The Sunseekers

by Candypony

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Princess Luna, Original Character
Length: 13808

Almost a millennium has passed since Celestia's rule. Some might say it's time for a regime change.

Almost a millennium has passed since the benevolent Princess Celestia's rule came to an end. Under the flag of the Lunar Empire, Equestria has flourished over the centuries, expanding in territory, in science, and in war. However, not everypony is content with the more disturbing directions the Empress has taken in recent years. Her army has been increased dramatically and new weapons technologies are being developed every day, as if she's preparing for a war of astronomic scale. Thus formed the Sunseekers, a band of so-called rebels operating in the Imperial Capital, Eclipse. But now, their leader is being plagued with dreams of a mysterious pegasus thief who might be the key the Empress herself is looking for.

Published 2012-07-22 12:14:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-07-22 12:14:01 UTC

Chapter 1 - The Captain

Act One

“NO!” screamed the unicorn, waking from her nightmare. She held up a hoof and wiped the sweat from her face. She looked around in a daze. It had felt so real, as if she had been in the handsome colt’s place, plummeting to his peril.

A knock sounded twice from the other side of her door, and it slid open. An orange-coated stallion poked his head in, wearing a face of concern mixed with just a hint of frustration. “Is everything all right, Captain? I thought I heard screaming.”

The unicorn dismissed the stallion with a lazy wave of her hoof. “No, Trail Blazer, I’m fine. Just had a bit of a nightmare. You can go back to bed.” Her first mate yawned and nodded his head.

“As you wish, Captain. Good night,” mumbled the polite stallion, dragging his head back out and closing the door. Left alone once more, the captain fell backwards onto her bed, folding her hooves behind her head, and stared at the ceiling. It was just a dream... why did it feel so real?

***

“Prepare to board.”

All around the seemingly eccentric ocean-blue unicorn, her crew shuffled and stretched their wings as they prepared for the action. Dusk Dancer could feel their anxiety building, and how contagious it was. Her long, straight mane, colored her natural purple-pink with a few softly-glowing cyan stripes, waved from side to side as she shifted back and forth on her front hooves. Her mind was elsewhere, despite the imminent action. Her thoughts constantly slid back to her dream from several nights ago, the most vivid she’d ever experienced. She was beginning to slip into paranoia, convinced that her dream wasn’t a dream at all, but a reality, feeling strange concern for the well-being of a pony whom she’d never seen before in her life.

The unicorn shook her head, taking a moment to readjust her tricorne hat, a hole cut through it to make room for her horn. The design may have been ancient, but it was unmistakable to others as a sign of her profession. Clearing her thoughts, a blade levitated from its sheath to the front of the unicorn’s vision, a soft purple glow surrounding the blade. She observed the blade, hoofmade just for her by one of her close friends, the Inventor. A purple gem was embedded directly into the hilt, and it seemed as if the blade were made around it. Where the Inventor had acquired the gem, Dusk Dancer never knew, but it was unlike any other she’d ever seen. Soft cyan trails glowed outwards from the gem, etched along the length of the blade, giving it a frightening strength no other could hope to match. The lines pulsed, as if catching the anxiety in the air and reveling in it.

“Okay, boarding crew, listen up. Tonight, dinner’s on the Lunar Empire.” At her words, her crew of about twenty pegasi grinned as their captain began, though only three would accompany her, considering the unarmed nature of their victim vessel. “Trail Blazer,” she said, nodding towards an orange-coated stallion in the pilot’s seat. “You’re in charge until I get back. Fillies and gentlecolts, take what you can.”

“And give nothing back!” they roared in unison, the volume belying the number of ponies behind the shout. Dusk Dancer felt her mane stand on end, and found herself intensely proud of her meager crew. Behind her, the bay door opened, assaulting the gathered pegasi and unicorn with the chill of the night air.

“This one’s for you, mystery colt,” whispered Dusk Dancer to herself, getting a running start before leaping into the night, her goggles keeping her eyes safe as she plummeted. Dusk Dancer jerked as a device on her back sprung outwards in either lateral direction and ignited, both rockets screaming and belching fire. The unicorn soon found herself rocketing towards the lone Lunar Imperial Tradeship.

***

“Ma’am, the unidentified craft is not responding.”

The mare in charge of the unarmed tradeship stamped the ground nervously, gazing out towards the craft that had dropped seemingly out of nowhere and matched their speed. It seemed similar in build to one of the standard Imperial aerial personnel carriers, but the skeleton was where the similarities ended.

The aggressive airborne vessel was roughly trapezoidal in shape, growing wider toward the bottom. Four sets of wings jutted out from the sides, the rear two hefting large engines pointed at an angle. The front two carried two smaller engines, as well as what appeared to be large missile launchers under each one. Underneath where the pilot’s cabin should be, there was mounted a large swiveling ball-turret, the two thin cannons jutting out menacingly. The most startling feature of the craft, however, was a large inscription on the side she hadn’t noticed before. It was a name, written in the pony’s runic language. She froze in fear when she realized that the ship was the very same from the stories.

“It’s the Eventide.” Almost as if on cue, twin explosions rocked the tradeship, threatening to knock the entire crew to its feet. Alarms began to sound and several monitors glowed red with status warnings. "Status report!"

“Ma’am, engines are offline!” shouted a pony above the roar of the alarm

“Showtime, gentlecolts,” a gravelly, masculine voice sneered from the ship’s sound system. “Leave them to us and stay out of our way.”

The top hatch of the craft sparkled with a dark purple glow, a sickening crunch resounding through the hull as it was magically ripped apart. A unicorn dropped into the shocked crew’s midst, brandishing a wicked ebony blade in her telekinetic grasp. Two miniature rockets resembling those aboard her own craft retracted as she landed. Three pegasi dropped in behind her, beating their wings to stay afloat, each cradling a charged kinetic rifle, each weapon’s twin rails pulsing with magnetic energy, filling the atmosphere of the tradeship with a low, distinct hum. The unicorn levitated her personal blade and aimed it at who she assumed was the one in charge of this pathetic craft.

“We are the Eventide crew! Do you s—“

“Yes! We surrender. Don’t hurt us! We’re unarmed!” a mare squeaked from behind the captain, wiping the grin fade from Dusk Dancer’s face.

“Aw, really? Now, where’s the fun in tha—“ Static crackled in her ear. Trail Blazer’s voice broke through the static.

“Captain, I’m seeing movement aft.” Static filled her ears once again, and the three pegasi began looking at her in worry. The captain’s ears twitched and she whirled around to find herself facing a mounted turret, manned by a smirking stallion bearing the armor of a Lunar Knight. The unicorn and her pegasi companions had almost no time to react before the ruthless Knight’s uplink to the turret triggered its firing mechanism.

Two pegasi fell screaming to the ground as kinetic rounds tore through them, leaving faint blue-green trails in the air, ripping right through their feathery wings and their light bodies. The captain and the remaining pegasus managed to avoid the initial volley, taking cover behind a metal crate. She wanted to mourn her fallen comrades, but why mourn when you can have revenge?

“Dammit! It was a trap! Help us out here, Blaze! Blaze?” Dusk Dancer screamed into her microphone. She kept an eye on the unarmed portion of the crew, seemingly just as terrified as she was. Only static answered her. The buckaneer to her right stood up after the fire stopped, an electric-blue flash and low hum accompanying his weapon as it fired, the recoil shifting the lighter pegasus back slightly. The round entered through the Knight’s exposed neck and knocked him backwards with a howl of agony. Two more Knights emerged from the shadows to replace their bloodied comrade, bringing their own hoof-mounted rifles to bear. Dusk Dancer’s eyes and horn glowed a deep purple as the Knights’ hoof-held railguns spat rounds that sliced through the air towards her, aimed right at her head.

Impact.

Instead of colliding with the unicorn’s head, however, it impacted against a purple shield of light, the force of the kinetic round still bouncing her back somewhat. She kept up her shield as she charged, teeth bared, deflecting the deadly lightning-fast rounds. She heard a scream from behind her and a thud as her last crewpony hit the deck, momentarily closing her eyes as her horn glowed brighter. The aura around her ebony blade grew even brighter, the edges beginning to refract the light and turning into a rainbow of screeching death as she swung at the nearest Knight.

The Lunar Knight laughed at her as she charged, confident that his Lunite armor could withstand such a primitive tool. In his mind, she might as well have been coming at him with an apple. He expected her blade to bounce flimsily off of his mighty chestplate, leaving her wide open for a quick and easy killshot.

What he had not expected to happen was for his head to fall to the floor with a sickening sound, the unicorn’s blade cleaving through his armor, his flesh, and his bone with the ease of a knife through butter. The other knight brought his own railgun to bear, aiming for the mare’s exposed head. Dusk Dancer remained facing the decapitated knight, keeping her tail-end to the last Knight standing. Seizing the opportunity, the steadfast knight tried to fire his weapon.

And he would have succeeded, if the knight hadn’t found himself engulfed in a hellfire of twin rocket flames. The roar of Dancer’s twin engines drowned out the stallion’s screaming as his armor quickly became his fiery tomb. Looking out the glass viewport, Dusk Dancer could see that the Eventide was now facing the tradeship that she currently inhabited, its twin cannons primed and ready to fire.

“Ladies and gentlecolts,” Dusk Dancer turned about, a sad smirk on her face, her eyes hidden underneath her lengthy straight hair and tricorne. “You will remember this as the day you almost caught… Captain Dusk—“

Before she could finish her sentence, Dusk Dancer felt something penetrate her side. The impact of several kinetic rounds knocked the breath from her lungs, and she collapsed sideways.

“...Dancer.”

She turned in time to see a crippled but smirking knight, the one who had been manning the turret. She only had to endure his arrogant face for a moment before the sound of splintering metal filled her ears, the tradeship cracking in half from a combined cannon volley. The half of the ship she currently inhabited tilted downward as it began falling to earth. Gravity wrapped its unforgiving fist around the injured unicorn, pulling her, the knight, and the corpses of the fallen into the night sky. The loss of blood combined with the sudden change in atmosphere was too much for even the unicorn. Dusk Dancer lost consciousness as she fell, while watching the half of the tradeship she’d been in crash into the other and erupt into a fireball in the sky. For a moment, right before fading, she saw a gray pegasus out of the corner of her eye racing towards her.

“It’s him...”

***

“What’s so special about this pegasus punk? All he did was try to steal some—”

“Are you questioning a direct command from the Empress herself? Your orders are to keep the pegasus detained and quiet until She can personally attend to the matter. However, Her Majesty is being kept busy by preparations for the celebration of a millennium of Equestrian rule. Until She is able to find time to take personal custody of the pegasus thief, he is not to leave this facility. Clear?”

“Clear, ma’am. Oh, and do send my regards to Empress Luna.”

***

When Dusk Dancer awoke, she could still feel the wind whipping around her coat. She curled up and winced in pain after breathing, having forgotten about the puncture in her side. She looked up at the pegasus stallion who’d been carrying her in his arms. Her guardian angel. “The colt of my dreams...”

The stallion let out a confused cough while beating his wings furiously to carry them both upwards toward the Eventide. “Captain, are you okay? You might be injured worse than I thought. Let’s get you to the ship. We’ll get you help soon.” The voice that answered her definitely wasn’t the cocky drawl of the dream pegasus. It was too calm, too subordinate...

“Trail Blazer?” Her guardian angel nodded. Now that the darkness had begun to fade from her eyes again, she could clearly see the orange coat of her pilot and second-in-command of the ship. She winced harder with each breath, holding a hoof to her side. It quickly slicked with her own blood. She passed out again before they reached the ship, and Trail Blazer double-timed it to the ship’s infirmary.

***

Pain.

Why am I in so much... pain? The pegasus’ first thoughts echoed through his throbbing skull, and he glanced shakily around the room. He appeared to be in some sort of prison cell. He lay on a cold bench, alone. How did I get here? The stallion’s mind swarmed with questions.

Looking over his body, it looked as though he’d been beaten savagely, bruises and dried blood decorating his otherwise neat gray coat. The entire right side of his body ached with a special pain, but that pain was nothing like the agony that shot through the colt’s body when he tried to flex his right wing. The poor pegasus almost passed out once again.

The memories came flooding back to him. He had been in the air, flying far, far way from his pony pursuers, who fired spell after spell in an attempt to ground him. One knight had gotten lucky and clipped his wing, dragging him straight down. But that felt so long ago. The memories between now and then were missing.

The gray-coated colt suddenly became aware of an odd noise in the room - a very ragged, wet breathing sound. The sound of a pony close to death, a pony who’d been beaten until he could bleed no more. He glanced around the room, finding only himself. It took his fractured mind a moment to realize the sounds were coming from his own mouth.

What the hell is going on here? The confused colt wanted to cry, but no tears came. It felt as though he’d run dry. The colt curled up on the freezing bench, trying to warm himself up a bit, and soon found reprieve from his pain in the form of sleep.

***

“Easy, captain.”

The unicorn had awoken again with a start, immediately regretting the involuntary motion as a sharp pain raced through her side, though the pain was not as intense as it had been before. She looked down and noticed a long bandage wrapping up around her midsection.

Her thoughts immediately went back to the previous battle. How had they known we’d be coming after them? The physical pain was soon overwhelmed by the emotional anguish of losing more of her crewmates to the scourge of the Empire she so viciously rebelled against. For a moment, her struggling mind swam with images of the pegasus from her dreams, his young face contorted in pain that no pony his age should yet know.

“Now, ma’am, with all due respect, you’re hurt pretty badly, so you shouldn’t be up and around... so... soon.” However, the pegasus medic watched in awe as his captain swung her rear legs over the side of the medical table and landed on them, and then onto her front hooves, trotting out of the medical bay as if she had just been in for a routine checkup. She hadn’t even shown any signs of pain when she moved. The resilient unicorn headed for the bridge of the carrier with an air of urgency.

“Trail Blazer,” the mare started, working her way to the pilot’s chair. “Get us back to Eclipse. We’ve got to make sure the rest are safe. We might be compromised.”

The orange stallion looked at her with concern for only a moment, before nodding and beginning to make preparations to double-time it back to the city. After the initial roar of igniting airship rockets faded, the Captain pulled up her contacts on her cyan eyepiece, and dialed for the Artist.

Chapter 2 - The Artist

Click.

“Hey, Cappy, what’s up?”

“Artist, I think—What’s that thumping noise? I can barely hear you.” Odd. Dusk Dancer sounded almost out of breath.

“That’s the bass, silly.”

“We have more important things to do than rave, Artist. I need you back on the Eventide ASAP.”

The Artist’s usual playful tone dissipated. “Did something go wrong with the tradeship heist?”

“You could say that. Imperial Knights were waiting for us. I was the only one that made it out alive.”

“That’s bad news. But now it sounds like they’re on the offense. Glad to know we finally got their attention.”

“I hear you. Head to the usual extraction point. We’ll pick you up. Watch your back, Artist.”

“Alright, Captain. Meet you there.”

Click. Dusk Dancer’s voice dropped out of the chat. The earth pony stood up and stretched, opening her eyes and shaking her head, causing her mane to bounce about. Her mane looked more like cotton candy than it did an actual hairstyle; ridiculous curls in different shades of bubblegum pink and blue, mixing with her naturally bright white coat to make her stand out even more.

Scatterbrain walked over to a nearby table, and picked up a heavily modified kinetic sniper rifle, folding it and placing it in its holster around her midsection. The weapon’s camouflage and curvature ensured it would blend in fairly well with her dazzling white coat. When her uplink established a connection with the rifle, a green status light winked in the corner of her vision.

The Artist then made her way to the exit, opening the door to find herself once again in the back of the main room of Sugar Rave Corner, her ears twitching with each thump of the bass. She took a moment to lean on the rails overlooking the dance floor, watching the ponies dance the night away underneath the strobe lights. Her right eye, glowing a pale cyan color, whirred softly in her head as it turned about in different directions. Her left eye remained concealed beneath a small black oval, allowing her to use her far more effective cybernetic eye instead.

***

“Is this the place?” wondered the Knight aloud, who then turned to his partner. The other Knight returned his skeptical look.

“That’s what our informant says. ‘Sugar Rave Corner.’”

The first Lunar Knight shrugged with a sigh and double-checked his weapon, which remained concealed within the plates of his Lunite armor, until he was satisfied that the status light remained green on his uplink’s HUD. His companion followed him into the nightclub.

Immediately, the thumping bass assaulted their ears and strobing rays of all sorts of colors flashed before their eyes. Their eyepieces glowed an eerie cyan, adjusting for the light as the two ponies scanned the crowd for their prey.

CRACK.

A single sound managed to rise above the roar of the bass and the noises of the now confused crowd. The first Knight's eyes darted, trying to locate the source of the sound. The second Knight was no longer moving. A loud clunk alerted the remaining knight, his partner's armor crashing to the floor. A bloody hole had been torn through the Knight’s head. The first knight managed to turn around in time to see the telltale glint of light reflecting off of a sniper’s scope, near the rail above the dance floor.

A second crack echoed through the rave, a faint blue-green stream left in the trail of the second kinetic sniper round, missing the Knight’s head by inches. The Knight took a defensive position, his armor covering most of his vital areas, and snapped his rifle into place on his hoof, quickly unfolding into a ready-to-fire configuration. His eyes met those of his assailant. To his surprise, when her lips started moving, her heard her voice loud and clear, echoing through his own headset, over the guard’s own channel.

“Oh, look at that, I missed. Silly me,” the voice pouted, sounding strangely upbeat for somepony who had just ended the life of a Lunar Knight. He could faintly see the lengthened rails of her sniper rifle fold up and retract before she holstered it. “Tell you what, Mister Knight, you’re kinda cute. Let’s take this party backstage, if you know what I mean. Catch me if you can!” squealed the voice, and he could see her shape bounce off and into the back rooms.

The Lunar Knight stared in a mix of rage and confusion. He stamped his hoof twice before breaking into a full gallop, shoving past the crowd and after the murderer. Nearing the door to the back rooms of the club, he reared onto his hind legs and knocked the door down, entering with his weapon at the ready. The annoying earth pony was nowhere in sight.

The knight only took one step before feeling a weight on his back. The white mare reached around and covered his eyes with her hooves.

“Peek-a-boo!” she shouted merrily. “I see you!”

The now-enraged Knight began trying to bring his weapon around to fire at point-blank range, but his weapon would not respond. Its status light winked from green to a mish-mash of blue and pink on his HUD. He blinked for a second, making sure he wasn’t seeing things other than the white hooves in his eyes. “Get off of me!” yelled the Knight.

“Okay. Have it your way!” replied the snow-white mare, doing an acrobatic pirouette off the Knight’s armored back and into his field of vision several yards away. He immediately brought his weapon to bear on her head and triggered his rifle, eager to finally wipe that silly grin off her face with a bullet.

Instead of being propelled outwards, however, the round simply exploded upon being charged inside the Knight’s kinetic rifle, igniting in an electric-blue explosion that severed the Knight’s right leg and knocked him sideways into the wall, letting loose a yell of agony.

Scatterbrain bounced over to the injured guard and stuck her hoof in his mouth. “Shush, you! We don’t want the party ponies to panic! That’d simply ruin the party!”

While mumbling violently into the mare’s hoof, the Knight flicked his intact hoof and withdrew a small, curved blade, thrusting it blindly at his attacker.

“Ooh, are we playing Pin the Tail on the Pony? Yeah, that’s it! Show me your stabs! Missed! Ooh, you missed again! Gee, you’re terrible at this. Here, let me help.” Scatterbrain grabbed hold of the Knight’s hoof and twisted it, then redirected the limb into his own side, slicing directly into his chest. His scream of absolute agony only lasted for a few seconds before he was silenced by another deafening CRACK. The Knight’s head limped lifelessly to the side after snapping backwards, trails of blood travelling down his face from the newly-created wound. The wall behind him became a twisted mural of grey matter.

“And that’s why they call me ‘Scatterbrain.’”

***

Knock, knock.

“Come in.”

The doors to Scatterbrain’s room opened, allowing the Librarian to step through. The country stallion looked around, taking a moment to admire the pony’s rather macabre works of art, each unique and eerily beautiful in its own way. No matter how many times the brick-red earth pony saw them, the paintings still managed to unnerve him. He looked over the earth mare’s shoulder at her current painting, a rather gruesome depiction of what appeared to be a Lunar Knight in the middle of a crowd of raving ponies, sporting a massive, bloody hole torn through the dead center of his forehead.

The earth pony finally turned around to greet the Librarian, who only caught a brief glimpse of a pale, gaunt face before the Artist put on her usual facade, smiling brightly. “How can I help you, partner?”

“Howdy, SB. I need you to do me a favor.”

Scatterbrain tilted her head slightly. “Sure thing. Whatcha need?”

“One of my good friends has dropped off the grid. I want you to find out everything you can about the Mayor. I want to know where she lives, her work hours, any patterns to her travel, anything you can find. If anyone knows where he is, it’ll be her.”

Scatterbrain scratched her chin with her hoof. “What makes you think she’ll know where he is?”

“From what I can gather, the Mayors of each city report directly to Luna herself. It’s part of their job to deal with any terrorist or rebel threats.”

“You can count on me, Librarian.” Scatterbrain dropped her smiling charade and traded it for a look of determination.

The stallion knew that look well, and knew then that he could very well count on Scatterbrain. “Thanks, SB. I’ll see you around.”

Scatterbrain nodded and watched her friend leave. She turned around and took another look at the painting she’d been working on. The pony’s silently screaming face looked back into hers, the same face that had been burned into her mind’s eye that night. She remembered every face she had ever put a bullet through.

Looking around the room, Scatterbrain observed similar illustrations of horror covering the walls, showing ponies in their final moments. Her eyes lingered on one in particular, larger than the rest; it portrayed a male pony, close to her own age, with a blindingly white coat and a hint of a poofy pink-and-blue mane, an Imperial Knight’s Lunite helmet surrounding his stunned expression. His young cyan eyes bore into her own from behind his eyepieces. She sighed and closed her eyes as they began to fill with tears.

When she opened them again, she was perched on a rooftop overlooking the crowded streets of Eclipse, looking through the scope of her sniper rifle. The streets proper were cleared to make way for a parade in Her Majesty’s honor, with a procession consisting of her officials. The Empress herself wasn’t the priority; It had been proven time and again that even the most modern weaponry couldn’t do much to harm her.

No, Scatterbrain was simply here to do as much damage as possible. She drew in a deep breath and held it, steadying herself and her rifle, its vertically-aligned, elongated rails leaning over the edge it was balanced on. Scatterbrain took one pony in the procession at random into her crosshairs, and prepared to pull the trigger.

Scatterbrain waited for the familiar, snow-furred Imperial Knight to buck his way through the door, only to receive a bullet for his troubles. But this time, no such Knight came. Confused, Scatterbrain lowered her weapon, removing her eye from the scope. In the process of turning around, she found a grey pegasus colt sitting next to her, silhouetted against the bright moon itself. When she noticed him, he turned his head to look directly into her cyan eyes, both of them still natural at this point in her memory. As soon as his piercing azure orbs met hers, she blinked.

Scatterbrain found herself back in her room, looking at her paintings through her mechanical lens. Her alabaster coat was standing on end. Shaking her head to clear her troubled thoughts, the Artist decided to save her bizarre day-dreaming for later. Sitting down on her haunches, her view became filled with virtual lines of information as Scatterbrain began her search for data on the Mayor of Eclipse.

Chapter 3 - The Inventor

Patrol... why did I have to get stuck with patrol duty tonight? The lonely Lunar Knight sighed, his chestplate heaving slightly with the movement of his breathing. He stood in the overwatch tower of an Imperial scrapyard, where pieces of anything ranging from rusted rifles to aircraft sections were dumped to be recycled or otherwise disposed of. The scrapyard was closed for now, leaving the pegasus guard all by himself, and he blinked his eyes with fatigue and boredom as he scanned back and forth for any stupid punks who thought it might be worth a laugh or two to go dumpster-diving in an Imperial facility.

The Knight lowered his head and closed his eyes just for a moment, daring to try and get a little shut-eye with nopony else around. It wasn’t like anypony ever came to this old junkyard, anyway.

A loud crash woke up the guard with a start, and he shook his head to get rid of the sleep in his eyes. He mentally cursed himself. How long had he been asleep? If somepony was here after all... but all evidence pointed to the contrary. He could see some junk in the distance had toppled onto the dirt path, but otherwise all seemed calm.

Must have been the damn wind... The guard sighed again, almost closing his eyes completely when he noticed a cyan blur shooting around near the back of the compound. Each time it moved, he swore he could hear the sound of a small thunderclap, almost similar to that of a kinetic rifle discharge. The guard blinked twice to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, then took a snapshot of the blur in motion. His eyepiece corrected for the blur, and what he saw made his jaw drop.

The blur was a unicorn, in a running stance. Her white coat shined through even the dirt clinging to it. Her hair was unlike anything he’d seen before; most of the electric-blue mess was shot backwards into spikes, looking as if her hair and tail had been struck by lightning. No, as if they were lightning. Her eyes were concealed by a small pair of dark blue goggles, likely to protect her eyes from the wind. Electricity discharged in random directions from her hooves, which all glowed a soft cyan and appeared to be hovering above the ground. Must be some sort of hoof... augmentation, the Knight supposed. But what finally drew his attention and shocked him into action were the saddlebags the mare carried. It wasn’t that they were full of stolen Imperial material; It was the symbol that adorned her saddlebags: an orange circle with eight radiating spokes.

That mark! The guard immediately went into full alert, his wings beating furiously as he leapt from the watchtower, and locked his light kinetic rifle onto his firing hoof, unfolding it into firing position. The uppity unicorn just wouldn’t stand still long enough to give him a good shot.

“Why don’t you make this easy and stand still? I’ll make it quick and painless,” he called. To the guard’s surprise, the threat actually worked, and the blur stopped mid-run, the electric mare entering back into the visible spectrum with another thunderclap. She stared up at the pegasus through her azure goggles, waiting for him to make a move. “That’s it, you little...” Quickly acquiring a lock on the intruder, the pegasus let loose a volley of three kinetic rounds in quick succession, his weapon whining and overheating with the expenditure of energy. Surely the mare wasn’t fast enough to dodge kinetic rounds. Nopony was.

The Knight’s jaw almost hit the dirt when the mare effortlessly sidestepped each of the three rounds, impacting harmlessly in the dirt around her. She had moved so fast that the pegasus hadn’t actually seen her move, but he could clearly see the holes where the otherwise perfect shots had impacted. “You’re going to have to try harder than that, buck-o, that was foal’s play,” she teased, waving her bolt-like tail at him in a taunt. The pegasus gritted his teeth and re-acquired a lock, quickly firing another three-round burst, but the annoying unicorn was just too quick for him, dodging each and every shot he fired. She turned tail and ran, disappearing back into the electric blur and dashing throughout the yard.

The Knight gave chase as fast as his wings could carry him, his weapon discharging three-round bursts each time it had cooled down. The process repeated itself for what felt like hours. Soon the pegasus began panting with frustration, and his weapon quickly exhausted its ammunition. He landed on the ground harder than he should have, and his spent weapon slid back into a compact position at his side. The knight bent a hoof outward, sliding out his backup, a simple curved lunite blade, easily enough to ground that lightning storm.

“Aw, you look so tired. Poor baby. Here, let me help you out.” The pegasus’ ears perked at the sound coming from his right, and struck out in that direction, only to feel something run into his left side, quickly tapping various locations on his armor. She was already gone before he had struck out in that direction. The unicorn reappeared before him, her horn glowing dark blue.

The enraged pegasus didn’t have to wait long to find out what spell she was casting. With all of his armor buckles undone, nothing held the plates together, and they flew off piece-by-piece with a simple telekinesis spell, floating into a neat pile to her right. Unfortunately for the pegasus, his blade was attached to the armor that covered his right foreleg. He now stood naked and unarmed before the unicorn. “That’s better,” Sapphire Shock commented with a smirk.

But he was not quite helpless. He still had his speed and his hooves. The pegasus stamped at the ground twice before charging forward, screaming with a terrible fury, his wings boosting his ground speed. The mare remained where she was, watching the pegasus with an impossibly cocky grin. “Bad move, boy-o. I thought you’d be smarter than that.”

His outstretched hoof almost made contact with the unicorn’s smirking face, but he never quite got that far. In an instant, the pegasus was propelled backward several yards, lying on his back and convulsing as his body was turned into a conductor, electricity shooting through his nerves. It only lasted a few seconds, but after that, the pegasus was too fatigued to fight anymore, and tossed his head back into the dirt with a pained groan.

***

“One comin’ in,” a voice crackled into Dusk Dancer’s ear. The next instant, the unicorn picked up the trace of another unicorn aboard her ship, the distinct feel of a teleportation spell.

“Welcome aboard, Inventor. Got a good haul this time?”

“Ooh, plenty. Got enough rifles and parts now for a special project, and I’ve got a little somethin’ extra.”

“‘Something extra’? What do you m—” A soft groan echoed into her ear, one that definitely didn’t come from any mare.

“What was that?”

“Oh, him. I brought a guest. See?” On a nearby viewscreen, the camera from Sapphire Shock’s lab opened up, revealing the scene currently taking place: The unicorn stood triumphantly near a bound pegasus, though nothing looked out of the ordinary about him besides his size and the crescent moon tattooed onto his chest and flanks below his nightcap cutie mark.

“No. No, no, no! Don’t tell me you just brought a damned LUNAR KNIGHT ABOARD MY SHIP!” Dusk Dancer practically screamed, causing the unicorn in the picture to wince and hold up a hoof to her ear.

“Well, this could go one of two ways. Librarian’s friend is still MIA, yeah? Maybe this guy knows where he is. Or we could just use him for target practice after my project is complete. Your call, boss.”

“Librarian’s friend? What are you on about?”

“Big boy-o said he had a best buddy that went missin’. Poor guy’s been tryin’ to get some leads on where his friend might be.”

“I’m going to have a talk with Librarian, but go ahead and lock that spaz up for now.”

“Sounds good, boss.” The connections closed, leaving the bridge in silence. In the white mare’s lab, the unicorn turned to her captive and grinned. “Welcome aboard the Eventide, baby.”

The pegasus groaned again and looked at his captor with a hatred that almost made the unicorn flinch. Almost. “I’ll tell you nothing, you filthy traitor.”

“Aw, no need to be so snippy, sleepyhead.” She turned sideways and used her tail to tickle under the bound pegasus’ chin, tickling at first before sending mildly painful shocks through his skull. “After all, you might as well enjoy the last few days you have left. Food for thought, eh?”

That managed to crack him. A glint of fear registered in his eyes, but he refused to show any more than that. He laid his head against the cold metal of the wall and sighed. It didn’t take long before the prisoner was sound asleep in his new cell, which had been constructed hastily from scrap metal. Even if he was bound, she didn’t want to take any chances. Sapphire Shock then cast a muffling spell over his cell, ensuring no sound could enter in or out unless she wanted it to.

“Finally, some peace and quiet,” the unicorn grumbled with a sigh, lifting her goggles up from her dazzling azure eyes, lifting a hoof to shield her eyes a bit as white, unfiltered light met them instead of the usual blue light she perceived through her goggles. She sat them down on the desk and sat down, leaning back in her chair and losing herself in sleep.

Sapphire Shock soon found herself drifting among a sea of ponies going about their daily routine in Eclipse’s traditional marketplace, going from store to store or even the old-fashioned stalls. While browsing the selection, a growing noise caught her attention. Somewhere nearby, she heard screaming, followed by a cloaked stallion running straight in her direction, followed by two Knights.

The closer the stallion came, the slower time seemed to flow. He eventually passed right by the Inventor, and for an instant, his head turned and from underneath his hood stared two bright blue orbs. After only a moment of eye contact, he nodded his head almost imperceptibly before turning forward to continue running. After almost galloping into a brick wall, he took to the sky before taking a stun spell to the wing, and all Sapphire Shock could do was watch him plummet. Her hooves were rooted to the ground. Her eyes tracked his falling body, and she cringed when he hit the ground with a sickening crunch.

Sapphire Shock bolted forward so hard she smashed head-first into a prototype helmet that had been laying on her desk, giving her a throbbing ache and sending the helmet crashing to the ground.

“Oy, there I go dreamin’ about mysterious colts, again. Maybe I should take a cold shower, or somethin’.”

Chapter 4 - The Spectre

"Hey, watch where you’re going!” yelled the furious earth pony after turning around, her crimson eyes darting back and forth for the rude, cloaked mare who had bumped into her. However, the mystery mare was nowhere to be found. The confused mayor glanced around for a moment before picking up her saddlebags and continuing on her way, briefly questioning her sanity after yelling at what was apparently nothing.

Beneath her layer of light-bending active camouflage, a cloaked pegasus mare watched it all from the shadows. She waited a moment more before deactivating her stealth bubble and fluttering off of the brick wall of the alley after the mayor trotted out of sight. The pegasus alighted on the pavement, her cloak falling back down around her flank when she folded her wings against her sides. Nimbus relaxed her teeth, the target’s wallet falling into a pocket in her cloak she held open.

Jackpot, she thought. It wasn’t her primary objective, but she knew Dusk Dancer liked gifts. Especially when money was involved. Glancing around to make sure she wouldn’t be followed, Nimbus spread her wings once more, taking off silently into the night, heading for the Eventide.

***

“Captain! Incoming target.”

Dusk Dancer’s ears perked up at the news, heading over to her crewmate’s station. “Size and approach vector?”

“Just one pony. Likely pegasus. Headed right for us, ma’am.”

Thump. An access hatch on the roof above them opened up with a hissing noise, and a cloaked figure dropped into their midst. Dusk Dancer immediately relaxed, as did the crew behind her, several mechanical clacks and hisses echoing as their rifles folded back into a safe, compact form.

“Ah, there you are, Nimbus, dear. Were you successful?” asked the unicorn captain, greeting her friend with a warm smile.

The mute pegasus nodded her head in response, then dipped it into her cloak and retrieved two objects. She tossed them both at the captain, who caught them both with a simple telekinesis spell. Dusk Dancer observed the tracker she’d been tossed, noting with satisfaction that the small red blip on the overlaid map was moving. A speaker at the bottom of the tracker would play audio if activated. She smiled at the other offering, turning it upside down and dumping the contents onto the floor - several electronic cards with undoubtedly useful sums of money on them.

“Well well, what have we here? That might just improve spirits a bit, considering we’ve lost some good ponies tonight...” At her words, several of the crew bowed their heads in either respect or mourning, and Nimbus’ face turned from a smirk to a silent gasp. “But they knew what they signed up for. Regardless, Nimbus, you should get yourself some rest. With the Empire on the offense now, we’re going to have to step up our game.”

The pegasus nodded, flashing her friend a friendly smile, and took her leave.

***

The sleepy filly bolted awake in her bed, her eyes wide open with barely-containable excitement. She hopped out of bed and hovered slightly above the floor, her still-developing wings straining with the effort to hold up her growing body. The filly hovered over to her wall calendar, dropping to the floor and panting with exhaustion. She glanced up, checked the date, and let out a squeal of childish delight.

Today’s my birthday! she thought. Her mind whirled with images of what her parents might’ve gotten her. The filly raced down the stairs and turned the corner, catching sight of her parents beaming back at their daughter. Sitting in between them was a large, sky-blue box, wrapped up with a dark grey bow.

“Hey there, birthday girl!” her unicorn father rumbled, getting up from the table and trotting over towards his daughter. He scooped up the dark blue filly and held her close, rocking her in his arms. Her mother trotted over as well, giving their daughter a kiss on the forehead. The look in their eyes betrayed some feeling of uneasiness they both shared. Her father opened his mouth to speak when a loud knock echoed thrice from the front door. Her parents’ eyes went wide, and the unicorn set his filly down. “Let’s play a game of hide-and-seek, okay dear? You get to go first.” The filly gave her daddy a funny look, but went along with it anyway. She loved playing hide-and-seek. She always won. The dark blue filly buzzed her way along the ground around the corner, looking around the dining room for a nice hiding spot.

CRASH. The sound echoed all the way from the kitchen, frightening the poor pegasus into hiding under a dresser. She then heard shouting, but it wasn’t just her mommy and daddy. She heard a pair of new voices. Mean voices. They yelled at her parents, calling them words she didn’t know. She caught words like ‘traitor’ and ‘punish’. The filly had to cover her ears with her hooves when a loud whine and crackle of what sounded like a small thunderclap threatened to damage her sensitive young ears.

The noise only lasted a few seconds. After that, the mean voices mumbled something to each other, and grew fainter with each step, before vanishing completely. The frightened filly emerged from her hiding place after several confused minutes, daring to peek around the corner. In the kitchen, she saw her mommy and daddy on the floor together, laying still, as if they had fallen asleep.

The filly hovered over to her parent’s prone forms and tried to prod them awake with an uneasy hoof. Wake up, daddy, she thought, Please wake up. They’re gone now, daddy. The game’s over. I’m here, see?

Her father’s unblinking eyes stared back into hers. Tears started to well in the filly’s eyes. A wet cough came from somepony nearby, making the mare jump. She looked around and realized it had come from her mother. Looking over her mother’s form, the filly realized something she hadn’t initially: Today, her mother was wearing a small, white pendant, which had been engraved with an emblem of a circle, yellow in the center but orange on the outside, with eight wavy spokes radiating from the center.

The filly was so focused on the pendant that she jumped again when she felt a slick hoof on her cheek. She relaxed when she realized it was just her mommy; her mommy was okay. She was fine. Everything was going to be okay, now.

“My...” the mare nearly choked on the effort to speak. “My beautiful baby girl... take this necklace, take it and... wear it proudly. Don’t forget your present either, sweetheart. But before you open it, I want you to... to promise me something.”

The filly stared into her mommy’s eyes and nodded weakly.“Anything for you, mommy.” Just speaking was starting to take considerable effort.

"That’s my girl. Promise mommy you’ll take your present and fly. Fly far, far away from here... Promise me.”

“I promise, mommy.”

Her mommy didn’t say anymore, but she looked sick so the filly knew enough to not bother her anymore. She took the necklace using her teeth and, with a bit of effort, managed to get it around her own neck, and fluttered up to the table. A note was taped to the side of the blue box, a note that read:

“Happy birthday, sweetie. Your father and I are so very proud of you. We’ve done everything we could to make sure that you could still have a future. Your true gift is one you won’t understand until you’re older: the gift of life. Stay safe, and trust in the Sun.”

Instead of a name, the note was signed with the same eight-rayed symbol. The filly unwrapped the bow and slipped off the lid, having to get onto her hind legs to peer into the box. The sudden weight made it tip over, spilling its fluffy contents.

A cloud. It floated above the table. The filly had seen them before, up in the sky, but she’d never been up close like mommy had. Curiously, she reached up and tapped it with a hoof. Her hoof bounced off lightly. This time, she used her teeth, biting into it and dragging it down to the floor. She hopped onto it like she had seen older pegasi do. The cloud started to float upward, but stopped when the filly jumped back off. She flew over to the table, grabbed the note, and hopped back onto the cloud, which resumed its speedy flight from the ruined home.

The now-orphaned filly looked back at her home, growing smaller as she wondered if she’d ever see her parents again. A small tear dripped from her muzzle onto the cloud, which absorbed the tear and turned a dark grey. The filly struggled to remember what the name for a raincloud like this was... It was... it was...

A nimbus.

***

Nimbus woke up with a start, panting for breath. Every single night... The mare’s golden eyes filled with silent tears. For years, that night had haunted her, the night when she had lost everything. No, she corrected herself: when she had gained everything else.

The mare reached up and touched her necklace, the one her mother had given her before her death. The orange sun shone up at her, catching what little light there was in her small room. Trust in the sun.

Nimbus couldn’t go back to sleep now. On a whim, she swung her legs out of bed and went over to her dresser, picking up the tracker and activating the audio, the small speaker at the bottom crackling to life.

“...e an update on the rebels.” a voice she recognized as the Mayor’s crackled first. Nimbus immediately turned up the volume and began listening intently. A voice she didn’t recognize responded.

“No good news there, ma’am. Neither of our assigned strike teams have reported back yet. Codenames ‘Captain’ and ‘Artist’ are assumed to remain active. ‘Inventor,’ ‘Spectre,’ and ‘Librarian’ have yet to be located at all. The captured pegasus colt is still safely in our hands.”

“He better stay that way. Luna sees something special in this kid that nopony else does, and as far as I’m concerned, keeping that thief locked up in Section Fifteen is our top priority. After She takes care of him, we can devote our full resources to taking down this rebel infestation.”

Nimbus’ eyes lit up at the mention of ‘Section Fifteen.’ A field of text slowly scrolled into her golden vision as she worked up a text message for Dusk Dancer:

Pegasus colt is being held at Section Fifteen. Apparently the Empress has taken a shine to him, to the point where HE is the their top priority. Expect security to be at maximum. If we do rescue him, I fully expect us to have the Empire’s complete attention.

Sent. A few minutes later, Dusk Dancer’s voice crackled into Nimbus’ waiting ear. “Great work, Nimbus. You’re on a roll, tonight. I have no earthly idea how we’re going to break into the most heavily guarded facility in Equestria. Having the Mayor's bank backing us up might help. But if this colt is valuable to Luna, he’s valuable to us. We’ll think of something once we all get some rest, okay? Sleep tight.”

Click. After ending her call with the Captain, Nimbus removed her lightweight headset, placing it back on her nightstand. However, she kept her pendant on, and tapped it with her hoof to make sure it was still there. Trust in the Sun.

Nimbus climbed into bed and pulled the sheets over herself, preparing herself for another onslaught of emotional nightmares.

When she opened her eyes again, she felt much heavier, as if she were wearing reinforced armor. Looking down, this seemed to be the case. A folded kinetic rifle lay at her side, though personally she despised the use of lethal firearms at all. The hallway she seemed to be occupying was alone save for her, and a single cell, which she felt drawn to. Curiosity overrode duty and she ambled over to the bars to take a peek inside.

From behind the cyan lenses of a Lunar Knight, Nimbus viewed a sight that almost made her lose her previous meal. There was a lone pony curled up on the bench inside, clutching his right side. Copious amounts of dried blood dotted the room and the bench itself. The pegasus seemed to feel her gaze, and began twitching as if waking. He rolled over, and as soon as his bloodshot eyes met hers, her heart broke, and then skipped a beat when he appeared on all four hooves next to her, and touched her pendant softly.

Nimbus bolted upright out of bed, tossed her sweat-soaked sheets off, and immediately felt a fire burning in her throat. The fire became more intense with each passing second, culminating in a sound almost completely foreign to her ears; her own voice.

“NOCTURNE!” screamed the mute pegasus, quenching the fire in her throat, replacing it with a dull throb. Nimbus was still trying to catch her breath when the Captain’s voice piped up nearby from her nightstand.

“Nimbus, was that you?”

Chapter 5 - The Librarian

A door opened up behind the sitting stallion, making not a sound as it parted for the ship’s captain. Only the soft trotting of Dusk Dancer’s hooves on the metal floor gave any indication of a visitor to the pony who sat at his desk, bent over a history book, taken from several piles of similar titles.

“Hey, Atlas.” The pony inclined his head slightly in her direction. He was listening. “What’s all this about a missing friend of yours? Seems you’ve got the Seekers worked up over him.”

The brick-red earth pony stiffened visibly, then sighed and put his book down, followed by his reading glasses. “Yes. Name’s Nocturne.”

Something inside Dusk Dancer clicked, but she couldn’t quite place what. “Go on.”

“I grew up with him. Kept in touch after I moved, but it seems like all he ever does is get in trouble. Now, he’s fallen off the grid entirely and I can’t find him, or any record of him.”

“What’s he look like?”

“Uh... Grey pegasus colt with bright blue eyes and a blue mane. Don’t think he had a cutie mark last time I saw him. Haven’t seen him in years, though. What’s with the face? Something wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong, I—” Dusk Dancer averted her gaze, preferring to stare at the floor after being caught. She pretended to tap a hoof to her ear for a moment, and put on a look of concentration.

“Sorry, Sapphire Shock called. She wants to see you down in her lab. Said she had a present for you.” Atlas nodded in response, and returned to his desk to pick up his reading glasses. The rather dusty book underneath was titled Ancient Apples. “Still working on tracing your family, huh?”

It was Atlas’ turn to tense up a bit, and he gently closed the book, setting his reading glasses back down. “Eeyup,” he started. “I managed to find a record of ancient towns and their founders... and one of them was started by my very own ancestors. The thing is, it’s a graveyard, now. A rather... famous one.” At the mention of ‘ancestors’, the dark red earth pony cast a glance to his flank, which had been adorned long ago with a large golden apple mark.

“A famous graveyard? Surely you’re not talking about... Ponyville Graveyard?” Dusk Dancer visibly shuddered at the thought. She knew the story like everypony else; a story of Luna’s terrible vengeance against the first town to openly rebel against her rule. Since then, nopony dared to set foot inside, superstition doing its job of keeping ponies away from its secrets for centuries.

“That’s the one.” Atlas rose, towering over Dusk Dancer like he towered over everypony else. He shook his orange-golden mane a few times as he trotted towards the door, leaving Dusk Dancer alone at his desk with the history books. Out of curiosity, Dusk Dancer took a seat and reopened his book, bookmarked at the section “Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres”.

The captain soon lost track of time while reading. According to the history book, Ponyville hadn’t been a graveyard at all, almost a millennium ago. It had been a small and peaceful community for all sorts of ponies, locating near someplace called ‘Canterlot’. Dusk Dancer paused momentarily. The name Canterlot sounded familiar. Ah, she remembered. Canterlot was an old name for the capital. She continued reading. The town had grown around a family of apple farmers and their apple orchards. Beyond those few details, most of the town’s history went unrecorded by the author, instead skipping forward to what had led to its transformation into one of the most feared and infamous names in pony history.

Ponyville had played host to the first armed rebellion against Empress Luna, not too long after she had taken power from the previous regent. The rebellion had been sparked after evidence had been found that Luna herself had been behind the disappearances and eventual murders of five ponies. A sixth had also disappeared, but a corpse had never surfaced. Luna had the rebellion violently quelled, and almost all of Ponyville’s residents were slaughtered by her personal soldiers. With most of Ponyville gone, the Empress decided to turn the town into a proper graveyard, as an example for those with similar ideas. The illustration on the last page struck Dusk Dancer as particularly interesting; The drawing depicted six symbols gathered around an orange spiked circle. Most of the symbols held no meaning to her: The balloon, the butterfly, the lightning cloud, and the diamond. Two of them, however, stood out to her. The apple, similar in shape to Atlas’ own mark, and the double six-sided star, identical to the two overlapping six-sided stars that appeared on her flank when she found her talent for magic. Dusk Dancer closed the book and returned to the bridge, pondering how these symbols from the distant past could relate to her.

***

“Howdy, Inventor. The Captain was sayin’ you had somethin’ for me?” The tall earth pony had to duck to make his way through the door to the Inventor’s lab while he spoke. His attention was almost immediately drawn to her captive, still sleeping in his makeshift cage.

“Yeah, yeah. You ever heard of the Destriers?” The unicorn asked without turning from her worktable, still putting some finishing touches on whatever she was working on.

“Somewhat. Mostly just rumors. Supposedly they’re an experiment in cyborg shock troops. What’s this got to do with me?”

“Everything. I dug deeper into Destrier data, and managed to recover a few prototype armor models. Now, these suits are made for heavily augmented ponies, and you’re the only pony we have that might be able to wear it.” she finally turned around to face him, grinning like a maniac. Her horn glowed, and her contraption levitated into the air. “Hold still for a sec.”

“Hold up. Did you say ‘might?’” Behind Sapphire Shock, Atlas could see the armor pieces arranged on a pony-size figure already. The front half of the body armor began glowing dark blue, and unclasped itself from the figure, making its way towards Atlas.

“Yeah, but come on, this is for science. Pony up, buck-o.”

Atlas shrugged. The chest piece had two large holes, so he leaned forward and put his hooves through them, and it slid on neatly and sealed along a seam that ran parallel to his spine. With the hardest part over, Atlas held as still as possible while Sapphire Shock maneuvered him into the rear half of the armor, the greaves, and finally, the helmet, which bathed his vision in a thin rectangle of red with its visor. Sapphire Shock seemed to be finished and waiting with baited breath.

“So? Did it work?”

“Did... what work? I don’t feel any different, just heavier.”

“Huh. Bugger.” Sapphire Shock trotted closer and asked Atlas to turn his head to the side for a second. When he obliged, she reared back and gave the side of his armored head a solid punch with her hoof.

“Hey, what’s the big... Woah.” Recessed lines began to glow bright cyan all over the bright silver armor, and a hose that connected the helmet to the spine began to undulate. Atlas shuffled from hoof to hoof inside of his new armor, feeling lighter and lighter as his armor began to power up.

“See? All that Imperial hunk of junk needed was a little jump-start.” Beaming from ear to ear, Sapphire Shock grabbed a piece of metal several feet thick and telekinetically launched it Atlas-ward.

Seeing the incoming metal only moments before it hit, Atlas’ leg shot out at a speed that surprised even Sapphire Shock, turning the metal sheet into a cloud of metal shrapnel, as if he punched a grenade.

“I like it. What else can this thing—” Interrupting Atlas was a soft whine coming from the center of his chest, two plates sliding apart to reveal an aperture that glowed brightly even in the already bright lab. If nothing else worked, Atlas would make a great lightbulb.

“...do. What am I, a lighthouse?”

“No, you’re a Librarian in high-tech prototype armor made for augmented cyborg ponies. That, my friend, is the latest in Imperial weapons tech, ripped straight out of some bad science fiction. It’s a damned laser beam, as far as I can tell. Big’un, too. I don’t want you blowing holes in our ship, though, so cool it with the death ray for now.”

Atlas nodded and after a moment’s pause, the portal sealed itself. He was about to ask if the suit is any easier to take off than it is to put on, when most of the plates slid, telescoped, and compacted in various ways until only his midsection, chest, the back of his neck, and hooves were armored, giving him much more mobility. The red rectangular visor remained, floating an inch or two in front of his eyes. “You’re right, this is some bad science fiction. I could see how a walking tank is pretty handy to have in a firefight, though.”

Sapphire Shock’s grin hadn’t faded since he first put on the armor. “Glad to see that works. Don’t let it go to your big head, though. You’re tough, but you ain’t invincible. Now, about this bugger over here...”

Atlas turned at last to the captive, eyeing him warily. “Almost forgot about him. Yeah, let’s see if he knows anything about old Nocturne. Mind leaving us alone for a bit, Inventor?”

The unicorn nodded, removing the muffle spell on the cage and slipping out of the room with a flash, leaving the two stallions alone in the unicorn’s lab.

Atlas walked up to the cage and gave it a hard bucking, the noise enough to rouse the sleepy stallion.

“Howdy!” Atlas rumbled to the caged pony, who had shakily stood up to meet the new face. The prisoner couldn’t help but take a gulp as he looked up into the eyes of the new pony, momentarily forgetting he was still a damned Lunar Knight and should act like one. He straightened up and coughed.

“And what do you want, scum?”

“Scum? Now, I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve to be called that. I’m just a simple librarian. What makes you think I’m scum?” Atlas continued staring down at the pegasus. Something about Atlas’ bright green eyes was already beginning to unnerve the prisoner.

“Well, you... you’re with the rebels, aren’t you? Haven’t they sent you to get something out of me?” Good. The pegasus was already starting to perspire.

“Rebels? Me? Shoot, naw. They think I’m workin’ for ‘em, but my loyalty’s still to Luna. As soon as I get the info I need from these rustlers, I can get us both out of here. And I’ll tell you something they don’t know.” Atlas, for effect, craned his head back and scanned the room for any eavesdroppers. “I’m a Knight myself.”

The pegasus was now listening intently. “Another Knight here, undercover? I didn’t know we had any. You must be some high-level black-ops kind of pony, huh? What section are you from, anyway?”

Atlas almost panicked. He hadn’t been anticipating that. Thankfully, something crackled in his ear, and he paused for a moment, then turned his head and nodded. The movement was so subtle that the pegasus missed it while blinking. “Section Fifteen.”

“Oh, shit. You must be pretty high-ranking then, huh? Has there been any new development with that pegasus punk you captured?”

It took all of Atlas’ willpower to keep his face straight. “You mean the market thief? The one we got a few days ago?”

“That’s the one.”

Atlas finally allowed himself a small, triumphant grin. “Oh, I’d say he’s given us just about all the information we need.” He unlocked the cage but stood in the doorway, blocking the pegasus’ retreat. Atlas stepped forward and knocked the pegasus off of his feet with a swift strike of his foreleg, watching as the pegasus slumped to the floor. “Captain,” he spoke, looking about for a camera so Dusk Dancer could see them. “We’ve got what we need. What do we do with this joker?”

“Up to you, Atlas. Get creative.”

Atlas looked down at the unconscious pony. Pegasus, gray coat... With some blue dye to his hair, the knight might actually make a decent pass for Nocturne. They might be able to sneak in and exchange the two. He looked to Sapphire Shock’s worktable, where the full set of the pegasus’ Knight armor was lying. A grand scheme began forming in Atlas’ head.

Chapter 6 - The Minstrel

“Sir, we have visitors.”

The unicorn chief security officer set his coffee down and trotted over to the Knight who had spoken. Through the entrance camera, he caught sight of a tall red Earth pony dressed in Lunar Knight attire, with what appeared to be a wounded pegasus on his back. Taking a closer look, the pegasus matched the colors and size of the one they had been holding for the Empress.

“Who the hell is that, and what’s he doing with my precious prisoner?”

***

Nocturne awoke slowly, rolling over to try and go back to sleep. He didn’t bother trying to stay awake any more. The pain was getting to be too much. He was almost asleep again when he realized there was somepony else in the room. He rolled over to find himself face to face with a mane of dark gray hair, a golden eye peering through the curls.

Nocturne tried to let out a surprised yell, but her hoof pressed tightly to his mouth, muffling his shout. The pegasus colt would’ve thought he was dreaming if it weren’t for the hoof in his mouth. She was definitely real. He could taste it. Nocturne looked past Nimbus towards the open door of his cell.

Freedom. Nimbus moved back and Nocturne scrambled to his hooves, almost falling over at first from the exertion. He looked over at Nimbus, his eyes drawn to her neck, and reached out to touch her pendant. His hoof brushed against the sun and its octet of spikes before Nimbus began pointing outside the cell and gently beating her wings for emphasis. Nocturne met here panicked yellow gaze for a moment before his eyes lit up and he nodded, scrambling outside his cell. They passed several unconscious Knights on their way out, small dart tips extending from their exposed necks.

***

Scatterbrain and Sapphire Shock watched the duo’s progress from a security room. Inside the room, two unconscious Knights were piled in the corner next to their disassembled armor. Scatterbrain worked on unlocking the path for Nimbus and Nocturne while Sapphire worked on keeping the rest of the base off of alerted status.

In another camera, Sapphire Shock tracked Atlas, carrying the unconscious prisoner on his back. Atlas was being escorted by two other guards, but they weren’t anything he couldn’t handle on his own. So far, so good.

***

“What’s your name, tough guy?” the Lunar Knight at the entrance questioned Atlas, casting glances at the unconscious pony on his back.

“Golden Delicious,” Atlas lied. He nodded to the pony he was carrying. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got this escaped prisoner to escort back to his cell.”

“That really is him, huh? How did he even escape without us noticing?”

“You know them rebels. They’re a crafty bunch.”

The guard pony studied Atlas’ face carefully before finally relaxing and letting out a chuckle. “Yeah, yeah. How else are we gonna explain why we haven’t caught them all yet? Anyway, let me help you get this traitor back to his cell. We don’t want to take any chances with these lot.”

Atlas remained perfectly calm, nodding at the guard. The pegasus on his back hadn’t stirred since he had knocked him out in his cell aboard the Eventide. “Okay then, partner. Lead the way.”

***

“Hey, what’s your—” The dark blue mare turned and put a hoof to her lips, gesturing for Nocturne to remain quiet. He sighed and kept his trap shut, staying to the shadows as they made their way through the facility. Nocturne kept track of the signs posted on the walls. They still had two more layers before they made it to the surface.

Then they’d be free. He’d be free. His wings tried to extend by instinct after those last few thoughts, but the pain from the right wing almost crippled him again. Nimbus turned and gave him an odd look before continuing on, hopping over another unconscious knight.

***

“He says the prisoner escaped, sir, but he managed to track him down and bring him back.”

The officer cast his gaze to the floor and rubbed his exposed chin thoughtfully. “You four. Come with me.” The chief officer unicorn pointed to a group of four Knights, motioning for them to follow. Each of them saluted, their silver-plated hooves striking their helmets. “I’m going to head down there personally and have a little chat with our prisoner.”

***

“Uh, SB? We’ve got a problem.”

“Oh boy! I like problem solving. What’ve we got?”

“That.” Sapphire Shock pointed to the scene on the camera. The chief unicorn officer and his entourage. All traces of a smile faded immediately from Scatterbrain’s muzzle. If she had knuckles, she would have cracked them.

“Spectre,” Scatterbrain called, breaking radio silence. “Find another way out of there. We’ve got heavily-armed trouble headed your way.” On the camera, Nimbus nodded and ducked into a side passage suddenly. Nocturne, in a daze, kept ambling forwards, and Nimbus had to reach back out and drag him in.

***

“His cell’s down this hallw—what the hell happened here?” The two guards stopped and looked down the hall, several of their friends unconscious on the floor. Atlas mentally sighed at Nimbus. I told her to hide the bodies... He sat the pegasus down. “More prisoners must’ve escaped. Go check the other cells.”

The other two guards nodded, the sound of their running drowning out the clacking of Atlas’ kinetic rifle unfolding and charging. By the time they did hear the distinctive thunderclap of a kinetic discharge, it was too late for both of them. Atlas stopped dead in his tracks, however, when an unfamiliar voice began broadcasting over the facility speakers.

“Attention, ponies. We’ve got unidentified intruders in the facility. Permission granted to terminate any non-Lunar Imperial on sight. Find them an-”

The gruff voice was abruptly cut off, and soon replaced by a more upbeat one. “Heya, everypony! Looks like you know we’re here now, so I’d say it’s time to... PAR-TAY!”

The speakers throughout the facility began thumping with the sound of a mad bass beat, soon joined by more and more electronic notes as Scatterbrain’s song progressed into a synthetic symphony.

***

“Dusk Dancer,” a rumbling voice crackled into the unicorn’s ear. The unicorn had been camping on top of a nearby building, making sure nopony else made it through. She almost decided to act once Scatterbrain broke radio silence. She wouldn’t interfere unless their plans turned sour. But now that Atlas was breaking radio silence, she was already regretting her decision to wait.

“It’s showtime.”

The unicorn’s rockets ignited, and she swooped off into the night. When she neared the facility entrance, she tore the door off of its hinges with her magic and descended inside, racing to catch up to her friends.

***

“Left. Take a right. No, your other right. There you go. Keep moving... there.” Following Sapphire Shock’s instructions, Nimbus and Nocturne managed to catch up with Atlas. Nocturne opened his mouth to say something when the door to their right opened, the two lead Templars stepping inside and quickly taking firing positions with their heavy rifles. The door closed behind them, trapping Atlas, Nimbus, and Nocturne with the two charged Templars. Atlas, thinking quickly, turned sideways, placing himself in front of Nocturne and Nimbus. His right side, facing the knights, rippled and briefly took on the appearance of plated metal.

The Templars fired.

Nocturne watched Atlas yell out and grit his teeth together as his body began taking the fire for his friends, each round threatening to topple him. The initial volley soon ceased, but Atlas still stood, breathing heavily. Blood and spent kinetic rounds poured from his sides. He turned to face the knights once more, spitting out blood.

“My turn.” Atlas targeted the left Templar and fired, sending a kinetic slug volley screaming towards the knight. He took the three rounds in the center of his neck and fell to one knee, his armor chipped around the entry wounds. He then toppled over on his side, letting out a pained scream as Atlas put another volley through his neck. While Atlas’ rifle was recycling, the second knight fired again, catching Atlas in the leg, finally knocking the stalwart pony to the floor. He then acquired a lock on Nocturne and prepared to fire.

***

“Dammit. Get this door open. I want these rebels DEAD!” The chief officer bellowed, unable to open the doors even with his magic; a fail-safe for occasions such as these. One of the rear Templars nodded and began interfacing with a panel on the wall, his eyepiece flashing with lines of code as he worked to crack open the door.

CRACK.

The working Templar’s helmet split open with a loud crunch of metal, and he slumped against the wall. The remaining knight and the officer turned to see two white mares staring them down, one of them carrying an elongated sniper rifle and grinning maniacally at them. The last knight primed his rifle and took a firing stance, but his entire rifle glowed a deep blue and caved inwards in several vital places, rendering the weapon inoperable. The knight growled and ditched the rifle, looking around the hallway, trying to find some cover. Finding none, the earth pony let out a final battle cry and charged forward, intending to gore at least one of the rebels with the blade that lay hidden inside his leg armor.

He didn’t get very far before the unicorn rebel began her own charge. The knight missed her movements while blinking. The unicorn extruded her foreleg and rammed it into his chest at top speed, the force of impact shattering his chest armor and fracturing the bones in his chest area. The knight slammed backwards into the wall, leaving a stallion-shaped dent. The chief unicorn officer scowled and closed his eyes, vanishing an instant later.

“Aw, looks like he didn’t want to play!” Scatterbrain complained while working on the door remotely, opening just in time for an incoming pegasus to scream past them through the aperture. No, not a pegasus...Scatterbrain sniffed the air. Rocket fuel?

“Dusk Dancer!”

The unicorn flew faster than she ever had before, pushing her rockets to the limit. She caught sight of the knight about to fire and, with a burst of magic, jerked the Templar’s firing arm upwards, the shots meant for Nocturne striking the walls instead. Dusk Dancer then lowered her head, charging her horn with all of her magic that she could manage, and rammed forward, goring right through the dense silver lunite metal and into the stallion’s brain, killing him instantly. All five of her friends stared at her in a mixture of awe and horror. Dusk Dancer, instead of pulling her horn back out, angled her neck upwards, slicing a path up and out of the pony’s skull, tearing it open in a spectacular geyser of blood and brain matter.

Scatterbrain and Sapphire Shock joined up with them in the gory aftermath, each pony gathering around Atlas who, to their relief, had managed to get back up. Most of the rounds he had taken had been deflected by a momentary skin enhancement, but a few had still managed to get through, as well as several rounds in his leg. The five reunited Sunseekers all turned their attention towards the bloodied Nocturne. Dusk Dancer, Sapphire Shock and Scatterbrain all said aloud simultaneously, “Hey, you’re the colt from my dreams!”

As confused as the pegasus was, he didn’t get much time to sort things out. Time seemed to suddenly slow down for Nocturne. Looking past Nimbus, the pegasus noticed a faint shimmer in the air. The shimmer coalesced into the form of the chief unicorn, grinning like a madpony and charging his rifle. None of his friends seemed to notice the newcomer yet.

Thinking quickly, Nocturne pushed Nimbus aside and raced forward, adrenaline powering his body where his muscles had failed. Rapidly closing the distance on hoof, Nocturne reached the officer in time to punch him square in the jaw as hard as he could, snapping his head back with a sickening crunch. The officer’s rifle discharged several rounds harmlessly into the ceiling tiles. The pony officer shifted from one front hoof to the other a few times before collapsing against the wall.

Both Sapphire Shock and Dusk Dancer shifted slightly, feeling a new energy in the air. A red beam shot quickly from the wounded unicorn’s horn, but rather than striking any of them, it dissipated through the ceiling. This last burst of odd magic drained him of his remaining strength, and the chief officer laid his head back, succumbing to his deep wounds.

Nocturne dropped to his hooves, his gray coat covered in sweat. “What... what did he just cast?”

Dusk Dancer closed her eyes. Her horn began to glow her distinct purple shortly before her eyes shot back open, covered in an eerie crimson glow. Her mouth opened to speak, but instead of her voice, it was the unicorn officer’s.

“Your majesty, I’m afraid we have failed you. Section Fifteen and the Prophesied Pegasus have fallen to the rebels. Noctem in perpetuum duret.”

The crimson glow faded, and the captain shook her head. “Looks like he got a message through to Luna herself. What did he mean by ‘prophesied pegasus?’”

All five of Nocturne’s rescuers immediately looked at him. He shrugged. “Well, whatever that means, we definitely have Her attention now.”

Dusk Dancer tilted her head to one side. “Trail Blazer, prep the med bay. We’ve got wounded. I’m going to teleport us all to the transport bay.”

“Wait, can you even—” came the concerned, ragged voice of Nocturne.

Pop.

***

Even though he was out of what he could only describe as hell, Nocturne still somewhat resented the fact that he had just woken up again on a cold table. At least this time, instead of a bench in a cell, it was an operating table in a ship full of rather friendly folk. And this time, he could move both of his wings, only they both felt... different. Heavier. Metallic.

With enough concentration, Nocturne was able to shift his new wings from pegasus feathers into razor sharp triangular plates, creating a lethally sharp edge. His new wings caught the light from overhead and glinted back in his eyes, reminding him of dragon scales. Soft, cyan glows emanated from the seams where one scale met another and formed a tessellation. Nocturne relaxed, and the scales returned to their usual pegasus feather shape and look, yet still reflected some light, giving a subtle metallic hint to his new wings.

Hopping off the table, Nocturne grabbed his cloak and made his way to the bridge where the rest of the Sunseekers were gathered around a large circular conference table. Dusk Dancer was the first to speak.

“Welcome to the Eventide. Whether you choose to stay or go is your business, but if you want to get a little payback for whatever they did to you, all we ask is that you pick yourself a codename.”

Still standing, Nocturne gave it some thought before shifting his cloak aside to reveal his cutie mark, three black quarter notes surrounded by a golden crescent moon. Several of the gathered Sunseekers gaped at his rare moon-related cutie mark. “How about... ‘The Minstrel?’”

“Works for me. Have a seat, Minstrel. Okay, ponies. What’s our next move?”

This time, it was Atlas’ turn to speak up. He relocated a heavy object from his lap to the table, and the book landed with a loud thud and a cloud of dust.

“Ponyville.”

End of Act One

Prologue

The adrenaline coursing through his system; the rush of wind through his handsome blue mane; the crunch of hard concrete beneath his thundering hooves; the pounding in his ears as his strong heart worked to pump blood through his entire body; the pegasus had never felt so alive.

The pegasus colt opened his bright blue eyes again and focused, dodging and weaving between a crowd of confused city ponies. He glanced behind him, seeing the two armored unicorns still hot on his tail, firing golden lances of magic from their horns. He grinned at them before looking forward to find himself facing the brick wall of a tall building, cutting off his escape. He could hear a brick sizzling after being struck by one of the stun spells aimed at him.

Turning around, the cloaked colt faced the two pursuing officers, who held their ground and prepared another volley of stun spells. To their chagrin, the colt held fast his cocky grin, and when they let their spells free, they struck the brick harmlessly again as the colt took to the sky, long gray wings spreading out from underneath his ebony cloak. He raised a hoof to his head and saluted them, before turning tail and flying away.

Ah, now this is where he really belonged. Basking in his brilliant escape, the pegasus took a moment to take a deep breath of the chilly night air, his chest swelling as his lungs filled. He glanced up at the moon, and blew it a kiss, stretching out his wings and ascending higher. The glowing celestial entity filled the pegasus with such inspiration that he pursed his lips and began to whistle a tune from his foalhood.

A new noise began to drown out the colt’s cheerful whistling; a sickening sizzle. Time seemed to slow when the colt turned his head to find his right wing frozen stiff, completely unresponsive to his nervous impulses. His ascent quickly turned into a descent as gravity took over, pulling the panicking pegasus down to earth. The last thing the paralyzed pony experienced before unconsciousness was the pain of most of the bones in the right side of his body shattering upon impact with the city streets.