarin could not see what she was planning. Even if he could overload the shield, it would only work for a few seconds at best, not nearly enough time to take out the colossal Geth. There wasn’t much else he could think of though so he watched the Destroyer advance while waiting for Applejack’s signal.
“Now, Soarin!” he heard her call as she rose from behind her cover. He tossed one of the tech mines loaded with the overload program at the Destroyer and watched as it disabled the shield. Looking over at Applejack, he saw her holding some strange mass in her hoof. It looked like she had strapped several mines on top of her heavy pistol.
She took a moment to steady her aim, tossing the improvised mine-ball in the Destroyer’s direction. The mines made contact with the Destroyer sticking to his armor just before his shield returned. Moments later he saw the mines detonate, setting off a chain reaction with the heavy pistol creating a massive explosion. The majority of the blast however, had been contained inside of the Destroyer’s shield. Soarin could see the force and pressure of the explosion tear the Destroyer to shreds until it was no more. The shield dropped, leaving nothing to show a Destroyer once stood there but a large black stain on the ground.
“W…wow,” Soarin was speechless. He had never thought that it’s shield could be used to strengthen an explosion like that. “That was amazing Applejack!”
“Well shucks, that ain’t nothing Soarin. Just something I thought of when I saw that shield of his,” she said, a blush forming on her cheeks.
“It was not nothing!” he said defiantly. “If we get out of here, I am recommending you for a commendation for quick thinking on the battlefield.”
“Now that ain’t necessary Soarin, weren’t nothing special,” she stated once more. “Now look, the lift is here so let’s just go and secure that obelisk before any more like this one get here.”
He followed Applejack as she moved to the lift. Her face still held a hint of blush as she turned her head away and moved her hat in an attempt to cover her face. She was right however, they had more pressing matters to deal with, and he could not dwell on this now. Though he did plan to make certain that she was recognized for her ingenuity. He pressed a button on the lift’s console and felt a small jolt as it began it’s trip back to the docks.
* * * * * * * *
It took two minutes for the lift to travel to the dock with Soarin and Applejack on board. When they arrived, it seemed strangely empty. There were no Geth, no drones, none of the scientists or other members of the dig team. It was almost as if no one had even been here recently. Soarin knew this had to be wrong. With both the scouting party they ran into, and the Destroyer on the lift, they had spent too much time to get here before the Geth did.
“Be careful Applejack, something’s not right here,” he said.
Pulling out his sniper rifle, he began scanning the area. He saw Applejack do the same with her assault rifle. As he ascended the stairs from the lift, he searched for anything that might show why this area was so deserted. The dock was not very large, and most of it could be covered visually. There were stairs on both sides, leading him to believe there was another lift that stopped here, presumably from the residential district to pick up and drop off arrivals and departures. He raised his rifle as he turned one of the corners, ready to pick off any Geth using the railings as cover to hide. There was nothing there, which continued to confuse him. Where did all the Geth go? There would’ve needed to be a large invasion force to cause this much havoc, and I can’t believe that all those ships I saw were empty. So where did they all escape to?
“Soarin! Ah think Ah found something.” Applejack’s voice shook him from his thoughts, as he turned to towards the sound of her voice. Unfurling his wings, he flew over to her position on the other side of the platform. She was using the wall as cover as she peeked around a corner at the lower decks where arriving ships would land. “Check it out Soarin, that there’s the obelisk,” she said, “and there’s only two o’ them buggers watching over it.”
Soarin sidled up against the wall on the opposite side of the stairs and peeked out with his rifle to survey the area. He saw the two Geth Applejack pointed out, they were flanking what she said was the obelisk. It was a large rectangular slab with a pointed top. He could see orange and blue runes intertwining across the surface of the obelisk. Those must be alicorn markings.
“So, what do we do Soarin?” Applejack asked.
“There’s only two of them so we should be able to take them out easily. You take the one on the left, I’ll take the one on the right. I want this to be quick and clean, so aim for the head and take them out in one shot if possible. We fire on zero.”
“Ah’ll try Soarin,” she said, taking aim with her rifle.
He knew her rifle wasn’t very capable of one-shot kills like his own was, though if she managed to hit it’s head, it should take at most one more shot. He took aim with his own rifle, lining up the lines on his scope with the back of the Geth trooper’s head. He took a moment to take a breath, holding it in to steady his aim and further decrease the chances of a botched shot. After a moment, he began to count down, “3…2…1…0.”
The sound of the two shots tore through the air and Soarin watched through his scope as the Geth he had been aiming at was caught by his bullet. He saw a large portion of it’s head tear apart, wires and mechanisms flying out as his head became to damaged to continue operation. As the first trooper fell to the ground, inactive, he turned his scope to Applejack’s trooper. As he had thought, her first shot and not been enough to disable it completely, though another two shots found their mark inside of the trooper’s head before he could turn around and return fire.
Soarin was about to release the breath he had been holding, when he saw movement from behind the obelisk. He though it was another Geth at first, yet the yellow hoof encased in battle armor proved him wrong. He examined this new pony that had entered the battlefield. Her coat was yellow, which matched the hoof he and seen and her tail seemed to be colored with stripes of orange and a darker yellow. He did not know why, but the color seemed oddly familiar to him. This feeling was replaced with a feeling of disbelief as he saw the armor that she was wearing. With dark blue plates and golden trim along the chest and hooves, it was almost identical to his own armor. But…but that’s impossible. It can’t be… He felt his thoughts trail off as his rifle moved up from the pony’s body to it’s face. From it’s body frame he could tell it was a mare, and the wings seemed to indicate that she was a pegasus like he was. The cutie mark on her flank showed a phoenix, adding to the evidence of something Soarin knew to be impossible. Once Soarin’s scope reached the mare’s face, he knew that there could no longer be any doubt, as impossible as it was to believe. Spitfire…
Soarin could not tell what he was seeing, and before he knew it he could feel himself lifting into the air, flying towards the mare he once knew. The cries from Applejack were drowned out and he could hear nothing but his own brain trying to work out how she could possibly be here. He felt his mind return as he landed inches from her hooves. He heard Applejack running up behind him yet he paid her no mind.
“Spit…Spitfire?” he asked. “Is that really you?”
“Ah, Soarin. I had no idea that you’d be here. That’s a shame. I had hoped no one here would know who I was,” she said, her voice as cool as a summer breeze.
“But, how? You can’t be here. You’re…you…I saw…” Soarin croaked, unable to properly articulate a full sentence. “I saw you die, in the Blitz.” Soarin tried to recount the events of that day. “You and I were sent with the rest of the Wonderbolts to defend Celes from the slavers and pirates. I saw you all die, one by one, picked off as the pirates pushed forward into the settlement. You and I were the last ones left when you rallied the survivors into one last ditch effort to fight back. We managed to push them out after that, though you were shot down by one of the escaping slavers.”
“Yes, I remember that day. It was a well-fought victory,” Spitfire said.
“But you died!” Soarin shouted.
“And now I’m here. Funny how things change, isn’t it?” Spitfire said flatly. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I tire of your pointless questions. I have what I need from this beacon so I must be on my way.” Spitfire unfurled her wings, preparing to fly away.
“No, Spit…wait!” Soarin said, preparing to fly after her. He heard a *bang* as Spitfire pointed a pistol straight at him. The pain and singed fur on his cheek told him he had just narrowly avoided death.
“That was a warning shot, delivered only because of our shared past. The next shot will kill you. I suggest you take that into account before you try to follow me,” said Spitfire.
Soarin could only watch as she flew up into the sky, his only chance at understanding her sudden return from the dead disappearing into the sky. His confusion at her return only magnified when he saw fly towards the gargantuan ship floating above them, only to see her board the ship. She’s working…with the Geth. He was left with more questions than he could even hope to understand as he watched as the ship, with Spitfire in command, rose through the sky and left Faust Prime’s orbit with the Geth ships following behind it.
“Commander Soarin, what was all that just now? And who was that mare ya were talking to?” he heard Applejack ask. He remembered that she had been here the whole time, the only other witness to Spitfire’s return, the only other pony who saw her return from the dead.
“I’m not even sure myself Applejack. As for who that was, her name was Spitfire. She was the leader of the Wonderbolts, an elite team of pegasus operatives that worked for the betterment and glory of the Pegasus hierarchy. They were the ones who were sent in when the job was too dangerous or suicidal for normal soldiers,” Soarin explained. “I was assigned to their ranks, though it was more of a necessity than something I deserved. Since my father was one of the fleet commanders, and my mother was a lieutenant in the Confederation navy, I was seen as a way of bridging the gap between earth ponies and pegasi.”
“What happened then? Why aren’t ya still with ‘em?” Applejack asked.
“As you probably heard just now, they don’t exist anymore. My last mission with them was during the Neighllian Blitz,” he said. “We were sent in to protect the settlement of Celes from an alliance of pirates, slavers, and raiders. Their fleet was more powerful than we anticipated, and within the first two days, everyone but Spitfire and I had been killed. I already mentioned how she managed to rally the citizens into fighting back, which let us defeat them, which is when she was shot and killed.”
“But we just saw her, how can she be dead?” said Applejack.
“That’s what I was trying to find out! I remember the service that was held by the Confederation, I even remember where she was buried as I visited her grave before I was assigned here,” said Soarin.
Applejack was about to retort when the two of them heard a strange sound emanating from the obelisk in front of them. Soarin looked up to see that there were strange waves of energy emanating from the Alicorn relic. The waves washed over him and he felt a heavy pressure on his brain, as if something was trying to push it’s way into his skull. The pain caused him to double over and he fell to the ground clutching his head. He heard Applejack standing over him trying to ask him what was wrong, yet once again he felt her voice being drowned out as his vision went hazy from the pain in his head.
It was then that he heard a voice echoing inside his mind.You…You must…stop the orange mare…she knows not what doom she brings upon the universe…please…you must help us stop her…if you do not…the universe is doomed…doomed to repeat the cycle, as life is brought to an end once more. We shall help…take our knowledge…use it to prepare…for if she is not stopped…they will return…and chaos will reign once more.
As the last words were spoken, Soarin felt a searing pain, worse than the headache he was suffering before. With the pain came images, pictures of cities and settlements, upside-down and in ruins. Planets being tossed around like balls as the ponies on them were crushed and destroyed. The images were blurry and hard to understand, impossible feats that no race was capable of. Soarin could not understand what he was being showed. Eventually the pain grew to be too much for him to withstand any longer, and he felt a sense of light-headedness as his vision went dark once more.
As he fell into a deep, pain-induced sleep, he wondered who the voice in his brain was and what they were trying to warn him of. The only thing he could be certain of was that, whoever they were, they knew what had happened to Spitfire and that she was doing something that could doom the entire universe. The only way he was going to find out would be to chase her down and fight it out of her. If she was doing something this dangerous, he needed to stop her, if only to show her what she’s become…and what she stands to lose.
