Starcrash

Chapters

Chapter One: The Star That Split the Sky
Chapter Two: Assault on Fort Flap
Chapter Three: Shaking it Up
Chapter Four: Falling Down
Chapter Five: Sing Sing
Chapter Six: Take Me Home
Epilogue

Chapter One: The Star That Split the Sky

Rainbow Dash let out a yawn she didn't deserve. She rolled over to gaze at the night sky.

"It's a great night to be lazy," she mumbled with half-lidded eyes.

The Wonderbolts were taking a break from practice, the Friendship School was out for the holidays, and the next nightmare to plague Equestria was still probably a few months off.

The perfect time for a vacation.

Like many vacations before, Rainbow Dash had just chosen a random direction and taken off at full speed for a few days, stopping only to rest. As far as she could tell, she was somewhere near Las Pegasus, the tallest buildings of the cloud city just barely peeking over the horizon. Small, colorful explosions of light cracked above them; some fireworks celebration for who-knew-what.

A shooting star traced its way through the night, burning itself out in a long streak of light. Rainbow Dash made a wish to find a good souvenir this vacation; postcards could only do so much for her. She yawned again, inspecting stars for anything interesting. After a bit of aimless stargazing, she saluted.

"Spitfire, sir, all stars accounted for."

She then switched her voice to a poor imitation of her commander's. "Thank you, Rainbow Dash. You're promoted."

Rainbow Dash was just about to roll back over and take a nap before she noticed a particularly bright star in the sky. Just left of the moon, twinkling brightly. Really brightly.

She squinted at it, puzzled.

The star grew, and began to move. It fell out of the heavens, moving south towards Las Pegasus at a speed Rainbow Dash had never seen. A trail of smoke followed in the fallen star's wake, leaving a sickly black cloud behind it.

She watched, amazed, as the star descended. She shook out of her stupified awe and jumped to her hooves, ready to follow the rogue object.

With a determined raise of her wings, she backed up a few feet on the cloud and then took a full running start, giving chase to the heavenly object. As she followed it, she noticed tiny sparks of light splitting off from the main star, burning themselves out almost instantly. Picking up speed, she screamed past the top of Las Pegasus in hot pursuit.

Her world began a bright mix of colored flak for only a moment as she rocketed past the fireworks display, then vanished with Las Pegasus already far behind her. She could feel resistance mounting in front of her, and she held out booth hooves as the pressure wave began to build. With practiced skill, she gave herself that final burst of speed to push her past the sound barrier and into a Sonic Rainboom, hurling her towards the falling star. It mattered little; the speed of it put even her records to shame. The star kept going, its trajectory slowly dipping downwards as it raced over a forest. Even with the drop in speed, it was still far ahead of Rainbow Dash when it dipped into the treeline, disappearing under the thick canopy.

Rainbow Dash rushed ahead, determined to find where it had landed. She was too far away to see where it had crashed for sure, and could only keep flying until she was above a part of the forest where it was last seen.

She didn't have to look long. Even far up she could see a trail of trees broken apart like twigs, slowly tapering off until only healthy, unbroken ones remained. She flew down to the ended of where the broken trees ended, hesitantly approaching the fallen star.

Now up close, she saw it wasn't a star at all. What it was, she wasn't certain. Vaguely cone-shaped and upside-down from the crash, the object had what was clearly a set of doors on one side of its frame, and all around the outside were runes that only Twilight would understand. Half-buried in the ground, the object had pushed up a huge pile of dirt and snapped-off tree trunks in front of it, before apparently finally stopping when it hit a boulder. Steam and smoke poured out of it, the heat hissing against the cool night air.

She slowly walked forward, expecting at any moment for some kind of magic bolt to shoot out of the thing. When she was right next to it unharmed, her interest turned to towards the large door on one side. Flying up, she looked inside the thick window on the top but could not see anything inside, save smoke and dim lights in the haze.

Putting one hoof on the handle outside, she threw all her weight downward attempting to turn it. The handle refused to budge. She then opted to pull it the other way, and yet the handle stubbornly stayed stuck.

With a grunt, Rainbow Dash flew away from the door before coming back with a full kick from her hind legs. The door flew inward, disappearing into the smoke as more poured out of the new opening. Most of it into Rainbow Dash's face, making her bat it away with her wings while gagging.

After the smoke had cleared a bit, she landed on the very edge of the new entrance, pushing her head through the opaque wisps of smoke to see inside.

It was like looking at the inside of some machine Twilight would make. A panel full of information Dash didn't comprehend danced across a score of screens on the far side of the interior, sparks flying out of several while others were only screens of static. Wires and loose panels hung from the floor, now the ceiling, and someone was hanging upside-down on a strapped chair on the flipped floor. There was all kinds of equipment scattered around, too, and-

Wait, someone?

Dash rushed over to the limp figure, its arms dangling loosely. The glow from the consoles gave some illumination, but she had trouble making out any real details. What she could see was some tall figure in armor of some kind, face hidden behind a helmet with a smooth, reflective visor.

They'd apparently strapped themselves onto the chair, and were knocked out during the crash. Wasting no time, Dash fumbled with the straps, eventually causing them to snap open. The limp being tumbled downward, but Dash caught them and flapped her wings, pushing them both backward out of the ruined craft. After some struggling, she had lifted themselves out of the open hatch and hovering out, slowly descending to the ground and laying the mysterious figure down feet-first.

Moving back through the air, Dash fully laid out the stranger on their back, then placed one ear on their chest.

Muffled by the suit, was a slow breath.

Dash wiped her forehead in relief. Whoever this was, it was a miracle they weren't a fine paste.

Now out in the full moonlight, she could see the figure far more clearly. Like she'd first witnessed, the stranger's clothes were mostly white, with various tubes and armored plates configured all up and down its bulky frame. Its helmet was likewise similarly colored, with a short, rigid antenna sticking out on the right side of the head. All up and down the suit, a soft blue light could be seen in small grooves etched into its surface.

On its right arm Rainbow Dash saw a patch made in an unfamiliar pattern; a combination of colors and sharp shapes she'd never seen before. A flag?

She reached out to touch the fuzzy badge, only for the stranger to stir in its stillness and slowly begin to move. It moaned, shifting its legs as it brought its torso upwards. Dash quickly stepped back, giving the crash victim room. Once it had sat up, it immediately jumped and began furiously rubbing the back of its head.

It hadn't seemed to notice her yet. Better now than never.

"Yeah, you took a pretty good tumble there. You okay?"

The figure turned its strange helmet towards Rainbow Dash. After staring at her for a moment, it suddenly jumped up in a panic and scrambled backwards, reaching for something at its side. Whatever it had planned to bring out, it came up empty-handed, and when it felt nothing reach its hand, it frantically patted itself down before scrambling to the ground, pushing apart grass and dirt.

Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow as the figure sorted through the ground. "Uh, you lose something?"

The masked being said nothing and began to type on its left forearm, flashes of light flaring up with each touch of its fingers. A screen appeared above the visitor's arm, and it turned its visor to her, making a gabbing motion with its free hand.

"Uh? You want me to say something? Like what?"

As Rainbow Dash talked, she saw the line on the screen move in relation to her voice.

"Are you trying to record me?"

The screen suddenly spoke; in Rainbow Dash's voice. However, it spoke in a language Rainbow Dash had never heard, and after a few words of her simulated voice, the screen vanished as the stranger's arm sparked and arced with electricity. The being from the stars held up one hand to shield its face, and a moment later the sparks subsided with a small trickle of smoke wafting up from where they'd been typing.

An electronic sigh came through the speakers on the stranger's helmet. They tapped the ruined device a few times to confirm its failure and turned away from Rainbow Dash, studying its surroundings. As soon as its gaze was upon the ruined craft's, it did a double-take and ran forward, its visor whipping to every broken part of the thing from the heavens. The damage was apparently bad enough for the being to put both of its gloved hands on is head, and then fall to its knees, muttering something Rainbow Dash couldn't understand.

Dash let the being grieve for its fallen chariot for a bit, before finally walking up behind it. "I'm guessing this thing was yours. Looks really expensive."

Its visor came upon Dash again. She retreated a bit; who knew what was behind that mask.

"Hey, you don't mind taking that big helmet off, do you?" she asked, "You might have a bump."

Dash tried to put on her best friendly face, curved and reflected back at her on the visor.

"Bump? Like when you do a trick wrong?"

It leaned its head back, and again jolted in pain, bringing a hand up to rub it. Again it felt the helmet in the way. It tried to fiddle with the device on its forearm one more time, but it only succeeded in spitting out a last, pathetic puff of smoke. The stranger mumbled something, then brought both hands to its neck. It fiddled with several switches on the side, then brought them to the side of its head and lifted. The helmet slid upward, revealing the stranger's face as it put the helmet under one arm, and used the other to slowly rub the sore spot.

"Woah."

It was like the face of the Tirek, or the Storm King's; flat, pale, and centaur-like, but much less furry than either. A small mat of blonde hair pressed down from the helmet sat upon the creature's head, and below that, two blue eyes. She recalled Twilight's description of the beings on the other side of that mirror, but she couldn't be sure; she hadn't paid very much attention.

Dash didn't want to assume, but this thing seemed female.

It took a deep breath with its nose, slowly inhaling before letting out all out of her mouth with a deep sigh. After a moment, she took a final breath and the slotted the helmet back onto her head, pressurized gas shooting out from the neck as it clicked into place.

"Wait a minute," Rainbow Dash said to herself. She read her comic books. Star from the sky, strange craft, mysterious passenger...

"Are you..." she began. She pointed up towards the stars. "You know, from up there?

An alien?"

The being followed her hoof, looking up towards the sky. It seemed to understand her gesture, and nodded.

A childlike awe washed over Rainbow Dash's face. It transitioned into giddiness, and then pure glee.

"This. IS. AWESOME!" An alien! Here! And I'm meeting one! This is the-"

She watched the tiny horse go into an excited session of talking. At least, she thought it was talking. To her, it sounded mostly like a long string of nickers and whinnies, high-pitched and slightly raspy. She let the colorful tiny equine go on its tangent; it wasn't like she could understand it anyway.

"-Captain of the Spacebolts!" Rainbow Dash finished with a cheer. She'd been so wrapped up in her own geeking out that she'd nearly forgotten about the Visitor standing above her, tapping its boot.

"Heh. Guess I got a little carried away. So are you an explorer, I guess? Because there was this one Daring Do fanfic I read where something kinda the same happened, but your spaceship is way too small. It also doesn't have lasers, and alien inside it had all these tentacles and stuff so-"

The alien held up a hand.

Before she could ask another question, a stirring came from the edge of the woods. They both heard the heavy stomps and scratching wood closing in on them, and bellows louder with each step.

Dash's muscles tensed. "Uh oh."

With a final crash, a cranky manticore erupted from the treeline. Pounding towards the two of them, it singled out The Visitor, throwing its powerful body towards her. Rainbow Dash flew up, calling out to the stranger on the ground.

The alien didn't budge, simply watching the manticore bound toward her. She suddenly threw her hand down to a large pouch on the side of the leg. Dash nearly did a double-take when she saw the alien's hand become surrounded with a blue glow; the unmistakable aura of magic. She brought her hand upwards, lifting up an ancient hardback book from the pocket, surrounded by the same blue aura. The book shot up to her shoulder and opened, its pages turning wildly.

With disciplined precision, the alien brought its glowing hand to bear on the manticore. A huge wall of blue light sprang up between the two, forcing the manticore to skid to a halt. It hesitantly crept forward, poking the shield with one paw. The shield reacted, a spark of energy flying between the manticore and the wall. It yelped, scrambling back while clutching its paw.

The manticore glared at the alien through the barrier, then just lazily swatted the air in its direction, deciding it wasn't worth the effort. With a huff, the creature turned tail and ran back into the forest.

When the manticore was well out of sight, Dash landed next to the alien with awestruck eyes

"You can use magic?" she exclaimed.

She shook off the adoration. "I mean, good job on that manticore. I could've taken him myself, though."

Saying nothing, the alien brought the book down and pushed it into the side holster on its left leg, patting it before turning back to the ship.

Before Rainbow Dash could ask the alien something else, they once again heard movement off in the distance. However, this wasn't any monster. There were voices, frantic and angry, tearing their way through the bush. Ponies.

Rainbow Dash jumped up into the air, both hooves on her face. "Oh Jeez! We can't let other ponies see you! Equestria isn't ready!"

The alien had already brought out her spell book once more, its pages flipping to and fro from the magical aura and her right hand glowing with magical power.

Rainbow Dash ran up to her, pulling on her arm. "No, no, no! You'll make it worse!"

She tugged at the Visitor's readied arm, pulling them towards the forest. "Come! On! We have to go!"

The alien looked down at her through the expressionless blue sheen. Rainbow Dash persisted, continuing to tug at her until the Visitor sighed, grabbed her book, and allowed Dash to lead her to the treeline, both of them ducking inside a bush just as the posse of ponies arrived at the crash scene.

Most of them appeared to be soldiers, wearing olive green armor with spears at their sides or swords in their mouths. A few skinny scientists brought up the rear, clad white in their lab coats.

In front of all of them was a large and very stern-looking pegasus pony. Nearly the size of Big Mac, the brown-furred, black-maned pegasus wore an ornate general's uniform, a score of shiny medals hanging off the front of his neatly-pressed tan attire. An oversized peaked cap sat upon the pegasus' head, his eyes hidden under the shadow of the black brim. His wide flank showed a cutie mark of a cloud raining into a cup of water, and his entire gruff look was accented by a scruffy five o' clock shadow that hung on his square jaw.

He walked in front of the craft, bringing up one hoof to raise the brim of his cap, revealing two tiny blue eyes. After gawking at the crashed ship, he brought his hat back down, his eyes vanishing into the darkness under the cap.

"I knew this day would come," he growled. He turned to the soldiers, chest puffed out. "Didn't I say this day would come?!"

All the soldier ponies stood at attention and saluted. "Yes, General Watcher, sir!"

He turned toward the scientist ponies, then pointed at the craft. "I want a full quarantine on this thing. Nobody gets in or out without my say-so! Got it?"

One of the scientist ponies, a lanky unicorn, rolled his eyes. "Sure thing, Stalwart."

The general reached out and grabbed the scientist, bringing their face against his. "My mother calls me Stalwart. You will call me General Watcher or Sir. Understood?"

The scientist rattled his head up and down. Content with the answer, the general released his grip and looked up at the crashed spaceship.

"Sweet Celestia," he breathed, "After all this time, I finally have proof. We ain't alone."

"This guy's nuts," Rainbow Dash whispered to her companion. One of the soldier's ears perked up, and General Watcher noticed.

"What is it, soldier?"

Rainbow Dash's heart went into overdrive as it pointed a spear directly at them. "I heard something over there."

The general barked an order to three of the soldiers to go investigate. They fell into a small formation and marched forward, spears pointed threateningly.

Dash had to think fast. She looked at the alien, somehow expecting them to have the answer, but found only a visor staring back at her with no solution. As the soldiers approached, she saw the Visitor slowly reaching for her spellbook. It couldn't come to that. She acted.

"Sir!" Rainbow Dash announced, shooting out of the bush. "Rainbow Dash of the Wonderbolts, reporting for duty!"

The soldiers recognized her at once, scrambling to return the salute.

General Watcher walked over with a frown. "What's this now?"

One of the soldiers looked over to the general. "It's Rainbow Dash, sir. One of the Wonderbolts? Element of Loy-"

"I know who Rainbow Dash is!" the general yelled. "What I want to know is what she's doing here, next to this alien craft, in a bush, in the middle of the night, far away from any real civilization?"

A sweat drop rolled down Dash's head. "Uh, reconnaissance! Gotta be vigilant against threats to Equestria!"

"Hmph! And what does your recon intel say about this thing?"

Rainbow Dash fluttered out of the bush, flying over to the alien craft. She tapped it a few times with her hoof, a metallic clanging ringing out with each hit. "Hmmm. Yeah, I've seen this before."

"Really."

"Yeah!" she responded. "Weather balloon," she explained, leaning against the ruined craft. "We find, oh, probably five a month around Canterlot. Pretty common, actually."

"You expect me to believe that thing is a weather balloon?"

"I mean, it's obviously a higher-end one. Gotta feel sorry for the weatherpony that sent this one up!"

"What kind of weather balloon glows brighter than a star before it crashes?"

"Hey, science marches on."

The general stomped one heavy hoof on the ground. "Just get down here. I don't need you touchin' it any more before we confirm this thing's origin."

"What, you don't trust me?"

"I don't trust anyone. Now if you'll kindly-"

"Sir!"

Everypony spun towards the soldier that had cried out. He'd found the Visitor, caught trying to crawl away from the bush.

"Sweet Celestia!" General Watcher whooped, "It's an X-Ray! Get it!"

The soldier pony lunged forward, but the Visitor was ready. Throwing herself on her back, she lifted her feet and caught the earth pony on both her boots. She thrusted her legs forward, throwing the soldier backwards, and into the side of the spaceship. The rest of the soldiers sprang into action as she got back up onto her feet and sprinted into the forest.

One of the other soldiers ran forward, spinning once to throw the spear from his mouth right at the Visitor. The alien didn't notice their impending impalement, forcing Dash to race down and karate chop the spear in half, breaking its momentum and sending both pieces of the weapon clattering to the ground. She took off into the forest behind the Visitor, calling out for them to wait up.

The general screamed in a rage. "Dagnabbit, that wasn't Rainbow Dash! It's some pod pony clone! Get her too!"

The soldiers obeyed, taking off into the forest with weapons lifted.

She saw a spear land right in front of it, thrown from one of the horses giving chase. How were these animals so dexterous? She heard the rainbow-maned pegasus squealing something at her, but was far too busy avoiding sharp death to pay it heed.

With an awkward motion of her hand, she levitated her spellbook up and used its power to focus in blindly shooting magic behind her. The sound of impact and a painful shriek confirmed her success, and she started to throw back bolts like an arcane litterbug.

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash called out, interrupted every time a blast of magic cut close. "Watch! Where! You're! Aiming!"

She looked back to see the soldiers had thinned out somewhat, some of them knocked out by magic and others failing to keep up with the speed of either Dash or the alien.

Running until the squad was temporarily out of sight, both of them heard something call out to their right. Poking out from one of the trees was a green unicorn with an afro, waving both its hooves.

"Over here, man!" he called out.

Dash considered the strange pony for a moment before banking right and flying towards them. Any help at this point was welcome. The Visitor ran for a little longer before throwing up its arms and running towards the unicorn as well; whether they liked it or not the blue pegasus was their only guide in this strange land.

Both Dash and the Visitor came up to the tree to see the unicorn holding a fake door at the foot of the tree open, disguised as more moss and leaves. Dash jumped in, with the Visitor following. The unicorn ducked inside, and the fake door slammed to the ground. All three were left in total darkness, but could hear the stampede of soldiers running past them before fading into the distance.

Moments passed in the darkness of wherever they were. Someone coughed.

Finally, a dim candle of light appeared on the edge of the unicorn's horn, illuminating himself and the two he'd rescued.

"Man, that was a close one."

They both saw him walk over to another part of the darkness, and flip a switch. The room suddenly filled with light, revealing their sanctuary.

It was some kind of bunker; a rectangular room of concrete. One one side of the wall was a map of Ponyville, covered in black and white photos all strung together with red string. Below that, a radio, with empty cans of food strewn all about the table it sat on. Across from the radio and map was a small couch, covered in peace signs, crystals, and food crumbs. The far end of the room was slightly ajar, reading 'SUPPLIES', and a single bulb hanging from the low ceiling was responsible for the room's light.

Grinning at them from the light switch was their savior, a goatee-wearing green unicorn with a brown afro. He wore a tie-dye shirt, and his cutie mark clearly showed a flying saucer.

"Who the hay are you?" Dash asked. As the unicorn opened his mouth to reply, the Visitor tried to stand up in the cramped underground room. The ceiling was far too low, especially for an upright walker like the alien, and she bumped her head on the ceiling with a clang, forcing her back down to her knees.

"Woah!" the unicorn cried out. "Watch your head there, outsider. Don't need you to have a bad first impression about our primitive architecture."

Dash gave the Visitor a reassuring pat as the alien pushed one hand to its helmet, then turned to their rescuer. "Seriously. Who are you?"

The unicorn gave a goofy smile. "Name's Far Out, man. Been waitin' for years for her people to finally arrive."

Dash remained nonplussed. "What are you talking about?"

Far Out gestured towards the Visitor. "C'mon, you can't tell me you don't know. She's alien, man. Traveler of the Stars. Walker of the Cosmos. Hop Scotcher Between Galaxies."

"Yeah, I figured out that much. Why'd you show up when you did?"

He pointed towards the map. "I knew this day would happen eventually. Connected all the dots. Saw through all the lies, man. Knew the first landing had to be around here. So I built this bunker a few decades ago, and have been waiting ever since."

Dash looked over to the Visitor. They were still clutching their whanged head, but put up one free hand, palms up, in an 'iunno' expression.

"So!" Far Out said, walking over to the Visitor and extending a hoof. "On behalf of all ponykind, I welcome you to Equestria!"

The Visitor seemed to recognize the gesture, clasping his hoof with her hand and slowly shaking it up and down.

The unicorn beamed wildly, a shiver going up his spine. "Ooooh. First Contact. This is neat, man."

As he continued to shake with the Visitor, Rainbow Dash continued her questions. "So you're telling me you were expecting this person?"

"Well, not this one in particular, but definitely someone like 'em. I couldn't exactly know the specific fellow sentient the Galactic Commune would send, know what I mean?"

He turned his thoughts back to the alien, clearing his throat. "Hope my accent isn't too bad. Ahem. Eegog oooar furor eek orob immcakl eerg tii uuug?"

The alien listened to his complete gibberish, before humoring him with a reply in her own alien tongue that sounded nothing like the nonsense he'd just uttered.

"She says 'hello'. And I think something about the secret to Faster-Than-Light Travel. Sorry, I'm a little rusty."

"That's cool, but what do we do? We can't stay in here forever."

"Oh no, definitely not," Far Out agreed, "We gotta leave this bunker soon; General Screwy up there's gonna have the whole forest shut down before long. Luckily, I know a real place we can crash. A haven full of freethinkers, like myself."

"Great," Dash uttered. "When are we leaving?

"As soon as things calm down a little out there. In the mean time, Aigi Jur Funn Kaog Ebellin Purururuur."

Dash could only give him a dumbfounded stare, prompting him to lean in and wink at the Visitor. "That means 'my bunker is your bunker' in her language. We'll chill here for a bit, then get going."

Neither of them had noticed the Visitor scoot past them. Only when they heard a loud whump did they turn to see the alien had thrown herself on the couch belly-first, her helmet removed and securely clutched in one hand. Far too tall for the furniture, only the top two-thirds of their body was able to lay on the couch as her long legs dangled off the end.

After a few seconds of stillness, the alien began to loudly snore.

"So, where do we crash?" Dash asked.

"Plenty of room in the supply closet. Just gotta move some of the canned beans out of the way."

"...I'll just sleep here, thanks."

"Suit yourself," he said, walking off towards the door on the far end and slamming it behind him. Snores flowed out from behind the door shortly after.

Despite the recent excitement, it was still late and Dash needed her speed sleep as badly as she always did. With a powerful yawn, she curled up on the flat concrete floor and soon became the third person in the bunker sawing logs.

Author's Note

General Stalwart Watcher and Far Out

Chapter Two: Assault on Fort Flap

In the hours after the initial chaos, a camouflaged wide tent was erected to cover the area of the crashed spaceship. Outside, floodlights pushed away the darkness as scientist ponies pored over every inch of the crash site with a wide variety of instruments. In the innermost part of the giant makeshift lab was a dry room of plastic sealing in the spaceship itself.

General Watcher observed through a clear sheet on the other side as ponies in Hazmat suits explored the vessel. One of the scientists, another pegasus, walked up to him holding a clipboard.

"What have we found so far?" the general asked.

The scientist pony pushed up her glasses. "So far, we can confirm it's not of this world. Some of the compounds that make up the ship are impossible to create with our current knowledge."

"Any sign of the Intruder?"

"No, sir. It appears to have eluded us. We still don't know if that was indeed the Rainbow Dash of the Wonderbolts assisting it. If it is, we suspect xeno mind control."

"We'll find them. And the armament on this craft?"

The pony's glasses slid back down her snout. "Armaments, sir?"

He beheld the ship before him with contempt. "This is definitely some kind of vanguard craft. Even if we're only dealing with a single-crew vessel, a scout ship would still be armed."

"Sir, we haven't found any weapons."

He stomped his hoof and turned to her with fire in his eyes. "Then you ain't looking hard enough!"

The pegasus recoiled at his outburst, and the general turned away with a grimace.

"Well, what have you found in the meantime?"

"A lot of personal devices, sir, clearly magical in nature. Along with technology we've never seen, but that's to be expected for what we're dealing with."

"Anything else?"

"Tracing the path of the crash, we found some components that apparently fell off during its descent. We believe we've recovered most of them, and are storing them here as we speak."

"Right. Remember how this thing shot right over Las Pegasus? Have you taken care of that as ordered?"

"Yessir. We spun a story about how it was a special part of the fireworks. Nopony's really questioning it."

"Good. I want updates every hour, on the hour."

"I'll be sure to contact the crown with this discovery."

"No!" the general yelled. "No. The princesses, either of 'em, can't know about this."

"Sir?"

"Plausible deniability. The princesses will not know about this until we can present them a working, reverse-engineered copy of this infernal ship. And preferably a specimen of our stellar guest. Until then, I am the highest authority here. Dismissed."

The pegasus scientist saluted and backed out of the tent flap, leaving the general to his martial thoughts.

"Whooooooooo..."

Rainbow Dash's eyes raised open to the noise of Far Out's voice. She slowly drifted out of her grogginess to find the unicorn making noises at the Visitor, the alien sitting upright on the sofa, its helmet sitting on one of the armrests. Part of her head was wrapped in bandages, though she couldn't tell if that was her doing or the space cadet unicorn's.

The Visitor said something in response, apparently a single word. Far Out then repeated it, dragging it out far longer than necessary.

"Hyuuuuuuuu?

She repeated the word again, breaking it into two clear parts.

Far Out pointed a hoof at her as he attempted to enunciate the second part, as horribly as the first.

"Oooooooooooon?

The Visitor, once again, repeated the word with a tone Rainbow Dash knew had to be frustration.

"Muuuuuuuum?

It held up one finger, signaling Far Out this was his last attempt. She said it much louder, and much more clearly, making sure to do it slower as well.

"Hryuu-Mrun?"

The Visitor brought both hands together and gave the unicorn a short golf clap. Close enough.

"Yeah!" he shouted, giving himself a high-hoof. At that time he noticed Rainbow Dash had woken up, and he walked over to her.

"Hey, man, good timing! Our starchild friend here was just teaching me what her people are called. Hryu-Mruns! Cool, huh?"

Dash looked over the unicorn's shoulder to see the alien shaking her head. Whatever word he thought he'd learned, he was still way off course.

"I mean, I'm sure she could just beam the word into my mind, but where's the challenge in that?"

"Shouldn't you have asked for, I don't know, her name?"

He dismissed Dash's suggestion with a wave. "Oh, no, I don't think she has an individual name, man. Her people have moved beyond that, dig?"

"Well, we have to call her something. I can't exactly say 'hey, alien!' every time I need her attention."

Far Out furrowed his brow in the deepest thought he'd probably ever had. "Hmmm. Considering her origin, how about Galaxychild?"

"Uh, no. How about...?"

She trailed off, thinking of an appropriate name. Maybe it was time to offload her old nickname onto someone else. It just needed an appropriate tweak. "How about...Starcrash?"

The unicorn repeated Dash's suggestion, testing it. "Yeah. Yeah! Starcrash, man! Couldn't think of a better name myself!"

"Exactly," Dash muttered.

The unicorn turned to the Visitor with a starry-eyed open mouth. "What do you think, Starcrash?"

They both caught "Starcrash" thumbing through her spellbook before Far Out's question interrupted her, causing her to whip her head up towards them. She blankly blinked.

"Starcrash?" Dash repeated, pointing to her.

Another confused gawk passed before the alien extended a thumb towards herself. She repeated her new nickname in a confused tone, barely comprehensible through her thick accent and general ignorance about their language.

Far Out chuckled. "I think she likes it, man."

Dash glanced up at the hatch they'd jumped into hours before. "Shouldn't we get going?"

"Most definitely," he said concurred, walking over to the short ladder under the hatch and climbing up before straining against the metal door on the ceiling. After a few heavy groans of effort, he tried to instead lift the hatch with magic. Still no luck. While complaining that he hadn't recharged on his crystals and that's why he was weak, Starcrash saw what he was trying to do and levitated her spellbook above her right hand. Both were consumed by the familiar blue glow, and the same aura captured the heavy metal hatch, slowly lifting it open with a rusty creak.

Far Out peeked outside, looking in all directions before motioning them to follow. "Coast's all clear. Follow me, Starcrash!"

Rainbow Dash went up the ladder as well. As she put one hoof on the ladder, she saw Starcrash putting her helmet back on. As soon as it sealed itself back into place, Starcrash pointed to Far Out, then brought the same finger closely to her head and traced circles. Dash snirked.

Far Out held the hatch open as the other two carefully climbed out of the underground tomb. It was still night. They could hear activity far behind them, no doubt General Watcher's new base. When they were all outside, Dash brought up a hoof above her eyes, scanning the woods for whatever would get them to safety.

"What are we looking for?"

"One of the others. We'll be to be careful, though. Lots of G-Ponies roaming this woods now."

Both ponies heard leaves crunch behind them, and turned to see Starcrash slowly tip-toeing her way back to the crash site, spellbook at the ready.

Dash flew in front of her, pushing Starcraft back with both hooves. "Woah woah woah! You can't go back! No way you can take all those ponies by yourself!"

Starcrash gently pushed Dash out of her way and continued walking, ignoring her pleas. With words failing, Dash performed her ultimate technique: grabbing Starcrash by one leg and digging her other three into the ground. This slowed Starcrash a bit, forcing her to stop and look down at the pony.

"Besides!" Rainbow Dash continued "your ship is a total wreck! What are you going to do, magic the pieces back on?"

Still walking, Starcrash casually flicked her wrist. A haze of energy surrounded Dash for a second and lightly throwing her backward. Dash recovered, and with a scrunched snout she flew behind the stubborn alien.

"That's it! If I can't stop you, I'm at least keeping an eye on you!"

Far Out watched them leave, pointing out in a random direction. "Hey, do what you gotta, man! I'll go look for our ticket outta here!"

They both heard him take off into the forest, calling out ridiculous code phrases to the trees.

With Far Out gone, they continued on for some time in silence, Dash sometimes voicing another plea for them to turn around, and Starcrash ignoring her completely. When they had gotten close enough to hear ponies talking, Starcrash nimbly ran for a nearby oak and hid behind it, her body completely upright and stiff. Dash did the same, choosing a maple tree as her shield.

Starcrash leaned over slightly, catching sight of the large tent erected around the crash site before ducking back behind the concealment of the large tree. She looked over to Dash, the pony's eyes meeting her visor as she took to fingers, pointed them to her visor, then to Dash. With Dash's notice secured, she did a walking gesture with two fingers, pounding her fist, motioning a tornado with her finger before turning it upside down and then slapping it with a palm, circled two thumbs around each other, before finally drawing an invisible X in the air with a circle around it.

Dash tilted her head. "...What?"

Despite the helmet, Starcrash brought to fingers up to her head and pinched where the bridge of her nose would be. She shook her head, murmuring something to herself before she lifted the spellbook up, cracked her knuckles, and leaped out from behind the tree, screaming a battle cry as she charged the encampment.

Dash could only scream out a "Wait!" as Starcrash began her attack.

The first soldier in her way could only sound out a confused "huh?" before Starcrash swatted him to the side like a bowling pin. A unicorn soldier nearby was more prepared, throwing a beam of energy at the alien, but also failed to stop her when she jumped, spun around, and threw a bolt to meet the blast head-on, overpowering the unicorn's magic and hitting him right in the face, sending him old cold with circles in his eyes.

She landed backward, rolled, jumped up and turned in midair, landing frontwards and resuming her run.

Dash admired the alien's athleticism, but had no time to praise it as more ponies closed in on Starcrash, weapons and horns at the ready. Instead of fighting them, Dash instead chose to speed forth and keep on the trail of her companion, swatting away spears and swords as they swung at them.

They were no obvious entrance to the tent; Starcrash instead made her own, throwing her magic forward and cutting a hole to fit her and Rainbow Dash both. An alarm sounded somewhere in the base, but both ignored it as Starcrash continued to dart through each layer of the fabric, sending surprised guards and terrified scientists scattering.

After one last blast of magic, they came upon the second innermost part of the tent; an olive green area surrounded the clear plastic that encased the innermost crash site. Bright floodlights filled the center of the base with a white light, the craft inside just barely invisible through the searing glow.

Starcrash leaned into to see her downed spaceship as she'd left it; dented and covered in scorch marks. The only thing different now was the door, clumsily welded back onto the craft's entrance and tables lining the quarantined area, artifacts and machinery laid out in neat, categorized rows. Starcrash pushed her visor against the thin sheet of plastic that separated them from the inner sanctum to get a better look before snarling in anger and stepped back to throw one last bolt.

She put more than enough energy into the blast, hurling it through the tough plastic. The missile kept going, tearing through each layer of the tent until it hit a tree outside, stripping it of its bark like a lightning bolt.

Dash followed Starcrash through the last hole, wondering why nopony was trying to stop them now; even the alarm had stopped. The alien ran over to the tables, grasping them as she scanned each artifact for reasons unknown. After going to several tables, she began to make counting motions in the air, before finally nodding once.

With a relieved huff, Starcrash walked to the center of the room and sat down. She crossed her legs, holding out both hands as the spellbook slowly drifted into place in front of her chest.

"What are you-"

Dash didn't need to continue when she saw the parts on all the tables begin to glow blue, and lift into the air. Both of Starcrash's hands went alight with her aura, and she began to slowly bring them together, clasping her palms. The pieces lazily floated towards the ruined craft, and Dash's mouth nearly hit the ground when she saw the first parts simply phase into the hull when they came in contact.

One pegasus guard appeared in the hole Starcrash had made earlier and brandished his sword.

"Freeze!"

She swiftly extended one hand towards the guard and blasted him, then returned to her task.

Part after part kept phasing into the ship, until only one remained: a beachball-sized fuel injector. It floated towards the ship like the rest, only to become stuck halfway through. Starcrash strained at the part with her magic, but it refused to budge.

Dash understood. Rearing down, she launched herself at the phasing object, striking it headfirst. The object was instantly pushed inside, disappearing inside the craft with a dusty ring of light.

She swore she saw tiny baby birds flying around her in a circle, but was aware enough to feel herself being picked and set back on her hooves. Shaking herself out of a daze, she saw Starcrash clumsily climbing up the thin ladder that led to the open door. Dash flew up behind her, ready to kick it in like last time. Instead of struggling with the door like Dash had, Starcrash simply slid to the side. Dash brought a hoof to her head, kicking herself for not thinking of that.

As the door slid open, so did the interior of the craft. From left to right, it revealed a spaceship full of soldier unicorns at the ready, horns glowing. Behind them was the general, standing straight.

"Fire."

Every unicorn lowered their head. They all blasted at once, sending nearly a dozen bolts straight at Starcrash's chest.

She reflexively threw up a thin barrier with no time to summon something stronger. It gave way almost immediately, shattering like glass as the merged streams of magic pushed on through to their target, hitting her right in the chest. Her chest plate cracked under the combined assault, throwing her backward off the spaceship head-over-heels. She hit the ground on her back, moaning. Her spellbook followed, impacting with a small plume of dust.

"Starcrash!" Dash cried out to her fallen companion, but was suddenly tackled by several guard pegasi. They wrestled her to the ground, pinning her wings as she strained against their weight. She heard something heavy land right in front of her and pulled her head up to see the muscular general looking down on her.

"What'd you do to her?!" Dash demanded.

The general brought his shadowed glare upon the downed alien, then back to Dash. "Laid a trap for her. I knew she'd have to come back here eventually. Her mostly fixing the ship for us was a surprise, but a welcome one."

She strained again at the guards pinning her down, in vain. "What are you going to to do?"

"Protect Equestria. From threats foreign and domestic. Very foreign," he said, looking over to the unconscious Starcrash to make his point, "and very domestic," pointing at Rainbow Dash.

He turned and walked away, flanked by two of the soldiers. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get the dissection team in here."

His stride was interrupted when the alarm started again, making him stop and grit. "For Celestia's s—we have the intruder! They can turn that thing off!"

An earth pony rushed into the room, skidding into a jerky salute. "Sir!"

"Our little ploy worked. Tell 'em to kill that blasted alarm!"

"It's not that, sir! We're under attack! By someone else!"

"What."

Fire erupted through the tent wall, a line of flame aimed right at the general. He ducked just in time for the blaze to sizzle right above the top of his hat. He rolled to the side, snatching the spear from one of his guards and throwing it at the new hole. It punctured through the fabric wall just to the left.

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOWCH!"

The general grinned, muttering 'heh' before a unicorn soldier ran into the room from one of the gapes in the wall with a spear poking out his flank and then retreating through the other; screaming all the while.

Watcher didn't have time to contemplate his aim as his intended target; a young, hunchbacked dragon wearing a black ninja costume appeared in the ragged entrance to the crash site with smoke trailing from his maw.

The general tucked his cap further down his head. "Well then."

Instead of attacking the ponies, the dragon craned its long neck upwards and blew a stream of fire into the roof of the tent. Immediately it began to spread, and bits of the top of the base started to pull itself apart as the fire raged. When a hole in the top was big enough, a black blur zoomed in from the sky, hitting one of the ponies holding Dash down before another blur smacked the other guard in the face, sending him rolling backwards.

Before Dash could process what was happening, she felt herself being lifted into the air by both her front legs. She looked up to see a pegasus pony and a grey bat pony holding her aloft, eyes set on the horizon, dressed in the same manner as the dragon.

"Hey!" she called to her rescuers, "We can't leave yet! We have to get Starcrash!"

They didn't seem to hear her, concentrating on her flying. "Let! Me! Go!" she protested, wrenching herself free from the grasp of the two strangers and taking to flight on her own power. The bat pony and pegasus did not try to grab her, allowing her to fly back down and retrieve Starcrash. Dash made it halfway before the dragon zoomed past her, Starcrash under one arm and Far Out under the other, hindquarters facing outward. Like the other three, the wore a full-body disguise, though his was made of tin foil.

The unicorn saw Rainbow Dash and waved. "Hey, man! Told ya I'd get help!"

Starcrash stirred, feeling a sense of vertigo as her eyes opened. Instead of a hard surface to wake up on, she instead felt most of her body sag under gravity, with only something wrapped around her waist keeping her from falling. She looked up, seeing the head of a dragon, then back down to where she'd been knocked out. Her book was still in the now-ablaze tent, and she panicked.

Using every bit of her power, she reached out both her hands to seize the book from afar. The spellbook in turned lifted slightly with its telltale aura, and Starcrash's heart soared when the tome took off toward its master.

Only to be stomped hard to the ground by General Watcher's hoof. Her heart sank.

He held it in place, scowling at her. "I'll keep this."

She was too far away now. The aura around her hands faded and her connection with the book broke. It stopped moving, and she cursed to the night before falling slack with defeat.

Author's Note

Starcrash (aka The Visitor)

Chapter Three: Shaking it Up

With the entire base too busy trying to put out the fires, none of the pegasus guards gave chase. Dash followed behind their rescuers, coming behind the dragon in the air to talk to Far Out.

"These the people you were talking about?"

"Yeah, man! Gotta say, we cut it pretty close back there!"

"Uh huh."

Dash didn't see him as having any more useful information, and glided forward to the dragon with Starcrash under his scaly limb.

"Thanks for the help back there."

The dragon kept its eyes on the sky as it flew. "Talk when we land. Not now."

She anticipated similar responses from the griffon and pegasus, and instead turned her head to Starcrash herself, now fully awake with one hand resting on the cheek of her helmet. She looked over to Dash, then motioned across the assembled air corps that had pulled them from the fire.

Dash shrugged. "Yeah, I don't know these guys either."

Starcrash tossed her hands up in exasperation, resigned to be ferried into the sky.

General Watcher sifted through the ashes of his former FOB, pushing apart burnt fabric and soot. All around him, soldiers ran every which way attempting to control the remaining fires, but it was rather pointless now; the entire tent was gone.

Still, it could've been worse. He still had the ship. He still had the artifacts. And now? He had the intruder's weapon. With that in mind, he turned and walked over to a temporary lab set up among the ruins of the base, where two of the scientist unicorns with gas masks were busy prodding the recovered spellbook where Watcher had stomped it down.

He worked a growl into his question. "So. What is it?"

One of the unicorns kept concentrating on the tome, speaking as he probed it with magic. "As it looks, sir. It's a spellbook."

"I figured out that much."

"Specifically a grimoire. It's not just a catalog of spells, the book itself is magical. An object of magical focus, but far more advanced than anything I've ever seen."

"Any of the spells in this thing look familiar?"

"Sir, we've never seen this language before, or anything like it. It'll take years for us to translate it."

The general raised his nuzzle towards the sky, just looking at the stars for the first time in ages. "Luckily, I think we know someone who can help with that. In the meantime, this book and everything else needs more security. We're taking this stuff to Stable Zero."

One of the unicorns tried to lift the book with his own magic. He managed to get it two inches off the ground before an arch of sparks flashed danced between the horns of both unicorns and the book, causing them to become engulfed in red energy. Both scientists screamed, disappeared into a flash, and were gone.

A moment later they were deposited out of another flash of energy a few feet off the ground. Wobbling, they weakly brought themselves up, clutching their heads. When they noticed the general staring at them in disbelief, they looked to each other, seeing grey snouts with black lines. They'd been turned into zebras.

The scientists panicked together. Observing them lose their minds for a moment, General Watcher then looked over his shoulder and snarled an order.

"Medic!"

Las Pegasus loomed ever closer in the sky. Dash had asked where in the city they were going, but again was rebuffed by a promise that they'd only talk once they'd landed.

Starcrash hadn't said anything since losing her book, stoically waiting out the airlift with cross arms. When they were close enough to the cloud city, they suddenly whipped around to under the main cloud foundation, rising from below. The pegasus traced the underside of the cloud with her hoof, falling on a section at the northeast end. With a confident nod, she led the way, the others right behind her. They all flew up through the bottom of the cloud, rising up into the suburbs of Las Pegasus, far from the main hub of hotels and arcades that made up the city's center.

Dash was the first to land, and out spilled the questions.

"Alright, who are all of you?"

The dragon dropped Far Out from his grip. The unicorn landed on his back, his horn glowing as the cloud-walking spell kicked in. "My name's Far Out, ma-"

"I know who you are! Who are the rest of you?"

The other two touched down as well, giving Dash her first good look at them as they shed their clothes.

The pegasus was female, silver fur and black hair with green highlights, a cutie mark of a censored file with a magnifying glass over it on her flank. The bat pony, also female, was a dark member of her species with a purple mane and an eclipse cutie mark, watching Dash with half-lidded crimson eyes.

Whatever their relation to Far Out was, they seemed much more serious and, well, competent.

That left the dragon: a green, lithe, clearly male one with black membranes for his wings and the spikes that ran down his back. His horns, white as ivory, swept back from where his spines began and curved downwards in a spiral. After he pulled off his ninja suit and Far Out's tin foil, Dash realized the hunch on the dragon's back wasn't a deformity at all; instead, it was a large radio, tied around his waist, cord and headphones dangling on the side. He balled all the disguises into a ball, tossing it forwards. The wad bounced off a building and into a trash bin, the lid shutting down behind it.

"First thing's first," the pegasus announced. "Far Out! Do the spell."

Far Out imitated a very bad salute. "Yeah, man!"

Getting up, he pointed his horn at Starcrash. She recoiled, throwing her arms up defensively. When no attack came, she slowly lowered them to see that instead of getting ready to blast her, Far Out had just held his horn toward her, his horn glowing green as a similar aura covered her. The unicorn ceased his spell, and the aura around Starcrash faded until it disappeared.

The dragon placed Starcrash down, much more politely than Far Out. Once firmly settled on the cloud, she bounced on the heels of her boots a few times, testing the give of the surface. Somewhat certain she wouldn't immediately fall through her doom, Starcrash pointed to the pegasus, then held out her palm face-up.

"Yes, I suppose we owe you that much," the pegasus answered. She pointed to herself. "My name is Truth Seeker. My changeling friend here is Reduviidae-"

"Red," the bat pony corrected.

"Wait, changeling?" Dash asked.

Red lifted a leg, seeing grey fur. "Oh. Right."

In a green flash of light, the bat pony disappeared, replaced by a female changeling with greyish green chitin, a grey thorax, black wings, and glossy crimson eyes. Starcrash backed up a bit from the transformation, but relaxed when the insect didn't seem ready to attack her or anyone else.

"And our friendly dragon companion here is Scourge."

Starcrash barely reacted to Truth Seeker's introductions and turned to Rainbow Dash expectantly.

"Yeah," Dash started, "I don't think she can actually understand any of us, at all."

Truth Seeker's eyes widened in surprise. "Really? Far Out kept going on about all the secrets to the universe she shared with him."

"And you believed him?"

The pegasus and changeling looked at each other.

"She's got us there, Truth," Red stated.

Truth Seeker agreed with a nod. She ignored Far Out's hurt "harsh, man..." in the background, instead walking up Starcrash and producing a magnifying glass out of nowhere, touching her eyeball to it and bringing it upon Starcrash for scrutiny. Her attention first wandered to Starcrash's damaged chest plate, now sporting a small hole at the point of impact, with a network of cracks radiating outward along with black scorch marks.

"Hm. Converged magic bolt strike. Should have sent you out for a few weeks, at least. But here you're standing." She turned to Rainbow Dash. "When did this happen?"

"Right before you guys showed up."

"High-grade magic-resistant armor. Notable rune-setting all over. Integrated communications array on arm, obviously damaged."

Her magnified eye turned upward, examining Starcrash's helmet.

"Reflective visor, material unknown...antenna...speaker system..."

She put her magnifying glass away, then closed her eyes, sucking up a long gulp of air.

What came next was a delighted squee, the pegasus dancing on the tips of her hooves.

"I can't believe it! Far Out wasn't wrong! An actual visitor! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

She picked up Red, twirling her around. "At long last! Contact!"

Far Out jumped at them, expecting Truth Seeker to pick him up in the tornado of affection. Instead, she batted him as soon as he drew near, continuing to spin with her changeling friend.

It took her a minute to calm down, letting Red go and flying up to Starcrash's visor, giddy.

"I have so many questions! Where are you from? What's your government called? Is it a federation? Why did you crash? Did you crash on purpose? How much of the galaxy's energy output are you able to harvest for your civilization? Does your FTL work by creating wormholes in spacetime? Does-"

Starcrash brought a flat palm to her neck, swinging it from side to side.

The pegasus pony's eyes went wide and she swiftly sank to the ground, hooves covering her mouth. "Oh. Right. Language barrier. But wouldn't someone like you have a Universal Translator?"

Red put a hoof to her face. "Truth, we've been over this. There's no way a practical universal translator could exist for something on the scale of galactic civilization. She probably-"

Dash interrupted. "I think she had one, but it broke."

"Oh."

The dragon finally spoke. Harsh, and low. "Are we gonna stay out here forever?"

Truth Seeker rolled her eyes. "Right. Guess we should head back to the headquarters, at least. But first..."

Dash saw the pegasus give a curt nod to someone behind her. Her vision went black as a black sack was thrown over her head.

The hood came off. Dash's vision returned to reveal a soda shop, the blinds on the windows closed and empty save the crew from earlier sitting at one of the booths with Starcrash. Except the dragon, right behind her with the black hood clutched in his claws.

"Wait, what?" Dash questioned. To her, almost no time had passed. "Wasn't I just...?"

She decided to drop it and walk over to the booth.

Despite her size, the alien was still able to sit upright on the seat meant for ponies, her helmet off and placed to the side of the table. On her side of the booth was Red and Truth Seeker, watching her closely while Far Out had the other side to himself, also paying attention, but doing poorly at it. She was busy balancing spoons with her magic, both her hands raised and delicately controlling the magical aura around the utensils, with beads of sweat rolling down the side of her face.

Best be upfront, Dash thought. "Your headquarters is your soda shop?"

Far Out turned to her, one of his arms resting on the booth. "Hey, man, we put up the 'closed' sign."

"And what is she doing?" Dash asked, pointing to Starcrash.

Truth Seeker raised a hoof. "First off, this isn't my soda shop. It's my mom's. She's on vacation. Second...Starcrash, you've been calling her? Just started doing this on her own."

"We think it's some summoning ritual," Red deduced.

"Or," Dash countered, "she's trying her magic without her book."

Truth Seeker produced the magnifying glass again, inspecting the spoons. "A book you say?"

"Yeah. I think she dropped it when you guys rescued us. She was using it like some kind of, I dunno. Thing you use to make magic more..." she trailed off, twirling her hoof in the air as she struggled to find the word. "Magic-y?"

The pegasus brought the magnifying glass to bear on Starcrash, who noticed her inspection and leaned back slightly.

"Hm. Yes. Quite. Interesting. Elementary. Indubitably."

Scourge grunted. "Quit stalling."

"Right! It makes sense that she would have some kind of mobile tool, for focus and direction. But at the same time, not totally reliant on it. I believe I mentioned this in our meeting about possible scouting techniques an interstellar-"

Red raised her hoof. "Look, we only know what Far Out has told us. That is, we know nothing. Rainbow Dash has apparently been around her the longest. Dash, what do you know about our guest here?"

Dash scratched the back of her head. "Ehh, not much. I saw her ship crash."

"So did half the city. Then they just said it was a special kind of firework and everyone bought it, except us."

"And I was the one who pulled her out. I think she was the only one inside."

"Single person crew. Okay."

"And she pretty much fixed her ship using magic. Then we got jumped."

"Autonomous field repair. That's something."

"Aaaaand I heard the general say he wants to dissect Starcrash."

"Ugh!" Truth Seeker uttered. "General Watcher! He's been around here for years, always mooching off the city to blow on military stuff. Sometimes he comes here too, and doesn't tip."

"Anything else?" Red asked.

"I think that's everything."

"So you're saying," Far Out tried to reason, "Starcrash is from the Galactic Commune? And here to bring about world peace? Bring Equestria into a golden age? And hook me up with some groovy alien pony chicks with antennae?"

Red kept her deadpan expression. "No. No. No. Extremely No."

"Aww..."

"Anyway!" Truth Seeker declared, stomping one hoof on the table.

The pyramid of spoons Starcrash had worked so hard to build came crashing down. She dropped her face against the table.

"We call ourselves the Star Society! We are brave investigators, finding out what the government doesn't want you to know about outer space!"

Red shrugged. "We mostly just sit at this booth and talk about science fiction."

"Semantics!" Truth Seeker retorted, "Las Pegasus has been a hub of UFO activity for years! We knew, eventually, this day would come! And when Far Out woke us all up in the middle of the night and once we figured he wasn't making it up, we knew we had to help!"

Dash prodded their plan. "So you decided to rescue us, and then...?"

"Hide here," Red admitted. "We also have the War Room in the back, for forming strategies," she added, pointing to a sketchy-looking door in the back that had a piece of paper labeled 'STAR SOCIETY ONLY' taped to it.

"You have to have a better plan than that!"

"We had plans," Red explained, "but all the ones I drew up involved how to prepare against orbital bombardment by a Type 2-minimum civilization with complete space superiority."

Truth Seeker spread her wings with pride. "And all the ones I came up with were how to spread the news of the truth once visitors touched down in Canterlot and announced their peaceful intentions!"

Rainbow Dash beckoned at Starcrash, now involving herself bending the spoons with her arcane might. "I don't think that's the case here! We need to get her home!"

The pegasus jumped into the air. "A plan will be drafted! To the War Room!"

Scourge finally joined the conversation, his massive girth passing the lot of them as he moved towards the labeled door. "I'll go set up the equipment."

Truth Seeker kept working herself up. "And while he does that? And while he prepares us for our greatest undertaking ever?!"

She suddenly sat down and pulled Starcrash and Red into a group hug. "I'll make some shakes. You like cherry?"

The only sounds in the darkness were the hum of a cheap air conditioner and Starcrash slurping down the remains of her cherry shake with a straw.

Truth Seeker stumbled around in the pitch black, mumbling something about the switch moving. After some struggling and what sounded like a bucket being knocked over, Truth Seeker cried out "aha!" and flicked something, bringing light.

Covering the walls, floors, ceiling, and the door they'd just entered, was a map of the stars. This was even beyond any star chart Rainbow Dash had seen in Twilight's possession, meticulously pasted together from photographs and old book clippings to give a nearly 360-degree panorama of the heavens around Equestria's planet.

Besides the room's background, there was also a large round table sitting in the middle, the center of the flat surface dominated by a large mound of delicate electronic equipment and a large radio, hissing on a dead channel. A small workbench also sat to the side of the room, with various gadgets of dubious practicality lying in a half-finished state on the surface.

"This is the War Room, huh?" Dash asked, floating towards the center, her eyes fixed on the paper stars. Starcrash was similarly amazed, but unlike Rainbow Dash's casual gaping, her eyes fixed on a line of stars on the ceiling and followed them, going around the table (setting her helmet down on it as she passed), down the wall, and then crouched down near the bottom right corner of the room. The others looked over her shoulder.

Red pointed at the photo of the constellation, labeled 'Truth Seeker's Ladle'. "Is that where you're from?"

Starcrash looked behind her to see the entire gang staring at her expectantly. She took her thumb and traced an oval around the constellation, and several outlying stars, before bringing it back and placing her index finger on a single star, a dim point of light just barely visible on the map.

Truth Seeker prodded Red with a hoof. "Ha! My constellation was closest! You owe me a shake!"

"We get them for free here anyway."

"You still owe me one!"

"Guys," the dragon interjected, "we need to talk about what we're doing next."

"Fine," Truth Seeker pouted.

They all left Starcrash to continue tracing out the star map as they filed onto their chairs. Once settled, Scourge ducked under the table, ruffling through some junk before springing back up, a remote in his claws. He pushed the big red button and the lights dimmed, a projector screen slowly drifting down from the ceiling at the far end of the room.

When it had unfurled completely, Scourge punched out a hole in the mountain of electronics in the middle of the table. Somewhere within the mound, a projector began to play, its beam of light casting a map of Equestria on the screen.

Truth Seeker got up, flying over to a map. She smacked an abstract drawing of Las Pegasus. "We're here."

She moved over a bit to the right, her hoof landing on a small patch of forest. "Starcrash, well, crashed here: Sweethollow Woods."

Scourge leaned forward, turning a crank on the projector. The map zoomed out, showing a much larger portion of the land.

Truth Seeker motioned a wide circle around Las Pegasus "Based on my expert research, I have reason to believe that the legendary 'Stable Zero' is buried somewhere within this radius of Las Pegasus, and the general's probably already started moving everything there."

Dash had never heard of that. "Stable Zero?"

"Top secret research facility. Alien artifacts. Really weird magic. Things so secret, even the princesses don't know about them."

"About that," Dash brought up, "Why don't I just fly back to Canterlot and tell Celestia about this? She'll take my word over that nutcase's any day."

Truth Seeker put both her hooves on her hips. "No offense, but when was the last time she actually saved the day?"

Rainbow Dash quickly raised a hoof in protest, then slowly put it back down, unable to articulate a response. She looked over to Starcrash, now watching their presentation intently.

Truth Seeker saw the alien watching as well, and rather clearly nudged in her direction, asking Dash to explain all this to her.

Dash tried, flying up to the map while facing Starcrash. "YOUR. SHIP. GO. SECRET. PLACE."

Starcrash rolled her eyes, insulted.

Attempting to salvage her explanation, she flew over to the pile of junk, throwing bits aside until she finally located a red marker. She went back to the map, drawing a circle and crude drawing of her crashed spaceship around Sweethollow Woods. She pointed at Starcrash.

"This is where you crashed!"

Then drew an arrow to the circle, along with adding a few question marks.

"This is...where they took it?"

Starcrash thoughtfully scratched her chin.

Truth Seeker smiled. "I think she gets it."

Dash threw the marker away. "Now what?"

Truth Seeker hurled herself into the air and landed on top of the electronic hill, striking a pose. "We, the Star Society, will find Stable Zero and return Starcrash home! Isn't that right, Starcrash?"

Silence.

"Isn't that right, Starcrash?"

Dim flashes of light and the sound of crackling metal answered them. They all looked over to see Starcrash hunched over the workbench, her helmet on as a makeshift welding mask while she tinkered with something on the bench.

It was at that point Scourge realized the alien had absconded with quite a few of his radios and other appliances from the middle of the table. Most of them were already torn open, wires and vacuum tubes covering the table.

The dragon immediately pushed back his seat and stomped over to the working alien. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"

Starcrash looked over her shoulder to see the husky dragon on the warpath, and snapped back to her task, working even faster. Just as he grabbed her shoulder to spin her around, she twisted and held her project up high, producing a small metal box crudely welded and covered in wiring. Dash noticed the forearm she'd been typing on before was also torn up; did she salvage it for parts?

Upon seeing the mysterious gizmo Starcrash had created, Scourge took a step back.

"What...is that?" he questioned, then leaned in. "How did you...?"

Starcrash seemed to notice one last thing that needed fixing, leaning her head in for a better look. She then brought two of her fingers against the wayward wire, her arms shaking with strain as the tips of her fingers were shrouded in blue mist. A bright, white arc flared from her fingers, followed by the sizzle of copper upon metal.

She checked for any more faults, holding it at every angle. After passing inspection, she walked over to the table and plopped the box on the table, clicking over the three switches on the front. Despite its size, it crackled with power as the battery filled the machine with life, then fell quiet.

Quiet.

A soft, sharp noise emanated from the box. The tiny light bulb mounted on the top pulsed with light with every time it beeped, building with radiance and then a fading to darkly glowing lead, repeating the cycle with every new tone.

Dash began to ask what it was, but Starcrash stopped her, holding up a hand and pointed to the map on the wall.

She held the device out in front of her, walking about the room. When she turned towards the door of the War Room, the beeping became one long time. Subtle, but noticeable. She walked closer to it, pointing the box around like a divining rod until the beeping became a single long tone, the light shining without interruption. After holding in position for a moment, she looked over to the rest of the room, watching her in confusion.

She tapped her device with a finger, then brought a palm above her eyes, as if looking for something. Lastly, she brought her hand low, raising it towards the ceiling while making the sound of a rocket taking off.

"Wait," Scourge muttered, looking over to the mutilated electronics on the workbench. His toothy jaw went slack.

"It's a homing beacon."

"And since Sweethollow Woods is that way," Red reasoned, pointing to the opposite end of the room, "then that must mean..."

"They've already moved the ship!" Dash finished, "To that Stable Zero place! We just gotta follow the noisy box!"

Dash went up to Starcrash, pointing at her invention and then to herself, smiling.

Starcrash looked up to see the rest with eager, helpful smiles. She considered the help at her disposal, then flipped a switch on the side of the gizmo, turned it off, and gave a thumbs up.

The Star Society cheered.

"Red!" Truth Seeker dictated, "fetch the finest sleeping bags!"

"The ones under the cash register?"

"The very same! Tomorrow, Operation: Space Rush begins!"

Starcrash slowly stirred awake. Her blue eyes drifted open, and she sat up, rubbing her the bandaged part of her noggin. She grumbled, grasping at the gauze and pulling it off, freeing her blonde hair. Smacking her lips a few times, she looked around to see the stars of the War Room, and empty sleeping bags covering the floor. The dragon, the bug, and the two horses were nowhere to be seen, but she heard whinnies from outside the door and had a pretty good guess where they were.

She reached over on the table, grabbing her helmet and snapping it into place. The inside of the visor flared to life, its welcome HUD booting up and bringing high-definition readouts to her field of vision.

With that, she hopped off the table, grabbed her beacon, opened the door, and readied herself to face a new day on the strange world she found herself marooned on.

Author's Note

Truth Seeker

Chapter Four: Falling Down

She emerged from the room and was immediately pulled to the side, dragged under the counter by Scourge. Before she could protest, she saw the dragon raise a finger to its mouth, telling her to shush. Starcrash looked down the counter; Rainbow Dash and Far Out were also

A round of knocking came at the door. Starcrash threw the dragon's grip off and peeked over the counter, looking at the opaque door. Truth Seeker and Red were and both sides, arguing with each other in shouted whispers.

"How did they find us so quickly?!" Truth Seeker moaned.

"Calm down!" Red assured. "Your mom never announces when she's going on vacation! They probably think she's still here!"

"And?"

"And!"

Red ran over to the War Room, going inside and shutting the door behind her. A green light flashed from under the door, and a second later a new white pony with a light brown mane opened the door. On her flank was a cutie mark of a pink smoothie.

She trotted over to the door, gesturing for Truth Seeker to duck behind the counter as well. She complied, smushing herself between Rainbow Dash and Far out as Red opened the door.

Standing there was a yellow pegasus, wearing a black suit, sunglasses, and wide-brimmed back hat. His expression was even more stonefaced than Red's.

"Hello," he began without asking. "Ms. Seeker? Sweet Seeker?"

"...Yes?" Red lied.

The pony reached for his glasses, taking them off and tucking them into the front pocket of his shirt. He reached into a pocket, taking out a picture of a very familiar pony with a rainbow mane. "Do you know who this is?"

Red feigned ignorance. "Lightning Burst, I think it was?"

"Rainbow Dash. Have you seen her? She is under investigation. We have reason to believe she is guilty of treason, and a danger to herself and her friends."

The general had made her an outlaw.

Red did her best to play out the rest of the conversation, playing dumb as the pegasus detailed Dash's false crimes in detached, sterile terms.

Dash's shock turned to anger. The general was willing to pull her name through the mud! And that was just because she was famous! Everyone else? He'd just make them...vanish!

She couldn't hold it in. She jumped over the counter, walking right in the direction of the serious pegasus, wanting him to see her.

He noticed. "Is that Rainbow Dash?"

Red looked over to see the furious Dash, then turned back with a "well, now what?" frown.

"You're not really Sweet Seeker, are you?"

Dash saw an opening and rushed forward, grabbing the pegasus and pulling him inside the soda shop, bucking the door closed behind her. She pinned him to the floor.

"Who do you think you are?!" Dash growled.

"Classified."

"I don't care if it's classified, you-"

"No, that's my name."

He looked over to the bar. "They're behind the counter, aren't they?"

Far Out came out first. "Good guess, man."

He regarded the unicorn for a second, and his neutral expression finally broke into a glower. "I don't like you."

Truth Seeker came up next, then Scourge. He looked over to the disguised Red.

"Changeling?"

She reverted to her normal form.

"Unfortunate."

With everyone he had just moments before been described as gone accounted for, his attention turned back to Dash.

"Where's the Intruder? We have witnesses of it with you."

Dash almost told him she was behind the counter as well, but stopped herself and spun another tale. "She ran off! Zapped us with some kind of memory-wiping ray!"

"Which part."

"What?"

"Which part of your memory did it erase? The part where it ran off, or the part about the memory-wiping ray itself, an event you somehow remember?"

"Uhhh."

Dash looked up, hoping the others to fill the holes in her story. They were likewise lost.

"Uhhhmm..."

The agent raised an eyebrow, and beads of sweat poured down Dash's face as her story fell apart.

"Ermmmm...!"

Starcrash hurled a tied, chained, blindfolded Classified into the stallion's bathroom. She slapped the door shut with her magic, then locked it, dusting off her hands.

Dash tapped the door. "And that's why Applejack is the Element of Honesty."

Turning to the rest, she took charge. "Alright. We obviously can't leave him locked in there forever, so we have to find it even faster now!"

"Yes!" Truth Seeker screamed. "It's time to rock and roll! Space Rush is a go!"

The bolted away from the group, kicking open the door and flying off. They looked to Red for an answer.

"She's gonna go to the library and try to find the base in government records. Meanwhile, I'll make them chase ghosts."

With a green flash, Red transformed into a perfect imitation of Starcrash. She likewise bolted towards the door, looking both ways before running out into the alley.

Dash looked to the dragon, and Far Out. "What about you two?"

Scourge crossed his arms. "I'll set a forest on fire. Get their attention."

"And I'll keep an eye on the suit in the bathroom, man!"

Dash looked to Starcrash. "Guess that leaves us and your doodad there."

She held out a hoof. "C'mon, if I have it we'll cover way more ground."

Starcrash clutched her beacon away from Dash.

"I get it," Dash relented, "Don't want me to break it?"

Starcrash pointed it around the soda shop until the beeping quickened in pace, then pointed out towards the more urban area of Las Pegasus.

Dash rubbed her head. "Through the city? Even if I picked you up and flew over, ponies would see you."

Starcrash ignored Dash's concerns, slowly creeping over to the door and peeking outside. The door led directly to a boardwalk street, one of many meant to accommodate creatures not gifted with cloud-walking. When the coast was clear, she motioned for Rainbow Dash to follow.

She walked up behind the alien, still wondering what her plan was. "You realize you can't just run through the streets, right?"

The alien didn't answer, instead studying the busy skyline of the tourist resort in one direction. She shook her head; obviously not the best route. Instead, her attention turned to an alley right in front of them, a gap between buildings where there was no wooden floor, only the white tuft of a cloud.

She hopped out the door, running over to the alley and ducking between the buildings. Once her boots hit the cloud proper, it pressed down under her weight, the spell letting her walk on them still working. Dash followed, flying up beside Starcrash.

Starcrash brought out her gizmo once more, testing the direction she needed to go. She found the signal strongest below Rainbow Dash, below the clouds. Dash noticed this too and scratched her head.

"I guess I could take you to the edge and fly you down. I dunno, you seem pretty heavy."

Dash felt something being pushed into her hooves. She looked down, seeing the beacon sitting in her grasp. She looked up just in time to see Starcrash blasting a hole through the cloud and jumping through the gap, her arms spread wide.

She reached out. "Wait! What are you doing?!"

Dash spun around in a panicked fit, checking to see if anyone was watching before she threw the beacon through the hole and took off after the falling Starcrash. By the time she'd caught up, she was already halfway to the ground. She'd changed her position from the initial fall, having turned upside-down and falling through the hair with her back to the ground, arms and legs crossed, watching Dash pursue her.

When Dash caught up in the dive, she held out a limb. "Grab my hoof!"

Instead of that, she instead pointed to the beacon Rainbow Dash had thrown in the hole as well, tumbling through the air a good distance behind them. Somehow, through the visor, Dash could see disappointment.

Dash's eyes furrowed. "You care about that more than your life?!"

Starcrash rolled over and spread her arms once more. This time, both her hands flared with her blue aura as she began to slow in her descent. Dash overshot her, making her stop midair and look up, dumbfounded. Was this how she'd survived the crash?

The beacon shot past her. It took a moment for her to register what it was, and by then it was almost to the ground. She threw everything she had into the first beat of her wings, closing it on the prize as the ground loomed ever larger. Only feet from the ground was she able to snatch it.

She held it over her head, triumphant, then set it on the ground. Then she remembered the person she left behind and looked up to see Starcrash gradually drifting to the ground.

As Stacrash approached the earth, the magic around her hands began to fade, and she brought both hands together in front of her, merging both auras into a single larger one. It flared with new energy, but even that began to fade as Starcrash's arms became droopy with fatigue. Like a popped bubble, her aura simply vanished. She resumed her freefall, her limbs scrambling wildly.

Dash rushed back up into the air, just barely catching her in time. She hovered them both back to solid ground gradually, letting go when Starcrash's boots touched down.

When Dash let go, Starcrash walked forward, looking down at her hands. She squeezed her hands a few times, then tugged on one of her shoulders with an uncomfortable grunt, as if it ached.

"Kinda hard without your spellbook, huh?"

She craned her head up to where she had fallen from and made an impressed whistle, then looked to her hand and balled it into a fist. She talked aloud to herself, her tone one of satisfaction.

Dash walked over her, holding out the beacon. "You dropped this."

Picking the box out of her hooves, Starcrash examined the beacon, then leveled it in the direction where she could get a single tone. It led into a forest, the trees closing into a deep mass of woods.

Starcrash rolled both her hands out to the side, pointing at the forest in an 'after you' motion. Rainbow Dash led, Starcrash right behind her, constantly prodding at the device to maintain its lock.

After following the signal for some time, they came to a sheer cliff. The device continued to make its monotone beep. Still, Dash's patience wore thin. She sat down, throwing up her hooves.

"We'll never find it at this rate!" she groaned.

She spun around, reaching out the beacon. "If I flew around with that thing, we'd find your ship a lot faster!"

Again Starcrash pulled away.

"So what if you're the only one who knows how it works? You need every bit of help you can get down here!"

The alien pulled back at her outburst. If nothing else, she recognized Dash's frustrated tone, and looked to her invention. Her tense stance relaxed, and she began to bring the beacon back from her clutched grasp.

Just when she seemed to be making a motion to give it to Dash, growls came from the brush. The noise spread all around them until it came from every direction of the woods. Green, glowing eyes appeared between the trees. They pushed forward, and their owners stepped into the light.

A massive pack of birch timberwolves, their white bark set starkly against the greenery of the woods, began to push towards Starcrash and Rainbow Dash, surrounding them.

As the circle tightened, Rainbow Dash looked to Starcrash, her stance ready for a fight and her aura glowing her free hand. She might be able to break a fall with her magic, but had shown no ability to fly on her own. She was stuck.

Dash's didn't consider leaving her for a second. She stomped the ground, teeth grit. "You want a fight?!"

One timberwolf lunged at Rainbow Dash. She turned and bucked it straight in the nuzzle. Its wooden head was sent backward, splintering into the rest of its body. It shattered, a burst of branches and leaves falling to the ground.

"How about now?!"

Dash's defeat of one of their comrade only emboldened the rest of the pack, and their snarling reached a fever pitch as they continued their advance. Two more attacked, jaws open.

The first went for Starcrash, leaping at her head. She crouched down, jumping up and smashed the timberwolf apart with an uppercut.

The other ran at Dash. Instead of a kick, she instead sidestepped the creature, flying up and grabbing its haunches. Thrusting into the air, she backflipped and smashed the timberwolf into pieces with a flying suplex.

With three of their wolves nothing more than wood, a few whimpered and backed away. Then a larger timberwolf, its bark chipped and partially covered in moss, came to the front of the pack, barking at the ones having second thoughts. The pack regained its resolve, and with a howl from the alpha, they all attacked at once.

The fight devolved into a vulgar brawl. Claws and teeth came from everywhere, snapping and swiping to deliver a mortal blow. The few times she saw Starcrash in the melee, the alien was blasting timberwolves apart with her magic, along with pummeling them to pieces with her free fist.

Dash bucked, wrestled, headbutted, and divebombed her way through the pack, several times just barely missing the jaws of an attacker. After an exhausting slog, the numbers began to fade, with many of the remaining wolves running back off into the woods, tails tucked between their legs.

Sure the last was gone, she searched around for Starcrash, calling out her name.

After a few cries, she saw a giant pile of branches begin to move and Starcrash emerge out of the refuse, dusting herself off. She flew up to her with spread wings, giddy from their victory.

"That was awesome! Gimme hoof!"

She held a hoof out. Starcrash seemed to know the gesture very well, making a fist and bumping it with her hoof, before pulling it away, waving her fingers. As she did, she saw something behind Rainbow Dash and jumped back with surprise.

Before Dash could react as well, a row of wooden stakes bit down on her right wing, and she screamed in pain. The alpha had leaped onto her back, its large jaw shut tight. She tried to buck it off, but the alpha just dug in even harder.

Starcrash sprung forward, diving over the old timberwolf. She sprang up and kicked the timberwolf in its side, forcing it to let go and deal with her. The alpha spun its head around and snarled loudly, cut short when Starcrash seized the timberwolf by the throat.

Her hand, and the timberwolf, surged with magic. The alpha's ears went down and it whimpered, then exploded into a thousand tiny splinters.

Pushing through her exhaustion, Starcrash ran over to the injured Rainbow Dash, laying on the ground and groaning. The timberwolf had bitten her hard, and a few teeth remained lodged in her wing. Starcrash reached out to touch it, but Dash stood up and pushed her away.

"It's okay, I've had way worse."

She tucked in her wings, then winced as the injured one shot a sharp pain up her spine. She held it out from her body, frowning. "I don't think I'm using this one any time soon. So much for flying."

Dash worked through the pain, then a new sensation reached her. A familiar sound in a constant cycle. Her eyes went to Starcrash's other hand, still gripping the beacon. Through the entire fight, she'd never let go of it or turned it off. Still carrying out its purpose, it quietly toned in the hard-fought silence of the forest.

She chuckled, nodding her head at the gizmo. "Heh. You know you never let go of that?"

The woman looked at the beacon. She squeezed it, having forgotten it was there as well.

They began to snicker together. Before long, they were laughing. Hard. Especially Starcrash, who started losing herself in whoops of delight. It got to the point where fell backward on her behind, still cackling. She set the beacon down, struggling to take off her helmet between the rounds of snickers. When it was finally off her head, she tossed it aside, bringing both hands up to her mouth in a futile attempt to contain the laughter.

Eventually they both settled down, their guffaws dying out into weak chortles.

When they finally stopped, the pain in her wing returned, making Dash cringe.

Starcrash took the beacon and sat up, helping her up as well.

"You have adventures like this every time you crash?"

She pointed to Rainbow Dash's wing, then towards the sky.

"Yeah, can't exactly fly back with a busted wing. They still do balloon rides up there, though."

Dash remembered who she was talking to, and struggled to explain it with words. "I'll go up," she explained, hoof towards the sky, "you follow me," pointing to herself.

Starcrash looked to the beacon in her hand, then to the rainbow-maned horse, weighing her options. Attacked by fauna (flora?) right at the start of their mission, the day had quickly turned into a bust. The equine continued to point towards the sky, seemingly set on returning back to the clouded city to recover. She obviously couldn't fly now, so how else would they get back up there?

She noticed something in the air, round and pink, floating high above the forest. The horse followed her gaze, seeing the same thing she did. A hot air balloon, lazily moving across the sky.

Starcrash pointed at the lighter-than-air craft. Was that what she meant?

The horse neighed and nodded its head, the point understood.

"Sure they have ferries to Las Pegasus nearby, but how are you gonna get up there without being noticed?" Dash wondered aloud.

Best figure it out on the way, she thought. No telling if some of those timberwolves would come back for a second round. She turned to the path they'd walked in from.

"C'mon, let's just get back and plan our next move."

After Starcrashed retrieved her helmet, they retraced their steps out of the forest. On the way, Starcrash stayed close to Dash's side, carefully pulling out the timberwolf teeth, Rainbow Dash going "ow" with each tooth plucked.

Soon they reached the edge of the forest where they'd first entered, below the cloud city. Time had flown from their time in the forest; the sun already setting and casting the sky in an orange haze.

Dash sat down, pondering how they'd get a balloon. She almost considered trying to ask Starcrash to shoot up some kind of magical firework to flag one down, but even if she understood her, that'd only bring them unwanted attention. As she considered her options, they both noticed a black column of smoke rising on the horizon. Several dots in the sky were pushing dark clouds towards the plume, almost certainly firefighter ponies moving to kill the blaze. A few stray ones strafed around the smoke in military formation, moving in straight lines. General Watcher's ponies?

"Well, crud," Rainbow Dash commented, "guess there's a wildfire nearby. Wonder what could have sta-"

She interrupted herself, remembering what Scourge had said before they'd left. "Ooooooh."

A larger speck in the sky appeared over the trees, moving towards them. It was Scourge, smoke pouring from his nostrils. He noticed Dash and Starcrash at the edge of the forest, and slowly came into a landing, plopping himself in front of the two with a hefty landing.

Dash's eyes moved from the smoke to the dragon. "They didn't see you, right?"

"I'm hard to miss. But no."

Scourge noticed Dash's injured wing. "Timberwolves?"

"We got jumped. Mind helping us back up to the soda shop?"

"Hm. I dunno. What's in it for me?"

"You! You greedy-"

"Just kidding."

He held out a claw. Dash hesitantly walked over, letting him grab her hoof. He suddenly pulled her in, arm wrapping around her torso. With one mighty push from his wings, he lifted into the air.

With Dash in his clutches, he motioned for Stardash to come over as well, pointing up towards the cloud city. She hesitantly approached, holding out a hand. He grabbed it and suddenly took off. The beacon she had been holding in the other hand was forced from her grip, tumbling to the ground and breaking apart in a mess of circuits and cheap metal.

In a single motion, she brought up her hand and smacked the visor of her helmet, dragging in downwards.

The hole she'd made through the cloud before was long gone. Scourge flew through the bottom of the featureless cloud anyway, soaring into the alley from where they'd started. He let both of them go, then sat down himself.

Without a word, he stepped towards the soda shop, the closed sign still showing on the front door. He held the door open when he entered, giving the two of them the opportunity to check for passersby before running into the building.

Once inside, Dash took two steps and then splayed out on the floor. "What a day."

Scourge walked away, saying he was headed to the War Room to tune up some radios.

Dash noticed the three of them weren't alone in the soda shop. Far Out was at the counter, asleep, with a dozen empty smoothie glasses littering the table, snoring through his sugar coma. Truth Seeker was also present at "their" booth with a giant stack of books and files. At the moment, she was scanning some ancient parchment through her magnifier.

She realized they were there, looking up from her studied to see the disheveled pair. "Oh my gosh!"

Running over, she immediately slid up beside Dash and cradled her injured wing. "What happened?!"

"We ran into a bunch of timberwolves in the woods. We showed 'em who's boss, though."

"I knew you two shouldn't have looked for the base alone! Next time, we're all going together!"

Dash pushed Truth Seeker's hoof away. "Seriously. I'm fine. I'll be flying by tomorrow."

"Even if that were true, we can't just leave it untreated!"

She looked over to the napping unicorn on the counter, drool pooling around his mouth. "Far Out! Get the first aid kit!"

Still asleep, Far Out somehow lifted a white box with a red cross on it from behind the counter with his magic, floating it other and plopping it on the booth table.

Truth Seeker walked back over walked back over to her booth. Dash and Starcrash joined her. Starcrash seemed to understand the box's purpose, opening it and withdrawing the gauze bandages and disinfectant. Dash complained, but otherwise stood still as her nurse applied the medicine and carefully wrapped her wing.

"So," Dash asked, "where'd you get all those books?"

Content with Dash's medical attention, she cracked open one of the books at a green bookmark, scanning it. "The library. The head librarian knows me really well. Keeps trying to get me into literature."

"Find anything about the base we're looking for?"

"Maybe?"

She pulled another thick book off a tower of other works, throwing it open and pointing to the page.

"Here. Official Equestrian Allocations. A while back, then-Colonel Watcher got a hugely oversized budget from a bureaucratic error, and apparently never told anypony about it. Next year, he lists his division's main expenses as construction and stockpiling herbicides."

"Herbicides?" Dash asked.

"Stuff that gets rid of weeds. Dunno why he'd need that, though. Since the base is almost certainly buried underground, why would he be worried about some unruly plants?"

Dash's wing suddenly began to ache more intensely. The pain on her wing came with the memory of the bite. Revelation hit her.

"Truth Seeker, what about some really unruly plants?"

"Huh?"

Dash wiggled her bandaged wing.

Epiphany washed over Truth Seeker's face as well. "Oh my gosh. The Wild Weald! They're right below us!"

Another book came crashing down, opening to a map of the forest below the city, with one part of it outlined in white. "And here's a map that shows conservation areas. Look at this: there's only one for timberwolves. Kind of clever, when you think about it. Your own personal security system around your base and all you have to do is spray around if they get uppity. And wouldn't you know it, the area's "officially" "under protection" by Celestia herself. Wonder who the general had to threaten to make that happen."

Rainbow Dash leaned into the map, then sat back in a huff. "Darn! We were right on top of them!"

"Well, we can find them really fast now with Starcrash's beacon, right?"

Dash smiled nervously.

"It broke, didn't it?"

"She dropped it when Scourge flew us back up."

"Well, it's not that big of an area."

Finding the base had entered the realm of the possible. A new concern entered Dash's thoughts. "So when we find this place, how exactly are we going to get in? I don't see them opening the front door for us."

Truth Seeker frowned. "And I think Classified was being honest about him not knowing where the base was when we were tying him up. I'm gonna keep doing research. Luckily I managed to snag 'B&E: The Art of Trespassing' at the library, so I'm gonna re-read that."

"Re-read?"

"It's a primer, but still really good. Mom says checking out books like that will get me on some kind of list, but joke's on her, I'm already on every one."

She returned to her cross-referencing, determined to find some passage that was their key inside the base.

Dash remembered their guest in the bathroom and walked over to the restroom door to unlock it.

She opened the door.

Still tied and sitting inside was Classified. "I'm thirsty."

"Too bad."

She slammed the door.

The bell above the front door jingled. Everyone in the room turned to see a tall, black, red-maned alicorn stumble into the soda shop. They kept walking as everyone stared at them, just barely able to bring themselves near the booth before collapsing.

A green fire enveloped them, revealing a very exhausted Reduviidae.

Truth Seeker immediately abandoned her research and ran over to her friend. "Red! You okay?"

"I'm fine," she groused, "just tired."

"I have to ask: what disguise was that? "

Red squinted with an embarrassed sulk. "It was hard keeping the general's ponies occupied once they realized I wasn't Starcrash. I had to...improvise."

She reached for something under her wings. A small, paper card appeared in her grasp, showing the picture of a pony in uniform.

"Did manage to snatch this off one of the general's higher goons though."

"An ID card!" Truth Seeker declared. "You can use that to sneak inside!"

The changeling gave a dismissive wave. "Sure, but later. I stirred up the hive out there," she stated, tucking it back under her carapace.

Scourge leaned out of the War Room, one headphone pressed to the side of his head. "Guys? Think you're gonna wanna hear this."

He held out his headphones, turning a dial on the side of the radio. The volume became loud enough to fill the room, and they all recoiled at the sound of General Watcher's gravelly, annoyed voice.

"-effects unknown, but in the interest of public health and to reduce the effects of exposure, I am instituting an early curfew, effective today. Repeat, a curfew will go into effect at 8pm, today. Fail to comply at the peril of arrest and your own health."

The message repeated, spinning a lie about some kind of magical contamination nearby.

"What a bale of hay!" Dash hollered. "Now we can't even go out at night!"

Truth Seeker bounced in her seat. "Oh! I can still make it to the library! I forgot a book we need!"

She vaulted from the booth. Starcrash reached out to her, but by then she was already out the door.

Red, her head still down the table, assured them. "She's memorized the library. She'll be back in twenty minutes."

If there was an upside to Truth Seeker working at her mom's soda shop, it was that the library was right down the street. So many hours she'd spent there, uncovering the lies in plain sight. She'd even sent her findings to Celestia, but never received a reply.

Yet here she was, trying to help an alien that nobody outside her small circle would even truly acknowledge existed. What proof would she really have after this was all over? She put those thoughts out of her mind. She couldn't afford to just be a dot-connecting shut-in scholar now; a hero and a visitor from space depended on her, and her friends.

She turned a corner, Las Pegasus' library coming into view. Red's theft of the ID Card had given her an idea to copy it and make one for each of them, but she wouldn't be able to do that without a guidebook. A guidebook on Row 30, Shelf B, twenty-seven books from the left, right next to that green book that she wouldn't dignify with a name.

The streets were already barren, and the skies unusually quiet. What ponies she did see were whispering among themselves in hushed tones, hurrying back to their homes to avoid the general's wrath. After so many years of waiting, having his target pulled away from him by a bunch of kids had probably sent him right over the deep end. He couldn't keep this up forever; word of his crackdown would eventually reach Canterlot.

But by then? If they didn't get Starcrash home, there was no telling what damage General Watcher could do.

She passed by an alley, paying it no heed until she felt herself move against her will. A green aura had surrounded her and yanked her into the darkness before she could scream.

Forced to the cloudy ground, she tried to call for help, but her mouth was slammed shut by a white aura.

Out of the darkness stepped two unicorns, their horns casting the magic keeping her in place. A larger shadow loomed behind them, and her heart nearly stopped.

From the darkness stepped General Stalwart Watcher, his eyes hidden and his jaw clenched.

"You traitors have been giving me the run-around for a while."

She could almost hear the creaks as his scowl worked itself into a smug smirk.

"Got you now, though."

The tension had grown with the darkness outside. It had been well over an hour since Truth Seeker left; the curfew was due to go in effect any minute.

Starcrash and Scourge kept themselves occupied at the booth. She'd been trying to build another one of the beacons out of more junk, but only succeeded in gutting more electronic equipment. Dash was exercising her injured wing; gaining confidence that it'd only leave a bad bruise.

That left Red and Far Out at the soda shop's bar.

Red slammed back a lime shake and wiped the froth from her mouth. "I don't like it. She should have been back by now."

"I dunno, man. Maybe she lost her library card?"

Rainbow Dash stretched, bringing her wings back to her sides. "I'd go look for her, but I'm kinda a wanted criminal right now."

A ding above the door announced a visitor.

Truth Seeker slowly walked in, head hung low.

Red hopped off her stool as soon as she saw her.

"Truth! What took you so long?"

The pegasus didn't say anything, her face still facing the ground. Something was wrong.

Dash joined Red's concern. "Truth Seeker? You okay?"

Truth Seeker brought her head up, tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry."

The words hung in the air.

Dash's gut lurched, and she knew.

"Get down!" she ordered. She threw herself at the floor, covering her head. A beam of energy shot through one of the windows where she'd just been, blowing a wide hole through the glass and shutters. Shrieking through the air, it hit Far Out right in the head, knocking him back against the smoothie machine. He tumbled to the floor, the machine kicking to life and covering him in strawberry and lime slush.

Another array of bolts blasted through the front door above Truth Seeker's head, hitting Scourge in the back, his radio throwing out sparks. He fell out of the booth, equally disabled. Starcrash jumped from the booth and rolled to the floor beside Rainbow Dash.

Red's wings spread and she tried to fly out one of the windows, making it only halfway out before being forcefully thrown backward, hard, against the bar. She struggled to get back up, then fell limp.

In flew the general from the destroyed window, his shadowed glare looking down on all of them. Soldier ponies of all tribes began to pour into the soda shop, their weapons and magic ready to back their leader up.

Starcrash rose to challenge them, her hands alight. As she threw back one hand to sling a spell, the general threw a collar at her neck. It met its intended target and locked on. For a moment nothing happened, and then Starcrash lit up with white light as electricity surged through her. She fell face-first.

Dash ran over, catching her.

She glared at Truth Seeker. "What did you do?!"

The pegasus gave no answer, cowering away as the general approached her and her fallen friend. She could just barely make out the general's eyes under his cap, bearing down in them with hateful regard.

"How?" was the only thing Dash could ask.

"Your friend was careless. Sure, they could wear some little disguises in your big escape, but that didn't stop me from just checking the local costume store to see who'd bought a bunch of ninja costumes recently. That's the thing I like about these suburbs: everypony knows everypony. The shopkeep was more than happy to give me Ms. Seeker's name. Apparently, her activities are pretty well known around here!"

"Once I had her name, it was just a matter of a little applied pressure to get her into the streets," the general began to boast, "And the curfew worked with flying colors. Once I had her, all I had to do was explain the consequences if she didn't cooperate. Consequences that would affect many ponies. Such has herself. Or maybe, her friends."

He looked over to Truth Seeker, and the tiniest victorious smile emerged on his lips. "Or somepony even more important."

"You don't understand!" Dash tried to reason, "Starcrash isn't a threat! She just wants to go home!"

His smile vanished. "I don't disagree. She wants to go home. To what? To bring more of her kind her? To blot out the skies with their fleets? I'd expect a Wonderbolt to know better than anyone about protecting Equestria. If you even are her."

He turned away, done with the conversation. He walked towards the door, but not before giving an order to one of his officers.

"Take these traitors into custody. Including Rainbow Dash and Ms. Seeker."

"But!" Truth Seeker plead, "You said-"

He ignored her.

Dash's muscles tensed. She didn't know how, but she'd fight her way through! She spread her wings, ready to take every pony in the room on by herself.

Several soldiers brought up their horns to zap her. She somersaulted up, the bolts sizzling under her. Zipping to the side, she jumped onto the counter, snatching up the napkin dispensers and throwing it into the formation. It clonked off one unicorn's head, sending him to the ground.

She kept up the pressure. Backflipping, she touched down at the back of the counter, deftly dodging a few more bolts. She acquired a new set of weapons: ketchup and mustard bottles. Using all her might, she squeezed out the entire contents at once, a thick stream of red and yellow streaking forward and blinding many of the soldiers, their bolts going off target. When empty, she tossed both of them at the general, who simply ducked.

He'd had enough. "You can't hit her! Just grab her!"

His soldiers obeyed, rushing forward to meet her head on. She sprung from the counter, turning her hind legs to the first pegasus to get within range, bucking the air out of him. He fell flat, but soon two more took his place, jumping forward with limbs spread. She bowed, letting the two above, and then launched them into the air with her back. They spun into the air, ascending to the ceiling before crashing back down. Before they hit the floor, Dash turned to face them and threw her hooves forward, lobbing them both to the back of the soda shop. They smashed through the door of the War Room, and the sound of a table flipping over followed.

Another unicorn appeared over her shoulder. He reached to seize her, but tripped when Dash threw a hoof in front of his. He fell forward, hitting the floor.

Two more soldiers remained, a unicorn and a pegasus; all the others were out cold or digging condiments out of there eyes. They approached warily, but Dash wouldn't give them the opportunity to strike. In two bounds, she hopped onto the counter, and then jumped at her two attackers, one leg tucked into the other, elbow out, screaming. Her wrestling move connected, body falling on the unicorn and her elbow hitting the pegasus. They all slammed to the ground; Rainbow Dash the only one to rise from the feat.

She reared up, beating her chest. "Is that all you got, brass shoes?!"

The general strode towards her, none-too-pleased. "Dunno how you know my grandfather's name, but who knows what that alien's been putting into your brain."

Despite her situation, she faked a boastful laugh. "Just give it up! I took care of all your henchponies!"

"Yes, you did," he accepted, stopping face-to-face with his foe. "Now you have to deal with me."

"You? Some desk jockey? I bet you can't even-"

General Watcher threw one of his large hooves at her with Wonderboltlike speed, crashing into her face before she could react. She stumbled backward, stars swirling in her vision. The world began to darken around her.

She collected enough of her senses to ask a single question. "Bluh?"

"I didn't get this far by being slow. Goodnight, Dash."

She toppled down, her vision going black.

Author's Note

Reduviidae (aka Red) and her preferred disguise, Black Sun

Chapter Five: Sing Sing

In the sluggish thoughts of waking, Rainbow Dash felt something hard and cold against her back. Whatever she was laying on, it wasn't a cloud.

She rolled over, groaning at the throbbing headache left by the general's punch. Her surface gave way to nothing but air; she dropped down, crying out a woozy "Woah!".

The floor broke her fall, sending jolts of pain through her body. She laid there for a moment, stewing on her predicament before she heard sniffles behind her. Her eyes shot open and she sprung up, ready to confront whatever was near her.

There wasn't much to the new place she found herself in. It was a cell of some kind; white concrete, iron bars, and a single bed. Truth Seeker was in one corner, head buried in her hooves with none of her other friends to be found. She eventually processed Dash had fallen out of the bed and looked up with red, puffy eyes, only able to keep her eyes on Dash for a moment before tears welled back up and she collapsed into a bawling fit.

Dash ran over, trying to comfort Truth Seeker. "Hey! It's gonna be—"

"No it's not!" she wailed, "the general's gonna hurt Starcrash, and we're all gonna be stuck in this jail, and it's all my fault!"

"But why did you—"

"He threatened my mom, Dash! What was I supposed to do?!"

Truth Seeker's ability to speak was lost in the heaves of distraught sobbing.

Dash wished Fluttershy was there, she was much better at stuff like this. "Truth? Where are the others? Where's Starcrash?"

She had to work her way down to sniffles before she could answer. "I don't know. I think the general took Starcrash to that secret base. Wherever we are, it isn't there."

"Scourge? Red? Far Out?"

She tearfully shook her head. "They separated us when we got here. I think they put us all in cells meant to hold us. I saw them put a muzzle on Scourge so he wouldn't breathe fire."

That's when Dash realized the starkness of their own cell. Low ceiling, angular walls, and no window. Barely enough room to get up to a trot, let alone to fly in. Probably designed specifically for pegasi.

A green pony guard in full armor with a straight, clear-cut mane walked past the bars of their cell, stepping in precise motion.

"Hey!" Dash called out to the guard. She flew up to the bars, tugging on them. "Hey! Let us out of here!"

He kept going, marching past their cell.

"I know you heard me! Let us out!"

The guard stopped, turning his head to Dash in one smooth motion. "Prisoners are not to talk until their trial."

"Trial? What are you—"

He ended their exchange, bringing his head forward and resuming his patrol.

A lot of good that did her. Truth Seeker had calmed down a bit, walking over to join Dash at the bars.

"Trial?" she asked.

"I dunno, but I don't like the sound of it. Truth, you think you can use your magnifying glass to find a way out of here?"

Truth Seeker's face scrunched into an almost insulted gawp. "That's...not how that works?"

"Really? Because in Daring Do—"

"They took it from me anyway."

With Truth Seeker unable to deduce a way out of there, Dash took to checking the bars for possible faults. Nothing; the general had apparently spared no expense in the construction of their cell. Even if Dash went to the very back of the room and took off at full speed, she'd only be fast enough to crack her skull without denting the metal.

The guard passed by their cell again, in the opposite direction. This time, without prompting, the guard again turned his head towards them.

"Prisoners are not to talk until their trial."

"Uh, yeah? You already said that," Dash replied.

He stepped in front of the bars with tight lips. "Prisoners! Are not! To Talk! Until! The Trial!"

The guard put a strange emphasis on the word 'trial', and that's when Dash realized a key dangling off the front of his uniform, his eyes nervously darting to them.

Truth Seeker froze. She recognized those eyes.

"Far Out?!"

Clean-shaven and a straight mane, but it was him. He kept repeating the phrase, thrusting his chest forward so the key were pushed beyond the bars.

"Prisoners! Are—"

Dash snatched the key away. "Got it!"

Far Out immediately backed away. His guard persona dropped, and he whispered loudly. "There's a mean guard on the other end of the hall. I'm gonna go make a distraction."

He awkwardly resuming his stoic guard impersonation, marching down the hallway with discipline unnatural to him.

Soon after, they heard his distraction.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH! ALIENS ARE SUCKING OUT MY BRAINS!"

Galloping came from the opposite direction. Another guard soon passed their cell, spear clutched in his teeth.

Time for action. As soon as the guard was past them, Dash took the key into her mouth, just barely able to position it out the side. She brought her head out between the bars, craning her head just so to fit the key inside. After a quick bit of fumbling, a loud *click* sounded on the lock, and the door unlatched.

She kicked the door open, grabbing it as it swung towards the bars. Using the momentum, she threw herself forward, arcing high into the air and then landing on the guard's back. He collapsed, the wind knocked out of him.

Seeing the guard defeated, Far Out ceased his screaming, and clapped at Dash's acrobatic takedown.

Truth Seeker ran out of the cell as well, coming up to the guard and touching her eye to his. "Where are the others?!"

"Ughhhh..."

Dash tapped his head. "C'mon, we don't have all day."

The guard rolled his eyes and huffed. "Whatever. Watcher's gone nuts and I don't get paid enough anyway. The dragon's one cell block over. They put the changeling in some kind of special containment room. I don't know where it is. Can I go now?"

Dash jumped off his back. "Nah, can't let you wandering around letting everypony know we escaped."

She dragged him back to their open cell, making sure to take his keys and lock the door. The guard seemed mostly resigned to his capture; what interested Dash more was how the heck Far Out managed to impersonate a guard.

When she ran over to the far side of the hall to thank him, he was already in an embrace with Truth Seeker.

"Far Out!" Dash cried. "How the hay did you escape?"

He patted Truth Seeker on the back as he answered her question. "Oh, it was real easy. They locked me in some weird cell where I couldn't use my magic, but I just kept talking and eventually the guard came in to beat me up. Then I took his uniform!"

Dash sighed. "I hate that I believe you. When did you learn to act?"

Far Out laughed. He suddenly went stuff, springing into a salute. "Ph.D. in Applied Theater, ma'am! Now follow me, we have comrades to liberate!"

He ran off to the end of the hallway, turning right. Both pegasi followed, helping him open a heavy door that led to the next cell block. They crept into the next row of cells, Dash and Truth Seeker lurking behind as Far Out kept up the facade of a very serious guard or a pony with responsibilities.

Barely able to peek around the corner, Dash saw what had to be Scourge's cell; a thick hatch with a single viewing port inside. Frost covered the steel, with fog pouring in from the tiny crack at the bottom. A guard stood on each side of the hatch, eyes forward.

This time Far Out didn't yell a distraction. He instead walked over to the two guards, saluting them.

"Men. I'm Lt. Flank. I have orders to...take care of our dragon guest."

One of the guards eyed him suspiciously. "We weren't told about any disposals."

"Of course you weren't. Can't risk letting the prisoner know what we're doing. Your key, please."

The other guard leaned in. "Who did you say you were, again?"

"The aide of a pegasus general with a very bad temper. Now open the door."

Both recoiled, sharply saluting Far Out. "Sorry, sir! We didn't know!"

One of the guards took out a key, slotting it into the large lock in the center. He turned it, releasing the hatch to a blast of cold fog.

Far Out walked halfway in, then looked over his shoulder. "No matter what you hear, don't look inside the cell. You'll get nightmares."

The guards saluted him again, and Far Out walked inside the frigid jail. Flashes of magical light sparked from the door's frame for a while, finally prompting one of the guards to get fidgety.

"Sir? Are you almost done? General doesn't like us keeping the door open."

"Oh yeah, man! Just about through the cuffs!"

"Cuffs?"

The guards looked to each other. "Wait a minute!" they exclaimed together, but their realization came too late. When they went to run inside, two claws grabbed them by the tops of their helmets. Out of the chill air stepped a very angry, muzzled Scourge.

Far Out's green aura unfastened the muzzle around Scourge's maw, and he brought the two guards closer to his face, making sure they saw his sharp teeth.

"Where is my radio?"

"Your...your what?" one of the guards quivered.

Far Out stepped out the cell. "Man, these are just grunts. They don't know anything."

"Wait!" one of the guards gasped, "Storage! Down the hall, up the stairs! Anything any of you had when you came in had to be taken there!"

Scourge nodded, then threw both of them inside the cell, slamming the hatch shut.

Far Out stood up, looking at the two shaking guards through the window. "You sure they'll be alright in there?"

Scourge thought for a moment, then walked over, pushing Far Out from the porthole. He turned his attention to a knob on the side, connected to a snaking line of tubes that went into the wall. He turned the knob ever so slightly, bringing the indicator just an inch to the right of the cold strip of paint.

"There," he went, "that'll warm it up a bit."

Dash and Truth Seeker came out from the corner, catching Scourge's attention. "Hey."

Truth Seeker ran over, nuzzling him as she had Far Out. "Scourge! I'm so glad you're okay!"

"I am. My good radio isn't. I'm getting mad just thinking about what he did to my equipment."

"How mad?"

He held up a claw. "Livid. Let me show you."

Scourge puffed out his chest, a low billowing sound coming from deep in his belly. The bloated scales worked their way up his throat, and he opened his maw. Instead of a plume of fire, only a small puff of smoke erupted out from his mouth.

He coughed, clearing his throat while tapping his chest with a fist. "Hm. Cold took a lot out of me. Guess burning a shortcut out of here isn't happening yet."

"Not that it'd matter! We still have to get Red!" Truth Seeker stressed.

"Why don't we ask our friends?" Scourge suggested.

He went back over to the hatch, forcing it open and peeking his head inside to the two guards inside, holding each other for warmth. "If you tell me where the changeling is, I'll set this thing to room temperature."

"C-c-cell block below us!" one of the guards chattered. "B-b-but you c-c-can't get in w-without radio clearance!"

"That so? Guess I'm going to Storage, then."

Scourge slammed the hatch shut, then walked over to the knob, fulfilling his promise by turning it to the middle. He turned to the rest of the gang. "Let's go."

They took off, ignoring the two guards in the cell arguing over where Scourge set the thermostat.

The door swung open, its lock melting off the hinges.

Scourge coughed, patting down his chest again as the rest scrambled inside. "Getting better."

Stepping inside, they saw the full display of the store room's bounty. Scourge's equipment was piled into one room, and he immediately spotted it and ran over to check their viability.

Other than that, the room seemed to be chock full of confiscated equipment the general's ponies had been taking over the years. Busted protest signs, posters about aliens, an entire printing press...and Truth Seeker's magnifying glass. She quickly ran over and snatched it up.

"Welp."

They all turned to see Scourge hunched over a large radio, the one he usually wore on his back. Carrying the scar from the earlier attack at the soda shop, it had a black hole drilled neatly through the back, where the magic bolt had gone through.

He looked over the group with a frown. "Gonna have to cannibalize everything I have, but I can get it working."

Rainbow Dash pointed to one of the smaller radios. "Couldn't you just use one of those?"

"I'd give up a pile ten times this size to keep this one. Now let me work."

He quickly tore up the rest of the radios with his claws, salvaging tiny crystals or transistors to stuff into the hole of the broken one, using his fire breath to spot-weld the parts he needed to.

He worked with surprising speed, and soon enough he brought the radio upright, flipping a switch on the side. It came to life with a loud hum, and Scourge grinned. The repairs complete, he brought up the headphones to the side of his head and began to fiddle with the various dials, listening intently.

"Now if I was an insane general with a massive ego, what frequency would I put my prison on?" he asked aloud, continuing to dig through the spectrum.

Scourge's searching finally landed him on a channel of actual sound.

A pony's voice came through the clearing static. "Hello? Who is this?"

Without prompting, Far Out ran up to the radio, shouting into the receiver. "We need to inspect the shapeshifting prisoner!"

"Jeez!" the voice on the other end shouted. "Could you be any louder?!"

"Yes!" Far Out shouted, louder.

"Look, if you need the cell block unlocked, just say so. You don't have to yell."

"Really?"

"Really. Get up here in the next five minutes or I'm not opening it again."

"Right! Uh. Where is it, again?"

"Ugh. Follow the signs, you buck private dingus."

The sound of someone getting up from a chair came over the radio, with the guard on the other end muttering as he walked away. "Celestia-danged boots..."

Scourge cut the line, looking over to Far Out. "I hate that that worked."

Far Out grinned "Hey, most of these guys hate it here as much as we do."

"Whatever. We gotta get to that door and—"

They both turned to Truth Seeker.

"Where's Rainbow Dash?" Scourge asked.

Truth Seeker looked over where the pegasus had been and only saw empty air. She shrugged, as clueless as they were.

After a moment, Scourge pointed towards the open door. "I think I know where she went."

Dash had zoomed out of the room as soon as the guard has said he was unlocking the door. One floor below where they'd liberated Scourge, she made it to the heavy locked entrance of the sealed cell block, banging her hoof against the iron door.

An annoyed voice came through on the other end. "Alright, alright. Hold your saddle."

The sound of a dozen different locks being unfastened sounded and the iron door budged. The guard hadn't even bothered to see who it was, already walking away back to his post as the door slowly swung open.

"I don't know why you need to see the prisoner. She isn't going anywhere," he mumbled.

Dash tiptoed inside, leaving the door open for the others to follow when they caught up. When she was comfortably inside the cell block, she ran over behind the guard, sweeping his legs and pinning him down.

"Where's Red?" she demanded.

The guard crossed his front hooves. "Oh no. I know what this is. The general's doing some kind of test to see if I'll crack under interrogation."

"What? No! I escaped with—"

"You're obviously not the real Rainbow Dash. Just look at that mane! It isn't a rainbow! It's just segmented iridescence."

"What does that even mean?!"

"And the real Dash is more of a light teal. You're cyan. Anyway, I'm not falling for whatever this is. Who are you, anyway?"

"I'm—"

"Bet you're that recruit that got her head stuck in the radiator. Hoping this'll make up for that stunt, huh?"

"I AM RAINBOW DASH!"

The guard rolled his eyes. "Sure you are."

The door to the cell block creaked, and they both looked over to see the rest of the escapees standing there.

"Oh. Well, mistakes have been made."

"So now will you tell me?"

"Now I'm definitely not telling you. I am eighty percent sure you don't tell prisoners classified information. Seventy."

Scourge pointed over to the other side of the room. Dash looked up to see Red sitting in a large cell with a thick glass wall, magical restraints holding her in place.

The guard attempted to look lost. "That's another changeling."

Red's muffled voice came through the glass. "No it's not."

"And even if it was, I don't have the key. I kind of lost it."

Scourge grumbled, walking over to the glass and tapping it.

He nodded, then began to suck in air. His chest expanded like a balloon, puffing out his lungs until he seemed ready to pop. But instead of unleashing a messy stream of flames, he pursed his scaly lips and a small, blue stream of fire erupted from in front of it.

Scourge went to work, guiding the torch from the bottom of the glass, his chest slowly shrinking back down in size. He ran out of steam just as he was about to complete the arc, and used his strength to snap the loose, melted glass free from the rest of the wall.

He stepped inside, Truth Seeker right on his heels. Together they worked to break Red free from her restraints, and once the final lock clattered to the ground in a melted heap, Truth Seeker grabbed her changeling friend and brought her into a suffocating hug.

"Red! I'm so sorry! The general—"

Red said nothing, simply returning the hug, tears of her own welling in her eyes. After a moment, Red finally let go.

"Thanks."

Truth Seeker pulled away, wiping a stray tear. "It's not really me you should thank. Far Out was the first one to escape. If it weren't for him, we'd still be locked up."

Red saw Far Out happily waving at her from the cell block door.

"Right now I'm choosing to believe you're exaggerating for my own sanity. So, what do we do now?"

"Quietly return to your cells?" the guard suggested.

"I have a better idea," Dash announced. "We break out of here, get to that secret base, and rescue Starcrash!"

"And then quietly return to your cells!" the guard added.

"Yeah, we're not doing that. Scourge?"

The dragon walked over, grabbing the guard and throwing him into Red's former cell. Picking up the melted sheet of glass, he set it back in place behind him and used another round of fire to weld it shut, sealing the guard inside.

Dash gave the dragon a quick salute. "Thanks, Scourge. Now, how do we actually get out of this jail?"

The guard pointed at his workstation from behind the glass. "See that red button? That opens the doors to the outside."

"That's obviously the alarm button."

"Well, I tried. White button, three rows down."

Dash scanned the station until she found it, and lightly pressed it. Almost instantly, the crude lights in the prison turned dark red as bells started ringing on every wall of the cell block.

"Wait, what?!"

"Ha!" the guard exclaimed. "I tricked you! They're all alarm buttons!"

A stampede of hooves thundered in the cell above them. Sounded like the entire prison force was coming to deal with them.

Dash looked up to Scourge. "So, wanna make that shortcut now?"

Author's Note

Scourge the Dragon

Chapter Six: Take Me Home

The general glared at the alien on the other side of the glass, his eyes meeting hers. From what he could gather, the traitors had been calling the visitor 'Starcrash'. What a stupid name.

The alien had been uncooperative since she woke up, simply glaring at the one-way glass mirror in her containment cell once she came to in the chair they'd strapped her in. He'd taken every precaution to make sure she couldn't escape on her own; besides the chair, they'd also inscribed every anti-magic rune they knew of into her restraints, and had guards in her cell at all times.

The spellbook they kept as far away from her as possible. The white coats insisted that if she got a hold of her grimoire, even the restraints they had on her wouldn't be enough to keep her prisoner.

He sensed one of the scientists behind him. "Report."

"Vehicle disassembly is nearly complete, sir."

"You learned anything?"

"We know less about how the ship works now that we've taken it apart."

"Keep at it. And keep the parts segregated, just in case."

"What about the prisoner?"

"She's only said one thing since she woke up, and I get the feeling it wasn't polite. Doesn't matter. We'll learn all we need to from her book and her ship anyway. After that, she's a liability."

"Liability?"

He turned toward the scientist, staring her down. "This thing is a danger to all of Equestria. That innocent-looking package it comes in would just complicate things when I have to show my findings to the princesses. Best if it's not around at all in the end."

He turned back towards the glass. "Keep the armor, though. I'd like that stuff on my troops."

Rainbow Dash rocketed out of the new hole in the prison, the rest following close behind. As the Star Society escaped, Scourge turned for a second to belch another round of fire in the hole he'd blasted through the walls, cutting off the pegasus guards ready to chase after them.

Far Out, carried by Red and Truth Seeker, gave an excited "woo-hoo!". From the hole inside, they could see most of the guards starting to panic and flee the flames.

Now free from the building, they could see where it was. A grey, nondescript series of towers, floating on one of the outlying clouds of Las Pegasus. Rainbow Dash could make out a sign in front of it that read "EUP ARMORY - STAY OUT". A small shiver went down her spine; the general had himself a secret prison, in plain sight.

No time to dwell; they had to get to the base, and soon.

"Dash!" Truth Seeker called out, "Do you still remember where you got attacked by those timberwolves?"

"I think so!" she shot back. She scanned the forest below the city, pointing to where Scourage had picked them up the other day. "This way!"

She zoomed down, the others following her in a dive. Once near the ground, Truth Seeker and Red quickly dropped Far Out as they all scrambled inside the forest, eager to get out of sight.

Once under the cover off the canopy, they stopped to rest for a moment.

Scourge flopped down, hitting the ground with his rump. "Alright. I burned down a jail. What now?"

Dash pointed deeper inside the forest. "We keep going that way. Me and Starcrash must have been right on top of the base when we got attacked, we just never saw it."

Far Out voiced his concerns. "What about the timberwolves? What if they attack us?"

Scourge went 'ahem', getting Far Out's attention. He puffed a plume of fire out his nostrils.

"Oh. Yeah, that'd do it."

They started their journey into the woods, ignoring Far Out's outloud musings on how the timberwolves were even alive if they were entirely made of wood, and what even is wood, man, because really all that is is tree flesh and—

After a while a snarl came from the treeline, sending them all on edge. A few timberwolves emerged from the bushes, wooden teeth bared. Before Scourge could even threaten them with a display of fire, they caught sight of Rainbow Dash and immediately took off back into the woods, yelping in fear.

Red looked over to Dash. "What did you do to them?"

"Eh. Starcrash helped."

"Those were birch timberwolves," Truth Seeker observed. "We must be getting close."

Dash nodded, looking down the path they were on. "Look, there's the cliff where we got jumped. It must be just over there."

Once they arrived at the cliff, Dash cautiously fluttered up the face of it, peeking just over the edge. She didn't see anything out of the ordinary, save a lot of the forest floor being bare of grass or any kind of plant. They had to be close now. She gave the rest a sign that the coast was clear, and the flew up to meet her on the cliff's edge, bringing Far Out with them.

"What now?" Red asked.

Truth Seeker produced her magnifying glass. "Let's see. The barren area around here means this is where they have to pour most of the herbicides. If they sprayed the whole area, there'd be no timberwolves to attack trespassers."

"So where's the base?"

"Underground, most certainly, but there has to be some kind of entrance above."

"So how do we find that?"

Truth Seeker tossed her magnifying glass up. It twirled in the air a few times before landing back down on its rim, tumbling to the dirt with its handle pointing into the woods.

"Follow the handle?" Truth Seeker suggested.

Red rolled her eyes. "I have a better idea."

With a flash, Red transformed into a birch timberwolf. "The probably don't like timberwolves this close to the base. If I pretend to be one and make a lot of noise, they'll probably come to chase me off."

She shooed them off towards one of the bigger trees. "I'll try to get a guard over here. You guys hide until I do. Also, don't laugh, my timberwolf howl is kind of rusty."

Once they'd filed behind the big oak, Red began howling. As soon as she started, she suddenly gagged, coughing a few times and awkwardly clearing her throat. Starting over, she lifted her head up and let out a long, much more convincing howl, keeping the noise up until noises could be heard from the trees.

A shape moved through the forest, getting closer to Red. Out emerged one of the general's soldiers, a weed sprayer lifted above him by his magic.

"Hey! Varmit!" he shouted. "Get lost before I clip some hedges!"

Red ignored him, continuing to howl until he was right up on her, weed sprayer's handle drawn all the way back.

"Last chance, Fido!"

The guard yelped when suddenly transformed into a large bear. He dropped his weed sprayer in surprise, scrambling away before Red picked him up by his hind legs.

The soldier dangled in her paw, mouth agape. "You're not a timberwolf!"

"I'm also not a bear. How about you tell us where the entrance to the base is?"

"I'm not telling, and you'll never find it!"

A relatively distant voice echoed out from the trees. "Hey, Shiny Medal! You chased that timberwolf off yet?!"

Red's prisoner crossed his front limbs. "That's an entirely unrelated guard."

"It sounded like it came from that direction," Red pointed out. "So what do we do with you?"

"Well," the guard replied, "perhaps we should just sit down and rationally discuss our situation while I GET AWAY!"

In a sudden twist, he wrenched his back leg free from Red's grip, fell to the ground head first, and knocked himself out. He fell on his side, his legs stiff and a large bump slowly emerging from his head.

"Great plan," Red complimented.

The rest emerged from the tree, walking up to Red as she transformed back.

"Well, that solves that problem," Dash said, "but how are we gonna get in there? There's probably a lot more guards and probably a big steel door thingie."

Scourge chuckled. "A big steel door thingie?"

"Yeah, for moving in big stuff. All secret bases have them. At least all the ones in Daring Do done...did."

"About that," Red interjected. Reaching under her wings, she brought out the ID card she'd shown at the soda shop. "Guards didn't check under here. Still have that ID I stole. "

Red held out the ID in front of her, squinting at the officer's picture on the laminated surface. "Let's see if I can remember the rest of this guy's body. Might have to eyeball it."

Keep the card out in front of her, a green flash enveloped her to reveal a young pegasus officer in a tan uniform.

She adjusted the hat on her head, and turned towards the others, waving her card. "I think the guy I stole this from was pretty high up on the ladder. If I wave this in front of them, they'll probably let me in."

"What about us?" Scourge asked.

Red began walking towards the trees, in the direction of where they'd heard the voice. "We'll figure that out on the way. Now come on."

They all followed, Truth Seeker bringing up the rear after snatching her magnifying glass back up. The guard they left behind, still splayed out on the ground.

From behind the trees, they watched the entrance to the base. For all its talk, the entrance to the fables Stable Zero was rather unremarkable, being little more than a squat piece of concrete sticking out of the ground, and a ramp leading down into the ground, ending in a huge set of blast doors just barely peeking over the ramp's entrance.

Red loudly whispered to the rest as they watched the base. "Right. My ID should get me in. I'll see if I can get them to open the big door, too."

"And if that don't work?" Scourge whispered back.

"Hm. We should probably try to sneak one more of us inside in case we don't get the big door open. Like a fake prisoner. Someone valuable."

"Someone believable."

"Someone that isn't a dragon."

"Someone fast enough to get around the base and find Starcrash in time."

They all turned to Dash.

She chuckled nervously. "Heh. Well, obviously I'm the best pick for a prisoner. So how should act? Struggling? Bruised from the fight trying to catch me? Pleading for my life?"

"I'm going to say you crashed and knocked yourself out."

"Why?!"

"If I say you put up some big fight, they'll know you were the one that made up the story. Now go limp, I'm gonna drag you over there."

Dash complained, but reluctantly complied and closed her eyes, falling limp on the ground. Careful to not catch the attention of the guards at their post, Red pulled Dash upon her back and trotted over to the base entrance, doing her best lockstep march as she approached the guards.

They saluted her on instinct, but their attention immediately went to her "prisoner".

"Is that who I think it is?" one of them asked.

"Yeah," Red lied, "she hit a wall after she escaped the prison."

"Ha! She would do that. I heard how much damage they caused breaking out. Did they catch the others?"

"That's classified, soldier."

"Yes sir. Also, did you happen to pass another guard on the way here? He went to go get rid of some timberwolves. Shiny Medal?"

"He was spraying around to make sure they didn't come back. Said he would be a while."

"More likely napping somewhere. Anyway sir, with the prison break I can't let anyone in without identification. One of the escapees was a changeling, after all."

Red dug out the ID, handing to the guard. He scanned the card up and down, looking for any faults or contradictions. After a moment he handed it back.

"Right. Follow me."

Red obeyed, trailing the guard as he left his post and walked down the ramp. Coming up on the blast doors, the guard stood in front of it. With no apparent speaker, buzzer, or any other way to contact the inside, Red wondered how they even let those inside know they needed it open.

The mystery was answered when the guard kicked a part of the blast door. It flipped, revealing a keypad that he then hunched over and punched in a series of numbers that Red couldn't see.

Mechanical whirring sounded from behind the doors. They slowly hissed open, just to reveal the darkness inside and let them through.

"Don't suppose you could open it a bit more?" Red requested.

The guard tilted his head. "Why do you want it open more? You can get through."

"Can I?"

"...Yes?"

"But should I?"

"What?"

"Huh?"

"Sir, I can't open the doors all the way without a reason. Watcher would kill me, you know that."

"As I do. Carry on, soldier."

After an awkward silence where the soldier stood there and didn't return to his post, he coughed.

"Sir. I have to close the doors behind you."

"Right!"

Opening the doors on the outside wasn't going to cut it. With that plan wrecked, Red took a deep breath and stepped inside the darkness of the base. As soon as she was in with Dash, the heavy doors hissed closed behind her, sealing tight.

Once her eyes adjusted, she could make out the base in detail. The room she'd just stepped in was an immense underground hangar, though she was only on the top level. A large slanted elevator, probably for large cargo, went to the bottom floor, with a small personnel elevator next to it. Huge lights strung the high walls overhead, and below she could see dozens of ponies scrambling all around the base, most of them in white coats. In the center of the ground floor, she recognized Starcrash's ship, but something was wrong. It had been almost entirely taken apart, with only the frame and a few parts inside remaining, scientists still poking at it with instruments.

Two soldiers approached her. "You caught Rainbow Dash? Why didn't you radio this in?"

"It just happened. She turned to ambush me, I think to steal my uniform."

"What about the others? I heard they burned down the prison getting out."

"We're still figuring out how exactly they escaped. In the meantime, where's the cell block?"

The guard shook his head. "You know I can't tell you that, sir. Just give the prisoner to us, and we'll take care of it."

"I insist I deliver Dash myself."

"Sir, you know protocol."

"Maybe you don't know protocol. I'm making sure Dash gets properly contained."

"You're not getting me in trouble just so you can look good in front of the general!"

The elevator to the side sprung into motion, its heavy cable suddenly pulling through the motor at the top. Red made note of it, intending to argue with the soldier until it was carrying her back on the way down. He'd probably fume until steam poured out his ears, but here cover wouldn't be blown.

What she hadn't counted on was the elevator bringing up General Stalwart Watcher himself, and the officer she'd stolen the ID from. They were in some kind of conversation and had just stepped off the elevator when general caught sight of Red, then looked back to his officer.

His expression turned grim as he scowled at his subordinate. "Bug stole your ID, didn't she?"

Red tried to salvage the situation. "General," she stated, and pointed a hoof accusingly at the officer. "I have it on good authority that pony is a changeling!"

The general shook his head. "Nice try. And Rainbow Dash? I know you can hear me. That's good. I'm making sure both of you don't escape this time."

Before Red could reply, the general leaped forward at blinding speed. She couldn't even scramble backwards before he was already upon her, his massive frame read to pin her to the ground.

Dash was quicker. Ready for the general this time, she suddenly sprung up from Red's back, throwing up a hoof right into the general's chin. The force threw him upwards, and onto his back.

He quickly recovered, scrambling up and rubbing his jaw. "You hit like a girl."

Dash was ready to throw down with Stalwart Watcher, but before she could ready herself, Red grabbed her close and began spinning with her.

"What are you—"

Red disappeared into green fire and became a perfect copy of Rainbow Dash. She threw the real Dash up into the air, calling out to her. "Hey, was was that for?!"

Dash got the message. Now there were two ponies to chase. Without a word, she flew down into the lower levels of the base, while notDash flew off in the other direction. The general hesitated for a moment choosing which to follow, then gave chase to the changeling with most of his troops, leaving only a few to deal with Dash. She easily outflew them, racing down onto the ground floor, dodging scientists and guards all the way.

But she'd never find anything while being chased. She suddenly reversed direction, and the two pegasi chasing her suddenly veered off course to avoid her. They both slammed into earth pony guards on the ground, creating a snowball of armored ponies smashing into other personnel. With a midair backflip, Dash landed and turned to the one scientist who hadn't been flattened by her stunt.

"Where's Starcrash?!"

The pony ducked behind his clipboard, meekly pointing to one of the large hallways off to the side. "Room 1947!"

She sped towards it at top speed, hoping Red was still keeping the general occupied. An alarm began to sound, and soon the whole base was pulsing with a red light.

While Red could copy Dash's body, she couldn't copy her speed. She was able to keep the troops behind her, but the general was constantly on her tail. Not only that, but he seemed nearly invincible as well; several times she'd just barely avoided him divebombing her only for him to spring right back up when he hit the ground.

Now he was right flying right beside her, slowly closing in. She dove and the general immediately followed, staying right on her as more of his troops closed in from above her.

She wasn't going to escape. And transforming wouldn't help.

Or would it?

She veered, intentionally crashing into Stalwart Watcher as she transformed. They fell out of the air, crashing down to the floor. The general threw Red off her, and she could see the rage under his cap as he looked back at a copy of himself.

Before he could yell, Red spoke first. "That disguise won't work, bug!"

"I should've known you weren't Dash!" the general shot back.

The troops flew down, looking between the two generals. "Which one's real?" one of them asked.

"I am!" they both declared at once and continued to accuse each other in unison. "You? That's the fakest copy I've ever seen! Your medals aren't even right!"

Red prayed Dash would find Starcrash soon, as she continued to argue with the general and stall for time.

Dash zoomed down the hallway, checking the numbers of each door she passed for the one the scientist gave her. She finally arrived at it, 1947, and bucked the door open. She rushed inside the sterile white room, inhabited by four armed guards and...

"Starcrash!"

She was strapped to a chair, her helmet removed and her body slumped. She stirred when he heard her name called, and looked over to Dash, blinking a few times in disbelief.

The reunion was cut short by the first guard attacked, throwing his spear forward. Dash stepped aside, grabbing it out of his hoof and using it as a bat to knock him aside, throwing him into the one-way mirror. The unicorn in the room brought up a spell to blast Dash, and she ducked as a bolt sizzled above her head. She ran further into the room, trying to get to Starcrash before another earth pony tried to grab her right as she'd reached the chair. She swept his legs, and turned to see the unicorn already throwing his spell. She ducked just in time for the spell to miss and strike one of the restraints holding Starcrash's arm down.

With a clang it snapped, and with her newly-freed arm, Starcrash began to pry away the rest of the restraints, working at them as the unicorn kept trying to zap the pegasus intruder.

Dash darted around the room, deftly avoiding bolts until the earth pony managed to grab her, holding her in place as the unicorn charged his spell.

Just as the light on his horn reached apex, a bolt struck him in the side, and the guard grabbing dash was suddenly hoisted by a blue aura and tossed towards the unicorn, landing on top of him. Dash looked over and saw Starcrash standing on her chair triumphantly, her hand surrounded by her magical aura.

They both looked over to the one guard who had stayed out of the fight in the corner. Starcrash extended a palm towards him, and he quickly spat out the sword in his mouth, backing against the wall with his hooves raised.

With the guards dealt with, Starcrash looked to Dash. Her smile was weak, but there, and her blue eyes misty. She quickly shook her head and rubbed her eyes, regaining her composure enough to give Dash a thumbs-up. She outlined a basic shape in the air, one Dash recognized.

She pointed towards the door. "I know where your ship is, but you're not gonna like it. You might need your spellbook."

Dash traced a rectangular outline. "You know? That book you had?"

Starcrash smacked her head, her eyes wide in disbelief. She looked down to her book holster, a reminder of what she'd lost. She then brought up a hand to the one-way mirror, blasting a hole through it. The glass shattered, revealing several scientists on the other side.

"So," Dash started. "Starcrash here lost a book."

A small pegasus stepped forward. "The general's gone completely nuts. Room 2001. Please get rid of that thing and get her out of here."

"Thanks!"

Dash flew out the door, pointing down the hall. "This way!"

Starcrash kept close behind, hands glowing and ready to deal with any threats. When they neared Room 2001, two guards rushed out to stop them. Dash jumped forward and deal with the first with a flying kick, sending them both skidding across the floor as Starcrash picked out the pegasi soldier. She threw two bolts; the first missed, but the second hit the guard right in his snoot and he fell to the floor, dazed.

The bolt that had missed went all the way to the ceiling, striking one of the huge lights overhead. The fixture exploded into a nova of sparks and electricity, and the sudden flash soon disappeared into a flickering, orange haze. It had caught fire, and the flames began to spread along the ceiling.

Dash looked up at the growing inferno. "Uh oh."

They both scrambled inside Room 2001. Another sterile white room like Starcrash's, the only thing inside were more terrified scientists. They backed away as Starcrash approached her spellbook, lifted it up with both hands, and opened it. The pages began to flutter, and a wind from nowhere swept through the room as she slowly began to float above the floor, her eyes glowing brilliant blue, and the book glowing even brighter. A loud hum of power reverberated throughout the room, reaching a crescendo and then slowing dying down, Starcrash floating back to the floor.

She closed the book, then looked to one of her hands, balling it into a fist. In a flash it surged with power, as much power as when Dash had first met her.

Starcrash held out a palm, and her aura slowly morphed into a holographic representation of her ship, with a questioning look at Dash.

"Wow," Dash awed. "You can do that?"

Starcrashed grinned, patting her spellbook.

"No wonder you wanted it back. Your ship's this way!"

Dash flew out the door. Starcrash began to follow her, but looked back to two of the scientists. Zebras, scared as the rest, but also looking strangely relieved. Something was off about him; a magical signature that she felt belonged to her, though she couldn't recall ever cursing him.

Just to make sure, she threw a hand towards them, drawing on the book to amplify her power.

They recoiled, yelping and trying to jump out of the way, but were too slow to avoid the dispel bolt she launched. It struck one of them and hopped to the other like chain lightning, consuming them with light and turning them back into their original forms. Once they were restored, one quickly checked himself to see what she had done to him, and looked up to her with amazement when he realized he was back to his old self.

"Oh. Thank you?"

Starcrash gave them a thumbs up, then sprinted out the door. Calling on her full magical potential again, she used it to increase her speed threefold, zooming down the hallway to catch up to Dash.

Red lost the argument. Once the general started throttling one of the soldiers for asking who was the real one, the others quickly realized she was the fake. They had wrestled her to the ground and the general began pushing her head into the concrete with one hoof.

"You know, I don't think I'll need to find Rainbow Dash or the alien," he began. "I think it'll be easier for them to come to us. Dash wouldn't let something happen to her friend, now would she?"

"Let her go!"

He calmly looked over to see Dash and the escaped Starcrash. Behind them, fires spreading to every available surface and personnel madly evacuating.

The general cracked his neck. "Well now, you just destroy government property wherever you go, don't you?"

Dash moved towards him, but he pushed his hoof down on Red's head harder, and Dash froze. "No. I'd hate to squish this bug of yours."

He narrowed his eyes. "Now, why do I get the feeling you did something else?"

His answer came, a white flash suddenly zipping up behind Dash and jumping over her. Starcrash floated up into the air, both her arms lifted up high as her spellbook surged with power. A white orb crackled into existence over her head, growing in size as she floated suspended in midair.

"Oh," he grumbled, regarding Dash with contempt. "You found the xeno."

She kept charging the spell, until the orb grew to the size of a boulder, her eyes firmly fixed on her target. All the soldiers around him retreated, wildly discarding their weapons and running for cover.

The general glanced up at Starcrash, and laughed. "You won't throw that thing. Now when I have your friend here."

While he was mocking Starcrash, Dash saw her chance. She charged him, hitting him in the sides with a full-speed headbutt, sending him flying across the room and into a shelf full of confiscated material. It collapsed on top of him, burying him under a mountain of folders and parts.

She quickly picked Red up, then gazed up to Starcrash, still charging her spell. "I got him. You can stop now!"

Starcrash moved her arms, but they barely budged. By the concerned look on her face, she couldn't cancel the spell. The orb kept growing in size, streams of light starting to peek out from the sphere. From Dash's experience with Twilight, that was always the sign something was about to explode.

She motioned away from them. "Throw it up!"

With great strain, Starcrash grunted and hefted the orb towards the ceiling. With a roar the spell took off, rocketing upwards and colliding with the ceiling. A huge flash of light erupted from the impact point, but the orb did not dissipate. A slightly smaller orb ricocheted from the crater, bouncing back towards the floor. It hit, creating another crater and veering off once again. Like a superball of death, it bounced around the base, gaining speed but losing size with each hit. When it was the size of a beach ball, it hit a wall and then careened towards the base's heavy blast doors at the top level. The blast doors weren't thick enough to stop it, and were blown open as the ball kept going, hitting off the ramp and into the sky. The gentle light from outside was overpowered by a blinding white light as the spell exploded high in the air above the base.

Starcrash floated down, shaking her hands off. It was then she noticed the state of her ship in the middle of the base, a bare skeleton frame, and only a few of the parts near it. She dropped to her knees in shock, hands on her head.

"They gutted her ship," Red muttered as got up from the ground. "Now what?"

"I saw her fix it with magic before, but..." Dash trailed off.

"Wasn't as bad as this?"

"Exactly. I'm not sure if she can fix it now."

Starcrash slowly rose to her feet. With a determined grimace, she cracked her knuckles, rubbed her hands, and floated her spellbook in front of her. It opened, and Starcrash's entire body became consumed with magic.

"Guess she's gonna try!"

The first few parts nearby flew off and into the frame of the ship, locking into place. As parts of the ship's hull were set back, more pieces started phasing through, going through anything in order to restore the ship to its whole. All the while, the fire continued to spread through the base, and the entire ceiling had become blanketed in black smoke. Every soldier and scientist was abandoning the base, fleeing out of the destroyed blast doors.

Dash sensed something behind her and ducked just in time for a valve to fly over her head. It was then she noticed parts weren't just coming from nearby, they were coming from every direction, and even out of the walls. Starcrash was summoning every part in the base to her ship, and setting it right inside her craft.

Against the flood of escapees, one figure came through the entrance. The fleeing personnel ignored them, too set on saving their own hides as they flew down. Truth Seeker.

"Red! Dash! We saw the door get blown off and everypony run!" Truth Seeker called out. She deftly dodged a part flying towards the ship, and noticed Starcrash in the throes of her spell. "Woah."

"Starcrash is fixing her ship!" Red cried. "We need to make sure she finishes before this whole place burns down! Where's Scourge and Far Out?!"

"I don't know! There was this big flash and then ponies were everywhere!"

The pile the general was buried under began to stir.

When she saw the mountain of junk move, she looked to Truth Seeker. "You and Red get out of here. I'll deal with the general."

"What? No!" Truth Seeker protested. "I don't care that this place is on fire! I'm seeing this through!"

Before she could argue further, Red flew up and began dragging her back to the entrance. "We're going, Truth. Dash has it from here."

As Red carried a reluctant Truth Seeker away from the burning base, Dash turned back to the pile just in time to see it erupt. The general tossed off his prison in one gigantic buck, then galloped towards Starcrash. Dash intercepted him, throwing herself in his path. He reared up, but so did Dash, and then front hooves met as they attempted to push the other over.

Dash confidently grinned at the general as they strained against each other. "You and me, Stalwart! Rematch! Let's go!"

The general howled in fury, throwing Dash away. She backflipped, and Stalwart Watcher raced towards her with his deceptively fast bulk. Landing just in time, she stepped aside as he threw a left hook at her, grabbed his leg, and pushed him into the ground. He hit the floor with a smash, but jumped right back up with a fast uppercut. Again she dodged, ducking and punching him in the chest. While it was like hitting a vault door, it was hard enough to work him up even more.

He gritted, and made a sound like an enraged bull as he kept charging Rainbow Dash as the base burned around them. While he was fast enough to make Dash work for it, with every punch and headbutt he got angrier, sloppier, and a little easier to dodge. Dodging each of the general's quick blows brought Rainbow into a zen-like state of flow, the same she always got during her best runs. The dodges came easily now, and she began to taunt the general as he continued to miss her.

"Having trouble, Stalwart?"

"Stop calling me that, you civvie!"

"I don't know what that is, but it's probably better than what you're gonna be after news of this place gets out."

"Shut up!"

Still dodging the general's assault, Dash noticed Starcrash's ship slowly coming together. Starcrash herself was still enveloped in blue light, her breathing becoming ragged and her face soaked with sweat. Parts were still flying from each corner of the base, and even ones that had been taken apart were re-assembling in mid-fight and phasing inside the ship. About half of the ship seemed done now. She had to keep the general angry and focused on her.

"So," Dash sneered, "You're pretty fast, but not as fast as me. Were you gonna be a Wonderbolt?"

He threw a punch, and she dodged right. "Did you go to the Academy? Oh! Did you wash out?"

He bucked, and she smoothly craned her neck sideways. "Did you fail the written part?"

He snarled, biting at her. She pirouetted away. "No no, let me guess. You made Spitfire mad. Seems like something you'd do."

Dash easily ducked from the flurry of jabs he tried to hit her with. "Nah, you were probably just too slow. They probably thought you were only good as a...what do they call it?"

Falsely searching for the word, she looked over again to Starcrash's progress. The final pieces were phasing into place. As the last ones came in, the stubborn piece from before floated towards the ship. As began to phase inside the ship, it stuck once more, forcing Starcrash to hold out her hands wide and throw in the last ounce of her power. With a flash, the final piece went in, and she collapsed, gasping for air.

After a final punch, she jumped up with a grin. "Oh, that's right! A desk jockey!"

Stalwart Watcher threw himself up into the air. His muscles bulged as he sprung up his entire body. "You little punk! You think this is funny?!"

"A little!"

"Let's see you dodge this, you TRAITOR! I'M GONNA MAKE YOU A RAINBOW-COLORED SMEAR ON THE FLOOR!"

The general launched himself at Dash with pure, raw speed. So fast, Dash realized she couldn't get out of the way in time. She braced for the impact, but when he was almost on her, a blue barrier shot up between the two. The general crashed into it face first, sending a thousand cracks through the shield of light. He slowly slid down and fell on his back in a ruined heap.

Dash looked over to see Starcrash still on her back, one hand glowing and pointed towards the general. With a few more labored breaths she brought herself up, walking over to Dash and the barely conscious officer. Dash tried to speak to her, but Starcrash pushed her out of the way, reaching a hand out towards the Watcher and magically lifting him up and towards her.

When his face was right in front of hers, she brought another hand up, spell charging in her hands as her spellbook floated above them. The general weakly cranked his head up at the alien ready to finish him off.

He grimly laughed through his pained coughs. "Go ahead, alien. Make me a martyr."

Starcrash ceased her spell, grabbed her book, and whapped it across Stalwart Watcher's face. His hat flew off his head, and he crashed to the ground, eyes rolling.

With a nod, she levitated her tome in front of her, and blew the dust off the front cover. With a twirl of her hands, she flipped the book in place with her magic several times, then slung it into her holster in one smooth motion.

Dash looked up at Starcrash, then to her ship. "So, it's been a wild few days, huh? Guess you gotta go now?"

Starcrash looked over to her completed ship. She pointed up.

"Yeah, yeah. What about that ceiling?" she asked, pointing towards the smoke-filled top of the base.

Starcrash brought a hand level, using her other to animate it penetrating through while she made a crashing, drilling noise along with it.

"Not a problem, got it. So this is it, huh?"

She struggled to find the words, and she suddenly found herself misty-eyed. Starcrash reached down, but she pushed her hand away. "Nah, it's just the smoke. You probably wanna get out of here."

Starcrash suddenly picked her up, bringing her into a tight hug. Dash returned it, holding her tight until Starcrash slowly let go and put her down. She was smiling at Rainbow, tears of her own in the corners of her eyes.

She choked something back, and suddenly began to look around for something. When she couldn't find it, he held one arm up high and made it glow. After a moment, her helmet zoomed out of the smoke of the burning base and returned to her hand. She brought it down on her head, sealing it in place.

With her helmet returned, she held out a fist. Dash smiled, bumping it. She couldn't mimic the motion Starcrash did with her fingers as she pulled away her hand, but did her best by waving her hoof.

Starcrash ran over to her ship, scrambling up the ladder and prying the door open. Just as she was about to climb inside, she looked over her shoulder. She arched her back, and gave Dash a firm salute. Dash returned the gesture, giving a salute worthy of any Wonderbolt.

The alien shut the door behind her. After a moment the ship sprang to life, and a low whine began to emanate from the bottom of the craft. It grew in pitch, and the runes lining the ship's surface began to flash in a wide array of colors.

But strangest of all was the music. A loud song began to play from the inside of the ship, in alien words that sounded like Starcrash's. She could hear guitars and pianos, along with someone singing as the ship began shaking. Just as the song seemed to reach its chorus, the ship launched.

It took off at a speed even faster than it had crashed. It blasted through the ceiling and rock above like it wasn't even there, puncturing a hole in the top of the base. The light from the outside was soon smothered by the escaping smoke.

Dash pointed up towards the sky, smirking. "See you, you crazy space wizard."

She suddenly remembered the circumstances around her, and the unconscious general laying on the floor. With a sigh, she flew up and hovered above the general, lifting him up by one hoof, straining under his heavy weight as she carried them both up towards the newly-created skylight.

Hacking through the smoke, she still managed to get them both through the hole. Once free of the column billowing out, she threw the general on the ground and in turn let herself collapse, exhausted. Up in the sky, she could see Starcrash's ship shooting up into the heavens, a brilliant white light disappearing into the blue sky.

Something stepped over her, blocking out the sun.

"Shoo," Dash mumbled. "I just saved an alien and maybe the world. Or something. There was definitely a bad guy."

As her eyes adjusted, she saw a white pony with a brown mane standing over her, and the worried face of Truth Seeker.

She squinted. "Truth Seeker? Red? Why are you Truth Seeker's mom?"

"Because I am Truth Seeker's mother."

"Oh."

Realization kicked in a second later.

"Oohhhhh."

Dash nervously smiled.

"I can explain."

Author's Note

The Star Society

Epilogue

Rainbow Dash greedily gulped down a much-deserved chocolate shake at the soda shop.

At the table with her was Truth Seeker, Far Out, Red, and Scourge standing close by. Also in the soda shop was Truth Seeker's mother, closely watching Dash and keeping a closer eye on her daughter. Two other notable guests were the princesses, listening intently to Dash's side of the story from the start.

Apparently Truth Seeker's mother had just come back from her vacation, and saw Starcrash's ship escape the base, along with half the city, and immediately assumed her daughter had something to do with it. Her hunch had been right, finding her daughter and her little gang closest to the action.

Sweet Seeker didn't drag Dash back immediately to the soda shop, but instead took her and the entire Star Society to her home while she figured out what to do with Dash and how to appropriately deal with her daughter technically aiding a traitor. It was only the next morning they went to the soda shop after the guards had cleared out, only to find both the princesses there as well, also wanting to know why they had sensed such strange magic from the area of Las Pegasus, a base they didn't know about was on fire, and them having physically seen Starcrash's ship escape back into space. Not to mention the general's apparent "activities".

After downing half her shake, Dash sat it down on the table, wiping her mouth with a sigh. "And that's pretty much it. Truth Seeker's mom took us to her house, and we came here the next day."

"Is there any detail, no matter how minute, you left out?" Luna asked.

Dash pondered a moment. "Well, I did kind of just leave the general next to that hole. What happened to him?"

"That's my cue!" Far out exclaimed, digging out a newspaper and slamming it on the counter. On the front page was a very bruised and humiliated Stalwart Watcher. Though still wearing his uniform, it had been completely stripped of its medals and ribbons, and his cap was missing. Two soldiers were escorting him to the local courthouse as he held one hoof up in front of his face in shame.

She read the headline allowed."General Stalwart cashiered for Major crimes?"

"Yes," Celestia intoned. "Some of his officers came to me, personally, about all his...projects. I assure you, he won't be in command of anything for a very, very long time."

"That's a relief," Truth Seeker sighed.

"Also," Dash continued, looking over to Far Out. "Where were you and Scourge when Truth Seeker came inside the base?"

Far Out seemed ready to come up with some grand tale before Scourge spoke up. "The bright light from the spell made him panic and I had to chase after him."

"I'm more interested in this visitor from the heavens," Luna mentioned. "What can you tell me about them?"

"Well," Dash answered, "Not much that I already told you. She was really powerful. Even stronger with that book. She didn't seem to understand a word I said, but she got the general gist if you tried hard enough."

The cosmic sisters looked to each other.

"This is unprecedented, sister."

Celestia nodded. "I know. We've had visitors from other planes, but this 'Starcrash' seemed to be from the deep heavens."

The sun princess smiled. "In any case, I thank you, Rainbow Dash. Again Equestria is in your debt."

Dash rubbed her head, grinning. "I mean, I did most of the cool stuff, but I couldn't have helped Starcrash without these guys," she said, motioning to the Star Society.

Celestia chuckled. "Yes, about that. All of you were willing to sacrifice so much just to help this alien home. We don't know where Starcrash went, but I can't guarantee she won't one day come back, or even bring others. To that end..."

She looked to Truth Seeker. "I would like to make the 'Star Society' the official ambassadors of our world, if such another visitor returns. I cannot think of a group more suitable."

Truth Seeker nearly jumped out of her chair. "I-wh-ho-I would-"

Red had to hold the pegasus down in her seat. "Um, yeah. I think we're good."

"I'm also in," Scourge added.

Far Out slammed the table with gusto. "Yeah, man! Wait, what are we voting on?"

Celestia looked to Sweet Seeker. "And of course, if that is okay with you, Ms. Seeker."

Ms. Seeker rubbed her chin. "My daughter and her friends broke in a military base. She hid a fugitive. She was arrested. She broke out of a prison. She helped burn down that prison. Then she broke into another military base, and that one also burned down. "

She sighed. "All to save an innocent stranger and bring down that horrible general. So after my daughter is done being grounded forever," she said, staring at Truth Seeker with a harsh frown that slowly faded into a proud smile, "I think she'd be happy to take up your offer, Your Majesty."

Celestia beamed. "Wonderful to hear! Rainbow Dash, when you can, please relate this story to Twilight Sparkle."

"Right, if I can ever finish from all the questions she'll ask."

The princess softly laughed, turning to leave with her sister. "Of course, that'll be its own adventure. Goodbye for now, Dash. Luna and I need to talk about your story in private."

Celestia and Luna gracefully walked out of the soda shop. Lifting off into the air, they disappeared from sight.

After they were gone, Ms. Seeker turned to Dash. "Oh, one more thing. What happened to that pony you threw in the bathroom?"

"Uhh..."

A crash suddenly came from the back of the soda shop, and they all turned to see the bathroom door fly open. Out flopped Classified, his legs just barely free from his restraints and his lips chapped from thirst.

The suited pegasus landed on his side, looking up to everyone assembled at the counter.

He pointed to Dash's shake.

"You gonna drink that?"

THE END