The Imperial Ace

Chapters

Chapter 2: Realization
Chapter 3: Contact
Chapter 4: First Casualty
Chapter 5: Face to Face
Chapter 6: Out of this World Conversation
Chapter 7: More Natives
Chapter 8: Bird Shooting
Chapter 9: Search and Rescue
Chapter 10: The Imperial way of Diplomacy
Chapter 11: Let's talk, no shooting...maybe
Chapter 13: The torch is being brought home
Chapter 1: The Storm
Chapter 12: Civilization at last...though a bit primitive

Chapter 2: Realization

Edited by Edited by: WrittenWord333

/Chapter 2: Realization/

“Riggs, you got an incoming fighter to your left.”

“I see him.” Riggs answered back as he got the fighter in question in his sights, immediately giving chase.

“Hedge be careful, one of these royal bastards has an eye for you.” Riggs called back over his intercom as he continued to give chase to the enemy TIE-Fighter, racing along the upper hull of a heavily damaged Star Destroyer, flying past the sections of the ship engulfed in flames, crippled turrets providing very little difficulty as he swept past them.

Riggs immediately began to open fire as soon as the reticle on his helmet’s display lined up with the target, ripping the unfortunate fighter and pilot inside to shreds with his laser barrage.

The moment his prey was killed he quickly turned his sights towards his next target which, according to his lock on systems, was one of the red Interceptors.

“Berren, break off, I’m going for this one, make sure the bombers don’t get too close to our ships. We need to buy them time to escape so that they can hyper jump to safety.” Riggs ordered as he dove towards his target, flying past the damaged Star Destroyer and emerging into the incoming fire of another one below him.

“Can do Riggs, these scrubs are as good as mine.” Berren replied with a hint of confidence before breaking contact.

Riggs nodded as he punched the acceleration throttle up to max to close the distance to him and his target as quickly as possible. The twin ion engines roared in response, the sudden energy spike launching his ship forward like a photon torpedo.

The fighting was intense, Star Destroyers, frigates, and fighters from both side engaging one another in brutal duels. Zaarin’s Star Destroyers were mostly acting as cover for the rest of his fleet as they made a hasty retreat.

Riggs and the rest of his squadron were part of that cover, trying to keep the enemy busy and away from their ships in order for them to escape safely.

Turbolaser fire was flying everywhere. Ships were on fire, explosions were going off from incoming flak. The entire space above Coruscant was completely illuminated by the battle that was raging above it.

Riggs continued to gun his ship down towards an enemy Interceptor as laser fire was zipping by him. A Carrack class cruiser exploded, ripping itself in half to his left, his vessel shaking uncontrollably from the shockwave's force.

Soon though he was on his target’s tail.The enemy Interceptor had fled between a pair of brawling battleships, the debris from their tussle filling the space between them. A torrent of laser-fire was pouring constantly from both ships, but neither of them seemed at all interested in the two fighters zipping between them.

Both him and his target momentarily flying through a massive fireball explosion before re-emerging from the other side unscathed, leaving the two previous ships behind as one of them began to lose control, its engines dying out.

Riggs was now getting closer and closer to his target, his targeting system trying to get a lock on as they both continued to race through space.

“Almost got you in my sights buddy.” Riggs thought to himself as the reticles on his helmets display began to line up.

“Just a few more seconds.” Riggs mentally stated as his reticles where almost aligned with his target, getting ready to fire. All of the sudden a violent tremor engulfed his entire craft. Alarms began to blare on almost every display around him.

“What the...? What the heck the was that?” Riggs thought out as his craft suddenly got hit again.

“Error, deflector shields have failed. Error.” The board computer stated as Riggs entire ship began to tremble and snapping him out from his concentrated state.

“What the HELL. What the…where did this other guy came from?” Riggs shouted in frustration as he tightened his grip around his controls, and quickly skimmed over his scanners.

To his annoyance and overall dread he spotted another Royal TIE Interceptor behind him, firing at him volley after volley of fire down upon him while his shields were still down.

“Bloody hell, this one guy in front of me was just acting as bait? I completely forgot that these guys always fly in pairs. Now I somehow managed to get myself outflanked…damn it” Riggs mentally kicked himself as he tried his best to avoid the incoming fire.

Riggs had to admit that these guys were good, really good in fact, as the pilot behind him managed to mirror every maneuver and turn he did to try and shake him off his tail.

More incoming fire was raining down his way as he began to maneuver in between friendly frigates and capital ships in hopes that their point defense systems would shoot him down and get him off his back. But the pilot behind him still managed to avoid every shot fired at him while still continuing to assault him mercilessly, every shot was getting closer and closer to his ship, very close to hitting him once again.

“Damn it…why are my shields still down? Right when I need them the most.” He mentally complained as one of his monitors was flashing “Shields offline”.

It is rare for Riggs to ever feel the sense of panic, in any situation, but at this current predicament he slowly began to feel it as the Interceptor behind him was still doing a remarkable job of keeping up with.

“Warning, damage detected, impact site close to the engine cores.” His board computer suddenly warned, another impact rattling the hull.

“BLAST IT…I just hope that the shot didn’t hit anything important. Well, I still got his buddy in front of me, might as well take him with me if I’m going to die today.” Riggs announced out loud to no one as he re-focused back to his targeting systems while keeping the enemy behind him at bay.

Cranking up his acceleration to max speed he quickly minimized the distance between himself and his original target as the ion engines gave another massive roar at the sudden energy spike.

Unsurprisingly, the fighter on his tail was not far off as he was still continuing to try and shoot Riggs ship down, but at this point it really didn’t matter to him that much as the adrenaline from the intense flying was now fully coursing through his body, making it much easier for him to multi task.

“Target almost in range, than I can get rid of him and focus my attention back at the bastard behind me.” Riggs thought to himself as he was only seconds away from finally relieving himself of his first burden.

His targeting system suddenly piped as it confirmed a solid lock on. Not wasting any more time than was necessary he immediately removed the cap on his second trigger and pushed it.

Immediately after that two concussion missiles came speeding out of his craft and rapidly pivoted towards the unfortunate starfighter in front of him. The Interceptor tried to evade the incoming missiles at the last possible moment but it was far too late. The missiles made contact with their target and the entire craft exploded in a sphere of smoke and fire, launching debris far off into space as the explosion subsided.

Riggs sighed in satisfaction when that problem was finally taken care off. But his moments of peace were quickly cut short as another hit began to rock the inside of his cockpit reminding him of the other more serious problem that was still present.

“Still got that Royal guard bastard behind me, and why are my shields still not up?” Riggs shouted in frustration as he tried his best to lose him.

Warning lights were going off all around his cockpit, lighting the reinforced steel in a crimson glow. His ship was tough, but not even a TIE Defender couldn’t survive the constant beating its advanced armour was taking for very long. Eventually something vital would be hit and Riggs would be just another debris field, another casualty in the chaos of war.

It was than when Riggs suddenly spotted something in the distance that could turn the tables. A destroyed, burning and smoking wreck of Victory class star destroyer off into the distance as he decided to approach from its starboard side.

“I could easily lose him in there while also getting the chance to get the drop on him and turn the tides.” Riggs thought to himself as he gunned his engines and speed off toward the still-burning wreck with the red TIE-Interceptor tailing him closely.

More shots came screaming past him as he made his way closer towards the floating, burning mess that used to be the midsection of the ship.

“Time for some fancy flying.” Riggs thought to himself as he quickly dove into the wreck through a large opening. The entire inside of the ship was filled with heavy smoke and fire as he flew through it, avoiding incoming obstacles and turns. The space inside was just wide enough for his ship to squeeze through as Riggs began to mostly operate on instinct due to the poor visibility as he continued his run.

Riggs eyes quickly looked over his scanners while avoiding flames and other hazardous things to see if his pursuer was even dumb enough to follow him inside the wreck, which to his satisfaction he was, seeing it as a small red triangle behind him on his monitor as he quickly approached an exit in front of him.

Riggs immediately pulled up on his control to race high up and above the wreck the moment he exited the smoking hull doing a full 360* flip to align himself perfectly for what was going to happen next.

The moment the Interceptor emerged from the gaping tear in the hull, Riggs was all over him. The enemy vessel had slowed to allow for an easier navigation of the twisted and broken metal within the destroyed starship, which meant that it was moving at the perfect speed for his main weapons.

“Look how the tables have turned now you are mine you Royal bastard.” Riggs mentally stated with a sense of vengeance as he opened fire fire on the doomed vessel.

Riggs watched with a great sense of satisfaction as his six laser cannon mercilessly ripped the red Interceptor to pieces, sending debris everywhere as it began to spin out of control and exploded in a fiery mess, leaving nothing that even remotely resembled the TIE Interceptor that was there just a moment ago.

Riggs sighted in heavy relief that this was finally over as he leaned back against his seat, enjoying the momentary peace and silence.

“Riggs, Riggs are you there? Response!” Captain Palius suddenly crackled over his earpiece.

“So much for the momentary silence.” Riggs thought to himself as he straightened himself up and responded.

“This is Riggs. What going on captain?” He simply responded over the communicator.

“The mission is off Riggs, Reports just came in that the assault on the Imperial palace has failed and we have the clearance to get out of here. Most of our carriers and support frigates have already cleared the sector and are lining up to jump off.If you can hyper-jump to these co-ordinates then we'll meet you the other side. Palius out.” Captain Palius explained before transferring the coordinates over to him and breaking the link, the navigational software confirming the new data with a beep.

Riggs could see after turning his craft that the majority of the fleet were already lining up to hyper-jump out of the system. Being momentarily safe from any hostile units Riggs decided to take the captain's advice as he speed away from the gravity field of the planet in order to hyper-jump safely away from this sector.

On his way he was suddenly joined by Hedge and Berren, their Defenders got into formation beside him.

“Good show back there Riggs, saw everything, you really showed these Royal bastards who the better pilot is, huh.” Hedge commented as he flew alongside Riggs’ Defender.

“Well these guys were good, I have to admit that.” Riggs replied.

“Well we can hear more of it when we reach our rendezvous point in the outer rim. Safe travels Riggs.” Hedge replied as he quickly speeds off and eventually disappears into the void of space at breakneck speeds as his ship breaks the light barrier.

“That was one heck of a battle, I can’t even remember how many I have shot down. See you on the other end of the galaxy mate.” Berren announced over the comlink as his ship too suddenly disappears into the far distances of space.

Riggs sighted as he typed in and confirmed his own coordinates, his own hyper drive beginning to charge up with a low hum, a blue energy bar slowly filling up on one of his displays.

“I’m going to need to iron out the damage on my ship when I get there.” Riggs announced out loud. Pushing up the hyper jump throttle and waiting for the very familiar sensation of breaking the light barrier. The only problem…it never happened.

The hyper-jump drive only began to hum for a few more moments before it suddenly cut itself out as Riggs’ ship simply sat there.

“What the…okay, this isn’t normal at all. Come on you stupid thing, work, I got a whole fleet up my ass so work dammit.” Riggs demanded in frustration and urgency, a squad of TIE-fighters rapidly approaching on his scanners clearly heading his way. Even worse his shields were still down for some ungodly reason.

He was good, he was easily one of the best the Empire had to offer but even he had zero chance going against an entire fleet on his own with who knows how many TIE-Fighter cannon fodders as well.

He needed to hyper-jump away from here and quickly. But all the hyperspace computer was giving him was a red warning light that there might be an error in his system.

“For the love of…JUST WORK YOU DAMN BANTHA FODDER YOU!!!” Riggs shouted as he slammed his fist into the console.

It seemed to do the trick, the error indicator suddenly went green with his jump engine coming back to life as it was charging up.

The very familiar feeling of going into hyperspace suddenly made itself known as all of space in front of him began to stretch themselves towards him, and with one bright final flash he was gone, his ship now travelling faster than the speed of light.

But something was quickly wrong, very wrong, as all of a sudden the alarms in his ship went crazy , the displays showing error messages all across the board.

Riggs could also feel his body feeling heavier and heavier, pressing firmly against his seat as his entire body and cockpit started to stretch themselves further and further in front of him as his vision began to go blurry out.

The beeping sounds of his alarms also stretching themselves out as there high pitched beep began to sound long and deep.
Riggs had absolutely no idea what was currently happening as everything was just blurring out for him, his entire craft shook and rocked violently as the universe around him began to stretch itself almost to infinity. There was only one thing he did knew, he needed to stop his ship or risk having him and his ship get ripped apart by whatever forces were at hand here.

“What…The…Bloody…Need…To…Stop…This…Thing…Argh.” Riggs shouted, his voice sounding stretched and deep as he struggled to move one of his arms towards the hyper-jump throttle on his left.

Riggs was breathing heavily as he tried with all of his might to reach the throttle in front of him, forcing not just his arm but also his entire body forward with all his strength to get a grab on the only thing that could stop this.

With a racing heart and gritted teeth he slowly inch himself closer and closer towards his goal, the tip of his finger practically touching the silver-like handle as he pushed himself even further in order to grab it.

With one final push his hand eventually gripped onto the handle of the throttle.

Riggs let himself fall backwards, the combination of his weight and the insane speed he was travelling at pulling the throttle down towards him, breaking off the hyperspace sequence.

A bright flash appeared as his ship abruptly exited hyperspace with a very loud bang though space as everything was quickly turned back to normal.

Well, mostly normal.

The moment his ship exited hyperspace it was evident that his problems were far from over. The entire craft was spinning wildly through space , his entire cockpit flashing red with alarms.

“Engines are down, navigations are offline, computer systems are frozen, the gyroscopes are going crazy and the hyperspace drive has been completely knocked out. IS THERE ANY F%^&ING ELSE THAT CAN GO WRONG???!!!” Riggs shouted in utter frustration as all that information blinked on his helmets display, the constant rotation pressing him to the side of his seat.

“Wait...why is there gravity reading along with…oh.” Riggs thought, until a planet’s curve came swiftly into view through his frontal viewport.

“Great…out of the frying pan and into the fire.” Riggs thought to himself in annoyance after realizing that his ship was now spinning uncontrollably towards a planet…very, very quickly.

“I need to bring all of the ship's systems back online and get this thing under control again while I’m still in space, or I am going to have to do it through re-entry. And that’s not gonna be pleasant.” Riggs mentally declared to himself as he quickly wasted no time in re-booting his systems and getting his engines working properly again.

First the computer, than navigation, than the gyroscopes to stop him from spinning, and then the engines to give him control over his flight trajectory and speed. The hyperspace drive wasn’t responding at all to any of his reboot attempts, but it didn’t matter since it was a system that he had no need for in the current situation.

“What the...OH NOW THE SHIELDS ARE BACK!!?? SON OF A...no” Riggs mentally in utter annoyance after a sudden message popped up on one of his displays indicating that his shields were finally back online.

But all of his annoyance and frustration quickly dissipated when he suddenly realized that he still had more important matters to focus on than his incompetent shields.

He quickly grabbed the controls wrestling with the stick to get his mad spinning under control and not a moment too soon as he suddenly felt the familiar rumbling motion of the ship entering the planet’s atmosphere.

The earlier warning light quickly died down the moment all of his systems were working properly, but a new one suddenly came up as it was displaying that his craft was descending into the planet atmosphere faster than recommended.

“Yeah, yeah I know…I’m slowing down, don’t worry.” Riggs thought to himself as he corrected his speed.

Soon though, his craft punched through the uppermost atmospheres and he eased himself into a steady and normal flight above the clouds as his scanners immediately went to work in judging the composition of the air around him.

“Atmosphere consisting of breathable substances, mostly nitrogen and oxygen. That’s good. One less problem to worry about.” Riggs mentally noted, reading the information on his main display.

“Hmmm…this planet doesn’t seem to be on an records, plus my navigation systems can’t pick up any signs in what part of the galaxy I am now. Could be some interference, or did my navigation got somehow damaged during my crazy trip through hyperspace?” Riggs wondered to himself as he checked for more date while slowly descending further.

“I guess I can worry about this for another time, let’s first focus on finding any form of civilization on this damn rock…if there are any that is. I still need to land and assess the damage on my ship before I can possibly blast off again.” He mumbled, breaking through the first cloud layer. The ground beyond it was already visible as he continued his steady flight through this uncharted world letting his scanners do most of the work.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Somewhere down below the planet.

“Spitfire, wake up…”A faint voice called within the void.

“Spitfire, Spitfire wake up…”It called out again, this time louder and closer.

“Mo…mom…mom is that you? Mom?”

“Spitfire…spitfire. wake up…SPITFIRE!!!!”

Spitfire suddenly awoke with a loud gasp as her eyes snapped open. Bright sunlight suddenly invaded her vision which forced her to shut her eyes again as the sudden brightness was both unbearable and painful to her pupils.

Pain was the very first sensation she could feel. Her entire body felt as if it got crushed and stepped on by an Ursa Major.

Spitfire groaned. “Ohhhhh…buuuuuuck. I am never going to fly through a storm…EVER…wait…THE STORM? FLEEFOOT, SOARIN!!!” Spitfire shouted in panic

She quickly started to move her body but all she got in response was even more pain, especially around her back and chest area. She was forced to lay still and bite her tongue to not scream out.

“Ugh…should have known…I think my wings are both broken and maybe a few ribs too.” Spitfire spoke with gritted teeth as the pain around those areas continued to burn.

The pain slowly subsided, thankfully, giving her a momentary respite as she slowed down her breathing.

“Ok…I now know that my wings and ribs are broken…which means that I at least now know how NOT to move when getting up.” She grumbled to herself , slowly re-opening her eyes again.

The first thing she could see were leaves, lots and lots of leaves above her indicating that she was either on or below a tree.

“More like on a tree as far as I can tell.” Spitfire groaned as she started to feel the familiar sensation of leaves and tiny branches under her body.

She noticed a trail of torn and broken off branches above her, indicating a destructive and painful descent.

Spitfire had no idea how long she lay there, her body feeling sore and stiff as she tried to think of a way how to get down without causing any more injuries to herself.

“I…I just hope Soarin and Fleetfoot made it out ok…I…I would never forgive myself if…if they didn’t” Spitfire whispered to herself in both worry and sadness.

She carefully shook her head to drown down these thoughts, quickly dispelling any pessimistic thoughts and returned to trying to think of a way how to get back down on solid ground.

The first thing Spitfire noted was that she luckily had enough space for her to roll over and not just fall down over the edge. Secondly, there were a lot more branches down below her where she could easily support herself while climbing down, using them like a natural ladder.

She immediately rolled over, her body crying it’s displeasure. Spitfire hissed in pain as she finally landed on her stomach. Her wings might be free but now her weight was pressing down onto her injured chest which was not a good trade-off

“Ok…how do I get down now?” She lifted herself with her front hooves to take some of the weight off her injured chest, the rough bark providing reasonable traction.

She looked down along the trunk to see if could maybe hold onto that with all fours since she realized that her legs were somehow completely unscathed. Sure, they felt sore just like the rest of her body but at least it means she could stand and walk on all fours just fine even though it might be a bit uncomfortable at first.

“Alright…nice and steady Spits…don’t stress your chest too much or…you’re going to make it worse.” She gave a resigned sigh as she slowly began to lower her body back onto the thick branch that lay right under her.

Her back hooves made contact with it as her front hooves firmly gripped onto the trunk.

“So far so good…Oh dear Celestia why did I have to land in the tallest tree in the forest?” Spitfire thought to herself as she slowly continued her uncomfortable and painful descent.

“Okay…one hoof at a time, dear Celestia my chest stings…I just hope that I…” Spitfire broke off with a yelp as one of the branches suddenly broke underneath her dumping her down a few good meters before hitting the ground hard on her back.

She immediately gave away a cry of pain as her wings began to protest, the pain almost causing her to lose consciousness as she lay there flat, breathing heavily and hoping that the pain would die down soon.

“Buck, buck, BUCK!!!M-my…wings…BUUUUUCK…this has to be the worst wing injury I’ve ever had.” Spitfire cursed through gritted teeth as a bead of sweat rolled down her muzzle..

After a few minutes though the pain finally began to die down as she rolled over with great difficulty yet again and shakily got herself back on all fours , inhaling and exhaling rapidly.

“Ok…just…just ignore the pain Spits…come one you can do this you can…oh. My. GOSH!!!” She whimpered in utter horror as she finally laid eye on the injury.

Her wings were bent and twisted in such a way that she never thought were possible, half her feathers were missing and the surviving feathers were also wrecked, sticking out from her flesh at uncomfortably odd angles. Wounds and large gashes striped her back, her once beautiful yellow coat now completely stained crimson with the color of her own dried up blood.

The biggest concerns she had though were her wings. The very wings that she had been born with, the wings that made her famous and Captain of the Wonderbolts, the wings that had become a part of her personality and public image, were now nothing more than a bloody, mangled, unrecognizable mess of skin, bones and feathers.

She would be surprised if her wings would ever look the same again, let alone fly with them. As far as she knew her life as a pegasus was over , with wings as broken as these, it would be a miracle if they would ever recover…even with magic.

Tears started to form on the corner of her eyes as the realization kicked in. A burning rage settled within her breast and a howl of pure terror and anger burst from her lips. She would likely never fly again and a life pathetically living on the ground, bound to the earth she had striven to escape all her life, was a life she didn’t, no, couldn’t live.

“No no no no NO NO NO NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” She shouted angrily into the heavens as tears of rage began pouring down her face.

“Stupid…bucking…EVERYTHING!!!” Her uninjured hooves were now pummelling the tree-trunk, exorcising the terrible rage and terror into pure, mindless violence.. She completely ignored the pain in her chest and back as her anger burned, sapping her of the strength she needed to lift her tired hooves one last time..

Slumping to the ground, tears streaming down her bloody cheeks, she reached for the nearest thing to express her tumultuous emotions on. Her hooves scraped stone, and she pried the rock from the ground and lobbed it, as far as her tired muscles would allow.

“For the love of BUCKING Celestia, my entire existence is gone…BUCKING gone…I…I…can this possibly get any worse…”A loud and menacing growl startled her.

Shivers began to travel up her spine as her entire body tensed up, her heart rate in fear rather than rage as a cold sweat started to form on her forehead. She slowly and shakily turned herself around before freezing in utter horror at the sight that was waiting for her.

Behind her was a large cave that she had somehow missed since she woke up, but it was what was inside the cave that really turned her yellow face pale. A pair of huge green serpentine eyes were staring down at her, eyes filled with rage and anger and hatred as it slowly moved forward, revealing a massive red scaly head with jagged horns adorning it. It had what looked like a small rock stuck in one of its nostrils. It looked suspiciously like the same rock Spitfire just threw a few moments ago.

“Me and my big bucking mouth.” Spitfire whimpered, her legs trembling at the gigantic lizard she had just so rudely woken up from its slumber.

The dragon roared in anger, flaring up its massive red wings and charging for her, knocking down trees and bushes that were between her and the enraged lizard.

Spitfire at that moment did what every normal, healthy minded pony would do, which was to turn tail and run for her life. The adrenaline she had worked up through her outrage was now a god-send, giving her the energy she needed to gallop away and ignoring the stinging pain.

The beast lumbered behind her in hot pursuit, wanting nothing more to end this pony’s life for disturbing its hibernating nap.

Chapter 3: Contact

Author's Note

Hello guys sorry for the long wait, been busy with allot of things also editing was a bit slow as well.

I like to also point out that the ending was mostly written by my editor "WrittenWord333" so a big shout out for him for both his editing work and his ending as well.

For another note this is how i imagined Riggs TIE-Defender looks like.

Chapter 3: Contact

/Chapter 3: Contact/

“Riggs, go take your siblings and hide in the basement, quickly!”

“But…but what’s happening? What is all the noise and rumbling out there? Is there maybe a…”

“There is no time Riggs, listen to me. Take your brother and sister and hide in the basement.

“But, why?”

“THERE IS NO TIME, DO AS I SAY NOW!!”

“Oh...ok i will...i think they at the bag playing and...”

“THE RAIDERS ARE HERE, TAKE COVER!!!”

“Wha…what? What is happeni..." And the dream collapsed with the boom of an explosion.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Riggs eyes suddenly shot open as he awoke from his dream.

He sighed, getting his breathing under control as he looked around. He quickly realized that he was still sitting within his cockpit, probably having dozed off at some point during his flight as he was still gliding around this unknown world scanning the area for any signs of civilization.

Glancing over to his left to review the results he was disappointed to know that during his little nap none of his instruments had managed to pick up anything of interest, although was still somewhat pleased to know that his scanners were still doing their secondary purpose by mapping out the area around him which would certainly prove useful later.

“A planet this fertile and lush must certainly be populated or hold some sort of civilized life forms one way or another. Or maybe they are too primitive for my instruments to pick them up.” Riggs thought to himself.

Taking an opportunity to look over to his navigation computer, Riggs began to type in some commands and numbers on its keyboard to once again try to pinpoint his exact location.

Checking over every possible sector within the galaxy that he was facing at after he made the hyperjump eventually ended up fruitless as his computer could not pinpoint his actual location on the galaxy via maps or stored data.

As far as he know, he might no longer be in his galaxy entirely, or hopefully just somewhere deep within the “unknown regions”, the outer edges of the known galaxy that were mostly unexplored even at this modern age.

Tossing his stifling helmet behind his seat and carefully rubbing his still sleepy eyes with his right hand, Riggs began to switch off his autopilot in order to regain manual control over his spacecraft once again.

He quickly decided with a tired groan that an landing was necessary, not just because he was tired and needed to set up camp so that he can finally get some proper rest, but also because to both expects and repair the damage on his ship and to finally find out what when went wrong regarding his hyperdrive engine.

At this point he was basically sick and find anything or even anyone at this point as he quickly decided that a landing was necessary, both to expect and assess the damage on his ship but to also lay down somewhere and rest rest some more after everything that has transpired so far.

The only problem at his plan was that the area below him was completely unsuitable for a craft of his size to land anyway. Mountains, cliffs, canyons and thick forests without any clearings were the most dominant sights that greeted him.

But finding a good flat open clearing where he could land safely and set up camp can’t be as difficult as trying to find a source of civilization on this damn planet…right?

Pushing these trivial thoughts out of his mind and grabbing the controls while slowly increasing the power output of his engines, Riggs could feel the familiar sensation of going Mach 1 in an atmospheric environment as clouds and the landmass below him began moving past him at incredible speeds as he commanded his scanners to find a large enough surface area for him to land on.

“Hmmm…what do we have here?” Riggs thought to himself in curiosity and intrigue as his scanners quickly picked up something while he was about to re-enter a new command.

A sudden red triangle displayed itself on the top corner of his scanner display indicated as an “unknown target” moving along a heavily overgrown area, at least 50 km from his position.

“Hmmm…interesting, a nice change of pace to be honest. At least something rather than nothing. According to these numbers it’s a huge target definitely something worth investigating. Finding a good landing zone can wait for now. Plus it will give me something else to do than just sit here and fly around.” Riggs mentally noted as he turned his Defender at the blip’s general direction, increasing the power output even more, causing him to go beyond Mach 1 as the mighty roar of his twin ion engines began to dominate the skies around him and speeding him towards his designated target.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

(Somewhere down on the planet)

“For the love of…ugh…*huff…how…how can this monstrosity still keep up with me…in all this thick undergrowth? For buck sake…my…my chest…my everything…” Spitfire panted out with heavy breaths as she galloped through the underbrush, the dragon still close on her tail.

Spitfire’s lungs felt as if they were made of lead as she pounded through the thick underbrush, jumping and dodging her way through the dense forest despite her heavy injuries. Jumping over oversized roots, ducking under bushes and branches, and avoiding incoming tree trunks while the monster behind her was just stomping and knocking everything down that dared to stay in his way.

The earth underneath it shook and cracked under its massive form as trees were turned into nothing but splinters, the beast’s enraged roars causing even the very air around it to vibrate under its might.

Her body was overwhelming her with pain as she continued to try her best to lose this beast.

The adrenaline she had accumulated since the beginning of her run was long gone at this point, forcing her to once again feel every single injury within her body and making her to grit her teeth from the intense pain and sore muscles.

“I…I can’t keep this up…I need to…hide somewhere. I can…already feel my injuries…getting…getting worse…please, dear Celestia…I need to find…a hiding spot.” Spitfire thought to herself as the pain in her chest was getting worse and worse with every passing minute.

She really needed a place to hide and fast as her body was almost ready to just give up on herself as both her injuries and fatigue were quickly eating away at her. Only her sheer willpower and determination to live were still keeping her going at this point, but neither were an unlimited resource..

“The…there…a…a ditch…I can hide in the ditch and behind these large bushes…yes…finally something good…I…I just hope that the thing doesn’t see me jump in there or my flank is cooked for good.” Spitfire thought as she quickly ran towards the ditch, the leafy canopy concealing her movements from the dragon’s prying eyes..

Sliding under a bush and dropping down into the earthly hole she immediately laid herself flat onto the ground keeping her injuries in mind and holding her breath as she waited for the beast to stomp past her.

The beating of her own heart was the only sound in the cramped space, her struggling breaths making no sound as she focused on the one noise that could spell her doom. Her hoof shaking as the thunderous stomps of the beast were growing closer and closer towards her.

She desperately wanted to run again, desperately wanted to get as far away from that thing as possible. But common sense and sheer will was keeping her natural instincts in check as she knew that if she jumped from her hiding hole, the monster would kill her.

Never in her entire life was she more afraid than she was now, even more so when one of the trees near her began to creak in distress as the dragon’s bulk forced its way past it, knocking the tree over in a shower of leaves. Only the low ditch and the bush above her keeping her hidden and safe from the prying eyes of the massive beast and she pressed her hoof against her mouth to keep from crying out in terror.

All she could do was wait and pray as the beast was literally above her, it’s monstrous muzzle swinging this way and that as it searched for its prey.

“If only I could still fly...I could have flown away and been back home in no time. Oh dear Celestia my wings, are they ever going to heal? Am I ever going to fly again? Am I even going to live long enough to see the next day? This is all my fault, I shouldn’t have used the storm as a training exercise. The powers of nature are too powerful to be messed with like that. Now look where it got me.” Spitfire thought with regret as she tried to stay quiet.

The dragon outside her impromptu hiding place suddenly stopped just mere meters away from her. Spitfire could hear the beast sniffing the air to try and pick up her sent after its prey suddenly disappeared from its eyesight.

Inwardly, Spitfire was in panic mode as she quickly realized that her back fur and mangled wings were still covered in her dried up blood, a scent easily be picked up by the dragon’s sensitive nose and threatening to give her position away.

“Please don’t smell me please don’t smell me please don’t smell me please don’t smell me….” Spitfire constantly repeated frantically, her heart racing a million miles per hour as she could only wait.

Spitfire quietly let out a sigh of utter relief as the monster slowly stomped its way away from her. She was about to get her herself back up again and take her first step when all of the sudden a massive crack sound began to echo its way all around the forest.

Spitfire literally force at the spot as she realized what that sound was, and looking down to one of her hoof quickly confirmed her dreaded suspicion. Her hoof had stepped onto a large brittle branch.

“Oh you dumb stupid piece of…” Spitfire began to swear until a sudden roar pulled her back to the severity of reality.

“Oh for buck sake…not again.” She squeaked out, turning her head and meeting the dragon’s smouldering gaze.

The burning anger within the dragon's eyes showed that it had quite enough of all this shenanigans and she watched as the the beast’s chest slowly swelled to an abnormal size.

Without even thinking about it Spitfire jumped out of the ditch as fast as her badly beaten body could and not a second too soon as the entirety of the ditch and its surroundings were quickly bathed in an inferno of scorching heat. The rock melting flames scorched and burned everything in its path, melting the very earth and rock underneath it.

Spitfire was stunned by the path of burning destruction that was laid before her, a large trail of the forest was practically gone, including her hiding spot she just stood in a few seconds ago. The idea that her very own body could have been part of that if she hadn’t moved as quickly as she did sent unpleasant shivers down her spine. She could only marvel and shake in both shock and fear at the destructive power that dragons held.

A sudden rush of air filled the new clearing, the flames dimming as the oxygen they craved was sucked greedily into the dragon’s maw. The scales on its chest sparked in a reddish glow, telling Spitfire everything she needed to know.

Moaning in pain and desperation, she turned and galloped for her life,barely managing to avoid another torrent of flames aimed directly at her, burning off parts of her mane and tail and completely incinerating the vegetation in front of her.

With a clear and unhindered path forward, Spitfire gunned it. Without the risk of tripping or slowing down for anything, she had a good chance of survival, as long as she could gain the distance. She realized this at the moment the dragon did, and it quickly began to stomp its way after her, letting out more geysers of flames from its massive jaws and burning more of the forest around it.

Spitfire could feel her chest burning in pain and the rest of her body was following suit as she was pushing herself further than she ever had in order to hopefully stay alive. She could already taste the bittersweet salty tang that was her own blood as continued to push her aching muscles, coughing out some of it as the air filled with smoke around her making it hard for her to breathe and to see. The pain in her barrel was becoming unbearable as the effect of the smoke inhalation on her injury caused her to almost choke on the air itself. The air was quickly becoming toxic with fumes, as the yellow mare sprinted through the curtains of smoke.

Thankfully, her surroundings clearing up somewhat as she suddenly emerged into a wide open rocky field. The forest she had just vacated had been replaced with a colossal wall of smoke and fire, the gigantic blaze covering the air around it in its soot and choking gray smoke.

She could still hear the roars of the dragon within the inferno as she continued to gain distance from the forest’s edge.

“Yes…finally…I finally managed to lose him…thank Celestia…now if I could just keep going a little bit longer…I…I can find…a nice…quiet spot to stay…low…until…” Spitfire began as she continued to run but stopped as she skidded to a halt to prevent herself from falling off a steep cliff after she cleared a small up climb.

“What…a…a cliff...? Why is there a...cliff here? This is really bad…I need to…ahhhhh….buuuuck…what the…..ahhhhhh.” Spitfire groaned as sudden jolt of pain in her chest caused her to collapse to the ground clutching it with her fore legs as she grit her teeth.

A sudden cough caused her to spill out even more blood from her mouth, staining the grassy mound she laid on in the reddish liquid as she cried out in immense pain.

Her injuries were finally catching up with her, the exertion and smoke inhalation taking its toll. She had pushed her body too far this time and she could definitely feel it now.

“I…I’m…I’m still going to die, aren’t I?” She thought to herself as she could watch the dragon in the distance slowly emerging from the forest.

At this point, there was no more running for her. She was broken and weak, her body injured and in serious pain, her muscles soreand burning from the fatigue, her spirit broken as she realized that there was no more escape for her this time.

There was nothing she could do now, she was done. Tears of regret began to flow down her cheeks as she could only watch in as the dragon moved closer and closer, snarling and growling all the way as it prepared itself to deliver the final blow. The massive scales on its chest were glowing red as the heat inside the beast built up once more, ready to deliver another inferno towards its victim.

“Somepony…anypony…please HEEEEEEEEELP!!!!” Spitfire shouted, yelling as loud as her abused lungs would allow, hoping that somepony, anypony, might come and help..

She closed her eyes, bracing herself and simply accepted her fate as she took her few last breaths before the cold embrace of death would take her.

But death never came. Spitfire opened her eyes, and gasped in shock. There was a second dragon, speeding towards the clearing at incredible speeds. The dragon’s attention had been captured by the new arrival and it bellowed its displeasure to the winds, unwilling to let the new arrival steal its hard-earned kill.

With a massive *WHUMP* the dragon’s wings flung open and it began to rise into the air, ready to challenge the new dragon. The winds created by each beat sent clouds of dust and ashes flying across the meadow and Spitfire had to shield her eyes from a blast of miscellaneous objects.

The new dragon was slowing as it reached the clearing, apparently interested in her pursuer. It’s three wings barely moved as it passed the clearing before curving back around towards them. The noise it made was deafening, Spitfire’s ears folding back futilely to try to protect against the sonic assault as the strange dragon screamed overhead with the howl of a banshee. As it returned to the clearing, the terrible howl reducing drastically in volume, Spitfire noticed something else. Each wing was tipped with a pair of vicious talons which seemed to merge seamlessly into the main body of the wing. It certainly was a strange dragon.

As it turned, she noticed something even stranger. The dragon was emitting a huge amount of heat, a reddish glow was emanating from the rear of its bulbous head, expelling a constant stream of light so hot that the air behind it rippled.

“What…what in Luna’s name…” Spitfire whispered. This was no dragon, this was something else. Something alien. It’s hide shone in the few rays of sunlight that managed to filter through the curtain of smoke, it's banshee wail drowning out the growl of the dragon. She flinched back in surprise as the dragon unleashed a huge torrent of fire from its maw with a terrible roar, aimed directly at the foreign object above it.

To her complete surprise the object actually dodged the gust of flames that the dragon shot at it, the air suddenly beginning to feel very, static, very electrifying. The very hair on Spitfires back suddenly stood, making her shiver.

Spitfire’s mane was standing from her head, the grass crackling in an otherworldly storm. The dragon either didn’t notice or didn’t care as it rose ponderously from the ground, blasting fire in all directions. The strange object dodged them all, it’s single great eye glimmering as the flames reflected off its glassy surface.

There was no warning, no build of flame or magical energy. One moment the object was simply hanging there, impossibly maneuvering around the gust of flame. The next moment, six bolts of green lightning leaped from the object’s wings with a terrible screech. The world went white, and Spitfire knew no more.

Chapter 4: First Casualty

Edited by: WrittenWord333, Chrome Masquerade

Proofread by: Sergeant Luftfahrer

Riggs was expecting a lot of things, but finding an over sized lizard with wings that can also breathe fire was not one of them. One question still ran through his mind, though, as he was busy dodging a stream of flames with a simple flick to his right.

Why did his scanners pick up this one particular over sized creature and nothing else? Maybe this fire breathing scale-head was really the only creature large enough to be detected by his long range scanners for kilometers around? Maybe he came down on the wrong side of the world, empty of civilization, or even worst they might be no civilization on this rock at all which would mean that he would be stuck here much, MUCH longer then he felt comfortable with.

The only thing Riggs knew at the moment was that this oversized exotic hide provider was challenging him, and with that in mind, he was quickly beginning to get a bit irritated.

His day was already bad enough as it is and he really didn’t needed an oversized gecko to make it even more annoying then it already is.

“If that scale brain wants to pick a fight, then oh, is he going to get one!” Riggs thought as he fully primed his weapons. Now he was ready to show the scale-head how it gets done in space.

Dodging a torrent of flames with ease, Riggs quickly twisted his controls to the left, turning his ship a full 180° on the spot as he pulled down the throttle and began to charge the beast in a head on dive from high above.

Pressing down the triggers on both of his control sticks immediately unleashed a deadly torrent of highly energized laser bolts from his six main cannons, reaching the target in mere milliseconds and exploding on impact around the beast’s head and back in a brilliant blinding flashed and fire, before flying past it and pulling back up into a climb and turning back around.

Riggs was a bit surprised to see that the damage he caused on the thing was nothing like what he was expecting. Instead of killing it outright, he had only scorched off the outer scales and exposed raw burned flesh.

There were a couple of natural creatures he could think of that could take a full-on blast from a laser cannon and still walk away with it, but such creatures were rare and mostly unheard of. This being was one of them, it seemed.

That and he hasn’t calibrated his cannon to fire at full power for the sake of saving up energy a bit since he doesn't know how long he is going to be stuck on this rock for the foreseeable future.

That could easily be the issue too.

Another thing that surprised him a bit more was the sudden additional punch his bolts got despite being in there low setting. Usually they didn’t create such a sizable explosion on impact unless firing at something that’s combustible.

But yet again, it was something he was forced to put to the back of his mind, as he had other problems to deal with. Problems like turning that thing into a burning carcass, no matter how apparently heat resistant it was.

“Let’s see how how long this thing can take a beating before going down.” Riggs thought to himself as he turned for another run, dodging yet another gush of flames as he closed the distance.

Refusing to ramp up the energy output on his lasers for whatever reason (probably just for the sake of dragging this fight out longer) Riggs pushed down his triggers once more, unleashing another volley of deadly laser bolts down towards his target and engulfing it yet again in a chaotic display of explosions, intense heat and white flashes, making it roar in pain as the bolts struck true.

The sound of explosions and the beast’s roars were music to his ears, as it helped him vent some of his annoyance at the thing for just randomly attacking him.

As he zipped past the enraged beast and prepared for a third and final run, the dragon spread its immense wings with a mighty WHOOMPH as it prepared to chase the intruder that had so rudely interrupted its rage for just generally being there. Roaring into the air as it hauled its bulk up on its hind legs, ready to take to the skies.

“I will be most surprised if that thing could actually fly with those, with its size and the many holes on the ends of its wings.” He thought as he observed everything high above.

Before Riggs could even raise an eyebrow, the beast released another ear shattering roar, crouched down on all fours, flapped its mighty wings and hauled itself into the air, its wings easily carrying it into the sky, breaking clouds with its wings as it flew by.

“Well… it seems it can fly. Call me impressed, to say the least.” Riggs thought as he watched the giant beast flying high above the clouds and temporarily disappearing from eyesight before eventually re-emerging, spotting its adversary and directly diving towards its enemy.

Another gust of flames erupted from its maw as it drew closer to Riggs, the clouds around the flames’ trajectory evaporating from its intense heat as it raced towards Riggs’ Defender. Acting on simple instinct, Riggs easily dodged the incoming attack by pushing his controls to the right and rolling his ship away from its path.The flames harmlessly flew past him as he continued his attack run.

He began to pull up into the clouds above him, trying to break line of sight and to get some distance between himself and the monster following him. As expected, the beast below him was slow and sluggish compared to his ship.

It constantly tried again and again to hit its mark with streams and balls of fire as it continued its futile pursuit on the much smaller and vastly faster target, not even coming close to hitting, as Riggs’ distance, speed and superior maneuverability made a mockery of the dragon.

Soon the skies above the clouds had become a massive light show of orange and yellow as more and more flames erupted from the creature's maw in a desperately attempt to burn the TIE Defender to a cinder. A bestial roar echoed through the skies as Riggs continued to toy with him, the dragon’s anger reaching a boiling point.

“Ok, that is enough. I don’t have the time or the patience for this anymore. Time to take that winged lizard back down to the ground.” Riggs snarled aloud as he pulled up on his controls, looping back and readying himself to face the beast once more, slowing back down into attack position as his cannons primed, his targeting systems locking on with a beep.

Both adversaries were now charging for one another. Both ready to attack as they grew closer and closer.

The first one to attack was the beast, letting loose a massive torrent of flames, superheating the air around it and blasting layers of clouds out from its path with a hiss of steam.

Riggs didn’t even bother to avoid this attack. Rather than dodging, he simply kept his course and flew right through the flames, letting the heat shielding do its job as he re-emerged from the other side completely unscaved, all the while overcharging his energy cells with another volley of super charged laser bolts from his main guns.

Once again the beast roared in pain as its scales got pummeled by Riggs’ attack. The sound of Riggs lasers could be heard firing through the air as they hit their marks with deadly precision, exploding on impact and scorching the scales right off the creature’s thick hide, blowing huge smoking holes into the dragon’s natural armour as he whipped past the reptilian behemoth with a shriek from his two ion engines.

“Hmmm… that thing seems to be tougher than I thought, maybe switching the laser energy output to above low may just finish this thing off once and for all . I’m going to have to get myself some of its hide when all is done. Maybe I can manufacture some kind of armor.” Riggs thought as he did just that, pressing a sliding a bar on one of his screens to slightly increase the energy input into his primary weapons.

While the beast was still flying, and still trying to roast him with its fiery breath, it was now much more sluggish - its sustained injuries were finally wearing it down.

But the monster was far from giving up, by the look of it. It was going to defeat him or die trying, something Riggs had absolutely no problem with granting as he felt that the fight had dragged on for long enough.

“One more run should finally take this beast down, and then I can finally land and rest for a while. That meadow looks perfect to land on.”Riggs thought to himself as he got some distance and immediately turned himself back around for another attack run.

This time, without any incoming flames, it was almost laughably easy for Riggs to pummel the beast with flawless precision as the slight energy increase on the lasers did the expected results he was looking for before rocketing past it and away again in a shower of scorched shards of rock-hard scale..

As Riggs turned around he watched with a small grin on his face that whatever was left from the dragon was now just falling out from the sky and onto the distant ground below them in a flaming mangled, and unrecognizable mess of scorched flesh and thick smoke.

The burning carcass slammed into the ground, kicking up dust and debris and wrecking the earth underneath it, accompanied by a fiery explosion as something inside the dead beast supposedly detonated in combination to the fire and the hard impact it suffered from.

The fight was over.

Riggs watched the unexpected explosion with slight interest as he angle his Defender down for a landing.

“Time to land and assess the damage. Then I can finally have a proper rest. But first I need to see if anything useful for me survived that blast. if a sizable section of its hide is still intact I could get some serious credits for it.” Riggs thought to himself as he brought his ship down, slowly pulling the throttle back as he gently touched down onto the tips of his two lower wings, making planetfall for the first time on this uncharted rock since he got there.

Riggs sat back and relaxed for a moment as his craft’s engines’ frantic whirring powered down and slowed to a stop. Everything had been so hectic and so unpredictable lately. First the intense battle over Coruscant, their retreat, his disastrous hyperspace malfunction and then ending up on an undiscovered world, then fighting a giant, flying, fire breathing lizard.

A list of things he never thought he would do in a row. Or individually, come to that.

A few questions he pondered about earlier quickly resurfaced within the serenity of the moment. Like how and why his hyperdrive malfunctioned so disastrously or what that faint, distant cry for help was.

Another question, one that quickly dominated his mind after he opened his eyes, was what that thing was that he just blasted from the sky. Seeing the still burning remains through the viewport of his ship, Riggs quickly made up his mind to investigate it close up and to see if some of its hide was still intact.

Riggs pressed the release button on the exit hatch, a hiss of air escaping the void-proof seal as it opened on the alien world. Hoisting himself through the open hatch, his boots crunched down on the virgin grass. The first thing he noticed was the clean, fresh air that surrounded him, a nice change indeed from the sterile and eternally filtered air within ships or the polluted smog on some of the more highly populated worlds. It felt cool and refreshing.

“First few steps on an uncharted world and the first thing I do is skin the nearest local creature. Anyway, let’s see if I can get some samples of its hide. Make this little fight not as much of a waste of time for me.” Riggs stated to himself as he jumped off his ship.

The impact site of the alien reptile was a very small distance from where he landed, the green grass squeaking softly beneath his boots as he made his way over.

Alas, everything was completely trashed and unusable to him. Not that it mattered, though he still would have liked to collect some sort of trophy from this, as he did so many times in the past. The last war trophy he got was a vibrosword from a droid commando he shot down when he and his squad attacked some old Separatist hideouts a few months back.

A simple and straightforward operation, fly in, kill the fighter, bomb the place, land, kill everything, grab the info and then bomb the place again. Basically just go, destroy, kill, take, and screw off. No complications needed.

It was in the middle of reliving some of his previous operations that he suddenly spotted something in the corner of his eye. A yellowish body hidden behind some tall grass a couple of meters away from where he was standing.

Curiosity got the better of him as Riggs decided to investigate the obtrusive color within these green fields.

Walking over the tall undergrowth he eventually came face to face with the creature in question. Riggs’ right eyebrow rose in curiosity as he laid eyes on the creature in front of him. It looked like some kind of quadruped hoofed creature with yellow fur, covered in what he assumed was its own blood, darker and lighter split orange mane and tail and a pair of wings on its glistening crimson-covered back.

The wings, though, were the most interesting feature on Riggs mind, if you can still call them that from just how twisted and mangled they were, with only a few feathers still attached to the flesh, a number of broken bones having pierced the skin in multiple places as well as half of its flesh and muscles completely ripped off and hanging from its sides.

For a second there Riggs thought that this thing might just be another carcass until he noticed that it was still breathing shallowly and giving off the occasional twitch here and there. Though it wouldn’t be alive for much longer if it wouldn’t get help.

Its injuries were severe and blood continued to ooze from its large gashes, especially from its back. The creature’s breathing was weak and irregular and it would only take minutes for its life to finally go out.

For some reason Riggs started to feel a bit of empathy as the sight immediately brought a distant memories A past that eventually shaped him to what he became.

Riggs rubbed his head to get the momentary reminders out of his system. Memories that were just filled with anger and a hint of sorrow too.

He slowly began to bend down, observing the badly founded animal with much greater detail. Out of curiosity sake he began to move his right hand over the creatures face before placing his fingers carefully on what he guess where its eyelids and gently parting them to see what lay underneath it.

What he saw quickly made him pause for a second.

“Those are not as dull and generic as I thought they would be on simple animals. These do seem to have a level of sapiens behind them if I am not mistaken. A Sapient quadruple creature, unusual but also rare.” Riggs thought to himself as he slowly got back up and contemplating on what to do with it now knowing that.

He could just as easily let it be and let the rules of life take its course, though then again, if this thing was truly intelligent according to his evaluations then it must easily be one of the natives of this planet which also means that there might easily be some form of civilization out here after all.

If not then...well whatever, then he might be the proud owner of a new and exotic pet instead.

“Ehhh… screw it. Why not?” Riggs decided as he knelt down and carefully picked the equine up from the ground and under his left arm.

Riggs was somewhat surprised in how light it was, given its size.

Once back at his ship he laid the creature gently down onto a patch of grassless dirt right next to a large rock as he began to inspect the injuries much more closely.

“Most injuries seemed to be created via hard impacts and tearing. Don’t know exactly what happened to it, but it will die if I don’t do something.” Riggs spoke quietly as he continued to look for more injuries.

“Hmm... I do have one last syringe filled with Bacta fluid back at my ship. I have no idea how this creature will react to Bacta, but that’s all I have at the moment. But if it somehow does work it will accelerate tissue regrowth greatly, helping it heal up faster and possible save its life too.” Riggs thought while he rubbed his chin and confirming (after looking behind the creature's tail) that it was female… or so he guessed.

Ways of reproductions do tend to be different on some alien creatures throughout the galaxy, and he isn’t much of a biologist anyway. That title goes to Berren, knowledge the guy picked up from his father as he always told.

From Dantooin as far as he could recall Berrens background files.

Getting back on track, Riggs quickly walked back over to his ship to search for his medical equipment stored behind the pilot seat. Just like many other things he carried with him, the back had always functioned as a storage space, big enough to stack several large boxes in.

After climbing back inside his ship and rummaging through the containers and shelves behind his seat he came across something that completely escaped his mind since the start of his mission over Coruscant.

A deactivated little ball shaped prototype Astromech droid, branded as BB-5 Prototype, or just BB-5.

Riggs remembered well how he found and taken the little guy; but that was a memory for another time. Right then he needed to find his medical kit, though he also needed to remember to re-activate him afterwards, once everything was done and unpacked.

“Ah, here it is! And of course it’s in the very last container.” Riggs reached in and grabbed the hefty box, hauling it from the pile of boxes behind his seat. The white plastic with the universally-known red cross was a little scuffed, but that wasn’t a problem.

With the medical case now at hand, Riggs quickly climbed back out of his ship and made his way back towards the yellow-furred creature.

He placed the case down right next to it and opened it up. The box was mostly filled with very basic things like sterile bandages and simple meds, but also with more advanced things like a laser scalpel.

Riggs continued to dig through the medical case until he found what he was looking for; a still-filled and unused syringe filled with Bacta serum.

Again, Riggs had no idea if this would work or not, or if this would suddenly turn its yellow fur green or cause it to grow a fifth leg or whatever, but he didn’t have a choice. It was this or certain death.

Shrugging mentally, Riggs simply grabbed one of its forelegs and gently pierced the needle into to it, slowly squeezing the serum out until the tube was empty.

Gently retracting the needle again, Riggs placed the empty syringe back into the case and began to pull out some bandages. He carefully wrapped and covered the wounds and injuries with it, including the mangled wings.

After everything was good and done, he closed the case and stood back up, observing the creature in front of him as its chest continued to move in and out gently.

Now all he could do was wait.

“Might as well unpack everything and set up camp while the Bacta does its thing. Also still need to review the damage on my ship and check out the hyperdrive. I’d love to find out exactly what went wrong so I can give the engineers back at HQ a piece of my bloody mind.” Riggs thought as he let the creature be and headed back towards his ship.

Unbeknownst to him, a pair of curious and astonished pink eyes were observing him from afar, hidden behind a pair of bushes on the edge of the tree line.

It slowly lifted its head above the bush it was hiding in to get a better look, revealing a face covered in bluish-grey fur with a head full of white, wildly styled hair.

The creature continued to observe the scene in front of it with a look of disbelief and astonishment.

“No… freaking… WAY.” Cloud Chaser muttered to herself as she jumped out from the bush and took to the skies, feeling quietly stunned by what she had just witnessed.

Chapter 5: Face to Face

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 6: Out of this World Conversation

Chapter 6: Out of this world conversation.

Edited by: Chrome Masquerade

Riggs sat back town in front of his campfire while cleaning up his personal Vibroblade with nice wet cloth.

After the… humorous first words that the -now confirmed- native, he quietly questioned their actual Intelligence overall or if they were just naturally timid, which would explain the downright terrified expression she held toward him.

Then again, it might very well be possible that he was the very first offworld visitor -and basically can alien from outer space- this planet had ever received, so such drastic reactions toward him would be predictable.

Heck, in some instances they even started worshiping the first ever visitors like gods, if some records he once read regarding that subject were accurate in their accounts.

If these little quadrupeds started to shower him with gold and any other useless material that he honestly don’t need right then, he might as well ask them for material that he actually needed in order to fix up his ship a little bit, especially that fried hyperdrive that was verily forcing him to stay stuck on this rock until he can fix it.

If he could fix it, that is. It would all depend on the materials that this planet provided or if he can forge and eventually manufacture them himself, if not… well he might be royally screwed, here.

But, one step at time.

First Riggs needed to convince the yellow native ease up on him and eventually give him all the information he needed regarding this place, but since she had made her need to go and take a leak very obvious just a few minutes ago, he had to wait first for her to do that while BB-5 kept an eye on her.

Not that it was really needed, since he knew that running away for her would be like leaving a prison with everything she needs to survive and stepping into a vast desert. Not to mention her injuries and her obvious lack of flight at the moment.

Again, there really wasn’t anything major for kilometers around here, otherwise his scanner would have picked up the likes of settlements, towns or whatnot.

Riggs massaged his temples with a hand after he sat his already cleaned blade back onto the ground beside him.

“Well, at least I will be safe here from the Imperial loyalists. An isolated backwater would be the last place for them to look if they do ever pass by there. That is, IF they can even find this planet in the first place. Who knows how far into the Unknown Regions that hyperjump has thrown me?” Riggs thought to himself with a mental sigh before he heard some commotion coming from his right.

Turning his gaze to it, he was pleased to see that BB-5 had returned with the native intact, although still shaken, if the wobbly walk sequence was anything to judge by.

“Beep boop boop beep boop beep.” BB-5 chimed as the little droid stopped right next to him, alternating his gaze back and forth a few time as well.

Riggs nodded before looking over at the native. “Hey, you there.” Riggs casually called out, which caught the creature’s attention from whatever thoughts she seemed to be occupied with before. “You can come over here and sit down In front of the fire. Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to you. Unless you give me a damn good reason too.” Riggs quickly added.

The yellow quadruped in question first looked somewhat unsure, before she gave off a visible sigh as she slowly made her way toward him and the droid on the opposite end of the campfire.

She carefully sat herself down on her haunches and simply kept still, her gaze firmly locked onto the ground with her tail closely tucked in on her right side. An image that, strangely enough, made Riggs think about felines, in comparison.

Riggs leaned forwards a bit as he started the conversation, or in his case interrogation with this Native. “So, you can talk and understand me then yes?” He calmly ask which again caught the attention of the yellow fur bundle as she casually nods her head.

Riggs scratched his chin as he went on. “Well, good then. May I ask what your name is? If your species or culture even uses that kind of identification, that is.” He questioned further, to which the female awkwardly fidgeted in place a bit before looking off to the side.

“My… my name is… Spitfire.” She quietly answered.

Riggs was feeling pleased that -slowly- some progress was being made here, though he still personally dreaded the inevitable meeting he would have with other natives of this world, more specifically their kings or rulers that they most likely had. He would either have to play diplomat with them or just blow their heads off and be done with it, especially with his dislikes of monarchies in general.

Why? Well just personal and general opinions really. Maybe because his home world was run by a monarchy as well, even though it was more of a constitutional monarchy then a legit one.

Shaking his head to get his thoughts back on track, Riggs faced the -now newly identified- Spitfire in front of him. He just barely caught her staring at him when he was momentarily zoned out before quickly averting her gaze again in a bit of a panic.

Riggs silently chuckled at that as he simply decided to continue on. “So, what are you exactly, anyway? What is your species called and on what planet are we on?” The question which, again, caused the penned mare to shift a bit.

“Well, I… I am a pony. A Pegasus pony to be precise. A female, or more specifically a mare as it is called. And… well… the world you are on… is called Equus, or, at least, that is what ponykind likes to call it.” Spitfire answered a bit louder this time, which in turn made Riggs think a bit on all the Information that the named pony had laid out for him.

“By the way she answered and worded it, it would suggest that there are more than just these ‘ponies’ inhabiting this world. A world home to more than just one sapient species, if I interpreted it correctly. Not uncommon, really, especially in today’s modern age of basically almost every species being spread out across the galaxy.” Riggs thought to himself while scratching his chin a bit.

“What… what are you, if I may ask?” Spitfire suddenly asked, which diverted Riggs’ train of thought momentarily.

He gazed back up to look at her and was slightly surprised to see that she was actually looking up to him, an obvious sign that she was slowly easing up on him, which made Riggs smile a bit.

“Human. I am a human, and for an added bonus, my name is Riggs, Riggs Dantion to be correct.” He casually answered her which made her nod in response.

“So… is it true, then? Are you really some kind of... alien from outer space, and were you also the one who practically saved me from that Dragon by… well, slaying it, and finding and bandaging me up as well?” She asked as one big question, which made Riggs almost chuckle at her newly discovered curiosity, despite her previous fears.

“Timid and curious at the same time. An almost fitting combination.” Riggs thought before leaning himself back to answer her questions.

“Well, judging by the fact that I am indeed from outer space and probably the very first outsider to ever step onto this world, then yes. Yes, I guess I might very well be an alien to you.” Riggs answered before continuing on.

“And for everything else, yes. I did kill that dragon and yes, I did accidentally find you nearby afterwards and patch you up. Even had to use my last supply of Bacta fluid on you in order for those horrible twisted remainders of your wings to heal.” Riggs finished with finality as he grabbed a water canteen on his left before taking a small sip from it.

This short version of an explanation seemed to please the Pegasus a little bit, until the mention of her wings hastily brought her back to them, which eventually lead to the topic of the previously mentioned medicine he just mentioned.

“Wait… you injected me with… something called Bacta fluid? What… what is it?” She asked with a nervous tone and look, which Riggs honestly couldn’t fault her for.

“It’s nothing for you to be concerned with. It’s basically just a serum that encourages faster cell regeneration and tissue build up. I.E., you heal much faster than normal.” Riggs simply explained, which did the trick of calming the mare down somewhat.

A silence swiftly took over after that with nothing but the sounds of the gentle wind and the crackling of the campfire around them. Riggs took this moment of peace to pick up his helmet again from one of the boxes next to him and place it back into its typical position. A few clicks and hisses signaled that his armor was sealed up once more as his helmet's HUD immediately came back to life in front of him, giving him all the data and information he needed, ranging from the status of his armor (like power, shields and the condition of its small inbuilt exoskeleton) to data about the his surroundings. (Such as composition of the air, movements detected by his short range trackers and scanner and so on.) It even displayed the overall condition of his ship, since his helmet was linked with the ship's main computer.

Quite astonishing how much tech is -and can be- cramped into a single piece of standard looking commando armor; tech you will only receive when Imperial high command thinks that you are important enough to have it. Most soldiers, officers and even commandos can only dream of having so many toys crammed into their systems, mostly because the average soldier and even lower officer dies long before they can even reach such a rank.

Such is life in a galaxy that has been ravaged by two major wars successively; First the clone wars and then the galactic civil war between imperial loyalists, defectors (which he was part of), rebels and whatever else.

Anarchy is the rule of the day out there, and if the Empire falls… well it would just get even worse from there.

“T-thank you…” The mare suddenly said, which roused Riggs out of his data reviewing.

Turning off his HUD by pressing a small bottom on the side of his helmet, he switched his gaze back onto the mare in front of him.

She looked a lot more confident, but not fully so, as her gaze was still fixed onto one of her forelegs with her ears laid back like that.

“You mean the part with the dragon?” Riggs casually asked, which caused the mare to finch a bit back from his now mechanical sounding voice before nodding after she recovered quickly.

“Not just that, but for also having taken to the trouble of patching me up and, well, generally not doing anything else to me.” Spitfire added. The last part making Riggs chuckle a bit under his helmet.

“What you think that I would dissect you or anything? I am not a biologist, and I have absolutely no interest in cutting a creature open unless it’s something that pissed me off or it’s something that I have caught and planned to eat it for diner or something.” Riggs explained with a small grin as he watched the mare's eyes go wide at that statement as she froze up.

“For the sake of easing your troubles now, I don’t plan on eating something that is sapient, let alone something that can talk as well, and for further information I am an Omnivore so I can live on fruits as vegetables as well, if I have to.” He quickly added with a lazy wave of his arm.

That thought thankfully did the trick as the mare once again began to visibly relax at the news.

“Well, that’s a relief. We Pegasi like a bit of fish now and then too, so that shouldn’t be a problem,” She said

There was another silence after that, during which Riggs took the opportunity to grab his heavily modified DLT-19 heavy blaster rifle to inspect it for any oddities before carefully disassembling it for deeper inspections.

The hyperjump malfunction had messed up his hyperdrive. ‘Can’t hurt to check everything afterward to see if anything else was broken or amiss’, he figured.

“The last thing I want is for half of my gear and weaponry to be damaged or even downright broken while i’m stuck on an uncharted world. If I can’t get or make spare parts for the Hyperdrive then I at least could try to send a beacon out there for someone to receive and eventually come pick me up. Though, then again, that means that ANYTHING could detect the beacon, which could lead to some... undesirable results. Might have to make the frequency more specific then, I suppose, but then that also creates the problem of limiting the options of who can or can’t detect the signal in the first place. Damned if you do…Ehh, one step at the time. For starters I’ll just familiarize myself with this place first, before I even consider such options.” Riggs mentally noted as he carefully removed both the scope and barrel of his rifle.

The mare across the way watched him intently as Riggs continued his inspection, unaware of the fact that his BB-5 scanners were suddenly peeking up movement not too far from where there were. His HUD suddenly lit up as his own helmet picked them up as well.

“More company, it seems.” He casually stated as he began to turn his head to the direction his trackers were pointing.

Spitfire, on the other hand, (hoof) was confused at his sudden statement when all of a sudden a distant howl echo throughout the night which caused the fur on the back of her neck stand up.

“Those…those can’t possibly be…” Spitfire tried to mutter before she was interrupted by Riggs hastily pulling his DL-44 heavy blaster pistol out of its holster on his right side and aiming it in the direction the howl was coming from.

“What? What are you-”Spitfire tried to ask, but quickly got interrupted as Riggs pulled the trigger on his weapon which letting a shot out right into a large bush of the other side of the clearing, illuminating the space around them for a split second with a bright crimson flash (along with its signature -fairly loud- sound effect), a red lance of pure energy shooting forward and hitting the bush it was aiming at, which immediately burst into an inferno. Followed up by loud wails and cries of pain before quickly ceasing.

Spitfire jumped in complete shock at the quick and completely unexpected action before falling back down onto her flank with a loud and audible thud, her (still somewhat sore) wings trying to extend from their bindings. Spitfire groaned as she got herself up while rubbing her (now very sore) flank before looking up at Riggs with wide and fearful eyes.

“What… w-w-what was…?” She again stuttered before being ignored and interrupted by the one in question.

“Well, whatever was in that bush now is now gone… permanently.” He announced casually as he re-holstered his weapon before facing the still shocked mare in front of him. The targets on his tracker quickly disappeared from its effective scanning range.

The mare across from him continued to stare him before she seemed to eventually found her power to speak again, which was exactly what she did, though, to Riggs’ pleasant surprise, with a scowl on her face.

“What the feather-plucking hay WAS THAT!?” She demanded, again surprising the Imperial commando somewhat.

Riggs simply sat there, ignoring and not answering her on purpose just to see what would happen. He got his answer rather quickly when the mare’s scowl slowly deepened as she stood back up on all four.

“Well? TELL ME! Don’t just just sit there! ANSWER ME!” She repeated with a heated tone, which again intrigued the imperial commando somewhat as he watched her slowly move toward from around the campfire.

She was soon directly in front of him, face to face, if you will, as she even jabbed a foreleg onto Riggs’ chest and using it as balance to hoist herself up on her hind legs until she was practically touching her muzzle with his rebreather.

“TELL ME, WHAT ELSE ARE YOU GOING TO SHOOT, BURN AND TURN INTO AN UNRECOGNIZABLE MESS? I HAVE BEEN LOST, SCARED AND ALMOST EATEN AND BURNT ALIVE IN THESE LAST TWO DAYS, SAVED AND RESCUED BY SOME STRANGE ALIEN WHO SEEMS TO LOVE DESTROYING ANYTHING HE SEES FIT, AND I AM SWIFTLY GETTING SICK AND TIRED OF ALL OF IT!!!” The mare shouted in such furious heated anger as some tears started to form at the corner on her eyes.

“Huh…who knew that she is capable of creating such a broiling fire inside her? Not so timid now is she?” Riggs thought to himself, not really being fazed by the mare’s sudden source of courage and anger as she went on.

“WELL…SAY SOMETHING, YOU PSYCHOPATHIC ALIEN, YOU! ARE YOU GOING TO BLOW ME UP NEXT!? JUST TELL ME!!” She continued to shout as her small tears quickly became a torrent of anger and frustration. Small traces of smoke actually began to rise from her hair, such was her frustration with the whole situation.

“I… I just want to… go home.” She sighed out before she slid down Riggs form and broke down in silent tears right in front of him.

Riggs was somewhat dumbfounded. Never in his life had he ever seen such a reaction from practically ANYTHING. It was either anger or fear that others usually gave him. At this point he was slowly regretting his decision of not having learned advanced psychology together with Istan back in the Imperial academy, but choosing advanced mechanical science instead.

“Well, crap.” Was all Riggs was able to think as he was momentarily forced to just sit there and watch the mare bawl her frustration out.

“Boop Beep Beep boop boop beep.” BB-5 chimed while poking his left arm with one of his mechanical ones located in the sides of its head.

Riggs simply sighed, preparing himself to do something that he had never ever done before in his life, at least not that he could remember that is.

But also knew that it was very much the right thing to do, moral wise.

Without saying a word or making a sound Riggs found himself re-adjusting his position so that he could be kneeling down in front of the distressed mare before gently placing a hand on top of her head and gently stroking it.

“The stupid academy never prepared for this.” He thought to himself as he continued.

She continued to cry, hiccupping and sniffing in between her sobs, while Riggs gently stroked her mane in an attempt to calm her down. Which eventually worked, thankfully. Too much so, as Riggs soon found himself stroking the sleeping form of Spitfire in front of him. Most likely caused by a combination of her emotional fatigue and Riggs’ gentle stroking.

Removing his helmet once more with an audible hiss, Riggs began to observe the sleeping and inured form of this little quadrupedal creature with mild thought.

“Again, maybe not as timid as I originally thought. She does have an inner fire burning inside of her, I can tell, so far. Let’s just wait and see what else she has going inside her. Since I am technically the first ever extraterrestrial visitor this planet has ever had. I am certain that she is going to stick around me much more often in the future.” Riggs thought to himself while stroking his chin before quietly getting back up.

“Sleep might actually not be a bad idea. Going to need my strength for the upcoming days, (if her own reactions and performance are anything to go by) with these Natives. Wouldn’t be surprising if I started making ponies cry left and right wherever I go. If that ever happened I might as well try to take over this backwater world all by myself just for kicks. And to make them all shut up.” He continued his thoughts as he randomly picked up a thick piece of cloth out from one of his open storage containers before gently laying it onto the slightly snoring mare.

“Would you mind continuing to keep an eye on her for the night, BB-5? It would be a waste if she would suddenly wake up, run away and get herself killed afterwards.” He casually asked the aforementioned droid, which nodded with his half-sphere head.

“I am going to sleep inside the Defender, if anyone needs me.” Riggs quietly mutters to no one in particular as he made his way over to his fighter to finally clock in for the night.

………………………………………………………………………………………

(Cloudsdale Hospital)

“No, no please, Miss Fleetfoot. Please stay in your bed. the Pegasus Guard is already in the works of trying to find and bring back Spitfire from wherever the storm a few nights back has send her. Please stay in bed so that your broken wing and fractured foreleg can heal.” A nurse mare pleaded towards the light blue coated mare as she attempted for the third time this day to sneak her way out of her bed and room.

Fleetfoot’s gaze was determined as she tried to push her way past the two nurses blocking her path. She grunted as her left foreleg bumped into one of the nurses while trying to force herself past them once more.

“I don’t care about my bucking wing or foreleg. Spitfire is out there somewhere, probably worse off than me, and Soarin (as far as I can recall) got nearly literally catapulted away from us during that storm. I can’t just sit here on my merry flank and hope for the best, I have to go out and help them find her. She is my closest fillyhood friend CELESTIA DAMNIT!!” Fleetfoot argued as she desperately tried to push her way past the now equally frustrated nurses in front of her.

“Fleetfoot, would you PLEASE calm down and cooperate? We are just trying to look after your health here. You’re useless to your team dead.” A stern stallion’s voice replied from the back, being none other than the head doctor of Cloudsdale General Hospital.

“My own health is insignificant to the life of those ponies, so just let me through, you pickle heads.” Fleetfoot shouted back as she slowly started to get angry at the continued attempt of the hospital staff to keep her in.

“MISS FLEETFOOT THAT IS ENOUGH!!!” A new and commanding voice suddenly shouted, causing all of the ponies within the room to cringe and cover their ears at the sheer volume of it.

Everypony gasped in shock after their sense of hearing recovered enough as they all immediately began to bow down in respect to the pony that was standing right behind the stern doctor by the entrance.

Fleetfoot’s eyes went wide in surprise before she took a respective bow in front of her ruler as she gently strolled into the hospital room.

It is none other than Princess Celestia herself.

“Oh crap… I just used her name as a swear while she was just right behind that door. Oh, I am going to be in so much trouble for this, I just know it.” Fleetfoot thought to herself in panic as she heard the distinct clip clopping of metal hoof-shoes slowly approaching her.

She gulped when she felt a metal-gilded hoof resting on her shoulder, expecting a good scolding or even worse.

“Rise, my little ponies.” Celestia gently commanded as everypony (except for Fleetfoot, as Celestia’s hoof was still on her shoulder) did so.

“Your concerns for Captain Spitfire are noble and show much loyalty, Miss Fleetfoot, but please. Please listen to both the doctor’s and nurse's’ advice to stay here in order for your injuries to heal properly. Both my day guard and my sister’s night guard are already hard on the case of finding her as we speak. It would be a shame allowing you to join the search in your current state and possibly get yourself in an even worse condition because of it.” Princess Celestia lectured in a very calm and understanding tone as she removed her hoof from the blue mare’s shoulder, which allowed to get up to look up at her.

“But… but I…” She tried to argue, but got quickly silenced by the princess as she looked down at her like a mother.

“No buts, miss Fleetfoot. You are in no condition to be going anywhere and you know that, especially with that broken wing of yours. Please, just understand that these fine ponies here are just trying to look after you, and please trust in the guards to come through with their jobs.” Princess Celestia calmly stated.

“Please just be patient, it would be bad if you, yourself would get lost as well, or even worse.” Celestia added which made Fleetfoot look down with a sad expression.

“I… ok. I… I will stop my attempts of getting out of bed, it’s… it’s just… Spitfire is my oldest and best friend since… well, since as far back as I can remember. I… I just hate the idea of possibly losing her when I had the chance to do something.” Fleetfoot announced as a few tears started to formed at the corners of her eyes.

Fleetfoot felt a hoof lifting her head as was greeted with nothing but a kind, motherly smile.

“I understand your distress, but again, please be patient and heal up. I don’t want you to get even more hurt than you already are, miss Fleetfoot.” Celestia cooed softly.

Fleetfoot simply nodded, which was rewarded with another kind smile before Celestia turned herself around and took her leave with the doctor close behind her.

One of the nurses stepped up afterward to lead the blue Pegasus mare back into her bed. Fleetfoot made no protests as she allowed herself to be herded back into her bed.

“Just call us if you need anything, miss Fleetfoot. Alright?”

“Oh Spitfire, where in Equestria’s name are you?” Fleetfoot thought to herself as she allowed her head fall down onto the pillow behind her.

For a moment Fleetfoot raised her head again “Are you sure there’s noth-” but she was interrupted by one of the nurses tapping a spot on her, making her feel really sleepy.

“Since when could you do that? And why didn’t you do that before?” the other nurse asked, slightly annoyed.

“I used to do shiatsu before I applied here. And i was hoping it wouldn’t be necessary.” The first nurse said. before both ponies quickly left the room, leaving Fleetfoot the only occupant within it.

Her last thoughts were the only company she had at that moment. Thoughts of worry for her old foalhood friend and personal captain.

“Oh, Spitfire. Wherever you are, please... be... safe...” she thought, before falling into a deep sleep.

Chapter 7: More Natives

Chapter 7: More Natives
Edited by: Rainbowblitz, Fistfire, Warlite the human guy

Spitfire groaned as she slowly regained consciousness. The very first thing she noticed was that the tip of her snout felt very ticklish for some unknown reason. She tried to wiggle her nose in hopes of getting whatever was making it feel so uncomfortable to just go away without to really having to move much. But all she managed to do was make her nose even more ticklish and itchy. At the same time,whatever was using her snout was now moving around on it slightly, making her groan even louder as she slowly forced her eyes open.

What eventually greeted her confused her somewhat.

“Oh…uh…hey there…little butterfly.” Was all she had to say as her head was still a bit drowsy.

Once she was fully awake Spitfire didn’t hesitate to shoo the small butterfly away with a hoof. With her current issues now dealt with she eventually decided to just continue to make herself more comfortable within her blankets to doze off some more. Or that is what she would have done if all of her memories of the previous night didn’t just come crashing into her like a carriage strapped onto a adrenaline fuelled Pegasus.

Her eyes immediately shot open as she lifted her head off her forehooves to view her surroundings. Only to cringe at the end as she was harshly reminded of her still fresh injuries and busted wings

But all of that was swiftly ignored as a slight pang of panic quickly rose up in her as she quickly started to remember everything from the previous night.

Her waking up in an unfamiliar location filled with strange items and things, her startling encounter with a round metallic object with a head, and of course the big tall alien itself.

Though the panic in her quickly subsided when she remembered the still somewhat awkward and one sided conversation she had with that thing, not to mention the feeling of it stroking her softly when she broke down crying in front of it, and the blanket it gave to her to stay warm.

“Maybe…maybe things aren’t as bad as I first imagined them to be.” She thought to herself while observing the fabric of which the blanket was made of.

There were some metal looking linings stitched into the fabric in a mildly wide criss cross pattern, the use and function of them completely unknown to her., Some of the blanket’s unique warmth seemed to be coming directly from these thin metal wires, if a touch of her hoof was anything to go by.

“Even as simple an item as a blanket seemed to look and feel more alien than anything else I have seen so far, and come to think of it, prior to yesterday, I only thought that extraequestrians were nothing more than just modern Sci-fi tales in books and comics.“ She continued to think before letting the blanket be in favour of everything else around her, more specifically the alien craft that was still proudly sitting just a few meters away from her.

“Never in my life would I have imagined to be the very first pony to ever see and come this close towards something that only used to be silly foalstories. I mean geez, a real space ship right in front of me, and the best we have, in comparison, are just steam trains and simple wooden airships held up with large balloons. Makes you wonder just how far behind we really must be towards everything else that must be out there.” Spitfire wondered as she continued to observe the craft from her position with foal like curiosity. Soaking in every ounce of detail on its surface and trying to figure out how such a thing could possibly fly in the first place, let alone travel to distant planets and stars as well.

It looked very strange but also very intriguing to her. It looked very agile and also very intimidating with its smooth and sharp designs. This thing was definitely made for military purposes, if her brief memories of it pummelling the dragon to death was any proof of it. It just made her wonder just how many more magic like weapons this thing carried inside of it.The very thought of that was making her shiver, as she was sure nothing that ponykind currently possesses could ever hope to counter such a complex hi-tech device.

Again, a thought that made her shiver a second time but also made her even more interested in it than ever before.

In a way this thing looked cool, even awesome to her.

She definitely has to learn more about it whenever she gets the chance to do so, even if it kills her…well…maybe without the killing part to be honest.

“Actually now that I think about it, where is that alien and that ball thing anyway? No pony or soul in sight anywhere?” Spitfire wondered out loud as she darted her head from left to right in hope to spot what she is looking for.

Did she just feel hope toward aliens?

Spitfire shook her head to get these thoughts and feelings out of her system and to focus back on the here and now.

“Stay focused Spits, these are still aliens you were abducted by, aliens from outer space you know nothing about. With magic light weapons that can even brutally scorch a full grown dragon as if it was nothing. Sure the alien male…or…I think he is male judging by its voice, can at least speak equestrian but…still…” She mentally mulled this over and tried to justify the reason as to why she was suddenly feeling so chill about her current situation…or to debunk.

“Don't tell me I’m suffering from Stockhorse syndrome already?”

“Pssssst Hey…Spitfire, hey Spitfire.”

Spitfire immediately went rigid for a moment when she heard those words whispered nearby. She quickly turned her head to its source behind her only to go stiff once more after seeing who and what it really was.

Her eyes immediately went wide in surprise as she recognized just who it was peeking around the very rock she first woke up behind.

“Clou-cloudchaser?”

The mare in question quickly made a ‘hush’ sign with her hoof before she carefully made her way over to the fiery mare still tucked inside her blanket. But not until first making sure that the coast was clear by checking her surroundings.

Spitfire, in turn, immediately got herself back on all fours, discarding the blanket on her back She hastily making her way to the slowly advancing gray mare in front of her.

“What the…Cloudchaser, what in Luna’s name are YOU doing HERE?” Spitfire demanded in a harsh whisper which caused the mare in question to halt her advance and tilt her head and look at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Uhm…rescuing you from aliens, duh.” Cloudchaser replied as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

Spitfire promptly panicked as she shoved her hoof directly into Cloudchaser’s mouth before looking around herself with paranoia.

When nothing was in sight she quickly looked back to the gray mare with a glare.

“Would you please be QUIET, I have no idea where both Riggs and BB-5 are. If they see you, who knows what they will do to you.” Spitfire whispered harshly.

Cloudchaser, in response, knocked Spitfire’s hoof out of her mouth before clearing her’s from all of its dirt and gunk before glaring back at Spits herself.

“Riggs and BB-5, what kind of names are those? Are those the names of the Aliens who abducted you?” She questioned before looking thoughtful.” If they are, then it makes sense I guess.” She calmed before shaking her head and glared back at spits.” But whatever, how do you know their names to begin with anyway? Have they crammed that information into your mind of yours with some freaky alien telepathy or something? Or did they physically open up your head to poke around in your brain with their tech?” Cloudchaser questioned curiously, though thankfully in more of a whisper like Spitfire wanted.

Spitfire in response simply shook her head. “What…nonono, it’s not like that…it’s actually…You know what, it’s not important, what is important right now, is that you need to get the HAY AWAY from here before any of these two could….”She caught herself in shock. Her eyes went wide as she suddenly spotted BB-5 poking his round head around the same rock where Cloudchaser just came from before slowly and casually rolling himself over to the two quietly.

“Uhm…Clou-Cloud right…right behind you there is…” Spitfire stuttered which in turn made Cloudchaser just tilt her head in confusion.

“Why are you stuttering like that? Speak clearer I can barely get what you are trying to say here.” Cloudchaser questioned which really didn’t help Spitfires slowly increasing panic at all.

Not that it would really matter anyway as the little ball shaped astro droid was soon pretty much right behind Cloudchaser with one of its eye’s once again giving up that faint red glow.

The little guy was just doing his job, and to also fulfill his own droid like curiosity.

scanning new native life form

....................................................................................................................................

“This Planet's natural fauna reminds me a lot of my old home. Though I don’t know if it is a good thing or a bad thing? Been forever since I ever laid Eyes on the green world of Naboo.” Riggs thought to himself as he continued his visual exploration and mapping of the forests that around this area.

The dragon carcass that has been left to rot in the open field had been completely untouched ever since the last time he checked on it for more samples. Already rotting away if both the armies flies and the stench it was starting to let go was anything to go by.

After having get himself some both DNA sample and large physical samples of the dragon's hide Riggs decided that it was somewhat necessary to have a much closer look around area he landed on in case he might discover something useful or unique, like water and food sources to name a few. Though food of course wouldn’t be that much of an issue since he could always go out and hunt for game in the forests. The only problem with that was that he didn’t really have any knowledge of this worlds creatures and overall ecosystem. He could easily be hunting and eventually eating something that turns out to be hazardous to humans which would certainly be a very unpleasant experience, especially since medical help would pretty much be non existent here in the middle of nowhere.

Plus there might also the be question if the animal he is hunting is actually sapient or not. Now that would be a bit of an awkward revelations for sure.

The last thing he needed was to accidentally kill and eat one of the natives of this space rock.

“I guess what I can do is just stun whatever creature I come across before actually killing it.” Riggs mentally noted as he continued to rely on both his trackers and own eyesight for any movement within these woods. Mentally switching his DLT-19 to stun just in case a perfect test subject is stupid enough to show itself in front of him.

His Helmet's HUD suddenly began to display a message on the right, a message send by BB-5 as it read that he has engaged another native back in the camp.

“Visitors already? Hasn’t been a week on this planet and I am already getting molested by the new local neighbors.” He mentally joked as he made his way back towards the clearing and to his campsite.

The moment he entered the clearing is when he saw it, a creature similar to Spitfire, though gray in coloration, was flying up and away from the camp probably to escape, though that idea was swiftly hooked when the line of a crippling wire shot out from the camp itself and wrapped itself around the natives hind legs and forcing it back down into the ground with an audible thud that Riggs could even hear from here.

Humming at the somewhat comical scene, Riggs casually made his way back to his camp to see what all the fuss was about. The scene he found was not disappointing at the slightest.

“LET ME GO LET ME GO YOU WEIRD METAL BALL FREAK!!” The gray pony yelled out as she (judging by its voice) was securely tied up by the metal wires that made up BB-5’s crippling equipment.

How BB-5 managed to get the line around the pony like this was beyond Riggs, but at least it did the job of securing this newcomer perfectly, sadly missing the mouth with that.

Spitfire on the other hand looked completely unsure what to do with the situation she somehow found herself in. Her gaze darted back and forth between these two before finally resting on Riggs with fear and surprise in her eyes.

“LET ME BUCKING GO, I SWEAR IF I GET OUT OF HERE I WILL…”The angry sounding gray ball of fluff tried to shout out before her gaze finally fell up on Riggs for the first time. Her bravado immediately gone and buried.

“Well, well, well, what have we wired in this time? Another natives of this planet it seems?” Riggs casually stated.

The mare before him shrunk back when his mechanical sounding voice entered her ears which made Riggs smile slightly underneath his helmet. He just loves it when people, or in this case aliens, around him looked up at him with fear, it's what his unit was based for anyway. Psychological warfare was half the job.

Riggs steadily began to aim the tip of his rifle at the mare below him which caused both her and Spitfires eyes to immediately widen in panic as he simply undid the stun function on his weapon. A low, high pitched whistle emitting from the weapon is its Ionizing chamber was once again flooded with lethal levels of energy.

“Ri-Riggs wait, she…she didn’t…” Spitfire tried to explain but was heard by deaf ears as Riggs simply fired…and hitting the cord holding the gray mare instead much to the Droid’s displeasure.

Both mares were stunned at this as Riggs on the other hand simply holstered his weapon back against one of the supplies crates littering his campsite and walking off back to his ship. BB-5 quickly following him as he started to beep and chirp about the loss of have of his crippling hook cord.

“What…what the hay was THAT?!” Riggs heard someone say before he finally reached out of earshot.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

“Hey Cloud, are you ok?” Spitfire asked after the two outworlders left them be.

“Ye-yeah I…I guess I am ok.” Cloudchaser reply with a sigh of relief before realizing something. “Actually…uhm…could you…could you maybe help me out of this mess, please?” Cloudchaser sheepishly asked as she gaze down onto her binding.

“Oh…uh yeah sure.” Spits replayed.

She immediately went to work and untangling the gray Pegasus mare out of her burden, a few little mishaps happened here in there, most notably the re-tightening of the wires around some questionable places when Spitfire accidentally pulled the cords on the wrong ends, but overall the process of freeing the wild maned mare went somewhat quick and easy with her soon back on all fours after the work was done.

“Jeez, that actually hurt a lot. Stupid Alien ball thing.” Cloud complained as she rubbed her sore flanks.

Spitfire on the other hoof took this opportunity to ask. A question that has been bugging the back of her mind ever since she spotted the gray mare.

“Wait a second Cloud, how the HAY did you even know that I was here to begin with, and furthermore what are you doing so far away from civilization anyway, where…from where did you even come from?” Spitfire asked in an almost stern tone which immediately caught clouds attention.

Cloud rubbed the back of her head. “We-well…uhm…for starters I was actually just happened to be closeby when that weird alien spaceship pulverized that dragon like if it was nothing from one of those bushes over there.” She pointed out at the end the bush she was hiding in, while unnoticably making Spitfire shiver a bit when she mentioning the dragon.

”And furthermore I also watched that…that thing over there eventually carry your heavily beaten body back over his ship to do…whatever with you. To be honest back then I thought that this alien was going to dissect you like in those comics and novels.” She continued on before leaning in close. “But...now that I have a closer look at you now it’s seems more like that it had actually help you tend to your injuries instead of doing the whole ‘opening you up and probe you or wrapped you in tentacles or whatever.”She finally finished.

Spitfire frowned, mostly because of her mentioning about THAT particular line regarding tentacle aliens, she already knew the secret fetishes that this mare is hiding thanks to a situation that involves a bit too much cider that other night and a wet broom, but that still doesn’t mean that she needs to be reminded of it, as the memories of that night just made her cringe.

Spitfire shook her head as something about Cloudchaser’s explanation suddenly registered inside her head.

“So wait, wait, wait...so you have seen the battle that occurred like…2 night ago...I think, and you’re still here?” Spitfire questioned while looking at her strangely. “Don’t tell me you were close by camping around in the wilderness for 2 whole days?” She promptly added.

Cloud tilted her head in confusion. “What are you talking about, I didn’t camp out here for a whole two days. That would be crazy. I actually immediately flew away back towards Cloudsdale as fast as I could after the Aerial battle was over, to try and tell some ponies…which you can probably imagine didn’t go so well.” Cloud sheepishly smiled before regaining her composure. “And to also go get some more stuff before eventually flying back here to look for you.” Cloudchaser explained which in turn made Spitfire look at her strangely yet again.

“Clou-Cloudsdale? Actually wait a minute…where…where exactly ARE we? I…I didn’t recognize these woods at all after I first woke up here.” Spitfire question which made Cloud curious.

“You don’t?” She exclaimed with a bit of a shock. ”We’re just beyond the smoky mountains, west from the whitetail woods. Cloudsdale is actually just a full 2 hour flight from here.” Cloud explained with Spitfires eyes going wide in surprise.

“Wait…what? Seriously?” She asked in shock in which Cloudchaser simply nodded.

“Ugh…I’ll just blame my inability of flight for that blunder.” Spitfire mutter.

Spitfire was about to say more but a distant howl pretty much dashed that idea out of her system. Both of their ears immediately perked up after that as more distant growls and howls could be heard close by…very close by.

“Those…those sound like…but…but how?” Cloudchaser stuttered out as both her eye and ears swiveled around in place.

“Yeah… that’s what I thought as well when I first heard it the night before…but I still can’t be…we are not in the everfree after all.” Spitfire commented as she two started to move her head left and right in order to spot whatever was making these sounds.

She got rewarded when set of glowing green eyes suddenly pierced the shadows of the forest opposite from them which hastily debunked their sense of disbelief.

“What are Timberwolves doing so far away west from the whitetail woods?” Spitfire commented in shock as more pairs of eyes quickly made themselves visible within the thick foliage of the woods.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Riggs inbuilt tracker suddenly sprang back up to life as close by targets made themselves knows within its effective range of 100m.

“Brilliant. What is it now?” Riggs sighted while still being in the middle of inspecting his busted hyperdrive.

“Beep boop boop beep beep boop” BB-5 chirped up while stopping his welding and gazing up to Riggs, his own sensors picking up nearby life forms as well.

Riggs stood back up as more targets began to blink up on his tracker in an almost alarming rate. “5 targets, 7 targets 14 targets and now 20 life targets, and all of them moving up to our location. We might be dealing with more than just woods land animals here. Perfect, just what I needed.” Riggs commented out as his tracker managed to pin up a total of 22 targets on his HUD and giving him all the Intel that he needed.

Intel like ‘go get my rifle’ kind of Intel.

“BB-5 you stay here and keep working on the hyperdrive, l will handle whatever is coming our way.” Riggs ordered which was answered by a ‘beep’ and nod from the droid in question as the little guy went back in doing his part.

“Only have been on this rock for two and a half days and I’m already have to commit genocide on this world’s local wildlife. Certainly not the worst entry I ever had on an alien world.” Riggs muttered under his helmet as he casually made his way back to retrieve his DLT-19 where he left it.

I wasn't really surprising for him to find that the two female ponies were still standing around at the same spot where he left them, that would complicate things somewhat as their position is a little bit more exposed for his liking. Not to mention that one of them was still flightless as well.

Riggs wasn’t particularly thrilled to be playing babysitter for these two, but if he ever wants to get some more information out of them about this planet, their species, culture, and their general tech level and understanding of the galaxy at large, then keeping them alive is obviously a good idea.

Not to mention having them help dealing with the the whole meet and greet with the planet's leaders. Just to make sure that he doesn’t have to shot them all at the end.

Royalty and nobles are all the same, no matter what planet you are on.

“You two.” Riggs began while picking up his rifle and pointing a finger at the two mares in front of him.” Go take cover between that rock and those supply crates over there, don’t move and don’t make a ruckus. Whatever is coming out this way, I want them to be primarily focused on me and not have to worry about you two getting in between me and whatever is coming out of these woods. Do you understand?” Riggs ordered before swiftly making his way back to his ship and the direction these pings are coming from.

Both mares simply decided to do as they were instructed as they bunked themselves in between the boulder and stacks of supply crates.

Riggs on the other hand was prepping his rifle for lethal fire as he marched up to the middle of the field between his camp and the outlines of the forest in front of him. A dozen glowing eyes quickly making themselves known in front of Riggs visor.

Riggs was prepared for a lot of things at this point, and I mean a lot of things thanks to his extensive war career and travel all throughout the galaxy. But this? This was certainly not something he has ever seen before, nor on Felucia or in the elusive unknow regions.

“Are these things made of wood or did I accidentally turned on ‘simulation mode’ on my visors HUD?” Riggs thought to himself as the creatures that his tracker has been warning him finally showed themselves by slowly stalking out of the shadows.

Normally some people would blame alcohol or death sticks for such a strange and unpredictable sight, but since Riggs wasn’t into drinking or bloody drugs in the first place, his blame rather went up towards the gallons upon gallons of Bacta that he had been injected with over the years, especially during that one year of physical and biologically enhancement he was forced to go through for one of the empire's secret programs to create super Stormtroopers.

A third of the Empire is about conducting such funding and experiments in secret anyway. The Moffs love this kind of stuff, whatever can give the Empire or their own agenda a technological edge over the other’s, they take it and fund the ever living crap out of it. Riggs should know since he once took part in such an “Arms” race as well.

“Well, at least NOW I have the bragging rights to claim that I have seen EVERYTHING.” Riggs mentally noted as these wooden canines were slowly approaching, snarling and growling all the way in an attempt to be menacing.

Only problem is that Riggs has, in all honesty, seen way more menacing creatures and monsters in his life. Even so he still wouldn’t have been impressed the slightest, he has seen and went through too way much shit in his life to really get phased by that at this point.

He readied his rifle, holding it up against his shoulder with his right hand finger resting firmly on the trigger, ready to make some charcoal for his campfire.

More and more of these wooden creatures started to reveal themselves from the protection of the forest to join their kin. Some in the front were slowly tasking their way around Riggs, trying to create a circle around him and cutting off any easy opening for an escape as the other wooden canines in the back got into position behind the first line.

They were ready to strike soon, though so was the Storm commando who is just casually standing there with his rifle firmly in his grip. The trigger finger already pressing down onto the small metallic pin, waiting greedily to be pressed down to do its beading.

“Was the creature I shot the other night perhaps one of them? Would make sense if it was, given that they are all here looking mighty hungry, well let’s not keep them waiting then, or it to be precise.” Riggs thought to himself with a small smirk as he made the first move.

Picking his first target and pressing down the trigger on his DLT-19 heavy blaster rifle to unleashed the first shot of a highly energized blaster bolt directly into its first victim with pinpoint precision, causing a bright red flash of an explosion and small shockwave that traveled out from its epicenter, knocking over any of these wooden canines standing close to it from there wooden paws and causing other to stacker.

Even Riggs felt the small explosion as his head flinched back a bit from it, not really expecting such a result from a simple blaster bolt coming from a standard, though still moderately customized and modded DLT-19.

Where once a Wooden dog stood was nothing more than a simple spot of scorched ground. Raising an eyebrow at this Riggs hastily allowed himself to check on the power setting that his rifle was set at, only to quickly remember that such a setting only existed on his fighter not on any of his other weapon except for his D-11 sniper.

The wooden being who got back up on all fours seemed to also been stunned to shock at the literal pulverization of one of their kin.

“This result is strange,This old DLT-19 has never packed this much punch before, it's kinda like an anti-tank weapon. Actually, the same thing basically happened with the laser cannons on my ship despite being in low setting. This defiantly requires further testing in the future. But for some reason I have a feeling that it probably has something to do with this strange and unknown radiation field that seems to be covering this planet.” Riggs thought to himself.

Those ideas had to quickly wait as the a large number of these living forest branches started to immediately charge at Riggs with anger in their eyes for the death of yet another of their pack.

Riggs reaction to that almost perfectly by letting a few more shots out from his blaster in hitting all of his attacker with again marksman like accuracy, dropping 5 of them in one burst and turning them to nothing but ash for the winds to carry away.

“5 down, 18 more to go.” Riggs counted in his head as the pack immediately went into an enraged frenzy as more, including those behind him, started to charge at him at full sprint, baring their teeth and digging their claws into the dirt below them.

Riggs again retaliated by shooting down two more who were foolish enough to attack him from the front before quickly turning his rifle upside down and smacking the butt of the rifle hard against one of these walking shrubberies who was in the middle of pouncing on him from the right. A sickening crack could be heard from the impact of the blow and sending the poor canine flying into one of the wings of Riggs Tie-Defender, causing another loud crack to echo throughout the carnage before slumping down lifelessly onto the grass below it.

“3 more down, 15 more to pulverize.” Riggs continued to count as he ducked and rolled away from another pouncing wood brain before slamming his fist down onto its head, causing the beast to whine out in pain as a large crack was visible afterwards.

Riggs trackers and overall senses were now working in overdrive at this point.

Riggs spent no time getting back up to counter yet another attack, grabbing the beast mid pounce by its neck before swiftly swivelling around and slamming its form onto another that was trying to get him from behind.

Soon his projectile weapon was made useless in such a close brawl, its main purpose was quickly changed to that of a metallic club for breaking wood. But it didn’t matter, since Riggs was trained for almost any situation as a commando, this was his life, his nature, his element. He was made in an age of strive and therefore knows nothing but combat and fighting. The battlefield has become his element over the years, and he thrives in it.

Riggs was soon busy tracking wooden head left a right, punching, kicking, smacking and throwing wooden dogs all around him. Riggs eventually pulled out his DL-44 from its holster and began rapidly executing wooden canines he had forced onto the ground while still using the butt of his rifle to fatally break necks and skulls.

The body count was rising fast around the black Storm Commando.

“6 more down, 9 still alive.” Riggs continued to count.

One of these beasts eventually did managed to get through his defences as Riggs felt a strong pressure on his right shoulder its jaws tried to stick into it. Riggs was having none of that. Brutally smacking another of these creatures with the butt of his weapon he quickly dropped his DL-44 onto the ground and reaching out with his left hand onto the beast head.

With one mighty pull he managed to rid himself off his burden, the beast in his strong grip now began to trash and bite violently against his grip and arm which only infuriated the Imperial Commando even more. Its efforts were quickly rewarded as Riggs began to use it's still thrashing form as another blunt weapon against the still remaining adversaries by smacking its form hard against another of its kin who tried to get Riggs on one of his legs with two loud yelps and another sickening sounding crack.

“You bloody bastards are slowly but surely crawling up nerves.” Riggs shouted out as he used his new living club to smack down another canine and causing it to finally stay down lifelessly against his feet.

Another loud snap sounded as Riggs soon found himself holding onto severed head with the rest of the body lying broken and deformed in front of him. His new club has snap from overuse.

Tossing the useless head aside Riggs found out that the survivors have finally done the smart thing by retreating out of the battle and into the direction where the forest borders the clearing.

“Cowards, you are all better off dead then ever causing more trouble.” Riggs thought to himself as he swiftly flip his rifle back around, firing a few precise shots into the retreating group and instating disintegrating 3 more of these being on the spot leaving only 4 of the original 22 alive.

But before Riggs could execute the other reminding 4 like he wanted to a massive roar suddenly rose from the forest in front of him before another set of glowing green eyes made themselves know, this one somewhat larger than the ones Riggs have been slaughtering just a few moment ago.

Soon a massive version of these wooden alien creatures stepped out from the foliage being at least twice the size of the one who has now joined that thing and where now growling and snarling at Riggs in company of the big one.

“Looky, looky here, the big guy finally decided to step up his game after I mutilated most of them. Good, that means I can do a much more proper job in making sure that all of his kin including IT are no longer going to be burden to me, or anyone of his kind for that matter.” Riggs thought to himself as he tightened his grip around his weapons.

The massive alpha snarled and growled dangerously at the Commando standing in the middle of the remains of his mostly destroyed pack.

It was pissed, but so was Riggs at this point.

“You are going to make a fine fuel source for my fires.” Riggs openly taunted.

Which did the desired effect of getting the thing pissed off as if it was capable of understanding him…somehow.

Much of that was not in Riggs interest though as he was more focused on the giant mass of twigs and branches charging at him at full speed followed by the reminding rest of its pack that Riggs didn’t slaughtered outright.
The beast had nothing but murder and a sense of Vengeance in its eyes as it rapidly closed the long gap between it and its adversary.

Riggs on the other hand was still not impressed, he grunted to himself as he mentally decided that he had enough of this bull. He was originally planning to give this big guy a fair fight and to also test what this wooden beast was made of. The key term WAS, at this point he just doesn’t give a damn and just wants to get this over with so he can mentally bitch and complain about it later about being stuck on a possible primitive planet without any source of new power packs for his weapons. He could also charge his power packs with his ships generators or solar wings but that method does take some time and when it came to more ammo he was always a bit on the inpatient side of things.

It’s just generally less of a hassle to have direct access to the supplies rather than to fiddle around with a lot of cables and charging time.

Plus fuel for his ship will eventually be an issue in the future, it can run on solar power alone,but only in limited usages and obviously with a lot of systems turned down.

He was spacing out in the worst possible moment, with his focus back on track, Riggs swiftly lifted his Rifle up towards the charging hulk of plant life and squeezed the trigger to let a couple of shots loose towards his target.

The beast noticed this, but at this point it was far too late as the highly energized plasma bolts were racing towards him in unmatched speeds and ferocity.

The end results were pretty much the same as the previous ones. as Riggs was forced to momentarily raise his right eyebrow under his helmet at the unsuspected power his shots suddenly hold.

All that existed for just a split second was a blinding flash of red light as the plasma bolts immediately ignited after impact, engulfing the silent alpha in an explosion of red fire that quickly disintegrated its wooden form in an instant. Not even allowing bits and pieces to scatter about as everything just got turned into ash by the Plasma made explosion.

At that point the fight was over. The few wolves that were flung backwards from the explosive shock wave immediately began to scramble with their tails tucked firmly in-between their legs as they finally took the hint.

This is one prey no wolf can ever hope to put a claw on, let alone survive the encounter if you are stupid enough to even try.

As the fight was finally over and the remaining wolves began disappearing behind the covers of the forest Riggs just simply used the peace of the moment to evaluate just how unnaturally powerful his blasters shots suddenly become. It first started with the laser cannons on his ship and now his blasters as well.

“Why where my blasters able to put out so much energy with each and every shot like that.” He mentally wondered as he held up his rifle to check on what kind of power setting it was set on.

What he saw caused him to raise his eyebrows once more. “Medium setting, this thing is on medium setting just like my ships cannons, and it is capable in doing THAT in medium?” He thought out loud as he double checked to make sure he wasn’t seeing things through his helmets lenses or anything.

“Makes me now wonder what this thing can do when I eventually set it to maximum. Probably turns it into a pretty decent anti-tank rifle at that point.” He mentally remarked as he was mostly confused about this new and unusual behaviour the gear seems to have gained now ever since he came to this Planet.

But he is not complaining though, as far as he knows having an unexpected boost in weaponry is always a big plus in his books. But that would eventually also create the question of power pack drainage, heat generation, faster deterioration and so on. Questions he has to delve into a bit deeper after he is done collecting all of this wooden scrap around him for both analysis and conveniently sized firewood.

With a plan in mind and generally nothing better to do before something else want to get disassembled with either his blaster or bare hands Riggs quickly holstered his weapons before grabbing some bundles of wood and casually making his way back to camp, towards a round Astro droid waving a flag with his small robotic limbs that says “Go team Black” and two utterly shocked and stunned mares hiding behind a wall of containers.

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait, had other stories to write as you probably all know. Also sorry for the cliche use of Timberwolves in this chapter as well. But at the same time I couldn't really thing of any other enemy or monster for Riggs to kill next.

But anyway, hope you all liked this chapter.

Chapter 8: Bird Shooting

Chapter 8: Bird shooting.
Edited by: Chrome Masquerade, Rainbowblitz

“Ugh, this is just going to be impossible.” A Pegasus guard named Storm Cloud whined as she and her partner continued to fly far west from Whitetail Woods in search of the missing Wonderbolt captain, like all the other groups around the area.

Her partner and superior Sky Sword frowned, as he was forced to listen to the newly enlisted guardsmare’s continuous complaints for the last hour, and at this rate his eyes would come loose from rolling so much!

‘Really? If she’s complaining about this, then how the buck is she going to cope when things really start hitting the hay?’

He was secretly wondering how the hay she even got through initiation training. But that doesn’t matter, as he is already stuck with her and not somepony else. It’s as simple as that. Thus, he was acting both as her mentor and partner in this search and rescue operation alongside some other rookies and veterans.

He wanted to groan, but decided to just sigh instead, to hide his growing annoyance. ”Well, whining and complaining about it isn’t going to make this search mission any easier, let alone faster.” He argued, in hopes of getting her to finally pipe down and just focus more on the job at hoof.

Sadly, though, that wasn’t really the case, as the young guardsmare continued to complain like a little filly. Then again, according to her records -as far as Sky Sword could recall- she really only had been with the guard for just about a months now and just recently passed through her enlistment training as well. How? Well physically she did quite well, only her sense of patient and focus was something to desire, which is basically the main reason why she was picked to participate in this little search and rescue mission in the first place.

To help her teach patients and focus as far as he was told, something she has a really long way to master as far as he was aware.

‘A really long way.’ he thought to himself.

“This area is HUGE! How are just two ponies going to properly scout through all of it to just find one pony?” The rookie kept on asking as the two kept on flying at a low altitude.

Sky Sword had to admit, she had a bit of a point there, but he would be damned if he’d ever openly admit that to anypony! Especially to a rookie.

He was about to answer her question when, all of a sudden, a bright blue streak struck the private right against her side, causing her to spasm painfully for a moment before going limp and falling down towards the ground like a wet sack of rocks.

Sky was momentarily stunned before he almost immediately managed to regain his control thanks to his training and years within the guard.

“Storm Cloud!!” He tried to call out before a second streak suddenly zipped passed the falling guardsmare’s body and making its way directly towards him in impossible speeds.

Sky didn’t even had time to flinch as the streak of energy impacted him directly on his forehead.

He was quickly stunned, as electric currents immediately overloaded Sky’s nervous system forcing him to spasm just like the rookie before his vision promptly turned to dark as everything around him swiftly ceased to exist.

He never even got the chance to scream, or even get a chance to determine where these bolts were coming from before the world turned numb.

But, unbeknownst to him, his attacker was actually an alien from outer space, leaning against a large tree trunk as it casually observed the two plummeting ponies he just took out.

Only one thought was going through this alien's mind as the two eventually disappeared under the forest's canopy.

“Bird stunning. ‘It’s a great pastime activity’, Hedge says. Personally I don’t see the point.”

………………………………………………………………………………………

“So… how come you haven’t tried making your way back to either Cloudsdale or Ponyville after that alien named… Riggs bandaged you up?” Cloudchaser questioned as she ominously kept watched the campfire in front of her. A campfire made of the dead remains of Timberwolves - an encounter and event that still made her shiver a bit, whenever she carefully thought about that one particular event.

In that case, watching the burning remains of these vicious beasts might not have been the remedy to dispel those images from her mind. But then again… it was kind of awesome as well haven watched that alien make almost insultingly short work of those Timberwolves.

“Are you serious?” Spitfire replied with a” are you serious” kind of look and while pointing out her injured wings.

Cloudchaser just smiled sheepishly and rubbing the back of her neck. “Oops. Yeah, forgot about that.” She replied before relaxing once more.

A moment of silence ensued as the two simply sat there next to one another, enjoying the flickering light and the crackling sounds the campfire was producing.

The silence was initially broken by Cloudchaser once more as her mind produced yet another question out of the blue. “So… what exactly happened to you?” Cloudchaser asked, which, in turn caught Spitfire off guard.

She quickly began to feel nervous for some reason. She could just as easily tell her that the storm completely caught them by surprise, but there was far more than just that.

Then again, she also had to eventually explain herself to both Soarin and Fleetfoot as well. A conversation she was NOT looking forward to, in all honesty.

She had done some really questionable and dangerous crap in the past, but what she did prior to all of this was easily the peak of her own hubris and stupidity.

Yes, she was fully ready to openly call herself stupid on this one. How could she not? Especially since it was an idea that nearly costed her life, if it wasn’t for some random outer space alien that literally swooped down and saved her sorry flank.

She may be somewhat of a stubborn, thickheaded and prideful individual thanks to her life achievements and just overall characters, but even so she still just hated the idea of ever openly lying to her friends, even if it was for the greater good, or the preservation of their friendship.

Spitfire just sighed. If she is planning to get clean with both Fleefoot and Soarin on her bullcrap the she might as well start with a pony who is Fleefoot’s cousin.

“Well...” She began. “Have you heard about the big storm that was raging above Whitetail Woods a couple of days back?” Spitfire asked as she kept her gaze fixed on the ground below her.

Cloud just nodded. “Well, yeah. One hay of a storm, and the main reason why you got separated from both Fleetfoot and Soarin, from what I have heard. What about it?” She responded.

Spitfire just lowered her head even further as she knew that what she was about to tell her is most likely going to shock her. “Well… that whole storm thing was my fault. I ordered it from the weather agency secretly so it will intercept us during our training flight.” Spitfire admitted solemnly.

Cloudchaser, obviously, was shocked. If what she said was true, it would mean that not only did Spitfire deliberately got herself and her 2 best friends in mortal danger, but she also had her hoofs in staging it as well. All while not telling or even mentioning it to anypony.

But why though?

Cloud was just bewildered as her brain was busy processing the short but still shocking information she was given by the Wonderbolt Captain herself.

“But… but why? Why the hay would you do that? Storms in such a level are very dangerous, especially for fliers! So why in Equestria would you set something like that up and not even tell a soul about it, especially my bucking cousin?” She pursued angrily, which in turn made Spitfire feel even more guilty about her actions as she still refused to look Cloudchaser in the eye.

“Well… have you already heard of the difficult Hurricane Pass stunt that is to be openly performed in the Las Pegasus Aerial show that has been scheduled to be staged in 2 months from now?” Spitfire asked, which in turn confused the wild-maned mare beside her, especially after that bomb she just dropped a moment ago.

Aside from that, Cloudchaser once again was forced to just nod as she did remember having read the posters and ads marketing this event on walls and billboards.

“Well… yes… yes I do. ‘A very spectacular and difficult pact aerial show’ is what the ads say about it. Again, what has this to do with anything?” Cloud responded.

Spitfire nodded as she thought about the best way to word her next explanation before she just mentally decided “buck it” and said, “Well a lot actually.” Spitfire began as she lifted her head, momentarily gazing over to the little Droid in the distance -it was welding something on Riggs’ ship- before looking back down onto the ground. “For starters, as you may know, the Hurricane Pass maneuverer requires a lot of heavy and strong air turbulence in order to pull off, which is why the aerial show was staged to take place in-between mountain passes that basically make up the east side of Las Pegasus. Natural air tunnels where battering winds coming from the sea are funneled through.” Spitfire explained as she slowly lifted her head once more to look at the stars above them as she continued on. “Well, long story short, I just wanted to perfectly prepare for that particular stunt. Especially since it was also going to be a very first time me and my team would openly perform it in not so control environment like we used to. If we have the strength and coordinations to power through an actual full-blown hurricane, then the Hurricane Pass maneuver shouldn’t really be that much of an issue, or so I had hoped…” Spitfire then sighed as her head once again fell. “Once again, I let my own overconfidence and pride do most of the thinking for me, which is why I didn’t bother to even tell my two best friends about it in the first place as I felt confident in our abilities and years of expertise. Why? Well...to be honest...I don’t know. I guess...I was just thinking about really testing these two as obviously knowing that a storm was on its way give somepony chance to physically and mentally prepare for such a challenge. Once again, my own overconfidence at play.” She continued on. ”I made mistakes like these back in the past allot, but never with such fatal results.” She sighed once more before turning her head to look at her bandaged wings and overall her still-injured back in general. The sight of it making herself feel even more dumber than she already did. Making her -in essence- feel even more guilt for having kept all of this from her two best friends, not to mention putting them into mortal danger as well.

Then it hit here. “Wait…I…I actually have no idea what happened to both Fleetfoot and Soarin after I got flung away from them during the storm!” Spitfire realized as panic quickly began to rise up inside of her. Both physically and mentally.

Cloudchaser noticed this as she looked at the suddenly distressed mare with concern. “Uh… Spitfire? Are you…” She tried to say before she got interrupted.

“Oh dear Celestia! Fleetfoot and Soarin! I have no bucking idea what happened to them when I got separated from them!” She shouted in panic as she suddenly stood up on all fours, completely ignoring the pain from her injuries.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down Spitfire… Both Soarin and my cousin are fine Both me and sis immediately visited them after we heard what happened. The two are fine, injured but fine.” Cloudchaser butted in before things could get out of hoof.

Though this thankfully did the trick, as Spitfire quickly mentally -and visibly- calmed herself as she sat back down. “Really? Oh, thank Celestia for that.” She sighed before hissing a bit.

“Darn! My back.”

Cloudchaser was just relieved that she managed to calm her down quickly before she might have done something she was sure Spitfire would regret. If her cousins stories about her freak out are to be believed.

“Beep boop boop beep chirp.”

Both Clouds and Flits ears perked up as they turned their attention to the source of those beeps and chirps. It was none other than the Blue and white ball shaped Droid dubbed BB-5 by its owner.

How the HAY this ball of metal managed to just manages to silently creep up on them was beyond the mares, especially given the fact that he is made of metal.

“Jeez! For the love of Equestria, stop doing that!” Spitfire complained while Cloudchaser was busy giving him the stink eye.

Obviously still sore from the whole “Grabbing her from the air” thing.

Spitfire sighed. “Well, whatever. What is it?” She casually asked while leaning her head back against the tree trunk she was sitting against.

The droid didn’t need to answer, as someone else did it for him.

Or rather something did.

Both mares’ ears immediately perked up as the rustling of leaves and snapping of twigs quickly entered their senses. On instinct, both of them jumped up to all fours, worrying that it might be even more Timberwolves or even something worse than that.

Those fears were swiftly quashed, though, as it turned out to be nothing but the black armored alien himself. Though that relief promptly turned into shock and slackened jaws as they see what he was casually bringing with him over his right shoulder.

………………………………………………………………………………………

“Great. Originally only planned to scout out the area around the camp some more and to finally try out this pastime sport Hedge constantly kept jabbering about. Instead I come home with two extra natives to babysit. More wood for the fire, I guess.” Riggs mentally commented as he simply and casually strode by the two slack jawed mares and one very interested looking droid.

To be honest, this really wasn’t the most unpredictable collapse of a plan he ever had in his career. But then again, no plan really survives first contact to start with, especially in wartimes. This is just the chaotic nature and unpredictability that life can have as a whole.

That includes having mistaken alien birds with alien natives, and the fact that he just wanted to personally try out a type of sport his squad mate Hedge always used to talk about.

“Mistakes were made. But then again, at the moment I couldn’t really care less either. Especially since I didn’t kill them by accident. Just stunned them” Riggs thought to himself as he holstered the two golden armored natives by their tails before easily dropping them off onto the ground to act as a future problem.

One of them might have groaned a bit during the somewhat rough release, but other than that these two stayed unconscious nicely, which meant less things to momentarily care about for Riggs.

Again, Riggs could just -hopefully- rely on the other two to do most of the talking for him, as he wasn’t really in the best mood for any diplomatic relations. And if things do go south somehow, he at least still has his weapons and a shovel to use.

“Let’s just hope that it won’t come to that, otherwise first contact with the native leaders of this world might end up same as the last.” He thought to himself.

If that happens then he could truly say that he’d be stuck here for a very long time, unless his squad were actively looking for him already.

Which they probably were, since he is missing, from the discussed rondevu point there where supposed to meet on when the battle went far south above Coruscant.

Which it did.

But again, if he was still in the same galaxy, that is.

Riggs dispelled those thoughts. He had obviously more pressing things to focus on at the moment, like still believing in the concept that he still can somehow fix the hyperdrive himself despite the lack of obvious spare parts to use.

But then again, improvising is halve the life afterall.
Riggs was about to make true to that philosophical statement when a certain mare didn’t threw a wrench against it as she finally managed to snap out of her road kill like expression.

“What the…? Where in Celestia’s name did you get these two Royal guards from?” She asked, which in turn forced Riggs to gaze in her direction with a raised eyebrow under his helmet.

“Wait, these two are members of your planet's military?” Riggs questioned before he gaze went back to the mentioned personnel, still sleeping away their “stunning” experience.

“At least that explains their golden armor, then. Hope it’s more ceremonial than actually made for combat, otherwise that would just be ridiculous for so many good reasons.” He wondered as a set of hooves quickly moved closer to him.

Those sets of hoofs belonged to none other Spitfire, as she was visibly panicking.

“Oh, dear Luna! Please don’t tell me that you killed them! Please, for the love of the sky above don’t tell me you shot them with one of your magic projectile weapons!” The mare pleaded, a question which was shared by the other native as well -though not as vocally, as she was still looking on in shock.

Riggs just kept his gaze locked at the two newcomers. “Actually, I did.” He casually answered, but before Spitfire could say anything or panic even further, he continued. “But not with deadly force. My Rifle was actually set to stun when I shot them. So yes, they are very much still alive, besides some minor scratches and bruises because of their fall.” He casually explained, which did the trick on easing the tension. Spitfires tensione, not his.

Spitfire quickly relaxed and sighed with relief after hearing that. And after having taken a closer look at these two new ponies, she could actually tell for herself that these two were actually A OK, if there breathing and twitching was anything to go by.

Furthermore, this at least proved her hope that this Alien named Riggs wasn’t so bad after all, despite his previous acts and seeming lust for violence.

But then again, he is a soldier -or a warrior- after all, from what she could observe for herself. She never really tried to ask him personally, simply because of the fact that she still felt somewhat wary about him. Plus, accidentally insulting an alien equipped with high tech magic-like weapons who has the ability and ferocity to take on a whole den-worth of Timberwolves all by himself is obviously not a very good idea. Not really high on her to-do list for sure.

Especially when she still has a life to live herself.

Though one thought immediately struck her. “So wait... this, then, obviously means that ponies are actively looking for me? Which also means that there might very easily be more guards searching around this area?” Spitfire thought to herself in realization before her expression quickly turned into worry when she looked up at the big black alien in front of her.

“I don’t know if I should feel relieved or worried about this?” She mentally questioned herself as she imagined a few scenarios about what could possibly happen when more of these Pegasus guards showed up or managed to stumble upon this very obvious and hard to miss camp from above. Mostly because of the monstrous and very alien looking ship parked right beside it.

Most of those thoughts made her panic level rise once more, as many of them revolved around what Riggs was capable of. A lot of fire and explosions, not mentioning the body count.

Which placed another realization into her conscious mind that wasn’t really helping all the stress she was definitely going to deal with in the future:

She might very well be the only bridge between Equestria and a possible alien invasion. Granted, she may not know a lot about Riggs and his abilities in general, but she very much knows that if there is one, there’s definitely whole lot more out there then you can possibly count.

Things just got a lot more deep then she was mentally prepared for, and it all started with a stupid self-centered idea that nearly cost her her life. And possibly those of her best wingponies.

Why the buck didn’t she pull a Soarin that day and simply stay in bed like most simple minded ponies? Why? Because she wasn’t one of them; that’s why.

“Buck my life right now.”

Riggs, on the other hand, was not having such life crises. The only problem he really has was just how to get off this blood rock and back into the vastness of space. Into hyperspace, that is. To be able to jump and get himself back into familiar territory.

Riggs eventually just murmured, “Anyway, back to fixing up the hyperdrive. The sooner I can get off this rock, the better for everyone.” He declared, as he just left the two be the way they were.

He was fairly confident that the two guards wouldn’t cause too much trouble, especially since he left their crude iron swords and spears somewhere deep within the forest.

Spitfire, on the other hoof, had a completely different opinions regarding this newly developed situation.

Spitfire was stunned. “W-Wait. You... You can’t just leave like that after you brought them here!” She tried to call after him, which didn’t work.

“Uh…I…I think one of them is waking up already.” Cloudchaser called out, which got everyone's attention. Especially the little Droid who was eager to scan them as well, if the faint glow on one of its lenses was anything to judge by. And, judging by the tone of the moans, this one sounded female.

Spitfire’s eyes widened. “Oh buck, oh buck, oh buck! What in buck’s name am I going to say? What’ll I do?” she once again started to panic before a thought suddenly came up.

“Cloudchaser?” Spitfire immediately called out, in the hope of not having to do this crap herself.

“Nope. It’s all on you now, boss.” Cloudchaser replied almost immediately as she shook her head.

Spitfire frowned. “Can’t even rely on a fellow pony for help.” And with that mental complaint, the guardsmare drowsily began to open her eyes slowly.

At first she blinked, before coughing a few times and giving off a hiss at the end.

“What in (*cough!*)… What in Celestia’s name happened? What… (*hack!*) why the buck do I feel so sore and...drowsy?” She groaned with her eyes still shut.

Spitfire just sighed in defeat, as she knew what she had to do. She wasn’t expecting this to go easy to be honest. But then again, nothing really had been, since these last couple of days.

So why stop now?

“Hey… don’t worry. You are fine and safe at the moment. Well… as safe as you can get, I hope.” Spitfire gently said as she glanced in Riggs’ direction for a moment before focusing back on the guard before her.

Judging by the tone of the voice, though, she does seem to be rather young one to be part of the guard. Which would most likely mark her as simply a trainee, if that was the case.

Spitfire remembers her own beginnings as a private before eventually joining the Wonderbolts, but that’s a flashback for another day. Right then, she had much more pressing matters to focus on, like this young mare slowly waking up and looking up at her with drowsy eyes.

The mare blinked a couple of times before she realized who exactly it was she was looking up toward.

Her eyes immediately snapped open. “You… you… you’re Captain Spitfire, aren’t you?” The mare quietly questioned in utter surprise, despite the awkwardness of the situation.

Spitfire just nods slowly which in turn caused the mare’s eyes go even wider than they were before.

She immediately tried to get up, but only managed to get a hiss and groan out of her muzzle as she promptly collapsed back onto her back with an audible *clunk* sound.

“Great…again, what the heck or hay I am going to say? To just flat out tell her that she and her partner got shot down and then brought here by an alien from outer space? But then again, I don’t really have to say or do much of anything. All she has to do is look around her. And besides that, how am I going to present my side of the story to them in a non-awkward or revealing way whenever they start asking about it? Can these last few days get any more complicated than they already are?” Spitfire thought to herself before a frown promptly formed on her muzzle as she quickly realized what exactly she just did on the last sentence.

“I totally just jinxed myself didn’t I?” She sarcastically thought before smacking her forehead with one of her hooves.

“Uh… excuse me?” The Guardsmare suddenly voiced again, which forced Spits to cease her self-flagellation.

Spitfire shook her head. “Ugh. What am I doing? I should be helping her, not beating myself up in front of her. Yep… things are juuust becoming worse than a normal pony would would like. I really should stop complaining about it at this point and just suck it up like a real mare. Great… now I am making kinky remarks as well. Just help her you stupid filly.” She mentally chided herself as she moved toward the downed mare, to maybe help her up.

She reached a hoof out towards the guard, which she slowly grabbed with her own. With a bit of a pull -and a pair of groans from both injured mares- later, she was finally up on all fours once more, although a bit wobbly.

Spitfire Sighed. “Hey, you alright?” She asked out of instinct as the mare seemed to still be dazed and sore.

The young mare just nodded after a while before looking back up. “Y-yeah… but… I… I can basically ask the… same thing to you as well… miss… Spitfire.” She pointed out in between pants which in turn made Spitfire look back on her bandages before switching back at her and rubbing the back of her neck.

“Well… yeah. Kind of. it’s a super long and confusing story, trust me.” She cut herself short in the hope of not having to rely on telling her everything right then and there.

Spits really wasn’t in the mood for a long-ass explanation any more, especially since all she had to do would be to turn herself around and let the shock hit her.

It’s actually kind of comical, the way she was facing away from all of this alien junk that is practically just right behind her. Almost funny enough to make Spitfire grin, even just a little bit, which the mare unfortunately quickly noticed.

“Uh… why… why are you… smirking?” The mare asked in confusion, which in turn forced Spitfire to drop her uncalled for smirk from her muzzle.

Cloud Chaser, on the other end, just facehoofed.

She was about to respond when all of a sudden the most girliest scream ever echoed through the air, which made both mare jump on the spot.

“AAHHH! WHAT THE BUCK IS THAT? WHAT IS IT DOING? DEAR CELESTIA, GET IT THE BUCK AWAY FROM ME AHHHHHH!!!” The stallion guard who was thought to be still unconscious shouted in utter panic with the little droid right in front of him.

Trying to scan the poor stallion with his red scanner to try and get more data on his race. Especially since he was the first MALE native, so far.

The young mare just looked on completely horrified, while Spitfire on the other end was just looking at this scene completely dumbfounded at just how good the ball of metal is in just creeping up on somepony without anypony noticing.

“How the hay did that thing sneak up on that guard without anypony noticing it? I was literally facing his direction the entire time!” Spitfire thought to herself as the poor stud was still panicking his armor off.

Too bad his golden armor did nothing in regards of keeping BB-5 from scanning his biology, but then again he had more important problems to worry about than that. He now had to deal with a prototype Astro droid whose own sense of curiosity is more important than any level of decency.

Though it had nothing to do with programming errors.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Riggs momentarily stopped his tinkering as the echoing scream entered his ears.

“So one of them is female just like the first two then. Good to know, I guess.” He thought to himself before going back to his more pressing problem.

Looking over his busted hyperdrive and realizing the real problem he currently has. “Well crap, I knew that this was going to be a major issue.” He thought as his eye continued to scan over the burned out hyperdrive in front of him. His worst fears realized.

“Without the necessary spare parts, this thing is as useful as a drained power pack. And if the Information I got so far from the first two are 100% accurate, then it really means that I am going to be stuck on this rock for a really long time.” He thought to himself with dismay, as he frowned and gritted his teeth.

“BLOODY DAMN IT!!” He cursed as he slammed his fist against the outside frame.

“Well, all I can hope for now is that the rest of my team are actively looking for me as we speak. Especially since I didn’t arrived at the discussed rendevu point like planned. But even so, it’s still going to take a while, which also means I was right with my previous prediction.

“I really hate being right sometimes.”

At this point it was pretty much final. He was marooned as it was, and there was nothing he could really do about it at the current moment besides sit down, bunker up and blast anything that identifies itself to be a threat and hope that he doesn’t have to rely on just straight out put the forests around him to the torch.

Hope for this planet's creatures, that is.

This was certainly one of the things that his years within the Imperial army didn’t prepare him for. How to get yourself un-stranded on a world that has no access to anything technology-related whatsoever, especially with a busted hyperdrive.

“Well, besides that, at least anything else on my fighter is still pretty much functional. So at least I have that going for me.” He thought to himself as he slowly began to calm himself down.

A rational attitude can find solutions towards problems faster after all, even though his problem pretty much revolved around somehow getting his hands on the right spare parts. But maybe he could still somewhat try to manufacture these spare parts for himself, if this planet has the right materials for them.

Which shouldn’t be that much of an issue thanks to allot of hoarded information -and also “somewhat stolen” plans- stored on his ships database. One can always hope for a possible solution, after all, in the end.

Riggs just scratched his head as he finally decided to accept his current position for what it was.

“One question, though...” He mentally asked himself as he finally closed the hatch to the hyperdrive behind his ship. “Should I stay out here in the wilderness or should I actively try to search for civilization on this damn rock like how I originally planned to do?” Riggs mentally mused as he turned his gaze back toward the spot where he left all of those natives behind to mingle amongst themselves.

Including his droid and some of his supply containers.

“Actually, on second thought, maybe keeping a bunch of overly emotional natives with half of my supplies might not be such a good idea. The last thing I need is for them to start breaking things and sticking their appendages in places they don’t belong.” He thought as he watched one of the golden armored natives to try and take off, only to land back onto the ground as BB-5 was basically doing the same thing he did with the wild-haired violet one.

Good thing he remembered to replace his hookshot system with a new set.

How the little guy managed to accomplish such feats of precision he didn’t know, but at least it’s good for amusing situations, that is for sure.

“Huh… what’s that?” Riggs wondered as a constant beeping made itself known to him. Judging by the way it sounded and the direction is was coming from it must have been his helmet, right next to the closed hyperdrive hatch.

It’s much easier to work on a starfighter engine without the limiting vision of a combat helmet, after all.

Riggs was about to pick his helmet up when a spear suddenly slipped by his vision and harmlessly buried itself into the ground right a little further away from him.

Riggs just blinked in confusion until all his questions were quickly answered. .

“By the name of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna of Equestria. Stand down, foul creature, and surrender yourself immediately.” A stern voice from above suddenly commanded which did the trick on subduing Riggs questions.

As a response Riggs just frowned, before he casually turned his gaze upwards to see who exactly is stupid enough to just openly attack him first without any warning.

Riggs’ brows rose in both slight surprise and intrigue as gazed upon the scene in front of them. Or above to be more correct.

Goldenly clad armored flying natives, wielding very primitive-looking ranged and melee weapons made of wood and iron. Not just one or two of them, but a whole BUNCH of them.

“Let’s see…1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8…. 30. 30 flying Goldilocks boys in total.” Riggs mentally counted as he just eyed the big group of “guards” with mild interest and a bit of an artistic criticism. Mostly aimed at the head guy who was wearing a more ornate set of armor and helmet in comparison to the rest of the group. The style and design of the helmet reminding Riggs allot about the old Senate commandos from before the Empire.

The lead Native’s frown deepened as Riggs simply just stood as if he didn’t heed his command. “Didn’t you hear me, foul creature?” He shouted, obviously very annoyed by Riggs’ uncooperating nature. “I said, stand down, surrender yourself and face arrest and trial for the crimes you have committed on Equestrian soil.” He repeated himself as the pony guards around him slowly readied their weapons.

Riggs, on the other hand, was more confused at the Guard’s statement than anything else he just said, as he just raised his eyebrow in the guard leader’s direction.

“Crime? What kind of crime?” Riggs curiously questioned, which in turn caught all of the Natives up above completely by surprise as they did not expected this... thing to be able to speak Equestrian fluently, let alone speak at all.

The leader of the Guards shook his head before his glare returned in full force, aimed directly at the Storm Commando below him.

“Crimes for not only attacking and injuring members of the Royal Guard, but for also abducting them as well. Not to mention foalnapping and holding two other citizens of Equestria prisoner. The princesses will judge and find a suitable punishment for you once you are bound and chained like the disgusting beast that you are.” The lead guard explained.

Riggs was still unimpressed and groaned in annoyance. “For starters…” Riggs began as he crossed his arms, ”I didn’t “kidnap” anyone. the Yellow one.” Riggs pointed a finger at her direction.” I found injured and half dead in the middle of an open meadow when I first arrived on this rock of yours.” He explained before pointing at Cloudchaser.” While the wild-haired violet one came over here on her own damn terms. You can ask them yourself, if you want to have some confirmation of my story.” Riggs explained, before he rest his arms against his thigh instead.

He continued. “Also, isn’t that what your quote-unquote “guards” are for, anyway?” Riggs question as he crossed his arms once more while aiming a raised eyebrow at the collection of natives up above. ”To personally take the hits so your everyday citizens don’t have to? How exactly is that even a crime to begin with?” Riggs queried, which again took some of the flying guard completely by surprise.

The leader, of course, was not impressed, as his mood just lowered with every passing moment this thing kept talking. “Enough of this!” He declared as he pointed his golden glad hoof at Riggs direction. “Surrender yourself now, or we will use force. Also, all of your items will be confiscated and processed as well, once you are rotting inside a cell like the criminal scum you a…..” He tried to threaten before a deafening screech and a blinding flash stopped his speech as everything on him quickly became numb.

Soon, one of the 30 guards was stunned, unconscious and down for the count as his heavily armored body fell down onto the ground with an audible thud.

To say the remaining guards were shocked would be an understatement.

“I am sorry, but you lost me at the whole “confiscating my stuff” part just now.” Riggs openly declared with a deep tone as his Blaster was still pointed in the direction the wannabe tough guy used to be.

Luckily for the guard, Riggs still had the decency to at least switch his DL-44 to stun before shutting him up. Riggs was still far from interested in committing murder these locals, unless he really has to or gave him a damn good reason to do so. Like touching his ship, which is why he immediately shot that guy in the first place. That, and he didn’t liked his character. All talk, no muscle.

That, and the fact that some of those containers possessed items that are designed to explode when you push a certain button on them. His way in trying to prevent these natives from blowing themselves up. You could say.

Riggs re-holstered his blaster as he looked at the still-shocked collection of guards in above of him before switching over to there downed leader, crossing his arms.

“Also, I don’t take orders from a bunch quadrupeds flying around in gold while swinging around sticks and Iron paddles around them.” He declared before looking back up the still flapping guards above him. ”So. If you really want me so badly, then you better get your asses down here and WORK for your right to chain me up.” He challenged before another thought quickly crossed his mind that just seemed far more appealing to him at the moment, as he reached back to his holster.

“Or I can give you all the same treatment as your -now out cold- leader over there and just be done with it. Would sure save me a lot of headaches, especially since I already have a pretty bad day as it is.” He casually announced, giving them all a challenging look.

One of them eventually managed to shake the shock away from his system as he immediately glared daggers at the Storm Commando below, tightening his grip around his spear as he shouted. “You monster! You will pay dearly for you transgressions! Everypony, CHARGE!!!” He shouted, which caused everyone to spring into action as the entire company of Pegasus guards charged the lone Commando.

“So I guess its option two then.” Riggs casually thought as he quickly went to work in utterly humiliating the supposed “”””Equestria’s finest”””” with almost comical ease and precision.

All the while. three mares -and one stallion bound and hiding behind one of said mares- were watching the spectacle in utter fright and bewilderment at just how easily this alien soldier from outer space made It seem.

One of them was even secretly looking at this with utter fascination as well.

“So… bucking... cool!”

Chapter 9: Search and Rescue

Author's Note

Another chapter another nickle. If you feel generous and want to support both my art and writing feel free to visit my Patreon. Every tiny help counts, especially since I don't a have a Job.

Link can be find >here<.

Chapter 9: Search and Rescue

Edited by Fistfire, Rainbowblitz

“Out of my way, I have very urgent news for the princess.” A royal guard shouted as he frantically galloped across the halls of Canterlot Castle.

Most of the guards that he passed by didn’t really give the frantic looking stallion much mind as such moments were really rare anymore these days, but some of the more newer recruits were enticed to gaze after the galloping pony with curiosity the moment he passed by them.

The frantic guard eventually made it to the huge front double doors that separated the halls from the royal throne room. He quickly slowed down to a trot as the two royal guard’s station in front of the portal automatically blocked him. Both of them crossing their spears in front of the portal while doing so.

“Halt, court is currently in session. Guard personnel who are not assigned to guard the throne room itself are not permitted to enter.” One of them stated in a monotone voice the castle guards are famous for.

The stallion huffed. “Lieutenant Swift Slash is the name, also I have some very urgent news that must reach the princesses ears as quickly as possible. It regards the large recon team that was send out to search and locate Sergeant Spitfire, and also captain of the Wonderbolts.” He explained which in turn caused both of the guard’s eyes to widen just a little bit.

They immediately dropped their defensive stance and straightening their spears. “We are sorry sir, we were not aware of your position and rank. If what you say it’s true then the throne room is open to you sir. Just don’t look at those annoying nobles in the eye and things should go smoothly in there.” The guard offered before both he and his buddy stepped to the side to allow the now known officer passage.

The officer nodded his thanks before stepping past them and gently pushed the door open with his hoof. What he was greeted with on the other side was pretty predictable, a calm outside looking but internally bored princess while some nobles were standing in front of her jabbering about whatever their selfish asses were jabbering about.

His entrance immediately caught the attention of both the nobles and the princess herself as he casually made his way over to her before saluting respectively in front of her.

One of the nobles huffed in annoyance. “What is this? We are having a very important discussion here. What is the reason for this intrusion?” The noble demanded which was immediately agreed upon by the other nobles as well.

The princess quickly silenced them by raising her hoof. “Quiet please, I am sure Officer Swift Slash has his reasons. Let's take a break for a moment and listen to what he has to say.” The princess calmingly announced, but internally she was just glad to finally have somepony else to momentarily talk to instead of these uptight nobles.

It’s these nobles that almost give her the idea to just throw her tiara down a bottomless well and quitting her position as Princess of Equestria.

Almost.

She did have to listen to these types of ponies constantly for over a 1000 years, so you can’t really blame her for having such ideas.

The guard took this as his cue to talk before dropping his hoof. “Your Highness, I have urgent news regarding the search and find operations in and around Whitetail Woods.” He calmly informed which immediately caused worry to well up inside the monarch.

The lead noble of the group just huffed. “What, did they suddenly get attacked by wild animals? This just proves how incapable the modern guards really are. Just a bunch of fillies.” He insulted which gave him a heated glare by the officer and a look of disapproval by the princess.

“Lord Maplehoof I do not approve at your insult on the very members of ponies whose sole reason is why Equestria still stands in the first place in the past. So please, we will take a break for now and resume court later when the news that Sir Swift has isn’t too urgent to require my immediate attention.” Celestia demanded.

“You are all dismissed.” She declared which in turn caused all of the huff and grunt in protest before leaving the throne room.

Once they were alone Sir Swift began to explain. “Princess, the entire recon team has gone missing.” He immediately got to the point which in turn forced Celestia to finally drop her mask as her eyes went wide.

“Wait, what do you mean the entire team of over 30 pegasus guards went missing?” Celestia asked in shock.

“It means that none of the members of that team have ever been seen or heard of for a while Princess. That’s what it means.” Swift repeated himself which only made the slowly growing pit in Celestia’s stomach grow even faster.

“But, how could this be? This was just a simple search and rescue mission in some of the most docile areas in Equestria. What kind of situation could arise that can cause the disappearance of a large team of trained guards?” She went on.

The stallion just shook his head. “I do not know your Highness, but this demands an expedition to make sure no new monster, demon or magical phenomenon is once again threatening equestrian and pony kind as a whole.” He suggested which Celestia could only agree on.

“Indeed, assemble some of the most experienced and capable members of the guard. But this time, I wish to come along personally in case something dire indeed is at work here.” She suggested.

Officer Swift nods as a response. “Of course Princess, both a chariot and a legion of the best members of the Royal Guard will be gathered together immediately.” He gave off one last salute before dashing off to act upon the princess’s orders.

Princess Celestia just sighed. It just seems that more and more problems just keep popping up with each passing day ever since Tirek returned and thankfully later defeated by the hoofs of her most faithful student and her friends. Not to mention also the political tension that these events have brought up with Equestria’s closest neighbors.One misstep now and Celestia will have A LOT more things to worry about than just a missing group of over 30 ponies.

“What seems to be the matter dear sister?” The voice of a mare suddenly came up behind which interrupted Celestia’s mental moment.

Celestia sighed once more. “It’s nothing too serious Luna, just a batch of 30 guard ponies suddenly gone missing around Whitetail Woods.” She answered which in turn perked Luna’s interest.

“Whitetail Woods? Isn’t that the most docile area of in all Equestria? How can a platoon of 30 guard ponies just disappear?” The younger sister questioned as she stepped up to Celestia’s throne.

Celestia just shook her head. “I do not know sister but this is why I am going down together with a new legion of more seasoned guards to go and inspect the situation personally.” She explained while stepping down from her throne.

Luna immediately perked up at that.” Oh may we come along? We are so bored out of our minds with just wandering around the castle all day aimlessly.” She pleaded which in turn caused Celestia to raise an eyebrow at her.

“Didn’t you say that you were going to spend the rest of your free week reading a great deal of those…modern comic books and novels that you come to love? What happened to that plan?” She questioned her sis curiously.

Luna just smiled. “Already finished them all.” She answered with a big grin.

Celestia just rolled her eyes in response before chuckling. “Well you always were a fast reader Lulu.” She joked.

“But sure, if you really want to come with me then I don’t see why not. Might actually be a good idea IF whatever has happened to those guards might not be something natural or normal at all. Having you by my side will certainly help.” She finally agreed in which her little sister just smiled happily before following her sister out of the throne room.

Little did they know that Celestia was actually right with her prediction, though if they are ready for what was to come is a different topic entirely.

History shall be made.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“Does anypony here maybe have some water on them?” A tied up pony guard questioned.

“Are you serious?” Another guard below him asked sarcastically, also tied up good like everyone else, and I mean everyone. “Going to ask our captor for a glass of water after he managed to somehow beat us all into submission? Why don’t you ask him for a nice piece of cake and a good story book while you at it?” He ranted on which in turn made the one above him look down with an annoyed expression.

“Hey I am thirsty over here, also I wasn’t the one who go beat down first when we all charged that thing. Also, I am placed on top of you as well so you can shut up for all I care.” He retorted.

“Oh BUCK you.” The other one shouted while for the tenth time trying to break through his bindings. With no real results of course.

“Hey would you stop your squirming? It’s already uncomfortable enough as it is.” The one on top whined which was causing the one below to seriously get frustrated.

“Can you two finally SHUT UP!!!? It’s already humiliating enough that we got all beaten by ONE creature in less than 30 seconds. So I don’t want the two of you rubbing more salt into the wound with your filly like bickering over there.” Another one shouted further behind on another pile of tied up ponies. This one being the officer that got blasted from the sky first when he was annoying Riggs.

“Says the one who literally started this whole mess and got hit in the face first with some paralyzing magic.” One of the two guards muttered which the other could for the first time only agree on.

On the other side of the Camp, Riggs was listening to their child like bickering with some level of amusement while cooking up some stew above his fire.

The only ponies that were obviously not part of the pony pyramid where Spitfire, Cloudchaser and the newcomer named Thunder Cloud. Her partner Sky Swords though was still tied up but unlike the others he was actually still lying at the same spot when BB-5 snatched him up from mid air and somehow bound him up afterwards.

One was just silent, the other was more awkwardly looking around herself, while the other was being rather pissed towards a certain individual who was not giving a shit to all of this the slightest.

“You are nothing but a complete bucking psychopath.” Spitfire announced which was, as always, falling into deaf ears. Or so she expected before Riggs finally lifted his gaze towards the new guard mare of all ponies.

“Hey you.” He called out which immediately got Thunders attention. “That Box behind holds a couple of full water canteens. You can take some of those and go around those captives to give those a drink who desire it.” Riggs pointed out behind her.

She followed Riggs gesture by turning her head before looking back and nodding towards the commando awkwardly.

She was just glad to have something to and not just awkwardly sitting around.

“Hey uhm…could you perhaps give me a little sip as well.” Sky Sword asked while squirming a bit from his position.

Thunder just nods before grabbing a few canteens from the box and to do what she has been ask to do. Better than just sitting around clueless in her mind.

With the new mare now busy Riggs just went back to his cooking, or he would have if a certain yellow mare didn’t have a wrench to throw at his plans.

“You know you could also just, oh I don’t, maybe just let them all go you know?” The fiery mare offered which again was thrown onto deaf ears as Riggs just casually cooked away.

This really annoyed Spitfire. “Hey I am talking to you, you out of space alien psychopath.” Spitfire shouted and scaring the two other ponies close by her.

This though did the trick as Riggs finally gave her the attention she so desperately wanted to have. His expression though stoic, something Spitfire was not expecting.

“You are a military personnel are you not?” Riggs ask casually which immediately confused Spitfire.

“Well…uh yes, yes I am. Beside the Captain of an aerial stunt team, I am also a Sergeant of the Pegasus Guard at Cloudsdale. But what the hay has this to do with anything?” Spitfire demanded at the end, still feeling somewhat pissed at the Commando’s previous behavior.

Riggs attention just went back at the stew in front of him before answering. “Well aren’t you then dedicated to go out and fight in battles or wars if such events ever happen to your nation or your species as a whole?” Riggs ask again and only confusing Spitfire even more.

“Well yes…but that is…” Spitfire began before Riggs quickly cut her short as that was already all he needed to hear from her.

“Then how do you feel about the concept of killing people? Because that is exactly what is expected of you when you are part of the army, and I am sure that you were aware of such occupational requirements when you decided to first signe up in the earlier parts of your life.” Riggs openly explained while stirring his dinner.

Spitfire was speechless. But still tried her mental best to formulate some words out of her mouth on the now serious subject that Riggs has forcefully brought up on her. Both cloud and those close enough to hear them had their attention fully focused on these two.

Spitfire was a bit hesitant at first but quickly decided to voice out. “Well yes, yes I was aware of such a requirement when I first joined the guard. But seriously, what are the chances of Equestria as a whole to ever go to a real war with any other nation that surrounds us? Equestria as a whole has been mostly in peace for the last 1000 years. So again what are the chances of a war breaking out in the first place?” She explained. Words that a lot of ponies could hear only agreed upon.

Because really, the chance of a war breaking out for Equestria in the near foreseeable future is basically almost non-existent in most of these ponies’ minds. Especially given the incredibly long peace their nation has enjoyed so far for the last 1000 years.

But Riggs knew better, and what he had learned so far by travelling and fighting all across the galaxy and old data’s from times long gone was that peace, was nothing but an illusion. The only peace that you can truly archive is when your time comes, but that also depends on what kind of religion you believe in. But Riggs wasn’t going to bother getting all philosophical on these furry natives. Plus he generally doesn’t care about that kind of stuff anyway. If he was going to get a blaster bolt rammed into the back of his head one day then so be it. At least it’s going to be swift and painless.

“Yes I am a psychopath.” Riggs suddenly announced which again took Spitfire completely by surprise.

“What…what?” Spitfire asked confused at the sudden confession and change of topic.

Riggs mentally sighed as he repeated himself. “Yes, I am a psychopath. You automatically become one when joining the military and being eventually shipped off to war to fight whatever it is your higher ups wants you to fight against. It’s part of the occupational requirements.” Riggs explained before removing his cooking kettle from the fire and setting it down next to him.

“All the fights, the deaths and destruction. Say what you want but it will affect a person one way or another. In some it's subtle in some others it’s more extreme.” He continued on as he took a small taste of his self-cooked dinner and giving a satisfied nod in the end.

He took a few more spoons of his stew before continuing. “The only difference with me, is that I have already lost what most individuals back home would call “normal” long before I even became soldier. Why? Well that would be a story for another day, if I even bother to tell it that is.” Riggs finally finished as he just casually ate the rest of his food in silence.

Spitfire was somewhat unsure what even to say. But she had to admit that her annoyance was quickly replaced with a sense of curiosity regarding Riggs’s previous life before he came here. I mean he was a soldier that one is pretty obvious at this point, a pretty damn good and kickass soldier is she had to be honest to herself.

Now that he openly mentioned it, she was now very intrigued to learn in just how many battles this alien had participated in to be so good and in what he does cold.

“So wait, does the last part mean that he was always crazy.” One of the tied up guards randomly spouted.

Everybody froze when Riggs raised his gaze to whoever blared that out. The one responsible was no longer feeling clever when Riggs gaze landed on him.

That’s when a distraction accrued in the form of a blue ball with a head.

“Beep, chirp beep boop.” The little guy chimed which thankfully for the guard took Riggs attention away from him.

Riggs just hummed before standing up. “Well since you are here, mind keeping an eye on our “guests” while I go out and check what kind of wildlife they have here that are good for game. The supplies that I have won’t last forever after all.” Riggs requested while looking down at his small pot of stew.

“Shouldn’t have stocked up on so many tools and ammunition. But who could possibly predict that your hyperdrive is going to get you stranded on a damn planet.” Riggs muttered before walking back towards his ship, taking his dinner with him.

BB-5 just nods his little head before doing exactly what Riggs has ask him to do. Keep an eye on these ponies.

Cloudchaser just frowned. “Yeah if you think that I am going to let a ball of scrap keep a leash on me then you all can kiss my flank.” She announced before getting up from the container she has been leaning against most of the day.

“I am going somewhere else or maybe even just flying back all together. Bet my sis misses me already.” She declared while opening her wings and giving it a few test flaps, unbeknownst to her that a certain droid had completely different opinions on her decisions entirely.

He was instructed to keep an eye on ALL of these ponies which means “Stay here”.

BB-5 immediately opened his hook shot compartment, a gesture that was not missed by the mare it was intended for as her eyes went wide for a moment before transforming into a glare instead.

The stare off continued one for a few couple moments before Cloudchaser just groaned in defeat. If BB-5 could aim, catch and bind a Pegasus trying to escape into the air not once, but twice in a row, and doing it faster than a Pegasi can even do its second flap, then really what were her chances of trying to get away this time. Especially now that BB-5 is prepared and expecting it.

With great displeasure Cloudchaser just plumed herself back on the same spot and crossed her hooves in annoyance.

“Stupid ball thing.” She muttered.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“We are now reaching the outskirts of Whitetail Woods Princess.” The lead guard pulling the chariot stated.

“We are aware of that Sergeant. Please land right at the edge of the Forest. It would be much easier for us to fly along with the Legion instead of using this chariot from this point on.” Celestia requested which was answered with a nod.

“As you wish Princess.” He responded before he and the rest behind him maneuvered the chariot in a soft decent.

“I still don’t see how a forest like this can swallow up a whole platoon of pegasi guards. The last time I checked this forest does not harbor any monsters or hostile creatures whatsoever.” Luna piped in as there Chariot finally touches the ground.

“This is why we are here Luna, to personally see what could possibly cause it and hopefully find all 30 ponies alive and well.” Celestia answered as both her and her sister stepped off her chariot.

She felt quite concerned, even more so when her gut somehow told her that there was something more to this than they all originally thought.

“30 plus pegasus guards don’t just go missing like that randomly in one of the most docile location in all of Equestria. There is definitely more to it than that.” Celestia thought to herself as the legion following her finally touched down behind her as well.

The officer of the group immediately stepped up and saluted to the princesses. “Your Majesties, we are ready and accounted for. Should we begin this operation immediately?” He requested.
Celestia nods. “Yes, yes we shall. Normally splitting up would be the best idea but considering the consique….”She tried to explain before she got interrupted by her sister taking off into the air without any warning.

“Uh…sister why are you…”Celestia tried to ask before once again being interrupted.

“Going on with this investigation of course. While having the number advantage in great. I personally prefer to look for our missing ponies ourselves without any slowdowns. We are quite faster than thee anyway.” Luna announced. “Plus I need to go, as the modern foals would say, go potty. I foolishly forgot to go prior before we made our way here. I will find you sister when I or something has found me.” She quickly added before swiftly flying off into the skies of Whitetail Wood forest.

“Luna now wait, we have to…ahh for the love of…” Celestia sighed and inwardly groaned in annoyance at her sister’s sporadic behaviors and rash decisions.

She blames those Comics and this new entertainment method called ‘Video Games’ she has been occupied with ever since she discovered them.

But then again she has to admit that some of them are quite entertaining. It’s just too bad that her role as a Princess doesn’t really produce a lot of free time for herself. This very situation being a good example of her busy schedule.

“Maybe I am allowing her a bit of too much free time.” She wondered to herself as the lead stallion from before approached her.

“Should I command a group to go after her your Highness?” He requested.

Celestia shook her head. “No, most of you won’t even have a chance to actively keep up with her as I have to admit that her speed is definitely far greater than mine and also your average pegasus. Chasing her now would just be wasting energy on your part. Plus my sister is very much capable in keeping her own when things get serious. So again no need to worry.” She explained before turning herself around to gaze upon the large group of ponies in large.

“Alright everypony, let’s do what we came here for. Search and investigate, and to hopefully find the missing ponies and also why they went missing in the first place.” Celestia boomed before spreading her wings and giving them a few test flaps to warm them up.

“Let’s move out.” She declared before taking off into the air.

The officer took to the air as well. “You heard her. Let’s go and keep your senses sharp. Immediately report to me or the Princess if one of you spots something unusual.” He commanded.

With that, the monarch and the Legion of Pegasi guard where off to investigate the forest and to hopefully find the missing ponies, and more importantly why they went missing together in the first place.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“I wonder if this is eatable?” Riggs wondered as he looked over a weird creature he just shot.

It has leather wings, a long chitin like tail with a stinger on the end and a yellow furry body with a thick red mane around its head.

Chapter 10: The Imperial way of Diplomacy

Edited by: Rainbowblitz

“I am going to find them first and then I am going to rub it in Tia’s face that I managed to accomplish something that a whole group of guards could not.” Luna thought to herself as she flew casually above the forest canopy, using both of her keen eyes and magic to scan and scout the forest below her.

She has to admit, trying to actively find something in such a huge area covered mostly in thick woodlands was going to take its time. Even with magic. But this should not deter her or let her newfound laziness get the better of her. She loves turning everything into a competition when it involves her sister just so she can have the right in rubbing it in her face whatever it is she is going to claim for rubbing.

Why? Because that’s what siblings do.

“Still, a whole platoon of guards just disappearing. Back in the old days this would have never happened. The guards were made of a much more tougher material than they are now. Such a shame, Tia really has gone soft since the last 1000 years. Too soft in my opinion.” She mumbled as she continued to scan the area in front and below her with her magic.

She eventually reached what she could recognize as a clearing far off into the distance. Actually more like a small meadow by the looks of it.

Luna doubt that the missing ponies and guards could possibly be there but she still decided to fly over there just to take a rest on a nice patch of grass and to regain some bearing.

She had been flying non stop for a whole hour after all. Tell her what you want, but being an alicorn also means being part earth pony too, which means also having the thick and sturdy bone structure that they have, which are obviously a bit too heavy for flying. That’s what her large wings are for, but even they can only do so much before succumbing to fatigue.

Or it also could be because of her much more lazier life style of games, comic books and novels. Yeah that could be it.

“Definitely need to get out more.”

She was about to gently angle herself to a decent when she suddenly spotted something in the corner of her eye.

She turned her gaze towards it and squinted, it was far away, right on the other end of this long clearing but it was still very obvious and… too strange looking to not notice. Even from this distance.

“What… what is that?” Luna ask out loud.

Whatever it was, it certainly didn’t look natural or pony made from Luna’s knowledge, which is a lot, but then again she spends half of her life on the surface of the moon… so maybe… not as much as she liked to think.

But still, it pretty much stood out like a sore horn in this sea of green.

“Could this maybe be where all the missing ponies are? I mean how it could it not be, in how unusual it already seems from way over here.” She thought to herself as both her mind and sense of curiosity made her decision for her.

Flapping her wings and gaining some needed speed and altitude, she swiftly started to speed towards the foreign object.

The closer she got the more clearer but also stranger this thing in the distance became, eventually becoming so… alien to her that she was forced to halt herself half way just to gawk at this mysterious thing.

“What… what in Equestria is that?” She ask no one in particular as she looked both intrigued and confused at the same time.

More intrigued to be honest as this thing does seem to look like one of those otherworldly carriages that those Sci-fi novels describe. That, and her constant gazing up to the stars as a filly and just internally wondering if there might me more worlds just like hers out there.

Or if not then perhaps completely different ones instead.

All of that self-wondering immediately crashed into a wall when she switched her gaze ever so slightly from the object. There were ponies, and lots of them if her keen eyes were to be trusted.

And they usually are, even with magical mirages clouding her sight or not.

“Those have to be both the missing guards and ponies. I think I found them.” She exclaimed loudly to herself.

“Thou have found them… that means, that I have beaten my own sister once again to the punch. Score… uhm… what number was I? Ahh who cares, another score for Luna.” She said to herself with a victorious grin before speeding down towards her goal.

Her enthusiasm quickly faltered when she got closer and closer though. Not only did she managed to find all of the missing guards but both curiously and worryingly they seemed to be all tied up and stacked on top of one another. Not only that but there was a lot more things scattered about then she originally realized. She first thought that this might have been just a crash site, but obviously this wasn’t the case if the numerous metal looking crates and more alien looking devices were anything to go by.

Not just that, but all of these items were neatly placed and arranged as well, something a “crash” does not produce.

There was obviously a lot more than she bargained for, but nothing she wouldn’t be able to handle if it meant protecting the citizens of her nation.

She quickly came down to a soft landing which was also the moment where some of the ponies managed to notice her presence, one in particular being a rather famous one.

“Prin-princess Luna?” Spitfire exclaimed as she looked passed on of those crates.

Luna on the other hand raised an eyebrow after she spotted the bandaged back and midsection of the Wonderbolt captain, more specifically her covered up wings.

Luna just stood tall. “Yes it is I, Princess and mistress of the night herself.” She announced which at this point pretty much got everyone's attention, even those that are blocked by the others.

“I have come to save thee, from whatever monster or kidnapper has taken thee and to put an end to its terror and let it face justice.” She added.

Spitfire on the other end was more confused than relieved, in fact she was now feeling a level of concern for the princess as her broad entrance would surely alert the psychopathic alien that she has been the “quote on quote” Guest of this entire time. If not him then one of his advance technology’s would have.

She was honestly just waiting for a bolt to just hit her making her fall unconsciously to the ground, or even worst.

I mean, Princess Luna is an Alicorn, a powerful pony, in fact one of THE most powerful ponies in existence in terms of magical prowess alone. But what Riggs may lack in sheer magical power he easily makes up with all of his advance weapons and sheer brutality alone.

Princess Luna might just have flown into a spiders nest without her even knowing where the spider is or if it even exist.

Spitfire’s concern quickly morphed into panic as these thoughts circulate through her mind.

Again, she might be superbly skilled and very powerful, but what does all that power and skill do for you if you don’t even know where your enemy is and what it is to begin with?

This has the potential to become really ugly, really fast.

“Uhm… princess, with all due respect I think It would be better for you to just… get the hay out of here before things get… really hectic.” Spitfire tried to explain as the princess was trotting her way over to them.

She stopped while raising a confused eyebrow. “Why? Thou think that we are unable to handle this ourselves?” She question which in turn caused Spitfires eyes to widen before she frantically shook her hoof in front of her.

“What? Nonononono it’s not like that, it’s not like that at all… it’s… it’s just…” Spitfire panicked.

Luna quickly cut her off with a wave of her hoof. “Enough, whatever or whoever this fiend is that has capture and bounded you all shall be no problem for me if it ever dares to show itself. We have face numerous monsters, demons and foes in our past and we have always prevailed.” She proudly announced while holding her head high with her horn glowing.

Though she is keeping out the parts where her sisters was actually on her side in some of those fights, but of course nopony needs to know that, especially when she is busy gloating.

“Beep, boob chirp beep.”

Spitfire’s eyes widen when these distinct beeps and chirps entered her ears. Luna’s on the other end just perked up as a small metal made sphere with a head came rolling out from one of the crates, presuming coming directly from the alien craft if his location of entry was anything to go by.

“This couldn’t possibly get anymore worse.” Spitfire thought to herself as she dreadfully watched the little droid making his way over to her. Fully revealing herself to the night princess.

She did try to ask the little robotic ball if Riggs maybe had something that a herbivore like her could chew on, right before princess Luna decided to show up.

He is holding something in his mechanical claws as he rolled his way over to her. A nutrient bar if Spitfire had to guess. Probably just as generic tasting as the ones she is accustomed to in the guard… or perhaps even worse.

Luna on the other hand looked both surprised and confused at this sudden newcomer before she suddenly took a more intimidating stance as her horn started to glow.

“So you must be the one or at least one of those fiends who are keeping the ponies captive.” She declared which fully realized Spitfires fears and predictions to a T.

She may not know Luna in person or much about her in general, but from what she does know both from her return and from the old history books that sometimes depict Equestria dual rulers when they were still very young was that Luna was the more brash and daring of these two. A more of a hit first and ask questions later type of pony… kind of like… her to be honest.

“Dammit.” Spitfire automatically thought.

The little droid in comparison just turned his little head at the now demanding princess. His databanks trying to find a match of the ones he already collected from all of the other natives around him and only finding some resemblance with them. Which means, he was looking at a completely new and unrecorded species. Which just made him giddy on the inside.

More fun scanning to do for him, and to try and collect as much info on this new spices as much as possible so that he can find out more ways in how to successful capture and bind them when he needs to. Oh, and data for Riggs as well so that he can kill them much faster when the need demands it. If he wants to that is.

First things first, first hook and bind her, then he can scan and study its biological structure and DNA composition.

With that idea now cemented in the little droid's head he powered up his hook shot systems and took aim at the newcomer.

Princess Luna was completely oblivious on the droids intentions.

Luna at this point was slowly getting irritated by a lack of a response by the little ball shaped thing. Maybe it doesn’t understand equestrian, but that idea just makes her feel even more annoyed than she already is. It should at least understand her tone and the aggressive stance she was giving it.
“Have you not heard us, we demand for you to release these ponies or we shall…” This was all what Luna managed to get out when something on the little things body suddenly opened up and fired something at her faster than she could even react to.

She only had the time to yelp when something attached and wiggled itself around her horn, causing her both pain and pleasure at the same time and forcefully cutting of her magic in the process.

“Wha-what in my sisters name… HOW CAN THIS JUST CUT OFF MY MAGIC!!!” She shouted at the end in both anger and confusion.

But before she can try to resist or pull against her captor she suddenly found herself pulled down to the ground and dragged across it, towards the little blue and white painted droid.

Spitfire was just to dumbfounded and shocked to really do or say anything as she just watched the princess, the bloody princess of the night, getting fish hooked and reeled in by the little intelligent machine.

The more she stays with these alien the crazier the days become. Nothing is normal or makes sense for her anymore, especially when the droid somehow, once again, managed to completely tie up and bind a pony the moment the princess was in reach of his little metal pincers.

“What the… what just happened?!” Princess Luna shouted within her new metallic cocoon. Upside down of course.

“Beep, boob beep.” The droid chimed before dragging the overly confused and pride scarred princess to wherever he wants to scan her.

That would have been the plan when things just had to become even more complicated than they already are.

“Look over there!” One of the bound ponies shouted from behind Spitfire.

“Yes, finally some reinforcements have arrived, we are going to be free everypony.” Another one shouted with glee.

Spitfire of course was as confused as always before a tap on her shoulder got her attention. It was Cloudchaser, pointing a hoof up at the sky.

Spitfire followed it and her eyes immediately widen at what she saw, not because of the whole legions of Pegasus guards above her but because of a certain other princess that was with them.

“Buck it.” She declared while throwing her hooves up. “Whatever happened today is not my fault. I am just going to sit back and let chaos rule this one.” She boldly declared before just turning around and trotting off to save a but still comfortable place to watch the chaos happen.

Just needs the head alien to come back from wherever he run off too to make it happen.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Princess Celestia was both concerned and intrigued at the same time. Not only did she and her guards finally managed to find all the missing ponies in one single spot, but they managed to find them all tied up and stack on top one another like how a butcher would stack his meat.

Gryphons were omnivores after all.

That’s not even mentioned the big strange looking construct that is practically right next to them. Its designs and looks being nothing the princess have ever seen before. It gave off a rather militarist or weapon like feeling thanks to the six dagger shaped metallic looking wings pointing forward from the object.

Overall something that looked like it was made to kill and for warfare, despite its otherworldly design.

That’s where the intrigue comes from though, its otherworldly design. Thanks to her alicorn affinity she has live far longer than any normal or highly gifted pony could ever hope for, which means she has seen and experience a lot of strange, crazy and downright enigmatic things in her long life.

This thing would be on the top on her enigmatic list in just how strange it really looked. Certainly something no pony could have made or rather any of the other races on this world. Its outside look alone already looked way to advance for it to be made by any nation or species she knows off. She could only guess what this object was made of at this point. Unless she can have a closer look at this… thing, all bets and ideas are just open at this point.

A certain faithful student of hers would certainly love to study this thing, if she gets the chance to do so.

“Your highness, I see Princess Luna down there too.” The lead officer suddenly announced right next to her which broke her gaze on the object.

She looked down, only for her eyes to widen in shock at what she saw.

Luna bound and captured.

Sisterly concern quickly overwrote whatever else she was thinking about or planning to do. She immediately speeded down towards the ground with her guards only following her a few moments later.

Soon both her and her Legion of Guards touched down right in front of this strange camp. The bounded guards further in could be heard calling and cheering as they hopes were high that they could finally be freed from this mess and finally bring whatever got them into this mess in the first place a good round buck of justice.

Celestia ignored all of it as her gaze was more fixed on her bounded sisters as she was being slowly dragged away by a small ball shaped thing with a head.

“Sister.” She called out which got Luna‘s attention in an instant.

“Big Sis, do something! This “thing” has somehow managed to surprise me and is now dragging me off to Equestria knows where. Get me out of these bounds… especially on my horn.” Luna ranted, struggling to get out herself.

Celestia was about to assist her sister and give out her quick orders towards the guard behind her when one of her senses suddenly started to tingle inside of her, the type of sense that tells her that something wasn’t right here. Call it both motherly and alicorn instinct if you will, as Luna seemed to have the same realization as well.

“SISTER SHIELD!!!” Luna suddenly barked out which Celestia didn’t needed to be told.

With almost automatic reflexes Celestia swiftly cast a shield dome around herself and in front of the guard, and no a moment too soon as sudden crackling and the zipping of a blue projectile immediately impacted with the shields and dispersing harmlessly on its surface.

Everything happened so suddenly and so fast that neither of the two or anypony else managed to get any bearings on where these attack where actually came from.

The situation was tense at this point. From a search mission to a rescue one. A really serious rescue mission.

The air was silent for a while, both Celestia and her guards behind her where darting both their eyes and ears on almost every direction, alert and vigilant to what was to come next. The guards having long formed a defensive formation behind thier princess with their weapons ready.

Seconds felt like minutes, not for the Droid though as he still tried his best to drag his new research material closer to the ship while his catch was still struggling and cursing at him like hell on earth.

Another shot suddenly rang out, this one Red all of the sudden as it quickly impacted the shield, causing an explosion and large cracks to appear on the shields surface.

Celestia cringed in pain as she was somewhat pushed back by that heavy shot of pure energy that just slammed into her shields. She was both surprised and shocked to say the least, having HER shield already so heavily damaged by ONE shot was almost as rare as the stars up in the night sky. But before she can even contemplate what could be powerful enough to almost shatter her shields in one go, another red bolt suddenly cracked out from the woods, hitting her shield with disastrous results.

Her shield failed this time, the second bolt easily smashing through her already badly damaged guard as another explosion shock the air. The explosion and shattering of her shield forcing her to fly back a couple of meters before impacting painfully against the bark of a tree.

Luna was forced to watch all of this transpire with shocked eyes as she stopped her struggling to process what just happened.

The stunned and shocked guards were about to spring into action when this time a burst of these red bolts came racing towards them and impacting on the ground in front of them, created multiple explosion which forced many off their hoofs and some even flying directly into their comrades behind them.

Panic and disarray was the master within the legion as thick plumes of dirt and dust clouded everything around them.

Their ranks and formations broken and forgotten.

This ensuing chaos was enough though for the Princess to get back on her hoofs with gritted teeth and was about to power up her horn to cast another magical ward. This time though intended for her guards rather than for her.

She didn’t got far on her plan though as another one of this bolts quickly raced towards her instead and hitting the ground in front of her in the same fashion as the one intended for her fellow ponies, with the same scary and disorienting results.

Celestia shielded herself with her wings on instinct as the blast once again forced her against the tree and onto the ground, though not as hard as the first one thankfully.

She instinctively got back up same with some of her guards, only to receive yet another dose of ground shots and explosions which knocked them all back down.

The air around them being nothing but a thick, choking dust cloud at this point.

Celestia coughed as she raised only her head this time. “No STOP!” Celestia shouted towards her guards as some of them were about to struggle themselves up. “Stay down, and don’t move.” She ordered which they thankfully acknowledges.

If her theory is correct, the attacks should cease if they stood down. Because from what she could guess, especially from the way these shots were aimed and fired, is that these were more suppressive in nature rather than to do actual harm.

“Let’s see if this is true.” Celestia thought to herself with baited breath as she and her guards just laid on the ground.

Once more, seconds seemed to feel more like minutes for these ponies as they just waited for any more attacks.

They waited, and waited, enough time for the dust cloud to finally settle. Celestia gamble seemed to have paid off as no further attacks were coming their way.

Celestia sighed with relief as she finally allowed herself to relax now that the attacks had stopped, but she stayed on guard and tense.

This was the perfect time to get some answers. “Whoever you are, show yourself. As you can see we are standing down just how you want. So please, show yourself.” She shouted in hoped to finally come face to face with the pony or creature that seemed to be gifted enough to break her shield and to keep her and her guards at bay.

Silence was all she got at first before a sudden crack and a thud echoed through the calm after the storm.

“ARGH blasted stinger tail.” Someone cursed in a deep and distorted voice.

Both her and most of her guard were somewhat confused by this strange response, all until a distant sound of somepony hacking and slashing something could be heard before something long and black came hurtling out from the darkness of the forest front.

A lot of eyes got widened as everypony recognized it as a Manticore tail. A crudely chop off Manticore tail.

Some just stared while other looked away, clearly feeling intimidated at this point.

Celestia on the other end just stared at it before her gaze quickly got switched to something that seemed to be moving out from the shadows, and what she saw was something she honest to heaven didn’t expected at all.

“What… in Equestria is that?” Celestia wondered as a black clad bipedal moved out into the open.

Standing tall and proud in front of the ponies with a long metal looking weapon held over its shoulder. Its blue angry eyes gazing upon them.

“That bloody stinger already scratched my armor 3 times already. Should have shoot that tail off from the beginning. Lesson learned I guess.” The being muttered to himself rather than to someone else.

“Well at least it can talk I guess.” Celestia told herself more than anyone else.

Chapter 11: Let's talk, no shooting...maybe

Chapter 11: Let’s talk, no shooting…maybe

Edited by: fistfire, A.K.A Rarity 2.0

“Hey… uh…is that…is that a manticore tail?” One random guard asked.

Riggs noted that. “So that’s what this creature is called.” He casually thought to himself.

But other than that it was irrelevant. His gaze was more fixed on the large white one than the little grunts that surrounded her. Judging by the accessories, her look, and basically that she IS larger than anyone else around her (minus him of course) must mean that Riggs is facing a leading figure of some sort. Or at the very least someone who has been munching down on all of those vegetables all day long when she was small.

Who knows?

Riggs doesn’t know, nor does he care as he obviously had the control of the situation. He doubted that any of them, even her, are quick enough to put his hyperspace like reflexes to the test.

He has always credited for being a superb quick shot, learned rather than inborn. Some of his squad mates made jokes about the possibilities that he might secretly be force sensitive or something. Riggs of course scoffed at that, especially considering that he wasn’t born with that ability, rather he had to learn it given the environment he was forced to live in when shit suddenly became hell for him during his childhood.

Live on a desolated jungle world used for mining, run by some wanne be space pirates does favor the quick and witted. Especially with the quite aggressive wild life there.

But again, all of this really doesn’t matter as it was all in the past, and that he had completely other things to focus on. Like not to accidentally kill this species’ leader before he could even begin to get out of here. That would make getting back into civilized space a lot more difficult.

Plus charging his power packs via his ship’s solar wings is slow and rather tedious. Also not particularly recommended on some of his more ‘Heavier weapons’.

Either way it’s time to talk, not to shoot. He lowered his weapon, showing to those in front of him that he was ready to stand down. If they wouldn’t do anything funny that is.

His more passive stands must have been noticed by their leader as she too seemed to relax as she got up and began to cautiously approach the commando, much to everyone’s silent and non silent protests.

“Your Highness, be careful. If that…that thing is capable of breaking through your shields with its own magic then who knows what else this thing has up its sleeves.” Celestia’s officer warned which in turn was silently agreed by everyone else.

Celestia just waved him off. “I am well aware of that captain. Which is why I’m the one approaching it while all of you stay here and tend to those that need it. If a fight truly breaks out then I am afraid to say that none of you would really be much of a help.” Celestia answered without looking behind her.

Her officer was still unsure about this but he had to respect the princess’s wishes regardless of his own standing on the matter.

She is over a 1000 years old after all.

Riggs on the other hand was just relaxed, or rather, how far he is allowing himself to relax in the first place. Obviously letting your guard down fully in an alien world could very easily backfire on you if the right criteria are in place.

So he just visually pretended to be relaxed while his grip on both the trigger and the gun were still firm.

Eventually both parties were staring each other down in the middle of the field. Both of them silent as they stared each other down for any signs of hostility or planned attack.

The first one to speak was Celestia. “Greetings, for simplicity sake let me just introduce myself.” She began before gesturing to herself. “I am Princess Celestia, leader and Co-ruler of the fine Kingdom of Equestria, the same land which just borders the very ground we are now standing on. Pray tell, who do I have to honor of conversing with this very moment?” She introduced herself before requesting the name of the commander.

This made Riggs think for just a moment. “A princess she said. Well then, its a bit disappointing that I have landed in a place that doesn’t understand the difference between a kingdom and a self-governed principality. But whatever, beggars can’t be chooser I suppose.” He thought to himself before mentally deciding to play along.

He gestured to himself with his left hand. “Well, greetings then to you too. I am Storm Commando Riggs Dantion. Member of Shadow squad and Elite Pilot of the Galactic Imperium…or well, I was I suppose.” He answered with his helmets voice com making him sound allot more artificial to those around him.

Though the last part was not missed by the princess. “Was, what do you mean by was?” She questioned, tilting her head a little bit.

Riggs just shrugged. “Not particularly important, especially when you should be asking much more important questions besides my background.” He casually commented while pointing over at his collection of “guests”.

Celestia followed his gesture. Her eyes momentarily losing its mask before returning back to her more natural look when she looked back at the lone Commando.

Riggs could already the feel the question inside her head, so before she could even voice her concerns he answered the question for her.

“In case you are wondering, no, no they were not harmed nor is anyone of the 30ish guards that I came across here missing from action. They are all fine and accounted for, only a tad bit uncomfortable given their bindings.” He quickly explained.

Celestia just nods to this before once again stealing a swift look over at both the missing ponies and her sister. She felt glad to know that nopony was seriously injured or worse, but still, one question still remind.

She looked back at the alien. “If that is the case, then I would also believe that it should be fine with you that I take all of these ponies back with me to Equestria? Their families and friends are worried sick, and I would be willing to give this incident a pass if you simply allow us to take them and leave.” She suggested, which to Riggs sounded more like a subtle demand rather than a request.

Monarchs, they really are all the same no matter what planet or species.

But truth be told, he really didn’t had any real good reasons to keep any of these colorful furries in his confines. So as far as he was concerned, she can have them all back.

On one condition though.

“You can have them.” He answered before leaning towards the princess. “On one condition though.” He added with a raised finger.

This of course made Celestia suspicious. “What condition?”

Riggs straightened back up as he answered. “Simply…” He began” A safe place to pitch up camp somewhere within your borders, because…” I pointed at the severed manticore’s tail”…this area isn’t exactly camp friendly as you can see.” He explained, which Celestia could understand.

Riggs continued. ”AND an easy access to some raw material like scrap metal and what not.” He finally laid down, which in turn, got the immediate attention of a certain officers behind the princess.

“Why you two legged beast. Using all of your prisoners to barter with the princess. Why in Equestria’s name would we…” He tried to argue before the princess swiftly cut him off with a glare.

“Enough Captain, I said that I will confront this being alone while you and the rest go tend to your fellow kin. Your input was unnecessary.” She ordered, much to the dismay to the now known captain.

He bowed. “My apologies Princess, for momentarily forgetting my place and duties. It won’t happened again I promise.” He respectively apologized which the princess accepted with a nod.

With the incident out of the way she focused back at the soldier in front of her.

“Is that all? Nothing more…substantial or over the top?” She investigated curiously.

Riggs just shook his head. “No, I have little use for any money or riches that your kind values here. My problems, or at least here on your world, cannot be fixed with and over excessive possession of material wealth and money alone. Just raw material and a safe place to camp out would be fine.” He clarified.

Celestia took a couple of moments to think this over, before agreeing to Riggs terms and giving him a nod of approval.

“Very well, if your testimony of these ponies being unharmed and all accounted for then, I will have no issues in upholding my end of the bargain. Once everything has been checked out you will receive a safe area within Equestria’s borders and access to any scrap yard or blacksmith if needed. Just be sure to not cause any trouble within the populace and everything will be fine.” She finalized.

“Well that depends.” Riggs added to the princess’s mild surprise.

“Depends on what?” She questioned cautiously.

Riggs holstered his rifle over his right shoulder as he replied. “That your citizens don’t cause ME any unnecessary trouble. Out in the populace it's fine. But openly approaching my camp and my ship to just be troublesome is not. Nobody, and I mean nobody touches my ship over there as I do not trust your thumb-less hooves to cause anymore unnecessary damage to it than it already has.” He pointed at this ship to his right which the princess followed.

She simply nods. “Should easily be arranged.”

Riggs smiled at that a little bit under his helmet. “Finally some actually progress for once.” Riggs thought.

With that out of a way, there was now nothing but to uphold his end of the bargain by untying all of his prisoners and transferring them all to the rightful owners.

He allowed himself to relax some more as he made his way over to his camp where all of his bargain leverage was piled up. He would normally be ok with them untying their kin themselves, but given the fact that all of his stuff was close by, he still wouldn’t trust a pre-space faring species from doing anything stupid with all of the high-tech gear that is stored inside his containers.

Or at least that is his first assumption really, given their primitive outlook, weapons and golden armor. Like literally made of gold, which for actual military use is just down right terrible.

Celestia followed him from behind, keeping an eye on him as he led her to his camp. She gave a few silent orders for some of her guards to follow her, which they did without any hesitation.

The first newcomer that Riggs hadn’t accounted for his original pile was the blue colored one that looked somewhat similar in comparison to the white one. Only physically smaller…and allot louder.

She was bitching and complaining about the fact that she was tied up and bested by a small metal ball, a ball who was also sitting on top of her squirming from beeping and chirping triumphal at her discomfort.

Riggs immediately gave BB-5 the order to release her, which the droid did. But not before rolling off the blue one’s back and retracting his cord in such a way which forced his captive to be spun around in place rapidly much to her distorted protests.

Dust began to kick up from her rapid spinning, which in turn forced Celestia and those who followed her to cough into their hooves and shield themselves with them from it.

When the deed was done, the dust settled, only to leave a very dirty and disoriented blue pony laying in the ground. Free from her bindings and totally out of commission.

For a moment that is.

Riggs watched as the big white one quickly approached the blue smaller one after the dust settled.

“Sister, are you alright?” Celestia asked as she looked down at the dizzy eyes of her sister.

This caused Riggs to pause. “Her sister? Well that makes sense then I guess, given their similar autonomy of wings and horn.” He thought.

Riggs just shrugged, deciding to just leave them as they be and just went up with the task of slowly, and tediously untying each and every one of these “guards” just so that things can proceed much faster. He obviously also has to re-store all of his containers and supply crates back into his TIE, which just made him groan by just thinking about it.

It’s a funny aspect of reality. Packing something out is always easier than packing something in.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Spitfire just looked around herself as a lot of guards around her were helping up, looked over for any injuries before being escorted over to the princess’s side.

For her, this basically marks the end of her time in the woods and a chance to finally return to civilization to a more comfortable and predictable life style. Only if that was the only result she had to look forward to, she obviously still had to confront both Soarin and Fleefoot about her… bad choice she made when basically risking their lives for something stupid for the sake of image, pride and a serious sense of overzealousness.

Standing right next to her was her cousin, equally watching this spectacle with a hint of finality. Though a bit more positive in comparison to her.

Spitfire just sighed which in turn caught Cloudchaser’s attention next to her. “Hey, what’s the matter there Spits? Aren’t you happy that we are finally returning back to Equestria?” Cloud asked as she looked over at her grievously looking cousin.

Spitfire shook her head. “No…no, not at all, especially with the expected backlash I will most definitely receive when re-uniting back with Soarin and Fleefoot. I am certainly not looking forward to it. Not to mention the rest of the team, or the press that is most certainly going to show up at my doorstep afterwards.” Spits sighed with her ears drooping against her skull.

Cloudchaser could feel for her cousin’s fears. Judging from what she told her so far, the level of misjudged confidence and complete oversight that she had was huge. Certainly something for anypony to be pissed off by, IF they managed to survive the ordeal that is. But then again, having somepony die thanks to your decision would certainly be worse, especially towards Spitfire herself and the rest of her credibility and carrier.

Cloud rested a caring hoof onto Spitfire’s shoulder. She gave Spits an encouraging smile which she returned with a sad one before sighed again.

“Buck me.” She mumbled to herself.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The sun was already on its path to cross the horizon when all of the untying and packing was done. The whole ordeal pretty much took the rest of the day. Riggs having basically done most of the untying with the rest being done by the ponies. Quite an intriguing sight to see wings basically act like fingers. Makes no direct sense within Riggs mind, given his personal knowledge about them.

But personally he had seen much more outlandish shit from his travels across the galaxy. So this, certainly is nothing compared to the stuff he has seen so far. Either revolving around blasting rebels or doing some other type of dirty work that revolves around shooting and exploding.

Either way, the deed was done and so was his packing. It was now the princesses part to respect her part of the bargain and pinpoint a location for him to fly over and land with his ship.

True to her word she did just that, and even gave Riggs the name’s location and exact direction as to where he was allowed to land with his ship. A large hill overlooking a place called Ponyville or so he remembered.

A strange name but certainly not an unspeakable one like some of the other names Riggs had encountered so far.

Both Riggs and the now known two princesses were facing each other off in the middle of the field, right in front of Riggs ship. Behind the princesses were all of the guards, both those who came and those that have been recently freed.

Celestia was the first to speak, as the low setting sun was casting long and stretched shadows all around them, thanks to the dense forest behind them.

“Well, as promised, we have provided you a safe location where you and your…” Celestia looked over at Riggs’ Defender. “…Advanced flying device can land and set up camp for the foreseeable future. I will also personally inform a well trusted pony of mine back in Ponyville about your presence and to also instruct the rest of the town to stay clear of you camp. As long as you stay civil and peaceful towards my ponies, the ponies in ponyville will do the same to you. If you have any trouble there, either with the locals or any other means, please contact the pony who is going to personally seek you out after your arrival, or try and reach me personally. Other than that there is nothing else to add.” Celestia explained in one single go.

Riggs on the other end just nodded to this information. Personally he was just happy to finally have a much more…secure place to camp out right next to civilization, no matter how primitive or backwater it might be.

As long as they have basic resources like food or metal at their disposal it’s more or less good enough for him. He will most likely stay around his ship anyway. Not really bothering to ‘socialize’ as Hedge would put it. Hedge in comparison was the more social addictive type of the group anyway, while he and Berron where the more introverted types of the team.

Ahh yes his team. Riggs wondered if they actually made it to the rendevous point or not. Would certainly makes his return to civilized space a bit more pointless if he knew that the Empire has intercepted them. But even if they did they would have one hell of a time in trying to bind them down in the first place.

There is a reason why they were allowed to first fly the Tie-Phantom and later get moved to the Tie-defender program as well. Only those with superb military skill and record were allowed to fly those wonder machines.

But he is getting distracted, reminiscent to the fact that Celestia was giving him a curious look from where she stood. Most likely due to his silence.

He just rested his right hand on his thigh and nodded. “Well thank you. I have obviously no quarrels with your kind so you have nothing to worry about me causing any ruckus. Usually the ruckus finds me, but that is obviously not my fault.” Riggs casually replied.

Celestia immediately looked worried. “Should I then send guards to your location then?” she suggested, which Riggs denied.

“Thanks but no thanks. I can easily handle myself, plus your guards would mostly be in my way anyway.” He again casually responded.

Some of the freed guards behind Celestia gave Riggs a glare for that comment, which Riggs obviously ignored of course.

Celestia just nods before spreading her wings which a lot of ponies behind her did the same. “Well, in that case I bid you goodbye for now sir Riggs. I hope that my decision to trust you won’t end up biting me in the flank. Other than that I wish you good luck.” She responds before taking to the air, followed by her sister.

The rest of the gang soon followed, all spreading their wings and following their monarchs.

The only one left standing on the spot where Spitfire, Cloudchaser and the guards mare named Storm Cloud. The reason why was simple. Spitfire very much still needed assistance when it come to getting back home, as her wings were still clearly wrapped up under the bandage that Riggs provided for.

The three mares just looked on, as Riggs turning away and making his way over to his ship with the little prototype droid in tow.

Spitfire sighed, before looking in-between her companions with a questionable look. “Well, what are you two waiting for? Waiting for him to lift off in his space machine? Come on, just help me up and let’s go.” She questioned.

Cloud actually nods. “Well…yeah to be honest. For one Storm Cloud over here hasn’t even seen this thing fly or even heard its terrifying screeching noise it makes when doing so…and well…she wanted to see it for herself when I told her about it.“ She responded while rubbing the back of her neck. ”And second, I wanted to see this thing fly again before we can start with the long and rather awkward trip back to civilization…no offense though Spits.” She added in a sheepish tone.

Spitfire just frowned but sighed. Knowing full well that she was kinda right with her assumption that this is certainly going to be one heck of an awkward trip back home.

Her, Spitfire, Captain of the Wonderbolts and one of the fastest ponies who ever lived, being flown home by two Pegasi carrying her like a newborn foal.

She was certain that the paparazzi back home is going to have a field day with her when she finally arrives.

She just shook her head, before focusing back at the jagged wing spacecraft that Riggs just entered from on top. For a moment there was just silence, before the innards of the metal beast suddenly came to life, giving off a soft humming sound that quickly built up.

Storm Cloud to her right was stock still as the craft gently lifted off up into the air with seemingly ease, before pivoting towards the direction where Equestria was location. Soon a screeching sound echoed all through the air as the craft suddenly and surprisingly shot off on top of them with such acceleration that it would be downright impossible for anything that the ponies knew.

The craft quickly disappeared above the canopy of the forest, having long past the already retreating group of ponies as its speeds of into the horizon at velocities never seen before. Stunning and shocking a lot of pegasi and even the princesses in the process.

Storm Cloud closed her mouth that she didn’t knew was hanging open. “What the…how is something so BIG and not very aerodynamic looking able to accelerate so fast in such a small amount of time and in such speeds? Nothing known to ponykind should even be remotely close in doing something like that. Even with magic.” The mare questioned, still looking at the general direction the craft has disappeared off.

Cloud huffed. “Beats me, but you got to remember that this is a highly advanced alien spacecraft we are talking about here. If the thing can travel through the stars, then it really shouldn’t be that much surprising to see it fly like that. Especially with such speeds that would even make Rainbow Dash jealous.” She commented.

Spitfire ignored the exchange of the two as she was more mentally occupied with the challenges she has to face once back home. Again, she didn’t like the idea but it was something she had to go through if she ever wanted to have a sense of simplicity back into her life. Though she has a feeling that thanks to this encounter, her life would most likely be far from predictable from this point on. She has a feeling that this Riggs fellow is going be sticking on her mind for weeks to come.

He just seemed too characteristically mysterious to her, not just because he was an alien, but rather because of his hidden sense of care, deadly precision, brutality and dismissive nature that he openly displays. A very odd combination and something that just intrigued her even just a little bit.

Spitfire groaned. “Great, now I am somewhat falling for an alien as well. Dear heaven what the hay is wrong with me?” She thought, before a tap to her shoulder got her back to reality.

“Well we are ready now to carry you back home Cous. Just don’t squirm and we might get there faster than you think.” Cloud announced with a grin.

Spitfire just rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah whatever. Just don’t grab me on my flank and I won’t have a reason to squirm in the first place.” Spits responded, which just made to two mares chuckle much to Spitfire’s facial discomfort.

The two mares began to grab right under Spitfire’s belly with their hooves before flapping their wings and slowly but surely taking off from the ground.

Spitfire of course felt somewhat uncomfortable with this method, especially with her legs just dangling from her body, which must be a rather ridiculously looking sight for anyone who was lucky enough to see her.

Lucky for her there aren’t any in the middle of nowhere. So she was more or less safe in that department. That would soon change though once they eventually reach the outskirts of Equestria.

Spitfire needed to make a mental note to ask these two to land somewhere outside any town or settlement so that she could simply trot the rest for the sake of dignity.

Once the three were at a high enough altitude, both Cloud and Storm began to tilt themselves a bit forward in order to accelerate themselves in that given direction.

With that, the three were off into the sunset as well. Spitfire dangling awkwardly between the two while both Cloud and Storm where keeping her steady.

Spitfire will certainly have a few words to say to both her cousin and this private wanne be guard.

Flying with two different styles while carrying something is certainly one great way in keeping the “experience” moving all over the place. But then again, her own constant complaining and squirming wasn’t making the experience and effort for these two anywhere near as pleasant.

Chapter 13: The torch is being brought home

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 1: The Storm

The Imperial Ace

Story by: Navanastra

Edited by: WrittenWord333

/Chapter 1: The Storm/

“RIGGS ARE YOU THERE? I GOT THIS TIE ON MY TAIL AND I CAN’T SHAKE THIS BASTARD OFF!!!”

“Don’t worry Hedge, I got this guy.”

“DARN IT RIGGS MY SHIELDS ARE DOWN, I CAN’T KEEP THIS UP ANY LONGER!”

“Almost in range…”

“RIGGS!!!”

“…Annnnd he’s gone.” Riggs announced quietly to no one in particular as his targeting reticules aligned perfectly with the target in front of him as he quickly slammed down the triggers on his controls and unleashed a deadly shower of laser fire down upon the unfortunate TIE Interceptor.

Riggs watched with great satisfaction as the TIE Interceptor in front of him exploded in a spectacular fashion, illuminating the space around it for a very brief moment before quickly fading away, leaving nothing but junk floating in space.

“Damn it Riggs if you could have just come a few seconds earlier…” Hedge began.

“Hey, hey, it’s not my fault that there were two TIE Phantoms keeping me busy back there. I had to get rid of them first before I could even consider breaking off to save your sorry ass for the third time of this month.” Riggs interrupted as he pulled up beside his old friend and squad-mate.

“Third time? The first one does not count, I shot that bastard down myself. Remember the mission we had on Dantooine?” Hedge replied over the comms with a hint of annoyance.
……………………………………………………………………………………

A flashback suddenly pulled Riggs away from reality the moment his friend mentioned that particular mission, It happened like a couple of months back when he and the rest of Shadow squad were sent over there to snuff out a potential uprisings on a large settlement before It could fully ignite into something. It was a mission that left him feeling a bit empty within himself, mostly because it was something that involved the deaths of many innocent civilians that had absolutely nothing to do with the uprising, or even the rebellion for that matter.

But Riggs had to do it. He had to bomb and assault large civilian sections in order to make sure that all the potential targets were dealt with, and to send out a message that all possible ideas of insurrections and rebellion would be dealt with swiftly and brutally by the Empire.

An act that was sadly not his first.

But they were his orders, and as a member of the Imperial Elites it was his duty to obey these orders or lose everything he had worked for, for so many years.

To get thrown out of the Imperial elites, to leave Shadow squadron, to leave behind the only friends he had ever made.

To be forced to go back to his old life…his old past he tries to forget.

Personally he had nothing against the concept of assaulting Rebels, Pirates and other such factions that are only there to disturb the peace and order within the galaxy. But attacking and killing innocent civilians who had nothing to do with these groups and were just trying to live their lives was a completely different matter.

It was something that never sat well with him every time he was ordered to do so. For the good of the Galaxy they say, for freedom and justice they say, but there was nothing just about killing innocent civilians, even if they happen to be in the crossfire. Actions such as these would always cause him to question his actions, his motivations, to question his true cause,and fate in all of this.

……………………………………………………………………………………

Riggs quickly shook his head bringing him back to reality before turning back to his ear piece to reply to his friend.

“Yeah I know, only because I kept these rebel fighters distracted and diverted their focus from you to me.” Riggs replied still feeling a bit dazed from his previous thoughts.

He heard Hedge growl in annoyance over the comm link which actually made him chuckle a bit.

“That’s enough fooling around you two, we still have some cleaning up to do or Grand Admiral Demetrius Zaarin is going to have our asses…that is if the old fool survives this onslaught or not…Trying to kidnap the Emperor and take the whole of the empire for himself has to be the ballsiest move he has ever done. I would be surprised if even half of his fleet would survive. Besides the planets garrison fleet we also have to deal with Lord Vader’s forces and cover this fool’s ass for his hasty actions.” An old voice grumbled in Riggs’ ear piece which brought him back to reality.

Both Riggs and Hedge nodded as they quickly turned around their Tie-Defenders and raced back into the fray. Lasers of varying colour whined through space as two forces fought for supremacy of the planet below, a planet that had served as the seat of power for the Galaxy for many thousands of years.

Soon both of Riggs and Hedge were back into the firefight of the battle as a squad of enemy TIE-Interceptors immediately gave chase them as soon as they appeared, passing by incoming lasers from nearby Star destroyers, cruisers and frigates as they flew deeper into the action.

“A squad of Interceptors are emerging from an enemy ship, red ones, seems like the Royal Guards are getting into the mix as well.” Hedge replied while avoiding turbolaser fire from a nearby frigate.

“Affirmative, got them on my scanners, fifteen of them max. They're heading directly for Captain Palius and the rest of our squad. Captain?” Riggs replied as shots came whizzing by his craft from the distant pursuing interceptors on his tail.

“I see them, these guys are definitely going to prove more of a pain to deal with than any Imperial or even Rebel Pilots. Istan, Cornelle and I are going to force them to break up their formation and split them up in two separate groups, we will take care of one half and lead them directly into our friendlies, you two and Berren take care of the rest, the kid should be close to your location dealing with some TIE-Fighters above you location.” Captain Palius commanded over the comm-link as the battle raged on above the planet's orbit.

“Copy that captain, will do, right after we lose these bastards breathing down our necks.” Riggs replied as he quickly twisted the controls on his cockpit causing his ship to sharply turn around in a one-eighty degree turn as he throttled down into attack speed and prepared to engage his pursuers.

Riggs immediately began to open fire at their ‘leader’ ripping its left wings clean off causing the craft burst into flames and spin out of control as it crashed into the hull of a Victory class Star destroyer that was below them.

The remaining enemy fighter immediately returned fire as Riggs did his best to dodge them, his deflector shield catching some of the shots as he unleashed another barrage with his six laser cannons, ripping another Interceptor into pieces and flying right through its debris as him and the remaining two fighters past by on another.

Riggs was about to turn around for a second engagement when both Interceptors suddenly lit up in a fantastic explosion as Hedge zipped past Riggs' Defender and caught the Interceptor in a lethal hail of laser-fire joining him as they tore into another cluster of incoming enemy fighters above them where they spotted Berren’s own Defender Berren's own Defender grappling with a duo of TIE Fighters in the shadows of an enormous Star Destroyer.

The barrage of gunfire the Star Destroyer was pouring out was immense, the barrage of laser rounds tearing through heavy and light armour alike. A floating graveyard had formed about its bulk, a testament to those who had gotten very, very unlucky creating a floating debri of shattered fighters and enemy ships around its space.

Both Riggs and Hedges began to fly along the underbelly of the ship dodging and taking out incoming enemy fighters along the way.

“Berren, this is Riggs, we got orders from our captain to deal with an incoming wave of Royal Guard Interceptors, he, Istan and Cornelle are already engaging them as we speak. We need to head over there and assist them in taking these out, otherwise they will make our escape a serious problem. We need to form up.” Riggs quickly called out over the comm link.The bulk of the Star Destroyer made for exceptional cover, since any fighters trying to reach them had to make it through the blizzard of lasers that the Destroyer was still pouring out

There was a momentary silence before a young sounding male voice suddenly came up over Riggs earpiece.

“Copy that. I am right next to the two of you, we can form up and head at Captain Palius location.” Berren replied.

“Alright Captain, we are formed up and ready, heading to your location now. How is the situation over there? I am suddenly reading a lot more hostile targets at your location. What’s going on over there?” Riggs called over the comm as he, Hedge and Berren formed up.

“Not very good. These Royal Guard pilots are really damn good, they keep evading our shots while still shooting down our men with ease. We just lost C and D squadron to these bastards. The hostile targets you are referring to is a whole formation of enemy bombers heading our way, and judging their trajectory seem to be taking a direct Bee-line for our Carriers. We would engage them and halt their advances but these Royal Bastards are keeping us busy. We are fighting against time here, time we don't have anymore, this whole operation is already a lost cause and it won’t be long until the main front of Lord Vader’s fleet is here. We need to finish this fight quickly.”Riggs turned his craft towards his team-mates, but before a single laser-blast could be exchanged a sudden flash of light illuminated everything on the battlefield, throwing everything into stark relief. Riggs' fighter began to shake and rattle as an enormous wave of energy blasted out across the intervening space, making Riggs' instruments flicker dangerously.

“What the…what the hell was that?” Berren called in in shock.

“That was one of our Star Destroyer’s. The ISS Vanguard has been destroyed.” Hedge stated in shock.

“What…how? It was an Imperial class 2 Star Destroyer. How can such a ship just…” Berren began but quickly got interrupted as Riggs began to speak.

“…From that.” Riggs simply stated as he looked up from his cockpit.

Out of nowhere a massive shadow was cast above Riggs, Hedge and Berren’s ships. They looked up and were immediately shock to see what emerged above them from hyperspace. A Executor class Super Star Destroyer.

Darth Vader himself had arrived.

“Well…things are now going to get a lot more hectic now.” Riggs thought with dread as he quickly forced the acceleration throttle to max, speeding away from the line of fire as quickly as possible, his two wingmen quickly following as they sped away towards their own forces.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
On another world, far, far away...

“WHERE THE BUCK HAS THIS BLOODY STORM SUDDENLY COME FROM?” A blue pegasus stallion shouted over the roaring wind.

“THE BUCK I KNOW…IT WAS SUNNY AND CLEAR WHEN WE LIFTED OFF, IF WE SURVIVE THIS I HAVE A THING OR TWO TO SAY TO THESE WEATHER PONIES FOR NOT GIVING US A BLOODY MEMO THAT THERE WAS A THUNDERSTORM SCHEDULED TODAY!!!” A female pegasus shouted back as she tried desperately to fight against the heavy winds.

“WOULD YOU TWO STOP YOUR BICKERING AND JUST FOCUS, THE LAST THING I WANT IS FOR THE THREE OF US TO GET SEPARATED, IF THAT HAPPENS YOU CAN KISS YOUR SORRY FLANKS GOODBYE. LET'S JUST STAY CLOSE TO ONE ANOTHER SO WE DON'T GET LOST, THE RAIN IS GETTING THICKER AND I CAN BARELY SEE MY OWN HOOVES NOW.” A yellow pegasus mare shouted back.

Lightning began to flash with every passing minute they flew, the winds around them getting stronger and stronger making flying through this storm even more challenging and dangerous than it already was.

The three pegasi began to feel the strain of flying against the heavy winds as their wings slowly started to feel sore and heavy, their muscles burning from the strain as they tried desperately to fight against the winds.

“Well…at least we’re getting a very good workout from this.” The orange mare thought to herself as she tried desperately to navigate herself and her two buddies through the cloud layers, in hopes of eventually breaking through and out of this terrible storm.

Thank goodness they were wearing their flight goggles or keeping their eyes open would have been impossible within the maelstrom of swirling cloud and rain. Not to mention their flight suits which were lined carefully in rubber so as to insulate the wearer against possible lightning strikes.

“SPITFIRE! SHOULDN’T WE JUST TRY TO FLY TOWARDS THE GROUND? IT WOULD SAFER THAN UP HERE!” The blue Pegasus mare yelled as the roaring of the winds intensified.

“WE CAN'T FLEETFOOT, FOR ONE WE DON'T KNOW HOW HIGH OR LOW WE ACTUALLY ARE, AND WITH THESE HEAVY WINDS AND LOW VISIBILITY IT'S GOING TO BE IMPOSSIBLE TO JUDGE THE SPEED OF OUR DESCENT! Spitfire answered.

WE COULD BE COMING DOWN AT A 100 MILES PER HOUR. PLUS WITH THESE WINDS IT’S GOING TO BE VERY DIFFICULT TO ADJUST OUR SPEED ACCORDINGLY, WE WOULD MOSTLY LIKELY JUST ACCELERATE OUR DESCENT.” Spitfire quickly added as the thunder flashes began to intensify, illuminating the sky with bright flashes of white before going dark again.

More minutes of aimless flying and fighting went by which could have easily been hours for these three ponies, as only adrenaline still kept them flying.

But then the inevitable happened, and their tenuous hoof-grips finally broke. The ravenous winds tore Spitfire from her friends desperate hooves, flinging her into the maelstrom. "SPITFIRE!" Came the terrified shout from above, all but annihilated by the roaring of the stormy winds.

……………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………….

“Oh no no no NO NOOO!!!” Spitfire yelled as she felt her body pulled roughly from her teammate's limbs and she was thrust roughly out into the storm. The voracious winds tore at her feathers as it yanked her body first one way, then the other, with little regard for her personal preference. As titanic forces whirled about her, she realised that she was little more than an ant to this storm. An ant, tiny and easily crushed.

The winds around her were too strong for her wings to do anything at the moment, she was simply tumbling along, at the utter mercy of the winds.

She tried her best to keep her flight under control by spreading out her wings, but her efforts were in vain as she continued to be nothing but a toy for the winds.

The rush of adrenaline she'd been riding as she tried to carry her friends to safety was wearing off though, since she herself was hardly safe.
The muscles in her back and wings were going slowly numb with the freezing rain and the constant effort to stop her from being pancaked into the ground

Her coat and wings were soaking wet, her body starting to shiver from the icy cold as the freezing rain and winds pounded her numb frame. Besides being mercilessly carried away by the winds to Celestia-know- where, getting stricken by lightning or eventually falling from the sky of hypothermia was another item to add to her list of serious problems she has at the moment.

It was at that point that this might be it for her. That she would black out and never wake up again.

A single tear left the corner of her eyes as she closed them, fully accepting her fate as her wings and body were too weak to continue.

“I…I am sorry guys…for dragging us into to this…I’m sorry.” She thought, simply relaxing and allowing the wind to take her wherever it wished. Her body numbed as she flew into the peaceful void.

Chapter 12: Civilization at last...though a bit primitive

Chapter 12: Civilization at last…though a bit primitive.

Edited by: Rainbowblitz, Fistfire

The evening lifestyle of Ponyville is considered a quiet one. Unlike the early night life of the more major cities of Equestria, Ponyville is in comparison, a rather quiet and quaint little place to roam about.

Ponies were still cantering around the dirt streets of the town of course, heading over to the limited number of pubs and night clubs the little town had to offer. Even some stores close to the market were still open. Offering certain wares which were only available at these times of the day.

Overall the nightlife of the town was subtle, but still a nightlife none the less with one half of its population still up and about, and the other half, most of them foals, already long in their shutters to clock out for the day. One of these ponies, or rather places that were still open was the local library, with its owner and custodian still awake and about.

She wasn’t alone with her task though as an assistant of her’s was also helping to tidy the place up for any potential visitors that may come to her abode this early in the night. Not just for that reason though as the latest letter she received from her ruler earlier in the day showed.

“Spike, are you finished re-arranging those books in section C yet?” The librarian asked her assistant while she was busy in the kitchen doing dishes.

“Almost Twilight, just a few more books and I should be done.” The aforementioned Spike answered.

Twilight just nods to herself as she continued with her task while thinking about the letter she received a few hours ago from the Princess.

“A possible Extraequestrian being has landed here and has also been responsible for the sudden disappearance of a whole squad of Pegasi guards at the west most frontier of Equestria? Certainly a very exciting but also worrying thought, especially considering the whole disappearing part. And here I have thought that such things were just silly old foals tales for comics or fantasy books that Spike loves to read. Well…I guess I will find out the truth sooner or later, if the Princesses account of it coming here are true or not. Oh I am already so excited about the possibility of being one of the first ponies in history to prove that life outside our world actually existes. Even far more advanced life if all those comic book stories or sci-fi novels were accurate. Just imagine what we might learn from it.” Twilight thought to herself, getting more and more giddier the more she thought about it.

Sadly, her own friends weren’t as enthusiastic as her though. But that was understandable on her opinion. This was still an extraequestrian being that she was talking about, from a civilization FAR more advanced than theirs, not to mention that added confirmation that it was the very reason as to why those guards went missing in the first place.

But besides her friends concerns, Twilight still kept an optimistic mindset of this new development. Something that, in her opinion, was crucial if her upcoming introduction with the alien is to be a success. Mostly for the town’s sake really.

This still is a highly advanced being they were talking about. With highly advanced and deadly weapons as well if the letter’s description about it were true. They were actually dealing with a soldier or a warrior as far as they know.

“All done Twilight.” Spiked announced from the main hall.

Twilight smiled at that. “Great job then Spike. There are some gems stored in the food closet over there if you want some.” She replied.

Before she could even finish her sentence, the drake was already standing at the door archway of the kitchen. Excitement clear on his purpled scaled face.

“Wait you have? Since when did you get them?” Spike asked, a big grin adorning his features.

Twilight giggled. “Well I got then during my last visit over to Rarity's Boutique. She had quit the collection of leftover gems from her last big order and she was quite keen in giving them up for you when I asked her. So yeah, we are now officially full on gems again.” She responded before focusing back on her task.

The drake’s faced swooned for just a moment at the mentioning of that white fashionista before it quickly returned to reality at the snacks that were waiting for him in the closet.

Spike was about to rush to the food closet when a strange and echoing sound suddenly registered in his ears. Spike wasn’t the only one to notice this as Twilight's ears immediately began to twitch around trying to find its source.

Sadly her pony ears ended up quiet fruitless in their endeavor which forced Twilight to take more attentive towards it.

“Twilight do you hear that?” Spike asked as he looked up at the only open window in the kitchen.

Twilight followed his gaze and nods. “Yeah, seemed to be coming from outside to be honest.” She responded.

Dropping everything that she was doing and quickly drying up her hooves on a nearby blanket, Twilight was about to head over to the open window when a knock coming from the front door drew her attention instead.

Both her and Spike turned their gazes towards the exit of the kitchen, a second set of knocking coming from the door but this time accompanied by a voice.

“Hey Twilight open up.” She heard a rather scratchy voice shout. A voice both her and Spike immediately recognized.

“Rainbow Dash? What is she doing here?” Spike questioned, mostly to himself than Twilight.

Twilight shrugged. “Beats me, but maybe she knows what is going on outside…which is actually getting louder now that I think about it.” She responded before moving out of the kitchen and into the main hall of the library.

“Dash, you know that this here is a public library right. The door is unlocked as usual.” Twilight called out towards the door.

“Oh…right.” She heard her friend say before the door opened, revealing a baby blue and prismatic mare behind it.

This was Twilight’s chance to ask her question. “Hey Dash, do you perhaps know what that sound is. It’s kinda hard to clearly hear it from inside a thick library wall to be honest.” Twilight questioned as the mare stepped into her home, ruffling her wings a bit as she did so.

This got Rainbow’s attention. “Well that is why I am here really. The entire town is hearing it too and it’s getting louder and louder with each passing moment. I just came over to ask if you could hear it as well.” Dash explained much to Twilight growing curiosity and confusion.

She nods her head. “Well obviously I do.” Twilight responded before making her way towards the door.

“Spike, let’s go back outside and see what is happening. Just leave everything as it is, you can have your gems later.” Twilight called out as she and Dash exited the library.

Spike just spouted. “Stupid events and stopping me from getting snacks.” He mumbled but still followed the two mares outside the library where the distant echoing noises were much clearer to hear.

From outside it sounded more like a distant screeching than anything else, somewhat creepy and disturbing to listen, as if a giant bird was dying or something.

It seems that Spike wasn’t the only one thinking like that as Twilight shared the same look of confusion and shocked expression as him.

“What the…what in Celestia's name is that?” Twilight questioned as her ears began to twitch in place once more. Again trying to pinpoint its origin but failing once more. The echo in nature making it difficult to get a bearing on it

Dashie shook her head. “No bloody idea, again this is why I came to you. I was hoping you would know what the hay it is.” Rainbow responded.

A Lot of ponies around them we're also looking up in the sky, both from the streets and from their houses as the screeching persisted.

Their questions were quickly answered though, as something suddenly broke through the clouds far off in the distance. Its distant glint quite visible within Luna’s full moon. The ponies didn’t know what it was but at that point it was clear that IT was the source of that sound.

Twilight’s, Spike’s and Dash’s eyes were fixed on it almost immediately. Their eyes wide with shock and wonder, mostly on the fact in how impossibly fast it was approaching the town from where it breached. A clear sonic cone being in front the object.

“Twi…”

“Yes…”

“What the heck is that thing?”

“I don’t know…but…but…”She tried to say before realization struck her.

“Wait…the alien.” Twilight thought to herself, her eyes going even wider in realization.

“Wait a minute Dash. This…this could be the…the…” Twilight stuttered which Dashi finished for her as she too realized what this thing was.

“The alien that managed to best a whole platoon of guards on its own. The one that you told us about?” Dash asked which Twilight confirmed with a silent nod.

The entire town's eyes were now firmly fixed of the unidentified flying object at this point. Watching is quickly thundering past the small town in impossible speeds before turning around in full blast and basically circling the entire town at this point.

The terrifying sounding screeching of the thing being enough to basically wake up the rest of the town.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“So this is the small town huh. Quiet quaint and very simple looking I have to say.” Riggs thought to himself when viewing the town from the front of his cockpit.

He has seen far more primitive looking towns or settlements in his travels. Some even going so far back as cave people.

There wasn’t any particular reason for him to circle this town from above, besides trying to locate this aforementioned lonely hill on the outskirts of town that the Princess mentioned.

The problem is that the countryside outside the town is quite hilly as it is, with most of them not fitting the description he was given. Either covered in foliage or already claimed by farmlands or simple residences.

Eventually though Riggs managed to spy his desired location with his eyes, a rather large and very lonely looking hill on the far west side countryside of the town. Seeming to fit the description pretty well, and the fact that it was a decent distance away from the town anyway was pretty much the two only indications he needed to know that this was his spot to camp on. Far enough from the town to not be bothered by the natives too much while also not being remote enough to be a prime spot for larger and more predatory creatures to roam about.

A nice, peaceful spot for him to procrastinate on, while trying to work on his hyperdrive again and to contact anything or anyone from civilized space.

Not sure if it would be keen for ending up to be Imperial in nature, but then again he is part of a rather special breed of elite soldiers within the Empire. At the very least they would put him in house arrest before shoving his expertise back out into the never-ending battlefield that is the Galaxy. For probation sake or whatever. Especially with the Empire's power slowly and surely slipping from its grabs since the last time he checked.

Either way, Riggs had a spot to land and that is that. Originally he was thinking about just staying in the wilderness for simplicity’s sake. But that idea got obviously thrown out the window rather quickly when this sense of “simplicity” was un-simplified by dragons, attacked by wooden canines and some strange mishmash looking creature with a stinger as its tail. Talk about vacation-al hazards.

And yes, he was decided to call his little misadventure nothing more than an off galaxy vacation. Whatever helps him to momentarily forget his true situation is good enough for him. Plus taking an actual vacation from the nonstop fighting and space shipping might actually be good for him, or rather his psyche and whatever is left of it.

Riggs just ignored his own self-reflections for now and simply focused more on the actual landing. Finally he approached the lonely hill and pulled his TIE Defender down for a landing. His craft gently touched down onto the grass covered hill with a bit of a bump. Shutting down all the systems one by one and cutting off the twin engines at last before relaxing a bit on his seat and enjoying this tiny moment of peace.

A piece that was quickly broken when he heard banging coming from a compartment behind his seat. He almost forgot about BB-5 there.

“Oh yeah, stashed the little droid in his usual back compartment, though turned on rather than off.” Riggs muttered to himself as he got up.

He went around the small space behind the cockpit and pressed a button on a wall mounted dash board, which in turn opened one of the numerous compartments there. When he did a very disoriented and somewhat displeased sounding BB-5 came rolling out of his housing, beeping, quaking and chirping a storm of complaints.

Riggs may not be very versed in the art of droid speech, but he does recognize swearing whenever he hears it, no matter what the race or language it comes from. And this droid was certainly swearing judging by its tone and frantic head movements.

Riggs wasn’t even aware that droids could swear, but then again, this droid is special. It is a prototype droid that he took with him after a raiding run on a previously thought Rebel research facility. Prototypes to tend to have bugs and glitches within their software. Most of the time.

Riggs just mentally shrugged, petted the little droid on his dome shaped head, before pressing another button on the same board which activates a lift underneath them that would take them to the top.

With a steady surge and a gently hum, the top hatch above them opened before the one person lift slowly ascended up towards its opening and allowed Riggs and BB-5 to escape the TIE.

Once done Riggs was the first to quickly jump down, followed by the droid who first fasten himself with one of his grapplers before slowly zipping himself down onto the ground.

No need for him to shake his sensors by simply rolling off after all.

Either way, Riggs just sighed to himself before finally removing his helmet. Taking in some natural fresh air through his nose. Say what you want about the helmets filters but natural air is still the best one in his opinion.

Especially the ones that aren’t polluted with something, and no he wasn’t just thinking about smog either. The Galaxy is full of places where the very air is contaminated with something, ranging from deadly fungus, to poisonous spores, or even downright toxic fumes coming from the planet's crust itself.

Been there done that, quite literally in fact. Actually now that he is reflecting on his past missions a little bit more he really hasn’t done much in his career besides flying in space, training or shooting and stabbing something. Not that he was complaining about his job but, maybe taking a bit of a break would certainly be balm for his mind. Again an idea that he can easily justify by being stranded on a backwater rock.

With nothing better to do at the moment, Riggs simply clicked his helmet against his belt before looking around. The Hill he found himself on was quite the vantage point. It was quite literally the highest amount of dirt for miles with a forest behind him, wide open planes to his right and the small community town in front of him. To his left was also a forest but that one was too far away for it to be of significant interest in his eyes. Plus it looked annoyingly overgrown, a place he has no desire to walk through thanks to his experiences on Felucia.

That planet can be as dense or denser than the very crowded under cities of Coruscant in terms of foliage. Not a fun place trying to search for some escaped convicts that fled there, especially when the foliage itself was trying to kill you as well, distracting him somewhat in trying to aim for his targets.

Riggs combed his hand through his brown colored hair as he continued to reflect a bit on some of his past assignments. It was seriously either shooting something in space or shooting something on the ground. The amount of power packs and Plasma batteries he had chewed through in his career are beyond him. Not that he had even bothered to wonder about that in the first place. You just have to tendency to worry about other things instead when the situation suddenly heat up. Especially when they are basically free for you.

Riggs only remembered once paying for power packs in his life, but that was on an undercover assignment where he was travelling through the under cities of Kuat. Again Rebel related, because why not.

Riggs scratched his head. “Anyway, I can have flashback AFTER I first set everything up…again. Need to find some firewood first though.” Riggs mumbled to himself. Playing a bit with one of his earrings while looking around for some useful stuff to burn.

Easier said than done, especially when you are standing on such a lonely looking hill with nothing useful nearby. He either has to butcher the only tree standing on his hill or go down towards the wood lines behind him and get some from there.

Riggs snorted. “If that place is also harboring one of those wooden canines or that other thing with the stinger on its tail then I might actually have to reside in burning THIS forest down instead. I may like action but I am also a sucker for some peace and quiet sometimes. Especially when I am not on a mission at all.” He commented to himself before making his way down the hill.

He unfortunately didn’t get very far though when both BB-5 and his helmet on his side where beeping unevenly.

BB-5 was especially vocal about it as he quacked and chirped in place while looking towards the town.

Riggs immediately knew what was up. “Didn’t take long for the locals to have their curiosity overwrite their better sense of judgment. Well, better to get this over with now than later.” Riggs muttered before turning himself around and making his way back up onto the hill.

The town itself was still a few clicks away but that doesn’t matter for his sensors. They can easily pick up anything even if it’s not in visual range.

A quiet useful tool to have when you are playing as the hunter, which Riggs was quiet experiences in. Both on the ground and up there in the world of nothing and everything.

“Hmm…I may have an idea.” Riggs thought to himself with a small smile.

He placed his helmet back where it belonged before quickly dashing over to his ship. He climbed up, jumped back into his ship before opening up one of his many compartments on the back of his seat and pulling out something that he hadn’t used for quite a while, even forgot at this point that he even has it in the first place.

“Ah perfect.” Riggs exclaimed, reviewing the item in his hand.

It was none other than his attachable cloaking module for his armor. Granted that spot has been dominated by his personal shield unit ever since the aforementioned undercover mission on the core world of Kuat, but that still doesn’t mean he would never find a use for it again. So instead of throwing it away or shelling it, Riggs simply decided to keep it, even though he knew that most of his assignments would consist of being loud and proud despite the illusive name of his team.

Shadow squad, the only reason why they were given this name in the beginning was thanks to the Tie Phantom project that he is his squad used to be part of. Being generally one of the first that where given the privileges to test fly one of these things and even going so far as to really put them to their paces with some good old traditional combat. Surprising rebels and space pirates left and right with almost comical ease thanks to the highly effective cloak and hyperdrive functions of these new prototypes.

A REAL serious upgrade from the Tie Interceptors he and his squad used to fly prior to that and a very good time to have for sure. That is, until his faction got moved and assigned to a new chain of command under control of Grand Admiral Demetrius Zaarin. Who also later introduced them to his latest projects as well, like the more combat advanced Tie Avenger and Tie Defender respectively.

You can guess which of these was initially taken.

Granted, Riggs kinda missed the highly versatile cloak capabilities that the Tie Phantom had, but at the same time he couldn’t really deny the overall combat superiority and speed that the Tie Defender has in comparison. Better weapon and support systems, torpedo, missile and bombing capabilities, highly advanced ray and deflector shields, a tractor beam generator and of course one of the best hyperdrive systems that money could buy. Overall a ship where NO expenses were neglected.

Literally a ship that was basically made out of technology and money, lots and LOTS of money. In other words Riggs managed to quickly fall in love with this new machine, which, a feeling that was almost immediately justified with the first couple of battles he took it in. It was like a game. Even the Rebel’s X-wings and A-wings started to be cannon fodder for him to daintily chew on.

Another beep on his HUD quickly brought Riggs back to his senses. With a bit of a grunt, Riggs carefully pulled out the Shield module attached on his back before quickly replacing it with Cloak. One quick software installation and verification later and his armor's power cells were ready to feed the new attachment with all of the power it required.

It was now ready for use which Riggs intended to make true. Just for the sake of a little bit of fun rather than being serious with it.

Repeating the same process as before, Riggs got lifted back out of his Tie before jumping off it. Looking over his HUD again he could perfectly see the six targets that were moving steadily to his position. Without wasting any more time in flashbacking all day, Riggs pressed a button on a small display under his left gauntlet and fully disappearing out of physical view.

The cloak doing exactly what it is designed to do. All Riggs needed to do was wait for the party to arrive and see what they were going to do. If one of them gets too close to his ship then it would be his cue to de-cloak. No need to risk these native doing more damage on his ship then it already has after all.

Also never mind BB-5 and what he will do when seeing them.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

“Twilight, could you please tell me why the rest of us have to come along with you to meet this…extraequestrian alien of yours? Can’t this ordeal wait until tomorrow? That dreadful screech already roused me from my well needed beauty sleep as it is.” An alabaster colored unicorn mare complained, rubbing her obvious tired eyes with a hoof before giving off a yawn.

A yawn which was mimicked by two other ponies as they shared the same physical problems as their purple maned friend here.

Only Rainbow Dash, Twilight and a pink bouncing mare were the only ones with a sufficient enough energy to spare. Especially the pink one.

Twilight sighed. “I already told you Rarity why this situation can’t possibly wait until tomorrow. The idea of an alien camping out close to the town should be enough reason as it is. We have a REAL alien from another world at our hooves which obviously can NOT wait. Plus the Princess has instructed me that I should personally introduce himself to both our town and ponykind as a whole to hopefully avoid any potential miscommunication with it. Better safe than sorry after all.” The dorky little unicorn explained.

The aforementioned Rarity just groaned. “Fine, fine. I can perfectly see your point there Twilight. But could you maybe specifically tell me why you need all six of us to come out here? I doubt simply saying hello to an alien really requires six ponies to be present. You and Dashie seemed to be eager enough to do this job yourselves so why drag us in?” The alabaster mare pressed on as another yawn escaped her white muzzle.

The orange mare beside her nods. “I kinda have to agree with Rares here Twi, especially when I have a lot of work to do in the morning. Big Mac is once again out of town, which basically leaves me to do all of the chores and apple bucking for the farm. I literally have my hooves deep as can be here.” The blond maned and stetson wearing mare added, much to Rarity's joy and understanding.

This time it was the pink one that butted in. “Oh don’t be all sleepy and workaholic, this is a real life alien we are talking about. An opportunity that only comes once in a lifetime, which means that I am going to be the very first pony in history to throw a “Welcome to Equestria” party to an Alien. Ooooh the idea alone already has me all twitchy and giddy inside me. Just think about the possibilities.” She offered, grinning to herself madly at the ideas alone.

This causes some of the ponies to just roll their eyes though.

“Well at least one of us in in tip top condition.” Rarity muttered.

Twilight sighed again. “You all should know why exactly we, as a whole, have to be present for this. From what we managed to face and overcome in the past it certainly wouldn’t take much thought to see the reasoning. If things go south somehow then we at least would be six versus on…or well one and a half if Luna’s added comment in the letter is true or not.” She explained, sounding and looking somewhat thoughtful in the end.

This got Dashie’s attention though. “One and a half? What the heck is that supposed to mean?” She questioned, looking over at twilight from her right.

“Well.” Twilight began awkwardly. “According to the description, the alien has a little ball shaped creature accompanying him. The same thing that managed to capture and…kinda tie up Princess Luna when she arrived long before everypony else did.” Twilight added, which in turn got everyone’s attention.

They all stopped in their tracks, with the orange mare being the first to ask. “Wait just a darn minute here.” She started with a time out gesture. “Did you just said a tiny ball like creature managed capture and snare up one of the princesses, just like that, all by itself no less?” She asked for basically everypony around her.

Twilight just nods which in turn caused everyponies eyes to either go wide or just plane on skeptical.

This time it was Dashie who took the lead. “No offense Twi but. I kinda have to share Applejacks thought process here and say that whatever you have read in that letter of yours is either a loud bollocks or just miss-worded. Are you sure you read the letter correctly?” The prismatic mare questioned, looking and sounding both quite skeptical.

Twilight just groaned while looking at her. “YES, YES of COURSE I read the letter correctly. How the hay would I not for being the local LIBRARIAN and quote un-quote EGGHEAD of the group as you constantly love to quote me sometimes, and secondly it’s a letter written and sent by Princess Celestia herself. Which alone should be enough legitimacy on its own. I do not see a reason for the princess herself to lie about something she saw with her own eyes. The idea alone that she would is just silly.” The little unicorn ranted.

She quickly sighed. “Let’s just go and see this thing ourselves before we start drawing more conclusions and arguments. I think the fatigue is slowly getting to me as well, now that I think about it.” Twilight added before once again taking the lead.

The rest simply followed, staying more or less quiet at this point on as they either continued to trot and hover along the grassy fields that separate the town and landing zone where the alien craft had been spotted.

It didn’t take long though for the group to reach the base of the large hill where the alien craft was sitting on top. The first few features, mostly its top wings, were already peeking out from the upper edge of the hill much to the ponies’ anticipation.

“Oooh that must be it.” The pink one exclaimed in wonder.

Twilight nods. “Yup, that has to be it Pinkie. Right on top of this Hill lays all of the answers that ponykind has been questioning itself for centuries.” Twilight answered before a huge smile creeped on her muzzle. “Ooh I can’t wait to personally communicate with it. If what the princess’s writings are true, then it should be capable of speaking Equestrian as well. I can’t wait to ask it all sorts of questions.” The lavender colored mare added, which in turn caused some of her friends to just roll their eyes at her predictable behavior.

“That’s what I am actually afraid of. You annoying a space alien with your never ending curiosity. Not the best first impression to go with if you aske me.” Applejack commented, which again was silently agreed upon by everyone.

Twilight just ignored that obviously aimed comment as she just cantered up the hill with a distant look on her face.

Rainbow shook her head. “Here we go again. Twilight in her egghead mode.” She added before following the oblivious mare.

The rest soon followed, with one happily bouncing along and the other keeping close in between Applejack and Rarity.

The incline was somewhat steep, taking a bit of efforts for those not born with wings. But eventually the group of six managed to reach the top, which in turn forced everypony to immediately stop in there tracks and gawk at the strange alien craft that was basically towering above them at this point.

“Whoa…so this is what an alien space machine looks like.” Dashie commented, being in awe in actually standing in front an actual space ship herself. Previously only seen in either comic books or illustrations made by others.

Everypony was rooted to their hooves as they gazed up at the metal beast before them. Its design and overall shape being so alien towards the ponies but no less intriguing, especially for the two pegasi.

“Doesn’t seem to look that aerodynamic at all. Not like with birds or other animals who fly naturally.” The previously silent pegasus commented.

Rainbow Dash just had to nod to that. “Yeah, you’re kinda right with that Fluttershy. This thing DOES look like a bit too big and strangely designed to be even able to keep itself up in the air. Especially those three jagged and outwards bend wings don’t look like they could actively generate lift on their own. Kinda strange really.” Rainbow commented, but still staying fascinated about this thing nonetheless.

Applejack just snorted. “Well beats me. But you seem to forget that this is a machine that can travel through the stars and all that fancy jazz. If a machine can do that, then I guess flying in air even though it doesn’t seem to or look like a pegasus, gryphon or a bird at all shouldn’t be too much of a problem for it. Especially since you two ACTUALLY saw this thing fly overhead when it was basically waking up all of ponyville with its horrible sounds. Quite the proof right there if you ask me.” AJ added, which Dashi had to admit, kinda made sense when she thought about it.

“Oh it looks so pretty, I wanna get closer and see ALL of its details.” Pinkie suddenly exclaimed before dashing her way over to it to everyone’s surprise.

“Bet the alien is in there.” She added much too every once shock.

“Wait pinkie don’t…” Twilight tried to warn before someone or something quickly grabbed pinkie by the tail and held her upside down in the air to everyone’s sudden shock.

“You know, I personally don’t like it when someone just randomly touches the ONLY thing that can legitimately get off of this planet.” An artificial sounding and disembodied voice said, again much to everyone's shock and added surprise.

“Oh, I never knew that alien ships can be haunted as well?” Pinkie smiled, trying to reach for something or rather anything that was holding her up into the air.

Unbeknownst to her, she was actually flapping around at the opposite side where Riggs was standing. Much to the invisible commando’s amusement.

Right in front of the still confused and bewildered looking mares, a tall black and completely armor Bipedal suddenly materialized right in front of them from thin air. The only color coming from the being were its blue colored and angry looking eyes that shone dimly within the shadows of the night. Adding to the overall creepy and intimidating effect this alien imposes. Especially for being substantially taller than what the ponies can imagine easily being somewhat taller than Celestia herself. If you don’t count her horn that is.

Pinkie on the other hand just smiled. Being both oblivious and somewhat uncaring of her situation. “Hya, I am Pinkie Pie. Are you one of the nice Aliens that come in peace and give gifts too lesser technologically advanced species to help them out, or are you one of those nasty aliens, the ones to attack and enslave all of ponykind?” Pinkie casually questioned.

The Alien just looked down at her smiling muzzle.

“Neither.” He casually responded, or so the ponies thought judging by the mechanical but still deep sounding voice.

“Well…at least that is that. No need to worry him about stealing my apples I guess.” The orange mare casually commented

Why are things suddenly becoming so…casual? Especially in front of an Alien who was holding one of their friends in its hands. Upside down no less.